September ends

This week has been long and hard. Last Saturday night I woke up feeling pretty lousy...and it has lasted all week. By Thursday I was ready to scrap the over the counter medicine for some stronger stuff so I headed to the doctor's. I was suffering from bronchitis. This thing has completely wiped me out and I'm still feeling under the weather but hopefully I'll be back to normal soon. Thank goodness David was able to work from home 2 days this week so I could get some much needed rest. So, not a whole lot happened this week but we did end the week with a fun soccer game. Savannah's team tied but they should have won...they had so many opportunities to score but the goals just didn't come. Savannah got to play goalie for a little bit and she saved a few goals from being scored. The only problem came when she went back on the field...she forgot that she was no longer the goalie and could not use her hands. There were a few times she almost picked up the ball. Oh, well...she'll learn.

Savannah's soccer game

On Saturday Savannah had her third soccer game and this time her team won 2-0. Yeah! There was a huge improvement in the way she and her team played the game. Their assistant coach was gone so I got to fill in and it was so much fun. I was in charge of the defense which of course I loved because that is what I played all those years of soccer. I found myself hanging out on the left side of the field (I played left fullback) so I had to force myself to keep going over to the right side to check on the player there. The coaches get to remain on the field throughout the game so they can help these girls learn how to play the position and how to play the game itself. I had a blast and think that next year I might sign up to be an assistant coach. Savannah did such a great job and the second goal her team scored was made possible by her throw-in...she threw it right to the girl who was in the vicinity of the goal who then kicked the ball in for a goal. Savannah is really enjoying herself and having a lot of fun.

Xander starts preschool

It's been awhile since I've been able to blog and we've had so many things going on in our lives these past few weeks that I don't even know where to begin. The most important event was Xander started preschool. He's attending the same preschool that Savannah attended. He is in the 2 year old class because he missed the cutoff for the 3 year old class by one month. But for Xander it will be just fine. The first day was a gradual entrance where I was with him the whole time. The second time he went he ran after me crying as I left the classroom. The third time he didn't run after me but one of his teachers had to carry him around giving him big hugs. This past Thursday he told me that he was not going to be sad and he wasn't...he went right in and sat down at the table to work with the playdough. He only goes on Tuesdays and Thursdays for an hour and 15 minutes but he seems to be enjoying it. I also love the break in the morning...I stick Noah in the nursery and spend the time reading or exercising.




Savannah had her second soccer game last Saturday and there was a definite improvement in her play as well as her whole teams' efforts. In the first game Savannah stood around a lot and seemed to not know exactly what to do. We talked to her a lot about continuously running and going after the ball...which she did in the second game. The other team had a lot of older girls (Savannah plays in the age group of 5-7 year old girls) and they were extremely aggressive. Our girls were really getting pushed around. At halftime David and I spoke to Savannah about being a little more aggressive and using her shoulder to push some of these girls out of the way. As the second half started we quickly realized that Savannah was following our directions very well. She was in the middle of a group of girls, her own teammates included, swinging her arms around and pushing against everyone as if she was in a mosh pit at the local dance club. Unfortunately we did not have our video camera for that one...it was hysterical. Thank goodness they don't hand out yellow or red cards at this level...she would definitely have earned her first one. Her team lost 1-0 though Savannah didn't even realize it. We'll see how she does in her game today.



Noah continues to grow. He is the happiest little boy and so easy. He's such a good sleeper...which we deserve after Xander. Noah rolled over for the first time Thursday night and seemed pretty proud of himself. He's also eating baby food now. He loves everything we've given him so far except for applesauce.

Savannah plays soccer

Saturday morning Savannah had her first soccer game. I must admit that it was hard for me to watch because I played so much soccer growing up and the 5-6 year old girls just don't have the skills yet. But I kept reminding myself that this is just for fun and that she'll learn and by halftime I was ready to enjoy myself. (But we'll definitely be putting Savannah in some soccer camps next summer.) I learned that during a game I can not yell out, "Go, Savannah!" because she would stop and look at me, wanting to know what I wanted. The first half I don't think she quite knew what to do but by the second half she was running a lot more and got some good touches. Savannah is extremely fast and there were times when she outran all of the girls...now if we could just teach her to dribble that ball, she could outrun everyone, take it down the field and score. I was proud of her and she said she had a lot of fun...and that's the most important thing.




Saturday evening David and Savannah went to the Daddy/Daughter activity at our church. They ate some BBQ and played games and had a great evening together. Savannah loves her "girl field trips" with Mom but it is special to get to spend that alone time with her dad. The boys and I stayed at home and had our own bonding time. Xander has decided he wants to be Frankenstein for Halloween (this changes on a weekly basis). I kept asking him what he wanted to be because I loved the way he said "Frankenstein"...too cute. We read some books and Xander entertained Noah with his singing.

Today David was put in as the first counselor in the bishopric in our ward. I know that he is excited to serve but his new calling raises questions about my calling as the Young Women President. Everyone is speculating if I will be released. I love my calling and hope that I will be able to serve longer but we'll just wait and see. We'll have to do some juggling in the meantime and it won't be easy sitting on the bench by myself during sacrament meeting but I know that others will step in and help us. We love the Lord and we love the gospel and we're looking forward to this blessing in our lives.

Off the Charts!

Our little Noah had his 4 month check-up yesterday and, as you can probably see, our little Noah is not so little! He weighs over 20 pounds which is well above what the average 4 month old weighs. The nurse showed me on the charts where his weight puts him and we both just laughed. His doctor came in and she said, "He definitely has the Michellen tire-man rolls going on." His length is just over 27 inches so he's in the 95% for that too. He's just a big guy...we call him our linebacker. He continues to be the happiest baby, all smiles for everyone. He's starting to sit up on his own though he still leans a bit to support himself. No rolling over yet but it looks like that will be coming soon as well.

More Summer Memories

It took so long to do the kids' pictures the other day that I didn't have time to include David's or my memories. So here they are...our favorite summer memories. David enjoyed spending time with his parents who came out to Maryland for a couple weeks in May. He also enjoyed spending time with the kids, swimming, Chocolate World, visiting DC, Williamsburg, Jamestown, and the Hill Cumorah pageant.

My summer vacation, to me, started in May. Three weeks after having Noah I headed to Utah by myself for a weekend for Audra's wedding. David was so great and took care of all three kids at home so I could go. It was a short weekend but I was so glad that I got to go. It was a beautiful wedding plus I got to stay with Kelly and Jared. I had so much fun this summer...I loved seeing David's parents and getting to spend most of July with my own parents. Williamsburg and Jamestown were so much fun; I loved the whole Hill Cumorah experience; being in Cincinnati was great because I got to spend time with Heidi and her kids and Bryan and my parents; I LOVED going to the King Tut exhibit in Philadelphia; and it was a wonderful summer for spending time with my kids and David...we just had a lot of fun!

Summer Memories

Our summer was filled with many wonderful memories and now that it is officially at an end I decided to ask the kids what their favorite memories were. Savannah listed Williamsburg, playing with friends, swimming in the pool, Chocolate World, Dutch Wonderland, the Hill Cumorah Pageant, spending time with grandparents, and playing with her cousin McKenna in Cincinnati.

Noah's favorite memories of this summer were meeting grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, playing in his jolly jumper and exersaucer, and eating!

Xander's favorite memories of this summer included his trip to Utah, or OOtah, as he pronounces it, Chocolate World, Dutch Wonderland, spending time with both sets of grandparents, and spending time with his cousins in Cincinnati.

Saturday

Saturday morning I worked at the Clothing Exchange at our Bishop's Storehouse. This is a place where people can donate items, kind of like a Good Will, except that all of the items donated are then free to the public. Anyone in Baltimore who is in need can come here for clothing, housewares, blankets, toys, etc. Two of my young women, myself, and one other leader worked for a couple of hours and we had a ton of fun. We mostly went through the clothing donations and then hung them or placed them on the shelves. Of course whenever you are dealing with donations you always come across items that are EXTREMELY outdated or weird so we had some fun with that.

I came home to find Noah propped up on the couch, intently watching football with his Dad.