What happened to September. The month was a blur. The kids are firmly settled in school. Emma has started soccer. Gracie is a brownie. Cooper is loving being an Owl. And Henry is still not sleeping!
School started the Wednesday after we got home from Santa Cruz. Gracie is in the 2nd Grade, Emma is in 7th and Cooper is an Owl.
Mrs. Williams is Gracie's teacher. I am very excited to have her as a teacher. Emma Jo had her for part of the day in 2nd and I've always been impressed with how calm she is. She works in the nursery at least one weekend a month and she and her husband have lavish loved on each of the boys while they have been in the nursery. She is also part of a prayer group at school and she prayed for us throughout Henry's pregnancy.
This is Emma's 2nd year in Jr. High. She has the same primary teacher. Her class is a combo class with the 6th graders but they have many core classes separate. She is studying History, Math, English, Science, Computers, Spanish, Latin, and Bible. This year we have new teachers for Spanish, Computer and History. I'm very happy that Emma is experiencing multiple teachers each day. I hope it prepares her for High School in a couple of years. I'm leaning towards public High School and I pray that it isn't too hard of a transition.
Cooper is an Owl this year. His teacher is Ms. Anderson who is the sister of his assistant teacher last year. He is in a small class with 7 boys and 2 girls. He seems to be thriving and he can spell his name!
Henry started walking just after his 1st birthday and now he is running everywhere. He learned how to tackle and wrestle while we were in Santa Cruz. Now it is very common to hear Jason and I telling him to "be nice to your brother, don't tackle your sister!" He loves them but he isn't gentle. One of Henry's favorite ways to express his love is to sit on your head.
Emma Jo is now fully engulfed in Soccer. She is playing for Coach Rob again on the Red Thunder. He is a great coach and she is really enjoying the season. Emma plays multiple positions but usually plays either Attacking Mid or Goalie. She also plays Defending Mid, Full Back and even played Forward last week. She is becoming very skilled at controlling the ball and not panicking under pressure. Emma has a great kick and can boot the ball past half field on Goal Kicks. I am really enjoying watching her play. Last Saturday Emma's game was at 7pm under the lights. It was very exciting game and made me hope that she might like to play for Windsor High in a couple of years.
Gracie is in her 3rd year of Girl Scouts, this year as a Brownie. She is also doing ballet this year after a two year absence. She is loving both, especially Brownies with Rhoda. Last weekend was "Fall Encampment" for girl scouts and Grace go to go to Cazadero with Rhoda and 6 other girls from her troop. They left Friday evening and didn't return until just before lunch on Sunday. Grace had a great time and I don't think she missed us at all. Cooper on the other hand continually asked when we were going to pick up Grace. They are great playmates and Cooper was bored without his "girlie".
Life can be a little overwhelming with four children. I've been swamped at work and have started going to Oakville 1 or 2 days a week. This just adds to the chaos of multiple after-school activities each week. To top it off, Henry still doesn't sleep. In fact he has become a worse sleeper over the past month. He used to go to sleep around 8pm, wake for a snack around midnight, another snack around 3am and then up for the day around 6am. It wasn't ideal but it was okay. Then he started waking around 11:30pm and not going back to sleep until after 1:30am. After a couple of weeks of that, Jason decided to step in. Now thankfully Jason puts him to bed 4-5 nights a week. It is tough on Jason but so nice for me after 13+ nights of taking him to bed every single night. Now I have the option to unwind a little in the evenings and I even have gone to a few women's events at church. I pray that someday soon Henry will start sleeping and that we can encourage it without forcing him.
