Evelyn has spent a good majority of the past month at play rehearsals for Lion King and babysitting for mom and other women in the ward. She really is quite a remarkable babysitter and I’m so proud of how mature and handy she has grown to become. Her favs to babysit are the Ashcraft family— red heads stick together! Evelyn will take any opportunity she can find to hold and care for baby Teddy. In addition to babysitting, Ev is loving Young Women’s. This month she learned how to arrange flowers and even put together a little corsage. She went downtown to listen to Elder Cook speak to the youth of San Diego. It was a special night for sure. When Evelyn has spare time, she’s usually baking, fixing her hair, working on something for youtube or putting together funny collages like this Marston eye collage, or funny pictures of she and Anna. She is for sure our best selfie and family selfie-photographer. She is for the most part fun to have around. That is, up until the point where she does not get her way. She has the scariest look she can give. I tell her she needs to knock it off with the look! It’s flat out frightening. The funny thing is that last week Grant gave me a look when he was mad- and it was similar to Ev’s rage glare. Evie took one glance at him and told him, “not bad!” Ha! Getting those two through the teenage years will be some feat!
Dane had a wonderful month full of birthday festivities. He enjoyed a soccer party at our house, a celebration with Grammy and Papa before they left with his favorite dinner, AND a weekend at Grandma and Grandpa’s!~ Sweet Dane wanted to invite EVERYONE he knew and didn’t want to leave a soul out. He has the most tender, giving heart of anyone I know. Seriously, I thought I was tender, but he takes the cake. He is the greatest friend anyone could ask for and everyone adores him. Dane continues to enjoy racing cars and doing art when he isn’t playing soccer. This month he bought himself a set of oil pastels and has been working on an art book of his very own. He has decided he wants to be a babysitter like Evelyn and so he makes himself available at parties and elsewhere to hold babies and tend to toddlers. He babysits at our house when I am watching kids…. and the little ones LOVE him. We noticed when he was at Grandma’s for a few days that the world didn’t seem right. Where was Grant’s side-kick? Anna’s protector? My ride-hand man? It was bad without him and we couldn’t WAIT to get him back! Dane advanced to Webeloes this month. I’m his new den leader! It’s been quite fun so far and I’m happy to have the chance to work with him, after 1.5 years with Ev in Activity Days. Dane finished up his soccer season at State Cup this month. Wasn’t the best game he or his team has had…. it was actually a bit of a downer, but Dane was happy to get to spend the rest of the day with best buddy, Braxton, so all was well in the world. So proud of all of his hard work. He loves soccer with all his heart. Now he’s started flag football for spring and is loving it! We celebrated Cole’s golden birthday this month and Dane enjoyed experiencing his first late-over. It’s crazy to think that at his age, I lived to sleep over at other’s homes. In this day and age, rarely do kids ever sleep over anymore. But late-overs are the next best thing. Cole is one of Dane’s best friends and it was fun to celebrate him. Last but not least, I must mention that many girls have a “crush” on Dane in his classroom. He got some interesting valentine cards- ha! Must be how kind he is~!!!
This month Grant has started practicing with his new soccer club- Surf. He is enjoying it, but struggles to participate in any form of carpool (which is a necessity for ME who has too many places to be all at the same time!) He is slowly but surely feeling a little better about being separated from me and in fact, he hasn’t thrown a school fit in a couple of weeks. We had a doozy of a week during family week in February. I was at the school often helping out and when he’d see me, he’d panic and start to feel terrible and cry and flip out. Poor little guy— it was terrible for both he and I. I set up an ultimatum that if he couldn’t hold himself together when I was at school, then I wouldn’t be able to attend his valentine’s day party with him! The strategy worked well and provided great motivation for him to move forward and try his hardest not to lose it every time I said goodbye! In VERY good news, Grant’s reading skills have improved like crazy these past few weeks. He is actually interested in reading these days- especially his lego batman books and he’s making SUCH progress. It’s the biggest thrill ever after a slow start. Grant finished his basketball season last weekend and boy, was it ever fun watching that kid racing up and down the court, defending the heck out of everyone and dribbling like a pro. He really has a knack for basketball and I have a feeling he’ll be doing a lot of it in his future. Grant missed only one game when he insisted he’d prefer to attend his buddy Leeland’s birthday party over his game. It was so sweet, because truly, the kid never wants to skip a game, but he loves his friend and was willing to make that sacrifice. Then once we arrived, he felt that anxiety creep in and didn’t want ME to leave! It was a rock climbing party and should’ve been the thrill of a lifetime for Grant, but his nerves got the best of him. Thankfully, we deep breathed and talked it through and finally he consented to stay. It ended up being so fun for him to climb and enjoy his friends. Grant doesn’t appear to be the most sensitive kid because he’s silly, funny and crazy aggressive out on the field/court… but really, he is quite sensitive and tender when it comes to the way he feels about others. I thought it was adorable for Valentine’s Day, Grant decided he’d like to get everyone Star Wars Valentine’s cards even though he’s never seen the movies and has absolutely no interest. He told me he wanted to hand those cards out because he knows so many kids love star wars and he wants them to be excited to receive it. Every day I open Grant’s backpack and find the sweetest little drawings: hedgehogs, hearts that always say: I love you Mom. He is such a sweetheart.
I noticed this month that Anna has been slightly more feisty then the norm. It hasn’t gone over well as I have limited time for a behavioral intervention! But her recent tantruming has made me realize maybe I need to take a step back and 1.provide a bit more attention 2. provide a bit more consequences! She is so good that I fail to do much of anything most of the time. But despite the recent behavioral acting out, Anna is still fantastic and darling and most beloved in our family. Love the relationship she has with all the little guys at her preschool. She is a wonderful helper and assistant as the peer model in her classroom and she takes her job very seriously! She loved giving out and receiving valentines and took special care of each and every note for days after the holiday. Anna has loved having Nora and Millie- her two best buddies over after school a few times a week this month as their mom has been taking Grant to practice, I’ve been watching the girls. It’s been a special time for Anna to play and have the time of her life. And of course, Anna always has the best of time being with Ev— the two of them have a very special bond.
