Wow!  It has been over 5 months since we posted and it has been an insane 5 months.

We celebrated Bradon's 3rd birthday with a Toy Story cake, along with the birthday celebration we celebrated all his accomplishments over the last year.  It is amazing to believe that at his 2nd birthday he was not talking at all, even today a year ago he was not talking.  Now he never quiets.  He still has some issues pronounces certain letters and words, but for the most part we and even outsiders can understand what he is saying.  A huge amount of progress has been made since his ear tube placement and they say that he will continue to advance since his hearing is no longer muffled.  His language advancement has at last made potty training successful, thank the potty gods for that one.  We had been struggling and struggling, but it appears all it took was patience and the ability for him to communicate with us.

Matt has been doing great at work.  He is officially part of the juvenile division at the prosecutor's office now.  He enjoys the work and has loved expanding out of traffic and misdemeanor, but he does miss the people he used to work with.  His 5k training has been going wonderfully and he is managing over 3 miles in about 36-37 minutes.  He also has lost 30lbs while training for this 5k and I couldn't be prouder of him.

Madison has also been doing great.  She just turned 5 yesterday.  My how the time flies.  She competed in two tournaments for ATA, one being an in-school tournament and the other being a regional tournament.  In the in-school tournament she got a link for highest kicks and in the regional she got best black belt attitude.  She enjoyed the tournaments, but was a little nervous.  I foresee this being something we will participate in more.  Her enthusiasm for ATA has gotten Bradon and Alana excited to join, which means at each one turns 4 we will be further and further engrossed in the program.  Matt is even talking about joining again, and since after 2 memberships the rest of the family goes for free I'm even considering since we will be there all the time any way.  We got Madison registered for kindergarten and she is excited.  Matt and I are terrified and sad.  She goes tomorrow to be screen for placement, and school starts mid-August.  So it will not be much longer before she will be on her way.

Alana is doing great.  She has a pretty large vocabulary for her age and mimics constantly.  We are so relieved to see that at this time we won't be experiencing the same struggles we faced and are still facing with Bradon's speech.  She currently has all of her teeth and keeps busy by picking on her siblings and climbing on everything. Out of all the kids she is our thumb sucker and blankie holder.  We didn't experience this with the other kids so it is definitely new territory.  We are trying to break the thumb sucking, but it is proving far more difficult that we anticipated.  And we are terrified that the blanket she is attached to holds up until she decides she doesn't need it anymore.  She walks, runs, climbs, and swings constantly.  She has no fear and is proving to be more like her brother than her sister when it comes to rough housing and getting dirty.  I should have known I would get a tom-boy with the last girl.

As for me I am doing ok.  I'm sure most of you know that I had a pretty extensive ankle surgery at the end of February. We had family living with us for about a month while I healed enough to be able to handle things again.   I have been in casts and boots since the surgery.  After I finally get out of the walking boot I will be wearing a brace in my shoe to prevent damage to the ankle.  The implanted a donated tendon in my ankle, which takes about a year to full attach to my bones.  It is critical I don't injure it again in the first year.  The surgery dashed my hopes of running the 5k with Matt, but I am hoping and begging the doctor to get me out of the boot and approve me to walk the marathon.  It will likely take forever, but I feel it would be a success as long as I finished. Finishing it after a complete ankle reconstruction less than 4 months prior would be a huge success in my book.  Despite the chaos of the house and surgery I managed to finish the semester in school and with straight A's.  I couldn't be happier.  I will take the summer off and then hardcore hit schooling again in the fall and spring.  I will be graduating this time next year.

As always I will try to update soon.  We have several trips planned over the next few months and I'm sure we will be posting pictures and updates from those trips.

Take Care
Amanda