Well... It's been quite some time since I've been on here and I think I'm going to give it another go!  A lot has happened since my last post (over a YEAR ago!) I probably put too much on Facebook.. I think this is a better forum to get a little more personal for those that choose to read it.
Anyway, a quick overview... Madilynn did very well in 1st grade, she was in a 1st/2nd split class so now that she is in 2nd grade, she's very comfortable with her teachers and what she is learning. It's only been a few weeks, but she seems to be doing well so far! In May of this year, Madilynn underwent a biopsy to determine if she has Celiac disease, and it was confirmed right away she does. I never would have thought my precious, perfect little baby would be dealing with so much in such a short time. There are certainly worse things out there, but Diabetes and now Celiac on top of it?!  I just wish I could take it away from her. She's done so well with everything though... and I don't know why. Her strength and courage amaze me. I am looking forward to see what this wonderful little girl grows up to be. Madilynn has taken a liking to reading and she just finished her first "chapter book"!  She was so excited! It was EIGHT chapters and she read it! She's such a cutie!  I hope her love of learning continues to grow!
Miss Kallie... Kallie is sooooooo Kallie!!  She's such a funny girl. She just started Kindergarten and she LOVES it. She has the same teacher Madilynn did and she just thinks that's the coolest thing! For kindergarten the child has to meet with the teacher for a preliminary test to see where they are at, and Kallie aced it! She did so well! I was so proud of her! Now that she's been in school for a few weeks, she's always practicing writing her letters and drawing pictures, which is something i could never get her to do!  For the longest time she wouldn't write her name because she didn't like the letter "K" it was too hard! Kallie has never been one that wants to help out a ton... and recently when she was asked to clean the kitty's litter box, she started bawling and said she was so tired and wanted to go to bed... Yeah... NO that's not gonna work! Then she decided that she just wanted to get rid of the cat!!  Little stinker! That comment led to a conversation about how even though we sometimes don't want to do something, we are still a family and we take care of eachother... My example was Emma, she's a baby and i have to change her stinky diapers, what if i don't want to do that?  Are we going to get rid of Emma?!  Kallie's response.... Well.... we could give her to Grandma!!  LOL!!  She is seriously so dang funny!  Love that Kallie-Bear! (Uncle Steve's nickname for her that stuck!)
On to Baby Emma... Emma is almost two, and it shows!!  She is such an independent little girl and always wants to do what her big sissy's do! Over the last couple of months her vocabulary has exploded and now she talks all the time! there are a couple of things that still sound like jibberish, but for the most part we can understand a lot. She loves her sisters and is such an angel, except for when it's time to buckle her car seat. She gets so angry when someone tries to help her because she wants to do it all on her own! Hey!!  YOU'RE FREAKING TWO!!  Yeah... she doesn't get it. I think she'd prefer to be 5 and in school with Kallie! Its so funny to hear her little voice say sweet things like "My mommy" as she's squeezing me... or her little "I love you"... ooooh that melts me! Then comes the "NO, mommy! Emma do it!!" and some of her looks are lethal!! Right now she is pretty much a walking power struggle! And a stubborn one at that! She'll even put herself in time out when she knows she's being naughty! LOL!  It's so funny. But then her tearful little sorry's followed by a big hug are so sweet.
As for Ryan and I... this past year has been an interesting one. In January, we found a house we were going to build, but that ended after the builder started trying to push us around. Then we decided to try to sell our house before we started looking for a new one. We did a LOT more work to the house trying to get it ready, then we finally got it up for sale in July. Unfortunately we haven't gotten any offers. This market is really crappy, but we knew that going into it. So it looks like the backup plan is about to go into effect and we'll probably pull the sign and wait it out a bit longer. Ryan is also about to head out of town for work again, and moving would just be too much for me to do on my own. With a full time job and three little ones, I just don't want to do it. Madilynn has a great support system at her school and we're fine here for now. So, we'll probably re-visit it this spring.