Grettie

Greta on her 6th Birthday. She wore that crown all day. We brought treats to her class and we picked out some really crazy ones at the bakery with rings on them - the ones with the crisco frosting and the airbrush coloring. They were a hit. Greta has become very social. In the last few months she has had many playdates with kids from her kindergarten class and insists on having a playdate everyday.

A day in the life

August has started telling me he loves me. Oh how precious is that? He says it so appropriately too. Mommy I love you. It makes me melt.

When August gets hurt he cries for a short while - has tears and a runny nose and then quickly wipes his nose with his hand and says "Better now!" He then continues to do whatever it was that cause the tears in the first place. A boy.

His favorite activity is taking his ride toy down the sidewalk at high speed. It is so great - he catches speed and conveniently slows down at the corner of our street and turns around to do it again.

His "hat" or helmet is his favorite item of clothing. He wore it all day and in the car and to the store and than fell asleep with it on. When I tried to take it off he reached up to make sure he still had it on. Could it have been comfortable?

He is enamored by our 14 yr. old neighbor Morgan who he calls "Organ" She will ride him down the street over and over. The girls love her too. She is the perfect neighbor. She loves kids and likes to babysit. We like that her paretns are next door if anything should happen while we are gone.

Olive is spending the night with her grandparents. She needed a little one on one time and that is what I am sure she is getting at Jack and Jean's. She will go to church with them in the morning and we'll pick her up tomorrow night. This is great for Olive as she is usually our babysitter. Olive's report card had one B. She was so bummed. I didn't tell her that I was so happy to get all B's. She doesn't need to know that. Olive is taking piano again from a great teacher. She is having a totally different experience as her last teacher was Russian and was very hard to understand. This teacher is a great teacher and I think Olive will learn a lot from her. Ingrid is taking piano from her daughter and I am excited for her to start lessons this week.

Greta learned to ride a bike today. Rob is the best teacher. He is so patient and encouraging. I am lacking in those departments so I decided to mow the lawn so that Rob could go on a bike ride when he was done with the lesson. Greta shed no tears until I started to help her. She insisted that she needed her Dad. I was so proud of her. She rode around the block several times by herself. I remember the day each of the girls learned to ride their bikes. Olive was so persistent. She just decided one day that she needed to learn and we took her to Waluga park and had her ride on the baseball diamond. She just got on that and took off. She is persistent. It went so well that when Ingrid was ready we took her to Freepons and had her ride down the slight hill on the grass and she took off immediately. It's so fun to watch them try new things and to see them in their success.

New Things

Up these stairs is the girls room. It is big enough for their three twin beds with room to spare. There is one small closet that Olive has claimed as her own. It is her room I guess and the girls have their clothes in another bedroom closet. Having a new house doesn't mean it all makes sense. One day when they are more brave and want their own space, someone will venture to the bedroom in the basement. I am sure it will be August. We have this unfinished part to our basement and we have some old furniture and some boxes that we haven't emptied scattered around. This is where we have all of the kid's toys and the treadmill. There are large windows that passersby can peer down into. This is the scary part of the basement.

Dumb Ass. We have started eating hummus again. August loves it. It's great except for the breath it leaves you. He calls this great snack "dumass". Love it.

So we have a new house in a neighborhood that feels like church camp. The houses are all about the same age, the people are all about the same age, and 98% of us go to the same church. I am not worried that I won't get to know my neighbors. If I don't meet them at the park or pass them on my run, I am sure to get to know them when I work with them at church.

We just got back from Sunday dinner at Jack and Jean's with Rick and Rachelle and their kids. It's much different than our Sundays in Oregon with our little family. We used to go to the park with friends and that was really nice - but in the winter we were pretty much stuck inside like Dr. Seus's Sally and Conrad on that wet wet day. We quite like the white snow but mostly to look at and recreate in. It isn't so great to wear heels in or to fetch the mail in.

We enjoy our recreation center where Olive goes to swim team and where I bring the kids to run around the indoor track or play on the machines. Olive is swimming faster every day and she has earned several ribbons. She is also in the Aline school play Calamaty James which she enjoys very much. She goes to practice at 7:30 in the morning which is early for her. It makes for long day when we have swim team in the evening.

Ingrid is busy playing in the snow. She is a great example to me. She started reading the Bible recently and does so before she goes to bed. I am inspired by her persistence. She wants to do Basketball and play the drums. I think we'll start her in gymnastics again because she does handstands nonstop.

Greta is learning to read. She and August are playing together very happily lately. She dresses him up and builds forts for them on the kitchen table. The other day I walked in and they had a comforter spread over the top of the table with pillows to lay on and a pile of all of their stuffed animals at their feet. She fed him lunch there, read books, and took a "nap".

The Christmas Card that Wasn't

Yet another year that we didn't sent out a Christmas Card...I quickly snapped this just before heading out the door for Church today (photo at 9:13...yes church starts at 9:00.) The plan is to send it out and hope that it gets to everyone before too long after the holidays. Maybe we'll just send out an email to everyone that say's goto: sunderlages.blogspot.com



There. Done. Merry Christmas.

First Snow

August was apprehensive about his first 'real' snow storm...for about a minute.

Windstorm

The kids were caught in a windstorm when hiking around Snow Canyon in St. George over Thanksgiving.

Some thought it was fun. Greta did not.