Since my last post:
- Our exchange student from Brazil left. He went back to his beautiful and apparently superior homeland. We enjoyed having him here but I am quite sure he was very ready to go. It was a good experience and we love him but I don't think he ever really felt at home here (and by "here" I actually mean the U.S. not our house.)
- We had a wonderful stay-at-home Christmas. My parents are now in Washington and Seth's were visiting his sister in Utah so it was just us and it was nice. We had Seth's other sister and her family over for dinner and it was just perfect. I don't think I would love it every year. I am a big-family-party type of gal but it was a nice little quiet Christmas.
- New Years Eve weekend our two new exchange students arrived! We are crazy I know. Four little kids and two teenagers, what are we thinking? But honestly we love it. Hailie is from South Korea and quiet as a mouse in groups but delightfully talkative and curious when it's just us. She will be staying for a year (except she gets to go to Vancouver, BC for June and July). Luise is from Germany and completely opposite of Hailie. She's loud, outgoing and super social (she reminds me a little bit of me in my younger less reserved days). She is also very fun to have around. They both love the kids (or at least pretend very well). And the kids absolutely adore them. I'm not sure what my children will do if we ever stop having "extra" siblings around. They love it.
- We quickly realized that having to take 2 cars everywhere is a bit of a hassle and uses a LOT of gas. We also had a bad feeling about the health of our little minivan. It needed new brakes, the transmission was doing funny things, there was a serious oil leak, two brake lights were out, both the maintenance and check engine lights were on and the automatic doors and locks were giving out on us. On a Thursday afternoon I emailed Seth and said "I think we should maybe start test driving some cars to see what we want." By Saturday afternoon we were driving a new (to us) 2007 Ford Expedition which comfortably fits all 8 of us. It's pretty. And it's big. And I love it. I am spoiled.
That should pretty much catch me up and empty my brain of all excess blogging thoughts. Oh and it might quiet that little nagging voice that keeps saying "have you blogged yet" or "so are you going to blog today?" and "you really need to update your blog." (little voice also known as Seth)
