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.