Back to reality

Here we are on the eve of Luke going for his first day of Kindergarten....Yes I am freaking out! We went to the "Meet your teacher" and met Ms. Balasis and she is wonderful! Everyone I saw that knew of her said that we truly got the best kindergarten teacher in the school! So that made us very happy. Ms. Balasis gave us a little packet and inside it had a picture of her with a little welcome note. Luke thought this was the greatest thing and made sure he showed everyone we talked to. Now he has it sitting on his dresser. We had a great time...Ms. Balasis had a clipboard for us when we first walked in and it had a little scavenger hunt around the room so we could get familiar with the room. We had to find the bathrooms, the drinking fountain, the class rules, Luke's place at his table, his cubby hole, etc. It really made him feel comfortable by the end. Then his favorite part of the night was getting his "spirit shirt" that he gets to wear every Friday and on field trips. He wouldn't take it off for 2 days! So he is very excited.

We have really been missing our family now that we are back from vacation. I think we are finally getting back into reality. We had such a great trip! Luke and Emma can't stop talking about it to their friends. They love to tell them all about their cousins. Since we've been back there are 2 new things for me to report on....first and foremost....we bought a PIANO!!!!!!!! I am so excited!!!! I have always kept my eye open for one in the wanted ads, but usually I am too late, or they are too expensive. Well this time the price was right and I was the first to call. So we went and checked it out and decided to get it. We picked it up on a Monday night, we didn't want to take any men away from their families to help us move it, and it was also too expensive to hire a piano mover (it was almost as much as the cost of the piano)....so instead we rented a small moving truck. They had a little device that would tie around the piano and then pop it off the ground with easy to hold handles. So Matt and I moved it ourselves!!!!! And it still works after we did so :) The lady was so cool and gave us a box of over 30 piano books and sheet music!!!!! That alone probably cost as much as the piano. It was the ladies daughter who owned the piano and then she moved to Maine and left the piano in this ladies entryway. She just wanted it gone, and I was happy to take it! So I am addicted to practicing. I haven't taken piano since I was about 10 and so I am trying to re-teach myself. I've started with Popcorn Popping and I am now working on "I know My Father Lives" It is so fun but very addicting and I find myself not wanting to cook dinner or pick up the house :) (Not that I am always loving doing housework anyway lol).

The other thing that I am excited about is that my friends and I are signed up to participate in a triathlon coming up in October! Now all I have to do is buy a bike :). I started training this week and so I have been running, swimming and doing the stationary bike. I think it is going to be really fun. It is not a full triathlon, but a mini one, so the run is 2.7 miles, the swim is .5 miles, and the bike is 10 miles. So I will let you know if I live through it! :)

One more funny thing...Monday we talked about missionary work and we let the kids know that our ward has a goal of handing out 97 Books of Mormon to commemorate President Hinckley's 97th birthday. We asked the kids who they thought we should give one to...Luke of course said our next door neighbor, and his best friend Nicholaus. Emma of course said her best buddy Brooke and they said that we should give one to Liz and George, the kids parents. Well the next day we were over at Liz's house swimming and Luke says "Hey Liz we want to give you a Book of Mormon"! That wasn't exactly the way I had pictured doing it, but it worked! So I told Liz that yes we wanted to share one with her and she said that would be fine! So tomorrow we are going to write our testimony in it and give it to her! Thanks to our little missionary Luke!!!!

Gavin is getting another new tooth, and so he has been a little crankier then usual. But he is pretty close now to crawling on all fours instead of the army style. He is constantly getting up on his knees and then after about 2 crawls he drops down to his belly again.

I think it will be good for Emma to have Luke at school to get a little more of my attention. Usually she plays so well by herself, but lately she BEGS me to play Barbies with her non-stop! I am having flashbacks of when we were little and Kim would beg me to play Barbies, just after I decided I was too mature for Barbies. I am really no good at imagining things anymore and so it is hard for me! :)