Not so new anymore

Hi All,
It's been awhile. But we are doing well. We are about to come up on our first "Intersession," better known as fall break. Three weeks off for no reason in the fall. We don't have any big plans for the time off, but we do need to visit the Desert Museum and Air museum. UPDATE: So far, we have gone to Colossal Cave and a mall trip. I love the mall, I love my kids, but put them together and it's kind of expensive. I'm a sucker for comments like, "Look Mom! They have pretzels just like we used to get in Nampa (Boise, really.)"

Parker is doing great in school. We just had parent/teacher conference for him and his teacher says he's a good kid and smart, if a little introverted. Kinda sounds like his dad to me. Parker is still on course for being taller than my by about age 12. He will also be participating in his first Chess tournament on Saturday, so that should be exciting. UPDATE: He got 2 1/2 points for his first tournament, which means he had one draw, two wins and one loss. Chess is cool in my opinion for one reason at least. Parents are not allowed to watch the games (or rather, coach, shout, stress their kids out, etc.) Chess tournament are slightly trying though because they literally take all day. Randal says all the people there are super nice though. Parker also attended a birthday party recently and found himself the only boy who showed up. He seemed a bit shocked that some of his guy friends "ditched" him, but I think he had a great time, and it's actually pretty cool, one guy to ten or so girls?

Peter has the whole school thing down. He loves it! Yesterday and today were half-days, which are done a little differently here. ALL kindergarteners, yes, that's AM and PM, go to school at the same time in the morning. These are the days when they get to do the special things at school like library, computers, P.E., etc. So, hopefully the teachers aren't overwhelmed, but I must admit, I think they are crazy!
Peter also recently was spotlighted in Primary, so since Randal and I have spoken in church already and Parker has also been spotlighted, I don't think we are considered "new" anymore here. My favorite thing Peter told his teacher when he was spotlighted was in answer to the question "Favorite Scripture?" Peter's response, "I can't read scriptures yet!" But he is getting there. He surprises us at the strangest moments by reading a sign or something else to us. He also likes to read sentences with exclamation marks REALLY LOUDLY and then tell us that's what exclamation marks mean. UPDATE: We have had to have "The Talk" with Peter. You read right, not Parker, but Peter. And he sure wanted to know a lot! I went with the philosophy that you tell the basics and let them ask questions. He had a lot of questions! I probably should have sent a heads-up to his teacher at school in case he feels like sharing his knowledge.

Perry has a friend. Her name is Sarah and they are in nursery together. Recently, Sarah's mom and I, got together to do some canning. Now, Sarah is in his prayers nightly, and everyday he asks "Where's Sarah?" An interesting thing I have noticed is, though he still has trouble speaking and being understood, he is extra careful when he talks to her and we can understand all kinds of sentences like "Sarah, follow me" and "That's my blankie!"

The new baby is growing well. So far, everything is great, but man, I am too old to be doing this. I either have to take a nap daily or I crash by about 8:30 p.m., sometimes mid sentence. We have tenatively schedule the birthday to be Dec 3rd. The baby may have other plans, but we'll go with that for now. And the name game is hopeless. No one can agree on anything! Parker wants Phineas. Peter just doesn't want another "P" name, but likes Thomas (the tank engine), and Perry has suggested about every train name. Gordon, Henry, Percy. He has stayed away from Skarloey and Rhineas, so that's helpful at least. Randal doesn't really say, but I think he is through with "P" names too. As for me, I once made a joke that my initial and the boys made C3P and we needed an "O." Peter then thought we should call the baby "C3PO," but this week (literally, it changes from week to week,) I like Oliver. Don't ask why. There has also been votes for calling the baby Perry Junior. This would be massively confusing because we have a Perry, who calls his brother Peter "Perry" and gets his parents so confused we sometimes do it too. So, there would be three Perrys in the house. I guess they could all be spelled different...Pari...Parry...AHHHH!!! UPDATE: Perry has finally started calling Peter by his real name. So, it would only be two Perrys afterall. Also, we found out due to Mom's "advanced maternal age," that we will be having Dr. appointments twice a week for the rest of forever! Apparently, it is standard procedure to get NSD tests this often WHEN YOU ARE OLD and having a baby. But still, what a pain! Anything for the baby though. I have no idea how to make this work with the kids, especially trying to get Peter to P.M. kindergarten.

Randal and I are fairly busy, but don't always know where the time goes. Of course, there is work and taking care of kids. I've been roped into canning, book club, Girls' movie nights, etc. It's helping me make friends, but the times when I'm not busy still make me home sick. Randal, doesn't seem to have much free time, except when we are all in bed by 8 p.m. and he isn't even tired. I don't know what he does then. Anyway, we are happy and healthy but we sure miss family and friends. Take Care all and know we love you.