Neglected Blog and Updates

This is the longest period of time that I have neglected this blog. We lost one desk top (We think it is the mother board) and the hard drive in the laptop just a month apart. All of our pictures and all of our documents that we had kept on those two computers are unattainable now. John is buying an external hard drive reader to restore the files from the desk top, but everything on the laptop is gone.

With the desktop out of commission, I have a harder time getting any writing done. I used to just sit down at the desktop in the kitchen and type something quickly while making dinner. Now I have to track down one of the two working laptops which we bought for school the day before the desk top died. That is why this blog has been so neglected.

In the meantime, Arwen passed the 2 month mark. She is a peaceful little baby. She started sleeping from 10:30 until 7:00 the next morning at 7 weeks. I am a little funny because while I am glad to be getting the rest, I have mourned the loss of her company in the middle of the night. I really enjoyed just cuddling and feeding her in the quiet of the night.

Josh is definitely jealous of Arwen. Josh saw me taking pictures of Arwen. He screamed and then put himself between the camera and Arwen, smiled big and said "Cheese"! I loved it!!! Funny little boy. Of course, I took a bunch of pictures him. We still love Josh too.

Joseph is actually sleeping in his own bed now. I am glad that Rachel and Anya have been patient with him for the last year and a half  and haven't minded him sleeping with them. It is funny how I used to really care where my little ones slept. Now I only care that they are sleeping and not with me.

Anya knows nearly all of her alphabet and all of the sounds and it is all thanks to StarFall.com. I haven't had enough time to really work with her. It is wonderful to live in a day with free computer programs just there on the internet. I don't feel guilty either because StarFall is a much funner way to learn the alphabet. The five older kids had to do it with a sighing mom and homemade flash cards.

Rachel told me about every other student in her class. She knows all of their names and something about everyone-- who they like, who their friends are, what they like to do. Rachel even knows and tells me the intimate details of the lives of some of her closer friends. Like she knows how many kids are in their families. I thought Ruth and Adam were my social kids, but it took them 5 months to even remember the names of their friends when they started school.

Adam has become our amazing athlete. Last month he perfected his front hand spring and now he can do it 7 times in a row and without running. He can also do front flips (the no hands thing) on the trampoline. He surprised us a week ago by coming home from school and showing us that he could do a back bend. Then on Friday, Adam came home from school and said, "I got it! Watch this Mom." Then he did a back hand spring, and a back walk over. This may not be impressive to some, but we are very impressed. Adam has never had gymnastics and he didn't watch the olympics.

Johnny is doing well with school. I am nagging him a lot less then I did last year. And as usual, I am very impressed with his math skills. While all of the other kids his age are learning long division Johnny is factoring polynomials and beginning to sove equations through factoring. Dividing polynomials comes next. Then he will do slope-intercept format, solving with square roots and it is onto geometry. He is also learning the grammar rules and applications he will need to know for the SAT and ACT. Johnny seems to understand grammar the way he does math, if only he could apply those rules to his writing.

Kate is my main man. She helps me so much everyday. I wouldn't want to get along without my little helping hand there everyday. But, next year Kate is going back to school for 9th grade. Seminary is at the schools here and we live at least 15 minutes away from the older grade schools. It is easier to send the older kids on the bus and have them go to school, then to do all of the driving it will take everyday to get them to seminary and back while home schooling.

And Ruth, she went to her first school dance. The Bountiful school dances are just like church dances. That is a perk of living in Utah. Ruth is exercising and eating healthy all of her own choice and she is looking quite beautiful. Ruth is my main man in the evenings. After she finishes her regular chores, she just comes and helps me clean the kitchen. I am quite enjoying my teenagers. They are good and fun to have.

I think God wants me to exercise because when I thought I should get started but was wondering if I would be too tired to exercise consistently, Arwen started sleeping through the night. When I was wondering about how to pay for a treadmill, I found a working one for $30 while looking for used digital cameras. So I am doing it. I am exercising and I am hating it.

John's job really stinks and while John would never say this and I can really only infer from the few criptic things he has said, John's boss is a jerk. So John is looking for another job--yeah!!! I am hoping for better benefits. Ruth and Kate both badly need braces. I am hoping for the dental coverage we had in Wichita that covered cleaning 100% and everything else at 50%. We haven't been to the dentist for more than a year and a half but have been paying for the crappy insurance we can't afford to use.

That's the update. Today is General Conference and John's 41st birthday. Our life isn't perfect and often tough, but we do have a wonderful family! I am a blessed wife and mother.