A random update copied from an e-mail to a friend

So I sent an e-mail to a friend tonight giving an update of myself and my family and I thought I would just post it here and give an update to all who visit the blog. If I dedicated more time to writing, I could provide more detail on several events/ideas within this one blog post such as homeschool workboxes, Cousins Camp, reaching financial goals, Klaus' antics, etc. but for now I don't feel I can write about them fully. So here is simply an update. This year for homeschool we have started a new organizational system which I first read about on a friend's blog called workboxes. I loved the idea and so began a search of some way we could use it and still be affordable. I found the most perfect cabinet for sale on Craigslist. It is a giant 72-slot steel cabinet that you can organize papers in. I have 12 rows for each kid and they start at #1 and work on their own time through #12. I am amazed at how much we have accomplished in the past month of homeschool. We are flying through books--really good books that I have been meaning to read for a long time! I have a half-hour "Free Play with Klaus" card that Kian, Abby and Ella each get so that I can have a half hour free for the other kids to read one-on-one and have kindergarten with Felicity. They love to play with Klaus and I love letting them! The kids and I are loving the system and we are really doing well this year for school. It takes me 30-60 minutes to get it organized at night and to change out their slots with new math pages and english lessons, etc. but it is much better than having to gather the right supplies in the middle of the day. I feel much less harassed. I still have quiet time each day where I can either have a nap or read a book. I love to read YA fiction but also have finally gotten around to some nonfiction. Bruiser was a new YA novel I really enjoyed. I am sometimes busy with my YW calling. I am the counselor over the Beehives. My class is so great. They are amazing girls and such good examples. I like to go to mutual. I feel younger being around them. I love the calling. Matt and I are still committed to losing weight this year. I am down 23 pounds! He is down 25! I am two pounds away from my goal but still have a bunch of flab around my butt and belly to get rid of before I can fit into my size 8 jeans that I wore after losing weight with Ella. Fitting well into those jeans is my new goal. I want to get stronger too. We are trying to exercise every week day but it's tricky if I don't get enough sleep. I had my first migraine headache the first week we woke up early to exercise. I took the next week off and then last week tried it again and had stomach issues. I have to find the right balance between enough sleep and exercising. It's tricky. I love working at the library and I put the first chunk of my paycheck toward savings each month. It feels so good to be able to have financial goals and actually feel like we can meet them! I shop for our food 3 months at a time, using the same menu plan for each month of the three. 14 dinner ideas twice each month makes for fairly easy meal planning. Less shopping = less spending. We had a great and busy summer. Cousins Camp was so much fun. Next year our family's plan is to take a trip westward to Utah and California to visit with family and friends. My brother Warren is getting married. So this year for history we are studying westward expansion and western American history. The following year I would love to take a family trip eastward and study early American history. It's cool to be right in the middle of the country! Matt's teaching 6th grade and enjoying it still. That takes up most of his time. He is ward mission leader. He plays softball on Tuesday evenings and takes care of the kids for me when I go to work. Kian is still a computer lover. He wants to play chess after reading a book about it but needs a chess board! He will be 12 on his next birthday--bizarro! He loves to listen to books on CD and likes scouts. Abby loves to read and play Barbies and all other girlie-girl toys. She loves Activity Days. She tells her sister stories at night before going to sleep unless they are listening to a story on CD too. When she is playing in a group of kids, it always seems like she gets boys to chase her around. She loves to listen to the radio (that's a new thing). I wish I could afford satellite radio and edit out the public stations. Ella is still Ella. Playful, cheerful, happy to be around, loves to eat. The girls made a batch of cookies the other day when we needed some all by themselves and they were great! She is an avid reader too. She and Felicity are BFF although she considers herself an "older kid" and Felicity would still be in the younger category. Felicity's hair is still so amazing. She will be turning 5 in December (and me 35!) and then Klaus 2 the following day! Turning 5 means she can chew gum and can cut her own pancakes and waffles. She follows Ella around. She gets worn out when we try to hike together as a family. She needs to get to bed early or else turns into a crying mess. Whenever there is a chore to do she tells me her legs are too tired. Klaus calls all of us "Mom" with a loving hug and pat. He is mostly happy and curious. He drank some dish soap last week and tried to eat some poisonous berries from a bush at church. He can open the doors at church and thus has escaped nursery. He can open the first set of doors leading outside of the church building but thankfully has not figured out how to open the second set which lead outdoors. He is strong! He can lead the other toddlers in the foyer at church into rooms that the other toddlers are too little to open. It's the age where we have to know what he is doing at every moment or else it means trouble. Like the entire box of puzzles dumped out and all of the pieces mixed together. We just threw them all away. It would've been too hard to organize them. We have lots of marker on the couches and the walls, etc. If he finds his way into the bathrooms--ugh the trouble he can get into there is just disgusting. Apparently Felicity cut a chunk of his hair the other day. I couldn't get anyone to admit to doing it. Matt asked her, "Felicity, did you have fun cutting Klaus' hair?" and she replied, "Yes!" Hah! We caught her! That's our life currently. School, church, work, reading, sleeping, trying not to eat too much, balancing the responsibilities of life. We have barely any time to watch movies anymore. In the evening we are too tired! But I feel so blessed. It's a good kind of busy.