Keeping Up With the Joneses

Max has always loved school, but this year in kindergarten he seems to be picking up on so much more than in the past. He comes home from school singing a new song or telling a new story almost every day. One of the most awesome parts of BYU kindergarten is that the teachers and assistants take pictures of the kids and send them to the parents and post them to a private blog. At the end of the year they get an amazing book with pictures and all of their work. Here are a few of the pictures of Max from BYU Kindergarten this year.

Things have been busy in the Jones household. The kids had Fall Break last week. Marshall was out of town for most of it, but I took a few days to enjoy spending some time with the kids. Uncle Scott and Joyce also came out to visit and we thoroughly enjoyed their company. Here are a few highlights. We celebrated National Chemistry Week by going to a Chemistry Magic Show at BYU. The scientist asked for volunteers from the audience and Myles enthusiastically volunteered. She painted his arm with iodine, sprayed it with starch (changed the color), and then erased the color with calcium. Myles loved the experience and explained each experiment to me.  We had such a great time with Joyce. After she left we found little notes from her all over the house. She and Max got along especially well. I felt like when Max was with her he was a year older, more articulate, mature, and happy. It was just so good for him to have a playmate his age. It was so cute listening to them interact ...

We had a fun time celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving today. I planned on bringing dinner to a friend who had a baby today because I found out that Marshall was going to be out of town, so we went ahead and had dinner without Marshall anyway. I invited Hannah and Ari and Jessica's family. The cousins were so excited to see each other. I had to teach today, so I got everything I could ready this morning and then hurried home and, with Hannah's help, managed to get everything else ready. We had turkey, gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, salad, and rolls. For dessert I made pumpkin cheesecake and pumpkin crumble. McKay and Sawyer are turning out to be cute little buddies, giving each other lots of hugs. The 8 boys all got along really well and seemed to enjoy the food.  Poor Daniel was sick and couldn't enjoy dinner, but the rest of us sure did. 

My mom reminded me that it has been a long time since I blogged, so here is a quick catch up. We've had a busy start to the semester. Because Hannah (our nanny of 5 years) got into the Social Work program at UVU (yay!) her schedule changed a lot, and so my schedule also changed a lot. I'm home in the mornings and then work for 2-3 hours every afternoon and try to get home when the kids get home to help with homework. I work all day Fridays. The kids have had such a great start to the school year. They seem to have adjusted well and are enjoying school.  Here are a few highlights from the last month. Myles really is a HORRIBLE speller--until he memorizes the word, and then he does great. His teacher said that she has never met someone with such terrible spelling who always aces his spelling tests! It's all thanks to that photographic memory I guess.  After-school homework for the last few years has been a huge battle with Myles, but this year something magically chan...

School started WAY too early for me this year. I have LOVED spending more time with my kids this summer and really wished I had a few more months of summer. My boys are just growing into such cool, unique, clever, fun kids and it breaks my heart to send them away to school and not know exactly what they are doing every day. But, even though I have seriously considered homeschooling, I am pretty fundamentally opposed to it and know that I don't really have the temperament for it. Myles has been counting down the days until school starts. Not because he was excited, but because he knew that it would be an end to long days playing outside, riding his bike, and playing video games. You would never know it to see him interact with his family (he is so funny and clever), but he is incredibly shy and it is just painful for him to meet new people. Last year at the back to school night he ran away from me because he was so scared to meet his new teachers and see his classmates. This year ...

One of the biggest highlights of the summer was my last trip to Waterton. My brother and sister and I decided that to celebrate my parents' 40th wedding anniversary we would meet up in Waterton without kids and spouses and have a nice dinner at the Prince of Wales where they had their wedding reception. It was very low-key but also very fun. Honestly, my very favorite part was the last 2 days I was there when it was just me and my parents. It has been so long since I could enjoy Waterton without worrying about kids. I rode my (mom's) bike up Red Rock, out to the Park Gate, read on the front porch, and meditated by the lake. If I had life my way (and could erase all my dysfunctional mommy-guilt) I would spend a week in Waterton by myself every summer. I came back rejuvenated and ready to handle the rush of school and work starting back up again. The kids were fine and hardly noticed I was gone thanks to Grandma Delta, Marshall, and Hannah. One of the most beautiful bike ride...