Karen & Jordan: Out With the Old In With the New

I seriously can't believe that it's 2016! It just feels weird 2015 seemed to go so fast but looking back on it a lot changed. I've been looking through some of my pictures from the last year and I can't believe how much my kids have grown and changed.

At the beginning of the year they were just starting to be good friends. Link was always so much smaller than Jacks and behind him in development that they couldn't play very well. It's just been this past year that they've become best friends. Link has really grown a ton and he really understand things now. He really loves toys now and his attention span has gotten a lot better. Jacks has matured a lot over the past year. His preschool teacher has even commented on how much he's grown and changed and his attention span has gotten better. They are so fun they are at the best ages right now. I love to take them to do fun stuff and they're actually old enough that they enjoy it and remember it. The holidays were so fun this past year they got so excited for all of them which was really fun.

At the beginning of 2015 Jordan was still recovering from surgery. The surgeon told us that it would take up to a year for all the swelling in his face to be completely gone. It took him months to fully recover from surgery and just got his braces off this past summer. He's doing a lot better now.

Probably our biggest change during 2015 was moving. Moving has been a huge adjustment. Our new house is still a mess and our ward and neighborhood are super old which has been a huge change. Our last ward was huge and had tons of little kids. Our new ward is so small the primary is about a third the size of our last ward. There aren't really any people our age in our neighborhood. I'm in primary in our new ward. I teach Jackson's class which is actually really fun I like having him in my class. I'm not a huge fan of teaching primary but at least I get to hang out with Jacks. Jordan just got called to be a stake auditor. When we first moved in he was called to teach a Sunday School class on finance but it was only a 6 week class so that is over now.

Our house is still being painted and we're not home a ton so I don't really feel like we've really even fully adjusted to the move. The painter claims he's going to finish this week so I'm seriously hoping it's true this time. It really is almost done so if he actually shows up I think he'll finish. He's just made a huge mess of my house. There is paint on almost everything we own. So I'm pissed and it's going to take me a month to clean it. We still have things just thrown in storage we need to organize and I haven't done any decorating. I'm excited to get things organized and decorated and really make the new house our own. It will be nice to finally be able to stay home during the day and just enjoy the house. I love having a finished basement for the boys to play in and I'm so excited to actually be able to use it.

2016 is really going to be a year of change for us. We have some exciting changes coming up this year. Jordan got a new job that he starts in February. It's going to be a big change for him and probably some extra work hours. It might be a little adjustment for the kids and me as well because he's going to be a lot busier at work and probably won't be able to take time off as much which might be hard with a new baby.

Our baby is due in April and we're really excited but also really nervous. I think the third kid will be a huge adjustment. Right now Jordan and I can be one on one with our boys which makes things like going to the store and church still hard but doable. We're going to be out numbered now! It's going to be hard for me to be alone with them as well while Jordan is at work. My boys can be kind of high maintenance and a baby is time consuming so it will be an adjustment for them as well. When I have a new baby I usually kind of turn into a hermit and never go anywhere because I'm a little afraid of germs with a new baby. It's going to be really hard to do that with 2 older kids. I don't want Jacks and Link to miss out because we have a new baby. I'm still not sure what I'm going to do about work. I might cut down to PRN or maybe just try to work half shifts for a while until the baby is sleeping through the night.

In the fall Jackson will be starting kindergarten! It's going to be a huge adjustment for all of us. We're used to just doing whatever during the day and not really having anything tying us down so this will be a huge change. He's really excited to start school. He loves kids and making friends so I think he's going to love the social aspect of it. I'm really worried about him academically. He's a little behind a lot of the kids his age. Not from lack of trying he's just been struggling to learn a little. I've been working with him and he's doing preschool but he still has a hard time. We considered holding him back a year but he's a huge kid and it would be really obvious that he was held back and I really don't want other kids to make fun of him. So at the moment we're just planning to work really hard with him on letters and numbers until the school year starts and see how it goes. If he just really struggles and can't get it then maybe we'll just have repeat a grade.

This year is going to be really different for Jackson. He's getting old! He turns 5 in June and I think we're going to start signing him up for sports. He'll probably do swimming lessons this summer if I can manage it with a baby, then maybe tball and definitely soccer in the fall. He's such a social kid that I think he'll love sports and just making new friends. I really want him to learn to enjoy being active so I think it will be for him to start at such a young age.

Link will 3 next month! Having Jacks in kindergarten is going to be a huge adjustment for him. I don't think I'm going to put him preschool this year. He really doesn't need it. He really knows almost as many letters as Jacks. I've been working with Jacks so much at home and Link just does it with us and he's picked up a lot so I don't think he needs 2 years of preschool. He doesn't really need the social aspect of it like Jacks either. Link plays well with other kids but he's really content to just play on his own.

2015 was a really fun but challenging year for us. 2016 has some huge changes for us and we're really looking forward to it.

Some quick highlights and way to many pictures from 2015.
January