September

As it always does, summer ended way too quickly and it was time to get back to school and work and all the busyness that goes with it. 

Kendall began his freshman year at Marshall High School so we continue the schedule we had with Taylor last year with Kalen driving every morning to Marshall to get Kendall to early morning seminary. The only difference is that Kendall is not attending the math and science center so he spends his entire day in one school and is very happy with that decision. He is quickly making new friends (he says being short makes him really noticeable so people learned who he was right away). He is doing well so far in his classes--Spanish is his favorite and Geometry is not. He had a fun but exhausting time with marching band but was happy when he played at the last football game of the season so that his schedule would be a little more flexible.

 Lynnsey, Spencer, and Kaya are continuing together at Albion Community School and are all off to a good start.

 Spencer is in fourth grade this year and is having an amazing year. He has been in occupational therapy to help with Sensory Processing Disorder since April and it seems to have helped tremendously in the school setting. He is focused and happier and respectful of his teacher (who he adores) and the other students. He is making better friends this year and has actually been to several sleepovers! He even was awarded Student of the Month! He is academically at the top of his class and is especially talented at writing and reading. He read the entire Harry Potter series in less than three months and started a trend among his classmates who saw him enjoying them so much. He said there are five kids currently plowing through them in his class.

 Kaya is in first grade now and enjoying it most days. She has a great teacher that she really loves but has been a lot more emotional this year and seems to have developed a bit of a fear of failure. Her teacher says Kaya doesn't realize how smart she really is and often will be sad and not even want to try an assignment if she thinks she might not be able to do it. But she's making strides and her reading is improving tremendously. She even read a book to the class which she previously had been afraid to try. She is coping with the departure of her best friend who is moving away so that was pretty sad for her too.

 Lynnsey is in 6th grade this year and doing great! She is also top of the class academically and is really happy with the teacher she got. She wound up with several of her friends in the class too. This year she is doing the after school program a couple of days a week because they are offering dance classes which she has wanted to take for awhile now. She is doing ballet and jazz and enjoying both but especially the ballet.

 For Kalen's birthday I took him to see the Piano Guys in concert in Detroit. We were really wishing that we could take the entire family again this year but the tickets were so much more expensive that we just couldn't. We probably shouldn't have gone either but it was right on Kalen's birthday and the temptation was too great to pass up. It was so much fun! We went to dinner beforehand at a yummy barbecue place just down the road and then went to the concert. They just put on a fabulous show. Lots of it was similar to last year when we went but they had lots of new stuff too.

 Because they are so much more famous now, the only way to meet them after the show was if we purchased VIP tickets which we couldn't do so we knew we wouldn't be staying after this time. But after we were in our seats we turned around and once again the sound guys were right behind us just like last year. So at intermission Kalen and I went over and talked to Paul and Al (who Kaya said was her favorite Piano Guy and wanted me to say hi for her). They were really nice and took a minute to come talk to us and Al says he actually remembers Kaya from last year. I don't know if he actually does but maybe... So that was pretty cool. I'm so glad we splurged and went!

 We also enjoyed another Festival of the Forks this year. Taylor signed up to run in the 5K. The picture I got of him came out totally blurry, but he did great and won the first place medal for his age category.

Spencer tried to jump in and pretend like he was completing the race too.

The soccer club marched in the parade this year!

Kendall marched with the Marshall High School marching band.

And Lynnsey marched in the Albion Community school band.

 The highlight of the Festival this year was getting to tour the newly refurbished Bohm Theater. There was still just a little bit of work left to do with the balcony but we were able to walk around the lower part and sit in the cushy new chairs. It is seriously amazing. Every time I see it I just can't get over the transformation. Seeing something like this come back from such a poor state that it was closed for so many years is really huge for our community.

 After spending several hours downtown, we headed up to the soccer field for Lynnsey and Spencer's games. (Kaya's was postponed.) The kids all had a great soccer season this year. Lynnsey is still so much fun to watch--she is just graceful and talented out there. She loved that Kalen got to be her coach this season. And Spencer! Holy cow! That boy was a maniac on the field this fall. I could see it beginning during the spring season, but this season he just took off. He's so fast and plays his position incredibly. He seems to be able to anticipate where he needs to be on the field. He scored many goals this season and got in some valuable goalie practice. He always feels bad if a ball gets past him on goal, so that's not his favorite position but with some coaching from Kendall, he got a lot more comfortable. Kaya did great this season too. She was one of the youngest players on her team since she moved up to the next level, but she did great and learned a ton from her very patient coach.

Even though Kendall is too old to play on the kids teams now, they kept him busy as a linesman.