Here is a little update about each of the kids!
Koen will be turning ONE! on the 7th, we are not planning on doing anything grand just a small cake, and fun with the family. He is walking and climbing on everything, it is fun to see him working things out in his mind. He loves Juilianna and will always choose her over almost anyone. He growls a lot and it's super cute to here him make noise with his lips and hands.
Keith is not doing preschool right now, I am just working with him each day out of a work book, he loves it and calls it his "mom school". I like the sound of that way better than home school! He is as busy as ever always into things, and obsessed with super heros! He wishes he could go to school so he can be on the cross country team, he does get to practice with the team so that is holding him over until next year. He is turning four on Sept. 15th and he has requested "meat, just meat mom" for his birthday dinner! I am not sure that I can do the just meat thing, but I think we will probably have grilled chicken and some of his favorite veggies.
Evelyn loves kindergarten and is very proud that her behavior folder comes home every day with no marks on it! she is learning things she already knows, but I think its good for her to have them solidly planted in her brain. When we took her for her eye exam she was bitterly disappointed not to be getting glasses, but I think she will grow to appreciate the lack of eye wear! She is still campaigning for a dog so we will see what happens in the next couple of months.
Kaiden turns EIGHT on the 12th he will be baptized by Kevin on that day, and we have a nice little program planned for him. He has chosen steak and potatoes for his birthday dinner! He ran in his first cross country meet on Sat. even though he had been sick the two days before, he is definitely his father's son! He did well, it helped that the kids took the wrong turn and ended up running the middle school course instead of the elementary. The longer distance is what really makes him stand out. He is enjoying 2nd grade and loves his teacher, he is doing much better with reading and his headaches are going away now that he has reading glasses.
Julianna is starting to not like school which is sad for me. I think all the moving from school to school has been rough, although some of the kids here remember her from before which has made the transition a bit easier. She is also running cross country this year, although at first she didn't want to run the races. I told her she just had to put on the uniform and go support her team, once we were there she allowed them to give her a number and she did the warm up with the team and when they called them to the start line she lined up and ran! it was nice that I didn't have to push her to participate, she did well coming in 15th over all and 2nd on our girls team. I think both Julianna and Kaiden do better with the longer distances, it boosted her self esteem to be able to beat some of the kids that are faster than her at practice. She told me that she set certain goals and just tried to run to make those goals, and every time someone passed her she tried to remember to tell them good job! When she came around the corner for the finish line she had a smile on her face!
The penguin habitat was really fun they were swimming and you could touch the water so when they would jump or dive in we would get splashed! The downside was that it was super cold in there!
This photo was taken on the grounds at the Saint Louis Temple.
The Hippos were awesome there were about 6 of them swimming around in the water and every once in a while they would come up onto the land. Each of the kids stood for about 3 minutes to be able to get the perfect picture with them!
You can't really see him but there was a huge Gorilla back in the shady area.
