We have had the wackiest weather over the last month–everything from below freezing with icicles outside, to mid-seventies shorts weather, to severe storms with threats of tornadoes. Can it just decide to be one way or the other??? Either way, I guess we really can’t complain compared to many of the northern states. We’re also just happy to all be healthy again after bouts with strep and full-blown flu.
Derek and his mentor have decided it best to delay resubmitting his grant so he can better address some of the comments from the reviewers. He will include his most recent “epiphany” on the subject and data from some more experiments, and then resubmit shortly after our trip to Utah this summer. He has a couple of conferences at the end of March/beginning of April—those are always good experiences. One is in sunny San Diego which is one of my favorite places and has me wishing we had an endless personal travel fund. He enjoyed a video game party this month and has been playing basketball on Wednesday nights at the church. He also played CPA this month preparing our taxes and getting us a HEFTY return, which we plan to put mostly into our’s and the kids’ savings, spend on a few necessary items/repairs, and do something FUN with!!
(ME) With all the crazy changes at work, plus the expense of commuting so far, we’ve decided this will be my last year teaching preschool. If we still need extra income I plan on substituting for the kids’ schools one or two days a week, and teaching voice lessons. I’ve also been able to make some steady money each month from my published scrapbook pages, which helps as well. Unfortunately I didn’t make the Primahybrid creative team, but I’m totally okay with that. Less to do, plus it’s really more complex than my style tends to be. I entered a creative team contest at designerdigitals.com this month, though I doubt I’ll make this one either. I just thought it’d be fun. I’ve been busy putting together the Easter egg hunt for Primary this Saturday, plus helping to translate for cleaning jobs for one of my Spanish speaking visiting teachees. Derek and I also got to enjoy a night at home with no kids and an early morning temple trip thanks to some friend who invited them all to sleep over at their house.
James has become very interested in working on his cub scout webelos requirements. He asks me almost everyday if we can work on something. I’m glad he’s so excited, but I’d like to save most of it until after day camp this summer since they do so much there. He’s been diligent about doing extra jobs to earn extra money, which has helped me a lot with some housework.
Jeffrey has made some strides with his social skills. Over the last few weeks he has played with some kids in his class at recess more times than he has this whole year. I think talking with the counselor has really helped him, and he seems to be happy about it. He also lost a tooth this month…poor tooth fairy just can’t keep up!
Ashley attended a young authors conference for the county schools and really enjoyed writing her own book, and hearing from some professional authors. Several of the girls from church were also there. She also had a patriotic choir concert which was very well done, and she really enjoyed doing it.
Poor Lexie caught the flu from me (even though ALL of us had flu shots this year). We were able to catch it early though and get her on Tami-flu which significantly shortened the duration of her symptoms. (I missed almost 2 weeks of work between my flu and hers, but thankfully my bosses are pretty understanding about that.) She also had her 5 year check up this week and got 4 shots, which was very traumatic for her. One preschool day Lexie missed was the annual Daddy Donut Day, so Derek took off work that morning and brought Lexie some donuts at home. She loved that! She looks forward to the kids coming home everyday (when the weather’s good) so they can all jump on the trampoline together, which they all love.
We look forward to seeing both families this summer! Take care!
Love,
Derek, Aly, James, Jeffrey, Ashley, and Lexie