Recent Activities

Here are a few pictures of some of the fun things Atticus has been doing.

The "Ugly Bug Ball" at school. He's a caterpillar, and his buddy Caleb is a spider. Caleb's mom is a fly. Don't you love her bug eyes? They're mirrors on a headband. I don't really know Zeke, the blonde kid on the end, but he wanted to be in the picture. Atticus refused to wear his costume except for pictures.

Driving a tractor at Wheeler Farm

Caleb, Henry, and Atticus with the Cat in the Hat for Dr. Seuss's birthday.

Going whole hog

Or really just half a hog. The FFA students at James's school raised a fancy breed of pig for slaughter, and they raffled off half the meat as a fund raiser. James spent $15 on raffle tickets, and yep, we won! He won NINETY POUNDS of pork, which will come in the form of ham, bacon, sausage (Italian and breakfast), and chops. And hopefully a couple roasts and ribs.

One of his coworkers offered to give us an old upright freezer to store it all in. We also plan to share. Needless to say, I'm up for hosting Easter this year, or at least donating the ham.

Any requests?

I think I'm late to this party...

...but I'm really digging Florence + the Machine. It's the perfect music to crank up while cleaning the house on a rainy day. Preferably alone. Just sayin'.

My little singer

So Atticus is in Primary now, and he's learning the songs. He loves to sing. His favorite is "Choose the Right Way," but he likes to spice it up a bit. One night we were singing it, and it went like this:

There's a right way to live and be happy,

It is choosing the right every day.

You betcha!

Complete with plucky hand gesture.

Then the other night he changed the ending to "Choose the wrong way, and be saaaaaad." Today he's been sick, so he ended up on my bed with me after his nap. He was dressed in jammies, fuzzy orange slippers, and his hooded green and yellow striped sweater, pacifier in mouth. His hood was over his face, and his breathing was all raspy, so I couldn't tell if he was awake or asleep. Then I hear a quiet little "... I must always choose the wrong!"

Goodness, I love this goofy kid of ours.

So, um...

I'm not going to try to catch up on the details of the last four months. In case you were worried, we're doing fine. No major developments. Halloween was fun, Christmas was great, I've made goals for the new year, etc. Oh, and we got a new car.

[One detail: the Subaru Outback is the #1 selling car in Salt Lake County. Driving around town I will pass at least 10 other Subarus per outing--no joke, I counted once and got to 10 within 5 blocks of my house. But cross into Utah County, and they're practically nonexistent. We actually drove around the University Mall parking lot looking for them, and we found ONE. Take from that what you will....]

Anywho, I've decided to start updating more regularly. Try to contain your excitement.

Observation

Getting an MRI* is like being trapped inside a dot-matrix printer. Very 1960s sci-fi.

*Went in for shin splints, doctor found a bone cyst and wanted a closer look. Very likely benign, but we'll know more in a couple days. Considering how much this test is going to cost us, I'm kinda hoping for it to be abnormal--but not life-threatening, of course.

UPDATE: MRI was normal. We'll take some xrays in a couple months to make sure nothing has changed.

First Days

Yeah, I know it's almost November,

but better late than never, right?

School!

Atticus loves his preschool. He goes three days a week for 2 1/2 hours. It's a co-op preschool, so I get to be in the classroom a couple times a month.

He didn't want to stand still for a good

"first day" portrait, so this is the best I got.

On his first field trip to Red Butte Gardens. Teacher Miss Stephanie is trying to make them laugh, but only Liam (in glasses) is able to keep a straight face.

Riding tricycles. He still does this occasionally, but his favorite recess activity is digging in the sand.

Soccer!

The boy has great dribbling skills, but really isn't very interested in the game. At his first game, he spent the last half with this group:

He still prefers rolling in the artificial turf (or running in circles, or finger-walking across the field) to playing the game, but yesterday he actually kicked the ball in the right direction DURING THE GAME! High-fives all around.

I think we'll try gymnastics for a while instead. He loves climbing and jumping and balancing on stuff, so it seems better suited to his interests.