Summer to Autum...

I thought I would include a picture of Emily's foot since I'm sure many of you have not seen it lately...enjoy.

When the kids started school back in August, the kids and teachers were all in an uproar about the lack of recess time given to the students...something ridiculous like 10 minutes right after lunch, that's it for the entire day! While Mason's classmates protested the short recess by posting comments on the class blog like, "we should have longer recess", or, "I don't like the short recess", Mason had a different plan.

He cam home one day and said that he was sick of everyone just complaining, and asked what

else he could do. After we shared some ideas with him at the dinner table, he did a little research online and found three different articles that supported recess as necessary curriculum for any child's education. He posted his research on his classes blog and made sure that his teacher was aware. Needless to say, whether it was a result of Mason's approach or not, recess was lengthened and students and teachers rejoiced. Mason is a lot like me in that everything he approaches is something to be solved. In some cases, this does not work, but in others it does...way to go Mason!

Kennedy turned 8 years old over the summer, and was baptized on the 4th of July. She is growing up to be such a wonderful young woman and person. She is so naturally caring for others, even at times towards her little brother. Kennedy started the 3rd grade this year, and loves math and reading. These are newly acquired loves to the older art and music.

Kennedy has taken a liking to the guitar. I have given her my old classical guitar, and even though it is too big (yes, I will get her one that fits), she loves to sit in her room and strum and sing. What a girl!

Christian, as the baby of the family, pretty much gets away with anything at this point. His

choice of words and obvious cuteness often result in glances between Emily and myself accompanied by a mouthed, "he is so cute". He has recently taken to spelling. When asked, how do you spell Dinosaur, or any other word, his reply is random, "A, G, L, E, P"...and with such confidence that it is hard to doubt.

This story comes from my own journal about Christian...just more evidence of how darn cute he is: We were all watching TV the other night when Emily was asking what time it was. Christian ran into the kitchen, and came back and yelled, "forty minutes"! As we all started to laugh, he explained that he looked on the counter to discover the time.

Emily has recently started a new job as a orthodontic technician. She works with two young

orthodontist that are starting up their first practice. She loves it and is quite natural on the "business" side of things...quite natural at whatever she does really. She has started out as part time while she gets trained, and will eventually move to full time as business picks up.

Emily has also ran two races this year! First, the Bolder Boulder, which is an annual 10k. She ran it in just over an hour, and is looking forward to smashing her own time next year! She also ran a half marathon (yes, that is over 13 miles...all at once...without passing out). Even though the time tracking system was sub-par and they did not get her official time, she ran it in well under 2 hours (it would have taken me all day). She is quite amazing all around...

We have camped several times (ok, just 3) this year, and are planning a road trip to the Northwest for Thanksgiving. We are very excited to see our family there and spend the holiday with them.

Emily's turn next...

z