Really Long Time!!!!

Yeah I know, it's been forever since I've posted. We are still around though. I'll try to post some pictures soon, but here's a basic rundown of what we have been doing.

New Year's we didn't do much of anything--stayed up and watched the fireworks at Midnight. The fireworks are crazy in Europe on New Year's--they go on for about 45 minutes in every direction you look.

Then we had Brendan's Pinewood Derby. I was very proud of him. Without Dad here he was responsible for his car start to finish. He came up with the idea of making a "watermelon car." I took him to the woodshop where they helped him use the bandsaw to cut it, then a chisel to finish it. He basically did it on him own--just minimal supervision. Then he sanded and painted it completely on his own. The morning of the race he got a bit of help with the wheels from one of the dads and then he was good to go. He raced 3 heats and did 2nd in the first 2 and 3rd in the last one--so no placing this year. He was very happy with what he accomplished though so it was a great time.

Next we had Meghan's birthday. She is now 5!!! We had her first friends party and she was so excited. We had 4 of her friends from preschool over for a Wizard of OZ party and, of course, Meghan was dressed as Dorothy--all the way down to the ruby red slippers. She had a blast!!

The next week was Dillan's birthday. My baby is 2--I can't believe it. We had some family friends over for pizza and cake and it was a really nice day. Dillan just kept telling everyone he was having a car cake. Oh and that he was 4! He was so funny--I kept asking him if he was 2 and he would say "No my 4".

We are in the middle of basketball season. Brendan is loving it! He has never played before, but is doing quite well. Katie didn't want to play basketball, but she is doing cheerleading. She looks so cute in her uniform and is having a great time. (Meghan wasn't old enough for cheerleading otherwise I'm sure she would have done it too.)

And now for the biggest bit of news. We are preparing for something that I always said I would NEVER do. February 8th is going to be Brendan's last day in public school. We are pulling him out to homeschool him. He HATES school so much and hates it more everyday. He is not being challenged in any way, spends so much time doing "free time" activities because he is finished with his work, gets in trouble frequently because of boredom, and now his grades are dropping--not because he doesn't understand, but because he doesn't care at all about the work. The thing that has been stopping me is the social aspect of school. But, the more I think about it, the more I realize he gets all the social activities and listening to other adults in other venues. He has his sports, scouts, CCD, and extracurricular activites at school that he can continue--such as Chess Club. He will also continue to attend school one day a week for TAG (Talented and Gifted). That was the one day he actually enjoyed and was challenged in. I'm very excited about this (so is he), but I'm also a bit nervous about how it is all going to work. I'll keep you posted!