Time Flies

And it's already been two months since I posted.

In that time, I don't think I've done much that's really noteworthy. I took the week of Thanksgiving off, and during that time (well, it ended up bleeding into the next week) managed to finish the bookshelves. I'm really still hoping to get the mantel done for Christmas (I know, that doesn't give me much time...), and then we'll just have the tiling around the fireplace, and we've finally finished the project. Well, there will also still be one other little bit, a picture frame box for the DVD player to sit on, and to hide all the cords from the DVD player, Wii, and such.

I spent a lot of October busy with preparing for and then participating in webcasting our stake conference at the end of the month. Overall, it was successful, although one building had a very slow connection speed that day. At work, my desktop computer that was barely able to run anything was replaced with a MacBook. And yet somehow, using a Mac has failed to transform my life. On the whole, I'd say it's just as annoying and pig-headed as Windows, just in different areas.

Just after I last posted (and I actually knew about this at the time I posted...), Dee was called to once again be the Primary President. That has, of course, kept her busy(er). At her school, one entertaining bit is that one of the two-year-olds is Jewish, which requires adjustments (so yes, there is a Mormon teaching a Jewish child at a Presbyterian school... :) ), especially around this time of year. One of the crafts they do every year is they make reindeer pictures by putting paint on the kids' hands and making two prints for antlers, and then doing the same with their foot for the face, and then the teachers put Merry Christmas and the kid's name on it. For the Jewish boy (whose older brother has been on Brennan's baseball team a couple of years, so we know the family), Dee switched it to Happy Holidays. Of course, reindeer aren't really a part of Hanukkah. Dee told him facetiously that it was the Hanukkah moose, and got the reply, "There's no Hanukkah moose!" And we really thought that was going to catch on...

Brennan finished his soccer season, and enjoyed it a lot. His favorite accomplishment, I think, was in one game when he scored a goal direct from a corner kick. He improved a lot through the season, and is looking forward to playing again. We'll have to see if we can do that in the spring, because at least in the past most of the games were on Sundays. His team did well, overall.

Brennan is also enjoying his "Makers" class. This is an enrichment class at the school once a week where they are learning about how to build things and use tools. The teacher is his best friend's dad (and a fellow ward member), which I think makes it more enjoyable for him. They are working together as a class to build a trebuchet, and he went over Saturday to help on that. In bowling, he has continued to improve.

Fourth grade one of the big focuses is on writing, and we have really enjoyed seeing his progress in his writing skills.

Nothing important has happened in Jessie's life... Oh, wait, maybe that's not quite true... Actually, she has had the most eventful couple of months of all of us, as two weeks ago was her twelfth birthday. She is very excited to be out of primary, and is enjoying Young Women's very much. She was particularly happy that her birthday was on Wednesday this year, so she got to go to her first mutual on her birthday.

Also relating to Jessie is that the school board recently voted to "replicate" the WAVE program that she is in. Unfortunately, a lot of the friends Jessie has made this year will be going to the other campus starting next year. Aside from that, we have concerns about how this change will affect the program, and are disappointed that the decision was made so quickly, and without (in our opinion) truly evaluating other options. But we will do our best to help make up for any adverse impacts and make it as successful as possible.

I think that's the major events in our lives over the past little while. We hope that everyone has a great Christmas.