March?

I can not believe we are already to March and March 6th at that! I am so grateful that the girls had a midwinter break and that I was able to just sort of chill and recover a bit more from my surgery because ever since then I feel like I have been sprinting- in a marathon. So youngest to oldest-

Sawyer- Lives for Pre-school. He loves it so much. Every day he wakes up and asks if today is pre-school. He now gets himself dressed every morning because he can't wait till I have time to help. I am so glad we decided to do this, it has been so fun. Sadie told me that maybe she should homeschool so she can do our projects with us. She also asked if I had taught them homophones yet. Nope, that's for next week. Sawyer is as loving and sweet as ever. You should see his "sad face," those big brown eves would melt anyone's heart. Two cute stories- yesterday I was trying to fold laundry and Sawyer came over and curled up in my lap. I held him for a few minutes and then I told him I really needed to fold laundry. He took hold of both my arms and pulled them forward, around him on each side, and placed them in the laundry basket. Then twisted his head around and grinned at me. Next, Friday I was in the kitchen when I heard a tremendous banging from the living room. I heard Sawyer crying and I waited. The crying stopped and my boy walked around the corner rubbing his eyes furiously. I asked him if he was okay (I know I might sound heartless but you have no idea how often I have told Sawyer and Sadie to stop jumping on the furniture) and he looked up at me, still rubbing his eyes and says "Batman doesn't cry." I love having this little guy home with me every day.

Ellyn- Had a very hard week. She started being very grumpy last Friday. Saturday she seemed fine, but we drove up to Oakland and back for the Stake Temple day and she LOVES being in the van. Sunday she was so upset at church that Mike had to take her in the van for a little drive. Monday- bad, almost her entire tutoring session she was crying. At night her sleep was very sporadic. Monday night she woke up at 3:20 and stayed awake the rest of the night. Tuesday she didn't even want to do her OT and she normally loves it. I FINALLY figured it out. I was looking at her mouth and noticed her two front teeth were closer together, also she had been chewing on her sleeves. I thought it was just because she was ornery, which she will sometimes do, but then I realized she must be getting her 6 year molars. She won't let me in to check it out but I started giving her motrin and she was back to her happy self. She has been off the motrin for a couple of days now and she is our sweet girl again. I HATE not being able to help my girl and playing the guessing game. I know I have said that a MILLION times. With the exception of this communication break down, Ellie has been doing a lovely job using her "yes" sign and also saying Yes and No on a regular basis. You have no idea how much this new "yes" thing has made a difference in our lives. Hurray!

Sadie- Is doing really well. She has lots of friends at school and loves her new teacher. On Monday we got to go on a field trip together to the Habitat at Jane's school and learn about birds. She was able to hold one and release it back into the air. She loved it. Sadie is Sawyer's favorite playmate and I am thrilled that she genuinely loves to play with her little brother. She occasionally gets a little put out when they play video games but besides that they are great. They play great imagination games and since Sadie gets to be the boss and Sawyer follows her lead their scenarios turn out great. Sadie sprained her ankle doing "standing Teeter Totter Wars" at school on Thursday so she had to stay home from school Friday. She could have probably made it but I figured no teacher deserved the drama that would have ensued. My clue was when Sadie, with a brave and solemn face, said to me "Don't worry mom, my friends can be my human crutches today." I could just see it all. Yesterday we did "makeovers" and Sadie loved looking glamorous the entire afternoon.

Jane- Is busy. She has some huge projects for yearbook, lots of babysitting jobs, music performances coming up, social engagements, etc... a true teenager. Jane got her patriarchal blessing February 13th. It was an amazing experience for Janie and we, as parents, felt blessed to listen to what the Lord has in store for our daughter. It was a beautiful blessing and I am very excited for our girl. Jane has some exciting events coming up- her first Youth Conference in two weeks and going to see Wicked in April (I get to go too) with our Bishop and the Young Women. Jane tried out for a solo in choir and is on the list for call backs. She is so much braver than I am when it comes to performing, which is funny for such a quiet girl. This weekend she has had to record the polls for the 8th graders for the year book. She has been amused to find her name listed under "QUIRKELY QUIET," "INCOMPARABLE INSTRUMENTALIST," and "MOST ORIGINAL STYLE," as she has been recording the results.

Brooke- Since I am younger than Mike:-). I have our housing 99% secure for Leavenworth, which is a big relief. Now I need to contact Jane's and Ellyn's schools. Get Jane the right electives and get Ellyn's IEP over to the special ed so they are ready for next year. Our house that we are currently in is going back to the bank, our owner fired our rental agency, and so things are nice and up in the air there. I am relieved that we are leaving at the end of May. I could have already said that. My nose is healing nicely. It's been pretty painful, as have my teeth. I was not expecting that, but at my last appt. on Friday I asked my Dr. about it (thinking it was from breathing tubes or something) and he said it sometimes happens because he's working around those nerves. So my top front teeth have been aching for awhile but feeling better. I am so grateful that my mom was able to come for the week of my surgery and keep my house, laundry, meals and kids caught up because this past week has been crazy and I don't know how I would have played "catch up" on top of all that as well. I have started training for my marathon and that has been exciting and a little painful (i.e. my 14 mile run yesterday and also, the 32 degree weather and my poor nose). I am happy though and breathing better each day.

Mike- Busy. That is the definition of this man's life. Between his calling, training for the marathon, his school work, his Thesis, and trying to spend time with the family, his life is insane. He took it a little easy the week I was recovering and the girls were out of school but he is making up for it now. Friday, he did get to go to a big gaming conference up in San Francisco as part of his school work. He and his buddies had a really great time. Yesterday Mike did a twenty mile run and finished strong (I know, I was watching from the comfort of the van after I finished at 14). To clarify, Mike is running the Big Sur Marathon the first weekend in May and I am running the Newport Marathon the first weekend in June. After we returned home Mike iced, took a shower, a quick nap, ate, and then spent the next twelve hours in his office working on his thesis project. He has been downstairs since 7:30 this morning as well. It is exciting though, to hear that they are making very real progress on this project.

So our move is now less than 3 months away. For family home evening we made a list of all the things we wanted to do again or for the first time before we leave. Between things we are already committed to and bad weather, we are going to have very limited time to fit everything in before we leave. Hopefully I won't be as exhausted every Saturday as I was yesterday.

So this is a little novella. But it has been awhile. A nice way to spend a rainy Sunday morning.