Happy Annivesary Matt!

We have been married 12 years, so here are 12 things I love about Matt.

1. He is fun to be around. I always look forward to spending time with him.

2. He is a great storyteller. I love to listen to him tell the story of the three little pigs to our children. Even Kate breaks out into laughter at his funny voices.

3. He works hard as a lawyer to provide for our family.

4. He doesn't expect or want me to work outside the home. When I come up with my own ideas of working from home, he thinks I am crazy.

5. He is smart. I love how he challenges our kids intellectually and encourages them to learn new things.

6. He is a big fan of datenight and insists on going out every week when possible.

7. He is not a workaholic. He works 40 hours a week (except during a big trial!) and is home most nights for dinner and for the evening.

8. He is a great Dad and he takes great care of the children when I am not here. He is a huge help even when I am around, giving baths, changing diapers, reading stories, making dinner, waiting with the girls for the bus in the morning, etc...

9. He is selfless. When he offered the other day to buy Zoe & Emily winter boots with his birthday gift card, I was reminded of how wonderful and caring he is.

10. He is always striving to be prepared for the future, which I appreciate because I tend to think more of the here and now. What we have for food storage, 72 hour kits, and car kits we have Matt to thank for.

11. He is an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and he is a worthy Priesthood holder. I am blessed that we were sealed in the temple 11 years ago.

12. He tells me and shows me that he loves me everyday...but I love you more, Matt! :-)

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In other news...

Zoe, Emily, and Eleanor brought home great report cards yesterday! Zoe was so proud of her straight A's and her Honor Roll certificate from her teacher and she should be. Here are some comments from their teachers.

Eleanor~ Eleanor is an enthusiastic learner who readily accepts academic challenges. She has positive student behaviors and work habits. She's an active participant in class discussions. She gets along well with her peers and is a responsible and respectful student.

Emily~ Emily displays all the qualities of an effective student and friend. She is a good role model and I hope she emerges as a leader for her peers.

Emily enjoys reading and comprehends well. She uses punctuation to guide her fluency and reads with expression. Emily works hard and is willing to read any type of literature.

Emily puts effort into her writing and is eager to edit and improve her stories. In class, we are working on developing our ideas and adding details.

Emily is motivated to do well in math and understands the concepts presented. She is a regular participant in class discussions on strategies. We are working on the automatic recall of addition and subtraction facts to 20.

Our field trips really inspired an interest in butterfly and tree units for science. Emily made descriptive observations of the life cycle of the butterfly.

Zoe~
Zoe is kind, well behaved and well liked. She needs a bit more confidence in herself as a learner, but is very conscientious. I am encouraging her to take more risks.

Zoe's writing is clear and interesting. She is writing a nonfiction report and is doing well with note taking, using detail and focusing on important points. She is learning to organize thoughts into paragraphs and to punctuate.

Zoe is developing into a more sophisticated reader as she tackles harder material. She is able to navigate nonfiction texts to gather needed information and she continues to eat up books.

Zoe is doing well in learning spelling patterns and rules, as well as expanding her vocabulary.

Zoe is working well in every area of math thinking and problem-solving. She will be ready to work on more advanced problem-solving very soon.

Zoe is learning basic geography skills and location strategies. She is working hard on the Christmas in other lands unit and has been challenged to study two countries.

Zoe has demonstrated solid understanding of beaver and falcon habitat, as well as ecology and health. She often contributes to class discussion.

I also feel the need to document my outing with Zoe, Emily, Noah, and my mom last night to the Girls' JV and Varsity games, so when my kids cry that we NEVER do anything fun, I have proof. :-) I also need to record the fact that the Varsity coach thinks Noah is the cutest baby around. Who doesn't think that? :-)

Okay, I'm done.