February: By BECKY

Auriana and I spent time together this month doing Algebra. I love math and she is very smart, so I look forward to times when she asks me for help. I’ve also enjoyed listening to her practice and progress on the violin and the mandolin. She has recently become much more self-motivated and self reliant in all that she does. She’s often wondering what she’s going to read next. It seems she finishes a book almost every day!

Isaac and I spent time together this month going to and from basketball games. He’s really fun to watch, especially when he’s grinning after he does something good. I enjoyed spending time in Isaac’s class twice this month, once during the Valentine party where I helped the kids make roses out of fruit roll ups, and another day while they were writing very entertaining leprechaun stories. Isaac still spends most of his time reading or playing outside with friends, but he has been very diligent this month at getting his chores and practicing done well, as that helps him earn his final activity pin for Webelos. He’s worked hard to earn all of them before his birthday in March. It will be strange not to have him in Cub Scouts since I’ll still be involved with it as the assistant cub master.

Natalie and I spent time together this month going to and from Irish Dance class. Class is in Provo on Friday afternoons and I usually leave the rest of the kids home with Auriana and have some quiet-Natalie-time in the car. While she dances, I watch or grocery shop nearby. Irish Dance is a very happy dance – I love to watch. Natalie’s sad that basketball is almost over, but not sad to give up Saturday 8am games. I was able to spend some time in her class working on reading comprehension – not hers, she’s an amazing reader! She was chosen to participate in the 3rd grade spelling bee this coming week, so we’ve had some fun times together practicing for that.

Enoch and I spent time together this month reading the Book of Mormon stories book. He loves it and never wants me to stop reading. He’s progressing well in reading himself and is becoming a very responsible boy. Yesterday, I announced that it was time to get ready for a baptism that we were attending and in about 5 minutes flat he was Sunday dressed and putting his shoes on. I didn’t even have to ask him twice. This morning as I type and the others sleep, he is setting the table and getting breakfast out. I didn’t even ask him to. I spent time in his class this month on the 100th day of school. My assignment was to do 100 exercises with the kids. After 4 groups, I had a pretty good workout for the day.

Miriam and I spent time together this month in music class. Her class is great, because the Mom’s attend with the kids every other week. It’s so much fun to sing and clap together, and we don’t get a lot of alone time together otherwise. It was my turn to teach her preschool class recently as well. We had fun making a book about ourselves and our families, etc. Remember the book, “Is this you?” We learned all about the letter “Y”!

Ellie and I spent time together this month doing all the things that I do. She’s still my buddy most of the time. She sits on my lap when I’m on the computer, she helps me fold clothes and do the dishes, she loves to wipe things off! I’m her sunbeam teacher, so every other week we spend time together in primary. There’s only one boy in the class and he rarely comes, so I usually teach four very sweet and reverent little girls.

Bjorn and I spent time together this month having several quiet lunches together and also a nice trip to the temple. I usually feed the three youngest kids lunch at 11:30 before Enoch goes to school, so after he’s gone and the girls are busy, Bjorn and I eat lunch alone. Bjorn organized a ward temple night this last week and there were about 70 members of our ward in attendance. Merrill Bateman talked to us for a few minutes before the session. It was neat to be in a session with all familiar faces. Together, we also attended the final showcase for the Adult Art Education workshops that Bjorn has been heading up over the last 6 weeks.