Dear Family & Friends-
What a switch from
our last letter. The days are shorter, the nights and mornings
cooler, and a school schedule is what dominates the days. I truly
love summer, but one thing I always like about school starting up is
the schedule in the day. I guess I like my structure and plans too
much, but I will miss having the kids around so much. It's WAY too
quiet around our house. Thayne misses having his “buddies” to
play with and without the fun summer activities, it's really just
laundry and dishes and cleaning to keep me company all day.
Before this letter
gets too mopey and sad, I will throw in our great news. We are
expecting a baby girl to come to our family sometime in January. The
doctor told me the 9th
for a due date and the ultrasound tech says the 30th,
so we are just saying January—sometime. We have gone through our
family pedigree charts and the one name that kept jumping out to us
is Eliza. She will be named after all the Eliza's and Elizabeth's
that are so common in our family history.
With school starting
that always changes everything so much. Matt started 4th
grade and they are combined with the 5th
grade for half of the day. He loves it, I think it is the added
challenges, and it is so good for him. He mastered swimming this
summer passing all the levels that Lava Hot Springs could throw at
him. He has started helping Martin with the lawn mowing. The last
few mornings of school, he sets his alarm, gets up and gets ready,
practices his piano, unloaded and loaded the dishwasher and gets some
reading in. This is all before the bus picks him up at 7:15---I am
so impressed! He is one motivated kid.
Abby came home from the
first day saying, “It's boring, all we do is work all day.” Now
she comes home just brimming with all the fun she is having and how
much “new stuff” she knows.
Olivia “finally”
got to start Preschool this week. That is her quote, she has been
“waiting and waiting, forever.” She loves doing her homework
along with Matt and Abby and is so bouncy when she gets home and so
happy to be “big”.
Poor Thayne, all alone
during school now. I can't tell whether he misses Olivia more or all
the cool toys at her preschool. He actually seems pretty content
with just mom and him at home, and I love getting to be with him one
on one. He is such a fun little guy, just happy and excited about
everything. I can tell how much he misses Matt and Abby when the bus
gets here each day. Thayne runs down the lane as fast as his legs
can carry him and yells to them the whole way.
Since I haven't written
since June, I'd better fill in a bit about the end of our summer.
The kids all took two rounds of swimming lessons (okay, the older 3).
They improved so much that taking them swimming was so much fun. We
went to Lava Hot Springs to celebrate the end of lessons. Then, on
the “last day” of summer vacation we met up with Martin's family
in Pocatello and swam at the fun pool there.
The County Fair was
also a big part of the end of our summer. I had a craft booth there
with my friend. I sold my girly hair-things and pettiskirts and she
was selling baby things and stuff that she sews. So, we spent every
day there for the whole week. We decided that since we were there,
we would participate it all the fun fair activities. We entered some
cards that we made, some t-shirts from our reunion, scrapbook pages,
art, and even an antique chair that belongs to Martin's Grandma. The
girls loved showing off their blue ribbons and making a little bit of
money. Abby entered some of her sewing projects from the last year,
a set of six pillowcases and a doll bed. Every day they had kid
activities in the afternoon, one day we were in charge of the
treasure hunt. The girls helped me bury toys in the volleyball pit
and then I sent the bigger kids all around the fairgrounds with a map
to find bigger treasures. Thayne was in the baby contest and won
first place. :) It was first place out of two kids----but I still
think he was the cutest in the whole contest. He won a pillow pet
and some treats. Every evening there was a softball tournament to
watch and lots of neighbors and friends to visit with. On the last
day, we went to the talent show and the rodeo. Abby performed a
Shirley Temple song and a little dance and Olivia sang a song she
made up and did a dance that she made up as well. Martin and Matt
had been backpacking all week and they got home just before the
talent show and the rodeo, so it was a GREAT end to our fun week.
They had been hiking in the Wind Rivers and hiked 32 miles that week.
So impressed!!
School started a week
after the fair, so it seemed like the end of our summer. This a
bittersweet time of year, but full of so many changes and lots of
good food from harvesting!!! Hope your fall is fun y'all!!
The
Pope's
