Well I have a little bit of unexpected time (ok, not really, I should be making dinner and folding the laundry) to give a quick update...so here it goes....
I guess I have to back up all the way to september....yikes! Kaelyn started Grade one and Jacob started Kindergarten....hmmmm...pictures from their first day at school...this going deep into the archives.
Jacob was excited.....Kaelyn...not so much!
Kaelyn had a rough go at the beginning of school. She was quite a bit behind her peers. With some special ed help she has done a lot of catching up. I work in her classroom every Thursday and her teacher has been very thankful for her progress...."she deserves a medal" for learning so much in so little time! She now comes home quite happy from school, she has made lots of new friends and although she fights us when we have to do "homework", she does love to learn...her little mind is always going! The last couple of weeks she has been studying the 10 commandments. The other day I was a little firm with her and sent her to her room. After about 2 minutes she came bursting out and said to me..."you just killed me in your heart!"....that is against the 6th commmandment you know!
Jacob....on the other hand started out with lots of enthusiasm but has pretty much dwindled. I think he is just a tiny little bit of a mama's suck and likes to be close to me. This has made for some interesting mornings...I'm in the bus trying to pull Jacob into it as he kicks and screams. The bus driver is great....he apparently gets over it after about 10 mins of rolling tears. Once he is there he enjoys it! When I am at school in Kaelyn's classroom I get a little bit of a chuckle listening across the hall way...."Jacob, use your quiet voice....Jacob, you forgot to clean up your desk, Jacob, you are going to be the last one outside AGAIN!" I'm not sure but I think he might have a little bit of "Henry" Bos syndrome....pretty soon we will be calling him JOE too!
Thinking back over the last months I can think of some "big events" to highlight.
We celebrated our anniversary in style this year. It was fun to prepare a fancy dinner and surprise daddy...
This year we celebrated Thanksgiving with the Vaisenens at their cottage up north. It was a lot of fun....making fires, hiking, fourwheeling, playing on the beach. We were very grateful for their hospitality. 
In November the kids had a couple of PD days! Daddy surprised us with a mini holiday at the Great Wolf Lodge. The first night we almost had the whole indoor water park to ourselves...running up and down those stairs was a good workout! Besides the water park we also got to enjoy story time and a huge craft room area.
I think we might have to make this one a tradition!
In December we all became busy with Christmas preparations.
The kids had their christmas program from school.....(Kaelyn's Class)
.jpg)
and also one at church!
Jacob was one of the "wise" men!
It was a very busy time (hence no christmas cards!)
and we were glad to have the holidays to sit back and relax a bit.
This year we even had our own little Christmas celebration....
something we hadn't been able to do before!
Ivan has been busy with the clinic as well as some other side jobs he is involved in. That keeps him busy enough which is good...then he stays out of my hair!!!
There have been some new and exciting changes at the clinic. James Schulenberg (a family friend) has joined us at the clinic as a veterinarian. Of course the other exciting news is that Ivan decided to hire me back! I now work two days at the clinic and I enjoy it. I have just finished completing the new website for the clinic and one of my "new jobs" is taking pictures of the pets that come in for the new pet gallery. If you want to check it out the site is:
htpp://www.grandviewanimalhospital.com
As for myself I have managed to keep myself busy. I am a co-leader (with another Melissa...go figure) of our churches Junior Youth Group. We meet every Thursday night with girls in Grade 7 and 8. Most of them are not "churched" and only one goes to a christian school....so we have our challenges! But it has been a blessing to work with these girls...we are studying the "31 girl" (proverbs 31). I was able to give my testimony to the girls and their mom's on eating disorders.
If nothing else doing JYG is a good reminder to me that I will be fast fowarding Kaelyn through the teenage years and at the age of 20 she will magically be a model the proverbs 31 girl!!!! Seriously now, it has been good preparation and I have gained a lot of insight on how much we as parents can have an influence on our children in so many different godly characteristics.
I've also kept busy with my new camera! It has been lots of fun learning the art of photography. I have had help from some very talented photographers and I am so thankful for that. I also just finished my website for the photography. I am just taking things as they come but each session I learn something new!
http://www.melissabosphotography.com
And now, since my unexpected time has run out I will have to sign off. We are so thankful that the Lord has once again carried our family through another year and has blessed us all with good health. We pray that he will help us in this new year to do all things for His glory!
