Last Week

Last week Anya began handwriting and reading "classes". She has been doing language lessons with Talmage and math at her level. She has been anxious for more school (home school) so I added hand writing and reading. She's loving it. She can read simple words like cat, hat, bat, sun, bed, and dog. She can write a few letters already but still has to be reminded to hold her pencil correctly.



Last week Talmage learned to ride his bike on two wheels. He practices almost every evening while Aaron is at class and then likes to show him how much he has improved. Anya loves to run or ride her bike in front of him and has been giving him a lot of practice in swerving and fitting through tight places. At first I tried to keep her out of the way but he loves the "obstacles" and she enjoys the thrill of being chased down and almost run over. She has a lot of faith in her big brother's abilities.

Last week Talmage chose his tie to match Anya's dress. Someone at church actually noticed and commented on it, which made Talmage especially proud. Sometimes they wish they were twins.

Skool Kurikulom

So with the kids doing good at home school, we thought they were ready for more advanced ABC's:
new ABCs

Talmage Gymnastics Videos

I tried to take some videos of Talmage at gymnastics but my digital camera isn't as cool as it was five years ago. It doesn't zoom for videos so you may have to squint to see Talmage. (Hmmm a better camera may be a good Christmas gift.) It has also cooled down into the upper 80's so everyone is opening doors and windows to let the "cool, fresh" air in. So all the fans are roaring and making a racket in the background.



Here Talmage is doing a round-off dismount-- off the low beam. This is an old stunt for him, that's why his teacher is not spotting him.




Here is a skill Talmage is still working on. He still needs the mat or a spotter when he's doing a front handspring.

Talmage is in a class by himself and is doing a lot of advanced skills. His teacher loves having him because he is so obedient (perhaps she should take him and Anya to the store sometime). He also works very hard and has way more energy than she can exhaust in an hour class. Today he was doing push ups after class to show her he wasn't tired at all.

Anya's First Day of Gymnastics

I actually remembered to bring my camera to Anya's first day of gymnastics. But I forgot to take pictures during it. These were taken at the end of class.

I try to take a nice picture of her for her "progress poster" and she makes this face. Oh well, it's her personality all the way.

Showing her "finish".

We struggled to find something her to wear for gymnastics. She's tall and thin and worried about modesty. Finally we found this unitard (so she could have shorts and keep her tummy covered when she's upside down) and we bought a black shirt to go under it so she would have sleeves. She is pleased with the end product and even got herself potty trained she she doesn't have the pull-up bulk to deal with. What a big girl!

Anya wanted me to take a picture of her during Talmage's class. Again with the silly faces.

It's so hard to get her to just smile for a picture. But I did it.

What a Guy

Not only is Aaron working, starting his masters but he's also working on another patent. He will meet with a patent lawyer in two weeks to present his idea and go over the paperwork. He was also selected to be part of a work from home pilot group. This means that two days a week he stays home and VPNs to work. So two of the four days he has night classes the kids get to eat lunch and dinner with him and I am assured a car during the day. While he is working from home he is super focused and has been doing more work than when he's at work dealing with coworker distractions. Aaron and USAA have been a good match. We are blessed to be benefiting from this great company.

5 Years Old

Talmage is very pleased to be five years old now. Aaron said he feels old having a five year old. So now Talmage tells people "I'm five and that makes mu dad really old."

When we put Talmage to bed the night before his birthday he reminded me to hang the birthday sign and balloons up for him. (like I'd forget) Then in the morning he came down stair looking for them and then acted surprised to see them. Some days I really think he is running this house.



This is Talmage's rocket cake. I made the rocket shape and then Aaron frosted it and decorated it. Talmage liked the flaming rocket busters.


Here you can listen to Talmages favorite birthday card. We have listened to it over, and over, and over. Thanks Stephanie-- we wont forget this.



The next video is Talmage opening his present from HoneyGram and Papa.



Talmage was pretty excited about this one!




This is a plastic knight costume we bought him. He loves it and wears it often