How Are We Doing?

Steven has been working at a contract job for Richmond Homes, helping with their year end audit and various reports. It was supposed to be just for the month of January, but he has been given a few extra things to work on, so the job has lasted an extra week and he didn't finish what he was working on Friday, so he returned to work today. Last Wednesday he interviewed for another contract job with a company called GHX (... It stands for Global Health Exchange or something like that...). They called him back that same afternoon to offer him the job. This one starts next Monday (the 19th), and is supposed to last three or four months while someone is on maternity leave. While we would prefer a permanent job with benefits, the contract jobs are a great help. Steven interviewed for a permanent job with Ball Corporation last month, and he thought the interview went really well, but he hasn't heard back from them since.

Since we only have the one car and Steven takes it to work, I'm stuck at home most of the time. I do get a ride to an adult institute class on Tuesday mornings, which is wonderful. Other than that, I get to spend a lot of time reading, sewing, knitting, making jewelry, doing housework, and spending way too much time playing games on the computer.  I should probably blog more often...

A painting Hannah make in her art class

Hannah is doing well in 8th grade. She still plays the viola in orchestra at school, although we had to cancel her private lessons (even though they were free) since I have no way to get her to them any more. She is enjoying serving as her Beehive class president. She has a sweet tooth, and loves to bake. She has the recipe for chocolate chip cookies memorized from making them as often as she possibly can. Most of her free time is spent either reading or playing with friends. She is still very artistic and has made some cool works of art in her art class at school. She also has memorized the first 50 or so digits of pi. Because she will be going into high school next year, Hannah gets to go on Trek this summer, and we are very excited about that. (Trek is where the youth ages 14-18 get to walk in the footsteps on the Willie and Martin Pioneer Handcart companies for three days. Steven will get to go this year also, as part of the kitchen staff. See here for the story and here for pictures from four years ago when Steven and I got to go as a Ma and Pa)

Last Thursday we had parent teacher conferences at the boys' school. I am amazed at the wonderful opportunities my boys are receiving at their school. In John's engineering class, they have been designing coats, testing different materials (nylon, fleece, wool, cotton) for their insulating properties, and then designing a coat to withstand extremely low temperatures, and then drawing the coat in 3D, using Adobe Illustrator (which is a program that I would LOVE to learn to use... someday when we are rich enough to afford a $600 computer program...) John's teacher was impressed by his group's coat, and wanted to show it to me, but her computer was having issues at the time. In each of John's classes, his teachers were impressed by his responsibility and skills, and were searching for ways to challenge him. In his free time, when he's not reading, John has been memorizing the elements in the periodic table - in order.

Joshua is also doing well in his classes. While he has difficulty with rote memorization, he has a firm grasp of concepts and applications. Having read and thoroughly enjoyed the Percy Jackson books, he has created his own imaginary world, complete with it's own set of gods - and he frequently will tell me about them, and how what the wind god is doing relates to the weather that day. Joshua's teachers talked to me about having Josh tested to see if he qualifies for the Gifted and Talented program. If he qualifies, that means that all four of my children will be in the GT program.

My son Peter, the Elmo monkey

Peter's finger is doing much better. It doesn't bother him anymore. The flap of skin on his finger came off completely (I think Peter peeled it off), and the last time I looked at it, it just looked like a popped blister. I don't think it will even scar. (Yay!!!) Josh and Peter have both been working with a speech therapist at school in an effort to correct a few speech issues, and the teacher was thrilled with Peter when he recently "got" (i.e. understood and started using consistently) the "r" sound. He enjoys accompanying Steven and me to Webelos (10 year old cub scouts) each week, and he participates along with the other boys. I think he really looks forward to turning 8, so he can be a cub scout "for real".

So that's how we are doing. Life is pretty good.