Goals

Peter scored his first goal in soccer last night!! When Peter is in the mood he is focused, gets in there, and participates. However, as with most things his effort is all about mood. So when he's in the mood he'll play decently, when he's not he's everywhere doing anything. But you look at most kids on the field and they're all pretty much the same. Peter's team does seem to be the most carefree team out of the four Kindergarten teams. but they enjoy themselves. Last night Peter played Becca's team. He was pretty focused throughout the game with the typical crazy bits in between (climbing a fence, being silly with team mates, running at family to chat), but he was in the right place at the right time and made a goal for his team! While I know he could utilize his skills more; I've got to remember with all things he goes at it on his terms. Since his team has scored very few goals this past month his coaches have gone to bribing the kids if they score a goal. So Peter asked for "Willy Wonka" candy for the next game as the reward. Here's to more goals for Peter!

Kendal told me a couple of weeks after school started that she made an AR (reading) goal and has to get 40 points by Christmas! (After each book she reads she takes a comprehension test and if she passes she get between .5 to 2 points depending on the book) She and one other kid in her class have this high goal with reading. It seemed a bit daunting, but she's eager and excited to read and earn her reward! She's loving all things school. Her favorite subjects are math and reading and as always she really enjoys her extras (art, literacy, music, pe).

Alice has embraced crawling and now makes her way all over the house. She goes anywhere and seems to find every tiny scrap of ? off of the floor and sticks it in her mouth. She also loves to clap lately. Her main goal seems to be discovering and tasting everything around the house. My goal is to keep her safe and continue working on sleeping through the night. She's had a few more successful nights, but overall she's just not there yet.

Casey and I have a couple of goals. We've been trying our best to learn and change our interactions with the kids when they have negative behavior. As with all things it's a work in progress and some days are better than others. We have good days and hard days, but we keep trying and that's what matters.
Our other goal is finding a house. Simply put we're getting nowhere in that search. As with all things in my life, It takes time, and it'll happen on the Lord's timeline - not my own.

So here's to hard work, perseverance, hope, and maybe a bit of luck.

Soccer, piano, and our Eight month old!

This past week Peter had his first two soccer games. His coaches were very impressed with him in his practices the previous week and Casey says he did very well in practices. Games are interesting with kindergartners. It's sixteen kids on a small field at a time with fourteen if them going at the ball. It's like watching a bunch of ants attack a piece of food up and down the field with a lot of falls, kicks, and whistle blowing. It's amusing / entertaining at least. Peter does well when he can get in there but he's really not one to be aggressive about getting the ball. He's gained a buddy who happens to be in his school class as well. Her name is Oakley. He's pretty attached to get and held her hand for a few moments in each game. (Always the ladies man.)

We bought a keyboard and Kendal gets to start piano lessons this week with Aunt Vanessa! She's super excited and has been working on a few things with me leading up to lessons. It's Kendal's turn to cheer on her brother in sports. Her interest varies and she'd rather play than watch, but we're learning to support each other, and nothings fair in life (aka Peter doesn't need to share his post game snack with Kendal.)

I read Charlie and the Chocolate factory with Peter this last week and Kendal read it as part of her reading time. So on Friday night while Casey was at a blustery football game we watched the movie. I Made the kids their own Wonka bars and golden tickets. Peter really got into the book and loved the experience a lot.

Alice is Eight months old! She is able to do a full crawl, but only does it for a few feet. Alice has slept through the night twice this past week! (Hallelujah!! Crossing our fingers this continues!?!) Alice likes all foods so far and is getting interested in table food. We're getting in a routine of things as school has progressed. Alice gets two to three naps a day and is all over playing in between. She will no longer sit in the bounce chair or bumbo and I also had to take the bench out of her tub because she just sits / tries to escape her tub now during bath time. Alice will give great smiles and laughs to family, but she generally doesn't give strangers much attention. She's very observant and likes to see what's going on around her and explore everything around her.

We went to watch Casey's game a couple of weeks ago. The kids are their usual, questions, food, and wandering around the stands. Alice was content to watch everything for most of the game. We didn't make it to the game this past week due to the weather. (It was a win in double over time though!)
My parents came up last weekend for a brief visit. The kids got some quality time with Grandpa and Grandma!

School starts and more!

We decided to have one last summer adventure before school started so we went to visit Craters of the Moon. The kids got to participate in two junior ranger programs. An eclipse badge that they still had going on and the Craters of the Moon badge. We drove around the area and did a few of the walks. The kids enjoyed themselves and it was neat to see everything there.  The formations and the landscape was so cool. We took a picnic lunch and enjoyed the day away at the park. We'll have to go back and explore the caves in a couple of years when Kendal has her fourth grade national parks pass. 

The kids were a mix of nerves and excitement leading up to school. We've had a slew of talks and family home evenings to prepare them and hopefully help and guide them this year. Casey gave the kids beautiful blessings the Sunday before school.
The next morning Kendal was excited and eager to go! She didn't stop taking from the time she got up to when she left. Thankfully her excitement rubbed off on Peter and he was also excited for school. He was so antsy to go the whole morning.Thankfully I distracted him a bit with Legos. He made his own lunch and ate it at so fast so we could go / sprint to the bus stop. We arrived twenty minutes early and the bus ended up almost twenty minutes late, but it didn't phase Peter. Both kids have liked school so far. Kendal gives a daily report of happenings, friends, and what she's up to. Peter is less vocal and we hear more about snack and recess than anything else, but he's happy and so we are to.

Kendal 's first day of second grade!

Peter's first day of kindergarten! 

Casey's fifth year at Kimberly middle school!

If you notice, in the picture with all three of them Casey has Peter held back by his backpack 😆 so much energy, so much excitement!

Between football and soccer practice we ended up staying home for the labor day weekend. Saturday we went out and picked over fifty pounds of apple's to make into apple sauce. It was a long day, but so worth it!

 Alice has outgrown snuggling. Casey loves it on the rare occasion she'll go in for a brief cuddle.

On labor day we went for a walk / scooter ride along the canyon rim. It was a nice day and the kids enjoyed riding along. We ended with some frozen yogurt at kiwi loco! Simple day; just how we like it!