Birthdays, etc.

Eva turned 15 in September, got her permit, and started driving!!  Eva's a great driver!  I have been enjoying the "fun" parts of teaching a teenage driver.  Most of those things involve learning to drive the stick shift.  Like when I took that car to the DMV so she had to drive it home if she wanted to drive her very first time.  And when I brought that car to pick her up at the school after the cross country bus came.  Poor girl--the whole team watched (and giggled) as she killed the engine about five times and her mother just laughed out loud.  We all cheered when she got it out of first gear!!  I thought I would be a basket case with a new driver but it turns out that I'm not and actually I have really enjoyed every minute.  The great fun stuff is over now because she's already fairly proficient so I'll have to wait a couple of more years before I get another new driver to entertain me.

Eva had a great cross country season!  She had some wonderful times, ran varsity at region, and became one of the fastest girls at her high school.  Sadly, she wasn't able to finish the season as well as she wanted because of some severe shin splints.  Vince and I have some ideas about that and we've been planning her off season training schedule.  He and I are excited.  Eva not so much.  She's reluctant but willing because she hates her shin splints.  We're going to have to give her time to heal well before she runs much but she can do some things with me in the evenings and I'm excited because I need a lifting partner!

Ethan turned 13 last week!  He pretty much loves junior high.  He ran for student council which involved performing a skit in front of the student body.  My kids are amazing!  I was so quiet/shy there was nothing that would have convinced me to get up in front of a single class in junior high and say or do much of anything.  Eva and Ethan have not been afraid of anything in middle school.  As an adult I still hate going to that building (any jr. high and I totally know how irrational that is)--I do not have any fond memories of middle school!  He didn't get on the student council (47 kids ran for 4 positions--crazy!) but he is loving sports, art, clubs, math, and keyboarding.  He even enjoyed the sewing class.  He's pretty easy to please!

We have a four-day weekend this weekend and Eva and Ethan asked if I would take them and a few friends to the temple so they could do baptisms.  It means 3 trips to Salt Lake in 2 days for me but who am I to argue with my kids wanting to spend their free time in the temple!  They're already setting aside time to prepare names.

Ivy loves that there is 1-2 hours each Wednesday afternoon when only she and I are home.  We read together or cook dinner and once we made a huge batch of cookie dough to bake and freeze.  Ivy loves doing just about anything in the kitchen.  Yes, I kind of think that's weird but I like to encourage it because she's very often very willing (excited even) to prepare meals, etc.  She got a haircut the other week so now it's shoulder length instead of nearly to her waist.  It looks adorable on her and she loves it!

Nathan loves scouts.  He's a wolf now but if you ask him he will insist he's a "werewolf".  I've not been able to convince him otherwise; he just tells me that I'm not a scout so I wouldn't know.  I decided that was OK and I'll just tell everyone he's a werewolf--it works for both of us! :)   Tonight while I was cleaning up the dinner dishes I cut myself and couldn't find a band-aid.  Vince offered to get one out of the car first aid kit but before he could step out of the kitchen Nathan came in with his little first aid kit opened and was already getting an antiseptic wipe out to clean my small cut.  Then he opened a band-aid, put it on my finger, and gave me a hug.  It was so cute and he was so thoughtful and proud that he could take care of something and that he had a band-aid when no one else did.  Very sweet!

Vince is fairly busy as our Bishop but as a family we seem to have adapted really well.  Eva and Vince are often gone but the other three kids and I work together well.  The hardest thing for all of us is the 3rd grade homework.  It takes Nathan 1-2 hours a day to get all of his homework done.  I don't have that much time to sit with him but we've found that we can work on it in the morning if Ivy helps get Nathan's lunch packed and that if Ethan, Ivy, and I work together in the afternoon/evenings we can all manage to help him and get our own things done.  Last week there was one morning when Nathan didn't have as much homework to do and Ivy was running behind--he was so proud that he could make her lunch for her.  He spends so much time getting help from others that he feels so happy to do something for someone else!!  I think sometimes it's easy to forget the fact that we're ALL happier when we help others!

A Nathan Update

In case you, like me, have been wondering if we are done with speech YET, the answer is...


Nope.

Darn.

BUT the speech professor says we are really about done with articulation.  We are now working on closing the language gap and there is NO concern about Nathan backsliding should we find we just can't keep up the speech routine.  That is exciting news!

Last Friday the clinician tested Nathan on irregular plurals (mouse/mice, etc.) and irregular past tense (we go; we went, etc.)--he clearly needs help with these!  I was secretly hoping, nearly expecting, that he would just ace whatever they would throw at him and they would come back and say something like "Wow!  Nathan really doesn't need to come anymore!!  Congratulations!!!!"  It would be sort of like winning the lottery.  No such luck.  YET.

I'm just reminding myself to be grateful that we can still come up with the time and money to make it happen. Heavenly Father has provided a way for us to do this--every time an obstacle presents itself and we think we will maybe have to stop something miraculous happens (a free car (at least it drives!), a job, a carpool).

Bishop Olcott

On Sunday Vince was sustained as the Bishop of our ward.

So that's new.

It'll be a growing experience for our family and it is always a privilege to serve the Lord.  I can't decide if I feel completely inadequate to take care of most of the home and family concerns on my own or inspired by my Heavenly Father's obvious vote of confidence that I can.  Maybe I'm somewhere in the middle.

For our first date Vince took me rappelling.  I'd never heard of rappelling before and I asked my roommates about it.  They told me they thought it was kind of like bungee jumping off of a mountain.  I found that utterly terrifying.  I've never liked heights--my legs shake and I feel dizzy and nauseous if I stand on a ladder too long.  I wanted to cancel the date, but I really did like this guy and the Spirit said it would be OK so I decided that I would go and if it was that awful I would just walk back down the mountain.  Hiking I don't mind so much.  Imagine my relief to discover that rappelling is NOTHING like bungee jumping!!  It's more like walking down the side of a cliff with a support rope.  I was so relieved that I readily agreed to try it--once.  The hardest part was convincing myself to walk off the side of the cliff and over that first lip where I felt like there was no mountain beneath--probably because the lip obstructs the view of everything else.  It went so well I did it a few more times.  In fact, I even went once "Aussie" style which is face first.  I guess I wanted to make an impression.  :)

Right now I feel like I'm just starting an Australian style rappel.  I've spent the last several weeks staring down the cliff to see the bottom and I can finally just start.  All that waiting was horribly distracting because the longer I looked the more I wondered if I could really do it.  I haven't made it over that first lip yet and I can't see all the challenges I will have to rappel around.  I have a ballet (a person minding the rope at the bottom that won't let me fall).  Actually I consider all friends, family, and ward members to be the ballet--I know I can't totally crash and burn but with their support but I could still get myself in a lot of trouble and they can't do it for me.  I also have a firm grip on the rope--my direct line to my Father in Heaven and his son Jesus Christ.  I have to really mind my grasp on the rope so I can receive the full benefits of the power, strength, and direction it offers.  But I make the comparison with the Aussie rappel because my left hand (Vince) will not be as available.  He will be there to catch me and stop me from serious injury bumping into sharp rocks, but this rappel relies more on my own right hand--more on my own ability to listen and respond to the Spirit to receive guidance and direction for our home and family.

Fire!

Sunday there was a fire in the field behind our home while we were at church.  We were grateful that a neighbor was late to church and called it in.  There was no damage to any homes--we were very blessed!

Notice how everything burned except the thistle seeds?

Pictures

Eva posted some nice pictures on her blog yesterday.  Here's a couple of my favorites:

And here's a couple of pictures of my new nephew (Kevin's boy):

Second Grade Spelling

This is a complaint post.  I hate second grade spelling.  All year, each week, the spelling lists have been nothing more than trickery and torture.  Here's this week's list:

phone                    graph
enough                   tough
stuff                       photo
laugh                     rough
puff                       cough
giraffe                    cliff

     Challenge Words:
             dolphin
             physical
           autograph

Is it just me, or is it just plain mean to put ph, gh, and ff on the same list?  My son is so confused that last night he spelled puff: pugh.  I ask you--would that even be a problem were it not for this awful combination?  I have decided not to work on studying for this.  I have just given up.  Last night I showed Vince this list and said I don't even know how to help him study for this and Vince said he would try, which is when we heard pugh (puff), stugh (stuff), enugh (enough), etc.  He nearly had enough but this list also has ou and plain u for the short u sound.  Vince eventually gave up too, because he handed Nathan the list and had him spell it from the list because he was literally frustrated to tears.  It's a good thing it's the end of the year because I don't know that I can make myself work through any more of these.

I am curious, though.  I want to mention our difficulties and concerns to the teacher and if it were one of my other kids I would have a long time ago.  I wonder if it's just difficult for us because school in general is harder for Nathan or is this just mean for every second grader?  I sincerely believe Nathan hasn't learned how to spell anything this year--we've just been cramming and looking for weird exceptions that may apply to each specific tricky spelling list.

So really, I want to hear from other moms so I can decide if I should talk to the teacher to save next year's second graders or just wait it out and be glad we are completely finished with second grade spelling.

Eva's New Love

Her new ipod touch

After months of saving it arrived today.

She spent all afternoon loading it with apps.

I realized she has more access to the internet than I'm used to which made me a little nervous

Until

I saw that the first things she downloaded included:

The Book of Mormon study manual

A subscription to the New Era

Scriptures

Indexing program--she even tested it out

So I guess she makes great choices and I don't need to worry.

Too much.

Congratulations Eva!

I've even texted her already.

Really.

Even though we all know how much I love texting