Been a while, huh?

Just when I thought life couldn't get any crazier/busier, I'm proven wrong once again! This year, for the first time EVER, I managed to get all of my shopping and gift wrapping done before Christmas AND managed to send out Christmas "cards". I was quite happy about that. I feel like I'm finally starting to get enough energy back now to get to the real housecleaning, too. Right now, we have someone that comes every other week (was weekly for almost a year). I'm feeling like soon we can get rid of that expense. The economy is sooo bad that I'm really looking for ways to be more frugal without really having to sacrifice too, too much.

Here's a picture of Jonathan reading to the boys at bedtime:

Micah is progressing in leaps and bounds with his hearing and it's so fun to watch how he reacts to sounds around him. This week, he noticed the microwave beeping and got all excited about that. He's trying to mimic the dogs barking, and runs to see who's at the door when they start to bark. Jacob, of course, just has to be in on the action. Jacob is learning new words every day now. Right now, I'm wishing I had one of those really nice cameras to takes pictures of the boys and have good quality shots.

Here's a video clip of the babies during one of Micah's Auditory Verbal Therapy sessions at home. It was taken shortly after his implants were activated.

My "baby" is going away to college this week. He's been my baby for 18 yrs. before the twins were born. It's really a bittersweet feeling. I know I'll miss him, but I'm so ready for him to learn about what responsibility really is. My daughter is bracing herself for the seven long months that her husband will be away on cruise. Thankfully, she'll be very busy with her second semester of nursing school and hopefully more visits home.

And here are some pictures of my kids from this Christmas. The first is of my oldest son with his girlfriend, the second is of my daughter and her husband, the third older "child" is my third son. Then, of course, there are the twins: