The 50s!

Jessica's class has been studying about the 1950s, and part of their grade was to come to school dressed authentically and participate in a 50s social. They even had a dance contest. Luckily Grandma Atwater is a great seamstress and always willing to do last-minute sewing projects. She whipped up this poodle skirt, complete with petticoat, on Saturday so Jessica would have it to wear on Monday. It turned out great! Jessica had lots of fun.

End of Year Concerts

James and Benny both had a concert at the end of the school year. It was cute to watch them, but James seemed to be drawn to wherever we were. He kept looking over at us and then trying to focus back on the music teacher. Benny didn't offer any extra smiles, as you can see. Anyway, we are all so glad that this school year is over!

High Honors

Last night I went to an awards ceremony for Sedomocha Middle School. I didn't know anything about it, since my kids always seem to forget to keep me informed. However, my niece Autumn called me at 6:30 asking if I could drive her up to it and informing me that it started at 6:30. I told the kids about it and Brigham said, "Oh yeah, I'm supposed to go to that too." So we piled in the van and picked up Autumn. I figured we would be about 15 - 20 minutes late. When we got in there, they said that they had to change the time to 6:00, so we were really late. Anyway, they saw us come in and made sure they recognized the kids for their awards. Both Brigham and Autumn received High Honors for their sixth grade year and got a school letter besides. I was pleasantly surprised. None of my older kids have really excelled since starting middle school, and I just figured as long as they don't flunk out, we'd be doing okay. Brigham seems to be our most responsible kid. I've noticed that when he's asked to do a chore at home, he gets right on it, as opposed to most of his siblings. It's so nice to have a kid who is self-motivated. At least we can reassure ourselves that we must be doing something right. Way to go, Brigham!

Baby Names

Okay, since you asked... our names we're considering are Eliza Ruth (sorry, J & R, but we have the same grandmother) and Thomas Spencer (again, sorry to all my other brothers, but Spencer shares a name with President Monson). I never thought I'd ever have more than one girl, considering the track record in our whole extended family, but I've been blessed with two daughters so far. Is it too much to hope for a third? It seems that the likelihood is small--just look at our ratio so far. We have one girl for every three boys. If we had another girl, it would increase to one girl for every two boys. Also, our pattern up to now calls for a girl. Girl, boy, boy, boy, girl, boy, boy, boy. On the other hand, nine is an odd number, so who says it has to follow a pattern? Either way, it will be fun to have a newborn again. I think Ethan will be perfectly happy to hand over his role as youngest, especially since he loves babies so much.

Ultrasound

My ultrasound went well today. They found a heartbeat--144 bpm. They also found a head, body, two arms, and two legs. The estimate from that is about 13 weeks, 1 day. My date points to 14 weeks, 2 days, but they said that's within the margin of error. I'm sure the doctor will stick with the date I gave her. That puts the due date at December 1.

New Blog Name?

I guess I'll have to change the name of our blog eventually, because there will no longer be just 10 of us anymore. That's right--baby #9 is coming the first part of December! It was a surprise to us at first, but we are all very excited about meeting this new person. We do have some names picked out, so if you're dying of curiosity, just ask. I went to my first doctor's appointment today, and I'm supposed to be about 14 weeks right now, but she said I'm measuring more like 18 or so. She scheduled an ultrasound for tomorrow, also because she couldn't find the heartbeat, which sounds more like the 14 week assessment. She just wants to make sure everything is as it should be. Our homeschool calendar allows for the month of December off, so it works out perfect! I'm planning to take my own classes through the summer and fall, but have two terms off--from November to March. I'll still finish in time to graduate in May of 2010.