Not much going on here. . .

so that's why I haven't posted in a while. The kids have started school again, Ryley's started soccer again - they even won their first game (thanks to the other team making 3 points in our goal! ha!) and Maddie has decided not do take dance class again. I'm kinda sad she's not doing it but I don't want to push her to do something she doesn't LOVE. Instead we've signed her up for a Singing Group with a lady in the 2nd ward. She's had one practice so far and LOVES it. They'll do a bunch of performances at Christmastime and then again at the end of the school year so we'll let everyone know when they are. I think this is more up her alley anyway. The girl is CONSTANTLY singing. She doesn't even know she's doing it most of the time (kinda like GG!) and she is always making up songs and has even tried to make up songs using Daddy's guitar - which actually sound pretty good even though she has no idea how to make a chord. She is just naturally musically talented. Hopefully I'll be able to get my act together and get her on a set schedule for piano lessons too. I've started teaching again and only have 5 students (6 if you count Maddie) and it's so much better this year! All the kids I have WANT to be there and most of them actually practice! What a relief!

Ryley is doing great in school so far and has learned to spell and read quite a few words, which he is very proud of. He's already gotten into a few tiffs with other boys in his class but has only come home with one yellow so far. He got his video game privileges taken away immediately when I found out he got a yellow and he was VERY upset. This kid lives for playing Playstation. He will even wait patiently through piano lessons after being at school all day long just because he knows he can play for 30 minutes or so after I'm done. I can't tell you how glad I am that I finally found his "currency" and have found something that actually works with him! Hallelujah! He's also already Strep throat this year (the first of many if he's anything like his sister.) I have started using the drops that GG gave me every morning in their juice so hopefully it will help them. Amazingly no one else got Strep - yay! He's loving soccer and is still one of the best players on the team. He made a goal in his last game too! Last week was rained out due to Ike (nothing more than drizzle up here in North Texas.) Josh is coaching again this year and most of the same kids are on the team again.

Maddie is, of course, doing brilliantly at school. She has homework every night (2nd grade - sheesh!) and actually likes doing it, but give her a few years and I'm sure that will wear off! They've started doing spelling tests and she's quite the speller. She loves art and music most of all and has managed to visit the nurse 3 times already this year! She bonked her head good on the jungle gym at recess, she fell into a HUGE puddle and got soaking wet at recess (I had to bring her a change of clothes), and I can't remember what else happened, but they recognize her immediately in the office now! Poor accident prone little thing! She is constantly screaming "Owwww!" at home or wherever we are. Speaking of her many accidents, I just realized that I don't think I ever posted about the time she broke the dishwasher. One of Maddie's chores is to unload the dishwasher. She's been doing it for quite a while and has it down pat. One Saturday morning Josh and I and the boys were upstairs helping them with their chores and Maddie was downstairs unloading the dishwasher by herself. All of a sudden we hear this HUGE crash and Maddie yelling frantically, "I'm okay! I'm okay!" I figured she'd just fallen off the chair she uses to reach the higher cupboards. Um, no. Josh ran down stairs to find Maddie sprawled out on top of the open dishwasher door and the top rack broken off of it's rollers. She had decided that to save some time she would walk on the counter from the cabinets where we keep all the plates and cups over to the dishwasher. The problem is that the sink is in between these two things and only has a ledge of about 2 inches wide for her to walk across. She couldn't do it of course so she fell off of the counter onto the open dishwasher while the top rack was out. She was perfectly fine (the rack broke her fall!) and didn't even cry until Josh told her she'd have to pay for the repairs out of her allowance. Luckily the rollers just needed to be replaced and only cost about $10. But $10 to a 6-year-old is a lot of money. It took her 3 weeks to pay it off but she did and hasn't walked on the counter since!

Cash is my little buddy and my shadow. He's so sweet (and spoiled rotten but I don't really care!) He loves to sit on my lap and will for quite a while. He's really into books lately and is copying everything we say. He can say just about anything and one of the kids' favorite things is to try and get him to say crazy things. He loves cars and trucks and is constantly (and I mean CONSTANTLY) pointing out all the cars and trucks on the road while we're driving around. He will keep repeating things until I acknowledge what he's saying. I think everyone's favorite little "trick" of his right now is getting him to kiss an owie better. If you tell him you have an owie he'll kiss the spot you're pointing to and then say, "Ah beh-er?" Holy cow it's the cutest thing I've ever heard!!!! If you kiss an owie better for him and don't say, "All better?" he will look at you all angry and say it to you until you say it. He loves to "quay" (play) outside and put his shoes on. He also really likes watching Go, Diego, Go! and Yo Gabba Gabba (super weirdness!) on TV. He knows all his animals and their sounds. He's started pretending to be different animals and will make me call him by the animal name. He's also started saying prayers (with help of course) and has been able to sit reverently with his arms folded and eyes closed the whole time for quite a while now. He also loves to go to soccer practice with Ryley. We went last night as a whole family and he was out there doing everything the boys did. He had his own ball and seriously did EVERYTHING. Pretty well too. You should see this kid dribble the ball! He is such a joy to our family. I don't know what we ever did without him!

Josh is working hard (like always) and has several things going on. I don't know how he keeps track of everything! He's still Young Men's President and enjoys that. I'm still doing the music in Primary and I think I'm officially out of new ideas! Thankfully I've taught all the songs for the music program so we're done with that but we still have to get through the program, which is my biggest worry right now. We have a brand new presidency and none of them have ever been in Primary before (not even as teachers!) I don't even know when the program is going to be yet - sometime next month is all I know. STRESS!!!! I'm keeping busy with designing digi stuff too. I love it! You can check out my crafty blog link to see what I'm up to.

I guess that's enough for now. Sorry no pictures. Maybe I'll come back and edit this post to add some pictures after Cash is down for a nap (no promises!), but right now Cash is "hun-gee" for some "wunch" so I guess I'd better go make him some!