Update Time

Time for yet another family update (actually it is well past time, and this update was written more than a month ago.  Why am I just now publishing it?  Good question, I wish I knew the answer myself):

Neal:

Neal has been staying busy with work, but not as busy as he has in the past.  He has actually hasn’t worked a weekend for quite a while, which has been AWESOME!  The weekends are fun again!

He has been working in the pain clinic this month, and actually has enjoyed it (much to his surprise, as well as mine!).  And when I say enjoyed it, I mean the actual work, not just the great hours.  Does the future hold a pain fellowship for him after his 4 year stint with the Air Force?  Perhaps…

He spent the spring and early summer training for and competing in the Topeka Tinman triathlon.  He did really well, even in the open water swim portion, which he thought he would struggle with.  The kids and I met him at the finish line, which was a lot of fun.  We were so proud of him!

Last weekend he participated in an all night Frisbee tournament called “The Cool of the Night” (although the weather was anything but cool).  He had a lot of fun and performed almost as well as he did in his glory days, although he paid for it later!  Let’s just say that playing Ultimate Frisbee for 6 hours straight after doing almost no hard physical activity for 6 weeks is bound to cause some pain.  In addition to having a great time, he got invited to play with the traveling KC Ultimate team.  Too bad they practice on Wednesdays (during Scouts) and most of their tournaments are on Sundays.

Sally:

Sally loves learning and is excited about learning to read.  I bought a preschool workbook for her that she loves working in.  She often talks about doing things to help her prepare for school.  She loves cutting with her scissors (although we are still working on cutting a straight line), loves coloring, and is starting to want to write letters.  She loves tracing letters, but until recently has been hesitant to write them on her own--she is a bit of a perfectionist (where is the world did that come from?) and is afraid of messing up the letters.

She loves riding her bike.  A few weeks ago I felt brave enough to let her try to ride to a friends’ house while I pushed Austin in the stroller.  The house was one block over and two blocks down, and she made it the whole way by herself (although there were a few points along the way that I had to give her a bit of help with an incline or a decline).   She was so proud of herself!

She has recently shown us quite how stubborn she can be when it comes to not eating things she “doesn’t like.”  Lately, squash, zucchini, and tomatoes have cause quite the stir at dinner.  Although I was terribly stubborn about food myself as a child, I think she has me beat.  I won’t go into too much detail, but she is driving me nuts!  Much to my surprise, last Monday night she stoically turned down her FHE treat of ice cream because she would not eat even one bite of zucchini, and then politely sat with Neal, Austin, and I as we ate our ice cream and asked us “are you enjoying your treat?”  I couldn’t help but laugh to myself, although I was still annoyed that she had won.

She loves doing somersaults and dancing when I play the piano.  If only Austin would let me play without pulling my hands off of the keys. 

She has a talent for memorizing things.  Every month for Primary she memorizes the scripture of the month.  We only have to say it with her a few times before she has it down.  At a Primary talent show a few months ago, she recited a poem for her talent.  She had no fear going up on the stage all by herself, and she recited the poem very clearly and confidently into the microphone. 

Austin:

Oh, where to begin with that little guy?  Austin is in perpetual motion, always climbing, running, leaping, and throwing things.  I daresay he will be an athlete someday.

While he has always loved books, only lately has he decided to let me read them to him.  I love that for the past few months now he gets excited about sitting on my lap while I read his favorite books to him.

Austin is no longer bald!  He has quite a thick head of hair, although it is so light that he sometimes looks bald.  I’m of the opinion that his hair is blond, but others swear he is a strawberry.

He loves playing with balls, sticks, things that make noise, things with lids, play food, blocks, and baby dolls.  Yes, baby dolls.  He is quite the tenderhearted little guy.  Oh, and he loves phones.  Especially Neal’s phone.

His favorite person in the world is Sally.  The first person that he wants in the morning is Sally, and he asks for her whenever she is out of his sight.

He loves his blanket with a passion.  Unfortunately he usually wants his binky when he is snuggling with his blanket, and I am getting pretty strict at limiting the binky time to nap or bed time.  Washing the blanket is a tricky business.  Somehow he always sees me with it and throws a fit.

He is very skilled with a spoon and fork.  I let him eat cereal and milk solo, and he doesn’t make too big of a mess. 

He is getting quite good at talking.  A few words from his vocab:  spoon, bowl, milk, fork, bread, cheese, snack, cracker, cupcake, ball, binky, baby, bike, truck, airplane, up, down, outside, go, dog, cow, pig, meow, please, thank you, sorry.  He usually will just say one word at a time, but lately has started putting a few words together (mostly “Please, mama!!!”, “Bye-bye dada!”).   He likes to mimic what he hears us say, hence the additions of “shoot!” and “oh man!” to his vocabulary.

He recently decided that singing is not just for mommies and little girls.  He loves singing “Old MacDonald Had a Farm,” “Happy Birthday,” and “I Am a Child of God”.

He hates getting the sun in his eyes, but refuses to wear sunglasses (he takes them off and breaks them).  I only recently made the connection between the sun in his eyes and his dislike of being in the car.  He even told me the other day when I asked him why he was crying, “Sun…eyes!”

He is now officially in nursery, and likes it (Neal took him illegally to nursery several times).  Hallelujah!

He is a happy and light-hearted child that makes me incredibly happy.  I feel so blessed to have him in my family.

Emily:

Not much new to report here.  Life stays relatively the same for me with family, work (still plugging away with 5-10 hours a week from home, although July was a really slow month), piano lessons, Relief Society, and friends (although I haven’t been as social this summer as I usually am). 

I absolutely love being a SAHM, and often want to quit my job so I can enjoy it even more and have less stress in my life.  I love that I have freedom to wake up in the morning and decide where the day will take me and my little ones.  I love that I can make each day unique and fun.  I love being able to teach my children and watch them discover new things.  Although it is hard to bear at times, I love knowing that two little people are counting on me to be my best.  I'm a better person for it.