Growth Update

Quick update on Vivvie's growth.  We went to her Pediatric Endocrinologist at the beginning of September, and she measured in at 37 1/2" tall...

That means that since starting growth hormone injections on January 15th, she has grown almost four inches!!  She's now on the 2nd Percentile on the growth chart.  Woohoo!  Baby steps, baby steps.  --Lindsay

Getting Some Pointers From the Pros

We are big Real Salt Lake fans around here, so when Poppy & Nana got invited to the RSL Partner Summit in September, and they invited the grandsons to come along with them, the boys thought they had died and gone to heaven.  They got to have their own little soccer camp with the professional soccer players.  How many kids can say they got pointers from the pros?  Here are some pictures that Nana took of the boys...

Just hanging out with Nick Rimando...

Cohen playing goalie...

Aiden taking a shot...

Javier Morales giving Aiden some pointers...

Group picture with Kyle Beckerman...

This is the marketing guy for RSL.  I can't remember his name right now, but my parents have become good friends with him...

A picture with Nick...

And Javier...

More pointers...

The whole group of people that attended the Partners Summit...

Getting their jerseys autographed...

He is NOT ugly...

Even Leo signed their jerseys--in a not-so-orthodox way...

Faces make the best writing surfaces...

That's what I always say...

They love Leo...

After the camp ended, the kids got a feast that any kid would die for--mini corn dogs, mac 'n cheese, french fries, etc. plus all the cotton candy they could eat...

All the boys had a great time!  I'm sure this will be a memory they will remember forever.  Thanks Nana and Poppy!  --Lindsay

Ahoy Mateys!

At the end of August, our good friends, The Simons, took us out on their boat for an evening.  We just went out to Utah Lake and had fun playing on the water for several hours.  The kids absolutely loved riding on the water weenie...

Swimming back to the boat after getting dumped off the water weenie...

Back for more.  This time with Mike sitting shotgun...

Vivvie and I were perfectly content to just ride in the boat...

Lisa and me.  I adore this girl...

Mike finally talked Vivvie into taking a turn on the water weenie.  Well, let me rephrase that, he forced her to take a turn on the water weenie.  Can you tell she's crying in the picture?  We went very slow...

Since we were going so slow, Aiden decided he would do the whole "no hands" thing...

All smiles now that they survived...

It was such a fun evening!  We had a blast.  The Simons had a trip planned to Lake Powell a few days later and Lisa kept saying, "I just know someone's going to break a leg or something, and we won't be able to go."  Well, no one broke a leg while we were boating--but as luck would have it, someone did break a leg later that night.  Lisa's 3rd son, Logan (one of Aiden's best friends), slipped as he was getting out of the shower, fell, and broke his femur.  It required a pretty intense surgery where they put two rods in his leg that will have to stay in for six months!  Yikes!!  Needless to say, they didn't end up going to Lake Powell, just as Lisa predicted.  Instead, they got a stay in the hospital.  We went to visit Logan while he was there...

We love the Simons family!  They live two houses up the street and are some of our best friends!!  3 of our 4 kids match up in age pretty closely.  Connor and Josh are friends, Aiden and Logan are friends, and Vivvie and Ilaria are friends.  So, basically, the Simons are my kids' 2nd family, and we are the Simons kids' 2nd family.  I love that we are so close with each other.  Nothing beats great friends!  --Lindsay

Back to School

The kids started another year of school in the middle of August.  For Connor, this year is a big one.  He's in 7th Grade, which means it's his first year of middle school!  How do I have a middle schooler?!?  Both he and I were pretty nervous about this big change.  For him, there were a lot of unknowns.  For me, there were a lot of knowns.  I don't know if that's even a word, but basically I'm trying to say that I know some of the things, situations, and kinds of people he may encounter in the higher grades because I've been there myself.  Those middle school years are so awkward and funky.  They definitely weren't my favorite years when I was growing up.  So, yes, I was a little (or a lot) nervous for him.

But, so far, this kid is ROCKIN' middle school!  He quickly made lots of new friends and a couple weeks into the school year, he was elected to Student Advisory Council.  He was also named 7th Grade Student of the Week back in September as well!  I have been really impressed with his teachers, and when I went to Parent/Teacher Conference last month, most of them instantly knew who he was when I said his name, and they raved about how much they enjoyed him and how well he was doing.  I'm so proud of him for taking middle school by the horns and owning it!  Here's some pictures of Connor on his first day of school, which by the way, was a day before all the other grades started school.  In our school district, the 7th Graders start school a day early so that they can find their way around the school, figure out how to use their locker, etc. without having the older kids there to make fun of them.  Such a great idea...

Walking to the bus stop with one of his friends...

His group of friends from our neighborhood.  I love all these boys!  They are all such great kids, and I'm so glad they have each other...

The next day, Aiden and Cohen started school...

Aiden is in 4th Grade this year.  His teacher is Mrs. Young.  She is a doll, and Aiden really enjoys her...

This is a big year for Cohen.  He is in 1st Grade, and is finally getting to go to school all day like his big brothers!  His teacher is Mrs. McAllister, and she is so sweet.  Cohen adores her...

Cohen walking into class...

When I asked Cohen what he was most excited about for 1st Grade, he told me he was excited to eat lunch at school and get two recesses.  A friend of mine went to lunch at the school on the 1st Day to eat with her son who is in Cohen's class.  Apparently, when she got there, Cohen was a little sad and scared because he wasn't sure how to get his lunch.  Why wasn't his teacher or an aid helping him?!?  I was mad about that for several hours after I found out.  Anyway, my friend taught him how to get his lunch, and then he was a happy camper.  I'm so glad she was there.  She sent me this picture of a happy Cohen eating his first school lunch...

That same day, Vivvie started her 2nd year of preschool.  Her teacher is Mrs. Covington, who was Cohen's preschool teacher.  I'm so excited that another one of my kids gets to be in her class.  She's amazing!  Vivvie was so excited to go to school that she decided to do all sorts of random poses for her 1st Day of School pictures...

We tried to take some pictures at school too, but the sun was too bright, which apparently makes it too hard to smile...

She was all smiles once she got inside and she didn't have the sun in her eyes anymore...

All of the kids have had a great school year so far.  It's hard to believe, but we're almost 1/4th the way done with the school year already!  I know this because I got an email from Connor's school telling me that the end of the 1st term is next week.  Crazy how fast it is going by!  Summer will be here again before I know it!!  Yay!  --Lindsay