Our Lives -- February 2012

I began reading a lot of books this month. My favorites were "Touch of Power" by Maria Snyder and "Matched" by Allie Condie.

Early in the month I was released from Cub Scouts and made a Primary teacher. This is something I have never done before. I have the oldest class, ages 11-12. Wow, boys this age are so less mature than the girls. It really wasn't my imagination when I was 12. I was already going to sub on the piano the week I was sustained. I still helped out at the Blue and Gold Banquet by making a cake, though.

I spent several hours one evening with Deven at parent-teacher conferences. I had to wait in line to visit all his teachers. He had all A's and B's and one F. But apparently he got that fixed because he ended up on the honor roll for the term.

Sara turned 7 and had a birthday party that Saturday. I hate planning parties. I'm not a party animal. 

Jaelyn stayed home from school a few days with an upset stomach. The doctor couldn't find anything wrong with her. We went through the same thing a few years ago. He did give her some codeine cough syrup, though.

Presidents Day this year coincided with Fluorescent Yellow Food Day, which I think was invented by neighbor friend's sister some years ago. So we were invited to their FYFD pot luck. This counted as dinner and FHE for us. I brought lemon squares. There was lemonade, macaroni and cheese, yellow-dyed mashed potatoes, corn tortilla chips with cheese dip, and many creative ideas. I was surprised at how full I got. We had fun. There were yellow balloons, which Corin loved. And there was a pin-the-tail-on-the-flourescent-yellow-donkey game. Sara won a package of Peeps from that. 

When Jaelyn returned to school, she turned in her science project report on soap bubbles, which I helped her type up on a piece of paper. Then I learned it was supposed to be presented on a big poster board. I had heard nothing of this. So I bought a board after school from the office for 50 cents (a bargain). At home I hurriedly copied some bubble photos from the Internet, took the text we’d written and enlarged it and cut it up to paste on the board. The next day I helped Jaelyn carry that plus the pitcher of bubble brew to class, where she presented it and blew bubbles at her class. I ended up doing most of her homework in this case.

Soon after, Deven had severe ear pain. He stayed home from scouts and barely slept that night, even though I gave him Tylenol followed by Jaelyn’s codeine. His ear began draining. He stayed home from school Thursday, the first time all school year. I took him to the doctor, who said Deven’s ear drum had ruptured. So Deven got antibiotics. I had just had them for bronchitis, and Glenn had them recently for a sinus infection.

The last day of the month, Davy Jones died. It was rather sad, having been totally raised on him. He was only in his 60s.