Hello All,It is time again for another update. Is it really the middle of September? I can't believe how quickly these last few weeks have gone by. We celebrated Labor Day weekend with spending Saturday waterskiing in the morning and swimming all afternoon. Elsa practiced getting up on waterskis with Brian pulling her in the swimming pool. She is so light that it didn't take a lot of speed to keep her out of the water. She did extremely well with keeping her knees bent and controlling her skis. She was able to stand up and stay steady holding onto the rope. It was so fun to watch her. She was so nonchalant about the experience, but very excited and proud of herself too.
It was a good thing we were outside all day Saturday because Ava got sick that evening, and we spent the next two days at home while she recovered. Labor Day ended up being a little mellower than we anticiapted. This wasn't so bad since the girls started school the next day. Both girls were so excited to start preschool. Elsa has her same teacher as last year. At first I thought she might be disappointed, but she was thrilled. It helps that her three friends that all live in our neighborhood are in her class too. It turns out that two kids from chruch are in Ava's class. It helped to start school with familiar faces. Ava was really cute about being "so big" now. Ava's classroom is right next to Elsa's. They sometimes are out on the playground at the same time. This is really fun for Ava to be able to play with her sister at school. They are so cute with each other. In fact, yesterday on the way home from church I was asking Ava who her friends were. After listing a few friends, Elsa interrupted saying, "Remember? You have one more friend who is in your family. She is your best friend. Me!" I thought it was sweet.
The first week of school passed quickly in anticipation of Elsa's 5th birthday. She was so excited for the big day. She could barely sleep the night before. Once she was asleep, Brian and I continued our tradition of decorating the kitchen with balloons, streamers, and birthday signs. Brian was able to go into work later that day so he could spend the morning at home for a big birthday breakfast of chocolate chip waffles (a favorite) and to watch Elsa open her presents. Elsa loved her presents. Because she opened her presents in the morning, she and Ava were able to play with them all day long. Both girls were quite occupied for most of the day. In fact, the original plan was to spend the day at the zoo. Since we got such a late
start, we only were able to be there for 45 minutes. I didn't realize that the hours changed after Labor Day so it closed an hour earlier than we expected. Elsa didn't seem to mind. She was very agreeable all day long. We ate at McDOnald's for her birthday dinner. Her choice. What a treat! We then celebrated with her friends this last Saturday. We had a craft party. Each child was given an apron when they arrived. We then split into two groups. My group, which I thought would be the more difficult and require hands-on help, ended up being less demanding. We painted wood cutouts of frogs, butterflies, flowers, etc. with acrylic paints. The second table we had paper bag puppets, where each child was able to choose one of the following: dogs, pigs, birds, crabs, lions, and frogs. (These are darling Martha Stewart craft kits from Michaels. Very fun and resonably priced if you use the 40% coupon from the newspaper.) These required someone showing the children where the correct pieces needed to be attached. As a result, Brian ended up assembling a dozen paper bag puppets. :) While I cleaned up and set out the aprons to decorate, Brian took the kids outside to play games. I thought we'd finish crafts quickly and have too much time on our hands, but we were pinched for time to eat cake and open presents before the parents arrived. It all turned out well. At the end of the evening, Elsa told me "Mom, this was such a great party. Thank you. I have so many presents that I don't need anymore for a really long time." I am pleased to have a grateful child!
Besides birthday gatherings, we filled our week with one activity/responsibility after another. Tuesday night we had dinner with the Kreges. Mary Dawn Krege, who is a kindermusic teacher, helped Elsa prepare for her solo to be sung at the Primary Program in October. She has been asked to sing the second verse of "I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus." (We should feel honored that the primary presidency thinks that Elsa is worthy of a solo. I just hope it turns out as a positive experience. Elsa gets better and better each week with LOTS of practice. I am amazed at her courage to stand in front of ALL the primary children and sing to them each week. I wonder if Sacrament Mtg. will intimidate her too much. Keep your fingers crossed for her.)
Wednesday, during the day I franctically ran errands and spent the afternoon cutting fruit and preparing food for the Quarterly Enrichment activity. We had a service auction. I've spent hours collecting service items, and preparing auction lists, tally score cards, etc. My one other member on the committee had to have surgery that day, so I was solo in all the work and preparation. It turned out to be a fabulous meeting. We had a great turnout, the best we've had at any activity. Everyone had a really fun time. It helped that our auctioneer is a most energetic person with a great sense of humor. I enjoyed the evening as well, but am happy to have it over. (I have all the templates for invitations, planning, etc. if any of you need a fun Enrichment idea.)
Thursday night, Elsa had her first soccer game of the fall season. After being distracted by playing with a blade of grass during practice, Elsa did well in the first part of the game. She was very brave and got right in the middle of the game, running and kicking the ball with the mass of children. I cheered "GOOD JOB ELSA," which distracted her. As she turned her head towards me, another player collided into her giving her a good nose bonk. She was distressed for the rest of the game. She told me that she didn't like that the other players were trying to take the ball from her and that she wanted to kick the ball in the goal. I had to explain that this is what all the kids wanted and it is called "Friendly Competition." She still didn't like the idea. I'll have her stick with it for the rest of the season (another five weeks). Afterwards, if she wants, she can stick to non-contact sports like swimming, tennis, running, etc.
If this isn't enough (I am worn out just writing about it), Brian raced out after Elsa's birthday party on Saturday to conduct a BYU Alumni speaker engagement. We have been selected to be the Indiana Chapter Co-chairs of the BYU Alumni Association. Somehow (I don't recall giving consent), we accepted and now have another responsibility added to our somewhat vacant lives. Can you sense the sarcasm? After my grumbling, Brian has told me that they will remove the co-chair title and just give him the title, which isn't quite the outcome that I wanted. Regardless, Brian found the time to fulfill this responsibility as well as his Elder's Quorum duties, traveling to and interviewing in NJ for a consulting job, and preparing for conferences and travel for his day job at Eli Lilly. He is now in Hawaii for the ASBMR conference, which ends on Wednesday. He is staying until Saturday evening for some R&R with Jared Theler, who lives there. I am not sure if the term R&R will ever apply to Brian or to Jared, but they will at least get in some sea kayaking, hiking, and possibly surfing. Brian deserves the break and the high adventure, but I am slightly jealous that heis staying in Waikiki on the ocean while I get caught up on laundry and ironing, carpool children to preschool and other activities, attend playdates, and plan Enrichment activities for 2008. Don't I lead a glamorous life?
My consolation is that we have beautiful fall weather. It is 80's during the day and 50's at night. It is nice to have a repreive from air-conditioning. I love to have the windows open but get a lot of dust from the construction next door and behind us. I hope the spec house they are building next to us doesn't sell for a LONG time. Our sunroom windows look right into the family room. I will be able to watch TV with the new neighbors. Isn't that great? It is quite unfortunate. It just means that I'll get really close with the neighbors. They will know all of our family secrets! Maybe I'll just add them to my bi-monthly emails and they'll have
all of our insider information. :)
Time goes by so quickly. It doesn't seem like summer should be over, or that I should have a five year-old. But reality sets in quickly around here. I am grateful for our blessings, especially our two precious daughters. Thanks to all of you for your birthday wishes and greetings to Elsa. She felt so special. I hope you're all doing well. Thank for listening to (or reading) the ramblings of our lives. Enjoy the pictures. They are of the girls' first day of preschool and Elsa's birthday.
Love,
Natalie
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