Weekend Update

This was kind of a nice low-key weekend. Soccer ended last week, so it was so great to have our Saturday back yesterday. Ben and Brennan have been a little under the weather so we pretty much stuck around. Saturday afternoon the girls were both with friends so Nate, Ben and I went to the park and I got to read while they rode their bikes. It was so nice to get out and get some fresh fabulous Fall air. The weather has been pretty spectacular and the colors are just stunning. Love this time of year.

Anna had her last game Thursday night. She loves to play defense and her coach usually puts her there because she rarely lets anyone by her; however, she did get to play offense long enough to kick a great ball over her opponents' heads and right into the corner of the goal. It's so much fun to see her really love and do well at something. She and Chloe are wrapping up the dance classes they've been teaching for some neighborhood girls. Each practice has a theme, and they try to work that theme into their rehearsal somehow, i.e. friendship. Cracks me up. We love Anna.

Abigail's school teacher is Chloe's Mom and lives just down the street. Whenever Abby has her friend Paige over, who is also in her school class, they find some really random treasure and deliver it to their teacher's house with an affectionate little note. One day they took her some puny little green beans from our garden, another day an otter pop, last week a brownie. Abby loves to give. We love Abigail.

Nate had his first field trip this week to a local pumpkin patch. He was so excited to ride in a school bus and have an adventure. He came home with a beloved pumpkin that he had decorated with little foam stickers. He had saved his extra stickers to bring home for Ben. He adores Benny. My parents went on a cruise so we've been talking about that a lot lately. A few days ago Nate was talking about going on a church mission when he's older and the girls asked him where he'd like to go. "Maybe on a cruise." Should we break it to him that a mission isn't exactly a luxury vacation? We love Natey.

I mentioned earlier that Ben had been sick. Let's just say that it brought out the tyrant king side of his personality. The other morning he crawled in bed with me at 2:00 am and because he'd been coughing and having a hard time sleeping, I opened my arms and snuggled right up with him. At about 5:00am I awoke to him kicking me and yelling in my face "Mom, don't sit wight dere (right there)!" Apparently I was hogging my pillow. Today at Church he was being characteristically loud and so I took him out to the lobby. "Benny, you have got to be reverent, do you know what reverent means?" In a weird low kind of burpy way he loudly said, "RRRRRRRRRIBBET!" Reverent, ribbet? Oh well, I tried. My new favorite thing is that he now uses the word "yes" a lot and he says it with the most adorable lisp. "Did you have a good nap, Ben?" "Yeth, I did." We love Benjamin.