Steady as she goes..Nov 17-24, 2008

Sunday 23 Nov. 2008

Steady as she goes for this week...

Rachel

After all the parties of the previous week. Rachel was able to relax just a bit this week. She took care of Haydn on Tuesday, so Rachel and the boys took Great Grandma Willes out to the Airport in the morning and dropped her off so she could catch a plane back to Texas. On their way back, the boys were enjoying seeing the planes so Rachel pulled off the road into a parking lot to watch the planes fly over their heads as they landed. Rachel was expecting the 2 yr olds to be excited by the planes, but they were a little too loud and too close for comfort. As the first plane flew overhead, the Zach covered his ears and ran frightened into the van to watch from a “safer” vantage point. Haydn watched a couple more nervously from outside the van, but then told Rachel he was ready to go. Before going home Rachel took them to the drive-through and the park for a fun lunch (and to wear them out).

Grandma GG had to spend most of the day at the airport before she was able to get a standby flight out. She said she found a quiet corner of the airport and read her book.

The rest of the week Rachel and Zach hung out in a quiet house while the rest of the kids were at school.


The Weekend

The highlight of Troy’s week was Friday date night. On Thursday Rachel noticed in the paper an advertisement for Chris Botti Jazz Trumpet concert. Troy is a fan, and we knew he was coming to town this winter, but the date snuck up on us. Fortunately there were still some tickets available and Uncle Bobby was still free to babysit. The concert was very good. He played a good mixture of some standards and some of his more popular songs and some of his newer songs. His albums are mostly “new age” jazz. If you like trumpet and you like Jazz, you should check him out.

Saturday was Stake Temple Day. Troy went to a morning endowment session. The temple was very busy, all the sessions were packed full. At 11:30 Rachel and the kids met Troy on the temple grounds to walk around and go to the visitors center. The weather has been very nice lately (Sunny and 80 degrees for the highs) and it was nice to be out. We took a few minutes to watch a couple of the brides and grooms pose for pictures and make googly eyes at each other. Once the kids got tired of walking around we went into the visitors center. We spent a few minutes in entry room with the big statue of Christ. Then we watched a new movie about Joseph Smith. The movie was a little over an hour long and told many of famous tales of his life. It was inspirational and moving, but more like a French tragedy than a Hollywood happy-feel-good movie.

As part of the Stake Temple Day activities the stake hosted lunch at a nearby chapel – and it’s a good thing they were, because the kids were starting to get hungry and cranky! We stopped in for a bite of lunch. The kids had a big time getting their own apples and chips and lemonade. Troy enjoyed his barbecue pork sandwich.

Rachel stayed at the temple and did some initiatory work. Her mom was there as a Temple worker that afternoon, so for the last round her mom was able to perform the proxy ordinances. It was a neat experience for both of them.

Katie
Katie is still studying about the human body. Generally she enjoys learning about the body. (See the skeleton story earlier). This week, however, they had to learn about the digestive system and the urinary system (Eeeeuuuwww!) In a few weeks they will also cover the reproductive systems, which she is also not looking forward to. She also had the great experience of seeing "The Film" at school this week. You know, the one about "your body and it's changes." Yes, we've all been there. She went in well-informed as we had had the talk already, but she was still mortified at having to share that moment with her girl buddies. She reported everyone had bright red faces as the lights came on after the film...

Zach
Zach and Haydn had a good time playing together on Tuesday. As noted earlier, Zach and Rachel hung out at home for most of Wed through Friday. By the time his sisters got home from school he was ready to play. His sisters were tired from school by this time, however, and just sat around and watched T.V. Zach quite often wanders around the house aimlessly saying sadly, “I Miss Booey” (his nickname for Haydn). The rest of the time he can be found carrying loads of toys to and fro – leaving a trail of stuff wherever he goes.

Claire
Claire is going to school for the whole day now. That’s a long day for a 5 year old. It wears her out. A couple days last week she took a nap after getting home and then still went to bed on time.

Emma
Emma wasn’t the center of attention this week. That didn’t seem to bother her too much. She was just disappointed that mom and dad didn’t cater to the princess’s requests as readily. Sorry Emma – back to reality.

That should do it for this week. Have a great short work and school week and a Terrific Thanksgiving!