The Ross Family: The State of Our House

In honor of tonight's State of the Union address given by President Obama, I thought I would give our own version...The State of Our House.

In our house, we are thankful for so many things right down to a good nights sleep, food in our bellies and a roof over our head. Chris and I are blessed that we both have jobs we enjoy. Every day is different for each of us, which we thrive on. Yet teaching also provides a lot of routine, which I like, too.

Cannon absolutely loves preschool. He attends in the morning, four days a week. Currently, they are studying animals and are working on sorting in math. Also, they are preparing for their Winter Warm-Up on Thursday night where they will be performing songs and dances for the families! We are amazed by how much Cannon learns. He is a good listener and observer. We find him applying his new knowledge to other things when he is talking or playing. He can count to about 40 on his own and then gets stuck...or board counting and seems to forget what comes after 49 or 59. He is counting by 10's to 100, and is really understanding what addition means. He's great at the concepts more and less and loves to compare things. Patterns are another favorite of his, too! I am also impressed with how his writing has improved, his pictures are becoming more representational and his phonemic awareness is amazing. He is beginning to spell simple words and likes to ask how other words are spelled. I could go on and on......

Colson just turned 10 months old on the 15th of January. He is doing something new every day it seems. He seems to pick up on things quickly and then uses trial and error to figure it out. He can push the correct button on the phone to turn it on and off. He's recently taken to dipping a small Tupperware bowl in water and dumping it in his bathtub, which he watched me do a couple of times. He crawls at lightening speed and is into everything. Colson still only has the two bottom teeth which came in about 3 months ago. Those top teeth will be making an appearance soon. He loves to kiss people and things and pictures in books. And he is "talking" up a storm! He drinks wonderfully from a sippy cup (just water).

The boys are starting to play together more. Cannon really wants to do things with Colson, but Colson doesn't really have the stamina or the understanding to play how Cannon wants. Cannon is very caring and constantly watches out for his brother. Cannon also likes to give Colson rides on some of the toys we have.

Our house always has piles of toys everywhere, even though we try to contain them in baskets. It's obvious kids live in the house! There is also the never ending pile of laundry that needs to be folded and put away. Chris is the laundry folder in the house and I am thankful for that.

We all do lots of reading at night. Cannon likes to choose his books and will pick anything from a train book to a Curious George book to a non fiction book on the moon. Chris and I like to unwind by reading before bed, usually magazines.

Currently, we are in the process of changing up the decor downstairs in the living room. We are also painting and updating the guest bedroom. Neither project is huge, yet it's all overwhelming. Everything always leads to something else and it always takes longer than you plan. Our goal is to finish it by Colson 1st birthday in mid March! I certainly hope so! Our wish list for other projects around the house is long. Some will eventually get accomplished and some probably won't. Oh well!

Our family is in need of a camping trip and are hoping to get out of town soon. Where? We don't know. But we just need to go.