Quick Update

9th GRADE

Kennon started her high school career with new braces thanks to Dad. She has only been waiting for a year and he finally squeezed her in. 

Her first day she caught a ride with her friend Kaitlyn and her older sister. I had to snap a picture of the first day my daughter left with just students in the car. Since that first week early morning seminary has begun so that won't be happening anymore. We leave our house at 5:30 am now to pick up the only other Mormon girl in our town and and then have them to seminary by 6. The early morning scripture class will be taught this year by a part time BYU professor that lives 5 minutes from us. Unfortunately the girl who needs a ride lives in the opposite direction so isn't quite as convenient as it sounded at first. Kennon is loving the class and hasn't complained at all since it began. She wakes up at 4:30 every morning to shower, read the New Testament, pack her lunch, and paint her nails. I crawl out of bed at exactly 5:30 and leave exactly one minute later with bad breath and jammies on. 

             5th GRADE                       8th GRADE 

Camille enters middle school with her upper classmate sister Savannah. Savannah has promised to meet and walk home with her every day. Savannah created her first day shirt with a little bleach out of a shirt she picked up second hand. Who would've thought that those baggy chambray shirts would ever come back in style again? Savannah wears it with a lot more style than I did back in the 90's. 

3rd GRADE

And for the first time in 9 years I have just one child at the grade school. 

Caroline has a new bus stop and it stinks for me because it is no longer our driveway so we are actually going to have to bundle up and walk outside with her all winter I guess. All the grade school kids in the neighborhood meet up in the middle. 

And so now I am just left home with my two boys which is easier and harder. Easier because we don't have any pressure to go anywhere and not "waste our summer" Phew! But harder because now I am solely responsible for keeping Calvin entertained all day. 

Calvin is crawling and he loves traveling up the flights of stairs. We have 5. They are short flights, so his falls haven't caused any permanent damage but enough to scare him to death about attempting to come down once he goes all the way up. I am having the hardest time finding him now. Our house is so "open concept" that I can't tell where his cries are coming from. This morning I heard him doing his stuck cry. He was getting more and more frantic as I ran up the stairs checking on the usual places he gets stuck. On the 4th flight I heard a series of thud, thud, thud, thud and knew I was too late. Please don't tell me I need to install gates on each flight because that is just not happening. We can't all hop that many gates constantly.  I think Calvin is about done with the falling. He's actually only fallen twice and he's been crawling for almost a month now. 

 Brent is head coach of the first 3-4th grade football team in town. His team won all their games at the opening jamboree. The 5th grade team lost their's so after that they stole Brent's best two players. He is way too busy to be coaching football this fall and I don't know what we were thinking but I am happy that he has this fun diversion.

 These are the Portsmouth Ward young ladies and leaders at a Youth Conference where they met the General Young Women President of our church. 

Kennon and Georgia posed with the beautiful (inside and out!) Elaine Dalton after the meeting. 

I am so grateful for these special opportunities that we really need out here in the east where our members are few and far between. 

Brent helped Camille make a pinata for a back to school party she had last week. I'm the mother who hates big friend birthday parties and so I always try to make it up to my kids by letting them have a big  party once a year and invite whomever they want. We had a cookout, swam and roasted marshmallows till dark. Then a pinata that turned out just great. Even after Marcus woke up the morning after this fun project and popped the balloon inside and smashed it in. Daddy fixed it. 

We have been busy people lately. This is the only picture I could find of 9 month old Calvin. I am really disappointed in Kennon. 

Remember back in December when Calvin, Marcus and I went to auction? We are still renovating the new office I bought for Applewood Family Dentistry. It is really busy for Brent to juggle running a dental business, being a Dad, high priest group leader at church, football coach, and then general contractor for the new office. We missed our August Moving Deadline and we are now shooting for the first week in October. I am trying to help out in anyway I can and Calvin is very uncooperative in these efforts. So that explains why I am not out in the backyard doing monthly photo shoots with this cutie. 


Kennon: Started a facebook photography site and I decided to get on there and like it. She had 99 likes and I could make it 100. Tried and apparently it had already happened. Kennon uses MY facebook way more than I do. 

Savannah: Doesn't like the WALK TO SCHOOL FRIDAYS I started. I walk with them . . . and that's the problem. She kept speeding up or slowing down to create some distance between us and every time we met up again it was the same old. "Why do you have to follow me?" Uh, because we are going the same place. . . remember? 

Camille: On the other hand, Camille still likes me. She walked by my side and even ran back to give me one last hug and kiss right in front of the school when I turned around. Please don't corrupt my fifth grader. Camille is my perfect girl and yet she is always the one I am losing my patience over.  Of all my kids she leaves the biggest and widest trail. So many projects started and stopped and there all the stuff lies.  

Caroline: She carries Calvin everywhere on her hip. Which is great except for she insists that he immediately go to my hip if she needs a potty break no matter what I am currently in the middle of. She refuses to let him be on his own because she doesn't want him to cry or fall down the stairs. I get lots of lectures from her about my lack of mothering. She is the only one who really cares about him. . blah blah blah. 

Marcus: Continues to give me heart palpitations by his risky behavior. He climbs to the top of everything and then leans over the edge. He roamed the office while I painted last week and found an awesome scary ledge. He confessed later where he had been and I was adamant that he never go there again. 

"Marcus do you promise?" Yes, I promise I won't go there. . . " and then a quieter but determined voice behind me as I turned to walk away thinking the matter was settled. 

"Unless you aren't here. . . and then I WILL go there."

Calvin: Still has the biggest smile of any baby you've ever seen and has one for everyone. Anyone can hold him. He is indiscriminate. He loves his new mobility but hates all the doors shut in his face as we try to keep him away from his favorite stuff like toilet brushes, the outside deck, and Savannah's busy busy room full of lots of interesting stuff in his path.