August Update . . .

Well, yet another very eventful month has gone by and very little posting has been done!

First of all, Shaun started work part-time 3 days a week on August 3rd. Since he is licensed, he can work in the clinic, but can't assist with surgeries on the other two days until his other paperwork gets processed by the bureaucracy. But still, it is a great to have even part-time income after the 3 month drought of being out of work. Also, having him go just three days a week means that I still have lots of help at home, which I still need! I don't know how anyone else does it with a newborn and other kids to take care of on their own during the day! You are all SuperMoms! We think Shaun will start full-time sometime in September. And the good news is that he is really thriving in his job and we feel so blessed to have gotten this great gig straight out of school.

August also began with swimming lessons for Ben and Erik. The announcement that they would be in swimming lessons nearly brought tears to their eyes, and I don't mean tears of joy! They love playing in the water and it was high time for them to develop some actual skills, but they did NOT want to go to swimming lessons. Shaun and I were shocked at their negative reaction. I tried to tell them it would be fun and they would get to go swimming every single day for two weeks, (they are always begging me to take them to the pool) but they most definitely did not believe me. They went grudgingly the first day, and of course loved it (Erik even complained because it was over so soon) and couldn't wait to go back the next day. They both seemed to think that their swim instructors were the funnest teenagers ever.

Here's Erik with Instructor Kevin:

Ben floating with Nate:
I was a bit nervous about the 3 kids : 1 parent ratio since it would be up to me to single-handedly get two wet, shivering kids dried off while juggling Alex on the sidelines, but he kindly obliged to nap in his stroller on most days. Phew! They can't wait 'til next summer to do it again!

And, since announcing swimming lessons went so well (ha!) I decided to get Ben into piano lessons this fall at USU. This idea, as you can guess, went over like a lead balloon at first, but I seem to have successfully talked him into it. He has gotten on this "I want to be a rock star" kick lately, so I used that as leverage. (I swear he has never seen Hannah Montana or the Jonas Brothers except on commercials.) We'll see how it goes...lessons start in September!