Just a quick update Friday, September 26, 2008

The boys are doing GREAT! Justin is in public school this year and is loving it. He has an absolutely fabulous teacher who lives two buildings away from us in our apartment community ironically. The only issue we are running into now is because we kept him in third grade so he could catch up to his age and not have so much academic pressure on him he's now in the 'advanced' third grade which is defeating the purpose of not putting too much pressure on him, at least in the math arena. Please keep us in your prayers on that! I would love for him to find a place where he fits and not forever be struggling to find the middle ground. Justin is still finding his fit. He loves the newest toy and newest electronic of the season, not unlike his Dad. He also loves the oldie but goodie of Legos including the new Mindstorm NXTs and anything he can create something new and unthought of out of. He is taking tennis lessons this year and loving it. I'm continually surprised at how athletic he is and how quickly he picks up a sport, as there is not an athletic bone in my body. Or Brandon's for that matter, as far as interest, capability wise he'll do anything.

Shawn is still at his private school where he goes twice a week and homeschools twice a week this year. I love having the time with him by himself that one normally does not get with a second child. He is such a sweet child, and adores animals. He is learning all about the different classes of animals in first grade this year and is 100% fascinated by it. In the spring he got the itch to have and grow a  lily pad so froggies would come and live on it. That developed into a full on planter lily pad pond on our verandah and though no froggies have come to live in it he has imported quite a supply of fishies. He goes out and plays with them for hours on end by catch and release, catch and release. His other fascination is Pokemon on the Wii. He is currently playing the Wii with one hand and simultaneously playing with my hair with the other hand. Job possibilities for him include on the high income end: veterinarian, zoo veterinarian, zoologist, on the high interest end: animal rescuer, animal performance director, animal keeper. He would also like to work with Dad at his job. He is doing a multi-sport class this year that includes soccer, basketball, baseball, soccer, volleyball, and more. His first choice was a volleyball class, and his second was baseball. I couldn't find a volleyball only class, and I wasn't about to commit to the three evening a week practices and games on Saturday commitment of baseball, so we went with something that covered both sports. Most of the kids in his class are younger, but he's loving it.