Ducklings

OK, this has been the longest in between Blog posts ever for us! It just wasn't something I was able to keep up on anymore... I will try to summarize the past year or so...
Last July Eric and I went to NC to work on finalizing his Grandma's estate, then we came home via Atlanta, GA, where we stayed with some friends for a few days :)
Kat went into 1st Grade in the SBCSC system and has been doing OK; however, we have decided to homeschool her after she finishes up 1st Grade there.
Cayden was receiving therapy services from 1st Steps Indiana until he turned 3 (3? What happened to 2??). Now he is in SBCSC receiving speech services, although his teacher told me that after he enters P3 in the fall, he may be discharged from speech so... still, we will have him in the PS system for a few months to see how he does while I'm homeschooling Kat. I do believe it will be beneficial for him.
Our decision to homeschool has not been made lightly - there are several factors and I feel very confident that Kat will do well.
At some point in 2009, we joined New Life church in Osceola and we love it there. Kat did Positive Faith Soccer again, she attends TeamKID on Wednesday nights and Eric and I have been attending the Power For Living Academy there too. It took nearly a full year, but Cayden warmed up to it and he now loves going to church! Yay!
Last February we acquired a new kitty - Chance. He is a full-blooded Siamese and is just a very awesome guy! He's older - 7 1/2 now, but he does great with the kids and, well, he's just awesome. What a personality!
Yesterday we went to AgDays here at the St. Joe County Fair Grounds and brought home 2 ducklings! They're Pekin Ducks. They're doing well so far. Their names are Tom and Kiwi :) I'm not sure how old they are - I thought they were a few weeks old at first but now it may be closer to days or 1 week so... I'm going to track their weight, size (as best as I can) and overall growth (via pictures and record-keeping) and we'll figure it out :)
We no longer have the fish tank - it was just too expensive and took up so much room and electricity, it was noisy... yeah. So we have 2 ducklings and 3 cats right now and we're HAPPY!
OK, I think that is a fair summary for the past year for now.

Long Time... no post!!

Yeah, yeah, I know, it's been a looong time!
Well, the hunt is on! We're casually house-hunting. I mean, we're 4 people in a 2 bedroom house & let's face it, we don't have a lot of room & we have a lot of stuff. Like I said though, casually looking. We have a lot to finish up on our house now before it could really be sold.
What's been going on? Well, as of about June of '07, we have been cloth diapering Cayden & since about a month ago, it's been 100% exclusively cloth. We had been doing disposable diapers at night, but... I'm a member of an excellent cloth diapering community online- DiaperTraders. I call it my cyber-family!!
We joined a church in October- South Side Baptist in South Bend. Since our first visit, the church community embraced us warmly & my Baptism will tentatively be on Sunday, January 13th. Service is at 10!! :)
Though I have helped out at work on occasion I am enjoying my life as a Stay At Home Mom. It's been tough, but Eric has been able to do side work for friends & family to help out when we need it.
Sad news- Terri has decided it is time for her & Reagann to return to Pennsylvania, so her job is going to be open officially at the end of January. The position has been offered to me & I'm considering it, though I'm not ready to take Cayden to daycare. Eric did bring home a possible proposal of him being able to take on a 3rd shift position at Utilimaster & we could work out something from there so he could be with the kids & so Kat can continue her last semester of Speech Articulation through the school system before heading off to Kindergarten next year.
Last week we celebrated Cayden's - can you believe it - FIRST BIRTHDAY!! We had a wonderful party with a Thomas the Tank Engine cake made by With A Wing and A Prayer in Mishawaka. Yum!! He received several gifts & loves them all & plays with them everyday!!
Christmas was very nice. Eric had a full 11 days off of work *!* and so we had a lot of family time. His first day back at work, Cayden woke up & was very upset that he couldn't find Daddy anywhere! He's since settled back in. Among other things, I'm getting ready to start putting Cayden in his crib at night & out of our bed. It's a tough choice for me.
Katarina is doing great! She has so far lost 5 teeth & has another loose! Wow!! She enjoys helping in the kitchen, she feeds the cats & helps with the birds. Yes, I said birds! Captain Jack Sparrow, our Parakeet, passed in November & we have since acquired 2 Cockatiels - Donald & Daisy. They're not yet old enough to breed, but they are definitely bonded & we're considering a clutch in the summer. We'll see how it goes.
The fish tank is doing well. It is settled & Eric put in a 100 gallon sump in the basement. Our automatic top-off tank received a smack & had a huge crack, so we bought a rubbermaid container that works great & holds more water. He also set up a different pump at night so it is quieter when the lights go out.
Back to Kat - she is very independent, more now than we ever thought she'd be!! She got a Webkinz for Christmas & little did we know how much work it is!! Haha! She likes to play the games online & also enjoys watching Ratatouille, which Grandma Ziegler got her for Christmas. I enjoy the movie too & it hasn't yet worn out its welcome in the DVD player...
We can hardly wait for the Drive-In theater to reopen for the summer!! There's a lot we want to see! Including Prince Caspian!! Yay!!
Well, that's all I can think of for now. Oh yeah, I am still breastfeeding Cayden, though he really is enjoying solid foods more now so we are weaning to just a few sessions per day. I'm hoping to update more often since the kiddos can entertain themselves a bit better now...

Here is a picture of Kat & Cayden in their matching Yankees outfits! Go Yankees!!

Been a while!

Well it's been a while since my last post. A lot has happened since then.
Cayden is 6 months old, and doing great. He can sit up by himself. He weighs roughly 18.4 pounds. He still won't sleep in his crib, so Anna is still sleeping on the recliner in the living room.
The fish tank is doing well also. We finally put an end (crosses fingers) to whatever it was that was killing everything. We've had a few more things die, but now nothing seems to have died for an extended period. We got a frogspawn, finger leather, and a clam.
Our neighbor was trying to get rid of some of their birds (they keep having babies), so we took one. We call him Captain Jack Sparrow...Jack for short.
We have been working a lot in the basement trying to get the room done down there. I have one side of the room done, and just got the framing up for the doorway and back wall.
We had a barbecue the day before Father's Day. We had a pretty good turnout. I cooked hamburgers and hot dogs, and some people brought some other snacks and stuff too. Overall it was a good turnout.
Work is going well. I have been running parts for everyone and it's nice to get outside. It's getting very hot though! We have been getting a little extra overtime lately...which is nice since we haven't gotten much of any lately. It helps pay the bills.
ZigCom is doing some business, but not as much as I'd like to have.
We are also trying to refinance the truck which will save us some every month too. The medical bills from Cayden's arrival are starting to build up.
I can't think of anything else right now!

We're home!

We made it home from the hospital. Here's a pic of Cayden in his car seat. We just walked in the door, and he slept the whole way home, and about an hour after we got home. The cats aren't quite sure what to think. They all sniff him, until he cries. Then the one comes over and looks to see what's wrong, one walks away, and one growls and fluffs up its tail. They'll get used to him eventually. Kat will be home at 8 from Awana. She spent all day Tuesday with us at the hospital, so she's already gotten to hang out with him a little.
Anyhow, that's the latest. Enjoy the pics!

Cayden James is here!

Well, we had a boy :-) 15:42 12/31/06 7 lbs 5 oz. 19 1/2" Anna had a C-Section, as he was breech. He's fine. She's fine. It's all good.

Changing Table

Well, we were going to buy a changing table, but Target's cheapest one was like $80 or $90. We didn't feel it was worth that much. We went to Home Depot, got a bunch of wood, and made one. We spent $47 worth of two $25 gift cards we got from MyPoints.com, so we still have $3 left! Didn't spend a dime so far! Here it is!
Anna designed it, and we both built it using the table saw Anna's dad bought from my Dad.
What do you think?! I think it turned out nice!