Tokidlihypihamaxelip: September 2021

Penelope is not only sleeping better (knock on wood!!! 4 hours in a row last night!!), but she is also walking around single-handed. Yes, single-handed. She holds onto just one hand of whoever she can rope into being her personal walking trainer. F-O-R-E-V-E-R. She is pretty determined!

Maia has turned a new leaf! She has always had a sparkle that dazzles but we have not always seen eye to eye on my home plans/rules. We read Timothy Clarke's "Core and Crust of Leadership" article and she sees it!! She has been so motivated to do her schooling and take care of her other responsibilities, referring often to her "core" or her "crust." It's amazing what vision will do!

Olivia and Owen have been staying here with their parents (and Laura) this past month and they have just been delightful. We will miss them all so much! We have played lots of games and explored lots of places together and just enjoyed each other.

Liesl has struggled with bed-wetting more and more so we just got pull-up :(. And because they are princess style, she wants to wear them all the time :(. Yikes! Maybe now that Penelope is sleeping better, I can start doing the electric alarm bedwetting treatment at night with her and Eli.

We are on the cusp of starting our new school year! I am excited for our classes, with acting and choirs starting tomorrow and history and English on Friday. The rest we will begin next week...so fun!

Piper and Hyrum have started high school sports, cross country and football respectively, and they both love it! They are also going to early morning seminary (mostly in-person, which is great) and love that as well.

Havala is excited to start taking piano lessons from her grandpa and has been a blessing in getting our sign language choir ready! She is great at signing and has learned some of the songs so that she can teach the other kids.

Lily is doing 20 hours a week at Wendy's and then working with Drew the rest of the time around the house to help out. They put in 7 hours a day and do some daily tasks. It's a little bumpy right now, but hopefully we work out all the kinks before we strangle each other ;). I do love having them around and they are trying to make a good go of it...most of the time.

Hyrum did a fun presentation about himself for seminary...he's such a funny kid! I put it in his journal.

Xai and Eli have been having so much fun with cousins. They have also been having fun doing sticker faces at Oma and Opa's, trying to make Oma laugh with their creations. They have been snuggling in the same bed for the past couple nights, which is nice for Eli, who is still nervous at night.

Maia, Xai and Eli love running in rain storms! We had a dousy of one last night. I was actually out in it with Quinn and Drew looking for guinea fowl. We only had three. We are down to our last seven and so we searched all over. I sent Drew in at one point, and Quinn and I grabbed the dogs to help us find them. Love was the better bird dog and led us right to three of them. Apparently our local predator took down the seventh...still haven't figured out what that is or how to deter it.

At one point, I was hugging two fowls to my chest as I knelt in the rainy mud on a hill that had a sharper than 45 degree angle, unable to make any headway up without sliding back again. It was dark, my flashlight lay on the ground beside me and my umbrella was abandoned long before that. I had to dig my knees into the ground to make my way up the hill with the two guineas in my arms so that I could get them put away. Quinn had already herded the other one up. He set it outside the door. When we went back later (after abandoning our search for the last one) it had not entered the coop so I had to canvas the chicken yard looking for it. I found it huddled in the nook of a tree. They are supposed to climb trees at night for protection but these biddies keep nestling into the ground! Sigh. Hopefully I will do better with this next batch!