Update

In case you were wondering (because I know you all fervently read our spellbinding blog), our family has been in the process of transitioning out of the group home as I move on to a new position intervening in troubled families within their own homes and Ben returns to school. We have mixed feelings because the last three years have been a wonderful experience for us, but we really intended to stay at this job for just a year or two, and so it is good for us to move on. I took Eva to work with me for the last time this weekend and after all of the peace and quiet and individual attention Eva has received during our move it was exhausting to be reminded of how overstimulated she is around ten teenage girls competing for attention! On the other hand, it was sad when it was time for the girls to say goodbye, probably more so for me than for Eva or the girls! So, in the midst of a mixed up time, here are the highlights of the last month or two:

Nate has made tremendous strides recently. He is walking steadily and jabbering away. Nate has also started really eating which is a huge step because we anticipated that it would take several years for him to really learn to eat well and we would have to spend a lot of time coaching him because of the problems with his esophagus. Nate is a little miracle kid with all that he has faced and overcome already! He has really figured out on his own how to drink with his food and cough after he eats to clear the sounds of his Striders. The other day I gave the kids tiny cubes of cut up carrots and Nate swallowed one of the cubes with a swig of water just like he was taking a pill! We are crossing our fingers that it won't be long until his G-tube is a thing of the past. It is such a change to see Nathan play so much! In the past because he was so tired all he wanted to do was watch movies. Now he wants down off of the sofa so he can horeseplay with his dad, run around, and play with his dinosaurs (Nate's newest obsession besides Fritos and Shrek).

Eva's vocabulary is growing daily as well. My kids are so different from each other that I feel like Eva is really another first child. It is amazing to watch her copy our words and to see her building language and understanding. Eva is a blessing in many ways, but she has a special role in Nathan's life as he watches her form words and copy the sounds she makes. Both of the kids started saying "mine" recently, which is shocking, I know, since this fall Eva will be two and Nate will be three. Eva is sweetly mischievious, and it is hard not to laugh when she is sneaky. Eva has starting hiding when she has something she knows she is not supposed to play with, and if she is cornered by a parent asking for the object she'll throw it as far as she can and then run away. The other day Eva was banging her cup at dinner and I asked her to stop, and she did right away. I told her she did a great job listening. Then Eva banged her cup twice on the table, stopped, and with a proud smile said, "Good girl!" Demonstrating that Eva knows both what she is not supposed to do and how to stop is a frequent occurance.

Both of the kids love the cat at Grandma and Grandpa Lehnhof's house and chase it around saying, "kitty, kitty." They also love Salem Pond and feeding the ducks! And it is amazing to me that somehow my kids have a sixth sense for permanent markers - you'd think I leave them all over the place, but somehow they found the huge marker I have been using to label moving boxes in my purse and decorated the sheets on Nathan's bed in record time. I am so grateful that the Pottery Barn Kids duvet covers I adore and saved up for were spared!

Ben is back in school taking 19 credits and working hard. If you heard that Ben was a notorious underachiever, times have changed. Ben breezed his way through his first years at BYU with little studying and neglected homework, but now he is a serious student and studies every night. He started the semester a week late and caught up and even worked ahead in most of his classes. Ben went to school to take a math test and found out that the class was behind the syllabus and that he completed hours of extra math homework! I am confident that he is now going to graduate at the top of his class in no time!

I am just enjoying the time with my kids and with Ben. It is amazing that even though I have been working 40-50 hours a week, I have spent more quality time with my family than I did working from home 50-60 hours a week. I am grateful for the blessings associated with our mission of sorts for the last few years, but I am cherishing new experiences, such as our first homemade family dinner with the kids less ten girls a few weeks ago. I forgot how easy it is to cook for just a couple of people and I might actually start experimenting again! Although I'll never be able to top Ben's talent in the kitchen, so I hope he is able to squeeze in a few dinners for me every once in a while!

Believe it or not, that's the short version of a busy couple of months! Later I'll post some cute new pictures of the kids.