General update-spring

I'll copy most of what I just sent to my grandmother as an update since I haven't been keeping the blog up lately, it will at least let you know some of the things we are up to...

We are closer to figuring out which church to join, probably the one we went to Easter service at, but they have no children's service in the summer... maybe we'll attend the other church we've been looking at during summer... not sure yet.

Curling season is over, so I've started running again.  I sleep much better when I've been running.  We've had a few summer days, but raining in between, so hard to plan.  But we take advantage of the sunny days when we can get them.  The little kids especially love playing outside, so I join them and do some yard work while we are out  there and C likes bike rides with a destination in mind.  In about a month, we'll be riding to P's parent's house (about 3 miles away) to go swimming most days they aren't in school.  We had Good Friday and Easter Monday off school, but now only 3 day weekends until we get out of school June 27th, so it will be a long haul to the finish line, but that's ok because once school is out they'll all be home everyday and then in September in school full time for all of them, so it will be very busy, then I'll have to figure out what to do with myself. 

This time of year the library also has paper crafts like cardmaking and scrapbooking at the library on Mondays and Fridays are fabric crafts, so I go there to work on my cross-stitch stocking I'm making for Valerie while the other usually knit or crochet.  Trying to find non-curling people to hang out with for the warmer months.

P will be going to Seattle next week for his monthly trip and We'll all be going to WA for my brother's wedding and to visit this summer.  I'm also thinking about taking a road trip to Chicago and one to NYC since they are each only 8 hours' drive away and we have friends in both places we could stay with that could show us around.

C needs glasses-his vision isn't too bad, but he's got a strong astigmatism. The doctor thinks the glasses may help with his constant blinking which he thinks is his brain trying to "reset" what he's seeing.  He's actually quite excited about it.  I think his good friend at school wearing glasses helps a lot.  He had over a couple of friends to play video games and eat pizza last weekend for his birthday since he doesn't quite have enough friends for an all out party (I think he's one to have a few very good friends rather than lots of friends he's not that close to).  I made shirts for them all to take home and everyone seemed happy about it. He reads whatever he can get his hands on and is still doing well in math, though his teacher is working on him with some other areas like writing and he is having a terrible time with interpreting poetry at school.

H still asks "why" to everything and anything but seems to be less defiant lately.  He's also found a friend in his class which is nice that he's realizing there are things and people outside his tiny little world.  V is probably his closest playmate though the little boy who used to live here who lives down the street has been visiting with his sister who is C's age and they play sometimes.  His better behavior may be due to the fact that I've recently been on more retreats, been running and taking small breaks which means I'm better about consistently enforcing rules and laying the law down so he tries to bend the rules less.  He's just starting reading at school and has read a few easy books that his teacher has read him to me at bedtime.

V is quite the little character. She'd live outside if she could and recently discovered Xbox and has been playing most mornings she's home from school with Henri.  She catches on quickly to games which means Henri yells at her less for not playing the games correctly.  She has decided to wear dresses or skirts to school when she has school and to wear pants at home and seems to be moving from Dora to My Little Pony.  She's still very smart and loves school.  She and  H take swimming lessons and probably will until summer when they'll spend the season in their grandparents' pool.

We seem to be a little behind season wise, my daffodils just bloomed and I only have buds on my cherry trees, but Grandma assures me that it was like that with her and Michigan that Michigan would start out behind WA but would get a few hot days and thunderstorms and catch up quickly.  Last year we moved in just as they were all rotting and falling off the tree.