Time for a family update. Things around here are really great!! The kids started school last week and everyone loves their teacher, classmates, etc. Ben is catching on to reading very quickly and impressing everyone. It is SO quiet here during the day with just Amanda, Maggie and Marcus home and I miss my “big kids”, but it is nice to have so much time with just the little ones too.

Maggie and Amanda start preschool for two and a half hours, two days a week in September. They went last year and really enjoy their preschool.

I really enjoy being back on the “early to bed, early to rise” schedule and the kids are sleeping like rocks!

We are half way through our soccer season and it is being a ton of fun. Maggie and Amanda are on the 3-4 year old team, and last week they even ran around during the game WITHOUT holding hands. They still giggled most of the time though. They are so funny. Maggie doesn’t have a competitive bone in her body, and she spends as much time worrying about her hair as she does worrying about where the ball is.

Shane and Ben LOVE soccer. Ben regularly hugs his coach (who equally loves Ben by the way). Ben is the goalie extraordinare, and Shane is just one of those rough and tumble, tough as nails kids who loves sports. The two of them are so much fun to watch.

Des, Nathan and Ry are on my team and we are having a blast. The kids are actually learning some skill and strategy and it’s been really fun to watch them gain confidence, learn to work as a team and have a great time doing it. Nathan and Ry are both very athletic, and Destinee has really come a long way. I think she surprised herself with how good she can be!

Mercy is on the older kid squad and she is a natural at soccer (and every other sport she has tried). Her long, long legs make her an awesome runner and she can beat even most of the boys her age in a foot race.

Marcus is doing great..healthy and happy, and although he hates that school bus stealing his kids every morning, he loves soccer. The kids made him the team mascot, which he thinks is great, because he gets a soccer shirt like everyone else.

So, school is great and soccer is fun. Tae Kwon Do is the activity that we pay for during the school year, and all of the kids really like it. It starts right after soccer wraps up, and the kids are looking forward to going back.

My house is clean and organized after my “clean sweep” and we are still working on redoing the downstairs bathroom and making the new bedroom. Mercades will be getting her own room, and Belane will be bunking in with Destinee. I will be glad when those projects are done!

Josh is great…we actually even went on a date last week, which was wonderful. He really is the best husband and most amazing Dad.

And that is what is going on around here…busy as always, but in a really good way. I’ll be posting an adoption update soon.