Yesterday, I spent the day baking bread. It turned out really good. I made four loaves, 2 cinnamon, 2 white. I even frosted one of the cinnamon - yummy! Charles was so happy when he came home and the house was filled with the smell of fresh bread. It was fun to make. I do love to make bread, it just has to be a planned thing, it takes a lot of the day. The secret to great bread - lots of butter on the dough! Butter makes everything better, except maybe your health :-).

I have been loving our new schedule. I have dinner ready every night when Charles gets home from work and we sit down as a family at the dinner table and eat together - how great is that!! We have not ever been able to do that before. We always just had Sundays together. This kind of life, I could get use to! I love having him home at 5:30!! WOW!

Charles is loving the extra time to do whatever he wants - no studying! He has been refinishing our dining room table. It was in sorry shape and now he has sanded it down and is putting a nice shiny coating on it. It looks SO much better. I am excited to have it looking nice and not water stained. : )

Sammi is loving first grade so far. She has gym tomorrow so we had to get gym shoes. Sammi is so funny. I watch her (at a distance) when I drop her off at school. Yesterday, she sat down next to a girl and said, " It is going to be a great day of first grade isn't it?" She is so excited about it. It is funny to watch all the children running around - just little people. One thing that is sad is there are these huge vans that come and line up at the school. They drop off kids from daycare to school and then they come and pick them back up after school for daycare. It makes me so sad. Also, Sammi is one of three kids that brings her lunch to school. Everyone else buys their lunch. I am so glad I have the time to make her lunch. Everyday I write a little note with a special picture for her and I remind her that I love her and to choose the right. She loves them. I just want to remind her that her mommy is thinking about her. I love Sammi, she is so fun to watch grow.

I walk Sammi to and from school, it is not too far away. After I take her to school I then go for a walk/run (I have to work back into running, it has been awhile!) Then I go back home and spend my day time with Daniel and William. It is great - much quieter without Sam around. She is kind of the ring-leader around here. Daniel is pretty mellow by himself, he only turns into the Hulk when provoked by Sam. I am also trying to make sure Daniel feels loved and special because Sammi gets so much attention right now for school (new supplies, shoes, etc,) He is doing great.

We came up with a new reading system in our home. I had been doing the bulk of the reading to the kids, we read the scriptures together every night. Now, we read scriptures and say nighttime prayers together, then Charles and I read to Sam or Dan and then switch the next night. That way they get one-on-one with both parents, and their own level of reading, and they LOVE it! They also go to sleep much faster after a good book and some individual attention. I am so glad Charles is here to do that! It is amazing!

That is all for now. It is a beautiful day here. It is amazing the temperature ranges from 50 in the morning to 95 at night! It takes some getting use to!

Lots of love,
Mari