Rachel is still happily slowly growing and not dealing with everything woman yet. Which is not a big deal. I was 15 and a half and my mom was 16 and Kate was nearly 15 so we're women who develop and grow slowly. But Rachel is still cute and likes cute things. She's imaginative. She does not like school but might be enjoying reading more when she picks out her own books to read. Rachel likes to discuss the virtues of laziness, but we're not at all convinced. She's a fun daughter and an integral part of our family and so much her own little self. We love Rachel.
We now have only three weeks of school left. This year I'll give them two weeks off before starting a summer program. They're not too happy, but I think it is necessary, especially for Adam and Rachel.
Johnny is still doing a lot of computer programing with Adam and Joseph and I think that they're progressing some.
The garden is dug up but we had a big frost. We lost all of the flowers on our wisteria bush and several tomato and squash plants that I had purchased but strawberries, celery, cauliflower, and oregano survived. I have not checked but I expect our young potatoes, turnips, and carrots survived too as they do better in the colder weather and die in the heat. But we have a lot to do for gardening and yard work.
We have finished all of the General sessions of General Conference but took off the priesthood session to spend time doing what Rachel wanted to do. We'll probably do the priesthood session this Monday or next Sunday for home church.
I'm 23 weeks pregnant now and feeling the baby move everyday. I'm still very tired. It's hard to be pregnant at 45 but I'm sure that I will feel as blessed with this baby of my old age as I did with the babies of my youth. I am solid on the importance of strong godly families and no matter how the world turns on views of that family, I never will.
March has been an eventful and a fun month. My parents came and visited at the beginning of the month and they bought us a much needed and high quality brand new sectional couch and a very nice wooden rocking chair that we love.
Ruth had her 23rd birthday, so not only did we get to celebrate out oldest daughter, but the day we became parents. Ruth is well and I think she is in for a good year.
We've been to the beach twice now-- once today and once when my parents came. The water is still pretty icy but the warm sun and sea breezes are lovely and healing.
School is continuing. I'm looking forward to the end of the school year because I have decided on some big changes for the summer and for the next school year that I am excited about. Still, we are finishing off what we've got going for this school year.
Kate now has 3 goslings. I'm expecting them to become good guard geese. It's funny to think that we'll end up with 20 to 25 pound birds. If they're not too mean, I might try and raise a flock for their lawn mowing and meat. We'll see.
Johnny has been teaching Adam and Joseph how to program games. He has been working pretty diligently on that and will continue over the summer.
Adam is still my right hand man, always there to help me out. He's trying to read more and pay more attention to his school work so that he really learns it.
Rachel, Rachel will be 15 in a week's time. She still hates school but is starting to help me out a little by choosing things that she wants to read.
Anya spends much of her free time on art. She is really, really good for a 13 year old.
Joseph is carrying on with school. He complains about it, but has enough of a competitive sense that he keeps up with math and other things.
Josh is just the same as he has been for a couple of years. He reads well if he pays attention to the text and terribly if he does not. He's good with math. I've been having him do more to help.
Arwen is doing great. I think she is as strong and competent of a reader as Johnny and Joseph were at that age. Arwen is a delight and has become very obedient and easy going.
Suzy's doing well. She's learning to read. She's a good contextual reader. The other day Suzy was playing a game of cards by herself when she informed me that the cpu was losing and that she was winning.
Sam brings me a large stack of books to read to him each day and he asked me if when he starts school if I will read to him more.
Gideon always wants someone playing with him or read to him or color with him. He's a full time job, but there are a lot of us to give him attention now. Gideon has formed a love for Batman. He loves everything Batman. He wants Batman toys and clothes and cars and coloring books and anything else that he knew knows exists with Batman. Ruth was like this about dinosaurs at the same age. None of my other kids grabbed onto to a topic that they loved so thoroughly at such a young age.
