Long time no write.

I figure that since it's been so long since I've written I would let everyone know how we're doing. This week the big news is that we found out that we are having a boy! We are all very excited about this even the girls. When Abby heard the news she said "YES!, I always wanted a brother." Sarah seems excited, but I don't think she truly gets it. We've decided on naming him Victor Eric. Victor is a Melissa's Great-grandfather's name. I wanted to spell it BYUctor with the U being silent of course, but Melissa has talked me out of it :).

Abby is really excited to start school on Tuesday. She has hand-picked Melissa to be her teacher. Melissa have talked about boundaries between school and home and we think that Abby is mature enough to make it work. Sarah has started going to her new daycare. She goes to two ladies that only watch teacher's kids so they keep the same calendar as teachers do. They divide up the days during the week so they share the work load. Sarah is really excited and nervous at the same time. It is her first time at daycare without her special big sister there. Are girls are both growing up way to fast.

This last Tuesday I took the girls with me to the BYU Kickoff PartyHot. The girls had fun getting pictures taken with Volleyball players, Soccer players, Cheerleaders, the Cougaretts, and Abby even overcame her fear of Cosmo and got a picture with him too. Both the girls got autographs from the Volleyball and Basketball players. The girls also played several games that they had for the kids. They ran a little cross country track set up for kids and played water-balloon Volleyball. The football players were the main attraction so it was a long wait to get their autographs and since I already got most of the football players' autographs this past spring, I let the girls do what they wanted. We also visited the athletic building and saw the Heisman trophy as well as the 1984 National Championship trophy that were on display. It was very hot (97 degrees) so we went and got drinks after we left. We were all very tired when we got home, but the girls had fun. See the pictures below.

This school year I will continue my position at Rees Elementary as an E.S.L. (English as a Second Language) Technician. The hours are short and the pay is low, but I am very grateful to have this job. I work with great people and great students. I will, however, continue to find that ever illusive full-time teaching position. Melissa will continue her position as a first grade teacher. We are a little disappointed that she wasn't able to find a principal position, but with the new baby coming, it has turned out to be a blessing in disguise. It would have taken a great toll on her being a new principal and pregnant at the same time.

The last new exciting news is that we got out basement dry walled. He will have to put it on hold until we can afford more supplies, but now it acctually looks like a livable part of our house. It's amazing with framing and dry wall can do to a basement.

Wow! I had more to write than I thought. Hope you all have a great week.

Love

Eric, Melissa, and the kids.