w3: Remind me to NEVER move again

January 13-19, 2013

The ridiculous sub zero temp continued this week. It was too cold. I don't EVER remember Vale getting this cold and staying cold for this long. I continue to look at the forecast and there is no relief in sight. Trying to find a positive...grateful our new thermostats work {Kurt replaced them when I was in Seattle. The house actually stays warm now!}

Tuesday Ruth had her first Kindergarten assessment meeting. These meetings will happen once a month until school starts this fall. As of this year Kindergarten at 4 Rivers is all in Spanish. Research shows that in the long run it will help with better bilingual comprehension and retention. If a child is solid in their native language when they start kindergarten they will quickly and easily retain the second language. And so the reason for the monthly testing. To make sure the kinders are ready when they start this fall. If they are NOT ready in their native language then they will struggle and possibly not get it at all. I have to say that I have a little anxiety over the full Spanish kinder. I get what they are saying and why they are saying it. But I have issues with her leaving already so to add another element just about throws me over. While she is not at the level of readiness that her siblings were at I know she will be ready by the time school starts this fall. She was SO excited for her meeting. That was the first thing she said when she woke up Tuesday, "Is today my kindergarten meeting?" She got a new book, a packet of papers to work on and a brand new just her size school shirt. And of course I should mention that she rocked the test. We will continue to practice and make sure she is ready and successful in kinder. We went out for dinner at Wingers afterwards. Perfect mommy date.

Wednesday Kurt left for Valley conference in Vegas. Wednesday also began my moving madness. Courtney and Brittany are going to move into our Graham house. I don't have an exact date but I some serious work needed to be done to get the rest of our junk out of there. It has been nice to live with the basics which means I need to get RID of the rest! I was trying really hard to get it all moved before Kurt got home. I worked all day Wednesday and Friday. I was one load short by the time he came home at 1 am Saturday morning. But we continued to haul and move additional loads that day. And it is done. Phew! It was terrible. Never drag out your moving. Ask for help and get it done in one weekend. I'm exhausted.

3 full days. 10 loads in the suburban. Plus 1 to the trash and 1 to DI.
Temps from -12 to 11.

 At ward conference last week the Stake President spoke about service and his talk really resonated with me. After listening I decided we would add something new to our dinner discussion each night. We are sharing with each other, "What did you do today to help someone." It has been really fun to listen to the kids share and for myself plan in my day what I'm going to do so that I HAVE something to share. It also provided opportunities for them to feel the spirit which we also shared. I really like this.

Thursday we all went to the hospital together to visit Grandma Romans who recently had hip replacement surgery. Unfortunately she was asleep and they wouldn't let us in to see her. :( A man in the elevator couldn't believe all the kids were siblings. Ya, watch out! The Romans are taking over the world {one act of service at a time.}

In other news we took our favorite car pooler and friend Kerri to dinner at Wingers Thursday night.

Sunday {Jan. 20} came into the kitchen with yet another tooth he had pulled out. {His bottom second right. A total of 5 teeth now.}I didn't even know this tooth was loose!