April flew by so fast I can barely remember what happened! Ethan started track, which kept us both running. He didn’t like it as much as cross-country. He does enjoy running for fun though, and he and Scott have been running, swimming, and lifting weights at the gym on Saturdays. Ethan wrote a research paper for school on “Nuclear Deterrence Theory.” I had no idea what that even was until I typed the paper for him. He did a great job researching and writing it, and I was impressed by the way the teacher taught his class how to do it. Boy is research different now that we have the internet!
Ethan also got something new last month - - an electric guitar! He has been taking lessons on an acoustic guitar for about 3 years now, and he was ready for something different. He really likes it (he is, thankfully, not a rocker, and it isn’t any louder than the acoustic). His teacher commented on how well he was doing at his lesson last week. I’m proud of him. I wish he’d stuck with piano lessons (and someday he’ll wish it too,) but I’m so glad he’s playing an instrument. He still likes the Beatles, and is starting to get interested in the Big Band Era sound.
Noah gave a talk in Primary today. He did a very nice job. He struggles to be reverent in church sometimes, but he is a great helper to the primary leaders. He puts lots of things away and is always excited when he gets an assignment. He’s enjoying school very much. They had a field trip to a high school a few weeks ago. Some of the high school kids took Noah’s class around the school - - they’d prepared some fun activities for them. It was really fun.
Noah also got to go to the first ever Down syndrome luau dance party. We had it at the church and the young women were mostly in charge. One of them did a lot of work on it as a project for her Young Womanhood Recognition. We had great decorations, snacks and music, and everyone had loads of fun. The young women were wonderful ambassadors of the church. Noah especially had a good time dancing and hanging out with his friends Leah and Vanessa.
Meredith has hit the “terrible twos” a little early. She is still just as sweet as can be and so much fun, but she also has learned “no!” and says it frequently. Maybe it’s because she’s had to hold her own against her two big brothers, but she can be a little aggressive. She’s just as smart as can be, and knows almost all of her upper-case letters. She is talking more and more. Today I gave her a lollipop and she said, “I like it!” She especially had fun when Mom and Dad and Hilary were out here. I’m glad she’s such a friendly little bug, not shy at all!
The family visit was lots of fun, but it was way too short! Because of car trouble, Mom and Dad and Hil got here much later than planned and were only here about 3 days. They may have been glad to leave though, because our hot water heater broke and we had to shower at the gym! Also I had to work one of the days, and I had to take a test for one of my classes. Everyone was so helpful, watching Meredith and Noah for me while I worked and studied.
One of my classes is over. For my last assignment I had to refute something in our text, a book by Martha Nussbaum. In her last chapter she compared Notre Dame to BYU, with BYU coming in a very distant second. She was almost ridiculously biased, completely discounting BYU’s awesome language programs and study abroad programs. It wasn’t hard finding plenty of evidence to refute her arguments. And I got an A+ on the paper. So yay for me! I still have one test to take in my other class and then I am done. I’m not going to take a class this summer because Scott is just traveling way too much and I don’t have the time. But I’ll start up again in the fall. I love learning!
Scott is finally going to be home all week, after 2 months of being gone every single week for at least 2 nights, sometimes more. He had his 15 year business school reunion a couple of weeks ago in Virginia, and he took Meredith with him! I enjoyed a little break, and he had a great time with her. What a wonderful dad he is!
And what a wonderful mom and dad I have. Happy Mother’s Day, Mom! I am so excited about your mission! We will sure miss you, but we’ll be able to stay in close touch through skype and email. Good luck these last couple of weeks!!
