So sorry....!

All right... Apologies to those who read this and have been waiting for me to update! I did not realize that it had been that long!! SORRY!!

Christmas was a wonderful time! We got to see both family sides and the Dragon extended side! I had one lapse in my memory that was kind of funny, but thankfully had a couple of awesome cousins bail me out!! I had made Gouffre cookies, which are French cookies that my Gma Dragon used to make, for everyone on the Dragon side. We were gathering for gpa's wedding and I thought this would be the perfect gift for everyone this year, since I would see them all for once! (Well, almost all.) So Jerry and Mary (SIL) made the batter for me and then I made the cookies on a borrowed cookie iron (from one of my wonderful neighbors!). Yes, I made 104 French cookies on a double cookie iron. It took 2 hours... but was SO worth it. I had made my list to pack up earlier in the week so the cookies were not on there. So naturally, I left without them! THANKFULLY, my cousin April and her husband Chris were driving by Dayton to get to the wedding, so I had another one of my FABULOUS neighbors unlock my door so they could get in to get them and bring them to the wedding, which they did!! The worst part of it all was that I left the house KNOWING that I forgot something and it was important. It wasn't until we got to my parent's house and my dad was helping me take everything upstairs that I remembered what I was forgetting. Probably because it was his mom and I was so excited to do the cookies for that side of the family because it meant something to all of us.... I think everyone liked the cookies! They at least remembered gma.

The kids had a good Christmas. They got to see all their cousins and had a lot of fun playing with them. Xavier attached himself to little Andy, my brother and SIL's son. He had the best time! Makes me see a promising future for him and Caleb! Sydney regressed in her potty-training while we were home. That wasn't too cool. She was fine when we got home and then had a couple days where she was peeing AT the potty on the bath mats and not IN the potty! That was really frustrating. We are hoping she is past that. She was going through clothes left and right there for awhile... which is fine on the clothes, but the bath mats can only take so much washing over, and over again before they start falling apart!

Jay and Anna had a lot of fun with their cousins as well. They enjoyed playing Wii with Uncle Michael and Gma and Gpa Dragon. Anna is so good at bowling it is scary and funny all at the same time! Jay does all right, but was more excited to play Lego Batman with Uncle Michael!

They are back into the swing of school now. They have days where they don't like school and don't want to do it, but I just push through. Once they finish, they forget what they were complaining about! Silly kids! Jay starts multiplication in a couple of weeks! Anna will be a couple weeks behind him... That should prove interesting!

We are going to start Piano lessons next week. I was going to start a couple weeks ago but thought better of it since we took a 2 week vacation instead of 1 week. I didn't want to have to review it all! They seem excited. I will see if I can't set time aside like we would do if they were really going somewhere for lessons. That way, we are sure to get it done!

Jerry's shoulder is healing well. The doctor or physical therapist is really happy with his range of motion. He doesn't have to wear his sling anymore, so he is really glad! He went fishing this past Friday and caught 6 Bass. He was ECSTATIC! Of course, he had to put two back, but brought the other 4 home to clean and all that. So our freezer has about 6 fish in it now. For the next 10 - 14 days he is on an inspection. The kids always miss him, but I think I miss him more because I lose the extra help and my heater in my bed!! (He's is my personal furnace!)

I am doing well. Busy with laundry, cooking, teaching, nursing, and general upkeep of the house and such. I am hoping to get on my scrapbooking while Jerry is away, or at least make some good headway. However, I also want to read a couple of books too!! AGH! So little personal time... what to do?!? It is precious time that I have to myself so I tend to be selfish with it. I am slowly working on adding more responsibilities to Jay and Anna and a more laid out plan with all the kids. I am taking it slowly because I am afraid to implement it all at once and have really upset kids and an upset mom!

Hopefully, this is a good update for everyone because I did not get Christmas letters out this year! Everything came at us fast this year! Happy New Year to all!