Toe

Preston and Jorja were at the counter painting. Preston decided to paint Jorja's shirt. I told him that he was done painting. He didn't like that. I picked him up while he thrashed his legs about. The bar stool was knocked over and landed on my toe. It hurts. It's turning colors. It has now been hurting for over two hours. While I was getting ready for tomorrow's school day, I crashed into the school desks . . . bad idea.

On a completely unrelated note, except that this is a good idea, Sunday Maysen made a deal with me. We were driving to church and I said, "Maysen! I can't believe I forgot to have you bring your glasses!" She smiled. Then she said, "Mom, I'll make you a deal. If you don't bother me about wearing glasses the rest of the time we are in Georgia, I won't complain about wearing them when we get to Utah." I said, "DEAL!" before she even finished her sentence. I can live with that. I guess when she meets people and she already is wearing glasses, they won't think anything about it. She doesn't want to go through all the people commenting on her glasses. I think she finds it annoying.

Figgletrot

I'm on my way to Figgletrot,

I've heard it's west of 'ere.

Just follow the setting sun

Straight on 'til mornin' come.

I'm on my way to Figgletrot,

With nothin' but my cap.

I'm chasin' after the setting sun,

The moon is chasin' me'

The stars can see to Figgletrot,

I heard it long ago,

That you'd better run to Figgletrot

Before the sun sinks low.

It follows me to Figgletrot,

The moon it never goes,

Never strays from path of light

The way the sharp wind blows.

The breeze leads far from Figgletrot,

Promising joy and peace and rest.

But wind I'll ne'r follow,

To the evil Dragon's nest.

I'm almost there to Figgletrot,

Atop the mountain crest,

Where the Lion waits for me,

And I can finally rest.

It was worth the fight to Figgletrot,

Though struggles that I had,

The Dragon n'er shall reach me,

And try to turn me bad.

The Lion rules o'er Figgletrot.

The Dragon is his bane,

But no longer live in fear,

When light shall rule again.

But alas my dear old brother,

The path he did not see,

He followed after wind wisp,

And flames now lick his cheeks.

And though I live in Figgletrot,

With wonders to behold,

Where with Dragon now he lies,

With Lion now I go.

He'll never taste of Figgletrot,

Of glory and of light.

He followed tempting breezes,

And promises of night.

The Lion rules o'er Figgletrot,

The Dragon down below,

Come now you flock of sheep,

And bask in mountain glow.

So follow me to Figgletrot,

With cap and trust and faith,

And ne'r shall you wander

To taste of Dragon flame.

--Maysen Smith

Jakob and Tito

Today we had two of my favorite people over for dinner, Jakob and Tito. We had turkey and scones. Yummm. It was so nice just to sit and chat with Tito. I haven't seen her since school ended in the spring. Maysen and Jakob have been in classes together since fourth grade. Jakob's makes me laugh. It was so nice to see them again. Tito told me that Jakob had just mentioned that even though Maysen wasn't in school with him anymore, it was nice to know she hadn't moved away. Whoops. Maybe they will come visit us in Utah. One can always dream, right?

Preston, Jakob, Maysen

After dinner we played the wii. Mario Kart, Super Mario Bros., and my favorite - Smooth Moves.

Stockton & Jakob

Preston & Jorja

Stockton, Jakob & Maysen

Jakob & Tito
Jakob & Maysen

When they were leaving, Maysen said, "Good-bye Jakob, I'm going to miss you." Jakob went to give her a hug good-bye...Maysen dodged him, laughed and said, "Not that much." Mike busted out laughing at that one. I wish I had gotten a picture of me and Tito....just forgot. Drat!

Preston, Packing and Notes From the Past

Yesterday as we were saying our nightly prayers, Mike blessed that someone would want to buy our house. As soon as the prayer was over, Preston said, "No Daddy! I love this house! I don't want anyone to buy it." We tried explaining to him that we were moving to Utah and would get a new house there. He asked if we were coming back. I told him no. He looked right in my eyes, his own eyes filling with tears and croaked out, "Never?" It was so sad. Then he started giving me the lip. I tried to comfort him, but this is the first time it dawned on him what was happening. Maysen had a really hard time moving here. She was three months older than Preston when we moved to Georgia. That's crazy. It sure seemed like she was a lot older.

Speaking of moving, we spent the day packing, packing and packing. Mike came across something I had saved from Stockton. He wrote it when he was really little, before he was in school. The first paper said:

LOOK

LOOK

LOOK

On the back he drew a picture of us and wrote I LOVE YOU MOM LOVE STOCKTON.

The second paper I had was also from Stockton. I think he wrote this one even earlier than the last. It was written in red crayon and took up the entire page. He said, I LOVE MOM I LOVE YOU I NO IT IS NOT GOOD TO BE ON THE TABLE I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU IM GOOD NOT BAD LOVE STOCKTON.

For the record, I have never told Stockton he was bad. I have never even told him anything he has done was bad. I have been very conscious of this because in my child education classes in college I was taught that if you told a child something they did was bad, then they would internalize that they were bad. I was taught to always give specific reasons as to why I was saying no. For example, that is not safe...this is where we eat and your feet are dirty...the chandelier can break if you swing on it. (The last one happened in Washington.)

The point is...I thought it was a sweet note Stockton gave me, but I'm baffled as to why he thought I would think he was bad. Kind of breaks my heart.

Poem for Porge's Party

Jorja passed out invitations to her birthday party today. They turned out really cute. I just used a Walmart template. We had the three pictures below going across the top. (That sentence sounds funny.)

Jorja

Jorja & Mrs. Trombino
Jorja

Below the pictures we had this poem:

Sweet little Jorja is moving away,
September fifteenth will be her last day.
An early birthday we thought would be fun,
Instead of a party where she knows no one.
So come to her house and join in the fun,
September fourth from eleven to one.

In other news. I talked to Utah Virtual Academy yesterday. They said that they could transfer Maysen and Stockton over. They will be able to keep all their work and they won't have to retake any tests...especially the scantron ones at the beginning of the year.

Also, I finished Mockingjay last night. I would love for Suzanne Collins to write The Hunger Games from Peeta's perspective. I think that would be really interesting.

Jorja's 'Not a Talk'

On Sunday, Jorja was asked to give a talk. Her talk was on how miracles come to those who have faith. She worked hard on her talk and practiced it all week. I was conducting this Sunday. When it was Jorja's turn to give the talk, she wouldn't do it. I was frustrated because we had worked so hard on this. I ended up reading the talk for her. I told her next time she had to give a talk I would make sure I wasn't on the stand. She has given a talk before, and she really is fantastic. I don't think she would have refused to give the talk for anyone but me. I think saying no to an adult is harder for her than reading a paper she has memorized. Anyway, here is her talk.

A long time ago there was a primary president in Utah named Sister Stratton. She got very sick and became blind. The doctor couldn’t help her, so he sent her to a hospital. For weeks the doctors tried to help her, but nothing worked. Finally Sister Stratton wanted to go home.

The primary children were very sad and they wanted to help Sister Stratton. They decided to hold a special fast for her. They knew that if they had faith and fasted and prayed, Heavenly Father would help her in way they could not, it was really hard to go without food all day, but even the youngest Primary children fasted and prayed for Sister Stratton. That night they met together and prayed. They felt peace and joy and knew that Heavenly Father had heard their prayers. A beautiful sun was setting as they walked home.

A few days later the primary children ran to greet Sister Stratton’s wagon and they told her of their fast. She asked them when their meeting was. They replied, “At sunset”. Sister Stratton sat back. Her eyes filed with tears and said, “At sunset on that day, I was sitting in a chair by the window of my hospital room. As I looked up, I saw the sunset for the first time since the fever stole my sight. Yes, children. I can see!” That was a miracle.

I know that if we have faith we can see miracles. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

I Don't Like People

So Stockton was sick today. He threw up at least six times. Poor kid. Pretty cool that he was able to still get his schoolwork done. So many advantages!

At dinner today we were talking about what the plan is. Mike heard his start date today. September 20th. I was telling the kids that we would probably rent somewhere or live at Grandma Honey's house until we found a new house. I'm trying to figure out what to do about schools. I thought the prospect of Jorja having to start school, again, only to change schools in a few weeks/months would be horrible for her. She just smiled and said, "Then I'd get three teachers." I guess she's more resilient than I thought.

While we were talking about moving, Stockton said, "I'd rather stay at Papa's house then Grandpa's. Grandpa has annoying dogs, and it's a little crowded and there's lots of people there and I don't like people....except for cartoon people.....unless they have a dumb laugh track and musical score." I actually ran and started writing his quote down. Maysen said, "Uh oh Stockton, that's going on the blog." He started begging me not to put it on the blog, but I was laughing so hard I was crying. I mean, how could I not put it on here? "I hate people except cartoon people?" Classic. I love my kids.

Man, That Girl LOVES Frogs!

Tonight we were talking about home safety. Mike told Jorja that if there was a fire, she needed to get out of the house FAST. Don't stop and get her webkinz, and don't run upstairs to get her frogs. That made Jorja really upset. Mike tried to explain that we could always get new frogs, but we couldn't get a new Jorja. That concept was blowing her mind. She had a look of complete terror etched in her face. Mike said, "Jorja, the house isn't going to catch fire, but I need you to understand that you are more important than your frogs." Somehow I don't think she quite believed that.

HOME

So..... things have been happening here this past week that I haven't wanted to blog about. Mike has now accepted a job offer and we will be moving to UTAH! We are so excited! Well, Jorja is a little sad, but we told her she could have an early birthday party before we moved, so that made her feel a little better. Preston & Stockton keep talking about how we should teleport our house. It is going to be hard to leave it behind. We love it.

We are excited, sad, anxious, happy, nervous and a whole bunch of different emotions all at the same time. Mike flew down to Utah last weekend. He had interviews at overstock.com. They went really well. They actually work at a building that everytime we have driven by it for the last ten years I have said something like, "That would be the greatest place to work".....or "I wish you worked there"..... etc. The pay is a little less then he has here, but it would be less pay in UTAH! So we're okay with that.

Mike came home on Monday night. He was sent an offer letter on Thursday I think. We fasted and prayed and feel really peaceful about the entire situation. Our ward isn't excited to see us go. Just in the last two months we have lost our bishop, executive secretary, ward clerk, and now elders quorum president (besides three primary teachers and a primary counselor).

Mike is planning on giving his two week notice the first of September and hopefully starting work at the end of September. That way we will always be covered by insurance. We don't know many more details at this point and are hoping a lot of things fall into place. Is it a perfect plan? No, but I think that's what I like about it.

Dinner With The Giant Lady

We had Stephanie and her family over for dinner tonight. At church, the little kids have started calling Stephanie The Giant Lady. Pretty funny. Jorja was excited to have Alyssa come over. Those two really click. Stockton, Jorja and Preston all had fun playing with Tim (Alyssa's dad). He was crazy. They were climbing all over him and having a grand time. Tim put a dollar on the table and said, "This is going to the first Smith kid that eats five shrimp." He ended up taking the dollar home....none of our kids would go for it. We ended the evening eating ice cream and cookies. Stephanie brought over cookies and Mike brought out every flavor of ice cream that we have. We have tons since I love to buy it on the buy one get one free deals, but I don't eat it as often as I use to.... The kids made gigantic sundaes with Lemon, Lemonade, Extreme Moose Tracks, Mint Chocolate-Chip, Cookie Dough, Vanilla Bean, Butterfinger and Chocolate. I think that's all of them. Plus chocolate, caramel and whip cream on top. Ice cream heaven. I think I'm going to be sick....but it was worth it.

Swimming

We were finally able to go swimming. The entire family went so it was really fun. Alyssa met us there so Jorja was really happy. She had such a fun time at her house and didn't want to leave. Mike was gone in the evening at an Elders Quorum activity. Now he is down sawing on wood. I think he's making a carriage for his cannon. He can amuse himself easily.

Porge is Gone

Jorja is sleeping over at Alyssa's house. Her first sleepover. She has wanted one for a long time. She went over for a movie, but soon Stephanie called and asked if Jorja could stay. Earlier today, we met over at the pool. As soon as we got there, we heard thunder. The guy wouldn't let us get in the pool for a half hour. I took my kids home, met Mike, had some family time, then took Jorja, Stockton and Preston back. Stephanie had called and said they were letting them in. As soon as we walked in, it thundered again! Georgia can be so annoying!

Jorja also earned a canteen at school. She bought it from the prize box. It was $50 (camp cash). She was very proud. She earned $10 today for passing her math maniac subtraction test. She says that now she won't mind going hiking because she has a canteen. She is planning on taking it to school as her water bottle. She's so cute. I miss her already.

Getting the Hang of It

We are starting to get comfortable with homeschool. Maysen is really easy. She just powers through her work, and needs little from me. Stockton needs more prodding. Most of his work is offline. He likes the online stuff much better (imagine that). He is loving his French. Today I skipped the math unit and went straight to the end of the unit test. He scored a 98%, so we will be moving on. I'm loving the classroom Mike has set up. It is so much fun down here in the basement. Preston is so cute. He comes and turns the projector on to play his webkinz. Pretty funny.

Happy Birthday!

Today my mom would have turned 63. Wow. I can't even imagine it. We had cake/cupcakes to celebrate. I only took pictures of the cupcakes because my cake is just embarrassing....but tasty.

Homeschool was great today. Hopefully we're getting the hang of it! Jorja, Preston & I went to Jorja's 2nd grade orientation. We got to walk around her room. It's pretty funny...on the AR wall, there is Jorja's name, all by herself....on the 21 point mark. No one else is on the board. You only need 5 points to get on the board. Crazy Porge.

Still Learning

Mike went to Utah last weekend for a job interview. He was able to go boating with his family, which was fun for him. Shannon sent him home with chocolates for everyone. I only got a picture of Stockton with his. Stockton had a piano, Maysen a beehive, Preston a dinosaur and Jorja a frog. I even got chocolate covered cinnamon bears. Thanks Shannon!

Stockton

We had a LONG day of homeschool today. The math scantron test took forever! It took them an hour and a half. The questions at the end were crazy. I had no idea how to do those problems. The scantron tests are designed to test you to find your level. Poor Stockton had to keep going and going and going. I also think I messed up a little on what I had them do. Nothing bad, but I think I didn't need to have them do all the lessons we did today. Hard to explain, I barely understand it myself. I'm looking forward to getting some of my questions answered tomorrow. Until then, we're having fun but working hard!

Jorja came home from school yesterday with 21 AR points. She has now met the AR goal for the year for 2nd grade. Eight days in . . . Granted the goal for 2nd grade is 18 points. What kind of goal is that?

First Day of Homeschool

Today we started homeschool. I made Maysen and Stockton pose for their first day of school pictures. Gotta still have those. Then we took the long walk downstairs. I wish I could say the first day went without a hitch, but that would be too good to be true. First, they worked on their languages, then they both took a reading scantron test. Next, they needed to watch an orientation assembly on Illuminate (or something like that). I guess that too many people were trying to watch it that it crashed. At least it wasn't on my end. I was getting so frustrated wondering what I was doing wrong. They weren't able to watch the orientation until after I got Jorja home from school. Then their classes loaded and they had a full day ahead of them. We zoomed through the classes, fudged a little on the time we spent and called it good. Stockton said, "That was a hard first day of school." I think it will be better when they are doing school during the day. Well....here's hoping tomorrow is better!

Maysen ~ 7th grade

Stockton ~ 5th grade
Stockton & Maysen
Stockton

Maysen

I told them they had to get dressed everyday for school. (They would live in their pajamas if I let them.) At least I'm not making them wear shoes! For that they are very grateful.

One More Day

I just got back from a walk with Teresa. It's been a long time since we've done that. I miss it! It's harder now that she doesn't live two doors up from me. She was nice and drove to my house. We walked around our neighborhood . . . just like old times.

School starts tomorrow for Maysen and Stockton. I am really excited. It seems like I have been preparing so long for this, I'm excited to see what it is actually like. To see if my kids thrive in this environment. Can't wait! Stockton's pretty funny. He told me today that every time one of his church teachers mentions school that he thinks, "Ha ha suckers!"

Sleeping Angels

When I checked on the kids before bed, this is what I found. Jorja was sleeping in Preston's bed. Preston LOVES her. He misses her so much now that she is at school. It's been okay though, because Stockton and Maysen have been here. I wonder what next week is going to be like when we start homeschool.

Jorja & Preston

Stockton had a birthday party today. Another set of twins. I think it is funny how Stockton has three sets of twin friends. Two from school and one from church. Anyway, Seth and Max had a Minute to Win It party. Right before the party started, it began pouring buckets. It rains hard here! I felt so bad for Lori. She had planned an outside party...good thing she is easy going - I guess you have to be with twins. Lori said Stockton had fun at the party. While they were playing Mario Kart Wii, he said it was nice to play with people who had skill.

Max, Stockton & Seth...I'm pretty sure

A quick Seth story that I want to remember. Before school started this year, we were taking about how Jorja always has one friend that she adores each year. This is a friend that she will always talk about at home. Pre-school it was Emily, then the next year it was A.J. Kindergarten was Emma, and 1st grade was Cannon. We were wondering who it would be this year. Stockton said, "In 4th grade for me it was Seth of course".

In other news that is not exciting to anyone but me, I FOUND MY EARRING!!!! Over a week ago I lost my favorite earring. It was one of Sharen's earrings. One of the things that was given to me after she died. They were simple diamond studs, but I loved them and wore them often. I wore them to back to school night. Later that night, Mike and I watched So You Think You Can Dance in the basement. When I was getting ready for bed I noticed that my earring was gone. I thought it was in the basement, or had fallen out at school. I couldn't find it anywhere and had given up. Today, I was cleaning the baseboards in the main floor bathroom and my earring was just sitting there on the floor. I couldn't believe it! I can't find the back, but that is okay...I'm so happy!

The Best Thing

Mike and Stockton were talking about the best thing about moving to Utah. (A frequent topic in our house . . . one can always dream) Anyway, Stockton said the best thing would be not having to hear people say y'all anymore. He cracks me up.

At dinner tonight, Mike and I put a giant slice of watermelon on Jorja's plate. When I say giant, I mean huge! No way could she eat it in one sitting. Jorja thought we were out of watermelon, so when we called everyone for dinner her eyes got so big. She was excited. Everyone else got apples. It was pretty funny, but you probably had to be there.

Maysen was babysitting tonight, and I got home right as she was putting the kids to bed. As I walked in the house, I heard them saying a family prayer. It was so sweet. I waited around the corner until she was done. When she turned to leave the room she gave a scream, "There you are!" It was funny. I didn't feel bad about scaring her this time. Much better to be scared when you are awake.

Teacher Change

Maysen's teacher called me this morning. I had asked her about the gifted program. It is called ALP. Ms. Rollins asked if I would send Maysen's CRCT scores. Maysen scanned them in for me and I e-mailed her (and Stockton's) scores. I got an e-mail back saying she would get Maysen's scores to the right people. A few hours later, I got a new e-mail saying that Maysen is now in the ALP program, so she has been assigned a new teacher. Her new teacher's name is Ms. Yawn! Oh I laughed! Hopefully she doesn't live up to her name! I hope Stockton's scores get to the right people. If they get in based only on their CRCT scores, he would be in for sure. Who am I kidding, there is no way he wouldn't be in a gifted program. I guess we'll just wait and see.

How Much Watermelon Can One Girl Eat?

Some things we'll never know. We have finally finished the giant watermelon I bought last week. Porge ate most of it. Seriously. She loves it.

Jorja

In other news, Preston Smith lost in his election. Too bad. I also voted for Karen Handel for governor. The only reason I voted for her is that Mike Huckabee was backing Nathan Deal. (Huckabee annoys me enough that that was a good enough reason for me.) But, Handel lost too. Oh well.

I'm Dry!

Preston likes to tell me, "I'm so proud you're dry." How sweet. I am very proud that he's dry. He's been dry for almost a week. I'm hoping this is it! He told me last week that he was going to stay dry forever!

I was wrong about Stockton wanting a spacesuit for his avatar. He wanted a robot costume. He discovered that he could play the games over and over and earn money each time. He played the same game until he earned his robot costume and his spaceship background. I think he earned other stuff as well. His next goal is to earn everything they offer. Hopefully he will enjoy (and learn) the French along the way.

I voted today. I voted for Preston Smith for Attorney General. I don't know anything about him . . . hope he's good, but I just couldn't resist. It is weird getting fancy fliers with PRESTON SMITH all over them. And phone calls. Just weird.

New Teachers

I was contacted (e-mail) by Maysen's teacher (Ms. Rollins) and (phone) Stockton's teacher (Ms. Berry). Stockton says he likes his teacher's name better. I am excited to get started on the homeschooling. I really want to see how my children do under this system. I started Stockton on French and Maysen on Chinese on Friday. Both are really liking it so far. (Powerspeak is the program) Right now I only let them do one lesson a day . . . Stockton wanted to do more. You can earn 'money' for every question right. With the money you can buy things for your avatar. Stockton wants to save up for a space suit - I think.

Jorja is still loving school. She earned the math maniac addition award today. She was very proud about that. She is such a joy.

Nicholas & Taylor

Stockton has two friends named Nicholas and Taylor. They live one street away. They are twins. Stockton and Jorja get to their house by cutting through Jaz's backyard. Jorja loves to go over to their house with Stockton. Sometimes she bakes with their mom. They are a really nice family. Stockton went to their birthday party yesterday. It was at one of those jumping places where he can just be crazy. That is Stockton's kind of party! Here had a great time. Here he is below taking a shortcut on the obstacle course.

Stockton

Stockton & Nicholas
Stockton & Taylor

Stockton and Nicholas are a lot alike. They were in kindergarten, first grade and fourth grade together. Stockton really wanted to have a class with Taylor, so Rhonda requested Taylor be in Stockton's third grade class. That was so nice! We love these two boys. Both are super sweet and really nice to Stockton as well as Jorja. I'm going to miss having Stockton be at school with them. Hopefully he does well at home . . . we shall see.

Watermelon

Jorja loves watermelon. She had at least 10 slices today. I even thought it was good, but 10 slices? Crazy!

Every night before I go to sleep I check on the kids. I make sure they have covers on and I kiss them goodnight. I sneak into every room except Maysen's. She never wakes up. I can be as loud as I want, I can even turn on the lights for crying out loud. Anyway, tonight when I checked on her, she was on top of her covers. I pulled her comforter out, but I wasn't too careful because I knew she wouldn't wake up. As I was doing this I looked down and thought I saw her eyes open. I thought, "Did she really wake up?" So I put my head closer to hers to see if her eyes were open. Looking back, that wasn't such a smart or nice thing to do. When I looked down, her eyes were indeed open. I was about an inch from her face and she screamed. She had a look of pure terror on her face. I started saying, "It's okay, it's just mommy, you're safe, I love you." The look of terror stayed on for about five seconds. I felt so bad. That would completely freak me out. I wonder if she will remember it in the morning. Sorry Maysen - from now on I will be more careful when I check on you.

Cats

Mike took me to see Cats today. Let me just say that I didn't get it. That was the weirdest thing I have ever seen . . . and not in a good way. Maybe if I knew a little about what it was about, or the songs or anything . . . it was just bizarre. It did help to notice that the musical was based on different poems. It seemed like they tried hard to tie the poems together, but I just totally missed the point. I guess I'm not cultured enough. The people behind us sure seemed to get it as they thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Although they kept comparing the cats on the stage with their various cats at home. Reminded me of Angela on The Office. I can't believe that play was on Broadway for so long. The cat that sang Memories was amazing, and the magical cat was fun to watch, but that was pretty much it. The Fox Theater was beautiful. We had never sat in the balcony before, and I liked that a lot better. It was cool looking at the stars in the ceiling. We love the castle walls the are around the stage, it's beautiful.

We stopped at Landmark Diner on the way home. We decided to stop if we could get free parking. We found a spot that said one hour parking. We crossed the street to the diner when this crazy looking guy starts running to us, yelling at us. It is about 10:30 at night and downtown Atlanta can get pretty scary. He started talking to us about our car was going to get booted if we parked there. I told him it was one hour parking. He said that you have to pay and to come with him down the street. So we followed him down this dark street away from everybody (I know . . . we're crazy!), but down the street is a new parking meter where you pay with credit cards. We never saw it there. How are people suppose to know? We thanked the crazy guy and decided to still go to the diner since we were out of the car. On the way back the dark empty street the crazy guy was still waiting for us. He wanted money for saving us the trouble of getting booted. Mike gave him a dollar. He looked disgusted with us. I was hoping he wouldn't go and slash our tires.

We shared a yummy milkshake and ate some greasy food. On the way out we looked for the crazy guy again, now that we had a few more dollars, but he was gone and our tires were in good shape - thank goodness! Some days I miss Seattle! On the way home we talked about all the ways Seattle was less scary than Atlanta.

We had fun though, and it was nice to have the kids all asleep in their own beds when we got home. I love having a live-in babysitter!

Mike & Stephanie ~ taken by Maysen

Triple Nerd Score

Mike had a job interview today. One of the questions they asked was, "What is the nerdiest thing you have ever done." Mike had plenty of material to pull from. I think he went with building a computer controlled submarine robot. (He kicked himself for not saying he hosted a pod cast with a robot host sidekick.) Another question they had was, "What do you do in your spare time?" Mike replied, "Currently I'm building a 7 foot pirate cannon in my basement." Sorry interviewers . . . Mike has you beat on the nerd scale.

In other news . . . it was Jorja's first day of school! Mike gave her a father's blessing before he went to work. Everything ran smoothly this morning and we arrived early. Here is Jorja looking cute in her first day of school outfit. I meant to get her a new outfit (hers is a hand-me-down from Maysen), but two things stopped me. First, I hate to shop. Second, I hate shopping for clothes. Baby clothes were fun, but now when the kids have opinions of their own . . . it's a whole new ballgame.

Jorja & Preston

Jorja & Mrs. Trombino
Caroline, Benjamin & Jorja

Many people asked about Stockton. He has a lot of friends that are pretty sad he isn't coming back. Mrs. McLendon was really sad that she won't have Stockton in P.C. this year. She is starting a letterboxing club . . . maybe we can see if Stockton can join them once in awhile.

Jorja loved her first day. She loved her teacher. Preston and I went and ate lunch with her. She was happy about that. Preston missed her all day long. I think she is going to have a great year.

Sneak-A-Peek

Peek is right! Jorja had her open house for school today. Only this year they called it sneak-a-peek. Usually, Jorja would get to find her classroom, meet her teacher, feel really special. This year, the class lists were in the hall, then all the 2nd grade teachers were standing in the line in the cafeteria. It was kind of a let down. At least she got the teacher I wanted her to get - Mrs. Trombino. Alyssa would have been in her class, but she is going to the charter school instead. Jorja is really disappointed about that. I don't think Jorja's favorite friend in 1st grade is coming back either -- we couldn't find his name on any of the lists. Oh well...I wonder who her new friends will be. We were talking earlier about how Jorja always seems to have one important friend each year. That is the friend we always hear about at home. In preschool it was Emily, then A.J. Kindergarten was Emma. First grade was Cannon. Second grade ?????? I can't wait for her to find out!

Stockton really wanted to come with Jorja today. While we were waiting in the line before they opened the door, Stockton would say things like, "Enjoy your last five minutes of freedom before you enter torture!" I think he is a little excited to stay home. Hope he doesn't regret it.

Stockton Loves the Diving Board

Stockton had a great day today. His friends Seth and Max came over today. Noah was here as well. The highlight of Stockton's day was scouts. You don't hear that from him very often. They worked on a swimming badge, that was tolerable . . . but they got to play on the diving board. Stockton LOVED that!

I just saw Rachel & Marie on Skype! How cool is that? We are going to call back in an hour when Brett is home on his lunch break. Hopefully we can see them again. Weird that we are ready for bed and they are getting ready for lunch.

Chuck-E-Cheese

I took Stockton, Jorja and Preston to Chuck-E-Cheese today. Stockton hit the jackpot on one game and earned 150 tickets. He was so excited. When he was putting his tickets in the ticket muncher he turned to me and said, "I am so, so happy right now". It's all about the tickets for him. I think he finished with 240 tickets. We had 400 tickets in all. Stockton declared it our most productive Chuck-E-Cheese visit ever.

Kidney Stone - Again

Mike felt a kidney stone attack coming on while he was at church. He has been in pain off and on today. Brother Wilcox came over and gave him a blessing. Hope that does the trick.