Ouren Updates Fall 2015

It's been a while since I did some updates, so here's a little taste of what we are all up to lately:

Caleb: 
Caleb just finished up his 3rd season of tackle football for the Grizzlies. Unfortunately they had a pretty rough season, but he ended up still having a great time and still completely enamored with the game itself even if they didn't win a single regular season game.  This year at school he's excelling at Chinese and Math. His teachers both brag about not only his abilities but his attitude and helpfulness in the classroom.  Much to his Mom's dismay, he has started really taking a liking to girls this year and started to calling them and is turning into quite the little Casanova.  He's most looking forward to his 12th birthday and small party next week as well as the release of Star Wars VII to which he and his Dad already have tickets.  His biggest hope right now is that Mom and Dad or Santa buy him the newest football game for the Xbox- Madden 16

Zaric:
Zaric has made a lot of progress in the last two years and has reached his speech goals a year in advance.  He's taking a real liking to the game of soccer and can't wait to play another season. He's also loved the prior art classes he was taking and has joined the school choir which is gearing up for their first performance for Christmas.  He has also been joining in with a running group at school and says  he just loves to run! He wants to take more swimming lessons and art classes during the winter and has expressed an interest in starting to take after his big brother and play football next fall.  In school he's making a few strides and reading more. He's enjoying Chinese but says that English is becoming his favorite subject.  While there are a few things we have left to get tested and kinks to work out, we are impressed with his attitude and how hard he's trying to improve academically.  He is most looking forward to the holidays and taking a trip to another cave in the future.

Zaden: 
Zaden is still our sweet boy who loves to play with anybody, but especially his little sister and his best friend, Alex, at school. He's still a turtle boy much to his teacher's chagrin. While he understands all of the coursework, he takes his sweet time doing any of it which drives them (and sometimes his parents) absolutely crazy.  He has also joined the school choir with Zaric and is excited to sing for us at the Christmas program.  His favorite subjects right now are English and Science. He also started expressing an interest in playing tackle football next fall with his brothers.  He says he's most looking forward to playing video games and taking a long break from school over Christmas.

Faith:
Faith is loving her first year of preschool even if she's a stinker about going some days. She can't wait to show us all of her work at the end of each day. Her teachers continually remark about how funny she is and how quickly she picks up on the concepts. She has already learned several letters and to count to 20.  She's also still loving her two dance classes and is getting super excited for the Christmas performances that they are starting to learn the choreography for.  She's still my super girly-girl who loves anything that has to do with dressing up, babies and barbies. She loves to put on makeup and paint her nails as well as fix Mom's hair and have hers fixed. She would like to play soccer again in the spring and has been expressing an interest in starting swimming lessons this winter as well.

Mike: 
This past year for Mike has been quite the roller coaster with changes in his position and proposed changes for the future with the company.  But he continues to persevere and take on the new challenges in stride.  All the while he continues to be an amazing father and husband who always puts us first and finds the time to help me shuttle kids around and help me around the house. He's also been up to a lot of small designing side jobs for me and a few others for various events which keeps any of his free time occupied. He's been enjoying getting to take in some football games from his beloved Huskers and Packers this fall.

Me: 
I'm continuing to work part time at the college. I'm primarily assigned now to the Jordan Campus which is closer to home and a quieter campus and I love it.  I spend most of my time off work shuttling kids around to various activities and prepping for the upcoming holiday season.  I've also proud to say that I took charge of some long-time health issues recently and have been able to reach a weight loss goal that I set with the Dr. in February. It's taking me time to get used to these changes in me and find some parts of myself again.  I'm still trying to get out as often as I can to things I love like concerts and Paint Nites as well as girls night and shopping.  But the thing  I most look forward to are the times that Mike and I can manage to get away together if only for a few hours. I'm looking forward to the holidays and doing some of my much beloved baking and cooking that I've been missing doing while on my diet.