Life is Good!!

We have been home from the hospital for over 2 weeks now. The amazing thing is how good Lauren feels. She hasn't woken me up in the night once, hasn't mentioned or wondered what to do about any pains or discomfort, and has been talking and laughing and playful and energetic. That may not sound too amazing, but it seems like it has been 3 years since we have had 2 weeks this good. It really is hard to believe!

My kids are so great. Megan is on a basketball team that is really pushing her and is competitive. Even her practices have been fun to watch. Her homework from last night is to practice yelling the plays louder. Nathan still likes to snuggle with his mom. When you are in 2nd grade, everything is exciting and I love watching his face light up when he tells us stuff. And where would we be without Rachel? She just makes us laugh all the time. She finds the craziest things funny. She is also thoughtful and tender and kind, like her dad.

Blair and I were talking the other night about his job. How is it that he now has a better salary, less stress, hardly any travel and enjoys going to work every day? He almost feels guilty about those he left behind in the New York environment.

We are having a fun Christmas vacation. It has been so much better than we had hoped. We have played tons of games, read lots of stories, watched movies, worked on puzzles and lego projects, and baked more treats than we should. The kids are all good enough that they can play duets on the piano and other instruments together. It is neat to watch. They got a laptop for Christmas which will definitely help our homework issues.

School Started

A GREAT ACCOMPLISHMENT!! Our kitchen is FINALLY complete! No one is quite as happy as Mom, but she does deserve it! Here is a picture!

I started High School and like it so far. Our sports teams are doing fairly well. The last football game we won by 63. That's there for all you guys who are sports crazy! :-) Rachel seems to be happy, as usual. She likes most of her classes. Megan and Nathan both love their teachers and are doing well. Nathan started a hip hop class and all 3 of them begin basketball this week. He is extremely excited! He'll finally have somewhere to channel his endless energy. Dad is coaching one of the basketball teams and working hard. He traveled to Morristown this week but is in town most of the time.

Here are First Day of School Pictures:

Megan and Nathan (so cute!)

Rachel being as silly as ever!

Me in all of my short-hair glory. (Yuck!)

Home From Vacation

YAY! I finally figured out how to make a blog!

Hello, everyone! We had a great time on our trip to Oregon and Utah! We packed a lot in to three weeks! Everyone is exhausted. In Oregon, we were at the beach for a few days, then I went to EFY (awesome - strongly recommend it!) while the rest of us played around with Grandma and Grandpa. Dad arrived in Oregon about a week after we went. We then went to Utah, where we manaed to see a good 80% of our millions of friends and family there! All of us loved the vacation, but we're glad to be home. You can see various highlights of each trip over on the right.

I do believe we will write an update on how each person is doing on every post. We'll go youngest to oldest, for the benefit of Nathan.

Nathan - He is so excited for school to start. He is doing very well in piano, and is still a major bundle of energy! Nathan loves to be right about things, and he loves to do sports. He is going in to second grade. Nathan is just as cute as ever! He and Megan are the only LDS students in their schools and are great buddies.

Megan - She loves basketball! If there was one thing Megan could do all day, it would be to shoot hoops. She is very athletic, and will be going in to fifth grade, her last year at elementary school! She enjoys doing odd jobs around the house, and is always looking for a way that she can get paid a little extra! She also continues to do well in piano as well as the clarinet. Megan has made lots of friends and can't wait to do band this year!

Rachel - Tigger is the only way to possibly describe her. Rachel is still bouncing off the walls with her unending energy. She excels in the trumpet, which quite suits her personality. She loves basketball and is very good at it. Rachel is going in to seventh grade and will be the only LDS student out of 900 kids! She always manages to make everyone laugh. She has made several friends who are all very similar to her.

Lauren - I am way excited to start High School. I'll be the only LDS kid there, and seminary will start at 6 AM. I am doing quite well in piano and enjoy playing songs from High School Musical and other Disney movies. My roller-coaster health is very stable right now, and the test I had today looked good. My energy is still very low, and therefore I still enjoy reading and other low-stress activities.

Renee - Mom is as busy as ever! We've been working on getting a new kitchen, so she's running around like a crazy person looking at various granite galleries. Later this week, we tear out all of our kitchen cabinets for the floor to go in! YIKES! She can't wait for all of us to go back to school - I guess we're only interesting for a little while!

Blair - Dad is loving his job! His honey-do list keeps on growing, but I do believe it will start to shrink after the kitchen gets put in.

So that's what's new! I'll be putting up a new post about every month, unless I'm in the hospital. In that case, Mom would have to figure out how to do this! We love you all!

The Holbrook Family