This week Jack continued to rock the transition from elementary to middle school. He has started waking up to his alarm on his own (that's new) and has become quite the snappy dresser (that is also new) He auditioned for his seat/place in the advanced orchestra and got 2nd chair which he was pretty pumped about since he is he only 6th grade cellist in the orchestra...GO JACK!!! He also took the initiative to seek out the Vice Principal to get his bus pass changed to a different (and closer) bus that his friends all ride. Unfortunately the VP said the answer was a big fat no (seriously man?) but Jack took it in stride and has already made new friends on the less desirable bus. He is still obsessed with Harry Potter and now Micheal Vey books and he falls asleep every night to the Harry Potter audio books.
Marian continues to excel in cookie making. She made absolutely perfect chocolate chip cookies (without a recipe I might add) while we were staying at my parents condo in St. George. She read three books that I am aware of (Ghost, Dealing with Dragons, and Super Fudge)...there could be more that I didn't happen to notice because she reads so dang fast! She/we missed her piano lesson. Again. Because we forgot. Again. I was of course mortified that we forgot...but Marian, who lately strongly dislikes the piano, seemed not to mind. I've set my phone alarm to go off every Tuesday morning to remind us from now on. If only an alarm motivated her to practice. Marian saved her money and bought a Polaroid camera and takes the BEST pictures. She has them displayed all around the edge of her magnet board in her room and it is so fun to see her photos of friends and family. She really has an eye for design and keeps her room immaculate! She crosses off each day on her calendar before she goes to bed and has a rather long birthday wish list tacked up next to her birthday countdown chain that she made for herself about a month ago. She's awesome.
Lucy is still reveling in her new school clothes and lays them out every night before school. She wants her hair curled every day (doesn't happen but she wants it) and preferably in a high ponytail. She does her homework right when she walks in the door and is loving 2nd grade. She's very good at going to bed....but not very good at staying there. She wants to be by my side constantly and keeps asking if I am leaving. Got to figure out how to deal with that situation. It's new for both of us. She is liking her new violin teacher "Miss Asheley" and even though we have to get up at 5:50AM every Wednesday morning for her 6:30 lesson in Holladay she always wakes up happy and excited to go. It doesn't hurt that she gets her own chocolate milk for the car ride but I really think she is liking it. Her favorite thing is to play her newest pieces for Chad. Man that little girl has her daddy wrapped around her little finger.
Grant is becoming quite the Casanova. Any time we have a babysitter he asks them to be his girlfriend. We use quite a lot of babysitters so he has quite a lot of girlfriends. We had the sister missionaries over for dinner last week...which was a fiasco for another post...let's just say it can get crazy when your dinner guests inform you of their very specific food allergies 15 minutes before dinner is supposed to start!!!! Anyway, after talking off one sisters' ear for the entire meal and convincing her to butter his bread and get him more soup, Grant asked the sister missionary if SHE wanted to be his girlfriend. She got a kick out of that but gently turned him down and told him missionaries couldn't have boyfriends. Grant started soccer this fall and he is LOVING it! He is great at kicking and running with the ball and has even scored several times every game. He does have a funny habit of doing somersaults across the field when he's excited and frequently slides when he kicks the ball into the goal. That kid has more personality in his little finger than most people do in their whole bodies.
Grace is holding strong to her "uniform" as I call it. She wears her green Boston t-shirt, her Boston hat and either her jean shorts or Marian's old purple polka dot shorts every. single. day. I have no idea where her fetish for these particular items came from but it is STRONG and it makes her so happy so I mostly let her have her way about clothes. I draw the line at church and preschool...which started up today and she was N.O.T. not happy about leaving her hat home but she managed the 2 and a half hours without her hat and put it on the minute she walked in the door after school! That girl! She is constantly writing notes to people, especially me when I start to get grumpy. It's so sweet and also so humbling to realize how much my mood affects my family. Grace loves to read books and apparently when she plays at her friend Brielle's house they just read and read and read for hours! She can't "actually" read yet but I love that she already loves books. Grace and Grant are on the same soccer team and Grace is as into as Grant...maybe even more! She tries to get Grant to run drills with her and she puts her soccer clothes on HOURS before the game because she is so excited to play. She hates to rotate out of the game and I swear she NEVER gets tired. One of her favorite things to do lately is walk around with headphones on and listen to songs on my ipod shuffle. She gets into her own little world and will sing the wrong words to every song and be completely clueless about anything going on around her. Her imagination is incredible to watch and she is by far my best independent player...which is shocking considering she is the youngest of FIVE siblings and there is always someone around.
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