A Little Update....

Not much happening around here these days besides work, school, more work, more school. So, I thought I would give some little updates on each person.

Denver: is currently in his 2nd class at University of Phoenix. He transferred there this fall from Westminster in order to finish school quicker and also because he only has to attend class one night a week. He is taking Business Law and it looks like it will be a bit more involved than past classes. He is still working at Boeing, however he works in a different area now. Rather than building parts, he is in the Quality department which I can only assume means checking parts that other people built. He is trying to move around and gain as much knowledge as possible to better prepare himself for management in the near future.....that is of course if he manages to keep his job through this strike. You may or may not know that Boeing in Seattle is currently on strike. I find the whole thing greedy and disgusting and I wish Boeing would just fire all of them. They dont care about how the strike affects the rest of the company just as long as they get more money. Sick. Especially considering the current state of our economy. Boeing already gives its employees so much more than most in this country. Ingrates....every one of them. Anyway, it looks like if the strike continues past another 2 weeks, they will be cutting everyones hours down to 3 days a week which is going to kill us financially. I pray that the strike will be resolved soon.......

Ian: Ian is in the 2nd grade and doing well. He likes his new teacher because "she never yells".....I suppose thats a good thing! He is currently reading one of the Harry Potter novels which is a 5th grade reading level. He is an awesome reader/speller...gets that from his mom :) He is still on chess club for the 3rd year in a row although I think it is more of a social thing. He doesnt seem to take it very seriously and surprisingly, this kid did not inherit his parents' competitive gene. Not that it is a bad thing.... He struggles the most with creative writing. It is hard for him to think beyond what is in black and white. He is very logical and this is a mental block when it comes to making up stories. We work on it but it is definitely something he doesnt enjoy. He will turn 8 this month and be getting baptized. He is excited for this I am proud to say. Of course I dont know many kids that arent. He is growing up so fast.

Evan: Well Evan is really coming out of his shell these days. He is very comfortable with school now. I am pleasantly surprised every day at just how happy he is with school. I feared the worst....but he is really settling in well. I am also continually amazed at how well he is doing in reading and spelling as well. Each child is different and Evan never showed any interest in learning to read like Ian did. In fact I was worried last year that he was going to struggle with this. However, since they started their reading homework 2 weeks ago, he has gone from a level 3 to a level 10 with no struggle whatsoever. I am so very proud of him. He has not brought a spelling test home yet that wasnt 100%.... The best part about Evan is that he has no fear of attempting to spell a word. He just writes it as it sounds to him and if its wrong, he just fixes it with a shrug. No biggie. Its awesome. He loves to make up stories and would probably make a great writer someday. For example when we went on our Sunday drive in the mountains, he said he actually "saw monkeys in the trees". He also found bear teeth stuck in a tree..mmmmm... 2 days ago I got a scary call from the school saying that Evan had hurt his wrist at recess and that they were very concerned about it being broken. I picked him up and it looked that way at first....we went to the hospital and were relieved to find out it was only sprained. I think he was a little disappointed not to get a cast like his big brother Alec. But, I am happy it wasnt broken. It also seems that he has a girlfriend already. This kid is a charmer, just like his father. He is going to be trouble one day..... Ian has never shown any interest in girls yet but Evan always has had an infatuation with them. He is a flirt too.... he took one of Addies stuffed animals and gave it to her (Maren). She gave it back the next day with a note saying that she loved it but her mom wont let her keep it because it was too nice of a gift. Today I emptied his backpack and found about 6 different notes that this girl wrote to him JUST TODAY.....I love you Evan....You are so nice Evan....I like you so much Evan..... Oh my. Im wondering what kind of actual work she did in school today!

Addie: Not a whole lot to report on little miss thing. She is in the middle of terrible 2's. Tantrums every few minutes about one thing or another. Spoiled rotten. Cute as a button. What else. I love her to death. She is completely potty trained in both "areas"....yay for small miracles. She is talking more and more coherently which is cute and annoying at the same time. What would I do without my sweet girl?

Me: Well, what about me. Im still running everyday at the gym. Ive managed to get over any inhibitions with running in front of people. My endurance is getting stronger and Im loving it believe it or not. Im still rehearsing with my choir which is so much fun. I will be very sad when it is over. I have signed up to take private lessons with my teacher though so at least I will have that to look forward to. Still working 3 nights a week at Wells Fargo. Still watching my cute nephew 3 days a week too. Thats really about it.

Hope all is well with you. Happy Fall!