My work and my glory

It turns out that having two babies, four big kids, a busy husband, a dog and a house keeps me much too busy to blog most of the time these days.  But I love it.  We are having so much fun.

Here is what everyone is doing:

Eve: At 14 pounds 10 ounces, Eve is 87th percentile for height but only 43rd for weight for her age.  She is a cruncher.  Her body is usually in the shape of a C, and she looks down much more than up these days.  This makes it possible for her to roll over onto her tummy almost every time we put her down, but puts her at a great disadvantage in rolling back over to her back.  She works and works to get to her tummy and then doesn't love it so much when she is there.  She is also singing long and low songs to us.  They are kind of growly, and I don't know how it doesn't hurt her throat.  It hurts mine when I try to imitate her.

Griffin: This boy is long and lean: 75th percentile for height (he and his sister are both about 2 foot 2, but he has her by a quarter inch) and 26th percentile for weight (15 pounds 4 ounces) for boys.  Griffin still loves to stand and really would like to start walking or jumping or running.  Or all three.  He definitely has the W gene for Wimmer energy.  He likes the jumper, the walker, and the new high chair, but only tolerates the Bumbo seat these days because he would really rather not sit.  He is maybe even more vocal than Eve and talked and crowed to everyone at Mother-Baby Yoga like he was holding court.

Wyatt: The regional math competition is on Saturday, and Wyatt will be competing two grades ahead in both the individual testing and the mathletics.  Last year he took 12th place one grade ahead in the region.  I thought that was pretty cool.  We'll see what happens this year.  Although he is really good at math, Wyatt really prefers doing other things.  He studied basketball intently for his Extended Learning project this year, he still reads like a demon, and he still likes to ride his bike, play Wii and shoot a few hoops to stay active.  He has been going with Alan to play basketball on Saturday mornings, and is learning to deal with a missionary that has lots better speed and skills than the last one he had to guard.

Willa: Did I tell you she got braces?  And how she rocks them?  She is wearing cobalt blue bands this month to go with our blue and yellow clothes for our family pictures we took on Saturday.  She is playing soccer again with the same great team and looking forward for school to be out.  She reminds us regularly that her school will end two days before Wyatt's because they are still working on remodeling the middle school.  Willa is also a savvy shopper (of course) and finds fun things online and in real life that she purchases with money she has earned and saved herself.  Last week she set herself up for summer with three pairs of shorts and a couple of adorable tops I may ask her to borrow!

Eliza: I asked my daughters to step up their seminary attendance and finish strong after seeing two weeks' worth of absences on their last quarter's report.  Sadly, this cost Eliza her life in the Senior Assassin game they are playing with water guns.  Some boy got a tip from Madison's brother that Eliza got up early for seminary, so he waited at our house at 5 am, followed her to seminary, waited the whole hour, and then popped out from behind a car to squirt her as she was sprinting to the van for cover.  As the organizers of the game Tweeted, "That's unholy!"  Eliza is playing her fourth year of lacrosse with Madison and enjoying it but finding it really hard to make it to practices between rain, work, and family and church obligations.

Mariah:  No amount of peer pressure or physical bullying from Eliza and Madison could make Mariah play lacrosse this year.  She decided she is done.  Mostly because there are girls on the team that bug her that much.  Mariah is still in the game for Assassin.  She made her first two kills on Saturday with help from her dad.  They found her basketball player target in a parking lot with his window down and she sneaked up and let him have it in the face.  He was not amused and let loose with some profanity.  Mariah told us, "Well, if you look at it from his perspective, he got shot by someone really small and kind of a loser.  I'd be mad too."  The second target was a friend who thought she would be out soon anyway and just gave the victory to Mariah without any actual exchange of water-fire.  It was still fun.  She came home exhilarated.

Alan and I just enjoy this ride and try to keep up with everything it takes to keep this thing going.  For both of us, it's a lot of work right now.  The good news is that being in the bishopric has been pleasant and fun for him, and easier than expected for me.  We decided even the busiest day at church (fast Sunday was this week) was easier than what his weekend calls for work have become.  It puts a whole new spin on "day of rest".  We'll rest later.  Right now is the day to perform our labors.