S-H-I-N-A-R-A

Shinara can spell her first name! I didn't even know she could! I have been teaching her how to write her first name in capital letters but we have only gotten to SHIN. I have spelled it for her often and the ARA is fairly simple. But I didn't realize she had put it all together. We were at Wal-Mart and she saw an S (which she has recognized since she was two) and said "S. For me." I agreed with her and then she proceeded to spell her name, with a long pause between the I and N. She has to think about that N but gets to it without any help!

Catch up

We haven't had any pictures to post, but we have been busy!

Tersa went on her first trip to the temple to do baptisms last Wed.. It was late in the afternoon and Joel was able to get off of work early enough to go with her and share in that experience. She is enjoying Young Women's and Junior High. But I am writing the Primary Program and am missing being able to give her singing and speaking parts. She had to clip her long nails in order to play the viola in orchestra and isn't sure it is worth it! (Even though she has wanted to play for a long time!) But maybe by the time the Disney trip rolls around, it will be!

Mardi had to switch tracks this year because we wanted Keddi to have a good 1st grade experience with a better teacher than track 3 had available. So, Mardi has had to make new friends and get used to new teachers. But it was a good change for her too. Her teachers are much more to my liking in the way they conduct their class, treat their students and their attitudes toward teaching. She has had to grow up a bit with Tersa being gone from her school life and that is always good. We expect good things from her this year. She is talking about playing basketball and has toyed with the idea of joining the choir at school.

Keddi loves school. She is put out by holidays and teacher work days. (And our trip to Tahoe when everyone else got to go to school. She still speaks of it with a bit of resentment!) She loves that she is learning to read and she is quite intelligent. Mornings are a bit difficult, but always worth it as she takes time doing her hair and admiring her clothes. (Particularly if it is a skirt day!) She is helpful at school and watches out for others. She gets to her homework as soon as snack is over and Shinara has benefited from watching the process.

Shinara is getting the benefit? of time alone with mom. She is learning the letters of her name, how to spell and write it. She does not find it as fullfilling as Keddi does. But we talk about the letters, their sounds and we grade what she has written. Stars for well formed letters. Then she gets to play a variety of computer games. She does number and letter recognition as well as phonics and occasionally she does shape matching and art. She enjoys this much more. I would like for her to be involved is a preschool type setting and may enroll her in a presschool class or two at the Rec. center.

Joel is now working at Nationwide (in case you hadn't heard.) and is still trying to get things under control with his files. But it is coming together and he is enjoying the work so far! This last weekend he cut some more flooring and fixed what needed to be before we can put on baseboards. Hopefully, the baseboards will be next weekend. I am pushing for the fireplace mantle to get done this fall so I can decorate on it for Christmas.

So, we're good. The temperatures have been fabulous lately but we will be back up to the mid 90's by the end of this week so I am not getting out the jeans and long sleeves yet. I will miss our trip to Utah this October and will therefore miss the fall. It's sad for me. No seriously, I may shed a tear or two even!

New Background

I've decided I would love to be able to design my own backgrounds, but I don't have the know how or the programs with which to do it. So, until I can , my sister-in-law found this blog that lets you use her templates for free. It's Matie Kay Creations. As you can see, I found a fall one I liked!

Water Primary Activity

It is finally beginning to cool down. On Saturday we had a water activity day. The temperature only got up to the mid 90's that day and there was a nice cool breeze!
This is our primary. We are only missing a handful of active kids and two or three that come occasionally. Kind of crazy. And proving to be

quite a challenge in some ways but nice in others!
We had four games. The first was a sponge relay. We were able to split everyone in to two good sized teams and all play together. They stayed in those teams for all the games.

This is the wet sweatshirt race. The coolers were filled with water and the sweatshirts had to be worn as they ran. The younger kids got help from an older one since the sweatshirts were so heavy to put on, but they ran by themselves.
This game was a cup relay and the last one was a water balloon toss. In between we had lemonade breaks and at the end we had ice cream. The kids used the rest of the balloons in a water balloon fight. They also used the water in the coolers and buckets in their fight. It was a fun filled two hours and a great way to wind down the summer.

Goodbye Tersa

As reluctant as Mardi may be to admit it, (especially since she shares the responsibility) this dog is Tersa's. I read that Yorkies prefer adults and older, "sensitive" children. Angie tolerates Shinara's affection quite well but when having received too much, will try to get away as soon as the opportunity allows.

Anyway, this is the scene every time Tersa leaves the house. Angie is held (because she will bolt for the door). When she is released she laboriously makes her way across the wood floor (it's quite slipery and hard to get over quickly) to the window facing the street...whimpering.

Then she runs to the door. Sometimes she sniffs at the corner or jumps up on it but most of the time she sniffs along the entire length of the door for a couple of passes before she is off to her next destination.

The sliding glass door.She pushes the blinds aside with her head and looks out on to the patio. Now, she can see very little of the next door neighbors yard so I'm not sure why she goes to this position, but she must be able to see something. (Tersa rides to school each day with the next door neighbors and I pick them up.)


And so the pattern goes, Angie runs from one location to the next for two minutes or so, making laps until she is pretty sure that Tersa is gone. When Tersa returns, she would knock her off her feet if she were bigger!