The Girls

Here's my update on the girls:
Mini-Me: still bum-scooting, though she's taken it to new heights. She's turbo-charged! It's so funny to see her go when she's excited. Bum scooting so fast with her arms shaking and panting like a horse. And one of the things that can get her excited is foamy puzzles! We got some of those puzzles that are supposed to improve dexterity from one of my friends in A2--you know the nice kind made of the compressed foam? Well, of course they have lots of little pieces, circles and other shapes, and there is nothing that Mini-Me likes better than to systematically punch each piece out then toss it to the side and move on. She's very business-like about it, and refuses to be drawn into the trivialities of life. I'll have to video it sometime with my camera and put it on here.

Shrimp: just received her first birthday party invitation! My wee babe is really growing up. We're still working on the potty-training, but not for lack of ability. Let's just say that we've discovered that at a certain point, no amount of dancing will keep the pee in. Fortunately, we've somehow managed to avoid reaching that situation in public, but I know that time is going to come... Shrimp is also still rotating through which princess she is each day (Genevieve, Ariel, Ro, Sleeping Beauty, etc, etc). Poor Derek has been type-cast as the handsome Prince--the only thing that changes is his name. Worse, I think he's going to get to play that part for Halloween. Shrimp has a habit of coming up to Derek and saying coyly, "Hi, Prince. Will you marry me?". She's a very silly girl.

Domba: well, we live in the DC area, and nothing made that more plain than to have Domba come home and tell us that they were playing Code Red at lunch time. One kid was the "bad guy", and had a gun. The other kids ran and hid. They have three(?) different codes for different types of events at the school: (armed) intruders, weather disasters, etc, etc. They spent the first week of school practicing these drills, and then have refreshers throughout the year.

Bub: we got good news on Weds for Bub. She is going to be switching to the 4th grade math class. What that means is that the kids are in 3rd grade, but they are working on 4th grade math. It's basically their way of doing advanced math in elementary school. We also excited because we didn't think her afternoon teacher was a good fit for Bub, so this will hopefully be better. (The kids have two different teachers, a morning language arts/social studies teacher, and an afternoon math/science teacher.) Bub sure loves math and has a built-in tutor that's just as excited about it as her. Bub also had her birthday party for her 8th birthday today. It turned out to be fun--and it was nice to be able to meet so many of her friends. They all seemed to be such nice kids. She chose to do a Halloween theme, which turned out to be great since we could decorate for Halloween and her party at the same time! :) I'll post some pics when I download them from the camera.

Derek: still loving his job, always busy with it, but we still seem to have enough time together as a family and couple. Today, we got to go running together since only Bub was up when we got up. Derek has really enjoyed running on the trails in the forest "next-door". He's excited to show his dad and take him running next weekend.

Maren: reading, reading, reading. Someone (I can't remember whom) recommended Phillip Pullman, and I've quite enjoyed that series! Also joined the local book group and enjoyed our last meeting about "A Thousand Splendid Suns". I've also been working hard at making blankets for our local baptisms--reminders of how the Holy Ghost is a comforter... Only 5 left! :)

Okay, time for conference, so I gotta run!
maren