This Crazy Thing Called Life: Update #1

I have been a horrible blogger. I just feel like there isn't enough time in the day to get everything done and this has been put on the backburner for quite a while. But, I want to be able to look back on these posts someday and recall what life was like at this time, so I am going to get some updates written!! Because it's been quite a while since I have written, there have been a lot of things that have happened in our lives. One of the bigger events is that my mom completed her chemotherapy. Yay for that!!! She did really well with it though the last few treatments really made her sick. She was getting an extremely strong dose of it and it surely did a number on her, but she bounced back strong after each one and we are glad to have that part of it done. She is now in her 2nd week of radiation. She will do this for 6 weeks, 5 days a week. So far she is doing really well with it too. We just can't wait for all of this to be over. She also sold her house (which was 3 miles down the road from us) and moved about 20 minutes away so between that and Mike's new work schedule which doesn't get him home until about 10pm, we don't get to see her nearly as much lately. All of the kids miss her a lot and talk about going to Mimi's house every day. Another big event that happened was I finished school!! I am now certified to teach Kindergarten thru 6th grade. I am really excited about that though we are not exactly sure when I will start working. The cost of having three toddlers in daycare and Marley in aftercare would be pretty substantial. So, we will see what the best decision ends up being. As I said before, Mike got a promotion at work and now works in the Claims Department at Progressive. He is really enjoying it so far and he has a lot more room to move up now.
Now, the main reason most people read this....the update on the little ones. I will start with Miss Marley. Since my last post, my little girl has turned FIVE! And also started Kindergarten!! She turned 5 in August and started school 2 weeks later. August was a very big month for her. She is doing great at school and really enjoys going. So far she has perfect attendance. She really likes her teacher (as do I) and she is learning a lot of new things. Her writing is getting very good and she is starting to read words, do simple math problems and many other things. As always, she is a very behaved student and I think the world would end for her (at least for a day) if she ever had her name clip moved down on the Behavior Chart. She received her first report card a few weeks ago and had all E's for Excellent. She has made a lot of new friends and we've already attended several birthday parties. I signed up to be Homeroom Mom (call me crazy) and try to juggle that along with toting three two year olds around all day and sometimes I think I bit off more than I can chew, but it's worth it to me. Marley is still in gymnastics and is now up to 3 hours of practice a week. I really enjoy watching her, but lately it seems as if I have to drop her off and come back a lot more than I would like to. The babies haven't been taking naps very well since I had to adjust the time they lay down and they usually fall asleep in the car picking her up from school and I don't want to wake them up after 15 minutes so we usually drop her off and then come back after they wake up. It's also a long time to ask them to wait patiently with not much there for them to do. They have gotten to go out and play at her gymnastics place a few times so that is all they want to do when they are there and they aren't happy when they can't. Sometimes it seems like Marley has to grow up faster than other 5 year olds, but I guess that's just how it is when you have 3 siblings the same age. She just joined the Dodgeball Team at school and really likes it. She was the only girl in it under the age of 9, but girlfriend can hang with the boys all day. I've always said she is my Princess Tomboy. She will be out digging in the dirt and catching frogs in her skirt, nail polish and high heels. Maybe that's what having two older cousins will do :) She really wanted to join Daisy's this year but unfortunately we just weren't able to. It's a really big commitment and many of the events I couldn't have taken the babies to and that's not really an option for me. They usually go anywhere I go. Hopefully next year she can join that. She is surely a very busy girl but she makes us so proud. She is very committed to school and to gymnastics and succeeds in both of them. She is still the best big sister these babies could ever ask for. She is incredibly patient with them and the four of them have so much fun together. She took them in as her Show & Tell "objects" a few weeks ago and even her teacher has told me several times what a big heart Marley has and what a caring friend she is to the other students. There are some things in life that just can't be taught, they simply come from within, and it makes me happy to see how much she cares about her siblings and friends. I always say that God knew what he was doing when he gave us Marley first. She is a wonderful example to her three babies and they adore her so much.
I am going to post this update on our lives in general and Marley and then write an update on each of the babies over the next few days. So, if you want to know what is new in the world of Marissa, Jack & Makayla........stay tuned!