Fall is in the air . . .

which is nice since our air conditioner is broken . . . again. We've been patient w/ the Dick's Heating and Air Conditioning people, but after about seven or eight freeze-ups since we moved in, we think it's time to get a new one. (Especially since it's been broken since Wed. and they still haven't returned our calls). The heat is supposed to be back later this week, so hopefully they'll get sick of us calling everyday and fix/replace it sometime soon.

The other reason I say fall is in the air is because it's time for the kids to get back on the school/extracurricular activities bandwagon (and Mom and Dad, too). Jonas is playing soccer again, Jonas and Ethan have gone back to karate, piano is starting up, and Elise is going to do a Children's Community Theater this year--I think she'll like it. They're doing a "Pirates of the Caribbean meets the Little Mermaid" play. She has her first class tonight. She's also participating in the Monte Vista school choir and has to go to school 1 hour early on Tues and Thurs, which shows how much my girl who loves to sleep in wanted to do it. This morning, after dragging her out of bed and watching her droopy, grumpy face stare back at me in the mirror while I was doing her hair, she demanded to know why, exactly, they start school so early? "It doesn't make any sense!" she said. When I told her that junior high and high school were even earlier, she groaned and said, "Well that's not good news." I agree, sister.

Ethan also just graduated from Cub Scouts and got his Arrow of Light. Here's photographic proof:




The first shot is of Ethan and obviously me--with a loverly spit-up stain on my chestal region--holding the really cool plaque a nice woman in the ward makes for all the boys who receive their Arrow of Light. (For those of you without Scouts, it's an award you can work toward once you graduate from Cubs and move on to Boy Scouts.) The second shot is of Ethan walking across the "bridge" from Cub to Boy Scouts--a highly symbolic and emotionally weighty moment that, as you can tell from Ethan's stance, he wasn't taking quite as seriously as his mother and the Scout Master would have liked. But what are you going to do? I suppose the line between stand-up and somber symbolic moments can get fuzzy at times?? We discussed it and hopefully it is now clearer :-). I was still proud of him for getting the award. He worked hard in Cubs and did a lot of cool things. And now he's an official Boy Scout, and next year he'll be in the Young Men's program with his Dad, now that Forrest is the secretary. Hard to believe.

To conclude, I should probably say something about Jonas, since I've touched on Ethan and Elise (and I touch on Wyatt all the time--who by the way is having a rapturous love affair with remotes, shoes, and keys). He's doing great in 1st grade and his reading is really taking off. He's reading stuff all the time now. He had his first soccer practice on Sat. and did great. The more he plays, the more aggressive he gets about going after the ball -- but he still hates it when other kids take it away. I think he's spent too many years being the youngest and having a Mom who tells the older kids "just give him what he wants!" or "Maybe let him win!" in order to keep the peace. Bad parenting, yes. But I don't do it all the time. Just when I want some peace.

So that's it for now. As of yesterday, I have collected $1,779 dollars for our upcoming Super Saturday. Even though it's in check form, it's making me very nervous and I can't wait to hand it off to the woman who's buying all the supplies. Now that's really it for now.