Here We Go Again!

Yes, it's back-to-school time at our house! Grant and Jillian are just finishing up their first week of 6th and 3rd grades. Sometimes I think it's harder for me than for them that they have to start school in July. You'd think I'd be used to it by now after six years in Utah (!!!) but every summer it just feels wrong to start a new grade when it's 100+ degrees outside and stays light until almost 10pm. I just love trying to get them to bed on time, especially when they are the only ones in school so far. Evan and Alyssa won't start for 4 more weeks, and soon after that G and J will be out for the whole month of September! Crazy.

It's Great to Be Eight!

Jillian celebrated her 8th birthday with a Backyard Camp-out (that ended at 10pm so they didn't really camp overnight). Seven girls (plus Jillian and Corinne) played games, went on a treasure hunt, sang around the campfire, told scary stories in the tent, ate campfire cake, and lit sparklers. It was a great party, and now we're looking forward to Jillian's baptism on Saturday! (Oh, I almost forgot to thank Mitchell and Erin for their suggestion about making a log cake. It was a big hit!)

She's Off the Charts!

But the wrong way off. As in, not even on the shaded portion of the growth curve chart--in the 2nd percentile. At least she's consistent. Hayley's 9 month dr. visit was last week and she weighed exactly 15 lbs. However, her head circumference puts her in the 89th percentile. Good thing her head is big enough to support such enormous bows.

She is so much fun these days! You can look in her eyes and tell that she is soaking up new information daily. She claps and squeals when excited, and tries to imitate the sounds she hears. Hayley is a great eater even though she usually makes a face at the first bite of something new. She spends more and more time playing contentedly, as long as Jillian and Corinne are close by, and doesn't constantly need to be held. She's almost crawling, and loves to stand and walk with help. She usually sleeps through the night, which is wonderful when it happens, and still takes a couple of good naps each day, as long as we're home during nap time. Corinne is sitting by me and wants me to write that Hayley knows how to say "dada" and "mom", which is true, but at this point those are just experimental sounds--I don't think she knows what she's saying. This little girl gets so much attention from her whole family--we love her!

Give her FIVE!!!

I hope Alyssa isn't embarrassed that I'm posting this. Yesterday in the mail we received the results of her first AP test. She scored a FIVE (the highest possible) on her AP Human Geography test--as a freshman! I always knew she was smarter than me.