March 2012

Mar 4, 2012: Ezra started night shift tonight. We try to have an early dinner about 4:30 or 4:45 so we can all be together for that. Then Dad has to leave about 5:15pm. He gets home around 7:45 the next morning. Ezra kind of likes the night shift because he gets to see the kids twice in a day, during daylight hours.

Mar 9, 2012: Ezra just finished one week of nights and is finally sleeping six straight hours during the day. He missed a lot of sleep this week. Grace filled out a chart at school of all the numbers 1 to 100. Olivia saw it today and has been pointing to each number and saying it out loud. Great practice! Smart girl.

Mar 11, 2012: We met Ezra at IHOP this morning just after he got off work. Later, the kids and I went to the NL library to check out books about pond life (we'll learn about ponds during spring break). Then we played at the park and picnicked. After naps, Ezra and I took turns running at MacBride while the kids explored in the woods. They especially wanted to visit the "tents made of wood" similar to teepees. They pretend played there for some time. We love time in the woods. We even had FHE tonight (busy day!) Jonah had us act out David & Goliath again.

Jonah observed, "Hey, Mom, you know my scar on my cheek? Finn has one just like it!" I said, "Yours used to be a dimple like that." He replied, "I think Finn got it from me."

Olivia is the Hug Monster. She loves to give great big hugs. Dad says he loves Hug Monsters. I ask her to please not attack me, but approach gently and then give a big hug.

March 16th Arne took the kids to Ames for the weekend. Ezra has an anesthesia conference in Chicago and is taking me with him!

Ezra, Brent and Andrea and I went for a morning run along the shoreline. We saw the river dyed green. And we watched part of the St Patrick's Day Parade. Ezra and I went up the Sears Tower (now Willis Tower) and went out on the glass ledge. Beautiful, warm day.

In Ames, the kids walked to a river and built a dam out of rocks. They played tons outside. They even went to the zoo! Finn got sick while there and it was hard to be away from him.

Sun, March 25, 2012: We couldn't resist the beautiful weather! We packed a picnic dinner and relaxed at the veteran's trail by the Coralville dam. Grace found a 4-leaf clover! I told her I found one once when I was a little girl. It brought me good luck; I won all the games I played that day. So Grace was excited to have good luck, too. Annabelle and Jonah decided to have a running race... and let her feel so special winning! What great siblings they can be! Just warms my heart. I found another 4-leaf clover and gave it to Olivia. She was very happy!

March 30, 2012: Jonah's class did research reports on a National Park. They also made poster presentations and brochures. They set up booth-style in the gym and had an open house for parents. All the second grade classes had poster presentations. Jonah's was on the Redwood National Park, and he was the only one who did it without a partner. Jonah was nervous about this presentation - afraid people would ask questions he didn't know the answer to. But he did great.

Cheneys hired Annabelle to babysit! We watched Gavin and Ethan at our house, then at bed time I took the boys and Annabelle to their house, helped them to bed, and left Annabelle there the rest of the time.

This is during General Conference. We have a new ipad with kid's educational games. It sure helped the kids sit and play quietly during conference so I could watch on TV.