Labor Day had a first for the boys--a triathlon! I am so proud of them! They swam across the pool once or twice, biked a bit over a mile, and ran a mile. It was amazing. The way they dedicated themselves to preparing for it--practicing daily; the effort they put the day of the race, and the sprint to the finish. It was inspiring. I don't know if they will do it again, but maybe just a running race.
Scott and I attended the James Taylor concert with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. It was AMAZING. I love him and to have him sing with the greatest choir was so awesome. Other things Scott and I have done are planting new trees (one of ours died), harvesting plants (Brennan grew a gigantic watermelon), and Scott even put up the Christmas lights. He also took Weston to a Real Salt Lake game and has moved his office to our house. It will be nice to have him around even more, and we will take the money that would normally go into paying for his office space and put it directly into our house! Scott's dad was called as a temple sealer so we have begun attending monthly with his family to do sealings.
Every Thursday was soccer practice for the three boys and every Saturday there were three games to attend. We are soccered out! But the boys are all doing really well. Brennan was limping for a long time from his cast, but he has been running around so much, the limp is gone. Weston has done amazing and Aidan has improved dramatically. At his last game, his coach really praised him and the way he played so well. Weston attended a birthday party of the coach's son at a big soccer facility and got a taste of indoor soccer. He is growing up too quickly. He is now our "babysitter", mostly if we are only gone for a little while and we are still close by. But he has done a great job. Scott and I have really enjoyed being able to get out more often without the kids. He is also rocking it at school. Great grades and fast reading. He gave a report on New Hampshire and used the Studio C skit about New Hampshire. Everybody loved it!
Aidan is busy with scouts and piano--unfortunately they overlap times. But we get him to scouts as soon as we can, and he is very motivated to do well, especially since he and Weston have been involved in The Century of Honor Celebration (more on that later). He is also killing it at school--his reading has improved leaps and bounds. He started reading Bunnicula and hasn't stopped. He has now finished four of that series. He is whizzing by in math and his favorite subject in literature. There is a lot to keep up on in this new school and he is doing great. He especially loves the routine. He comes home and gets his things done and stays right on target. One thing he has picked up doing daily is writing in his journal.
Both Weston and Aidan got to be a part of an amazing experience--the Century of Honor, A Celebration of Scouting. It was a celebration of the Church being involved in scouting for 100 years. It was an amazing program--very different than I thought it would be. The boys went to two local rehearsals, learning the song "The Star Spangled Banner" and "On My Honor". The choir director was Ryan Eggett, the MTC Choir Director. He is was so great--explained the story behind the SSB and was very engaging and fun. They then had to go downtown two times to rehearse at the conference center. They spent the whole day there on a Saturday. They received special neckerchiefs and slides for the event. They got to have an extra part of the show--Aidan was part of the pinewood derby race, and Weston was part of the wall climbing activity. It truly was an amazing event. You can go to scouts100.lds.org to view the video of it. We were able to get four tickets to it so Scott's parents joined us.
If I am not running kids to soccer, then I am running them to/from school, music, piano, and scouts. The chauffeuring has begun! I spend way too much time in my car. We have some neighbors who also go to our new school, so we are able to carpool with them. She takes every morning, and I pick up from school. But it isn't as easy as that. The school has the option of having "extended day", where you can stay after to work on subjects where you need extra time, etc. So Monday and Thursday we have the kids staying after for 35 minutes. But, also, instead of having early day on Friday, they do Wednesday and Thursday as an early day. So, Mondays we pick up at 3:50, Tuesdays at 3:25, Wednesdays at 2:25, Thursdays at 2:50, and Fridays at 3:25. Whew! To add to that, though, Brennan has kindergarten in the afternoon, and I drive every other week (and of course take him earlier on Wednesdays and Thursdays...). The pick up situation is not the greatest since everyone drives (no buses and very very few who walk), so the line gets really long. I actually arrive about 45 minutes before school gets out (well, on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays) and sit and wait. It isn't bad though. Usually Elise naps and I read my scriptures and get emails done, etc. Anybody jealous of me yet?
Brennan is doing well in music and it is good to have him involved in something, though he is kept busy with school work practicing his cursive--yep you read that right. He is really improved in reading, too since he started. He really didn't read anything, and now he flies through the Bob books. He got straight A+ his first term. :) He is enjoying school and has made some fun friends. Though his favorite person to play with is Elise. They have so much fun together. Our next door neighbors have kids their ages (Luke and Hallie) and they are all such good buds. They play almost daily (their mom, Lindsay, and I exchange the kids so we can go to Jazzercise).
Elise is now such a big girl (just ask her, she will tell you!) and is very independent. She chooses her clothes daily. And guess what? Usually it is PINK. In fact, with the school uniforms, I do laundry every day. So, on Monday she puts on her pink pants and pink shirt. Tuesday I wash them and she wears other pants and if possible, a pink shirt. Wednesday, she wears her pink pants and shirt again. And the cycle continues. She also loves to dress up, dance, and play make believe. She is also liking to do her hair. Every time I need to do her hair, I have to convince her that I am doing her hair like Strawberry Shortcake or a Princess.
We had a week off of school for fall break and I tried to fill it with fun things for the kids. We have been collecting coupons for free meals, etc at restaurants, so we went for lunch quite a bit. We also did more geocaching and visited some old home sites and a little town museum in South Jordan. We also did our pre-Christmas visit to toy stores to find what the kids want. We also went to Gardner Village--a fun shopping area that decorates for Halloween every year.
Both Aidan and Weston went on field trips (and I got to go!!!) to the Natural History Museum. One of my favorite places. It has a cool new exhibit about natural disasters. I am lucky I get to be with them on occasions like this. We have such a great time together.
October of course ended with Halloween. Weston was a zombie (he is at that age...), Aidan was a jailbird one night (for the ward Trunk or Treat), and a "Geological Engineer" on Halloween night. It is now one of my favorite costumes! Brennan was a pirate. He really wanted to be a cowboy, but we couldn't find the costume, :( so he settled on the pirate, but it is such a great outfit!!! It is the same costume Scott wore at that age. Elise was a lion (Scott's costume at that age...) on one night, and Minnie Mouse on Halloween night. They had a great time trick or treating--Weston went out with just his friends (I hate that he is growing up!). But, he is so cool and so loving, he came and got Elise and took her to a few houses with him. Love him! I stayed behind and handed out candy to kids and caramel apple cider to adults.
Fall is such a great time of year, I love the colors and the crisp air. We did family photos and I got some great individual shots of the kids. I am so grateful that mom keeps up this family letter (so glad I don't have to scrapbook...) so we have a record of all the fun things we do. And a place for all our photos (so nice to have digital photos now)!! Much love to you all.
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