The DnA Strand: Photo Shoot and Growing Girl

On Monday, September 1st 2014 our good friend from High School, Ashley Stephenson, took our first family photos. She did excellent work! We were grateful for a beautiful day, for clothing selections that were similar but not 'matchy-matchy' for good behavior (even if for bribes) and for a happy baby. All in all, we are thrilled to have photos that show our family in it's complete form. All the pictures before Avery now seem remarkably unfinished, like the family there assembled is missing it's Pièce de résistance: Schmavery. PughFamily-0021 copy

Here is the link to our story on Ashley Stephen's blog.

Catch up on the Family:

At a Dash baseball game

Jacob's 1st day of 1st grade

Jacob is in first grade. On the second day of class the teacher asked this question: Triangle plus square = triangle plus square. Is this true or false?
The class grew silent.

Jacob: It's true.

Mrs Hoeldobbler: How do you know it's true?

Jacob: It's just Algebra!

We knew that we had a smartypants on our hands due to his exceptional kindergarten and preschool teachers. Then on day 3 Jacob comes home with a piece of paper that declares he correctly identified 121 words our of 125 of the second grade words!

Getting tall!

Needless to say he is enjoying himself. His friends all seem to be like him, well mannered good kids. August lives one street over from us. He and his dad pick Jacob up every day and take him to school. Greyson is no longer in Jacob's class this year like last, but they are on the same flag football team this year. Sam is Jacob's buddy in class and at lunch. Jacob is back taking piano, playing football, and earns Pokemon cards for every day that he gets dressed and brushes his teeth and picks up the mail. His favorite video games du jour are Super Smash Brothers and Donkey Kong on the Nintendo Wii. He has lost two teeth last Spring and none since.

There's a 'Mos hiding in this picture

Thomas is an inquisitive little kid. His knowledge of numbers and letters has grown quite a lot in the first month of school. He converses on a pretty sophisticated level and talks to pretty much everyone he comes into contact with. When Ms. Rose, our neighbor next door, gives him candy or ice cream sandwiches, Thomas asks, "can I have one for my brother" Thomas makes monster noises to Avery and talks to her in a high register. She smiles biggest in these encounters. Thomas gets paid Pokemon cards for

Thomas' first day at Parkway Preschool 3s&4s

staying in his bed all night (about 5 nights a week) and not crying. We're working on those things. Thomas can throw a tantrum with the best of them. Fortunately his screaming is reserved for home life primarily, as out in public or at church he's usually enjoying the company of others. He loves to run and jump, and he uses his imagination whenever he can. He rarely gets bored. He enjoys watching his brother play video games and insists that he doesn't know how. Yet watching them together, Thomas frequently has memorized what comes next in the game and warns his brother. He can be an excellent helper, although his favorite phrase when he's "Hangry" is "I can't do that! I'm tiiiiiirrreeed"

Are you going to crawl?

Avery is on the verge of so much, which is what prompted me to put some things down on this blog. She's so close to crawling. She often finds herself in plank position, not yet learning to churn her legs for locomotion. She pulls her self up on something about every day.

Wonder what this tastes like...

Yesterday she started coming down the homestretch of her first tooth. She's warm but not feverish, and screamed/yelled/talked/moaned at Ashley and I for 2.5 hours last night from 2:30 until 5 am or so. Even then we both agreed that she was/is extremely cute and we have trouble being mad at her. I'm confident that will change as she grows and develops more an attitude. Over all she's happy as a clam. Capable of self-entertaining, when she's being quiet she's most dangerous. More than once we've found her with paper in her mouth. She's started to like a few foods- mostly pear and banana.

Ashley is a working wonder-woman. She gets up first and gets herself ready, then sets out clothes and makes lunches. She takes Avery to work with her 2 days a week, and occasionally (sometimes often) gets help from the people she works with who need to "see their baby." Ashley did some training in Raleigh at the end of September, and continues to gain command of her job. She likes the WIC Clinic, the work she does, and especially the people she works with. She participates in the women's group at church when she can and keeps up with her sisters, mom, and friends. Being a nursing mother has it's social drawbacks. She and the boys are going to run a mud run next week!

Goodnight.

Things are going well at Augsburg. I continue to teach and preach with regularity, which are two of my favorite tasks. I'm writing a lot these days, including a new play about a church in Alaska that I hope to have finished by mid-November. I played softball this year and am looking forward to starting a basketball team. I love coaching little-league and hanging with the kids at home. Our days are filled to the brim with entertainment and joy!