Addie has been our delight every day since she got here. She is a busy little girl, starting her days much earlier than her grown-ups would like, then begging for bed by 8 - pointing at the clock when she sees the hand anywhere near the 8! She paints and colors, plays in her sand/water table on the deck, loves her little Princesses, her castle and her farm, rides her little bike (when someone will take her out in the heat), loves to go to Nursery on Sunday, loves to go in the car, loves the iPad (she has her choice of 3 or 4 at any given time!), Disney TV (Octonauts, Little Einstein, Doc McStuffins are her favorites and the rest of us have the theme songs stuck in our brains!) She is mostly potty trained, loves to wear dresses so she can twirl, and happily, loves her baby brother! She hasn't seemed to have any jealousy or anxiety about him being here, and she asks about him if we ever leave the house without him.
Neil Patrick arrived on July 11. He is almost 3 weeks old now and it's hard to imagine a time before he came. He's mostly a good baby, still sleeping a lot, eating well but very efficiently. No dawdling for him! Enjoys napping in his swing during the day. Will occasionally keep his mommy up during the night when he decides to stay awake! It has helped Emily to be able to hand him to me in the morning so she can go back to bed for awhile.
We celebrated the 4th of July with Heidi here. The men all had the day off. There was a lot of work going on outside and in the garage. The females mostly stayed in and chatted. We had Chinese and Thai food for dinner. It's tradition! Emily put together a really fun S'mores Bar with lots of fun choices.
We were really surprised when John was released as Finance Clerk after serving under 7 Bishops for nearly 24 years. Our Bishop had not wanted him released but the Stake President felt that callings should be passed around so others can learn and grow. He has still had to be back helping in the office since his release. He was hoping to make it to 25 years, so he was disappointed. It's been his identity in the ward for so long that he is feeling a bit lost. Fortunately we have our Sunday School calling, and those kids keep us on our toes.
Clinton has a Heritage Days celebration every summer. This year they changed the parade route so it went along the main street just one house away from us. And we had a perfect view from our covered deck!! Addie kept going to look for the parade for days afterward!
Emily had her gall bladder surgery one week after Neil was born. She ended up being gone for 11 hours because they were so behind at the hospital. Heidi came up to help me with the kids that day, which was a tremendous help. Thanks again, Heidi! Emily's recovery has gone smoothly. She saw her surgeon for her follow-up today and all is well.
Jacob was the only one to have Pioneer Day off. It felt like a regular day around here since John and Ian were at work. We didn't do one thing festive, except order sandwiches for dinner. I even missed watching any of the parade on TV since I didn't want to mess with Addie's TV-watching. Calm Addie is much easier than running-around-crazy-Addie!
Pretty shocked and amazed to realize we are direct descendants from a Mayflower Pilgrim - Edward Doty. (next to last signature on the Mayflower Compact) He was pretty much the rabble-rouser of the group, so we have enjoyed learning about this young servant who probably came along for the adventure. All these Thanksgivings we have celebrated, talked about, and taken Pilgrims for granted. Never again!!
Also enjoying learning about the Puritans who came ten years later from whom we also descend. I am reading the book Insubordinate Spirit: A True Story of Life and Loss in Earliest America, 1610-1665. It is a non-fiction book, very well-researched, and only published last fall. It is fascinating reading about the time and place, and especially our 10th and 11th great-grandmother Elizabeth Fones Winthrop Feakes Hallett. I also have The Winthrop Woman by Anya Seaton, which is a fictionalized account of Elizabeth's life. I thought it would be better to read the non-fiction first.
Sunday School continues to delight. And challenge. Last Sunday we ended up with the class older than ours joining ours (never did hear why) and with that many kids (plus our 14-15 year old boys being star-struck by the older girls!) it was like HERDING CATS!!! Crazy day. Love these kids so much though.
Thanks to Heidi for the following video:
Herding Cats
Life is good at the Van Natter's. Hope you all can say the same.
John & Kathi
Here you go mom: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWymXNPaU7g
ReplyDelete