1 May, 2011

Dear Family,

Well, I intended to write a letter today, but here it is 10 pm and I’m just getting started.  How about a small letter? The best news of the week, however, just barely happened so I don’t feel like I’m too late.  Ding, Dong the Witch is Dead!!! I’m not sure it’s really cool to cheer when someone dies, and I’m not sure that it actually makes the world any safer or any better, but it sure feels good to know that they finally got Osama bin Laden.  It’s interesting when I look back to see how much is different and how much of our every day has changed due to one evil mastermind.  I’m sure there will be a fascinating book about the whole chase before too long.  It ought to make for good reading.  What blows my mind is that he still had a wife living with him while he was on the run.  Bet that was a load of fun.  

The other news of the week is that we have traded in our car.  I’m kind of sad because I loved my 4Runner, but we thought that we’d better trade up while the car still had some value.  I don’t think we were too far away from hitting the intensive car repair phase.  So I am now the driver of a great big, gas guzzling, “Mormon assault vehicle” that seats 8.  Somehow I don’t feel quite as green as I did last week!  

The kiddos are thriving.  Alex is still loving swimming.  He was excited to finally have placed in the butterfly in his last swim meet.  It was really amazing to watch him.  His first 25m were absolutely perfect.  He just runs into trouble when he touches the wall.  The turns and the first few strokes out are a little rough.  I have to keep reminding myself of two things:  he’s nine years old; and he’s already a way better swimmer than I am.  I’m glad he’s found something he loves to keep him active.  He’s growing like a weed and eating like a horse.  

Ryan has made great strides in his reading.  He feels like he’s won the lotto because I finally let him start reading the “Magic Tree House” books.  I can’t stand them because the woman who writes them has no more idea of how to write a complete sentence than fly to the moon.  I make the kids point out the sentence fragments as we go!  They do help the little ones get excited about reading though, and they help them learn to read independently.  

The boys recently had their very first music recital.  Alex has been playing the cello and Ryan the violin for about 4 months now.  Alex played “Ode to Joy,” and the boys played a fiddle tune called “Boil them Cabbage Down” together.  All would have gone well, except that Ryan was nervous and his fingering was off, so they played the rhythm very well together, it just sounded terrible because they were out of tune.  Oh, well, the pictures are still cute.  

Jillian is very cute and loving, and also very naughty.  She loves to be “helpful” so I have to keep an eye on her all the time.  A few weeks ago she “helped” me by wiping off the bathroom counter.  However, she did it while I was in the shower and she left the sink plugged and the water running.  I didn’t notice till about 25 minutes later, but we have learned that the tile contractors did a very nice job of grouting between the tile and the baseboards in the kids’ bathroom.  Other than a puddle to clean up, there wasn’t any real damage.  Once in a while she’ll run up and throw her arms around me and say, “Mom, you’re my best friend!” Somehow it makes all the messes and the clutter seem a lot less important.

I must be tired because I can’t think of anything interesting that Josh and I are doing right now.  What terribly boring people we are!  In a way, I guess boring must be a sign that all is well.  We are looking forward to watching Uncle Greg finish his Iron Man next weekend in St. George.  I am looking forward to a few days away and to skipping out on church on Mother’s Day.  It’s never been my favorite Sunday.  Somehow it always involves guilt and several renditions of “Love at Home,” two things I just can’t tolerate.

Easter seems like a long time ago now.  I’m having to sit down and close my eyes to remember what a great weekend it was.  Somehow, the tank seemed to go from full to empty pretty quickly this week.  I think maybe we’d better go back and do it again next weekend!  

Love to All,

Cheryl