I havent been on the blog much lately. I've been creeping around adding more and more GT blogs to the list of blogs I am following. I have been thinking that I probably need to come up with a theme since I don't think random counts. LIfe is pretty good right now. Brian had a clean scan so we get to pretend to be normal until his next treatment in March/scan in April. Can't beat that. It gives us a few months to get some medical bills paid off before we aquire some more. I really should go back to work full time or pick up some more work to get us out of debt, but so far I haven't found the time nor the energy.

The kids are doing well. Let's devote a paragraph to each one. lol.

Angie is growing up and such a good kid. I'd like to brag that its because I'm such a great mom, but really its just her. She is very in tune to other's emotions and feelings. When I was in Vegas she competed in the 4H food challenge competition and her team got second. This semester she completed a whole year of theory work in voice, so when she goes back in January, she will be at grade level. She did awesome at her UIL meet this year. 1st in ready writing, 1st in music memory, 1st in artsmart, and 2nd in listening.

My sweet Tony is an avid reader. So far he is the top reader for his grade. It took some trickery on my part. He's always read a lot, but he wasn't testing on his books. Last year their school went to a web-based instead of a school based testing program. So, every book we have in our house so far has had a test, but he wouldn't take them unless the book was also in their library, which was true under the old system. So, i broke the ice by buying the library a copy of the book he was reading at the time. Lol. I just want him to read what he's interested in, and continue to love it. He did UIL music memory and got 1st place. T doesn't do pressure too well.Can't remember if I've blogged about the fact theat he's developed a tic. The ped says that its stress related and that he should grow out of it. So, house rules are one event. I'm hoping that healthy pressure in small quantities will help him in the long run. Same with piano. He has a wonderful teacher. I'm thankful that she understands him and is focused on making it fun with just small amts. of pressure. She says that I don't have to enter him in the competitions in the Spring, so we will see.

Zac has made huge strides in school this year. I'm so proud of him. Parenting him is always a challenge, but I love that kid. Hopefully I do right by him. He is really really bright. He may actually end up passing up his siblings, but he doesn't want anyone to know he's bright. And I have to leave him the heck alone. He's made a great deal of progress with his reading mainly because he loves to read to his brother and sister. ANother thing he doesn't want anyone to know, he is very caring and tender hearted. Today we drove by the old Santa Anna hospital. Zac says there's that creepy ass old hospital. Funny. I should be more upset by this. But, he's not calling anyone names and he knows knows not to talk this way around others.

Aiden is enjoying pre-K and often asks to 'do school' at home. I could teach him to read and he would have no trouble learning, but I have debated the semester away. He knows all the letters and sounds and Zac has taught him some words. He often asks to spell 3 letter words. I just don't know if it's better to teach them to read early or to fill them up with facts. What I'm saying is, I just want it to be fun. If there's a mistake, I've made it. Aiden still loves me lots which is nice.

Emi is growing like crazy. She is a smart one too. Super girly and she knows how to manipulate us. Right now we are trying to teach her that crying won't get her way. I think that's just part of being Three. Sadly, she has all her siblings wrapped around her finger too. This week we've had several conversations about them staying out of it when we are parenting her and she is crying. LOL. Funny when you have more kids, you worry that they aren't getting what your older kids got. When Angie and Tony, and even Zac to some extent, were younger, we holed up at home, played with them, read to them etc. So, this fall I've made a big effort to try not to drag the younger kids to every football game etc, but funny thing is, Emi WANTS to be at the older kids events. She wants to do things with them.