Week in Review

We rearranged the kids' rooms this week. At this point, I think we're really happy about. We have decided to see how things go with this arrangement and then make a decision by August about who will be with whom and in what rooms.

Teagen, I've found, is now repeating everything we say. Quinlan is now known as "Q-ie" or sometimes "Q-ie you-ie-you-ie." He watches Gannon's every move while he passes the sacraments on Sundays and calls out "Annon." He also recognizes Griffin and Jared, whom we take to school each morning as they're passing. They have names also, but I haven't pinned them down yet.

Aedan had preschool here this week. On Thursday we had all the mom's come for a Mother's Day celebration. Aedan woke up saying his tummy hurt and was very pale on Tuesday, so we changed school to Wednesday. On Wednesday, the boys made invitations for their mom's to come to Thursday's get-together. Aedan presented his to me about seven times before Thursday's party. You would have thought Thursday was Christmas morning.

We did school from 9:30 to 11:30 and then the mom's arrived. We had bagels, berries and juice; we read the book that the boys created; and we played a great games of musical flowers (same as musical chairs). Each boy planted flower seeds in two cups--one for his mom and one for anyone else he wanted.

Aedan learned the sounds for "n" and "o" this week. At school on Thursday, we were reviewing the calendar for the day. I asked the boys what day of the week it was; they, seeing the "T" on "Thursday" said it was "Tuesday." I turned to Aedan and said, "Look at the beginning sound." Aedan responded with the "th" sound. The boys immediately shouted out, "Thursday!" This reading manual is really good. We're on lesson 24 out of 100.

Brevin scored four goals at soccer yesterday. He was the lucky recipient of a new room with no roommate. I thought he'd be a bit scared after always sharing a room, but it seems like he's really enjoying it.

Dierden has become the family photographer. When I uploaded the photos this morning, I was surprised to see my own face in a number of them, but Dierden was bemoaning the fact that she was nowhere to be found. This is a job we're going to have to learn to share.

There was a court of honor this week, and Gannon was advanced in rank. I feel very behind on this scouting thing and am not really sure what we as a family are supposed to do to help him.

I went to school with Gannon and Quinlan on Friday. It was the "first annual" take your parents to school day. I LOVED it! I spent most of the day with Gannon. He is a crack up! At one point, in math class, we got done taking "our" quiz, so we had some spare time. He pulled out a piece of notebook paper, wrote the name "Steve" on in it, and drew a stick figure. He then instructed me that each of us could only draw one thing at a time. I immediately drew an ice cream cone in his hand--priorities, you know. He drew a beanie on his head. It went from there. Steve ended up being a giant homeless person in New York City attired in burmuda shorts and fuzzy slippers with a party blower in his mouth and a parrot on his shoulder. He was equipped with his very own giant shopping cart to carry his six pack of coke and box of Cheerios.

Quinlan is back in with Dierden. This just seems to be how it was meant to be. They get along so well. Such different personalities, but it's nice to see them be such good friends. She seems to be the neighborhood and ward animal sitter. She has had someone's pet to take care of pretty much continually since mid-April. At this point, she's feeding the nextdoor neighbor's cat. Such an animal lover!

Zan seems to be continually busy. This job is just much more intense than any he's had before. I'd love to see him coach one of the kids' teams, but he's afraid to commit to that for fear of not being available for practices. He does step in when needed from time to time. Maybe someday he'll coach his grandkids. He had Quinlan come to his school after school on Wednesday. He helped her with some of her math homework.

As for me, I've been kind of quiet about it, but I started Weight Watchers last Saturday. After looking at the photo of the court of honor, I feel justified in doing so. I know I'm not grossly overweight, but just enough so that I don't want to head down that road too much farther. There have been a couple girls in the ward that have secretly inspired me--they don't know that I know that

they do Weight Watchers and they look GREAT! My goal is to lose thirty pounds, which will put me down to my weight in college. I went in and weighed yesterday. I had lost 3.5 pounds. I would have been happy with two. I have two real reasons for joining. One is that I want to learn to eat right. The second I can't share here and now but will in the future.

Becky Gibbons (I want to grow up to be just like her) has been very patient with me. She has invited me to do aquaerobics with her for months. I finally went with her on Monday night. It was such a good workout. I think I'm hooked.