Update 2012

Cole and Elishia

Josh, Fallon and Remi

Kyleigh and Holli

Abigail Mae

Cole, Me, Josh, Ky and Abby

Wow! It's been so long since I posted! Life has sure been moving along! The kids are growing and maturing so much! I guess I can start by updating on each one of us. 

Cole: Just started his second year at Eastern Washington University! He decided that he wants to be a Game Warden. Majoring in Criminal Justice and minoring in Biology. He's doing a great job! Grants are so wonderful too! They basically got him through last school year and will be great again this year! He was living with his girlfriend, Jolynn last year, but they broke up around March?? He is dating a nice girl named Elishia now, but has an apartment of his own. He is enjoying "Being able to put things wherever I want!" And he is a more private, quiet person who doesn't mind his alone time, so this is great for him! He also took his dog, Rawley this year as his apt allows animals. (Rawley had been here with us.) Surprisingly, Cole even got himself a kitty! He named her Millie. Her and Rawley are slowly getting to know each other! I'm surprised Rawley didn't eat her in the first week! He listens to Cole well. Rawley sure loves Cole and always had a hard time when Cole would come home for visits then leave again. Even with Cole 6 ½ hours away, I love his random texts telling me to have a great day or just to remind me that he loves me! I also just like chatting with him once in a while and catching up on each other. Makes my day! 

Josh and Fallon are now parents to Remi Mae Jackson. She was born April 19, 2012. What a light in our lives! How fun she is! Josh is still working for Brown Lines, and is doing great! He and Fallon are learning to budget and be careful with money and he is doing great paying off his medical bills. I love it when he calls me on the phone just to chat while he heads home from work! It's so great when your kids leave home but still "need you" once in a while even just to chat! Even better is when he calls to see if I wanna have Remi for a short time so he and Fallon can watch a movie! Living only a mile away definitely has its benefits! It sure will be fun helping them plan a wedding this summer!!!

Josh continues to race the local Hannegan Speedway through the summer. I'm glad he still sits on a bike! It's part of who he is. But he's putting things in priority order and knows if he gets hurt, he can't work and support having a baby. So he doesn't push it on the track. He also bowls on Monday nights with his Uncle Chuck and plays basketball at church to keep himself in shape. 

Kyleigh is now out of high school, but there were issues with the public high school accepting her homeschooling credits that she did at home. They said I wasn't “accredited”, so they couldn't accept the work she'd done here at home! After Travis passed away, when she went back to school, she literaly had to do that whole previous year all over again cause they wouldn't accept any of the work she'd done at home! That was just the beginning! When it came time to consider her graduating, they said she still needed another YEAR of math, PE and Fine Arts! She had already been basically held back a whole year and now they wanted ANOTHER year out of her! Man! She did do math already, but when she had gone back to school, she wasn't doing Algebra yet, so they put her in a “math lab” class, which they said doesn't “count” as a math class but elective. Only Algebra and higher counts as a “math” class!! Bull! Math is math! Can you tell I get going when I think of it???  And PE? She had done soccer and riding her horse, and taking her to Fair... but they wanted her to have taken a PE class! Puuuuleeeeeze! So... she's at home doing a Geometry class online and working around the house for Fine Arts … making dinner once a week and a dessert... and riding her horse still. I was gonna have her do a year of Geometry and hoping she could finish it in a semester, but I don't even care anymore either! She'll do a semester of Geometry and a Senior Project, then I'll get her a homeschool diploma! It's just crazy! The poor girl was basically held back 2 years! She did more schooling than she needed to and now just hates school! After finishing, she's going to attend Beauty School in town. I believe it is 9 – 11 months long. I'm glad she knows what she wants to do. She will be good at it! Job-wise, after Travis passed, she was dying to work at a coffee shop that he and Cole went too all of the time, but she wasn't old enough. Believe it or not, she's 18 now!!! WoW! And she's been working at that coffee shop a few days a week since just before her birthday. She enjoys it, and I'm happy for her to be earning her own money now. She's been real helpful helping pay for Holli's things. Also, now the her BMW is fixed (I signed it over to her for her b'day.), she hasn't asked me for gas money at all. (But I still throw a few dollars her way for gas anyhow.) 

Ky has also been dating a real great guy named Thomas for over a year. He is very sweet and just loves her to death. We all like him a lot too! 

Abigail just turned 12 years old! WOW! That's my baby! She'll be a teenager next year! And …. she's not the much shorter than me either! Soon I'll be shortest in our family! Not like it's a surprise! She also just started Middle School! Scary!! We've had a lot of talking about choosing which friends to bond with and hang out with. She is friendly with a lot of girls, but I feel this year and next she will be bonding more with less friends. She needs to be smart about which kind of people she wants to hang out with. Girls who care about their education and also having fun. Not drama and boys. We'll see how it all goes. So many changes in our family coming up! She may even end up changing schools. She'll be fine. She's a sweet girl who others find easy to be around.

Abby also is still playing the piano. She has practice twice a month with a lady named Barbara. Barbara's been great for Abby! I love it when she is bored or has nothing to do and sits at the piano and plays. I like the sound throughout the house. Abby's other love is soccer. This past summer, she did two soccer tournaments with a guy named Art (Artchuro) and his “Chicas”. She learned a lot and is waiting for indoor soccer to start again so she can playon Art's team again. I'm glad she enjoys being active. Next summer, she'll do some big hikes with us! I can't wait! She also has done the local Jr Ski to Sea race. Glad she enjoys the outdoors!!

Another exciting step for Abigail was that when she turned 12, she moved out of the primary at church and moved up to the Young Women's class. That has been exciting for her. It's always good to feel like part of the more mature crowd. Eventhough she enjoyed helping with the younger kids in primary. She definitely is becoming a young lady! Sigh …... I'm feeling old!!!