We are already in October! The boys are almost finished with their first quarter of school and Halloween is fast approaching, which means Thanksgiving and Christmas are right around the corner. My favorite time of year. I sure wish we had the apple orchards and the colorful leaves and crisp air to go with it.
Nash turned 12 on 11 September. He’s had a lot of ‘firsts’ this last month. His first iPod (birthday gift), first passing of the sacrament…he was a bit nervous
…first time as the Deacon’s president, since he’s the one and only Deacon in our branch, first time he went home teaching with Creed, and first talk in Sacrament meeting yesterday. When you live in such a small branch, I guess you get to do all that stuff that comes with turning 12 really fast. He has done a great job on all of it.
Nash also ran in the track and field meet on Friday night. Nash ran in a couple of medleys and also the 1500m. He did pretty well and was very pleased to get his final time in the 1500m as 6 min. 18 seconds. Creed tried to run it that fast on Saturday and came home saying he had a greater appreciation for Nash’s time after only being able to get over 7 min. Nash did well in the other events also. He has another track meet this Saturday at BIS (the British International School).
Luke and Grant have been busy with violin, cello and soccer. With games every Saturday for both of them and also practices during the week, we spend a lot of time up at the soccer fields. It’s good for them to get running around and let out some energy. We had parent/teacher conferences for both of them last Friday and were very happy with how things are going. Grant surprised us with a beautiful paragraph he wrote about the pond in the back of the school. His teacher emailed it to me and said he is a fantastic writer and brings tears to her eyes. I was shocked when I read it and wasn’t sure it was Grant. Last year the environment he was in for class wasn’t a very positive one and he seemed to lose his spirit rather quickly. His teacher this year is completely opposite and praises him and she encourages and challenges him. He is blossoming.
Luke is doing equally as well. His teacher said, “If only I had an entire class full of Lukes.” She is a great teacher. Luke has been very lucky to have wonderful teachers the entire time we’ve been here.
Mallory is a total performer (as if that should surprise any of you). She has made a habit of going outside in front of the house to the end of the driveway and putting on a show for anyone who will watch. My driver told me yesterday that there were several people gathered at our gate last week watching her and laughing as she sang (using our gardener’s broom handle as a microphone) and danced. She doesn’t seem to be shy about it at all. She also goes by “Cinderella” most mornings and won’t answer you if you call her Mallory. She keeps us all in stitches.
We are excited for our trip to China next week. We will leave on the 11th and be gone for 11 days. We will be in Beijing, Xi’an and Guilin. We are all excited for this adventure.
We hope you are all doing well. Happy Birthday to Ian, Lucy, Rosemary, Adam, Bret, Loralee, and Grandma Miller this month. I hope I didn’t forget someone.
