Merry Christmas - a few days late...

Christmas is all about the kids, right? So here goes:

Reid is doing well at the new school. He's taking three pre-AP classes which means he's getting high school credit for them. The subject he likes best is math. (Be still my heart.) He's taking Algebra and is doing great. He's also in pre-AP science and social studies. He's planning to go out for track in the spring. It's so funny because this guy we met in our new neighborhood commented on Reid having "a good stride" when Reid was running up the street. He's about the third person to say that to me. I guess Reid got some of Tommy's running genes. Hopefully he'll have a good running coach who can help him develop his apparently natural talent.

Zach seems to be fairly happy at the charter school. They don't have a whole lot of homework, so that makes him happy. He has enjoyed hanging out at Matt's house down the street. Matt is Mike's friend who's lived in Austin for several years. Matt's house is apparently a hang out spot for some of the neighborhood kids, so that has been nice for Zach. And on Matt's birthday cake, they put Zach's name too (Matt's birthday is Dec 13th, Zach's is the 11th).

*Harry Potter 7 Spoiler Alert*
Jacob has had a good time hanging out at home and at the Sudbury school for the past couple of weeks. He has developed a great love of reading in the past few months. He started reading the first Harry Potter book just before school started and now he's on the last book. When he first took the 7th book off the shelf, I witnessed (to my horror) him turn to the back of the book and read some of the last pages. He then told Cole that Harry didn't die. Mike said that his grandma used to read the last page of a book before she started it. Perhaps he got it from her. After he's done with this series, we'll have to find a new one for him. Suggestions are welcome. And he'll start school at the charter school after Christmas break. I'm sure he'll do well there.

Cole is quite spunky these days. He spends a large amount of his time wrestling with Reid. He also spends a lot of time building with Legos. He often comes into my room sporting his latest creation. Ships with lots of firepower seem to be his specialty. :) Overall he seems to be a fairly happy child. Which is all a parent can ask for.

Kira is growing fast. I weighed her at my dad's this past week and she was right at 13lbs. Everyone in the house is in love with her. And she's repaying all of this devotion with lots and lots of smiles and coos. She's really starting to interact with her busy surroundings. And, of course, she's keeping her mother guessing still. She seemed to really be helped by the acidophilus powder that I am giving her. So I thought, "Maybe it was that all along and not the dairy." So I had some milk the other day and she got fussy and a little gassy, but nothing bad... so I thought, "Okay, I'll try it again." This morning I had a bowl of cereal and then I spent the morning dealing with a fussy baby while Mike and the boys were at church. Then when Mike changed her diaper this afternoon there was blood in her poo again. So. I think that clears that up. Good thing she's so darn cute.

And we had a really nice time at my dad's house for the week. Darlene cooked and cooked and cooked while we were there. It is probably the first time in a long time that I've relaxed a little. The kids got lots of nice Christmas presents and we saw lots of fine family. And we were reacquainted with Texas weather. We started the week at 76 degrees, then we had two nights of 15 degree temperatures, then we ended the week with tornado warnings. And leaving my dad's house reminded me of the time I left John and Judy's house after Mike and I were married. There was no sadness because I knew I'd be back soon. :) Nice to be so close to my dad.