We had to delay school for 30 minutes due to more snow! The girls just had to get out in it and play before Sascha got out to run all through it! Once again you never know what Lauren will say or do! Make sure you watch her and listen to what she has to say about her actions!

New pictures of the girls!

I'm Back!

I know it has been a while since I have been on here, but those closest to me know what all has been going on! My health is doing a lot better right now, so I will try to, even with our hectic schedule, get on here every couple of weeks or so and let you know how we are doing! Well as you can see by the picture below, El Paso was so beautiful today as huge snow flakes fell most of the day! There is about 2 inches on the ground right now and supposed to be more by in the morning! The girls are loving it! It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.....

Are you starting to see a trend here?

Lauren had put mousse in her hair that morning and decided to try and see how it looked when she combed it out that night. She flipped her head over, combed away, and came up grinning and looking like this! Let us know what you think of her new do! Luckily it combs back down normal or we might have to shave her head.
HA!HA!

Biology, Part II

Before the girls went with their dad for a few days on spring break, we took the opportunity to finish up Kalani's dissecting labs. They all gathered round as she dissected the fetal pig and had a blast seeing the different dyes that were injected into the pig to show the difference between the arteries and the veins, in other words to show the blood flow to the heart and then the blood flow leaving the heart. Amazingly there was still not much odor at all to the preservation process done and it was really neat to see all the organs inside. The next night they all got to dissect a crawfish since the order came with 10. They all had gloves on and were ready to go. These were a little more stinky! I guess from being a little fishy smelling mixed along with the chemicals was a bit of a weird mix to smell. They all had fun doing this, but things were a little harder to see because the crawfish are so small. Though we may not have found everything on them, the girls still really enjoyed getting to play around and be a part of something Kalani is doing. Hope this wasn't too much of a visual, but that you enjoyed sharing the experience along with us!

Spoiled Rotten!!!

Little Miss Libby has nestled her way right into all of our hearts, just like she has always been a part of the family. She has the sweetest disposition and loves to be treated just like a baby, which Hannah has no problem doing and does on a daily basis. For those that don't know our grumpy old man, Goober, disappeared 4 weeks ago and we haven't seen him since. He has wondered off for days at a time, but never for this long. He has a microchip, but nothing has turned up so far. We have had him about 7 years and I still just keep expecting to go outside and see him sitting there waiting for food or attention. Kalani took it the hardest since she had deemed him her cat, but has made room for Libby in her heart as well. Kalani really misses him, but as you can see has made room to spoil Libby and even allow her to have her afternoon nap on her bed and even using her pillow. The daily battle is getting Hannah to not be so possessive with this cat since she is the one that found her and thinks she is only hers. The cat is very spoiled needless to say and never lacks for attention!!

Prayer Request Update!

Our former pastor's wife, who I mentioned previously, just had a second scan done before having her 4th chemo treatment next Monday to see if the tumors on her lungs were shrinking. Through God's grace the scan revealed that they have shrunk by 20% and the chemo is working. I just wanted to share with you all the good news and below is the praise report she sent out to all those praying.

Dear precious family and friends,

Psalm 126:3 says, "The LORD hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad." This morning I had my CT scan, and then Gary and I met with Dr. Butler. Usually a very solemn man, Dr. Butler had a smile on his face! He told us that the scan revealed that the tumors in my lungs are shrinking in size (about 20% smaller in size than they were eight weeks ago). Sue, my clinical trial nurse, said that when a scan reveals that tumors are stable and not growing, she and Dr. Butler are happy; but when a scan reveals that tumors are shrinking, they are ecstatic! So I guess I can be ecstatic, too! To God be the glory--great things HE hath done!!

No matter what the results of my scan had been, God would still be good and He would still be in complete control of everything happening in my life. I am (again) scheduled for my 4th chemo treatment this Monday (March 9). I cannot thank you enough for your prayers for our family.

Rejoicing in our wonderful Lord,
Barbara Ledbetter

Psalm 33:21 says, "For our heart shall rejoice in Him, because we have trusted in His holy name."

Homeschool Fun!!!!!

Kalani is taking Biology this year which came along with its own lab book. I just recently told her to pick out a couple of labs she might like to do in there this year. She picked out dissecting a sheep’s brain and a fetal pig. I ordered those, plus a frog and crawfish for us all to do together. Oh, what fun!






Yesterday, Kalani dissected the brain and the frog. Lauren and Hannah were at her sides, waiting to see if they would gross out or if it would be cool. Needless to say it turned into something so funny that I had to share it with everyone. Hannah was at her side with the lab book telling her what to do and Lauren was on the other side acting like her nurse. When it came time to cut open the brain, Lauren would not hand Kalani the proper tool until she said just as Lauren asked. When Lauren sets her mind to something she will not let it go. Kalani had to say, “Scalpel, please!” before Lauren would hand it to her.








Just to let you know Shelby has been running a fever the past few days and was on the couch crashed after taking some medicine, so she missed out on all the excitement. I was nervous myself about doing this, knowing that if there was any odor associated with these items then I might lose it, but there was amazingly no smell to them at all.
Hannah and Lauren had to touch the brain to see how it felt and was very goofy about it. Hannah was very intent on Kalani doing the frog just right, and Lauren was anxious to see all the organs, making Kalani point out each one. Lauren wanted to know if it was a boy or girl frog and Kalani determined that it was a boy because of not having any of the female reproductive organs.

I almost think that Hannah and Lauren enjoyed it more than Kalani, but I know she did as well. Hannah even said she can’t wait to do it herself in a few years. We cleaned up the mess so we could get ready for dinner, but it was a blast watching them have fun together and share this educational experience with Kalani. Stay tuned for more on the fetal pig and crawfish dissections!!!!!!

Albuquerque Trip

This past weekend we were suppose to go away with the army for a family retreat before the unit deploys next month. Once again the army let us down and there was not enough room for us to go. Bags were all packed and the kids so excited about getting away (and missing a day of school), so Greg and I decided we would do our own little family retreat. We went away on Friday for the weekend to Albuquerque, New Mexico. We were hoping to see some snow, but the city was warm and all the snow was at high elevations.

On Friday evening we just got there in time to get some dinner and enjoy a few hours in the hotel pool. We went to a local Mexican restaurant and it was very good, but a little on the warm side. New Mexico does a red or green chile sauce and the red that night was very warm, not to mention my food was swimming in it. Besides drinking a lot of water with my meal, the flavors were great! Swimming was fun, although Greg and I mostly watched from a distance as we enjoyed the hot tub together.

Saturday morning, we got up and headed straight out for the Sandia Peak tram after eating breakfast. We enjoyed looking out at God’s beautiful scenery while going up the world’s longest tram. We ended up at an elevation of 10,387 feet and there was snow. The snow was slippery and very packed down, but Lauren still managed to find some to eat. We found some loose snow that wasn’t packed down, even though it would not make very good snow balls, a few of us still ended up with very cold snow down our backs. After coming back down, we went around the other side of the mountain to drive up and go to the crest at over 10,600 feet in elevation. On the way up the girls had seen spots they were dying to go back to and sled. We stopped on the way back down and did some fun, but painful sledding. All we had was those little disk, so we flew down the small hills on some very slippery snow. A few of us even took to the air as we hit bumps in the snow and landed back very roughly on a small plastic disk. We had fun and were very wet and cold. We left there and went to Old Town to walk around and do some shopping, but we also went to this small rattlesnake museum. They were all in cages, so I was fine seeing them so up close. We asked the owner where to get a good bite to eat for dinner around there and he recommended Church Street Café, so off we went. It was awesome food and another great local place to eat. Kalani and I shared food with each other to try 2 different things. She had the Indian Taco, which is pretty much a taco in Indian Fry Bread and it was awesome. I had a Hot Spanish Chili Dip sandwich which was also great! Greg had a hamburger that was on the Fry Bread for his buns, which was huge and delicious. We let our massive meal digest and went back to enjoy the pool again that night.

On Sunday, we got up and headed off to the zoo and aquarium after breakfast and checking out of the hotel. The zoo was bigger than we expected and the girls were filled with such excitement at each animal we saw. Kalani said she saw animals she had never seen before at another zoo and even one she thought was extinct. The Mexican wolf is extinct in the wild, but we saw at least 3 and they are trying to breed them and reintroduce them into the wild. There were at least 5-6 zoo babies mostly born last October, but there was one from September and one in July. They have an elephant pregnant right now and said she would give birth and about another 12 months, so I asked how long they are pregnant. They are pregnant 22 months, so I guess we have nothing to complain about our nine months ladies.

A storm was coming in and right as we were leaving the zoo on our train ride to the aquarium, the clouds started rolling in. Against what I had told them, the 3 younger went off with out a jacket and in flip flops. Let’s just say the train ride back was very miserable and cold for them and they will learn to listen to mom next time. We saw some neat, but weird fish at the museum and enjoyed it as well. It was not a very big one, but we had a great day. We even had some sleet coming down as we waited for the train. I told Greg we needed to get out of there before the roads turned bad. We decided to head to a Rudy’s we had seen while out driving because we were all starving and have learned to love Rudy’s BBQ since coming out to El Paso. Some of us even think it beats Sonny’s out in Georgia.

We got on the road about 4 and were home by 8 that night to get the girls in bed for school the next day and so Greg could do some homework before going to bed. On the way home, I asked the girls what was each of theirs favorite part of the trip. Lauren, of course, said the food. She is a girl after my own heart. Shelby and Hannah both said the sledding, which was ironic because Shelby was crying after the first time down with how fast and hard we zoomed down the hills. Hannah is a thrill seeker, so I am not surprised. Kalani said she couldn’t pick between the tram and the zoo. She loved the day at the zoo, seeing how they are helping to try and breed animals that are in danger of extinction and really saw how what she wants to do can even be done at a zoo. She was even more excited about her choice for her path in life to get a conservation degree and to be able to work with animals that way. Mine and Greg’s favorite time was when they were sleeping!!!!! No, I am just joking! It was just all being together as a family, experiencing somewhere new, and the enjoyment we saw in all their eyes! Corny, I know, but so very true!! The new slide show of pictures at the top is from our trip!

What is Lauren up to now?

Lauren seems to get more attention on this blog than anyone else, but she is the one that is constantly doing something silly and you should always keep your camera near by. The other night we were sitting down to dinner and were eating lasagna and salad. I had a plate of cucumbers out for those that like them in their salad. Lauren decided to start smelling one and putting it on her nose. With out even thinking about who I was talking to, I told her cucumbers are suppose to be good for your eyes. Lauren proceeded to see if she believed that with 2 slices on her eyes and then put holes in them so she could see. Once again we were all laughing, but I did have to finally tell her to stop playing with her food.
Yes, she did go ahead and eat them because Lauren does not believe in wasting food.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Happy New Year to all our friends and family! We hope and pray you all have a blessed 2009 and hope that things will be better for us as well. I know next year all my kids will be with us and that gives me something to look forward to so much! Greg and I brought the new year in already in bed, but woke up by fireworks and Sascha barking at them as they went on for over an hour. Hannah said she was going to stay up, but we said happy new year to her at 11:15 as she went to bed and said she was tired. We picked up around the house some today after eating breakfast, so as to not come home to a messy house. We are leaving in the morning to go to Houston and spend a few days with my family before getting the girls on Monday! And yes, I am counting down, we are now under 4 days until they are back in my arms! I beat Greg and Hannah at a very long game of Scrabble earlier and Hannah already has electronic Monopoly out for us to play later! I just wanted to say thank you to all of you for your prayers for our family and we hope and pray for a very special 2009! We love you all!

Prayer request!

We have a very special request! We just recently learned that our former pastor's wife out in South Carolina was just diagnosed with colon cancer. She just found out last Friday and has already had surgery to remove it 3 days ago. They do know that it has already spread to her lungs, but are waiting on the results from a needle biopsy to see the prognosis there. They have three children and one is still in high school. She is such a strong woman and has such a wonderful testimony with her life. She has just recently helped her sister go through breast and lung cancer and all the treatments that followed. She is still cheery as usual, but very weak. Yet she always thinks of others that are worse off and knows that God is in control! Please pray for her healing, her family, and the doctors to know exactly what to do for her! I will keep you updated as I know more!

A great idea!

I received an e-mail a while ago from a pastor friend of ours with this idea of sending cards to a recovering soldier at Walter Reed Medical Center out in Washington D.C. I knew definitely that our family would all do one, but I wanted to do more than that. These soldiers have sacrificed so much for our freedoms and will spend Christmas in a hospital away from home and more than likely away from their loved ones. I sent a note to both Lauren's and Shelby's teachers to see if I bought the cards if they would let the students each make one so that I could get them sent out by today. I am very glad to say that they agreed and today I mailed out over 40 cards to the hospital and hopefully they will touch many lives. I put the class name and school address in hopes that maybe one or two soldiers might send something back to the kids and what a thrill it would be for the kids to know what they did really mattered in someones life. My family will sit down tonight and do ours all together to get 6 more out in the mail tomorrow! I passed this e-mail on to many people in hopes that their families would join in, so thank you to all those that liked the idea enough to do it and support our troops!!

Our Thanksgiving

It has been a busy few weeks and taken me a while to get back on here to let you all know about our Thanksgiving. My mom and dad were out here for a few weeks to spend it with us and we were blessed in more ways than one to have them here at this time. Our Thanksgiving day started out normal by doing breakfast and then the girls and I decorated our Christmas tree before lunch since Greg and I were suppose to go away the next day for a short getaway. We have a small tree this year since we are limited on space, but it is beautiful because we did it together. After snacking around at lunch time, I began to throw all the meal together and Greg started frying the turkey. The girls all enjoyed helping do something. As part of her home economics this year, Kalani made the homemade macaroni and the fruit salad. Hannah helped make the broccoli casserole, grossing out the whole time as she despises broccoli. Lauren and Shelby helped do the apples for the apple pie. Hannah and Lauren also helped peel the eggs for deviled eggs. Along with all that we had a small ham, the deep fried cajun turkey, andouille cornbread stuffing, regular stuffing, both gravies, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, pumpkin pies, and of course my mom's homemade rolls.

We all went around the table giving thanks to many things and I had just done mine. With all the disease and sickness that is in this world I had just said how thankful I was that everyone in my family was healthy at the moment, not knowing where the next few hours would lead us.

About an hour before it was all done, Hannah came out and said the right side of her body was numb and was experiencing some silliness when trying to talk or hold something. We did not think much then because she was laughing about it and had been laying down so we thought maybe she laid a way that part of her body fell asleep. After sitting down to a table so full of food that we could hardly pass it, Hannah began to complain of a headache. I started out with one ibuprofen and she laid down for a while. She got up and said it was worse so she took the second ibuprofen and laid around.

At a little after six, as we were all fixing to play a game together, Hannah began to cry and say her head was getting even worse. Greg and I were beginning to be very concerned so we headed out to the ER at the army hospital. On the way there Hannah began having difficulty answering simple questions and things she was saying didn't make sense. Amazingly when we got there, they were not busy for a holiday night. Hannah was examined by the doctor and was unable to communicate things to him as well and was unable to perform some motor tests he asked due to the numbing on her right side. It was very hard watching her be altered and not able to do these things. They did a CT scan that was inconclusive because the doctor said there was some kind of a malformation that kids her age can develop on the brain that the scan wouldn't show, so they were transferring us to a civilian pediatric ICU. Thank goodness my mom and dad were here to be with the others while Greg and I spent the next 2 days in an ICU with Hannah.

I rode up front in the ambulance with Hannah and Greg followed. Hannah was put through several tests the next day and all the really bad things were ruled out, which we are very thankful for. Her EEG did show signs of slowing from whatever happened the day before on the left side of her brain, effecting the right side of her body. It took well over 24 hours for the headache to totally go away. The doctor came in late Friday night to let us know all the results and that he feels she is at the age where she is starting to have severe migraines and this one produced stroke like symptoms from how it effected her brain. He did numerous blood tests the next day before discharging her as well to make sure it isn't some blood coagulation disorders that could have caused this episode, but we are still waiting on the results from those.

We came home on Saturday and needless to say, Greg and I did not get to go away, but being with her was more important. The neurologist put her on an aspirin a day until those blood results come in and since that we have had to deal with several nose bleeds. She is doing okay now, but we will have to see how often these may begin to occur and how aggressively we may need to treat them to keep them from getting as far along as this one did. We were also told because of the type of migraine she had that she is 4 times more likely in her life to have stroke. Not something a parent likes hearing, but something we need to be aware of. Please continue to pray for her and the doctors that will be treating her in the months to follow. Stress is a big key in how these may come on, and those that know us, know that she has been under a lot, so we are working on ways to relieve stress or ways to minimize it for her. So needless to say our Thanksgiving was good, but not uneventful!

I am still very thankful that those in my family are healthy right now and that it wasn't something much worse with Hannah. We are thankful to my parents for all they did and for being here at a time we really needed them! Hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with those you love all around!!

Fun in New Mexico

Papa and granny are in from Houston for the Thanksgiving Holiday and were able to do a little sight seeing with us. This past Saturday we went to White Sands National Monument outside of Alamogordo, New Mexico. It was just a little over an hour from here, but once again, with in such a short distance of home, we were able to see another beautiful creation and landscape from our Lord. I am amazed at such different views we can have just going an hour in opposite directions. I just recently received a New Mexico travel guide and I am so excited about all the things there are to do just a few hours away. If the snow comes this year we hope to go sledding and tubing only a couple of hours away from home this winter. White Sands Monument has acres of dunes and plenty of fun. It was a little chilly on Saturday, so the sand was very cold. The footprints you see in one of the photos of the slide show below are those of a road runner. They are all over out there, but do not look like the one we are familiar with that annoys "Willie" coyote. The white sand is actually gypsum and is very fine. You can do nature walks out here and a sunset guided tour that we hope to come back and do sometime soon. The girls were complaining about the long drive at first, but after sledding down the sand some they were asking when can we come back. It is a lot harder than you might think walking up loose sand and gave the girls a good workout that day. Going up is a lot harder than coming down and takes a little longer as well. Greg, myself, and my parents got tired just watching them, but enjoyed seeing them have so much fun.

After doing that for a couple of hours we all needed a little energy boost and snack all in one. We found a frozen custard place in the nearby town and went and all had a nice treat before our drive home and having to wait for hamburgers to be grilled. Frozen custard is awesome! The best one I have ever eaten at is in Illinois, but this one was still very good. It is so much creamier than your regular ice cream and just makes a great sundae or blizzard. We all had different things, but everyone enjoyed it. We saw a beautiful night sky as we were traveling home and pulled off to take a picture. The temperature drops pretty quick out here when the sun goes down out here, but the sky puts off some beautiful colors. The few trees we have around here are changing to fall colors finally and it is beginning to feel a little like the holiday season. It has still been warm here, but they say highs in the 50s this weekend with possile snow flurries Saturday night into Sunday morning. Below is a short clip of one of the girls sledding from this past weeknd and I will try to change it every couple of days so stay tuned to catch them all having a blast!

GOD BLESS OUR COUNTRY!

Today is veteran's day and a very hard day for Greg. He has been in a war zone 4 times in his military career and will probably go back in 2009. He serves his country proudly, following in the footsteps of his dad and many others before him. He reflects every veteran's day at all those lost during the wars our country has fought. He told me just today about a friend he had made when he was there back in 2003 and how hard the day that friend died was even though they had only known each other 4 months. He still remembers the ceremony they had over there for his friend as if it was just yesterday. The military is such a brotherhood and an immediate bond is formed with those who are putting their lives on the line for our freedom. No matter your stand on this war, we need to always support our troops while they are out doing as their country commands them to do. They need our prayers on a daily basis! Please take a moment today to pray and thank God for our soldiers both present and past, their families, and the future of our country. I am so proud to be an army wife and to have a husband that stands for this great country God has blessed us to live in! Always appreciate what freedoms we have! Please don't ever lose sight of where your freedom came from and all those that fought for us to have it!
GOD BLESS AMERICA, MY HOME SWEET HOME!!!!!

In God We Still Trust

Pause the music below and listen to the words of this song. Let's hope our nation continues to stand on the bible and in these times ahead, let us all trust in God again! Thanks for the song Stef!

Words of great comfort!

Christian MySpace Graphics

El Paso Sunset

Saturday night we decided to go to the Wyler Tram and view a Texas sunset from the top of the Franklin Mountains. We got there just in time, the sun was beginning to set behind the western horizon. We live on the east side of the mountains which was already pretty dark, but you are looking over the west side of the mountain as the sun sets over New Mexico and Mexico. The wind picked up a little while we were up top and it was a bit chilly as well. A cup of hot chocolate would have been nice to keep your hands warm and warm you inside. A jacket is a definite must if we do this again in the evening hours of the cooler season. It was beautiful and reminds you of all the beautiful things God created. It was so peaceful up there that you could actually forget your troubles for a minute, and just think about all you have to be thankful for. That is something we all need to take the time to do daily, but especially at this time of the year. Greg and I tried to sneak a few romantic kisses in as the sun went down, but Shelby quickly squeezed in the middle of us to try and get warm and told us our kissing wasn't helping her get any warmer. We enjoyed our time together as a family!

All about us

Gregory

Greg has just moved to a new unit with just being here 2 months now. He is still in the 11th Air Defense Artillery, but is more in headquarters now. He will still be teaching in his field, which is NBC (Nuclear Biological Chemical warfare). This unit just began forming about 4 weeks ago so I am sure they will be looking to Greg for a lot of support since he has had a few years in the business. He will probably be a go to man since he has had 18 years in and many different specialties. He is updating his combat medical readiness certification this week and will probably be getting stuck today since he has good veins. He just bought a new 308 rifle to go hunting with Kalani this winter out in Oklahoma, since that is his home of record.


I am staying busy with home schooling a 10th and 7th grader. I am looking ahead to next year when I will have 3 home, and I am trying to be better prepared and more organized. I am steadily refreshing myself with Algebra II as Kalani needs help each day. I am volunteering at Lauren and Shelby’s school when I can and going to eat lunch with them some as well. I still enjoy cooking for my family and trying new things all the time. I am baking 2 cakes for our cake walk at the harvest festival at our church this Friday night. I think it is beautiful out here and really like El Paso, but it was made by our Savior’s hand so of course it is. I am just happy to be with my family and we are blessed to have one another.

Kalani-15

Kalani is in the 10th grade now and doing well in all her subjects. This year will probably be her fullest year as she is taking her last year of Spanish and 2 other electives along with her basic subjects. She is looking forward to learning to drive and now has the Texas driver’s book that she can begin studying to get her permit maybe next summer. Kalani and Greg plan to go hunting out in Oklahoma at the first of December. She just got a new 270 rifle from her papa and granny in Houston, and is hoping to shoot her first deer with it. Kalani is taking home economics this year and has been doing projects and cooking for us as well. Everything has been good so far and no major disasters. Kalani loves anything to do with Star Wars, but especially Legos and all the different series of books.
A'nika-13

A’nika is in the 9th grade this year and is playing volleyball for her school. She is also playing trumpet again this year for the band. She is striving to keep her grades up this year as these high school years are very important to her future in college. She still plans on going to college to become a veterinarian, which means she still has many years of school to go. She loves animals, reading, and watching The Suite Life of Zack and Cody. She is planning on going hunting this year and is excited about the thought of shooting a gun. This shocks us from the girl that never wants any animal to hurt. She is currently reading in the Redwall, Warriors, and Phantom Stallion series.

Hannah-13 Hannah is in the 7th grade this year and is doing well adjusting in only her second year at home. Hannah is taking flute lessons at the church to hopefully play in the orchestra there soon. She is doing very well, but all her years in piano have helped. She is also due to start piano lessons back next week with the lady that plays piano for our church. She is taking a creative writing course this year to help her with her penmanship and story writing. I wish I had done it with Kalani, but it will be very good for Hannah. She is enjoying watching Kalani take home economics and has already asked if she can take it in 9th grade, not 10th. She is the one that found our little stray, Libby, and is so attached to that little kitty. I have to make her focus on school at times and stop going to check on the cat.


Tyson-12

Tyson is in the 6th grade this year and seems to be enjoying his first year of middle school. He is learning to play the trumpet for band this year and I am sure driving the neighbors crazy as he practices some days. I am sure he asks his nice big sister to help him at times as well. Tyson enjoys playing his video games and even calls his dad to help him out on the Pitfall game at times. When he is not being annoyed by his sisters he tries to find some quiet time and read books in the Hardy Boy series. He plans on playing softball for the school this spring and is excited about getting his own glove. Tyson is doing great considering how many sisters he has, and can handle his own when around them all together. He loves Star Wars and enjoys putting together the Lego ships.

Lauren-11

Lauren is in the 5th grade and I think is excited about coming home next year with her sisters, although they have told her they are not so crazy about the idea. She loves her new school out here and has a wonderful teacher that is goofy like her. She is taking art this year and really enjoys doing that in school. Maybe it helps get some of her creative energy out. She is always goofy as you can see by her chin video in this blog, but I will say Shelby and Hannah were in on the making of it as well. Lauren has all the sudden developed a kick for hot sauce and is putting it on almost anything. She just loves to eat and is always hungry. Lauren and Shelby now have a beta fish in their room which Lauren named Larry.


Leanna-10

Leanna is in the 4th grade this year and is little miss bubbly as always. She seems to enjoy most of the same things her older sister does, reading, animals, and so on. What Leanna wants to be when she grows up must have changed 10 times this past summer while they were with us. She loves horses and even believes she is an expert in the field at times. She is staying busy by being miss social butterfly and spending lots of time with her best friend, Gina, but I am sure she still has plenty of time to annoy her brother and sister. She was in a car accident with her “big sister” last month, so we are very grateful that everyone was okay and no one was seriously hurt. Leanna loves to get on the phone and talk to Kalani, just to tease her or annoy her.

Shelby-9

Shelby is in the 3rd grade this year and still my little budding author. She loves to sit at the computer and write stories. She still says she wants to go to college to become an author some day. She is in the gifted and talented class here, but still comes home and complains about how easy the work is at times. She has made lots of new friends this year as it is never a problem for her. Where we live she can go right behind the house and play with her friends on a playground after homework is done some days. She is enjoying getting more into chapter books this year and earning those AR points. We are studying multiplication facts now and learning to write in cursive. It brings back memories of when I was in school, but also makes me realize my baby is growing up.