“Other Things May Change Us, But We Start & End With Family”

Dad is still job hunting, but the going is slow and frustrating. Several phone calls he has gotten in the past few weeks have all been from the same company, a multi-level marketing company. They found his resume on a search engine and keep calling. They’ve lied to him on the phone to trick him into making an hour long drive out for an interview. It’s very frustrating to deal with people that are dishonest and attempt to take advantage of those that are trying to find honest work during this bad economy.

I’m cooking, cleaning and homeschooling. Not much else.

Our new ward is interesting. There are some very nice people, and there are some Very abrasive people. So hey, I should fit in great! We’ve been asked to talk in Sacrament on Aug 29th. Not sure if Rebekah or Rose will speak, may just be up to Nathan and me. I have spoken in Sacrament since we lived in Florida (I think)! It will be interesting.

Rebekah is working hard to catch up on her language arts and zooming ahead in her math skills. She’s kind of bored, because there are not many children her own age in the ward. Hopefully, we’ll be able to get her into gymnastics soon and she’ll start making friends. She’s a great help to me, though. She watches Robin on a regular basis while I’m doing housework or something that involves both hands. She also plays with Rachel a lot, and is typically very pleasant. She does have the normal mood swings and obstinance that are part and parcel of being a preteen, but her good days far outweigh her bad.

Rose gave a talk in Primary today (thanks to Aunt Tracy, because I forgot all about it until it was time to leave. Luckily, she had some already prepared ones that we were able to just grab and use). Apparently, she and Rebekah are quite the life of the party in primary. The teachers all know their names and they were the most outspoken and willing to participate. I think it comes from the confidence they gained in our last ward’s primary. Rose is not quite as lonely as Rebekah because she has found a pal in her almost 6 year old cousin. They play Barbie’s, dress-up, LPS, etc. She’s also doing very well in school. In fact, she’s bored in math because it’s so easy. Hopefully we’ll get past all the review soon and she’ll get into more interesting topics.

Rachel has found a best bud in her two year old cousin. In fact, Tracy and I are learning what it would be like to have twins! There are good and bad. Good: they are encouraging one another in the potty training, help each other speak more clearly, and are great entertainment for one another when all the older kids are doing school lessons. Bad: They are like Dennis the Menace and Margaret – they come up with all kinds of mischief to get into together. Jumping on beds, dumping stuff, streaking, and normal-two-year-old craziness. They’ve even got the love-hate relationship going on. But they’re so stinkin’ cute; it’s hard to be truly severe with them most days.

Robin is growing by leaps and bounds every day. She already wears the same size diaper as her older sister! And she’s very close to eating solids off the table (as long as they’re cut up small). She loves being mobile and crawling all over her sisters. Thankfully, she’s still a very content baby. As long as her diaper is dry and her tummy is full, she’s pretty happy. She still only has two lower teeth, but that doesn’t stop her from gumming her food. She loves to eat. Her favorites are avocado, chicken, summer squashes, peas and bananas. But she has never spit anything at us or turned her nose up at it. There have been a couple of things that the texture seemed to take some getting used to, but that was about it. She’s such a cooey baby now, too. She giggles, squirms and squeals as loud as anyone else in the household.