27 September 2009

Here's a photo of Sophie on her way to the bus stop in the morning-- backpack stuffed with her books, running gear and water, carrying her lunch and her clarinet. She loves 6th grade and comes home bubbling over with excitement every day. She doesn't mention actual school work very often, but her school has a website where we can check up on her and make sure she's getting her assignments done. By the way, Sophie does not eat three sandwiches for lunch. She and her friends like eating lunch potluck style and it was Sophie's turn to bring the main course.

Some of the kids on Sophie's cross-country team call her "Angel Sophie." This is not for her ethereal appearance or her celestial disposition. It's because she brings treats to all the meets. Gibson, Abe and Helen were happy to help her make cookies this week by unwrapping Hershey's kisses. They may have eaten one or two while they were at it.

Thanks to Chelsea for this great photo of Sophie running at her meet this week. Sophie really loves cross-country now and running is one of the many highlights of her day. We have to be careful where we stand along the route to cheer for Sophie because she will stop to say hi or give high-fives. Keep running, Sophie, don't stop!

Our friend, Alan, is a welding wizard. He and Brandan brainstormed a rack for stacking firewood and within a couple of weeks, Alan had it finished. The rails keep the wood off the ground and allow air to circulate. The end brackets can slide along the rails like book ends and keep the pile tidy as the wood gets used up.

Saturday was a great "get the work done day" around here. We worked on lots of projects outside and in the house, including washing the cars. What a relief to be back to our normally healthy selves.

Brandan is having surgery to repair a hernia this coming Friday. He is NOT having a tummy tuck as you may have heard him joke. Hopefully his recovery goes well because we're all very excited to have him home for a week afterwards. Movies! Smoothies! A grown-up to stay at home with Gibson for all those drop-offs and pick-ups during the day!

20 September 2009

Due to severe budget shortfalls, our school district has cancelled school on Mondays for the 2009-2010 school year. While this is poor public policy, we've decided to make the best of a bad situation, embrace the extra family time and start a Monday School. We meet for a couple of hours Monday morning. Sophie's friends, Zach and Rylee, are joining us. We're studying history with Susan Wise Bauer's book, The Story of the World (thanks, Carrie, for the excellent recommendation.) The kids also have picked a special topic to work on until Christmas Break. The big kids picked cooking, Abe picked wild cats and Helen picked sharks. In the coming months we'll post photos of our little class, our projects and field trips. Monday we learned about nomads and early agriculture. The kids built a shaduf in the sandbox. Their imaginations got going and they also built a mansion alongside the river with a swimming pool that the shaduf could fill.

The shaduf in the sandbox is behind Rylee's knee. Here's a photo of an actual shaduf. While shadufs represent some of the earliest agricultural technology, they are still in use today for irrigation.

The other kids drifted away when it was time to clean up, but this was the best part of the activity for Gibson. He'd probably still be outside spraying things off with the hose if Becky hadn't turned the water off.

This weekend was our ward's annual Father/Son campout. Brandan, Abe and Gibson enjoyed the campfire and sleeping outside and getting dirty. The boys played flag football Saturday morning. Gibson is either taking this game very seriously or is just seriously confused.

After the campout, Brandan took the boys to play in the river. A makeshift dam created a pool alongside the river.

Becky, Sophie and Helen had planned a girls' night on the town during the campout, but Sophie and Helen were both sick. We stayed home with a movie instead. Sophie and Helen are better now, but despite our best efforts their virus has spread to Abe, Becky and Brandan. Hopefully it stops there.

13 September 2009

We went hiking on Labor Day. We'd planned on going about 3 miles, but our hike turned out to be more than 6 miles long. This view at the top was our reward. Our kids are great hikers-- they just keep going, and going, and going. . .

Tuesday was Helen's first day of school. She's going to the same preschool Abe went to and even though they have very different personalities, it's perfect for them both. Her favorite thing at school so far has been playing with a crawdad.

Your eyes are not deceiving you-- the relaxed, happy runner approaching the finish line is Sophie! Sophie had her first cross-country meet his week and loved it. The distance (1.8 miles) was much shorter than the distances they run at practice. She's the slowest person on her team, but came in ahead of 30 other girls at the meet (close to 80 runners total). She loved cheering on the other runners and riding the bus with her team and getting high fives from the high school kids. The cross-country season lasts 6 more weeks and we expect more ups and downs, but right now Sophie is definitely up and loving cross-country.

Brandan is working on the shelves in the mudroom an hour or so at a time and is making good progress. We've moved in to the shelves that are finished and love all the space he's created. Saturday he installed a clothes rod above the washer and dryer. Sophie took a photo of the light show he made when he cut the aluminum rod.

Our neighborhood park turned into a tent city this weekend for a barbeque and microbrew competition. The city sent all the neighbors tickets to the event as a peace offering to excuse the noise and traffic. So what are Mormon vegans doing at a celebration of meat and beer? Brandan liked the live music, the water misters (it was HOT) and watching the kids play in the jump houses. Becky liked people watching. The kids liked sampling the barbeque and choosing their favorites-- as they will emphatically tell you, they are NOT vegans.

6 September 2009

Tuesday was Sophie's first day of middle school. She loves her school, teachers and the freedom 6th graders have compared to elementary school. She rode to school with Rylee on the first day. She picked a very classy outfit to wear, including a necklace, bracelet and earrings she made herself.

Abe started 1st grade. He's very happy to be back in school, although he's disappointed that he won't get any homework until October. He let Becky take one photo before shooing her out the door on the first day.

Brandan gave our US Representative a tour of his clinic's electronic medical records. A surprising number of medical offices still rely on paper charts, and those that use electronic records are usually not connected to the larger medical community. Brandan's clinic is unusual in how well it integrates office, hospital and lab records. Brandan was looking forward to talking to Representative Walden about health care, but the meeting was mostly a photo op with two TV stations and many photographers staging shots. Brandan did make an appearance on the local news and had a chance with the other doctors in his clinic to really talk policy with Rep. Walden after the cameras were gone.

Sophie signed up for the cross-country team. After the first practice she said, "I quit!" She likes running, but not the intensity of the team. We're making her stick it out for 2 weeks. After that, the coaches ask the slower runners to leave-- this team is serious about running hard and fast. Picking Sophie up from practice has been a revelation into her character. Some days she has been near tears, but soon she has us laughing along with her as she describes her struggles. And even though she knows she only has a week left, every day she runs her best. So many things are easy for Sophie -- it's inspiring to see her meet a real challenge with grace and a smile.

Sarah sent us this fantastic video and we've been a little bike crazy ever since. Brandan now looks for urban obstacles as he rides his bike to and from work and is working on his rusty freestyle skills. Becky is trying to bunny hop curbs (she gave up trying sometime in the 90s). Abe rides his bike every day, zooming around the neighborhood, plowing off the end of sidewalks and showing off his new trick, pedaling while standing up.