It's a new year and we're in a new house. We moved into our Cumberland Trail house about a month and a half ago. We are loving every minute of it. The house is so beautiful and has more room than we can use right now. We are so happy with how everything turned out. It truly does feel like ours. It's an empty house right now but we're okay with that. We had to put down 20% so it basically drained our bank account. Now, we're just trying to build it back up again. The stress level and anxiety in our family has drastically gone down since moving here. I think we all needed our space and oh, what a difference it has made. The kids spend a lot of time outside on the trampoline. It's been so nice to watch them jump outside while I'm cleaning the kitchen. They have been getting along so much better. It's been wonderful.
We also started taking Anna to a therapist to help her understand and deal with her anxiety. The therapist's name is Kasey Brown, and she's wonderful. I didn't really think that Kasey could do much to help Anna but we have certainly seen a dramatic improvement in her behavior. We certainly still have bad moments of tantrums and yelling but they are fewer and farther in between. We've started using a script with Anna when we either need her to start doing something or to stop. It's worked wonders. It's crazy how just changing the words we say to her will help her to understand and get calm. I am so incredibly grateful for the help we're getting. I think this will benefit Anna throughout her life. What a wonderful resource this is for her. Each therapy session is $135 and we go once a week. I don't know if we've ever spent money so wisely. Anna is a happier person now, and so are we. We've even started using her therapy tools on the other kids and it's been working wonderfully.
Anna was baptized about two weeks ago. It was a wonderful experience for all of us. She was so, so nervous though. I thought she might throw up! She did great though and was so happy all weekend. Dave and Linda flew in from CA. Anna really loved having them here. Eight is a big birthday in our house. Anna was able to get her ears pierced. I thought she might actually pass out. It was pretty rough there for a little while. She cried a lot but is super happy with the result now. Her earrings are so cute. They are little diamond flowers. She now claims that it was no big deal, but it certainly was a big deal when it was happening. She gets that from her mama. We also threw Anna a big Harry Potter birthday party the following week. It was such a blast. The kids had the best time. Sometimes you can do a lot of work for a party and it flops, but not this time. It was a huge success. We had a sorting hat to put the kids in their different schools. I used a twister board and they spun to see which one they were assigned to go. They had to wear the sorting hat, of course. We had Olivander's Wand Shoppe. They were blindfolded and had to let the wand choose them, not them choose the wand. We had made tons of paper wands out of hot glue and paint. They then had to go running through platform nine and three quarters to enter Hogwarts. We then had a potions class. We had kool aid and dry ice that they made their potions out of. They used droppers to mix their brew into little bottles with a corked lid. We also had an Owl Post where they made birthday cards for Anna and put them in the Owl Post. Then there was a scavenger hunt because someone stole all of the gold out of Gringott's Bank. The kids had to find the gold and return it back to Gringott's, then they kept some of it for themselves. The coins were those gold chocolate coins. We finished in the Great Hall where they ate Dementor Kisses, which were just kisses. We had Hufflepuffs, which were cheetos. We had sour slugs, candied sour worms, and Polyjuice Potion. It was a blast. Anna was so happy, so we knew it was all worth it.
Now, life can just be calm. I'm so excited to not have any big things coming up. My stress level has gone down and I'm really looking forward to just relaxing. However, I just got called to be in YW, so maybe my stress level is just starting. I was really sad when I learned that I wouldn't be the gospel doctrine teacher anymore. I really, really loved that calling. It was such a great experience for me.
We're about to head to the dentist. Daniel has his first appointment today. Saying lots of prayers that he doesn't totally lose it.
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