A Fresh Start

I know its been a while since I've written a blog, but things have been BUSY BUSY BUSY with all the appointments, the holidays, the traveling and what not.

Things are well in the Nicholson household.  There are many changes coming to the house and family.  Just recently we decided we're going to put in wood flooring in our living room.  No more carpet. I'm sick of vacuuming every day.  I'm tired of looking at stains. Even if I shampoo the carpets the old stains come back up in a matter of time.  It will only be a little while before we can get the flooring, but when we do I'm excited because it will look so much better!
We put the TV on a wall mount a week or so ago and I love it much better as do the kids.  I never realized how much space that entertainment center took up until it was out of here.  Now I just need to get a little more organized, purge some toys, get the girls' room cleaned up so they can start sleeping in there again (whether they like it or not) and everything will be swell.
We've also sold Paul's work van.  We decided its time to get something that is better on fuel or that we'll get more use out of (such as a truck).  We're waiting on the buyers to get back to us (long story, but we trust them) on when they'll be picking it up. It will be nice to save money.

We had Thanksgiving at my parents on Thursday to celebrate my fathers birthday.  We had mom, dad, Travis, Nina, Grandma and Grandpa Ford, Aunt Sherri and her new husband Rick at dinner.  It was a good time, dinner was yummy, lots of food and I'm sure I gained 5 lbs that day alone!
On Friday since Paul didn't have to work we left that morning for WI for his family Thanksgiving.  We arrived shortly before 3 p.m. Friday and got home at 3 p.m. yesterday.  The kids had a good time, but it was hard on them to sleep somewhere other than home. Friday night between all 3 kids getting up practically every hour Paul and I got very little sleep.  We still don't know why they were up half the time, but Kaleb is a home body and wanted to come home.  Little did he care that we lived 4 hours away LOL.

Hannah's doing good in school. Her parent/teacher conference went VERY well.  Her teacher informed me that Hannah got more S's (satisfactory) on her report card than she'd ever seen a student get in the first quarter.  Hannah is quite bored in Kindergarten and it makes me wonder if she should be in 1st grade, but I'm not going to push it.  She enjoys school and that's what counts, she's learning well.  Hannah had Grandparents Day on Wednesday the 23rd and had Grandma Donna, Papa Shoes, Nana and Papa with her for lunch that day and then spent the rest of the day with her Grandma Donna.  She loved it!  Hannah's new thing she is excited for me to share is that she can tie her own shoes now!! WAY TO GO HANNAH!

Katelinn's also doing well in school.  We got a good report on her as well when we had PT conferences.  She's been able to do the work well, not been getting off task too much and getting along with her classmates.  Not much to expect out of a Preschooler.  She has a good time and that's what counts, she's learned to write her name VERY well.  Now to teach her to do it in lower case when the time comes, but no rush there.

Kaleb's doing well.  He spends the day with me while Katelinn and Hannah are in school/at Nana's.  We get along great!  He misses his sisters while they're in school, but he does enjoy his mommy time.  He's learning to count more and more, learning the ABC's and his vocabulary is exploding like you wouldn't believe.  He's a BIG boy and is growing up way too fast with the rest of them.  Its crazy how fast this one grew!

Paul's doing well.  Work is still in full swing, but we're pretty sure it won't be much before the middle of December when layoffs start coming around.  We're prepared for this, have been every year and although I freak out we always manage just fine.

With all this said we've come to a decision.  This year instead of buying Christmas gifts for each child we are going to do something I've been wanting to do for 8 years (since we got married and had no honeymoon).  We are planning a family vacation to Disney World for Christmas.  Its a once in a lifetime opportunity and lord willing the funds are available to us it will happen.  I can't imagine anything better to do as a family than go to Disney!  The kids do know about it and are very excited.  We will go while they are out of school for Winter break.  I can't believe the school year is almost half way over! Man time sure has flown by on that one too. Next year there might be all 3 kids in school EEK!

Anyway, that's an update on our family for now.  There will be more to come later in the week as there are many things happening during the week.  I hope you all had a VERY Happy Thanksgiving and enjoyed your weekend!!