Updates

I had a little birdie (aka Mom) nudge me that I needed to update the blog. So that is what I am going to do.

Things have been crazy to say the least. I think the last time I posted was sometime in September. I am not sure I even remember what has transpired since then.

I guess I will start by going through the list of us and update:

Richard: Doing good. He is still enjoying going to his Men's Bible study on Tuesday mornings. I think it is a great thing that he does on his own and he truly enjoys it. He is learning more each day about the Bible and God's teachings. He probably knows more than I do.

He was able to go on a Men's retreat a few weeks ago with a couple of the guys from our Couples Group. They had a great time in South Lake Tahoe. They were able to hike, talk and just enjoy the fellowship.


Mandy: Work is going good. I am enjoying my new group of students. I am also enjoying the new people in my department. They are amazing women and I am so happy to have them on my "team". Work is keeping me busy and I feel like I should work more but don't want to be away from the kids but then I feel like I am letting my students down. A vicious cycle.

I am enjoying the women's group that I attend but feel as though I haven't been giving it my all lately do to being so busy. Now that things have slowed down, I am hoping to focus on it more again.

I am still enjoying the couple's group and the people in it. I have been lucky enough to become good friends with one of them and she is a great support. I truly value her friendship.

I am losing weight (slowly but surely). I am down about 10 lbs and hopefully more by Christmas. It feels good to see numbers on the scale that have not been there in a LONG time.

Evelyn: She is still enjoying Kindergarten. She just got her first report card last week. She did great. She has met many of the CA state standards for Kindergarten and is working towards the others. She is starting to read more and more and points out sight words everywhere we go.

She is opening up a little more and is making friends and requesting "play dates". She is changing so much.

She just started going to Gymnastics and LOVES it. She is learning all kinds of things and then comes home and practices them. It is neat to see the things she learns.


Camille: She is also doing well. She is doing great at school and the teachers there love her. How could they not?

She is also in gymnastics and really enjoying it. They are not in the same class which is kind of nice for them to be separated a little bit.

Her speech is coming along and getting better. Her annual review will be in January so that will be nice.

Camille turns 4 in about a week and I cannot believe it. She is getting so big and changing everyday. We are not sure what we are doing yet but we know we are taking her birthday off to celebrate. 


Other: Sandy's birthday was November 7th and she is 9.

Halloween was fun. Both of the girls school had little parade's. It worked out that Richard and Camille got to see Evelyn's since it was Camille's day for speech. We went trick or treating around the neighborhood for a little bit and then went to a nearby friends house for a while.

About a month ago we did "date night" with the girls. I took Camille and Richard took Evelyn and we just spent the afternoon with them. I took Camille to "Color Me Mine" and painted and then went out to Thai food for dinner. Richard and Evelyn went to "John;s Incredible Pizza" for the afternoon. We met up at the park to watch the sunset. It was a magical evening for all of us and something we will do again very soon with the switching who has who. If you have never done it, I highly encourage it.

Thanksgiving: We were supposed to go to some friends house but Millie had a high fever so we spent the day at home with each other. Her fever broke and we went to the park. We had a nice day as a family. On Saturday we celebrated with Mark and Cheryl. It was a great time and we really enjoyed ourselves. We played Catch Phrase which is a fun game to play with a group. It was nice being with family.

Here are some pictures. We have slowed down on taking them but need to ramp up again.

Girls Girls Girls

Whirlwind!

The summer is coming to a close and I didn't post about 1 thing that we did. I guess you could say it was because we were having too much fun, which is true. We had a great summer visiting family, hanging out with friends and just being with each other.

Some highlights: Girls took swimming lessons and enjoyed them. By the end, they were both swimming under water for a little distance. Lake Havasu with the family riding on boats and relaxing at the river, Jelly Belly factory with some friends. Those are just a few.

We are now back into the daily swing with work, kids and school.

Evelyn started Kindergarten and is doing GREAT! She loves it and it is fun to talk with her about the day. She is counting to 100 by 1's 5's and 10's. She is reading and knows all the sight words needed for Kindergarten. She has taught herself how to do handstands (they are quite good) and how to put her hair in a ponytail. She amazes us everyday. She is still loving going to children's ministries. I am so thankful to have Jesus be such an important part of her life. I feel blessed.

Camille is going to school and just started back at speech. The speech is getting better but it can still be difficult to understand her at times. Some of the tendencies are still there but at the moment they are not as bad as they were. Hopefully they don't come back as the school year goes on.

Richard and I are doing good. Going to church and starting to meet more people. We started a small group of our own and have met some nice people. It is great getting different perspectives.  I look forward to what the future holds for us and our family.

Enjoy the pictures!

Summer Fun 2012

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Catch Up!

Hang on this is going to be a long post...I think!

Summer has officially started in the Burstiner household (well for 3 of us at least, Sorry Richard). Summer means sleeping in (sometimes), naps (everyday), playing with friends, Bible studies, going on short trips and long trip and last but not least swim lessons.

I have been off for 2 weeks now and we have already had a lot of fun. We have played with friends, gone to a water park, had picnics, gone to the Sacramento Zoo two times, Fairytale Town, and lots of playing at home.

I guess the best way to catch everyone up is update about each of us. I will start with the girls first because we all know that is who you want to read about. :)

Evelyn: She is almost 5 yrs old (I still don't believe it) and will be starting Kindergarten in the fall (her first day is August 8th). She is reading all kinds of books and words. Just this morning she read the word "fresh." She is so interested in learning and we try to continue to foster that. She is taking swim lessons now with Camille. We are hoping by the end she will put her face in the water. Small steps for some but BIG for us. She is starting to stand up for herself and others when there has been an "injustice". If you know Evelyn, you know this is BIG. She is finding herself and her voice and I love it.

Camille: Camille is 3 1/2 (can't forget that 1/2). She is doing good. Her speech is getting better but it can still be hard to understand her at times. We will go back to speech therapy in the fall. It seems to be helping with her communication and lessen some of the anxiety. She can write and spell her name by herself and is noticing letters all around. Camille is growing like a weed and is about 38lbs. I love it! She is trying new foods and growing into a great little girl.

Both girls are going to Church with us and attend Children's Ministries at Rolling Hills Christian Church. They are loving learning about God and Jesus. We are trying to bring God and Jesus into our homes more on a daily basis and as a way to teach them right from wrong and how to love all people. It has changed our family dynamics in a great way. We pray together and the girls are now learning to pray on their own. It is great.

Richard: He has made some BIG changes in his life and it all started when we decided to start going to church in January. He jumped right in with going and was interested in learning more about Christianity. He joined a men's group that he goes to regularly. We also joined a couples group that he has been able to ask a lot of questions to. It has been exciting to watch him grow, question, seek and find the Lord. It was an amazing day on May 20th, when Richard accepted Christ as his Savior and then was formally baptized on June 2nd. I am amazed by him and am so thankful to have him in my life and to share eternity with him.

Mandy: Not much has changed with me. I am out of school and this year I saw my first group of students get promoted. That was a great day and sense of accomplishment for me to see my work come to fruition. I am teaching 2 weeks of summer school. I am lucky enough to have a friend watch the girls for one week and my mom for the next. I am excited that the girls get to have some good 2 to 1 YaYa time. They are looking forward to it and so am I. I get to see her for some good catch up with mom time.

I am in the couples group with Richard and have met some amazing women that share my love for Christ with me. I am developing some great relationships with them and am happy to have them in my life now. I also joined a woman's group. There are some amazing people in my groups and their love and understanding of Jesus and the Bible amazing me. I pray that someday I have their understanding of the Bible. As we have started going to church and diving into the Bible, I realize my relationships with my husband, family and friends have changed and all for the better. I am in a better place and am so thankful.

Lots has been happening and things are busy but we are still here, happy, and growing together. Looking forward to the rest of the summer and even starting back to school in the fall.

Catching Up 2012

New Year... New Adventures... New Challenges

Happy New Year! Ok so I am a little late but at least it is still January (barely!)

Things have been crazy, exciting and new. I am not sure where to even start. I guess I will start with the biggest change we have made this new year and that is going to Church. We have talked about it for a long time but finally made the decision to start going the 1st of the year. Some of this was brought on by going to a Christmas Eve service with Lavon and remembering how much I LOVED going to church. Thanks Lavon!

We started attending Rolling Hills Christian Church on the 1st and it has been wonderful to say the least. I feel so much more connected to God and know that I am learning and going down the right path. The church feels right for us at this point. It has an awesome rock band that I truly enjoy. I have already downloaded 3 of the songs from the services because I love them so much and they speak to me. The pastor is great and we got to talk with him a little more last night at a Membership meeting. We are considering becoming members at this church.

Richard and I am both participating in small groups on different days of the weeks which is nice for us to get some time with other people in the community. It has only been one week but we are both enjoying the small groups. I am looking forward to reading more scripture and learning more about what God wants from me and my life. It is a journey I am excited to take and am glad Richard is taking with me.

The girls also go to Children's Ministries and they are loving it. The first week was hard at the drop off but now they walk in and are excited to learn new things. They are not in the same class which I was worried about but they are great and enjoying learning versus.

Now I will break it down by person and the happenings of each of us.

Evelyn: Growing like a weed and learning more every day. She is trying new foods which is great. We are so proud of her. Evelyn has this compassion about her that I treasure and wish I had more of. She is an amazing person and is so aware of the things happening around her. She is all about pretend play and playing mommy and daddy with Camille. It is adorable. She dresses in crazy outfits that fit her to a "t". People ask if I let her dress herself and I said yes because 1 it is not worth the fight and 2. I want her to express herself. She is most excited about turning 5 this year because then she will be in Kindergarten and be going to Silva Valley.

Camille: My sweet Camille is doing good and growing like a weed as well. We started this year off with some assessments for a speech referral and had her initial meeting last Wednesday. We were concerned with her ability to produce speech. We knew she could understand everything we said because she can follow directions but she doesn't seem to be able to articulate and express herself.

At the meeting, our observations were confirmed. Camille's receptive language (what she understands) is Superior at about a 4 year old level. She does great at following directions and understanding directions. Her expressive language is moderately delayed. She is below the 10% for other children her age. Her articulation and the letter sounds that she can produce is less than 1%. Needless to say, she qualifies for speech services and now has an IEP. She will be going once a week on Wednesday's with Richard. I expect to see great growth and hopefully it will lessen the frustration that she has in expressing herself.

There are a couple of other things we are concerned about and will look into further but are focused on this at the moment.

Richard: Has almost completed the bathroom. Has trim left and a couple of other little things and then we will be done. He has worked so hard and it makes it harder because now we go to church on Sunday mornings so he loses time to work on it there. Saturdays are busy watching the girls while I am out (I'll explain more in my section). He is doing an amazing job and we will both be happy to enjoy the finished product. He has also started exploring his own personal relationship with God and I am excited to see where that will take him. He has taken the first step and I am proud of him for that.

Mandy: My biggest adventure (other than going back to Church) is I joined a running club with a co-worker of mine. Every Saturday I run with the club and my group so Richard is at home with the girls. I am loving it. I ran 4.6 miles on Saturday which is something I never thought I would do and I have done it and am excited to keep going. My goal is a half marathon in April and to run it under 3 hours and 30 minutes since I walked it in that 2 years ago.

Exciting things are happening and we are excited to following them and see what the Lord has in store for us. For now we are going to Church and enjoying the teachings each Sunday.

I will post pictures soon.