Halloween Costumes - Check!

The kids got to dress up early this year to go to their school fall carnival.

 

Bruce is a Marine.

He decided this would be a good costume in case the other 5th graders didn't dress up. He could just take off his hat and untuck his shirt. Boys can wear camo for any occasion. He's always thinking. :)

Linda is a Mexican dancer.

Linda saw a Mexican dancer costume online and loved it. But we didn't have to buy it because Robert's coworker was nice enough to lend us this beautiful dress that her daughter used to dance in.

Jane picked an angel costume.

She looks so lovely.

Claire wanted to be a pumpkin again.

Good thing I bought her costume big last year!

We're ready for our ward party next weekend and Halloween the week after that!

More Speech

Well, all three of the girls are now in Speech. Linda is officially in Speech with an IEP and everything. She is constantly getting asked if she if from England. Sometimes she likes that and sometimes she doesn't. Her speech teacher said that correcting Linda's speech will be difficult because Linda's speech does not follow the normal patterns they see. We are going to have her start attending speech twice a week at school now. If we don't see improvement we will look in to a private speech therapist.

Jane has pretty typical speech problems, mostly the r sound. She will not get an IEP at this point. The speech teacher will work with her. She actually saw improvement just in Jane's first session with her, which leads us to believe that she may have just picked up on bad speech habits from the older kids. We're really hopeful her speech difficulties will be cleared up by the end of the year.

Claire will also be attending speech for her r and a couple of other sounds. She will not get an IEP either but will be worked with. I was surprised when helping in her Kinder class last week when an adult asked if we had moved here from England. (because of Claire's accent)

With all three girls in speech, working on a lot of the same things, Robert and I really hope that they will all catch on. What really makes me laugh inside is when Bruce corrects their speech. He speaks really well, but I think back on the 3yrs. of speech classes he had and how I used to have to translate what he was saying to everyone. Proof that speech can be fixed.

Family Update

Robert has gotten really in to working out now that the gym by our house has opened up. He goes twice a day, most days. He looks great and has dropped close to 25lbs. He continues working for the SBA and still hasn't gotten tired of his commute to Santa Ana. He is in Washington DC this week for meetings. He recently got licensed to coach competitive soccer here in SoCal. He had his wallet and keys stolen out of his gym locker so that was a bummer.

I'm still the YW's President in our ward and have been for over a year now. I have learned more than I ever imagined I could with this calling. This calling is very stressful but very rewarding at the same time. I've been enjoying working out as well. I'm trying to keep up with all the kids and their homework and different schedules.

Bruce continues to do well at school. All summer he said he didn't like school and didn't want to go back. Yesterday he told me he changed his mind and actually likes school now.(the new school) He said the teachers are really nice and that the kids don't use bad words like they did at his previous school. He just started up chess club again.

Linda started tennis class after school once a week. She has so much fun. She has made a really good friend at school which is a blessing to her. She is such a good missionary and always talks to her friends about Jesus and invites them to church and activity days. She is on the Green Team at school. She helps with recycling.

Jane just got transferred out of her 2nd grade class in to a 2nd/3rd grade combo class. She started this week and really likes her new teacher, Mr. Phillips. She still plays soccer. I got to go help in her class last week. It's fun watching her. She is very sure of herself and always follows directions.

Claire started out in afternoon Kindergarten but they asked for volunteers to go to morning because of the big class size and we volunteered. I'm so glad we did! It works out much better with her going in the mornings. She has a great teacher, Mrs. Shrom. Claire loves absolutely everything about school.

We have been so blessed. We love our neighborhood. We love our ward. We love the new school.
Heavenly Father has really taken such good care of us and guided us to where we needed to be.

Some Pictures From This Year

Sayre, Bruce, and Brodey

Mother's Day card from Jane.  :)

Hike with the kids earlier this year.


Linda all dolled up.

Linda's latest painting.

Me and Bruce

Jane and Claire at the harbor.
 

Back To School...Again 2013

Well, the day finally came. All of the kids are in school now. I never thought I'd see the day.
Claire has been more than ready to start Kindergarten. We are at a new school again. The school was completely renovated over the last year and it's really nice. The kids have had a great first couple of days and I feel so happy that they're there. It's going to be an adjustment having some alone time in the days. I'll miss having my buddy, Claire, with me in the days but I'm so happy for her. This will be the only year that my kids will ever be in the same school.

CLAIRE - KINDERGARTEN

Claire has done great the first two days. She was happy to be there. She is having to adjust to wearing socks and shoes. She is also adjusting to a schedule. She is tired and has had some meltdowns. Hopefully she'll adjust soon. But she is totally happy at school. :)

After school the first day she said,

"Oh, come on. I thought it was going to be longer. I still don't know how to read." :)

Today she was so happy after school but not happy that she didn't have homework yet.

The girls is ready to LEARN!!

JANE - 2ND GRADE

Here's Jane and her teacher. She was happy to find a little candy on her desk from her teacher. I think Jane and her teacher will get along just fine. :)

LINDA - 4TH GRADE

It's hard for me to believe that Linda is already in 4th grade! Wasn't I just enrolling her in Kindergarten? Linda's teacher seems really nice.

BRUCE - 5TH GRADE

Well, no picture of Bruce with his teacher. He didn't need me to walk him to class and he was in a big hurry to get to the playground to play hand ball. If this kid thinks he is getting out of a teacher picture, he's got another thing coming. :) I did go meet his teacher, Mrs. Gill. 

Bruce knew 3 kids in his class and he was really happy about that. He's going to have a great year.

Summer Birthdays

We're finally done with our summer birthdays. Hallelujah! :) Jane chose to go to Wave Waterpark for her birthday this year. We couldn't get any pictures inside, but here's Jane afterwards. She had so much fun.

Here she is later that night when we did cake and presents.