Update on Kiddos....

I haven't posted new pics or given any updates lately on the kids. I know most of
you reading are also on Facebook, and I have gotten really lazy about putting my pictures there, rather than here. Anyway, Bryce is the photographer around here, so I wanted to share a few pictures she has taken over the past few months.





Everyone is doing great. Studies are going well, attitudes are pretty good (most of the time). Joshua has taken off as a tennis player and absolutely loves it. He plays with an instructor and his friends about 4 hours per week and he and Stan now play a couple of hours on Saturday. It gets Dad back into the whole exercise thing and gives Joshua a chance to show off his skills. Stan is actually a pretty good tennis player as well, so Joshua really has to work it.






Bryce is in the middle of National Novel Writing Month, which is a challenge to write a 50,000 word novel during the month of November. She accomplished this feat last year and we were very proud of her, but she didn't really care for her novel. This year, we are thinking this may be the one! We will see. She can be found at all hours of the day or night clicking away on her laptop.




Lyndsey is not involved in any organized sport right now. She is taking tennis lessons one hour per week, and constantly riding her ripstick or roller blades. Recently, Lyndsey had to see an orthopedic doctor because she can do this really weird thing with her knees, where she pops her actual leg bone away from her knee cap. The pediatrician has been confounded for over a year now, since we found the condition, so we finally took her to the orthopedic doc to see exactly what was going on. The diagnosis: "elastigirl" - Yes, we have a "super" on our hands. The technical term is "hyper-elastic ligaments." If Lyndsey ever wants to join the circus as a contortionist, she could probably get a job!

As a side note, I have to tell you how I found out about this strange thing my daughter can do with her knees. Those of you who know Lyndsey will know how perfect this is! Apparently, she knew about this strange talent of hers for a while and never said anything. It doesn't hurt and both knees do it, so I assume she just thought that everyone could do it. Well, one day at our local home school co-op classes, just before her music class started, one of Joshua's friends, a twelve year old boy, says to Lyndsey, "If you will do that weird thing with your knees for me, I will give you my pocketknife!"

She did.

He gave it to her.

She took the knife to music class, where the teacher is an older lady who had just started teaching for us at the co-op. In the class was a little girl who had always been in public school up until this particular year. About half way through the class, my little girl pulls out the pocket knife (unopened) to show her friend what she got in exchange for her "talent." The little girl immediately goes to the teacher because "someone has a knife in school." I get a call from the administrator who is a good friend of mine and who couldn't stop laughing when she asked me if I knew Lyndsey brought a knife to class. Now, the boys all carry pocketknives because that is a "manly" thing for teenage boys to do, and they just are not supposed to bring them out and wave them around, but no, I was not aware that Lyndsey had one at all, much less in class. So, when questioned about the knife, I got the whole story about the knees.

Her friend got his knife back, by the way.












Graham is the same little wild man as ever. He still karate chops everything and his favorite toys are guns, swords, and a punching bag. He is definitely a warrior in training. He is doing great with school, which actually came as a little of a surprise to me. I didn't think he would be able to sit still long enough to learn to read, but he has. He also loves math and we have a co-op science class this year that he is really enjoying.










That is a quick overview of us. Stan and I are great as well. Stan is traveling a little more right now because it is "Budget Presentation" season at work. That should be over in another couple of weeks and then we will get into the holiday spirit. Excitement is in the air!!