Update on us!

Happy Friday! It is a cooler, overcast day here today. Tyson and Jori both came running back in the house this morning to get their jerseys and Tyson also put long pants on. It is a good day for drinking coffee and wearing slippers.

My mom and dad are back in Oregon, safe and sound, trying to get settled into their new house. We really miss having them here! Tyson and Jori loved going to visit their Papa and Gram after school and I loved going there for my midmorning coffee break. It is taking some time to get back into our “normal” routine, but we are getting there.

Tyson and Jori are in their second quarter of school. Tyson seems to be getting a lot more homework this quarter, which I am not a fan of! Both kids are happy to be back at school. They enjoy their friends and they both love their teachers. In fact, a couple nights ago Tyson said “I wish I had two moms; then I could have my mommy and Miss Lazenby could also be my mom”. I guess I will just be glad he still wants me for a mom : ) Jori is always saying “Ma’am this” and “Ma’am that”. She takes everything her teacher says so seriously. Thankfully both kids have good teachers, so they are following good examples.

Jori has really adopted a strong accent over the past few weeks. She now says “ah-sking” instead of a-sking” and “ah-ntie” instead of “a-ntie”. Both of our kids seem to becoming more Afrikaans and more Tswana lately as they have adopted little cultural traits and language patterns from both groups. Darin and I spend a lot of time looking over their heads and smiling at each other over the things they say and do.

Our kids seem to have renewed their friendship with each other. When we lived across the road, they only had each other and seemed to be running off and making up new games every day. Then we moved in here and they kind of lost touch with each other. There are other kids to play with and Tyson and Jori were having a hard time getting into a groove. Since we went on holiday with my parents, they seem to have remembered how much fun they have together. They still squabble, as all siblings do, but they definitely are spending more time together and laughing more together. It is wonderful to see. They enjoy playing “Lego Indiana Jones” together on the Wii and the other night Tyson said “Jori and I are a perfect team”. Melt my heart!!

I am getting back into my meal making groove. My meals aren’t quite as exciting as what my mom made, but everyone is eating and seems satisfied. The little boys ask every night “Are we having dessert?” Thanks Gram for introducing them to nightly treats!

Darin is keeping busy with his business. He always seems to be headed out to a meeting, on the phone or sending emails. It is easy for me to get resentful of how much time he spends on the water filters, but then I remember that he is working HARD to provide for us and that usually shuts up my crabby inner dialogue.

Ok, that is all for now. Will write about TYB stuff soon!