Like mother like daughter

We attended parent-teacher conferences two weeks ago for Sabrina. The teacher told us that she was curious to see what level Sabrina was reading at since she claimed all the supplementary reading was "too easy". Mrs. Winter pulled out one of her books that her own children read in the second grade and Sabrina read the first page with ease. She says that Sabrina is reading easily at the second grade level. Not bad for a kindergartener. Something must have clicked in the last few weeks because all of a sudden the kid is reading EVERYTHING she can get her hands on. The other day I came in to wake them up for school and found Sabrina already awake and reading in bed. And when I tried to take the book away she freaked and wouldn't let go. She wanders around the house with her nose in a book; bringing them to meals, to have her hair done, and in the car while we run errands. Last night when I went to tuck her into bed I felt something hard inside her pillowcase and before she could stop me I tipped her pillow over and found a small flashlight hidden inside! Moira piped up and said that Sabrina wakes her up reading in bed at night after we've turned out the lights! Sneaky kid. I can see that we're going to struggle with trying to keep her nose out of a book long enough to get other things done. I half expect her to start stashing books throughout her room so I won't confiscate them. (That's what I did growing up.) At the rate she's devouring books she'll probably be a few grade levels beyond where she's at by the end of the school year. She has jumped from pre-k level to second grade level in two months!

How did this happen? I attribute it mostly to you Mom and the Writing Road to Reading Program. Incredible! Thanks!

Halloween 2009

Argh!!

Don't even THINK about it. You ain't gettin' my loot.

See Mom! I learned how to throw my knife!

Ahhhh, a little pre-Halloween snack. And I did it all by myself too.
I made my own snack! Ta-dahhh!

Here's the annual Halloween issue of the blog. I was on top of costumes this year and didn't sew any of them. YEAH. Except for Brayden's sash. I cut a length of orange fabric in half and then sewed the ends together so it would be long enough.

Thank heavens Halloween was on a Saturday this year, no last minute rush by myself trying to get everybody ready. Adam was there for reinforcements, like changing that last-minute dirty diaper.

Sabrina went as a cowgirl, Moira was a witch, and Brayden was a pirate. His shirt says: Cap'n Spooky's Pirate Academy; Surrender yar candy!! I died laughing when I saw it at Target. I even taught him to say AARRRGGGHHH. He did that for a few people and then figured out that everyone else was saying Trick or Treat so he started saying his garbled version of it. (Mostly t's) But the argh was so much cuter and more appropriate for his costume. He was really good about carrying his sword correctly and even tried defending himself with it when he encountered a particular scary costume. I immediately rushed to the rescue to make sure no one got hurt.

Our neighborhood had their annual Trunk-or-Treat at the church parking lot. The kids filled their buckets 2/3 full in about an hour only going around once. Love those trunk-or-treats for efficiency. Afterwards we went to the cul-de-sac around the corner from our house where many of our friends live and did the traditional candy-begging. One homeowner turns his front yard into a haunted corn maze complete with smoke machines, monsters, strobe lights and big candy bars if you make it to the end. The kids say they want to go every year, but usually they chicken out at the last minute. I carried Brayden through, Adam carried Moira, and Sabrina snuck through the back way to avoid all the scariness and got a 3' pixie stick as her reward.

We were home before seven o'clock and the kids immediately dumped their haul on the kitchen table and started stuffing their faces. But we still got them into bed by 8:30 pm and then turned all the clocks back. We stayed up and had a Chuck marathon. LOVE CHUCK!!! We stayed up way too late, but it was fun!

New Car

Well, it is new to our family, anyway. In the metropolis of Salt Lake City all registered vehicles must pass a safety and emissions test to have the registration renewed. Our 1989 Camy was getting to the point that if you filled the tank with gasoline and changed the oil you've added 50% to the value. We did not want to have to put any "fix-up" money into that car. It passed all of the required criteria for having the registration renewed in August of this year. That very day the car started giving us issues. First, the engine fans wouldn't turn off when you turned off the car. Then, the battery died. Then, the dashboard warning lights all lit up like a Christmas tree (for no apparent reason). When the car started shaking at any speed we knew we had better be serious about finding a replacement. It was as though the car was saying, "Just let me die in peace!" We had been praying for a car for a couple months. In September, we included it in our fast. Wendy thought she had found the perfect minivan, but when we wanted to go take a look it was sold. That same day a new ad was posted at a dealership we had visited before. We drove down to the dealership and it was everything we were looking for.

Power sliding doors, alloy wheels, tow hitch, late model year, CD/cassette stereo, stow-n-go seating, great handling, and it fit our budget exactly where we needed it to be. It was a true answer to our prayers. Oh, and it does fit in our garage. If you have seen our garage you will know how amazing that is. The kids love all of the new elbow space. They played with the power doors for a week straight. We have had this van for just short of a month now and Brayden still thinks it is his job to close the sliding doors. We bought the van from Henry Clay motors just off I-215 and California Ave. They went out of their way to make sure the car was reconditioned to like new.

Last night we sold the Camry. There is a mechanic around the corner and he gave us $100 for it. The odometer read over 324,000 miles when we turned over the keys. That car has lasted us just over 10 years and 190,000 miles. I bought it for $5000 out the door. I figured that I have put about $15,000 in fuel, tires, oil changes, and maintenance into that car. If you do the math you will see that paying your tithing pays you back REALLY well. Our prayer now is that the Pathfinder and the Grand Caravan treat us just as well for the next 10+ years.

Quick September updates. . .

. . . Because the month is over tomorrow! Yikes, time flies way too fast! Sabrina has been in Kindergarten for a month now and is loving it! It took her a couple of weeks to make a friend, but now she and Brooke play together every recess. And sometimes they play with additional friends too. Brooke is a fraternal twin (brother, Peter) and we're trying to set up a play date with the whole clan. Sabrina is a smart little whipper-snapper. She is reading up a storm, I have a hard time trying to keep up with her voracious appetite for books.

Moira is enjoying all the private play time she gets with Sabrina in school. She goes into her room and plays quietly for an hour or so until Brayden decides to stage a hostile invasion because he's bored. Then all hell breaks loose upstairs and the neutral country (mom) has to come in to settle differences and convince General Brayden that he really can survive without taking Moira's dollies/Pet Shop animals/Cars/etc.

Moira and Sabrina are both enrolled in dance classes and love it! It's a non-competitive combination class. Sabrina is in the Kindergarten class and Moira is in Pre-School level. They spend time learning tap, ballet, and tumbling in each class. I like it because it's fun and good for their social development. I asked Sabrina after the first class how she liked it and she responded that she'd rather take soccer. So I told her to do dance for a year and next year we can enroll her in soccer classes if she'd prefer.

Brayden is still solidly in the terrible two's which aren't so terrible. I can deal with the destructo tendencies and the random fit-throwing as long as I get moments of joy from the sweet, captivating, hilarious little boy that he is. He is a crafty guy and has the fastest reflexes for grabbing candy or treats of any kid I've had. But he is loving and generous when you reason with him. I decorated my house for Halloween a couple of weeks ago and I have these glass block jack-o-lanterns with lights inside them. Every morning Brayden runs around the house trying to plug each one in (with help of course). He LOVES them. I can hardly wait to see his reaction to Christmas.

Adam and I have been doing a lot of canning over the past month, trying to preserve everything. We have been given A LOT of food for free, some we grew, and some we bought for a steal. We have used up nearly all of the jars that we have. My neighbor just offered me the rest of her apples to make applesauce or pie filling with. I think I might have to go buy more quarts to put them up. What a blessing. Every year the bounty gets bigger and bigger. We have had so many tomatoes this year that I've given away about 6 bushels of tomatoes and I still have TONS out there. This is after I've done two batches of salsa, a batch of spaghetti sauce, and a batch of stewed tomatoes. I think I'll try to put the rest up as stewed tomatoes. We'll see if I can give any more away. So far this year we've put up the above plus carrots, peaches, pears, strawberry jam, and beets. We still have to dig up our row of potatoes and I think I'm going to can them rather than cold storage store them. They don't last longer than 6 months in cold storage. So if you want to know what I've been doing with my spare time: there you have it.

Adam and I have decided that we need to start shopping in earnest for a mini-van. We've been saving money like maniacs trying to outrun the train wreck that is potentially our 20 year old Toyota Camry with 320,000 miles on it. It passed safety and inspection at the end of August by the skin of it's grille. But that evening it started breaking apart on us. This is how we know that Heavenly Father has a sense of humor. We had been fasting and praying that the Camry would pass inspections so we could register it for one more year while we got our finances in order to buy a minivan. Just one more year! Please!!! Adam took it to the shop in the morning, it passed, he drove home from work that night and the car wouldn't shut off when you turned the key. I drove the car to work and had to disconnect the battery when I got there. The next day it worked fine and I took the car again and left the lights on by accident and the battery died. Normally the car has an automatic shut-off sensor that turns off the lights but because the sensor was leaving the interior lights on after the door was shut, Adam disconnected it so now it doesn't shut the headlights off. (Makes sense?) Needless to say I was out in West Salt Lake at 11:30 p.m. with a dead battery. I got somebody to help me jump the car and then drove home. Every couple of weeks something else goes wrong with it and we figure the Lord gave us one more year with this car but that doesn't mean the car is going to last one more year. So, we are shopping for a minivan. We've decided on what car we're going to buy and what price range is reasonable and now we're just watching the ads waiting for the perfect opportunity. Fortunately it's a buyers market for the auto industry, along with nearly every other sector of the economy.

In preparation for General Conference this week I have been inspired by one of my Visiting Teachees to start doing morning devotionals with my family. We hold it in the girls bedroom and read a story out of one of their Scripture Story books (from the Distribution Center) and then have family prayer. They wanted to start with the Old Testament so we're working our way through that. Adam figured if we hold this devo 6 days a week it will take us two months to go through the O.T. and then we can start on the New Testament. I figure that we can get through most of the standard works in one year. They don't make a Pearl of Great Price version so we don't count that. It has actually been very nice to spend this time together as a family. It makes getting organized in the morning a little more hairy but I think the sacrifice is worth it.

Tomorrow's the big day

Sabrina starts kindergarden tomorrow. Wendy and I are so excited for Sabrina to have all of those great experiences. We met with Sabrina's teacher last week and it sounds like Mrs. Winters will be wonderful for Sabrina.

We've been preacticing getting up and ready in time for school this past week. It will be a little adjustment since we like to roll out of bed about 8am at our house. We decided we need to push that up to about 7am. We'll see if we can get Sabrina to school on time.

35 minutes 22/25 seconds

About a month ago it came to our attention that the Roy Days' 5k was coming up. Wendy said she would only run it if she had someone to run with her. I volunteered. We stayed side by side for almost the whole run. My goal was to "not get beat by Wendy." The course is the same as last year which meant that the last half-mile or so was uphill. When we were about 400 yards from the finish Wendy picked up her pace, then again at 300 yards, 200 yards, 100 yards, and by the end we were in a dead sprint. She didn't want to get beat by me and I wouldn't let her get ahead of me. In the end, it was my long legs that won the day. I came in a mere 3 seconds ahead of Wendy. We just about collapsed at the finish line. It was fun for to have that early morning "date."

Brayden the Little Farmer

Since Wendy works four nights each week I get to spend time with the kids alone. This year I decided to try square foot gardening in hopes to keep the weed population under better control. While I was out tending my garden Brayden pulled one the kids chairs out into the garden and plopped himself down on it. I turned around and whipped out my cell phone to snap a quick picture. It matches a picture of my father. Maybe Brayden is growing up to be a little backyard farmer.