We are in need of a serious update right now:

Scarlet can read chapter books now. She's been reading The Magic Tree House series and has read many books on her own. She used to average a book a week- without any help, and now she finishes a book completely within 24 hours. She brings it home from school all excited and comes down the next night, after bedtime to tell us excitedly that she's finished it. She will read during "choice time" at kindergarten and she even reads at recess! She just loves to read. She asks occasionally what a word is, but reads the rest on her own. Pretty amazing. Greg and I were good readers at her age, but nowhere near her level. It is inspiring! She's also loves to be read to. Greg reads Harry Potter to her at night. They have also read Witches and other Roald Dahl books. She read the kid scriptures to us last night and she just read it at the same speed that Greg and I would. Words like Amulek and families and she didn't pause at all! Crazy! She is soooooo good at reading and loves to do it. Summer's coming and she won't have the library to check out books and I'm a little panicky because she can finish a book in 1 day and likes to read constantly and I don't want to spend $50 a month on books for her.)

Scarlet also picked up the Ukulele. She's a little prodigy! She practices constantly. She learns more and more chords and has even written 2 songs. The first one was 2 chords and the words, "He has the book, the book, the book that I want" repeated many times. The second was something about a toad on the road. But they totally rhyme, have rhythm, and she sings them really well. I'm completely blown away! It drives me crazy when parents think their kids are so especially talented, but holy moly- we are blown away at Scarlets reading and music talents. They're quiet incredible.

Scarlet finished her physical therapy last January and has kept up her new skills really well. She's still a very slow runner- but now she CAN RUN!!! So that's pretty fantastic. She is getting better and better in the pool, she really amazed me- because I've always been a pretty fearful and less skilled swimmer. She's very confident.

Brighton has his ups and downs. He'll be this magical, smiley bright kid, and then be quite weighed down with intense emotions and let them out by screaming and needing me to hold him, or be near him constantly. It is so draining. As hard as it is, it has become apparent it is almost always due to lack of sleep- but all in all, it IS getting better- even on the bad days, it's never as bad as it was. It's hard though, because he wakes up too early and I can't just make him go to sleep. So it's just starting the day in a really difficult state and there's no curing it. It's really hard.

When he isn't having a bad day- he is the most amazing kid. He has become this incredible creator! He reminds me so much of Greg's sister Shannon. He will take random cardboard, a lid here, a used up floss container there- and just create something that is actually useful! Or a plane or a dragon- he's just so creative! It really blows our minds. And he never makes the same thing. Different things, different purposes, different materials. His mind knows no bounds. I am so impressed with him.

Brighton is a really good listener and understands really well. He also WANTS to understand things. He always listens in Primary and his teachers have been telling me he's talking and participating more and more. My friend subbed his class last week and said she was amazed that he was giving answers that were the RIGHT ANSWERS. I was so impressed. Yesterday was a first when he actually went up during Sharing Time to participate- HE'S NEVER DONE THIS! I wanted to take his picture with my phone. It was really exciting for me to see. And then when I picked him up for class, his teacher said he answered 95% of the questions in class. I'm just so happy. He's progressed so much.

He starts school in 3 months and I am so excited. I predict he'll do very well there. He's hoping that he'll make some friends. Brighton's never really had friends. He's never had many opportunities, because kids are in preschool or live too far to get together- or when we DO get together, he's been too shy to play with them. I think he's really looking forward to having friends because he's mentioned it more than once. We've been working on personal prayers at night and when he prayed he asked that he would be safe at school and make friends. It melted my heart!

He is officially potty trained! No accidents, no need to change undies throughout the day. It's amazing. Marius I think is capable, but he has to go so often, we'd be in there all day- no fun. When we're walking he'll always stop me and say, "I need to pee." Then he'll just stop and hold his position for a few seconds, then say "OK" and keep walking. It cracks me up.

Brighton just learned how to ride a bike and he caught on so quickly! Within a few days he was riding around the block with Greg! That boy- he has some serious talent when it comes to physical activities. He's been practicing parkour with Greg a LOT and they both love it. Greg keeps telling me how good Brighton is. If they keep doing this, they are gonna have so much fun when Brighton gets older. And it freaks me out to think of Brighton doing and being capable of advanced moves. He learned how to swim while we were in Bali! He is such a natural! The kids started playing checkers with our chess set and Brighton is really good at it. I am totally impressed.

Marius . . . he is such a challenge sometimes. It's just his age. Well mostly. He is the naughtiest kid we've ever known. He just smiles and looks at us when he's naughty. When we tell him no and that he'll get a time out and he just laughs. He thinks it's so funny to be naughty. He came out this way. It worries me for when he becomes a teenager and beyond. When he's not being naughty or throwing a fit because he can't have more vitamins or gum, he's really sweet. He just has the sweetest little smile. He has such an expressive face. He is so cute in the pool. He just swims around in his life jacket, sucking water into his mouth and spitting it out. He loves it. He's getting bigger and older. It's weird. We set up his big kid bed for him and he liked it 'till he fell out, now he's back in the crib. To me it hasn't been worth fighting, so I haven't. So now his room is extra crowded. A crib, a little bed, and two twin beds. 

As much as I know I'll miss Brighton, and it will be totally weird to have one kid at home, I'm really looking forward to it just being him and me when Brighton goes to kindergarten. First, just having one kid request something of you, one kid to feed, one to say no or yes to, one for EVERYTHING, is just soooo much more peaceful sounding! Marius, to begin with, is quite independent. He tells me to go away all the time when he's playing because he wants to be by himself. Also, when we go to the park- he never gets anxiety about other kids or dogs or anything. And he likes to play a long time. He always wants to stay longer than the other kids, which will be nice. Sometimes I wish we could just be at the park and I can just stay outside longer. And I know he'll let me. I'll be able to ride my bike around a lot. I always want to ride my bike but the trailer only fits one kid so I can't go 'cause we're leaving one out. Now it will be perfect! Same with pushing in the stroller, it's a lot less work with just one kid in there. Same with getting ready for the park or strapping them in a carseat. It just sounds so much easier with one! I just can't imagine how quiet the house will be. I'm hopeful it will just be peaceful and really nice. 

Also, Marius and I haven't connected like I have with the other kids. Scarlet was the first, then Brighton came with so much drama- no growing for 6 months, then right when Marius was born Brighton started having a lot of anxiety problems and it consumed my attention. So poor Marius has just had way less time with me. I'm really looking forward to being alone with him everyday and us becoming close.

I'm also hoping to "get him into shape" about listening and following rules. It will be easier to stick to my guns and follow through on discipline when it's just one kid and I don't have other kids causing problems around me simultaneously. I'm just hoping it will be easier, things are already easier, but I'm still quite worn out.

Greg interviewed for a few war zone positions in the Middle East. We are waiting to hear if he got one of them. As much as I'm not looking forward to it, it will be nice when it's set and we no longer have to wonder what's going on the next 2 years. If he gets a position he will likely go in a little over a year and the kids and I will rent a house in Idaho for a year, near my sisters. At first all I could think about was the joys and ease of the states. Now I just think about him being gone and it sucks.

I've been doing better. I feel like my life is finally coming to a balance. I've found a good rhythm for working out. I've found a workout to help my tummy sink back into my body, the way it's supposed to. My abs are separated and I'm doing exercises to close the separation- didn't even know that could happen until 4 months ago. So I've been feeling so much better about my body, and just regaining balance and feeling much more happy and in control of my life. I'm been feeling like I just bob along in my life, or I'm just in chaos and trying to not scream at my kids. It's not fun. I like having purpose and a point to my day and I've realized a few things about myself- like I need alone time because I'm an introvert and I nearly never get to feel like I'm alone unless I actually leave my kids and the house. Realizing this has made me feel a lot less bad about taking a few mornings to leave and be by myself. I've also realized that I need to DO something in the morning. If it's a playdate or errands, or even preparing for dinner- by the time 3pm rolls around, I'm so tuckered out and just want to lay on the couch. I actually have energy and drive for the first half of the day, and if I actually DO something (the park, call my sister, exercise, playdate), then I know I took advantage of my day and feel no guilt in staying home and just relaxing for the afternoon, because the day was well spent. And then I go to bed happy with no regrets! It seems to be the system that works for me so I'm trying to remember and plan my days that way.

We go home in a few weeks. School ends in a few weeks- I'm excited. Lately getting lunch and everything together in the morning seems annoying. I just want a more relaxed schedule with the kids. Excited to go home. I miss my family (both sides) and the Philippines has been driving me a lot more crazy than normal. It will be nice to get away from urine smell, brown clouds, and just grossness. Scarlet has got the most horrendous bug bites from something in her room. Greg thinks it might be a cockroach- NASTY!!!! We haven't told HER that. So she's not been sleeping in her bed this week until we get our house sprayed. Which will be nice. There's been a crazy infestation of ants in my bathroom. They cover our Qtips and just have a long trail going to the garbage, or whatever they feel like. They go in and out of covering my jewelry, our hanging towels and my oils that I use to clean and moisturize. I had to get them all out with q-tips and then earrings because they were just crammed in there and nothing could get them out except the end of an earring. Gross. I'm ready for a break.