Friday, October 24, 2008

long update

i can't seem to keep up on here for some reason.

emma's birthday was last week. she turned the big 7. last friday, she celebrated with a party. she invited some of her friends from school, a teammate from soccer, and a neighbor. our "ferry friends" also came. she received lots of wonderful gifts, and we are working on getting thank you notes out asap.

our friend, will (navy recruiter, for those of you keeping up), asked ken to be the assistant coach for the basketball team that his son is playing on. emma went along with ken to one of the practices, and she decided she wanted to play as well. so, she is now working on her 3rd sport. she really enjoys it, and she seems to be a natural at not just baseball and soccer, but also with basketball as well. she is a great sport and is also pretty competitive.

a couple of weeks ago, we went on a hike with our friends at the eagle river nature center. all of us, including the 2 year olds, hiked for 3 miles. we stopped halfway and roasted marshmallows (for s'mores) at a cabin in the woods. we had a great time. well, except that last uphill stint.

tomorrow, we go on another hike at the same location, only it will be half the distance. kids can dress up for halloween, except it will be around 20F tomorrow. we'll see how costumes work with our winter gear! at some point, the kids will get to see a "witch" in a hollowed out tree. and we will end the hike with some time in a yurt.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yurt

tomorrow night, we will do indoor trick or treating at a local warehouse with the same friends. i hope it is more fun than being out in the 20 degree weather. of course, it will be a large building full of grumpy parents and wild sugar filled children. we'll see.

the next weekend, we also have more "halloween" plans. more costumes. parties. candy.

speaking of sticky sugary goodness, ken is getting braces the first week of november. i think the orthodontist gave him the extra time so he could enjoy eating his share of candy. we are fortunate in that the air force is footing the bill. now, if we could only convince them that they should pay for me to have them (again) and for the kids, as i'm sure they will need them as well.

next month, for thanksgiving, we plan to have friends over and some other people that i am not personally familiar with. ken is inviting one of his single airman troops over. our navy friends are inviting some of the people from the recruiting office. we're looking at between 14-20 people. we can't wait!! we wish we could spend it with those of you back east, but this is the next best thing for us.

emma is doing quite well in school. she has homework 4 nights a week in 3 subjects. starting in november, she will add spelling to the list. i have to admit that i'm not fond of the homework, as it's not just homework for emma, but for us as well. she is doing so much more in 1st grade than i did in 1st grade. more homework. more reading. more math. i'm amazed at how much kids have to know today.

spencer is proving to be quite a smart little guy. he's not yet 3, and he is doing puzzles for ages 5-8 and sometimes more advanced than that. he knows his letters and numbers. the alphabet song is quite interesting, as it is a really long neverending jumble of numbers and letters. he's pleased with himself when he sings it, so we'll work on the correct version later. he also can draw really really well. emma wasn't drawing things like this at the same age. he can also mimic almost anything we draw. he's a lot of fun right now.

i think that's it. i made it extra long just for christie, who has been hounding me to update. so, if your eyes are struggling and a headache is looming, give a big shout out to CHRISTIE!! lol

oh, and our dog (charlie) and fish (freddy) are also doing quite splendidly.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's good to know what's going on with all of you. I almost cried though because we're missing so much. Ok, tears are in my eyes, they just didn't fall down yet. You miss me!!!!
:)
CHRISTIE

Monica said...

i do miss you!

you know what would be really great? if you had a blog!! lol

Anonymous said...

Wouldn't that be great if I/we had a blog??? I just don't do very well keeping up with stuff like that though. That's what you're good at...or you used to be good at it! ;)
Christie