Family Portrait - 1/10

My friend Tara is doing a monthly family portrait exercise on her blog and I thought it would be fun to join her. We dont have a ton of family portraits. We have lots of the boys and lots of Matt and the boys, but not many of the four of us. Usually Im the one behind the lens, so I thought I would roll with this monthly challenge and reap the benefits of 12 family portraits from 2010.

This photo was taken on New Years Eve with a timer. I love it.

Our January Recap.

-The boys started school on my birthday (Jan. 4) after a very enjoyable and much too quick Christmas break. They seemed to have settled back into our daily school routine and for that I am very grateful.

-Seamus has kept his room clean most of the month. He goes through stages every week or so where he will stop everything and focus on cleaning his room. I have not asked him to do this. Its all driven by him, though I have noticed that this process often begins while he is in the middle of doing homework or right before bedtime. In any case, its been a real joy to see him take pride in his room. I gave Seamus a calendar for the new year and he has been updating it with important information. In addition to due dates and birthdays, Shea also notes Finn's basketball games. I think thats cute. Seamus is in the process of making a crystal garden for Science class (due on February 8th) and he just turned in a big Social Studies project where he made an Egyptian sarcophagus. Stay tuned for the pictures.

- Finn is on the final half of his basketball season. I think he's enjoying it but mostly he looks forward to seeing his teammates Ryan Hilder, James and Jeremy. He told me he wanted to swim this Spring at "the Wave" so Im going to have to talk to Matt about making that happen. Last week, Finn and I drove down to the Naval Hospital in San Diego to get some testing done. The appointment was a follow up appointment regarding a possible Aspergers diagnosis we began in November. The doctor believed that Finn's intelligence might be super high and that this fact, not Aspergers, may explain his social awkwardness with peers. The testing went fine. We will get the results in the next few weeks. Finn's been having a great time doing scouts this month and getting weekly playdates with best friends James, Jeremy and Ryan Huelsman.

- Matt has been super stressed out the entire month about his job at USMC. Today we finally got an official active duty paycheck. Hopefully this is the first of many. We have mucho bills and people to pay so keep that money coming, Uncle Sam! Matt continues to run each day and looks very fit and strong as a result. I must say, he looks pretty damn hot. Love those legs! ;)

-My birthday was earlier in the month and it was totally fantastic. It was by far the best Ive had in years. Im back in the swing of things with speech and basketball and homework club and school volunteering etc. This past month is the most balanced Ive felt regarding school and home in a very long time. It feels good. I am really enjoying my neighborhood walks. They seem to be getting easier which makes me think I must be toughening up. I hope to keep those up. :)

- The weather has been cold, or at least cold for So. California. Me no likey! We had a wet spell there for a few days mid month which was very unusual. They say its supposed to rain again this weekend. Im not looking forward to it.

-The boys and I finished reading My Rotten Life; Nathan Abercrombie, Accidental Zombie by David Lubar. Finn is doing his February book report on this book's sequel called Dead Guy Spy; Nathan Abercrombie, Accidential Zombie. We are currently pages away from finishing 100 Cupboards by N.D. Wilson. Im excited to start a new book with the boys because I found both of these books kind of dull. My friend's daughter suggested Fablehaven by Brandon Mull so we're going to give that a go in the next couple days.

What else? I think thats a rap. :)

Happy Wednesday.