March 28th, 2005

 

Dear Family,

 

I swear that I just wrote this newsletter a couple weeks ago.  Are you sure that we are all getting the same amount of turns? J (Just kidding)  I decided to learn from Matt and let my kids take a turn at writing their own update – well, I helped with the younger ones.  So here it goes:

 

Ali: I am still at WJMS and have a solid 4.0. I moved up to 2nd stand in orchestra, which was not easy. I have gotten ‘Lion of the Day’ twice this year. Every Sunday after church I stay after until 6 for choir practice for the Day of Celebration. Well, not this Sunday, seeing as it was Easter. I am very much looking forward to Gordon B. Hinkley starting the wave… 

 

Nicole: Yes, I get to write my own thing about me. So, now I can’t think of anything to write. Well… I finally got into Young Women’s. It’s a lot of fun and I’m really glad to be there. School is going pretty good but it’s also gotten boring. I think I’m too advanced for my class. My teacher is nice; she lets us talk all the time. I haven’t gotten any awards yet but maybe I’m just too good for awards. Basketball is the best sport ever invented too…

 

Nathan: we have been off track for three weeks, and then we went back for three days and then had Spring Break.  I am signed up to play soccer this Spring, and I am really looking forward to playing again.  Last week we had our Blue and Gold Banquet for our pack.  It was a lot of fun.  It is really cool having my mom as the cub master.  Next month is the Pinewood Derby.  I have already started on my pinewood derby car.  We are going to go to our Bishop’s house to use his saw to cut my car.  He has a woodshop.  I like playing with my friend Joseph, who lives next door to us.  We like to play 1-2-3 old fashioned way.  I am really close to getting my wolf badge in cubs – I should get it by the next pack meeting.

 

Sarah: is the VIP (Very Important Person) in her class this week.  She has been looking forward to this since we moved in.  We got to put together a poster with pictures of her and then on Thursday I get to go into her class and do an activity – something that is special to Sarah.  The younger kids just went back on track, which is always a tough one for Sarah.  Even though year round school is good for retaining stuff that she has learned, it’s really hard for her to transition into going back to school after she has been off track.  It’s like the first day of school all over again.  So going to a traditional school year will be a good thing for Sarah.  We signed Sarah up for soccer – and she is very excited J!  This kid is so coordinated when it comes to sports.  She goes out and shoots hoop with us all the time – she’s really good!  Sarah turns the big ‘7’ in a few weeks – it’s amazing how fast time flies!

 

Bradley:  turned four a couple days ago.  He spent the entire day going around  telling everyone ‘Happy Birthday’ – (he’s a little confused).  I think he had a fun birthday.  Tomorrow we are going to visit the preschool that he will attend this fall.  I’ve kind of been a slacker at getting him signed up – I probably should have had him attending this year as well, but somehow when it’s your caboose, you’re not in as big of a hurry to get them out the door.  But Bradley is definitely ready to go hang with other kids.  Bradley started sunbeams in January, and he does all right except for the ‘sleeping problem’ that he has.  I bet 50% of the time he falls asleep in sharing & singing time.  He falls asleep right on his teacher’s lap.  We have afternoon church, and that’s tough for a little kid. 

 

Jennie – well since the last letter I was called as cub master.  We are combined with another pack because both of our numbers are so low.  It has been fun, but a lot of work.  Our program hasn’t been functioning to its’ full capacity in quite some time, so I virtually had to start from scratch.  It will probably take me a few months to really get the hang of it, but I’ve done it before, so I’m hoping it doesn’t take long to get up and running.  Talking about running . . . on January 1st I started walking on the treadmill, and over the past few months I’ve started jogging a little and then walking, and so on.  My goal is to be able to run a 5K.  I’ll tell you, it was a lot easier to jog when I was 15, then it is now.  But I’m going to keep plugging along, and hopefully within the next month or so I’ll be able to enter my first 5K.  You can all come and cheer me on.  I’m also interested in getting into shape so that Ross & I, as well as our family, can do some hiking this summer.  Maybe by our next letter Ross & I will have had a chance to get away for a weekend together of torturing ourselves by climbing a bunch of mountains.  No pansy get aways for us –we’re still young and foolish J!  Anywho, I’m doing well, just plugging along being the mom and trying to keep up with dishes and laundry.

 

Ross – HI.

I got a job!  It’s a stress reliever…  Strategix LLC out of Melbourne, FL.  I am their Marketing Manager and am currently working out of the coldest corner of the basement.  It’s a good deal.  Very similar product to my last company, more on the Incident Command and Decontamination side though.  I’m really happy to have connected with this company.

I still have lots of things going on that keep me up at night.  Visit www.ldsquietbooks.com and see my latest completed project.  There’s a gal in our ward that sells Quiet Books.  This is her first web site.  It was fun.  Photography was tough.  Glad it’s done.

I haven’t been on the treadmill for months… maybe years…  Jennie is ripp’n it up. 

Anyway, everyone have a great day.

 

That’s it from the Baumshelter! 

Love,

The BaumsJ