Back to School Time!

I figured the first day of school would be a good time to give an update on the kids. I was going to post while they were in school, but it was an early out day at 1pm, so there was hardly time to do anything particularly productive except clean the kitchen.

5th, 2nd, and kindergarten. Asher is trying to make a "K" with his fingers.

Akiko: 

Akiko started fifth grade this year. She's officially one of the big kids at school. Last year she was in the 4th/5th split class and this year it's just a 5th grade class, but she has the same amazing teacher, which is awesome. She got into the GATE program last year, which is California's Gifted and Talented Education program, so she gets to go on a couple special field trips. All of her teachers have loved having her in their classes.

I still can't believe how fast she's grown. She's almost as tall as me and her shoes are only two sizes smaller than mine. I have to tell you how amazing this girl is and I'm so blessed to be her mother.

Since I've been so sick lately, she has really stepped it up in helping me out. She's getting better at cooking and cleaning and is so good about helping Simon and Asher and she does it all without much complaining. We did a massive deep clean in her room right when summer started, and for the most part, she has kept her room in pretty good order and I'm really proud of her for that.

She's a really good example to her friends and was one of the first kids in Primary to pass off all thirteen Articles of Faith. She's obsessed with cats, loves to read, loves to draw, loves Minecraft, loves to bake, and has found that she's got a knack for skateboarding. She can be kind of shy when she's around new people, but gets really goofy and funny when she's comfortable. It astounds me every day how much she has matured and grown, both physically and emotionally. She's always kind of been that way, but it's definitely become more apparent since she's entered her tweens. I love this girl of mine. She's the best!

Moses:

Moses has started second grade. He got a teacher that I've heard rave reviews about from other parents, so I'm pretty pleased. To be honest, I don't hear many negative reviews about any of the teachers at our school, but some of the teachers have been there for years and years and his teacher is one of those. 

Moses had an amazing teacher last year, too. She was teaching a 1st/2nd split class and noticed that he was way beyond the other kids academically, so to keep him from getting bored after his mundane first grade work was done, she began pulling resources from teachers in higher grades and giving him extra work to do while the other kids finished up. She ended up pulling things from the 7th grade teachers. On a whim, she tested his reading and comprehension levels and he tested at 7th grade. She was quite astounded. He was the only first grader reading the Harry Potter series. We're keeping him with his peers though, because that's where he needs to be socially.

Moses really loves his video games. He did a whole bunch of chores around the house and earned enough money to buy himself a new Wii. He didn't want to get a WiiU, because they're just too expensive and he wanted to be reasonable. Actually, he really just wanted to get MarioKart Wii. Moses wants to design and program video games when he's older. He has an active imagination and is constantly making up concepts for new board and video games. 

He loves reading and most nights, before bed, we find him reading a pile of books to Asher, then he stays up late and reads to himself after Asher has fallen asleep. For a while, I was constantly finding large piles of books in his bed. He is currently working on The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. I'm pretty sure I didn't read that until high school.

Moses is still the sweetest kid on the planet, though sometimes lately he's been getting a little sassy as he tries to assert his authority. I know that's just a phase, so I let it slide for the most part. He's fairly good about helping out around the house, but there's room for improvement. His mind is always just somewhere else when he supposed to be doing something I ask him to do. All around, Moses is a great kid and I love him dearly.

Asher:

Where do I even start with this kid? Bouncy, goofy, silly, happy, joyful, funny, helpful, loving, cuddly, smiley, exuberant, playful, jokey, energetic, friendly, handsome, adorable, and on and on and on. I love this kid so much. He makes us laugh a lot every day. 

He started kindergarten this year. He's had to wait two long years for his turn and now it's finally his. He feels like such a big kid now. I missed him a lot today. He got the same teacher that Moses had (she actually told me she requested him), so I'm pleased with that because she's fabulous. He's a really friendly kid, so I have no worries that he'll have any problems getting along with his classmates once he gets comfortable. 

If there is one thing that Asher has really gotten interested in lately, it is helping me out in the kitchen. He loves to help me bake and cook. It's not a totally new thing. I had him sautéing onions when he was two. But lately, if I start cooking without him he gets really upset. He doesn't particularly like it when I don't let him wield a knife, but I let him do most other things, like measuring, stirring, and adding ingredients. He is genuinely interested in how everything comes together to form a meal or baked treat.  I love having his help in the kitchen. 

He also loves helping around the house. I usually call for Akiko and Moses to do things, like empty the dishwasher or set the table, but when I call for them, Asher is the one that comes running. I love that willingness and openly hope that it never, ever goes away. 

Asher has reached that stage where if he's trying to do something, and it doesn't go perfectly right the first time, he gets really emotional and upset. It's frustrating for me. On the other hand, this summer he hopped on a bike and started riding it without any help. You see, we have one of those balance bikes and they are amazing. Simon had recently gotten big enough for it and pretty much commandeered the thing. Lots of fighting between the boys ensued, but we were finally able to convince Asher that he was big enough for the "big boy" bike that we had waiting for him. He's a small kid, barely five years old, so the bike is still a little unwieldy and wobbly for him, but he loves to zip back and forth along the front of our house any chance he gets. 

I love Asher Crasher so deeply. I'm so glad he part of our family. 

Simon:

After we dropped the kids off at school this morning, I thought, and possibly said out loud, "And then there was one." I've never had just one kid at home. Not since before Moses was born. It was really, unusually quiet at home. I know that will change in a few short weeks, but I'm kind of wondering how I'm going to keep Simon occupied and entertained for the next year. 

Anyway, Simon is... well, he's Simon. He's such a mommy and daddy's boy. He's still rather distrustful of anyone outside the immediate family. He's bossy and can be very insistent on how he thinks things should be. He knows exactly which buttons on Asher he needs to push in order to start a fight or a screaming chasing "game", for lack of a better term. He loves to be clean and wants to take a bath all the time.

Simon picks things up faster than any other kid I've ever known. He's known his alphabet since he was barely two years old. He picked up all his colors and shapes and numbers around the same time, too. He can spell and recognize/read everyone's name in our family. We started memorizing a new scripture and he had it memorized before anyone else (even me). No wonder the kid has such a big head. He has a lot of info that needs to be stored there. I jest, of course.

Simon is very empathetic and, especially lately, is always concerned about my well being. He's excited for the new baby, though I don't think he knows quite what to expect. He was so cute with my sister's baby boy, so I have a lot of hope that he'll be an awesome big brother. 

Simon loves to go shopping and get pizza at "Taco Tuesday", which is his name for Costco. He does not like being cooped up in the house all day and feels the need to go somewhere, anywhere, every day. He is obsessed with swings at the park. Sometimes if we go to a park, I'll purposely pick one that doesn't have them because otherwise we would spend the entire time on them and it's a huge battle trying to get him off of them.

I am so glad Simon is part of our family. Three year old kids can be difficult to deal with a lot of the time, but for every moment of stress and frustration there are just as many, if not more, moments of awe and jubilation. Simon is my good buddy and I'm his "good mommy" and I love him so much. 

I love these goobers so much. I'm the luckiest momma.

Baby Boy:

We have a name picked out, and some people know what it is, but I'm not making a formal public announcement until he is born. I have about a month left, around five weeks or so. I really dislike the last month. It drags. Literally drags. On and on.

The baby had been transverse, a fancy way of saying sideways, for a long time. At my last appointment, he finally changed positions... he was transverse in the opposite direction. I feel him move constantly and can tell he is flipping all over the place in my belly. This, to me, is not the best news. Simon was a flipper, which was why we decided to have a c-section. I really want to do a vbac. They're so much easier to heal from and the hospital stay is not nearly as long. However, I understand all the risks and I am willing to do what's best to bring this kid into the world. He also has a whole month to figure out what position he'll finally be in when it's time. So please pray for me that he decides to go heads down and stay there.