Happenings 8/03/09 - 8/09/09

This week was momentous because Claire started school on Wednesday. She was very excited to go, and got up out bed at 6:15 without any fuss, (and even a smile on her face) got dressed and was ready in plenty of time for J.J. to take her to the school for the first day. (I took her to her classroom, got her settled, stayed for about 20 minutes. She was ready for me to go. I was a little sad, but not nearly as sad as I was putting my baby on the school bus the next morning. In fact, the first day, Rachel cried more than anybody) At 3:30, I stood outside as she got off the bus, and didn't really get much out of her because she just wanted to play. She rode the bus both to and from school the rest of the week, and as the week went on we were able to extract a little more information from her, but it is still limited. (I feel like I have to play 50 questions to figure out what she ate for lunch) She thinks school is fun, and she likes riding the bus, so that is good enough for now. She has made some new friends and a girl down the street is the same age but not in the same class, and so they have been playing together a little more, although her parents aren't quite as used to all the kids playing as our little section is. But every day after school -- and all day before school started -- the kids have all been playing pretty hard until bedtime. (Now that school has started, bedtime is a bit earlier, but nobody has made a big fuss yet. With school starting, it has been as big adjustment for Rachel as it has been for anyone else. Early bedtimes and early rising - she won't sleep in if she hears Claire get up- and sleeping in a big girl bed instead of the crib meaning shorter naps, makes for a pretty cranky girl. It's going to be a big adjustment. A bit of good news on the Rachel front - she peed in the potty a few times now! It's amazing how much excitement and joy a little pee can bring.)

I worked at the office on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, and J.J. worked on Monday and Wednesday. Maggie had a doctor's appointment and Claire went to the dentist, and other than that it was a pretty routine week. (Maggie had a doctor appointment in the afternoon and she is growing like a weed! She is chubby and so soft - I love it. But she is only in the 10-25th percentile in everything. As long as it's all proportional, it's okay, but she seems big to me. They just grow too fast!! She got three shot and was a real trooper, though it did wipe her out pretty good for the day.) We had a big storm on Tuesday evening that dropped a couple inches of rain but it didn't knock any loose branches off one tree that is all broken up up high. I had been climbing it and trying to get some down, but I don't dare to go too high. I sawed one broken branch off at its base and it was stuck on another broken branch. Eventually, after a lot of rope throwing and pulling, both of those big ones came down -- I did most of that on Monday afternoon. With the wind from the storm the next night, I hoped that others would fall, but they didn't.

On Saturday, we went to a swimming area/beach at the lake, and arranged to meet my colleague Squire and his daughter Hannah for another boat ride. He said they are drawing down the lake for its winter level, and all day we joked about how the summer was over here even though it is the beginning of August and it is generally the hottest month. With school starting so early, it really is odd to be getting down to fall business when the rest of the world seems to go on vacation (and I'm dieing of heat. I find that as I get older, I am less tolerant of extreme temperature changes. I'm not sure how I have developed this heat intolerance being a member of the Coffman family, but I'm just going to blame it on the humidity!) But we had fun swimming and boating -- the adults went water skiing (I had to ski on two skis for the first time since I was in high school, it was a little depressing for me that I couldn't get up on one ski. But then I guess that is what being a few years older and having 3 kids has done to me. I guess I will take the kids.) and then we anchored and did some swimming. We couldn't stay out for too long because we had to be back for a baptism at 2:00.

The baptism was for two people, and we had those two over for dinner on Friday night along with the three sister missionaries who are serving in the ward. We had a nice visit with them and it was good to get to know the investigators.

So, now that the summer is over it's back to the grindstone. Actually, we still have some things planned on weekends while it's still warm. The lake is still refreshing, and there are still places to go. My classes begin on the 19th and so I'm getting ready for those along with finishing up whatever things I want to finish over the summer. So far it's been pretty good.