The Wes and Steph Newsletter

Mikala turned 13 in January this year. This makes 2 teenage girls living in our household now. A whole lot of estrogen, tears and attitude in our household! Mikala is doing really well in school this year. She has really good grades, 1 B+, all the rest A’s! She is the Beehive President. She is in a class called GT, which stands for Gifted and Talented, although from the sound of the name – it sounds like they all might be a little bit "special". She is full of spunk and fun as usual, and most of the time - a joy. ALERT! ALERT! ALERT! Megan Lindsay is out on the roads! Beware! Run for your lives. She is getting her driving hours so she can get her permit in May. There have been a few times she has made her dad and me very nervous, and on a couple of occasions, unbeknownst to Megan, her dad has come home and had to change his pants. Ha, ha, ha! She will soon be 15. Megan is doing well in school as well and has Honors classes. She is having fun getting to know new friends and developing relationships. She is taller than her mother, but still lacks the coordination of walking and chewing gum at the same time. At least once a day she comes home and tells us how she fell up the stairs, or tripped, or some such thing. Sometimes with tears, sometimes with an "Oh well, I’m used to it." She pops up so fast after falling, if a person didn’t know any better they wouldn’t know she had fallen down at all, or this is what she hopes. Megan is the Mia Maid President. Ryan has his braces off for the time being, he is kind of at an in-between stage – wearing a retainer, but it has been broken for about a week now and already his front teeth are getting a gap. Ryan never ceases to amaze us – this week he came with a band-aid covering his nose. He said he was trying to get his face to change colors because his friend does it by flexing every muscle in his body and holding his breath. Well, he did it. He started walking again, passed out and his face hit the cement wall. I informed Ryan that he is not a chameleon. He is very embarrassed about this, I hope he has learned that just because someone else is doing it – doesn’t mean we should. Ryan is a very considerate boy and will be 12 in approximately 8 months. He will go to the middle school next year, and Mikala will still be there, but in the 8th grade. Madison has gone through quite a growth spurt. She is 7 years old and her build reminds me of Megan – the long skinny, gangly legs. She loves school and has let us in on a little secret that her teacher told her – their class is going to be the smartest 1st grade ever! In her spare time, Maddy loves to read and draw and color. If we kept everything she made, we’d have to buy another home just to keep her art stuff in. She is so snuggly, it’s kind of hard but our baby is growing up – that’s not to say she isn’t spoiled rotten! I (Stephanie) have gone back to school – a crash course in an update of computers. It is Job Education Training. I love it! I am also trying to get a job, had some interviews and am still waiting to hear back. I plan on signing up for Quick Books the first part of March. It is once a week for 2 hours for 4 weeks. I think I can handle that! Then that will help me be more employable. Wes is just Wes. He is still an instrument man at the Sugar Factory, he was actually supposed to go back and finish his 3rd year of electrical apprentice school, this semester, so now he won’t be able to – he’ll have to take his whole 3rd year over. There I told on him. Now everyone can scold him. He has told me that most of the time he enjoys his job. I am glad; it is nice when someone is happy in their work. He is a good, hard worker. When he is not at work, usually he is fixing something in our "Money Pit". One of his latest projects is putting in new windows in our bedroom, and Madison’s. Out of 4 windows, so far only 1 has been put in. It was harder than he expected. Hopefully the next one will be easier, and so on. The Wes Lindsay Clan Is always busy - there is never a dull moment. Always plenty going on. Sometimes too much. There is always homework, mutual, scouts, school activities, outside and inside projects, meetings, sports – hockey and baseball, basketball and volleyball. Different strokes for different folks. But, bottom line is we’re all doing really well!