Another Week

Just an update on my Dad. He got pneumonia this week, and they did a scan of his lungs and found that the tumors have returned in his chest by his aorta. He seems to be getting over the pneumonia, and hopefull will spend more time at home with my Mom. We are just keeping them in our prayers.

Here, it's been another week. I did my Walgreens shopping and my grocery shopping. I saved a bundle at both. I am especially pleased with my Walgreens deals. I ended up getting a bunch of hair product stuff(gel, gel, and hair serum stuff), candy(because it was practically free), milk (5 gallons), and toothbrushes all for $19 ($12.50 of which was the milk). Anyway, I am really having fun with this coupon stuff.

We had parent-teacher conferences. Both Matthew and Kara are doing well. We requested to have Matthew tested because at the first of the year, he was complaining a lot that he was bored. The did the tests, and he did really well in all area, except one. It was called Working Memory (or something like that). Instead of thinking about the answers, he just answers quickly. He too the math test that tells how he is doing, and he answered 52 questions in 17 minutes (this was not a timed test. He could have taken 2 hours if he wanted). Initially (with out really thinking it through- hmmm I wonder where Matt gets that from:), I thought, wow, that was 2 questions a minute, but then I really did the math, and he was answering 3 questions a minute. Now, he didn't answer them all right. It is a test that is designed to be way hard. It is just that he answered them so fast. The lady that tested him said they would like to test him again in a year to see where he is.

Anyway, so much of his parent-teacher conference was about how we can get him to think more about what he is working on. He is so good and knows so many of the answers because they are all memorized, that he has never had to work and think through things before, so we came up with some ideas to get him thinking more in depth about what he is working on. I am so glad he is doing well in school. One other thing we are doing is having him look for the good and fun in school. I make him tell me 10 things he enjoyed about school every day. I am hoping that as I have him look for the good in school, he will enjoy it more because I can totally tell that his teacher is really working to make school enjoyable for him. I am so glad Matthew is such a good kid, and that he is nice to his peers and does his work. He adds so much life to our house.

Kara is doing really well in school. She absolutely loves it. It is such a change from last year. I am so grateful that she really enjoys and looks forward to school. It has been a real answer to my prayers. She is very obedient, nice to her friends, works well, and is doing fine. I think sometimes she doesn't show everything she knows because she doesn't want to get the answer wrong. I think she has some perfectionistic tendancies (Thanks to the Taylor genes in her). She is a wonderful daughter, and I am so glad to have her.

Lindsay had a week off from preschool. She is so much fun to have around the house. She is such a good helper when she wants to be. The more I think about it, the more I want to keep her home next year. I think I'll just start her out in 5K. I guess we'll have to see how the schools do things when/if we sell our house and find another one.

Seth is doing well. He is eating a ton. He got some birthday clothes just at the beginning of the month, and I thought they were a bit too big for him, but now the are getting to be on the small side. He is growing so much. He has been a bit fussy the past couple of weeks. I think we have had fifth disease around our house. So, for you pregnant people who have been in contact with us or our kids the past couple of weeks, you might want to let you OB know, so you know what to look for because althought it is a super mild illness for children and adults, it can be super bad for the unborn child.

I think Seth has been a little sick with that, and I think he is moving from two naps a day to one. If I give him a morning, nap, he doesn't really take a good afternoon one, and then the evenings are super difficult. But, if he doesn't take a morning nap, he will take a great one in the afternoons, and then our evenings are better. Anyway, he really is a good baby, and he has been fun to have around the house.

Mom T sent us some shoes for Sethy. They are so cute. They are those squeaky shoes that squeak when he walks. At first they kind of scared him, but then he got used to it, and would dance to make them squeak. I'll have to see if I can get him to do a little dance while I record it, so I can show it on the blog. It is really quite cute.

Brian is still doing well in school and work and scouts. We are really looking forward to having him home more in December and the first part of January when there is the winter break. Hurray.

Today, we went to sacrament meeting and then I saw how rosy all my children's faces were, and we decided that with the 100s of pregnant people in our ward, we'd better say better safe than sorry, and went home. We would hate to spread the disease and harm someone's baby, even though we shouldn't be contagious because the rash has appeared.

Sacrament meeting was on gratitude and being grateful for all we have. Two of the talks especially touched me. One of the ladies said she was complaining to her brother about how tired she was from waking up every night with her baby, and he said "at least you have someone to wake you up." The other mother said that on Monday, she stayed home from work (and she was sad because she doesnt' work much) and she found many things to be grateful for that day. She got to hold her sick baby, she could hear him crying, she had a warm house, etc... She said she might not have been so grateful had she not been assigned to speak on gratitude. They were talks that reminded me of things I need to remember. My mother has also been a great example for me. She has been so focused on enjoying ever day she spends with my dad. She doesn't worry about what will happen when he dies, but she focuses on the days or sometimes the minutes and hours that she enjoys with him. I am so blessed to have so many good examples in my life. I am so blessed in many areas of my life.