Update...

Wow, either I don't have a lot to say or too much to do to put it all down. It's really been a long time since I posted. So on to the news:

Kyle- Kyle started a new contract job in Denver about 5 weeks ago which is keeping him extremely busy. He's gone on average of 70 hours a week. Keep in mind 2 hours a day is just commute time. We think it will pan out to be very profitable for him both monetarily and experience-wise. We are hoping to move to Denver sometime early next year to help alleviate the pain of the commute. With Kyle being gone so much the weekends are definitely precious time and we are making the most of every moment.

Terra- I'm still at home with the kids and most days happy about that. I feel that my life is more ordered (sometimes too much) and healthy now that I'm not working 12 hour days and have to live life in more of a routine for the kids. I stay busy cleaning, cooking, diapering, feeding, reading, playing, teaching, etc. It's amazing how fast the time goes when I feel that I do so little of impact every day. I am apart of our church's Christmas choir singing Handel's Messiah this year. It's my one opportunity during the week to interact with adults and challenge myself in an area outside of raising toddlers. It's been quite enjoyable.

Dean- Dean is busy learning and exploring his world. He has become much easier to communicate with though he still will often slip into his own language. He loves to help Mom and feels very important when directing Abi during playtime. Dean also loves to sing. He loves the clean up song, the patience song, Jesus loves Me, Veggie Tales theme, Winnie-the-Pooh, and the Tigger song. It's really quite sweet. He can now identify all 26 letters of the alphabet and associate an animal with them (thanks to his flash cards). He knows basic shapes and colors, though he still confuses red with purple. He's very adept at doing puzzles and loves putting them together at least once a day. Dean's favorite activity remains being outside, but with the weather beginning to change I'm having to find better ways to engage him inside. I recently bought some water colors and scissors to see if they can interest him. He's not big into making messes so he won't often play with things that are (such as play-dough). Dean is a tender hearted boy which often bring tears to my eyes (be they tears of joy or frustration). He seems to cry at the drop of a hat, but also loves to cuddle. So one can't complain.

Abi- Abi is approaching her one year birthday on Sunday. It's amazing that it's already been a year and yet it seems she's always been with us. She is a very outgoing loving little girl. She's very independent and does not want to be fed anymore, which makes cooking for her a challenge as she still only has 8 teeth. She doesn't mind messes though so will try to feed herself anything she can. She is cruising around furniture and loves to take our kitchen stools and push them around the kitchen like walkers. She's had a few spills but overall does really well. Abi still adores her big brother and wants to do everything he does. He's not always excited about this and is learning to be gentle with her even when needing his space. Abi, though determined, is far less emotional then Dean and gets over things much quicker. She also seems far more flexible with life then he does. Though she is a lot of work to keep out of things, she is so much fun to have around!

Well that's all for now. Hopefully I'll remember to take some more pictures soon. It's hard to see how fast they change when you're with them 24/7!

Here's a few shots of the kids from our photo shoot last month!