Would you Please Quit Bugging Me?

My sister, April, has been bugging me lately to update my blog and post pictures. I don't know why she thinks that I have soooo much time on my hands. LOL Well, I am updating tonight but am not posting any pictures. I don't know how to download any pictures from the camera. Ever since our computer "crashed" we haven't downloaded any new pictures so there are no new pictures to post. I'll get to that sooner or later.

I don't have a whole lot to talk about. The kids are doing well in school.

Katelyn is doing well in Miss Jazwin's class. She doesn't enjoy doing her homework with me and always wants to do it with her dad. I'm not sure why that would be? LOL Anyone who knows Reed knows that he is wrapped around his daughters' little fingers. Katelyn really enjoys going to Achievement Days. I started calling it "Activity Days" when she first started going and now when I try to call it "Achievement Days" she always corrects me and tells me that it is "Activity Day." She always remembers which Wednesday they will be having an activity and will warn me in advance. I remember her first activity, they went to the cemetery to "clean up." Every now and then she will tell me that the "cemetery is getting dirty." She showed her group where her brother, Hunter, was buried. She wasn't able to take them to his headstone right away but she knew that he was buried on 5th street. In the area where he is buried, there are lots of babies and little children, a lot of the headstones are the same kind as his. So to her, they all look the same. They wandered around a little before they were able to find his headstone. I was impressed that she was able to direct them that much. I didn't think that she paid that much attention to where he was buried when we've been there before. Boy, was I wrong.

Rachel has changed classes to the "gifted" 2nd/3rd grade class. Her teachers now are Mrs. Baker and Miss Cronk (I'm not sure if I spelled that correctly). She seems to be really enjoying it. A lot of the kids in her class were in her class last year. After we were approached by the principal about changing her to this class, I talked with her that night and she didn't even hesitate to say "yes." She was so excited and told the principal the next day that she wanted to move to Mrs. Baker's class. In this class, they are going to be doing more "out of the box" kind of assignments. I think that she will do well, she really seems to thrive on the "challenge."

Bridget has also changed her classes, she now goes to Mrs. Fisher's class in the morning and then goes to Mrs. Vaughan's class after lunch. She seems to be doing well with the change. One day she came home and told me that she didn't go to Mrs. D's class anymore. I was kind of surprised but then I realized that the students that were a little farther ahead went to Mrs. Vaughan's class in the afternoon. I guess we have another little "smarty pants" in our family. I like to say that Bridget is 4 going on 15. I've always said that Rachel was whatever age she was, going on 30. How true that is. One day I asked Bridget's teacher, Mrs. Vaughan how she was doing. She replied, "Awesome, she has a personality and a half." How true that is. Anyone who knows Rachel knows that she is full of personality. Bridget isn't far behind Rachel in the personality department.

Bridget had to get her "kindergarten" shots this last Friday. She didn't like it one bit!! I didn't tell her that she was going to have to get shots until after the doctor left. She started to cry right away. Poor girl. She had to get 4 shots. Three shots in one arm and one in the other. She got the MMR shot in her left arm. A day or so later, her left arm was really red, swollen, hard and was warm to the touch. I was worried and asked a couple of people (one a school nurse and the other a music therapist at Banner Desert) at church what they thought. They both told me to watch it and let the pediatrician's office know about it on Monday. By Monday morning, her arm looked lots better. She never did complain about her arm hurting.

I guess that I had more to talk about than I thought. I am still going to the gym 5 days a week while the girls are in school. In a couple of weeks, I will be starting my "annual" testing that I do every fall with the ELL (English Language Learners) at both Burke Basic School and Happy Valley School. I'm actually going to Happy Valley tomorrow morning. I hope to be finished with the students at Happy Valley tomorrow. They have only given me 6 students to test. Burke on the other hand has around 100 students. Luckily, I have someone to help me with the Burke testing.

I made homemade bread this last Saturday. My friend, Gini, gave me her recipe for whole wheat bread. It was absolutely delicious and so easy. This was the first time that I have ever made bread in the Bosch and then put it into loaves and baked it. This recipe was so easy. If I can do it, anyone can make this bread. I took a loaf over to our neighbors with a jar of strawberry jam (what's homemade bread without strawberry jam?). It was quite a compliment, when our neighbor, Becky, said that it was the best homemade wheat bread that she had every tasted and wanted to know if it was really my first time. What a compliment! I really have to compliment Gini for this recipe. If you would like the recipe, I would be glad to share it.

I made this recipe again last night for fry bread. The dough turned out just as good as the first time. The Smith family has been joining us for dinner on Tuesday nights while Shawn is at school at MCC just up the street from our house. Brynlee and Braeden take piano lessons from our Bishop's wife, Kathrine Terek. After their piano lessons, they come over for dinner and then hang out until Shawn is done with class. Next week, April is in charge of the main dish, I wonder what she'll come up with? We've had spaghetti, lasagna and now fry bread. We're planning on making meals for the freezer next week, so I think she is planning on just making extra of one of the meals so that we can have that for dinner.

Reed has been keeping busy with work. Between the two schools, he stays pretty busy. Work for him usually slows down after summer, but not this year. He has been plagued with A/C unit repair calls and roof leaks from all of the rain that we have been blessed with. At least it keeps him busy and "out of my hair" most of the time. That's a good thing.

Well, I think that's enough for tonight. Hopefully this will appease my sisters who have been pestering me for an update.