Sarah made the tennis team!!  Go Sarah!  She has improved tremendously since last year, which not only means greater respect, but even more importantly, it means more fun!  Matches start next week.  (FYI:  Since we live so close to the junior high, she walks herself to practices and back!  It’s no more work for me.)

Megan decided against doing tennis this year.  She decided violin and cheer and school is enough.  (Actually she decided school and cheer is enough but her mother is rather stubborn about that whole musical instrument thing.  Unfortunately for her – she thinks!)  Kevin and I got to go see her cheer this past week since on Wednesday her team was at home here at the high school.

She has a lot of fun.  She does a good job, too!  That is her friend Parker in front.  Go Mustangs!

Savannah had cross country practice after school all week AND was healthy enough to go all week.  Go Savannah!  They had a huge meet Saturday morning at Soldier Hollow (where the cross country skiers competed in the 2004 Olympics).  It’s a beautiful place!  Savannah didn’t notice, though.  She said the route was two miles uphill and the last mile straight down – enough to be scary!  The two miles uphill was enough to make her sore the next day and decrease her time, which discouraged her.  We reassured her that it was the hill that slowed her down!  It sounds like a very hard course.  It’s so great that she is in good enough shape that she can even attempt it, let alone do so well!

These three older girls also had Young Women in Excellence this past week.  (Our church has a program for the girls 12-18 where they complete requirements, earn ribbons in each of seven values, and finally earn a Personal Progress Award.  This meeting recognizes progress on earning that award.)  Our ward’s young women leader was saying how she was thinking the other day, “Those Skinner girls are sure good girls.  I wish there were seven of them.  Oh, wait!  There are!”  Funny, huh?  We’re glad that they are loved and appreciated!  Savannah earned two ribbons, Sarah earned two, and Megan earned her very first!  Savannah conducted the meeting, Megan gave a talk, and Sarah played the piano for the opening and closing hymns.  Wow!  You know, they really are good girls.  I feel so blessed to have them.  They are working hard and doing good things and what’s even more, they’re nice to each other and to others.  I love them to pieces!

Mariah had a bye for her soccer game midweek, but did play on Saturday.  She has this great coach who never gets mad and talks to the girls so patiently and has practices with them all season.  He is a rare find.  It is fun to watch her team progress, too, as they start to catch on to the things he teaches them and implement it into games.  Saturday’s game, for instance, was the best so far!  I had to laugh, though, because the other coach who was also obviously a very good coach, too, was a very different personality.  Toward the end of the game he would holler to the girls on his team, “Don’t get emotional!  Just get back into the game!”  Which is a nice way of saying, “Quit crying!”  Heh, heh.  I bet no one has to holler that at boys’ games!

So, if you’ve been paying attention, you’ll have noticed that on Saturday morning, Savannah had a cross country meet and Mariah had a soccer game.  Megan also cheered at a football game in Salem (or was it Payson?).  Not to be outdone, Kevin ran in a half marathon and I tried to get under 27 minutes in a 5K.  Not a bad morning, huh?  Kevin did great in his half-marathon.  He ran with a friend of his, so he didn’t push himself for a personal record.  He still ran a very impressive time and was not at all worn out at the end of his 13.2 miles!  He is a fast runner and in great shape!  Go Kevin!  On the other hand, while running my fastest time since having children and coming in first in my age group (another medal, yay me!  I’ve decided that it is very smart to run in these 5Ks that are paired with half marathons, because all the good runners run in the half!), the sad news is that I did not meet my goal.  Boo!  27:26 was my time.  SO CLOSE!!  Kevin says he will run with me next time and get me to meet my goal.  I am holding him to it!  I WILL DO THIS THING!

Cali and Cheyenne are getting used to the 2nd grade.  They are enjoying it for the most part.  Cheyenne does get a little sad sometimes in the mornings or at night and wish that she could stay home with me.  She is a tender soul.  On the whole, I think school is good for them and they are learning a lot.  I do wish, though, that they didn’t have homework in this grade.  They come home so worn out and so in need of some free playing time!  I hate to sit them down at the table, instead, and do more work!  It’s the pits.

Meanwhile, Benjamin, Bethany, and I are figuring out our days with just each other.  Benjamin gives great hugs now!  My little girls always went through a phase where they would just hug my face – intensely – which is painful.  Ben hasn’t done that.  He hugs around the shoulders – hard—and it is wonderful.  What a sweet boy.  He is still as determined as ever, though, and is no better at taking “no” for an answer.  In this picture he is smiling because he thinks that I am just as thrilled that he has figured out how to climb a stool as he is thrilled with himself.  Sorry, son.  I think the fish deserves protection at least when I am watching and able.  I know, however, that the fish’s days are probably now numbered.

He has found some new favorite things to do and they mostly involve imitating me.  He takes dishes out of the dishwasher one at a time, lays it  on the table, then goes back for another dish.  When he has plenty, he stacks them up and takes them to another place and lays them out again.  When I’m lucky, he ends by taking them back to the dishwasher.  He plays a variation of this game with laundry – clothes out of the basket, onto the bed, off the bed, back into the basket, pick up the basket, go to another room, repeat.  I have to admire the boy for trying to master a process which does seem to be so utterly pointless!  I have to say, though, that I’m glad to see him interested in something that is (mostly) non-destructive.  :)

Bethany is mostly watching a lot of TV.  I cringe to admit this!  I have always been so careful to keep my kids’ watching hours down to a minimum.  They’re good shows . . .  Anyway, we will work on it.  She misses her sisters!  I need to invite some little girls over, I think!

I am trying to figure out how much more time I actually have.  Not as much as I think is what I have basically figured out!  But some . . . 

It’s all good.