I just wanted to document something Aimee said today because I thought she was so cute (even after acting like a 2 year old all day long). I went to change her diaper and when I put her on the changing table she started singing to the tune of Humpty Dumpty "Poopy girl, poopy girl sitting on a wall..." I just about cracked up when I heard her singing about herself. We did just learn to sing Humpty Dumpty this week after our trip to the library.

Ethan just started school a couple weeks ago. We put him in 1st grade so he would be the oldest in his class instead of the youngest (and smallest). It's a good fit so far and he has already found a girl that he likes. I will not repeat her name, but it rhymes with a female body part and sounds almost like it too if you're not listening close enough. Poor girl, but very sweet girl.

Ethan just started eating cafeteria lunches this week. I had to meet with a person in food and nutrition at the district level. We went over all the meal plans and had ingredient labels for everything for me to read. It was a long afternoon, but we have a special meal plan for him so he can eat school lunches every day if he wants to. It still makes me nervous, but he's done well so far. I've been sitting with him at lunch everyday (at his very own nut-free table) just to make sure. I'm not sure if I'll ever be ready to just let him do lunch all on his own, at least not this year. That just adds up to a lot of time spent driving and a VERY grumpy 2 year old that is drug along behind me the entire way.

Jayke just turned 9 and is doing fantastic in school. He got all 4's on his progress report. The teacher is a little concerned about him having everything mastered already, so she is having him tested for the ELP program next month. I think there has been less than a handful of days that Jayke actually said he learned something new in school and they were the days that they had special speakers. All the other days he says he just "had reviews" all day. He's mostly at school to socialize and stay out of my hair for a few hours while I try to gain some sanity.

Kate has turned into my little tattler. She also loves to fight and taunt Aimee. Although, on a rare occasion, she is actually nice to Aimee and my heart just melts watching them play together. I just need to have my camera out and waiting for those rare sightings. Oh, how I love 4-5 year olds...She cannot wait until she can start school in August. Some days I cannot wait either. She is starting to read, mostly by her own doing. She is so excited by it. I'm afraid she will turn out to be much like Jayke when it comes to school. She keeps telling me she wants to go to the same school as Jayke, but I keep telling her she'll be going to the same school as Ethan. She's pretty disappointed that she won't be at school with grandma all day, but I feel it is for the best.

Aimee is a 2 year old. That completely sums her up right now. She is so independent, loving to do everything on her own. She also kicks, screams, hits, tantrums, whines, talks back, and cries like a 2 year old. She is my first child to actually act like a 2 year old. She must get it from me, that stubborn and independent blood that runs through my veins. She is talking more than any of my other kids combined, which is REALLY scary when you consider how much Jayke talked. She is learning how to do puzzles very well and can even do 24 piece puzzles all by herself. Real puzzles, not the baby ones. She loves going to "church is true" and likes to play with her friends in the nursery. They have split the nursery into older kids and younger kids to make the group more managable. For some reason, they have put her with all the older kids. I don't know if they think she is older than she is or if it is just easier for them to have her in that group. She is also very shy and won't even crack her lips at all until she has been around you for a while. (And then you'd better watch out because she'll talk your ear off.) She also has some strange fears, which she probably also got from me, poor girl. She can't handle going over bumps in the road, like going down the road by the Salt River. We call them roller coasters and every time we go over one she just screams, grabs her carseat, and kicks her feet in pure and extreme fear. She has done this since she was about 2 months old, about the same time she was acting weird with her immunizations. Every once in a while we can convince her to like the hills, but it doesn't last long. She also can't handle the swings at the park, but she is always asking for me to push her.

One thing that I love most of all right now with my kids is that I get to put them to bed at 7pm. This has never happened in their lifetime, but I love actually having the evenings to myself. It is amazing how much it helps to have a little time to calm down after the kids are down before I have to go to bed.

Ryan is chugging along in his master's program. It is a ton of work and he is only taking 10 credits right now. He spends more time each day doing schoolwork than he does with everything else in his life combined. That includes working, being Elder's Quorum president, being a dad, a very good husband, applying to dental school, doing service hours, fixing our broken house, dealing with a needy invalid wife, and everything else that every regular person has to do. I really don't know how he does it all and still manages to find a little (ok very little) time for himself. Amazing. He really is. And I'm his wife.