Here's what's up with with the Hive:
Matthew is working as hard as always. When he's not working or keeping up with his fantasy football leagues he's been making plans to implement phase 2 of the backyard landscaping project. If if his estimations are correct we'll be getting twice as much dirt this go round. So if anyone likes a good mud fight give us a call.
As for me I'm living for Tuesdays thesee days. It's when I get to leave the house for 4 hours without any kids!!! The babysitter, Sara, is great and sometimes even manages to get a little housework done while I'm gone. In the past 6 weeks since she's started, I've gotten my hair done, (way overdue) started reading again, become obsessive about saving money at the grocery store, and even started a craft project. I'm also teaching the Sunbeams (3-4 class) at church. I think the Bishopric thought they were being clever when they asked me to teach that class but I'm not sure the fact that I will have 2 kids in that class come the first of the year is just a coincidence.
Rebecca got a job. Well technically I think it's an internship since she's not getting paid. Her teacher told them at the beginning of the year that anyone wanting a class job would need to apply and be interviewed for the position. Rebecca was worried because she wanted the secretary position but so did most the class. She filled out her application and had to get a letter of recommendation. The teacher's husband interviewed her and said she seemed perfect for the job. She came home beaming the day she got the news. I just hope she still has energy for her organizing projects at home after a hard days work.
Kendall is enjoying 2nd grade. Her exuberance kind of made for a rocky start to the year but her teacher is great and they came up with some helpful ways to remind her to stay on track. She's worked hard the past few weeks and ended up getting the Blue Bear award for her class for her effort. She also got a perfect score on her very first spelling test which is quite remarkable considering a family history of pour spellars.
Corinna is now daytime toilet trained and will even sometimes wake up dry in the mornings. She insists on wearing her "pretty panties" the minute she gets up. She loves being a big girl and is always volunteering to be mommy and daddy's helper. She continues to be bossy and we are working on toning her down a bit. She's also quite girly and gets upset when her curly hair dries because she prefers it long.
Dakotta has also been making progress in the toilet training, she's been wearing panties mostly with an occasional accident but I'm planing on how to spend the extra diaper money once they're completely trained. I've decided that Dakotta will either be an architect or a pro wrestler when she grows up. She can spend hours with the Legos, in the sand box or any other type of building project (cardboard boxes, couch cushions, canned vegetables). When she's not doing that she's bulldozing her family members. Apparently the 9 months of abuse she inflicted on Corinna is a lifetime addiction.
And as much as I hate to admit it Elliott is starting to be quite the little boy. He's really learning a lot of words lately and it's funny to me how much of a gender leaning there is (ball, car, (ba)nana, cracker, cookie, more, milk). Yes the boy likes to eat. There are nights that he out eats all of his sisters. I hacked his hair off yesterday but luckily his natural good looks make up for the botched hairdo. And one of the bonuses of me teaching the Sunbeams is that he got to start in the church nursery early. The teacher says he's doing really well but then a room full of other kids and toys strewn around, some singing and snacks isn't that different than home.