Update February 2011

I would like to take a poll. Does anyone read this blog. Or would you read this if I actually started posting to it?

In case anyone takes the time to stop and read this, thanks for stopping by and showing interest. Life keeps rolling along. I am trying to remember things that might be of interest since the last post. I guess most notable were the major holidays that occurred. Thanksgiving was spent at the Chamberlin house like usual. The Christmas season involved taking a trip to see the lights at the DC Temple (some pics of that are on the December picture page of our site), Jim and I hosted the annual couples Christmas party this year, and we managed to attend 1 or 2 other Christmas parties as well. Jim's Christmas bonus went to the purchase of his long desire projector, he has had us down there every night watching shows or playing games on it ever since. Christmas day started at home, we bought an Xbox this year to go with the projector, so, the kids were initially disappointed by so few presents under our tree, but, our big present instead of a bunch of little ones hasn't disappointed in the long run, they love the Xbox. And, their disappointment for quantity didn't last long that day anyway. After gifts were done at our house, we headed to Grandma and Papa's house. There are always more gifts at Grandma's house than we can keep up with. Jim and I have also been honing our furniture making skills, we have built a new cabinet since Christmas to hold the sub-woofer and all our movies. It also serves as a place to set the Kinect sensor when we play Xbox.

Last post, Jamie had just turned 7. He is getting so big. I think he will have outgrown his Mommy by the time he is 10 or 11. He still really likes school and riding the bus. However, he went through a rough patch starting around the beginning of November and lasting until around mid January where he was really pushing his boundaries at home and at school. His teachers started having difficulty getting him to do his work and he was becoming more and more disruptive to the class. It was getting so bad that Santa nearly didn't leave anything for him this time around.The worst day of it he actually became physical and, not only had to be picked up from school, but, also refused to leave the school and had to be escorted from the building by both vice principals. It was a relief that he finally started getting back on track not long after that. There is a strike system they use with him now where he loses recess if he doesn't get his work done before he reaches 3 strikes, if he makes it to 3 his work comes home to do and, if the work comes home, he loses Xbox time for the day. We are grateful that he has so many teachers and aides that are willing to keep working with him. As difficult as he is sometimes, it is still so inspiring to see all the hurdles he has overcome and how he doesn't seem to get resentful despite some difficult disciplining that we have had to put him through in overcoming those behavioral challenges.

Next, I move on to our Princess. Miss Corinne remains a cute and funny and overly dramatic little lady. The tears come at the drop of a hat sometimes, like the other day she became upset over being told to hold her head still so I could get the barrette in her hair. She still says some of the strangest things sometimes in her constant endeavors to communicate every random thought that enters her mind, a recent example is when she told me she wanted to do something "yesterday tomorrow". She is doing well in preschool and has recently been learning how to make her bed.

Last but not least, I shall mention a bit about how it is going with our Mr. Morgan. He has been growing by leaps and bounds, it is hard to believe that we could produce a kid that is probably going to be even taller than his brother. He is very cute and good natured for the most part, however, he also has a very stubborn side. His independent nature is both cute and frustrating for us. I shall offer up a few examples. Up until about a week ago, he adamently has refused to let us help feed him (what a mess that has made at feeding time). He has never let us help brush his teeth, and when we pushed the issue, he began to refuse to do it all together, so, now we try and get in a swipe or 2 where we can and let him do the rest and hope and pray he doesn't end up with lots of cavities. He always wants to do everything that us bigger people do, the high chair has been packed away because he wanted to be at the table, sippie cups are rarely used because they are not grown up enough (even if he is still too young to not spill), he insists on trying to talk/play with the real phones, he tries to hold the railing and walk up the stairs instead of crawling up, and he is very put out that we don't let him play Xbox with us (but, the line must be drawn somewhere, we are holding our ground on that one for now). He is really coming along with all the physical learning, we just wish wish he would put some of that drive of his into talking, no interest in that one yet, he understands much of what we say, just doesn't want to try and say it himself.

Ok, well, I think that catches things up sufficiently, please leave a response so I know that our blog has been seen, if not we just may be calling it quits for a while. Thanks.