Dear Family,
Ok, Mom, here’s the family letter, so I expect to see you on video-skype thanking me for it!
I usually end up being grateful that February is a short month. We started out with a huge blizzard (now called “the Blizzard of ’11). It was actually kind of fun - - Scott was out of town but he had helped to stock up on all the necessities, so we really had no need to go anywhere. The storm struck at night, and in the morning, wow! What a lot of snow! The wind had blown it right up against the front of our house in drifts as high as 5 feet. Obviously school was cancelled, for 2 days, actually, while people dug themselves out. I got the snow shovel and cleared a path from the front door to the driveway - - it took about an hour and a half. Ethan did some work on the driveway too, but then a snowplow guy came along and offered to do the rest of the driveway for $50. We jumped at the chance - - it would have taken us the rest of the day.
So we enjoyed our cozy time in the house together, and cabin fever only set in by late Friday. Fortunately Scott got home then and I was able to turn the kids over to him and have some much needed alone time!
The last 2 weeks of the month were marred by everyone in the house being sick with something or other. Meredith had the worst of it - - she was fussy and feverish and congested for several days so I took her to the doctor, and it turned out she had a double ear infection and one of her eardrums had ruptured! I felt so bad, I had no way of knowing her ears were involved! (This is the first time she’s had an ear infection.) She’s much better now, although still pretty moody and clingy. But she is absolutely wonderful about taking her medicine, unlike some other kids I could name!
Other than being sick, Mer-bear is doing great! She loves nothing more than to sit and read books with me, and she now knows (and constantly points out) the letter “o.” She has also learned all of her colors, and now we’re working on shapes. She’s saying quite a few words, although they’re mostly not so easy to understand. I recently bought her a couple of new shirts with butterflies and an elephant on them and she loves them! She is such a darling girl, truly the light of our lives!
Noah is doing great too. He found a long advertisement for “Shrek Live (the Musical)” on his Shrek 4 DVD and has watched it about a thousand times. That’s the new big bribe - - if he isn’t behaving we just ask if he wants to go see Shrek and he shapes up very quickly. He’s been drawing some wonderful pictures lately, many of them from Shrek, with lots of detail. It’s so fun! What a sweet little boy he is!
Onto my sweet big boy - - Ethan. Wow does he look grown up lately. He got a very nice haircut and is so handsome! I took him shopping for some clothes at Kohl’s recently, and I’m happy to say he has very nice taste - - just plain t-shirts with no writing on them, and plain button-down church shirts. He always looks very clean-cut. (I have to say, though, that he hated shopping, and I didn’t enjoy it much either - - next time he can go with Scott!)
We’re busy planning out our summer, and it is going to be crazy! Ethan has a week of scout camp, 2 weeks at Philmont (a scout camp in New Mexico) and a week of EFY. In between that all he’s somehow got to learn to type, and start gearing up for the start of both high school and seminary in the fall. Noah will have his summer day camp for 6 weeks, as well as a week-long overnight camp especially for kids with special needs. And if we can swing it he’ll do the weekend at Camp River Run in Idaho.
Scott and I are busy planning out the summer as well. We really hope to be able to go to Idaho at the very beginning of August to see those of you who live out that way. Scott continues to travel quite a bit for work, and play tennis here at home. He’s planning a trip for us for next Christmas - - he just loves the intricacies of finding the best and cheapest flights!
I’m busy with my calling in Primary - - boy do I love those kids! It is so fun working with them and coming up with creative ways to keep them singing. A couple of Sundays ago I let them pick animals for the song “Do as I’m Doing.” The best was when one kid picked the monkey. So we all sang and scratched like monkeys. You really have to be pretty uninhibited and unembarrassed to do what I do!!
On a completely different note, I’m studying Descartes and Hume in my online classes, and I’ve written several papers. Sometimes I feel like my head can wrap itself around all the information, but I do enjoy it, and so far I am doing well. I’m so glad I’m doing this, it’s nice to be able to do something completely different once in a while.
We love you all! Have a happy March and look forward to Spring!!!