November already

Last I wrote summer was just ending. A lot of things have happened since then & I have to say life has been pretty exciting.

First of all turns out Nina wasn't pregnant after all -- thank the Lord -- she just wanted everyone to think she was, why? we will never understand the workings of a twisted mind. I have to say if you have to win friends by lying about being pregnant you are most likely hanging with the wrong crowd. Seems pretty obvious to me guess not to everyone, go figure.

Nina is now working at a job where the managers know her troubles & are working with her an us to keep Nina honest. I am grateful, she also brings home a time clock ticket indicating when she clocked in & out for breaks as well. She is taking some college courses and seems to have her head screwed on correctly for the time being. We even gave her a raise due to her performance here at the house improving, I couldn't be happier about that.

Secondly Hayden is now part of the family officially. The adoption is final and it feels different for some reason. We actually have a little boy that is basically ours. Weird.

Thirdly, Hayden has finally turned a developmental corner. It is neat to see him evaluate peers behavior. He knows they are being "bad" & wants no part of it. He will stand back & just observe. We are working with him on what is appropriate, now that he is aware of what is inappropriate. I think this is really neat & I am truly encouraged.

We have been able to leave him without our supervision for periods of time now & when I pick him up, caretakers will actually look me in the face to say Hayden has been good. When they can't look you in the eye you know something is amiss. ha

Scholastically, Hayden is doing well. In his many clubs he has had to preform against his peers, reading out loud, solving problems etc and he, in most cases is the best reader in the group, or is able to figure out things before any other students. This is especially encouraging to me since we home school and for most part I have no gauge if Hayden is in-line with other 8 year old, or behind. Seeing him performing amongst his peers, he is ahead of them scholastically.

Since the start of school, we have been involved in several activities. Let me list them Football, Soccer, Dance, Horse riding lessons, 4H, Church and scouts. Might not seem like a lot but we are doing something everyday except for Fridays and most Saturdays we have to choose between Scouts, Soccer, or Football. Sometimes leaving a soccer game early to get to the football game or vice versa. I thought things were going along pretty well, hectic but well until Hayden told me, two possibly three times, he felt rush and that we were doing too many things. I asked him what he wanted to cut back on & it was hard for him to choose. Hard for me as well since I enjoy all the activities he is engaged in.

We decided since he holds an office in 4H we couldn't stop 4H. Scouts is such a great program & I hold an office there we couldn't drop scouts. Football and Soccer will all be over this coming weekend so there are two things that will be wiped from our schedule. Of course since we have horses, we can't drop that so the only other thing was dance. Hate it but I don't think H is enjoying it as much this year as he was last year. He is doing Jazz, & I think we should have stayed with Tap. Oh well you live & learn.

So this time next week we will be three activities lighter and hopefully we can enjoy some down time, just hanging out time. Won't that be terrific!