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First half of February

February started with my co-leader and I picking up thousands of boxes of Girl Scout cookies for the 14 girls in our troop. M was such a great helper getting all of them sorted for the girls to pick up — she and I both skipped lunch we were so busy. In total I spent almost seven hours on cookies just that one day. Since then we have gone around our neighborhood and sold to a few friends. Both M and N are selling for their troops and M is a great teacher and N is an excellent student.  They both really enjoy it. Many of our loyal customers have turned healthy on us so I’m hoping we can still get our 350 boxes sold with not too much trouble.
Natalie got to begin the soccer class she wanted to in February. She was so excited. The first day there were 6 boys and 3 girls and she was definitely the tallest out of those 4 and 5 year olds.

Parent teacher conferences went so well for all 4 children and I was very pleased. They are all doing just what they should be and their teachers are all great. D is happy as a clam to be back at the local school and couldn’t have been happier that his teacher’s son enjoyed the stuffed animal D picked out for his first birthday.  We celebrated good reports by supporting the Usborne book fair and letting everyone pick something out. I must admit the book of transfers for M and N has been so fun. It’s like magic for them and brings back childhood memories for me. Glad to know something from the ‘80s can still be magic for the next generation. 

K did great at the volleyball tournament Hubby took her to. Since it was far away they even got to spend the night in a hotel and go swimming the night before. Her coach sent us a great email saying how glad she was that K was on the team and that she has lots of potential. K’s best friend ended up quitting the team but K loves it and is going to keep playing.

It’s so fun to see lots of pictures from my Taiwan friends celebrating Chinese New Year.  To mark the holiday in our family we made sure to eat dinner at our neighbor’s Chinese restaurant when they had the dragon dance planned. It made me so happy to honor the people I loved in Taiwan in some small way.  After eating dinner Hubby took D, M and N to the Pinewood Derby check in while I prepped to have my book club ladies over to watch “The Hate U Give.”  Of course the book was better but it was fun to watch together.   Earlier in the day N and I met two of the sisters I am assigned to minister to at Fuzzy’s to eat lunch together. We had been planning it for weeks so it was great that the day had finally come. I look forward to doing that again. 

N’s car did best in our family at the Pinewood Derby by taking 3rd Place in the sibling category. Now all 3 children have gotten a medal through the event and I’ve noticed we seem to have beginners luck and then fizzle after that. It was a fun event and even better to cheer our friend H’s car to Pack 2nd Place.  Later that day we fed the missionaries dinner and adore our Elder already.

We were so happy to have Hubby’s sister, Shelley, come visit us while she was in our state on business. She rented a car and drove over an hour each way to spend the evening with us.  We felt so loved and it was great to have her around!  She even bought Girl Scout cookies before she left.  As though we couldn’t love her more!

The day after S visited I attended a post adoption support group meeting with special presenters on the topic of how drugs like alcohol affect development in utero and what we can do to support our children. Let me just say that I cried more than once. I don’t think I have ever been more grateful for the Word of Wisdom than sitting in a room with over 20 people with ties to adoption and hearing the statistics, stories, comments, and questions.  It is utterly heartbreaking to hear about some of these babies and going through withdrawal.  I am so grateful for my children and for the commandments and my wonderful husband who taught me we can handle anything as long as it’s together.

Hubby, N and I got to watch M’s class play about Moses and the Red Sea and they did such a great job. I loved the costumes and lines and how animated M was.  I’m looking forward to seeing her 4th grade play already. Those class plays are one of the things I love about Waldorf education.
Valentine’s Day brought class parties, cute cards and candy for the public school kids.  I love this picture K.T. took of N at her party. K tried to hide from N and I when we arrived but D was happy to see us when we went to his room. He nominated his teacher for an award because of her kindness and cool projects she creates to give real world application to what they are learning. I’m glad all my children enjoy the other students in their classes and have great teachers.

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