Dirty Fun

Caleb and I spend a lot of time together.  Sunday I got him to go to his nursery class at church and afterwards he told me he had missed me.  He isn’t separated from me very often. In fact right now he is sitting on my lap.  We had fun last week going to the zoo together.  I hadn’t gone to the zoo with only one child before.  It was fun.  He enjoyed seeing things and also saying when he was done. Friday we went to the park for our play group activity.  There were about 10 families that came this week.  It was fun to be around so many friends.  Monday we went to a birthday party for a little girl from church.  It was at a park and we just visited and played.  It was fun to get out. 

Last week I pulled up the last of our garden carrots.  They have been tasty.  We are hoping to get our spring garden going soon.  The weather is forecasted to be a hot dry summer again, so we want to get it started a little early.  I picked lettuce and spinach yesterday.  They are still growing okay.  We have cabbage still in the garden that looks like it is still growing.  We will get about four heads I think.  It has been interesting to watch it grow, this is the first time we have done cabbage.

The kids have enjoyed playing in the garden area this week.  They have a big hole with pathways for their trucks.  They are taking the advantage of the nice weather and enjoy being outside as long as they can each day.  

Saturday I decided to take the kids to get a treat at 3 Spoons.  It is a frozen yogurt place.  It was fun to let them each get their own thing.  Caleb got all excited about the blueberries.  Spencer liked the different kind of chips, chocolate, butterscotch, peanut butter and white.  It is where you dish up your own frozen yogurt and put on toppings off a great selection of things, then you pay by the ounce.  I didn’t realize how many chips Spencer got until we were eating.  I made him save some to bring home and eat later.  I guess it was a bit hard to supervise four kids getting their treats!  It was a fun outing.  Ruth and Andrew got theirs free by bringing in their “A” report cards.  They are doing well in school and it is fun to reward them.

Monday evening Andrew gave a great Family Home Evening lesson on Temples.  He took his assignment seriously and even wrote out his lesson on a paper.  He read it to us, then read a short story out of the Friend.  I thought it was fun he had everyone draw a picture of a temple, so they could remember how special they are.  It is really sweet to hear the kids share the gospel with each other.

Yesterday I went to a Relief Society visiting teaching interview night.  It was different this time because I was doing the interviews!  I enjoyed talking to the sisters and learning more about them.  It was good for us to do as a new presidency to get to know the sisters.  I will be teaching my first lesson on Sunday, on visiting teaching.  It should be a good experience.

Neal is still working long hours.  We miss having him at home and hope the schedule changes soon.  It makes it hard on everyone, including Neal!  He is always so tired and wishes he could do more.  We are thankful for his hard work that provides for our little family.

Caleb had fun playing on the chimes at the Zoo

We enjoyed watching the elephant eat

Playing at the Zoo

My kids said that they didn't get enough snuggle time and so they piled on me and got all cuddly.

I just took these picture this afternoon of the kids playing in the garden space.

Birthday

Last week I took Ruth in to get her eyes checked.  It has been a year since she started wearing glasses.  Her eyes have changed a little and we bought new lenses for her, she will keep the frame for now.  She has been so careful with her glasses the frame looked just great.  We will go into today to get the new lenses.  She is excited to see if it makes a difference in how she sees.  On Monday Ruth was invited to go over to a friends home to play with dolls.  Ruth ended up staying at their home for 7 hours.  She kept calling to ask if she could stay “a little longer.”  I am glad she had fun.

Andrew is doing well in his school work.  His teacher nominated him to join the gifted and talented group.  They sent home papers for parents to fill out.  As we went through the questions I thought it was describing Andrew well.  He is an amazing kid.  We will find out after a review and testing period if he will be in the program.  Ruth has really enjoyed the GT program and I think Andrew would enjoy it too.  Andrew had fun with his Lego’s this week end.  He took apart on large car he had built and organized all the little parts.  He had things all spread out on the dinning room table and then carefully put them away in his little containers.  Yesterday after school he put together a little helicopter.  He really likes building things.  He was showing me how cool the gear system was in it.

Spencer had fun going to a birthday party for a friend Monday at the Hewitt park play ground.  The kids played and then did a pinata.   I stayed at the park with the kids because it was a nice day and so all the boys got in on the party.  It was nice just to be at the park on a pretty day.  Spencer likes to tease and be silly.  Yesterday morning while the kids were getting ready for school Andrew and Spencer kept clashing.  Andrew said to me that if Spencer was in his class then he would probably have bad behavior marks on his chart every day, but “since Spencer is in a different class, I’ll be fine.”  They do compete with each other a lot, they also enjoy playing together.  They have been building little stick houses outside with the twigs they find on the ground.  They like playing with them, getting trucks out to drive around and telling stories.  I am glad that the weather has been so nice this week and they can get out.

Caleb hasn’t been feeling well, just a little congestion and cough.  One night I was so tired that I wasn’t coherent enough to take him back to bed when he came in coughing.  He climbed into bed with us and we let him stay, which is very unusual for us. I didn’t sleep well that night.  He is doing better but his appetite is still small.   He is a happy boy and gets so excited when Neal comes home.  Yesterday Caleb got to Neal first and Neal picked him up, then came to me and gave me a hug.  Neal said “hello dear” then Caleb said “hello dear” and leaned over to get a kiss.  It made us all laugh.

Thursday evening we had the missionaries over for dinner.  It was enjoyable to have them here.  Friday evening we had home made pizza and watched a movie together.  Then Saturday was Neal’s birthday!  He had to work :(  We called him on the phone and the kids sang happy birthday to him that morning.  He came home and went to get our babysitter. She came over and was with the kids while Neal and I went on a date.  We went to see “Les Miserables” in the theater.  I enjoyed the movie.  Afterwards we went out to dinner at the Olive Garden and I enjoyed the good food!  It was fun to talk about the movie over dinner, that worked well.

Sunday we took time to celebrate Neal’s birthday with the kids.  Neal wanted to have a big flame on the cake.  So he put a handful of candles together in the middle of the cake.  I am thankful the smoke detector didn’t go off!  It was fun to have Sunday with Neal.  We had fun doing things with the kids and playing games.  I took walks with the kids.  First I went with Ruth and Caleb.  Ruth was fun to talk to about her books, art and friends.  It was a nice walk.  Then I took Spencer and Andrew around the block.  They started asking me where water goes from houses, we discussed the sewer.  Then Spencer remembered the time he saw a dead squirrel, Andrew said he saw a dead bird.  The conversation was so different from the one I had with Ruth, it was a reminder to me of the differences between boys and girls!  I love my kids.  

I have enjoyed getting out for walks this week.  Today I took Caleb to the library for story time and then went over to the park to walk.  The weather has been so pleasant.  I think I am getting too use to our mild winters that the thought of cold and snow makes me shiver!  I hope that everyone in a real winter will stay warm and safe.

Winter!

It has been cold this week, cold for us any way.  We even had a little ice fall, like hail, the other day.  Today is sunny but still only about 40 degrees.  Too cold for me.  I think it would be hard to go back to a real winter up north.  The kids have been complaining about it too and wishing for a warm day to play outside.  I think we are use to our nice mild winters. 

Last week with the help of the kids I got the Christmas thing all put away.  Ruth and Andrew did a great job with the tree.  It is nice to have kids old enough to really help with things.  I made an effort to get it all done because I had a Relief Society Presidency meeting at my home Friday morning and I didn’t want to be half done putting things away.  

Friday afternoon was actually nice weather so we went to the park for a play group.  It was good to get out.  Caleb likes being around friends.  We watched the Baker boys yesterday and Caleb loved having someone to play with.  Caleb doesn’t like being left behind and it has been hard for him to have the kids go back to school.  He likes to follow Spencer around and does what ever he does.  

Saturday I had a Relief Society training meeting with the Stake leaders.  It was an excellent meeting.  Late afternoon I went back to the church with Ruth and Andrew for a baptism of one of Andrew’s friends.  We were reminiscing that out of the nine kids in Andrew’s preschool group we did, only two are left.  The other boy is in the other ward so we don’t see him often.  It is just odd to me that people move in and out so much.  I feel like we are some of the “old timers” now.  Most of our ward is under 40 and usually only stay 2-3 years before moving on.

Neal tried out his new dutch ovens Saturday that he got for Christmas.  He cooked a chicken and potatoes in the fire place.  A bit unusual but it was fun that he cooked dinner.

Monday evening the kids had lots of fun doing Family Home Evening again.  Ruth had prepared a lesson on prayer.  Andrew had picked out a primary song in advance and even had markers in our books for us.  It all went so well and the kids enjoy so much being involved in the planning.  I am glad we decided to do it this way.

Last night I went to a Relief Society activity.  We did some “get to know you” games.  I enjoyed getting to know more about the women who came.  It was nice to have a night away from home.  I need that more.  

Neal was able to get the oven fixed!  He couldn’t find the part at stores he called here in town so he ended up ordering the part from a store on the internet.  The part came yesterday and he put it in.  I baked bread this morning and I am happy the oven works again!  

I hope that everyone is enjoying a fun winter.  Enjoy playing in the snow for us.  

Winter Rain

Today feels like winter, looks like it too.  It has been raining all day yesterday and today.  It is great to get so much where we have been so dry.  The kids went back to school yesterday.  They were so excited when they came home telling me all the fun things they did and how fun it was to see their friends again.  I am glad that they see school in such a positive light.

Last Thursday, after writing that everyone was well, Spencer got sick again.  He got up in the night and said he didn’t feel well.  Then woke up at 5:00 am and threw up all over the bathroom.  Not a nice way to start our day.  Everyone is doing fine again and we hope that we are done with illnesses for a long time!

Thursday evening Neal and I gave the three boys hair cuts.  It was good to get them done.  I wanted them to be all neat to start back to school. It worked for both of us to work at the same time and get them done quickly.  

Ruth shared with me her goals for this year.  She is a smart young lady and learning so much.  One goal is to keep her room neat all the time.  She worked hard last week going through things and has her room looking very nice.  I am glad that she wants to be neat.  She has also made it a goal to read scriptures on her own every day.  I got a chart for her to fill in each day she reads and she likes that.

Saturday was our house cleaning day.  The kids got so excited about helping me.  Ruth mopped the floor all by herself and did a good job.  The kids are getting old enough to really help clean the house and that is nice.  Sister Vance is Spencer’s new primary teacher and she told me on Sunday that they were talking about helping your parents with things at home.  They then played a charade game where the kids were saying ways they help at home and acting it out.  Spencer said he could “dust the base boards.”  She thought that was great that he knew what to do and that I would give him a simple job that he can do.  It is great that the kids are learning the responsibilities of home care.

Saturday I got out my new Sun Oven, a solar oven we bought for Christmas.  It was a sunny day and I thought I could try baking bread.  Especially since our oven isn’t fixed yet.  The bread turned out and I thought it was cool I could cook without using fuel.  I wrote more about this on a blog post.  Neal tried to buy the element for the oven, he stopped by the store but they were closed, even though it was normal business hours.  So he will try again later.  I hope we can get it working again soon. 

Sunday was a busy day.  We changed our ward time to 10:30.  It went alright but was a bit hard on the kids to be at church through lunch time.  I helped teach the Relief Society lesson.  We did a review of President Snow’s life.  It went well.

Monday I asked the kids if they wanted to go to the zoo.  The said no.  I was surprised.  They all agreed that where they wanted to go was the new play ground at the Hewitt Park.  So in the afternoon we went over.  It was about 50 degrees and party cloudy.  I got cold sitting and standing around, but the kids were fine running all over.  They loved the new play ground.  There were a lot of kids over there that afternoon.  I started talking to another mother there and enjoyed the conversation with her.

For Family Home Evening this week I made a wheel chart with assignments on it.  We haven’t done that before for our FHE time.  The kids keep asking for turns to teach the lesson so we decided to make it more organized.  The kids were so excited about the chart I made and had their assignments memorized.  I hope it works to keep them excited about doing it each week.

Yesterday Caleb didn’t want the kids to go back to school.  He kept saying that Spencer was sick and needed to stay home with him.  This morning as the kids were getting in the car Caleb picked up a little toy bag and said he was going to school too.  He was so sad that he didn’t get out when we got to the school.  He is having a hard time being left behind.

Yesterday I helped an elderly sister in our ward with a ride to the grocery store.  That went well and it felt good to be of help.  Today I took Caleb to the library for story time.  He is a happy little helper and enjoys doing things with me.  He is smart too and I enjoy hearing the things he says.
   Today I did a little video with him singing the ABC song, which he loves to sing all the time. He also can count to 10, most the time perfectly.  He did pretty good on the video.  

I am thankful for my family and our life we have here.  We truly are blessed.

Ruth loved running all over the play ground

Spencer and Caleb both enjoyed getting in the helicopter and pretending to fly

Andrew having fun climbing

Spencer found plenty to climb on too!

A view of the new play ground

Caleb was running around so much I had a hard time getting a picture of him.  Here he is on a twirling toy with Ruth pushing him around.

Caleb singing the ABC song and counting.  He is my happy 2 year old. 

Baking Bread in the Sun Oven

My big Christmas gift this year is a solar Sun Oven.  I thought it would be fun to try.  That way I have a way to cook food that takes no fuel.  I also thought it would been nice to use in the summer time when it is so hot, so I don't heat up the house by making bread.

Today was bright and sunny, first good sunny day since Christmas.  I decided to try it out.  Since we are in the middle of winter it was hard to get the angle right with the sun so low in the southern sky.  I could only get the oven up to 300 degrees.  I put my bread in it.  I checked it every 20 minutes or so and adjusted the oven a little to keep it in the direct sun.  The shadows were getting longer and the sun lower and still the bread didn't seem done.  Finally after about 90 minutes I decided to take it out.  It wasn't as brown as I would have liked.  I cut a slice and it was perfectly baked.  It smelled great.  It tasted wonderful.

I think I will wait another month or so until I try it again, give the sun a chance to get in a better angle.  This also was a nice thing to do today since my oven element went out and isn't fixed yet.  So that way I avoided buying bread.  I don't like store bought bread very well now that I have been doing my own all the time.  Now I have the ability to make bread without any electricity or fuel.

Happy New Year

It feels like winter finally decided to come.  We have been dipping into the 20’s at night and most days we haven’t gotten over 50.  The last few days it has been cloudy and gray.  I guess it is good we are getting some winter weather.  Last Wednesday when I took the kids to the library it was very cool.  There was a puddle iced over next to the walk way.  The kids all stopped to look at the ice.  They thought it was amazing that there was ice outside!  I thought it was funny that they were so amazed. 

Our school break is going well most days.  The kids are enjoying playing with their new things.  Friday morning the kids were a bit grumpy and just not playing nice.  Spencer suggested we do centers, after all he does it at school.  So we made three “centers” play dough, lincoln logs and blocks.  The kids got to play at their center for 15 minutes then they rotated.  We only did three because Caleb doesn’t understand the concept, he just played.  It worked so well and the kids had so much fun creating things without having to share with someone else!  I will have to remember and do it again if needed.  

Friday afternoon we went to the children’s museum.  We spent about three hours there and had time to see all the activity rooms.  About half way through our time Neal joined us.  It was fun to have him with us.  We then went to the electric train display and had fun with the trains.  They also had some model helicopters there that they were playing with.  It was fun to watch them fly around the room.

Saturday we were able to rake up most the leaves in our yard.  Neal was able to finish with that project yesterday.  The lawn looks so much better with them moved.  We have piled them all up by the garden.  We decided that instead of expanding the garden right now we would just do the new compost pile on the outside of the wood boarder, the grass has died there and that way we will have more space in the actual garden area.  It will be fun to see what we can plant and grow this year.  Only one more month and we can start planting.  I have decided that Texas has two short growing seasons and it can be a bit tricky to get things to grow well.

Sunday Neal and I gave talks in Sacrament meeting.  I think that it went well.  We were talking with a recent returned missionary so we kept our talks short so he could have more time.  I enjoyed being at church.  I taught my primary class for the last time.  They have been a nice group of kids and I have enjoyed spending time with them.  I had told the Primary people that I would teach until the end of the year, even though I was released and put into the Relief Society Presidency.  They were short teachers and I was available.  Caleb didn’t want to go to church this week.  He was fighting getting dressed.  I managed to get pants and shirt on, but shoes were impossible.  I got one sock on, but by the time I got another sock on the first one was off.  I gave up and just brought them with me.  He also wouldn’t let me comb his hair.  So I just took him the way he was.  Neal was able to get his shoes on when we met him at church but I did feel a little silly carrying him into the building with his hair all crazy and no shoes on.

Monday Spencer got sick to his stomach.  Thankfully it was short lived.  Andrew is finally getting over his cough.  I think I can say everyone is healthy today!  Monday evening we had a little party time with the kids.  I enjoyed reading to them and doing puzzles.  Neal and I stayed up watching a movie.  About 11:30 Neal left to go to the church to help serve the youth a breakfast at midnight.  He said the young people had a fun party and he enjoyed a good breakfast too.

Yesterday we had a fun day together.  It was nice to have Neal home all day!  We did our ginger bread houses together.  That has been our tradition to do it on the 1^st.  The kids had so much fun decorating and trying to get as much candy as they could on it.  It was nice we still had so much Halloween candy to decorate with.  

Yesterday I cooked a turkey.  It smelled so good as it was in the oven.  It was done and I turned off the oven.  I was making rolls but they weren’t ready yet.  About an hour later I was ready to bake my rolls, I went to turn on the oven but noticed it wasn’t getting hot!  It seems the element is burned out.  So I had two pans of rolls all ready to bake and no oven working.  I couldn’t even try out my new Sun Oven because it was cloudy outside.  Neal helped me out.  He went over to our neighbor, Archie, and asked if we could use his oven.  So thankfully Archie was home and had a working oven.  Now that is another thing on the list of things to fix around here.  It is hard to keep a house up in working order!

We hope that everyone can enjoy a beautiful new year and have lots of fun memories with your loved ones.

The boys playing at the museum, with the drums and with the trains. 

Andrew and Ruth playing with the sea shells at the museum

Caleb and Spencer driving.  I think Spencer is about too big for this!

Caleb had fun playing in the house and cooking up something at the museum.

Ruth was tired and didn't want to play in the "little kid" area.

The kids having some fun in the music room.

Andrew and Caleb peeking out from a tepee in the museum 

The kids had fun dressing up in the world room at the museum. 

Looking at the trains.

Getting started with the houses.

The finished houses.

A video of the houses.