We are moving!!!!

Most of you know Paul works for ExxonMobil.  They are in the process of building a new campus just south of The Woodlands in Spring, Texas which is where eventually almost all of Exxon employees will work.  That is currently a 1-1.5hr drive from our home in Katy, Texas.  He started a new assignment at the beginning of August on the construction site of the new campus.

Knowing that these plans were coming our way we began fasting and praying about moving then looking for homes.  This process has been ongoing for well over a year and we knew it could take years more before we found exactly what we were looking for.

However, in May, we found a new subdivision that we felt was right for us.  It has direct access to where the new Grand Parkway will be, is 10 minutes from the new Exxon campus and has a new LDS meetinghouse in the subdivision.  We waited patiently for the exact section we wanted to open. In August we signed the papers to build a new home! 

They finally finished the roads in our section in September.  We had our own private groundbreaking ceremony the first weekend of October and hopefully in about 2 weeks they will get started building our home!  It shouldn’t be ready until the end of March, so we still have plenty of time, but it is official, we are moving!

We have lived in this area of Katy, the Westlake ward of our church, for 11 years, ever since we got married.  The thought of leaving our friends and neighbors, even to live a little more than an hour up the road, is heartbreaking for us.  We love it here and are very sad to move on.  But we KNOW this is the right move for our family and are having fun planning for the new house.

I hope to post LOTS of pictures of the house as it gets built, so bear with me.  We are super excited for this next stage of our life so wish us well.  We are moving!!!!

 

It’s hard to write everything that has happened with David this year.  He has grown up so much!  He went from being a baby to quite a big boy right now.

A year ago he got tubes in ears.  He had had so many ear infections in his first year of life that we didn’t have any hesitation  in doing the tubes.  He’s our 4th kid, but was the first one to have to have any surgery or really any medical procedures.  The surgery went fine of course and he woke up REALLY MAD, but recovered great.  In the past year he has only had one ear infection and has felt much better!

He is very mischievous and thinks he can do everything his big brothers can do.  He breaks things way too often as he climbs and touches and moves things.  He drags kitchen chairs all over the house and climbs up on things I thought were safe.  Unfortunately nothing is safe!  Just today he spilled one of my spices all over him and my pantry and broke one of my glass Halloween decorations. He drives me crazy!

Luckily for me, he sleeps wonderfully.  He goes down very easily for a nap every afternoon after lunch.  I lay him down, read him a book, sing him a song, and then walk away.  We even moved him to a big boy bed this month and he still stays wonderfully in bed for his nap.  Bedtime is very similar.  He goes right down and stays right down.  That helps with my sanity!

 

This month we officially switched him from the crib to the big boy bed, the sippy cup to the normal cup, and started potty training.  It’s been a big month!  It’s like he’s growing up right before my eyes.  We are still working on that last one, but in general he’s doing pretty well for a 2yo!

He talks very well, loves to say the prayer on the food at each meal (throws tantrums when it’s not his turn…sigh) and is now really putting sentences together.  Often it’s “Christian hurt me” but it’s a complete sentence!

 

David loves to be outside.  If I don’t keep the front door locked he sneaks into the front yard multiple times a day.  Sometimes just to sit in the grass, sometimes he’ll just start walking down the sidewalk.  He can spend hours in the backyard in the sandbox, on the trampoline or playing in the “forts.” 

He also loves to sing and knows sings many of the primary songs.  He loves to be read to and just to cuddle on the couch or hide under a blanket in a “cave.”  David is a joy to have in our family.  He is learning and growing and is so much fun to be around.  We love you David!

  

Christian is 3 years old (will be 4 in a few weeks) and has started another year of preschool at home this year.  Last year we were part of  a once a week for 2 hour preschool co-op with 4 other kids.  We focused on themes like the weather and trees and cars etc.  This year we are upped it to 3 hours a week and there are be 6 other kids.  We are working a lot more on our letters and numbers and teaching them to write.  We are having another great school year and have already had 2 fun field trips!

Earlier this year I pulled out the Dick and Jane beginning reader books and we started learning to read.  Both Aaron and Brian learned to read very young but Christian had not shown any interest.  After a few weeks though he started to get it!  By the time school got out in the spring he had finished the first Dick and Jane book.  We are still in the second book, but have also detoured to read some Bob books.  It does not come nearly as easy for him as it did to Aaron and Brian, but he is learning a lot of sight words and starting to sound out some words too.  It feels like a lot more work than it did with the others, but we are getting it slowly but surely!

Right before school got out Christian did some swimming lessons and is getting to be quite good at swimming.  When he has his puddle jumper on he is completely confident in the water.  Jumping, swimming, playing.  But he often takes it off and just swims to us.  He can almost swim the entire length of my moms swimming pool.  It is much easier to take the kids to the pool now that they are better swimmers! 

He also loves to ride his “bike” and would be outside all the time if I let him.  Now that the weather is turning nicer I’m sure we’ll spend a lot more time outside.  He loves the trampoline and running and being all boy!

One of the things I love about Christian is how much he loves to play make believe.  Aaron never really did that, and Brian didn’t very much either, but Christian is always playing with toys and playing pretend.  Brian plays pretend with him often and David too and he can be happy for hours playing with his brothers.  He loves to dress up, is almost always wearing a super hero cape and takes cars, trucks, teddy bears and books to bed with him. 

He loves to be a helper (when he wants to of course, not necessarily when I ask him to clean up!) and wants to do everything his brothers can do.  He has the greatest little smile and I am loving chatting with him as he just talks and talks and talks these days.  This is such a fun age!

Hopefully I’ll post about his 4th birthday which is next month soon!  We love you Chris!