March 20, 2011

Dear Family,

Happy Birthday TJ & Scott, and HAPPY SPRING!!! Though we are all ready to boycott Daylight Savings, the joy and life of Spring outweigh our inconveniences right now! And everyone seems to have new life breathing through them:

SPENCER: read his first chapter book through (Magic Tree House #37)--as to how much he got, we're not sure, but at least he spent 2 hours after school reading ON HIS OWN!!!

MADDIE: worked to the bone bringing ALL of her grades up for the end of the term this last week—our week's absence for our GA trip only ending up giving her school grief, but it was enough to spread out through the whole family!--we're glad she was diligent enough to stick w/ it for those A's and
B's from D' and F's that absences create!

EMILY:  after making this awesome KINKAJOU (a rainforest-dwelling monkey like creature that is actually from the raccoon family) diorama for a school project, also finished Harry Potter 4 and thereby exceeded her 26 point “AR (Accelerated Reading)” goal! We were worried 10 days ago when she only had 4 of those 26 points, and needed to either get the 30-something points from HP, or read about 7 average 3-5 point chapter books before her term ended

BRENT: actually WANTED to attend a play (how sad to have him grow out of enjoying those things!!) since his buddy Derek was “Michael” in our high school's Peter Pan----and he flew!!! I told Brian we really needed to capitalize on his interest, so we splurged on a sitter for Lucy yesterday, and all went to see it. The story is only so captivating to me, but the flying (by “Foy”--the same flying company used in the original Mary Martin production) was AWESOME, and they had great dancing from the “redskins” and “mermaids.” and w/ the fairy dust, audience interaction, and other special effects, it was REALLY well done! We may have even gotten Brent convinced to try out for our Syracuse Music Man!

LUCY: is NEARLY walking—getting up all the time to take 4-5 steps here or there! Is there anything more fun than a one year old?? She is SO laughy and fun-loving—LOVES just to be with anyone in her family, and is always amazing us with what she's learned next (like how to slurp water out of the dishwasher when she isn't standing on it). She's also very good at keeping our drawers organized. She daily empties the contents of every drawer she has access too, requiring me to keep things at a clean and easy minimum!

ANNE: has been so funny since our trip to GA—wanting to call everyone she loves her cousin, so we've learned about neighbors and friends and sisters, and she's very busy trying to figure out who's who. One of her favorite phrases: “Uh-Oh Potatoes!”--I think it's what she perceives us saying instead of “Uh-Oh Spaghettios.” I'm logging these pictures as the "Before" so we'll know when her skin is doing better.  We've lost a lot of sleep the last few weeks to her nightly 3hour scratch sessions that end w/ falling asleep on the basement couch w/ "Qubo" (the cartoon channel--usually w/ He-Man on at 3 am) on.  The last few days have been an improvement though.

BRIAN: THRILLED at BYU's season continuing to Sweet 16 status!--AND w/ games on national TV that we can actually watch live!! He's been cleaning all that basement bathroom tile w/ every other free minute that he's not at bishopric, etc., and is now ready to grout!

CHARLOTTE: finally put up curtains in our bathroom, AND cleaned out ALL of the piles in our bedroom!!!--I feel like a 6 year-old who just cleaned her room :)--now it's like sleeping in a hotel!