Update!

So, I thought I'd give you quick little update on how things are in the Irvine house. I've been sick for the past three days or so and really hope that I'm not sick tomorrow! I am a lousy sick person, especially when James is gone for 48 hours and I get to take care of everything by myself! I know I've been short tempered with the kids and have been apologizing to them constantly - usually right after I've gotten done yelling at them for something! I feel horrible and it's made even worse by all the guilt I feel for not being able to be 100% for them. I'm quite sure I've ruined their childhoods and doomed them all to years of therapy! :-} I do have to say that if not for the generosity and care from a wonderful neighbor, I would be doing a lot worse!! Thanks, Jenn!

The kids are good, despite their horrible mother, and plugging along just fine. Hailey has amazed everyone with how well she's doing with her potty training, or should I say the lack of training needed! I can say with almost 100% certainty that she is OFFICIALLY POTTY TRAINED! That includes nap time, bed time, and doing the deed all by herself! It really is amazing at how fast and completely she got it, but that's my baby girl! She even tells me to "go far away" if I try to come into the bathroom with her! Ha!

Ryan is continuing to learn by leaps and bounds at school and home! He is starting to sound out words and read and is even doing math by himself, he just doesn't know it yet! He was counting the number of pepperoni's in his lunchable today and as he ate one he'd say now there's "this" many left. He was subtracting! I think he is so smart, but he doesn't always see it! I still can't believe how big he's getting either, I think the days of Jackson handing down clothes to Ryan are soon coming to an end! I've always told him he'd end up being bigger then his "big" brother!

Jackson of course is still a smarty pants and doing really well! Although he does have an attitude at times, but I guess that's all part of growing up, right? Right, I mean, everyone else has this problem with at least one of their kids, right? I'm not the only one?!?! :-} Jackson still loves school and does very well. He also loves to read, which I like to take credit for, and is always reading well past the mandatory 20 minutes for homework time. He likes to read a whole chapter book and see how long it takes him. He regularly reads for over an hour! He's also getting good at math and loves the time tests he takes at school. Those used to make me so nervous, but he loves the challenge. He did all the addition ones and is now trying to do 100 addition problems in under 4 minutes!

James is busy at work lately and moving around here and there. He's usually at the same fire station, but probably once or twice a month they have him move due to people calling in sick or something. He still loves it and I'm so glad he does. What a blessing it is to be happy and content with what you do!

Anyway, there's the update for now. Aside from my cold, we are all doing well and enjoying the fall and gearing up for the holidays! We are doing a theme with the costumes this year "Star Wars" Jackson is going to be Darth Vader, Ryan is going to be Bobo Fet (trust me, that's his name and he IS a Star Wars character) and miss Hailey is going to be Princess Leia! All I had to say was princess and she was all over it! I can't wait and I promise to post some fun Halloween pic's! Take care and enjoy the Fall!