Good News and Random Happenings...

Finally, after 6 months of being on the market, our house is officially under contract--HOORAY! It is scheduled to close March 16th (because our buyers have a closing set for their home about that same time). We will be VERY relieved to be done with that! It stinks to lose so much money from what we bought it at 6 years ago, but we'll just be glad to not be paying double house payments, utilities, taxes & insurance, etc. on a house we aren't living in! :)

We are all doing well. Neil is loving his job, and is so happy to be working for Sobeys. A great company, a great working environment, and an awesome boss! That all makes a big difference!

The kids are all doing well in school & have made some friends & have adjusted great to the differences here. Preston (he's going by that a lot more now) has a Canadian Geography class this first semester & I was worried about how he would do, since they had to know all the different provinces, capitals, rivers, lakes, etc., and he hasn't had to ever learn any of that before. Well, on his first test, he got a 97% (the 2nd highest in the class). Kind of funny coming from the American kid. :) PJ is also going to be finishing up his Eagle Scout project once we get him registered with a scout troop in Buffalo, NY. They don't have Boy Scouts of America here (obviously, since it's Canada). It's called Scouts Canada, and they have completely different requirements, merit badges, & awards. And they don't have an Eagle Scout award--their highest award in Scouts Canada is the "Queens Venturer Award," So we are going to try to help PJ get that last thing finished, so he can get his Eagle. PJ also has his finals next week at the highschool. They do it similar to college exams....no regular classes that week, they go on a set day & time to the cafeteria to take their exams & have 2 hours to complete the test. Then we'll be halfway through the school year! Crazy how fast the past 5 months has flown by!

Tessa is also doing well & has a lot of really nice girls in her school class that she has become friends with. She is starting the clarinet at school, which she is really excited about. And in the next few weeks, they're also going to start some intramural basketball that she's going to try. And I'm so proud of her for doing so well in French here. They require it from 4th grade on, so she started out behind all the rest of her class, but is now doing as well as the rest of them. I think having Spanish for the past several years has helped. She is having a great time in Young Women's at church & is so happy that there is one other "beehive" right now, and one more coming in May. Our ward is much smaller, so there are only 10 active Young Women in our ward, so they all meet together. Tessa is looking forward to going to girls camp this summer. They have a really nice campground that is only a couple of years old. It's the Thomas S. Monson campground & President Monson came here to dedicate it last year. Pretty cool! PJ & Tessa are also both doing great with their paper route. They are enjoying it, and especially enjoying earning some of their own money! :)

Jonah is doing great as always. He is friendly & outgoing & has made some good friends at school & church. He had a blast running cross country in the fall with his school team & he's looking forward to doing track in the spring. He's a smart kid & loves to learn new things, loves to read & also enjoys math & has memorized most of the times tables already. He wants to play the drums, so we are looking into that right now, and trying to decide if we start with piano & move to drums in a year, or just go straight to drums. Yep, I could see my Jonah being a little drummer. :) Jonah & Clay also started back into swimming at the community pool last week, & they always have a blast with that!

Clay is doing great in school as well. He is in 1st grade, but is in a 1st-2nd grade split class. He loves to read, learn, & draw, and is also doing great in math. His teacher has said that he's one of the top readers in his class. He is also going to try playing some new sports at school (they are starting "scooter hockey" for the 1st & 2nd graders). I'm not quite sure what that is, but it sounds like it's always a hit. And Clay also joined the Jr. Choir at his school. He loves to sing, so that's a lot of fun for him. Clay is also excited to be back in swimming again & loves being in the water.

I'm staying busy volunteering at school a couple times a week, doing all the regular mom stuff around the house, running errands, & helping the kids with all of their schoolwork & activities, and being the new Young Women's President in our ward.

We finally got around to finding a family doctor & dentist (it's a good thing we don't get sick very often). They have walk-in clinics all over the place here, but they say it's best if you have a regular family doctor to go to, especially if you need referrals or anything. So we were "interviewed" by our new family doctor a week ago (they do that here before taking you on as patients), and we have checkups scheduled for the kids in a few weeks (Neil & I each need to schedule a checkup too--they like everyone to have a physical each year), and it will be GREAT to not pay anything when we go! (Because of the socialized health care here). We also have checkups today at our new dentist. Just a couple more things to check off our list, as we continue getting settled here in Canada. :) Next we'll have to find an eye doctor, but there is one in our medical clinic, so we'll probably just go there. The clinics here have everything--doctors, dentists, optometrists, physical therapists (but they call it "physiotherapy" not "physical therapy"), labs, pharmacies, X-ray, massage therapy, etc. all in one building. Kind of a one-stop-shop for all your medical needs! :)

I can't believe we've been here almost 5 months now! Things are going well, we are continuing to adjust, and we'll be THRILLED once we no longer have a house in Arkansas to worry about! We feel very blessed! :)