Things have been crazy and busy around here lately. I'm still trying to get Kyle back into horseback riding. That may actually start in December (which is next week!). The year has totally gotten away from us. I've been crazy busy at work - so much so that I have over 2 weeks of vacation left to take at the end of the year! It will be some much needed down time.

Proof that the year has gotten away with us - the things we normally have done, or at least started, by now are not. I've usually done a lot of Christmas shopping by now. Once I was even done before Thanksgiving. This year we've only just started. Though now that we're focused we're making quick progress there.

Thankfully I took care of Steve's birthday present wicked early - and gave it to him LOL. There was no reason to keep it, and he got a little bit of early celebration. I'll still have to do something with the kids, but at least the gift won't be some Christmas afterthought for him (his birthday is 12/17).

Speaking of Steven ... he's hitting a milestone this year! 4 decades is a pretty long time! I'll have to make an extra special cake for him I think. We did manage to get away for a weekend without the kids - to celebrate both his and our friend Mark's birthdays. It's been so long since we've done something without the kids. It was SO nice to just do what we wanted without worrying about their schedule or if they'll eat the food... the kids stayed with 'Ms Beth' - and had a blast. She has an 8 year old boy, and the boys all played and romped and had fun. Ryan told his afterschool teacher on Monday that he had a great time and Mommy needs to go away more often :o)

Besides shopping, I haven't gotten my act together on our Christmas cards. I've made them the last several years, and while I have the stamp set I want to use, I have yet to settle on a design. AND I haven't even started our Christmas letter.

We're having a nice, quiet Thanksgiving, with Steve's Mom joining us. I'm excited to get to cook a real meal again. So I had a fun time sitting down on Saturday and planning out my menu.

Kyle's orthodontic work has been going splendidly. His upper jaw expansion is complete. He'll keep the pendex in place for another 4 - 6 months, but the Dr couldn't be happier with the progress that was made. In 6 weeks we go back and Ky will have brackets put on his 4 upper-front teeth and he'll work on straightening them. He can't go to full braces until he has lost all his baby teeth... so that's a year or so out (thankfully!). We had Ryan in for a quick consult - yes he has an bite problem (it's off center) - but he's only lost 3 teeth. Unless something happens that forces us to act sooner (like with Kyle) we'll not do anything there for a few years.

Holly is finally talking up a storm. She's still behind, but at her 6 month re-evaluation for EI she tested out. That's good! And it's not so good :( - her therapist had some other things she wanted to continue working on. Now she only has about 45 days to complete it. So I'm sure we'll be left with lots of instructions for keeping Holly improving. Most of the work stems around making her say things and try new words. She's now comfortable to attempt almost any word I ask her to and she's using a ton of words on her own now.

So much of the same around here - I hope everyone is healthy and able to have a peaceful Thanksgiving with family or friends (or both!).