Spring'

Yeah for Spring!!!! It's so nice when things start to come alive again and we get to get working in the yard again. We've continued with pulling up some tree stumps and clearing out some of the overgrowth in our yard. We now get to tear down the old playhouse in the yard and get rid of our trash. We'll see how long that takes us.

Of course that's just the outside. Nate put up a wall last September to give Claudia her own room, which we've been able to paint and decorate and it really looks cute. Now we need to work on the other side of the wall, the side in our living area, and get some repainting done. You'd think with that many months, we shouldn't have had that big of a problem getting done, but we do. Oh well, we cut the tree down in November and just got the stump pulled up last week. We need to pace ourselves I guess.

Joshua is going to be in first grade next year. This means I will have all kids in school all day. I've always planned on going back to work when my kids were all in school. I just can't believe that time has come. I went back a little prematurely a little over a year ago and it was full time. That didn't work out so well. I am now in the process of getting my teaching certification renewed here in Pennsylvania. Of course there must be jobs available for me to work and since I'm a little spoiled, it needs to be pretty perfect to take me away from a good 7 hours of "me time" during the day.

I am also going to be a chaperone for the sixth grade camp the kids are going to next month...meaning the sixth graders at Hershey Middle School. I went to a parent meeting last week and found that they use the word "camp" a little loosely. They did say it's camping Hershey style which means their sleeping quarters are pretty much like hotel rooms and they have a nice cafeteria to eat in where meals are prepared for them but they are kind of located near some woods and a stream. They've been doing this program for 22 years now and although I was hesitant when I first heard about it, I think it is an excellent program and Claudia is so excited to be going.

Nathan has been called to be the Ward Mission Leader, which means that I was released as Primary President. I will always be thankful for being called at the exact time that I was. It was the only time I could have served in the primary when all four of my kids were a part of primary and the only time in their lives that I could serve all of them at the same time and give them that example of service. That being said, I'm glad to now be serving as a ward missionary. Of course Nathan will be fantastic because he does well in everything he sets out to do.

Joshua, as I mentioned, is finishing up kindergarten. I was helping him out with his homework the other day and really have been impressed with his skills. He still seems so young and small. It's hard to believe he'll be six in June. He's becoming so much more social than he has been all his life. He usually was content playing on his own or hanging out with me. Now he is ready to invite people over the second he gets home from school.

Aaron has really been enjoying the Percy Jackson series of books. They're lots of fun to read and it's good that he's started on them, but Nathan has had a great time reading them as well. Sometimes it's been a problem when Aaron needs to do his reading and Nathan won't give up the book. So we've been trying to teach Nathan a little more about sacrifice. Aaron's earned his Bear for Cub Scouts and a couple of Arrow Points. He'll be a Webelo July 1st and is all set to go.

We've started a listening chart in our family and Gracie has really enjoyed it. It's something I used when I taught first grade and thought I would try it here so there would be less yelling. Basically the kids all have five cards that they can change when they do things they're asked without complaining or if they're caught being kind to one another. When they get to their fifth card, they earn a prize and a tally. When they get a certain number of tallies, they earn a bigger prize that they choose to work towards. Grace has just been fantastic since we've started this. She's helpful, kind, listen's the first time. She's really taken to this particular method and I'm just kicking myself for not starting it earlier. Everybody else has improved as well and they like the system, but Grace really goes out of her way to earn as many rewards as she can. We see a lot more of delightful Grace and a lot less of stubborn Grace. She continues to do well in school and has a piano recital in a couple of weeks. She's also really looking forward to being on the Summer Swim team.

Claudia is continuing to grow into such a lovely young lady. She's becoming much more independent and helpful. She sets a great example not only for her siblings but for people around her. She wants to get a little more involved in things having to do with singing and acting. The music teacher recorded her singing "The Star Spangled Banner" to be played for their school in the morning when they do the pledge. I guess they give all the kids this opportunity if they would like, but she was so excited to do it. She said a friend of hers signed her up, but I think she was happy about it. She's doing great in school, piano, swim...she's just a great kid. She gets to perform in her first Road Show this weekend. That should be fun.

We got to take a fun trip to Baltimore for Spring Break as well. I'll have to post some pictures as soon as I find our camera. We saw "The Ace of Cakes", which was pretty fun. We ate at a restaurant across the street from Charm City Cakes and just watched as all the employees came to work and hung out with their camera crew and such. I'll have to find my camera so I can post some pictures. For those of you unfamiliar with "The Ace of Cakes", it's a show on food network that we just like to watch. It's kind of fun.

We also went to the Baltimore Aquarium and then down into Washington D.C. where the traffic was just horrific. I guess we didn't take into account that it was Spring Break for many people and Washington D.C. is a big tourist area. We took the time to watch "Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief" at our kids request. It's a fine movie, but if you've read the book, don't go in expecting it to be anything like it. I hadn't read the book and enjoyed it just fine, but for the others, they couldn't believe the inconsistencies.

So, all in all, we are gettin' along great here in the east.