We've spent a couple days thinking through nicknames for the children. It has been a lot of fun going through ideas for what to call the kids online. We've taught them not to give out personal information online so here are the nicknames we've chosen. My daughter, the oldest, is HawkFire. Rafiki is my oldest son, Kobee is my middle son, and CoolJ is my youngest son.
Yesterday Kobee lost his second top tooth so now he looks somewhat toothless. He's also missing one on the bottom. He's excited to go back to school to show a friend of his that he matches her! Yes, Kobee still hangs out with the girls. At the beginning of the school year, a girl wrote him a note saying she likes him, so he wrote her a note back telling her she's the smartest girl in the whole class! Kobee has an awesome teacher that has really helped get Kobee excited about learning. He is doing great with his reading teaches CoolJ a lot about first grade. The problem here is that when I want to sit down with a preschool workbook to do homework with CoolJ, he tells me he wants to do Kobee's homework. It's quite cute. Kobee's latest joy in life is roller blading. I found some new blades at a yard sale for CoolJ that are adjustable and used with shoes. I haven't been able to find blades for Kobee anywhere so he has been wearing Rafiki's blades, which are my size. The crazy thing is he blades really well on them. Meanwhile, the search continues for blades his size.
Rafiki earned his Weblos badge last month, just in the nick of time. He's now an eleven year old scout. Time for a new uniform and book. Rafiki has a great teacher this year and he actually has a small class. Of course this could easily change with all the families that have been moving into this area. By the end of the school year his class could be big. The only thing that bugs me is the elementary school is brand new (this is its second year open) and the entire sixth grade are outside in portables. Rafiki's favorite hobbies right now are legos and pokemon.
CoolJ is enrolled in a preschool taught by a lady in my ward. She was pregnant with child number three and had been teaching Kindergarten for seven years. She decided to stay home to teach and built an amazing preschool room into her basement. Since school is year round here, she started teaching at the beginning of August, which worked perfectly for when the other boys went back to school. She had her baby a month later and is taking six weeks off. This has also worked out fine since the other boys went off track two weeks later. CoolJ loves hanging out with his brothers and when they are not home, I'm his entertainment, which means not much gets done.
Hawkfire is amazing. She is thoroughly enjoying Young Women's and is starting to make some friends. Since the school district offers dance in Middle School, so no longer is on a competition team. I feel bad about this, but the cost out here is sky high. She has so many other things she likes to do with her time that it seems to be working out fine. So, in school she is taking modern dance, chorus, French, Geometry, and all the other required classes. At home she is working on learning Japanese due to her current obsession with Manga and Animae. She still reads everything she can get her hands on and is excited about the valley's public library system (all the libraries are linked together so she can request a book from another library and get it the next day). Hawkfire is quite the writer on a couple forums that do fan fiction and role playing games.
Church_Mouse, my husband, has been transferred to a different team at work. It has made a huge difference for him with a new learning curve and the opportunity to work with people that are positive. He still loves flying RC airplanes and spends his Wednesday evenings at the field training other people who want to learn to fly. His enthusiasm and good teaching skills has influenced several people to join the local RC flying club. Church_Mouse is also still a big reader, only he has discovered the joy of downloading books onto his iphone. It is much lighter than carrying around a bulky book with him everywhere. Book 13 of the Robert Jordan series is coming out next year so he is rereading books 1-12 on his phone.
I, Blue Daisy, have finally adjusted to our new home. I still feel like we're out in the middle of nowhere. I used to tease Church_Mouse's step dad that "If directions to your house say turn off the paved road, you might be a redneck." Well, that is the very house we live in. I still have much organizing and painting to do, but that was the story in Tooele as well. School keeps me from getting big projects done so it'll be awhile, although I have many gallons of paint just waiting to be opened. I am still learning names at church and recognize that these people are very nice, but I haven't clicked with anyone yet. I have tried to keep in touch with my old friends and have been able to see a couple of my friends here in the valley a little more often. The last book I read was Breaking Dawn in the Twilight series. It took me forever to get through since I was in the middle of a quarter when it came out. We did rock paper scissors to see who got to read it first. I won! But because I had homework to do, Church_Mouse picked it up and read it and when he finished it Sara snagged it. Oh-well.
Today's goal: paint the other half of the living room since I don't have any homework due today.
