Ben is having a good year so far. He was voted into the Hope squad for the year by his classmates and he loves serving and working in the club. Also a couple boys in the ward asked him to be on the robotics club and he loves meeting every week with them to socialize and build. Everyone who sees him right now instantly says something like "Whoa you are growing so much Ben" or "You look so much older." And I don't know if all the comments promoted premature babysitting tasks but he has been thrown in. About once a week for an hour or two he watches shows with the kiddies and Will and I go grab a soda. On one of our outings we came back to Ben locked into the basement with the kids with some plan of attack in case someone broke in.. he reminds me of me = any noise around my house when I was babysitting and I grabbed my nearest table utensil for support. Ben has had a better year with not getting overwhelmed at school. With such a bright mind and non stop stories running in his brain he doesn't always stop to let his body keep up. I expect great things from this little bugger. The firstborn and leader of our family - kind and driven.
James is also shooting up like a weed. Almost as tall as Ben in fact. His smile is contagious and he super loves school and reading and cousins and friends. He is my social one, even though he would tell you he is the quiet one in his class - which he isn't wrong he does tend to hang back at school. I substitute teach at his school he really tends to keep his head in the book when he is supposed to and doesn't run out of line to give me a hug like his other two siblings. The last few days he has decided to see if his stories can make Maddy cry so they are always about puppies then something goes terribly wrong... the little stinker. He is so creative. He thinks someday he might become a writer and write really great movies.
Maddy lou - always so much to say about her. The uphill battle of making sure she gets plenty of sleep and exercise and keeping her from getting too overwhelmed about little things. And I think we have found all the tricks. We are getting this girl down to a art. She is actually catching up with her reading and writing - still a tad delayed and most recently it is because of she says she has a hard time concentrating or in her words "I'm so bored!"The good news is she is doing much better than expected in 1st grade. I just hope my faith and hers can keep pushing us all to that better day. And speaking of puppies we've bribed her with a puppy to see if she can put her finishing touches on her potty training. Most of her motor movements are perfected she just needs to get up the inspiration to take herself to the bathroom instead of being prompted... if she does this she will get a cockapoo - so this story is to be continued... Anywho - her latest interests are whatever the boys are loving currently - so pandas, pokemon, and minecraft educational. She does love detail oriented art projects - she could spend hours poking holes in paper to get the traced out pictures or glueing diamonds onto small pieces of art collages.
As for Will and I - I picked up substitute teaching and love the kids so so much- but it doesn't always pay the bills so I can't do it forever. I'm sort of having a mid life crisis over what I should be when I grow up. My headaches and neck aches from my accident still plague me so heading full speed ahead back into marketing is probably not in the cards... Will is a stalwart and amazing man - he has wowed everyone with his work ethic this year - pulled out all the stops to help Derik build a deck and put up shiplap in our basement and help my parents with every odd and end. I'm so happy to have the perfect partner. He works so hard and loves me and the kiddies so much.
Keep tuned for another day and a another letter
