Playing Catch-Up...

Wow, it has been a LONG time since I've blogged regularly. What can I say?  Life is just too busy and something had to go!  A quick snapshot of what you've missed while I was slacking:

I've been working too much and still chugging along in grad school.  But I LOVE my jobs (both of them) and my students (most of them)...and I only have two more semesters until grad school is just a distant memory!

While I struggle to be there for the Littles with my busy schedule, Daddy has been AMAZING in picking up the slack.  In fact, I give him credit for the fact that both of them are finally reading!  (He really surprised me with his dedication to homework time.)

 

In February, Molly was baptized in big Church, proudly proclaiming herself to be a Christ follower (and making her Mommy cry just a little bit in the process).

Buster has settled nicely into a routine with the family, but he is still boisterous and occasionally destructive...so obedience training is in his very near future.

Carson and Molly are busier than ever!  Carson is back to playing soccer...

...and playing better than ever!  (See him there in the center?)  He has a new focus and determination that makes for a much better spectator experience for Mom and Dad.  And he LOVES the game!

Molly is taking dance again...

 

...and loving every minute of it!  Well, she loves the costumes, and the music, and the attention.  But the listening and the following directions?  Well, she's working on it.

The Littles are also in the Kidz Choir and AWANA at Church.  They have decided they want to take music lessons next year...we'll see how THAT goes as Carson learns drums and Molly learns piano.  Something may have to give, but we'll see.

We are VERY into baseball these days.  Evan is pitching for U.C. and we attended as many games as we could this season...and even got to see him pitch in a few!  He and Meggie have been dating for 18 months now and he really is like part of the family!

That was all the kids on Easter Sunday, which also happened to be Evan's 19th birthday.

We sold Daddy's pickup truck to get rid of a car payment and a huge gas-guzzling vehicle.  We made enough on the sale to pay off the truck, get a small used car (which promptly stopped working the VERY NEXT DAY, but we're working on that)...and we'll be using the rest of the money to fence in our back yard for Buster and pay off some debt.  (Dave Ramsey would be so proud!)

Meggie survived and thrived in her first year of College!  I mean, yeah, she texted me pretty much constantly with questions and complaints about dorm life, and homework, and difficult courses, and everything else. But she did it...on her own!  She finished Freshman year with some new friends and a respectable GPA all while working two part-time jobs and volunteering at Children's Hospital once a week!

And now Meggie is back home for the summer!  It is so awesome to see how much she has grown this academic year...she is so focused on her education and career path and really making her Momma proud! And it's nice to have her back in the house...she really is a pleasure to have around!

Whew!  I think that was at least the highlights...but there is more to come, for sure. 

For whoever is still out there lurking in Blogland, thanks for not giving up on me!