Leaping Into February!

The work has begun at Degen Drive. They have put up the fence in the back to secure the pool area since we have children. It looks great - a dark wood and bamboo that really sets well with the garden in the back. They have made the cubby for the second refrigerator in the kitchen and they were able to set it up with water so we should have plenty of ice for the many parties we plan on throwing at the new house. They are beginning the work to enclose the back porch to create another space for family and friends to gather. We have the plans for the conversion of the garage into master suite for downstairs and are in the process of submitting them to the city of Bonita then we can start that part.

We go over several times a week to check the mail, feed the koi and to let the kids run around and get used to the new space. They all seem very excited about having a bedroom together and a playroom along with their own bathroom. The downstairs will also have a family room with a set up for them to do arts and crafts. I think the whole big extended family is looking forward to having space to live and entertain. I know I am looking forward to having an all adult bedroom again with Siddha's nursery going away and her moving into the kids bedroom.

Well it turns out that the church children's choir didn't work out as well as I would have liked. Issues came to a head for us and we had a great conversation with Phyllis or as most know her now Grandma Graham. She listened about our concerns, talked back and forth about what was going all for all involved. I think it was handled very diplomatically and the kids are still getting to spend the afternoons with her - we just took out the evening portion with the choir. We felt like it was important to have the time with her be conflict free so everyone could enjoy it completely.

Siddha is talking in sentences and sentence fragments now. Even more cool to see and watch is her forming her own thoughts into sentences. She is moving out of the parrot phase and has been putting together her own sentences.

"Siddha go that way."

"Daddy where are you?"

"Siddha want my jacket please."

Some examples of this new skill. She is getting to be very communicative which is awesome and greatly reduces parental stress since she is child that know what she wants and now can tell us what she wants. Our new policy around toys and sharing seems to be working. There have been significantly fewer blow outs around them and people fighting over possession. We still welcome any advice anyone has so please share away.

We have Grammie Jo down for a visit right now for 10 days. She timed her visit so she would be here for Nani's 6th birthday which was awesome. As I mentioned before she is coming out near each child's birthday this year so they are all very excited about it. She is staying at the Mom's house for half the trip and then at our place for the 2nd half so all the kids get some morning and night time with her. We're doing more baking and cooking while she's here and I look forward to the delicious food. Since she's going to be here a little longer we're going to set up some adult time with her - dinner out and a movie. We're also going to take all the kids out to see The Lorax while she's here.

Lisa and I were able to sneak away for a long weekend up in Portland with Dan and Megan. We flew up on a Thursday morning and came back home on Sunday afternoon. We had a fantastic time!! The weather was a pleasant change from down here in San Diego. We got to eat at several great places (Cuban eatery, dim sum, food trucks, and Thai) and it was Lisa's first trip without a kid since Nani was born so it was a special treat for her. We watched movies, shopped Powell's books and had got to see their new place which is quite the leisure pad. Sorry to everyone we didn't get a chance to see but the focus of the trip was Dan and Megan. We extended the offer to fly them down for all the major holidays so they can keep in touch with the kids and we all get the chance to see them more often. Portland is definitely the place for them to live - it is a city of Dan and Megans! They also introduced me to Portlandia while I was there and now having watched the show and walked a good part of the city - it is spot on!

Our search for a new school for the older kids continues. Sadly both of the charter schools we applied for we ended up wait listed. Birney won't have their auditorium and cafeteria rebuilt till the next school year in addition to needing to raise 25k to fund Art, Spanish and the library next year. They had a fire that gutted both buildings and the structure was so out dated that it had no fire suppression system so the damage was extensive. Things are looking grim for public schools here in San Diego. We may have a good school in our new area though we need to check out the LGBT and diversity angle still. The school is called Sunnyside and its scores are high for education and rated highly by parents with children enrolled. Another school (Valley Vista) scored slightly lower and is our home school though we can apply for a zone transfer to go to Sunnyside. We are actually meeting up tonight with all the parents to talk more about school and the kids. Wish us luck!

That's about it for now from us for now. The beginning of the year tends to be a slow time for us with events and outings so not much else to report. As always please feel free to set up a visit or drop a line. We love you all and miss you (especially those far flung friends and family)!