Christmas is upon us

WOW it is barking at my back door louder than our dog does (truth be told he doesn't bark much at all). I cannot believe it. It's like I looked up for a second to check reality and >BAM< the Holidays are here, one being already gone.

I think the older I get the faster all the holidays seem to come and go. Sheesh. Like let's just speed up this process man... gooooolllllly. Maybe it is just that when I was younger I didn't have as many cares or stresses as I have now so the days played on unhindered (well for a kid).

Now that there are said stresses and cares I am pushing on to get to the end of the day so I can have a break from chores, editing, cleaning, Bear, cooking, "organizing". I need to get a umph in my step and enjoy the days as they come and not dread them due to the things that need to be done in them.

Our cat Charlie is still missing since Sunday night. I have searched our land and all the surrounding lands and he is nowhere to be found. I did, however, find a dead dog/coyote (hard to tell really) and a dead opossum. But NO Charlie!

Bear is doing great. He has been learning all his numbers. He can now count to 20 (with some help here and there). He has been learning to write his letters and can now sign about 5 of them. It is still hard for him to position his fingers just right. Although, he can tell you what all the signs are of the alphabet when shown.

We have been working with him on "reading" (memorization really). I made him some index cards with a picture of an object/animal on them with the word written out to the side. He can now read cat and dog. I have not been working as consistently with him on that as I have with his writing and numbers lately.

J and I have been working on labeling all the things around the house to help aid him in learning to "spell and read".

He has not really shown any more signs of being "lonely" since the kids left. There are still the moments where he looks like he is wandering aimlessly (during his alone time). But for the most part I think he is so busy learning so many new things that his attention is focused there.

I have been getting to keep up with Miley Bird on Facebook. :) Her new mommy updates on there frequently and so i get to see SWEET pictures of our precious little girl! I sure do miss her but am happy that she is being very well taken care of where she is. The family is wonderful and very precious.

I hope you all are well and warm. I was shocked to see snow flurries this morning. Nothing to stick or cover the ground but they were there creating a nice white winter feel this morning.