We have had quite the last few months at our house....

*We moved to a new house! Our current house meets our needs much better than base housing. We went from 1,500 sq ft to 3,000 sq ft. We have a secure backyard, all the interior safety requirements, and a garage for transporting our son safely to and from the car. The rent on this house ends up being $600 less a month then our last house. Electric and gas has been running $200 a month combined. That leaves us $400 towards the extra gas from a longer commute.

*I was seriously injured in July. To the point I had to be taken to the ER in an ambulance I spent 2 weeks heavily medicated and on bed rest. I am now on light duty and recieving physical therapy 3 times a week. I am learning how to function while in what will more than likely be chronic pain. I have just been cleared to walk short distances for exercise. I went from training for a triathalon to thinking walking around the block is a big deal. I am very blessed however to be off all pain meds and able to function through the pain.

*Our oldest daughter has weaned off her anti-seizure medicine and is doing well. She has to be seizure free for 6mths (5mths to go) before she is officially classified as no longer being epileptic. When she started the medication she was 7yrs old and having 100+ seizures a day. She is 10 now and one month medication free. No signs of any seizure activity. She is doing amazing in school and is right on grade level after being a year behind when we pulled her out of public school. Her behavioral therapist is doing amazing work with her on learning to make friends and deal with social situations. You would think after 4 yrs in public school she would have picked up some of the techniques from her peers but that didn't happen. She went from no friends in public school to several while homeschooling. She is in art class, swim class, special olympics swim team, girl scouts, book club, and co-op. She works one on one with her therapist on how to greet people, how to sustain a converstation, how to deal with groups, etc. Such a blessing!

*Our second daughter (8yr old) was just diagnosed with ADHD and is undergoing trials for medications. The side effects of the first were deal breakers for us so she is trying a second type. So far the side effects are managable. The decision is hers on if she wants to take it or not. We will not push her to take a medicine that makes her feel something she doesn't want to feel (foggy, stomach ache, nightmares, etc). When we pulled her out of public school she was 2 years behind grade level in reading and 1 yr behind in math. The schools solution to keep pushing her through grade levels and then put her in a special needs reading program was not working at all. We just purchased a special needs curriculum for reading that is so specialized we had to have a printer print the books for us. She is starting at ground zero with learning phonics. She is doing well at sounding out 3 letter words now and is LOVING reading the Magic Tree House books. Seriously she is obsessed. She however was doing some squinting and making so many mistakes that we had her eyes evalutated and she is far sighted. We have ordered her reading glasses and they should be here on Wednesday. She is also showing signs of being dyslexic (reading words backwards, letters and numbers backwards, words "wiggling", etc) so we are in the process of testing for that as well.

*Our third daughter (4yr old) was diagnosed as epileptic just 2 days ago. She is on day 2 of her anti-seizure meds and doing well with them.

*Our fourth daughter (4yr old) was diagnosed as epileptic 2 mths ago and is doing well on her medication.

*Our son (3yr old) is doing amazing in his private autistic only school. His teacher and he have battles of wills to see who is really in charge. At the moment he is "allowing" her to make the rules He did however just get a new one on one aid, a male this time. Apparently our son is giving the gentleman quite the learning curve. They are sizing eachother up and our son is deciding if he can call the shots or not He will be getting another therapy added this month to address his global fine motor delay. I really can't say enough good things about this school!

*our fifth daughter (1yr old) is growing like a little weed and eats everything in sight. She loves people and is doing wonderful overall. Such a happy easy baby! She is teaching her big brother so much as she grows (she is developmentally farther along then her brother).

Life here is busy with school, group classes, co-op, and clubs. Then add on doctors appointments and therapy appointments.....we are a bit of whirlwind of activity here! I appreciate all thoughts a prayers.