I'm a horrible blogger, that's all there is to it.

It's the first day of June. It has been more than four months (that's a third of a year!) since I blogged last. A lot has changed.

I gave up couponing for the most part. I realized that to eat the way I want my family to, couponing just is not always compatible. I will still use coupons and search for deals on products we do use, but I have been searching out other ways to save money and feed my family healthy, whole food. I will (hopefully) be blogging more about this in the next few weeks. :)

Naomi graduated food therapy just to start speech therapy. She also went through autism testing. She has been diagnosed with a fairly bad learning delay. It breaks my heart in many ways, as Ruth is more advanced than her in a few areas. However, with the speech therapy, Naomi has made a lot of improvements, and we've been working with her daily, and prayfully considering our options for what will be the best continued course of action to give her the best possible results in life.

Due to the financial pressure, we won't be sending Tobiah back to Rainier. I will have him attend a local preschool that a lady from church runs in her home, and I am hoping that Tobiah will not be too sad if he doesn't see his friends again. Yesterday was his last day, and I'm just not sure he really understands what that means. Create a fair is next week, so I hope to get phone numbers for his friends so perhaps we can do playdates and stay in touch.

Elli will still be going to Rainier, at least for next year. I don't have the heart to yank her before she has Katie as a teacher. We will reevaluate the best schooling option for Elli at the end of next year, and decide the best course of action to take. Only wrench being thrown into my "at least one more year" plan is that Katie may switch to 3rd/4th grade teacher, and if that is the case, it would be at least two more years. We are also loosing our carpool, so this really has turned into the huge mess I feared it would from the very beginning, and I am a little frustrated that the people that talked me into sending her are unwilling to help. I'm continuing to pray for a better attitude regarding this.

I guess the biggest news is we're expecting number five on Rich's birthday. I want a boy so badly, but am trying to prepare myself for the probability that it is a girl. We'll find out sometime around July 17th what we are having.

I've also decided, at least for now, that I will homeschool the younger kids. Elli will continue to go to school, at least for now, as I think that is what is best for her. She and I do not work as well together as we could, we're too much alike, and she's such a social creature that she really has done well at school this year. I know Tobiah will do better with me, and would really benefit from working at his own pace (he already knows all the letter sounds, learned it from a Leapster game, he really is a sponge) and not being held back by a class. Naomi will likely be forced into special ed in a public school if we go the school route (or at least that is what it is currently looking like, that could change by kindergarten age), and I just don't think that is what is best for her. The easy part is because of how close in age she and Ruth are, I should be able to get away with teaching them together for a couple of years.

Last Friday we also welcomed a new member to the family. Her name is Maxine, and she is an orange and white, currently tiny, fluff ball. I finally got my orange tabby, and I am completely in love.

Those are the highlights of what has gone on in the last 1/3 year. I hope, as always, to do a better job blogging for the one or two of you that actually read this.