Bullet Catch Up

• Three months today since we moved to Florida and I can finally say that it is starting to feel like home. Things one would usually take for granted, like getting to Costco without GPS, finding the right light switch for the right light on the first try, etc. are starting to come together. Feels good to find some sort of normal again.


• Taylor got braces on yesterday. We're too cheap to spring for clear ones so he has a full metal mouth. I told him that if I could do it in my 30s, then he could do it in his teens. Sounded like a fair deal to him. They really don't look too bad and he'll have them on less than two years if he wears his rubber bands, etc. 1 kid down, 4 more to go!


• Noah was the student of the month in his class for January! The school recognizes kids for demonstrating a specific character trait each month and Noah was chosen for Generosity. He's an all-around good kid, particularly good at seeing a problem and solving it and if that means sharing something that he has, he's all over it. I wonder if having 4 siblings has anything to do with it...:) Noah just had his first pinewood derby in cub scouts. He didn't win, but had a good time making his car that looked like sponge bob.


• One week from Saturday, Meili gets to reunite with LaLa! I'm so excited, I can hardly stand it! We are meeting Lisa and her family at Disneyworld. Lisa and I have been blog friends for 4+ years so it will be awesome to finally meet her in person. The huge layer of icing on the cake is that our daughters knew each other in China!


• Speaking of the little empress...the terrible twos are here with a vengeance. Attachment parenting gets a little tricky when you are trying to derail meltdowns and tantrums that are not attachment related. We have spent the last 6 months teaching Meili what it means to have a mommy and a daddy. She likes having a mom and a dad but she isn't too thrilled to learn that they are in charge, not her!


• I'm pretty sure that I saw my first gator yesterday. I saw the eyes and a flagellating tail out in the middle of the lake when I was walking. It was hard to get a good look at it but there's really nothing else it could have been. Yippee. The wildlife fun never stops here. There's 'something' burrowing in our front yard. The hole is so big and deep that whatever 'it' is probably is under the foundation of the house. 'It' could be a turtle but is probably an armadillo. Matt says he thinks the hole was dug by wild cats. (?!) I've already seen 4 snakes and it's still the dead of winter (for here.) Summer should be a real kick in the pants...:(