Go Teal Sharks!

Abby and Paul won their first game last Saturday (it was only their second game of the season). He is such a great coach and the kids adore him. We are grateful to Bro. Faupula for being his assistant also. Anyway, I was congratulating Abby on her first win of the season and asked if she was so happy and she said yes at first and then, she kind of hung her head, slowly (for dramatic emphasis)shook it back and forth and said, "The Tigers are not feeling very happy." I was proud of her empathy but told her it was okay to be happy about winning as long as she didn't brag about it in front of the Tigers. She is hilarious. Also, the smallest member of the team- in size only.

Bathtime Bliss

On Lily's Mind

I wonder what is going on in this little head...

My Sunday Project

I love reading craft blogs and lately, I have been inspired by silhouettes and papercutting. I decided it was time to give it a try because a. it looked approachable as even the easy stuff looked cute and b. I already had everything I needed.I sketched some ideas... Abby and her imagination was my inspiration and I liked the idea of doing a portrait of her. I chose the one that seemed the easiest and, using a lightbox, traced her form and then free-handed the rest- first in pencil, then in black ink. Anyone who knew the younger me would know the hours I spent "studying" cetaceans so it really wasn't that hard.I then lightly traced my final pattern onto a clean sheet of white card. I used sharp scrapbooking scissors to cut out the larger expanses and an exacto knife for the fine details. A couple of hole punches were also used for some of the bubbles.I only ripped two minor pieces. There are some things I will do differently next time, but I am really pleased with the final result. And now Abby has a portrait for her room- I just need to find the perfect 12X12 frame.

Back to Back

So, these crazy babies are 10 and a half months old now... can you believe it? They continue to amaze us. Liam can swat at a bunny he finds on every page of Richard Scarry's "I Am A Bunny" (it was Abby's favourite and is quickly becoming the twins' favourite as well; thank you, Peggy). Lily says Mama, Dada and Baba (Abby) interchangeably and not always when we want her to but it is so cute. She has this little dimple that melts everyone's heart. That coupled with Liam's soft, blue eyeballs ensures that they get away with just about everything. Little Stinkers!

Abby continues to amaze us all. She reads multiple books per day and loves school. She had a friend who wanted her to stop making new friends all the time(who? Abby? Making lots of friends?). Abby told her friend that she was friends with everyone including her. That night, she made the little girl a card (unsolicited) and showed me when she was done- I had no idea what she had been up to. It showed them holding hands and being friends on the front with a message about being friends with everyone together on the inside- spelled phonetically- and then she glued her last party candy on the back. I am so proud of her for resolving her own problems in such a wonderful way.

I became a "classroom mom" which means that I will start helping in class and volunteering at school events like the upcoming "Harvest Fair". Our class is in charge of the beanbag toss so I will be working with other mothers (the other 2 LDS moms as a matter of fact) on that.

Paul started coaching Abby's soccer team yesterday. He is so wonderful with the kids and this will hopefully be a fun outlet for him. Abby is the smallest kid on the team, of course. It looks like it's shaping up to be a fun fall for us all.

New Teeth and Liam's Faux-hawk

I guess there has been something of a lack of posts recently. Let's just look at this equation, and do the maths: 1 school girl + 2 sick babies + 10 teeth and counting + 1 soccer coach + 1 classroom mom + church callings + no sleep= 1 exhausted family. Lily is winning the new teeth race at 7 (5 of those in the last month or so) with Liam having 5 with more just on the brink. They also both have colds so that has made for really fun nights for Paul and I.
Abby has taken to school so well... to no one who knows her's surprise She still gets up every morning excited to go and comes home ready for homework. I went to Back-to-School night yesterday and got to meet with her teacher and I think she is fantastic. They are supposed to do 10-20 minutes of reading time everyday and fill out a chart and when I asked for clarification as to who was supposed to be reading, the parent or child, the other parents kind of murmured so at the risk of sounding all "isn't my child such a genius", I was able to talk to the teacher 1 on 1 later on about the concerns I had about the kindergarten reading curriculum which doesn't even have the kids reading c-v-c and sight words until later and Abby is reading books at a 1st/2nd grade level and rising. She practices every night. She was really nice and said that she will more than likely be put in a 1st grade reading class. Also, she did this.Enough bragging about my genius daughter (ha ha ha) or should I say (heh, heh, heh).

So,I was messing with Liam's hair the other day-he had been so fussy and sick all day- and tried the "faux-hawk" to hilariously cute results- judge for yourself.