Happy Spring Time

Another exciting week ended.  The kids are excited that they started their last term of the school year.  They have lots of fun activities planned for the month of May.  It will be a very busy month for our family.

I was able to finish Ruth’s Easter dress.  It took me longer than I had thought.  I realized I hadn’t bought a zipper, so I had to run to a store for that.  Then the sleeves didn’t fit right and I had to adjust things there too.  Goes back to making so many adjustments on the bodice.  I was happy with how it turned out.  So I took a picture of the kids before church for our Easter picture, a week late. Ruth had fun buying things with money from her birthday.  She bought the DVD of “Frozen.”  We enjoyed watching it Friday evening with Andrew.  The little boys were in bed.  (I thought there were parts that might scare them and wasn’t ready to let them watch it. They are pretty sensitive boys.)  

Andrew had fun working on his cub scout book with me this week end.  We were able to pass things off.  He is almost to his Wolf rank.  He had lots of fun going to a Physics night last night with Neal with his GT class.  They came home with lots of fun little things they had done.  I am glad that they had some time together.

Spencer is loving reading.  He likes to climb onto his bed, the lower bunk, and read.  He is learning how to read silently better.  He is enjoying reading the A to Z mystery books and Magic Tree House books.  He has a great imagination.  He likes to collect things.  He also likes to look for interesting things outside.  He will come show me creatures he finds or cool sticks or rocks.  He is always asking questions too.

Caleb is rather talkative too.  He likes to tell jokes.  Then he has started doing a variation of 20 questions with me.  He will give clues and tries to get me to guess what he is thinking of.  This week when we were out for a walk he surprised me by counting by twos.  He got up to 26.  He said he thought it would be fun to skip a number and only say it in his mind.  Last night I started working with him more with reading.  He is so ready to read.  He likes to ask how words are spelled.  He loves his letter magnets and spells things on the fridge all the time.  We read a couple little books together last night.  He has an excellent memory and is a fast learner.  Saturday I took him to a party for a little girl in our ward.  It was fun for him to play with other children.  I stayed and watched.  I enjoyed visiting with other parents there.

Sunday I gave a talk in Sacrament meeting.  There has been a lot going on and I had a hard time finding time to prepare.  I had been asked to give a summary of my thoughts on General Conference as an over view of the whole thing.  I chose a theme of having faith in Christ will get us through any trial in life.  I felt good about how it all came together.  After church I stayed to attend ward council (the RS president wasn’t feeling well).  I was so tired physically and mentally when I got home.  I appreciate so much what the leaders of our ward do for us.

The kids have had fun trying to play “4 square” with a ball.  They have drawn squares on the drive and play with each other.  Yesterday I went out and played with them for about 15 minutes.  It was a fun time.  Ruth and Andrew are doing pretty good with it, but we had to have lots of alternate rules for the little ones.  It was good to get out.  

I have been enjoying the beautiful spring weather.  I have been able to get back into my routine of walking every morning at the park after taking the kids to school.  It works great.  Caleb likes to get out and run.  He enjoys going to the park with me too.  This morning we had to take the suburban in for a minor repair.  I hope it doesn’t take long.  So we don’t have a car to go places.  We took a walk in the neighborhood and Caleb was grumpy because he couldn’t get out of the stroller.  I still enjoyed the beauty of the day.  Our yard is looking nice.  Neal cut the grass (and weeds) Saturday so it all looks so green.  The garden is growing nicely.  The peach tree has a few little peaches forming (with the late frost we had I have been happy to see at least something forming).  The roses are blooming and it smells wonderful.  I am thankful for the beauty of the world.  I hope that all of you can enjoy the beauty around us this spring.

Easter

We had a nice Easter week end.  The kids were home from school Friday and Monday.  Friday we just stayed at home.  It was nice weather and the kids had fun playing outside.  I was able to work on sewing a dress for Ruth.  I seem to never get it done in time for Easter, but I do try to make her something new each spring.  I will try to get it done as soon as I can.

Friday the kids were excited about being home from school and were a bit crazy.  They were loud and I was glad I could send them outside.  That evening we had missionaries over for dinner.  One of them is new and has only been in Texas for a week.  It was fun to feel his excitement as we talked about Texas and our ward.  After Neal left to give the missionaries a ride home the kids went really wild.  They were running and chasing each other and then I heard the toilet flush.  They were laughing and said they put a broken plastic egg down the toilet.  I had them all sit on chairs until Neal got back.  Thankfully the toilet hasn’t had a problem.  Neal made them sit quiet for awhile, I went for a walk.  I just had to get by myself for a bit.  

Saturday went better.  The kids were happier and kinder to be around.  We had fun doing some Easter activities after we had done our cleaning chores.  I had put together a little basket of treats for them.  I hid the baskets in the yard and they had fun looking for them.  They were excited about the big box of chalk I gave them and have drawn all over the drive way now.  

Last week end was our Stake Conference.  Neal attended the Priesthood leadership meeting Saturday afternoon and then I went to the adult session in the evening.  As a family we went Sunday morning.  It was a wonderful Conference.  I learned things and felt the spirit.  I am thankful for my testimony of Christ and that I have His church in my life.  Easter Sunday we enjoyed the afternoon together as a family.

Caleb has had fun counting.  He likes to count to 101.  He will count his steps as he walks around the house, he counts as we drive down the street, he counts his bites of food.  It is fun to listen to him.  

Monday morning I took the kids to the museum.  We invited some friends to come with us.  It was fun to play with friends.  That evening for our family night I was giving a lesson to the kids and Caleb asked “where is heaven?”  Then he said “I want to go see Heavenly Father.”  We had a nice discussion about heaven with him and the others.  I believe that some of our best family home evening times come from questions the kids ask.

Tuesday it was nice to get back into the school routine.  Caleb had fun going to preschool too.  After school I took Andrew and Spencer to the dentist.  No cavities.  Also the dentist felt like their teeth are doing okay and don’t need any help right now, even with all their problems.  The dentist appointment took up time so our evening felt rushed.  Andrew was taking his STAAR exams this week and was tired last night.  He is happy to be done with the testing.  Ruth will take her last STAAR test tomorrow. 

Today has gone well.  I took Caleb to a special story time activity.  We met at the park and got to see a presentation about exotic pets.  They had all sorts of things to show the kids.  Caleb wouldn’t touch the snake, but liked the ferret and hedge hog.  We got hot yesterday and today.  I am glad that our air conditioning still works.  This is the first we have turned it on this spring.  I guess summer is on its way!

Additions

I decided to go take a few pictures of the yard with my camera.  I still am working on getting pictures off my phone.  So I couldn't retake things from the library or school, but I could get a few things of the yard again.

Our first purple iris in this yard!

The first roses of the year

the spinach patch

the whole garden

the cheerful red flowers by the mail box

Spencer was following me around the yard and wanted me to take his picture

the front of the house, not too green but at least the leaves are raked up

the dianthus are blooming again this spring, so pretty

School Activities

I have a hard time with change.  We are getting our iPad working.  Part of everything we did was to upgrade out desktop operating system so we can sync things with the two devices.  Now it is like learning an entire new system.  It is taking me about 3 times as long to do anything because I have to figure it out again.  So this letter is late this week and I will do my best to get it sent.  I can’t get the pictures off my phone right now, so that will have to wait until next time. Although I have many pictures from my camera that did work. 

Last week Ruth had a happy birthday.  Then on Thursday I took her to the doctor for a well child visit.  She is a healthy happy girl.  It was fun to talk to the doctor about ideas for a birthday party and we even used some of her ideas.  The doctor even told us that she remembered that Ruth suggested she read the Magic School Bus books to her girls.  Now whenever the doctor reads them to her girls, who love them, she thinks of Ruth.  She thanked Ruth for being so sweet.  After Ruth’s appointment I took her to school and then I went to the dentist for a cleaning.  I was so thankful that all my fillings are fine and no new cavities.  It is nice I don’t have to go back in!

Thursday evening after dinner I took the kids over to the elementary school where there is  a pretty patch of blue bonnets and took their pictures.  It is a fun spring time tradition.  Then on Friday I went to a park with Caleb and the wild flowers there were beautiful.  I like this time of year with all the pretty wild flowers at the side of the road and the green leaves in the trees.  We got our first purple iris blooming!  I am so excited about that.  After about five years I finally got one of mom’s flowers to bloom here in Texas. I also am enjoying the pretty little red flowers I planted by the mail box.  The last couple of days I have worked hard in the front yard cleaning up leaves.  I got all the dead leaves out of the ground cover and from around bushes.  The ground cover might come back and it looks like another two bushes might be dead.  Not good.  But at least it doesn’t look messy right now.

Caleb at the Whitehall Park

A picture of me in the flowers

Spencer running

Andrew with a lady bug

Spencer in the flowers

Caleb in the flowers

The kids being silly

Ruth being pretty

Andrew in the flowers

the kids running 

The kids sitting nice

Andrew laying down enjoying the flowers

Spencer liked getting right into the flowers

  Caleb being cute

The garden is growing too.  We have so much spinach that I don’t know what to do with it.  I have frozen some and we eat it every day in salads.  Still it is a huge mound outside.  I just pick it every week and we eat all the spinach we like to, and then some.  

Friday Ruth was so excited about her birthday party that she decorated early.  We did have a family party Friday evening.  We had fun playing games with the kids and eating cake.  Then Saturday was the big party with friends.  Ruth had four friends from school come over.  We had planned on more but it ended up a nice group.  The girls were all kind and fun to be with.  We played some fun party games.  It was nice to meet some of Ruth’s friends.  One girl said near the end of the party how much fun she had and “this was the best party I have ever gone to.”  That made me feel good.  It also reminded me that simple fun games are better than extravagance.  

Ruth blew out the candles in one puff

Ruth and her friends having some fun

Neal took the boys hiking Saturday afternoon so they weren’t home for the party.  They enjoyed going out by the lake and seeing fun things.  They all got very tired.  Caleb came home and asked “where are the girls?”  He didn’t understand that he was going hiking to miss the party.  He started to cry because he wanted to be at the party.  He was happy that he still could have cake.

Saturday morning we had a ward Easter egg picnic.  It was fun to go over to the church and use the new pavilion.  It was windy and a little cool but a nice day to be outside.  The kids had a lot of fun running around on the field and playing.  They enjoyed gathering eggs too.

Spencer running to find eggs

The girls were a bit calmer to find eggs

Caleb was excited about his eggs

Sunday morning we were a bit slow getting going.  I guess we were all tired from the parties.  I went out to the car with the kids and we opened the door and realized that the car seats were still in the car, with Neal, already at the church!  I told the kids they just had to sit still and wear a regular seat belt.  Caleb was so worried about it.  We were fine, but it was just one of those things to add stress.  After church we got the car seat back before driving home.

Caleb likes to snuggle

We had some cooler weather this week. It even got down into the 30’s one morning. It has been nice to have it cool back down for spring weather.  We had some days in the 80’s last week.

Tuesday morning I hosted a preschool Easter party.  We had fun with the preschool families coming over. We played games together with lots of plastic eggs.  We also painted pots and planted flowers in them. The boys seemed to enjoy the activities. Caleb loved having his friends over, and their baby brothers.  Caleb loves being around babies.

Tuesday evening was Spencer’s first grade music program.  We all went over to the school to listen to him perform.  It was a nice program.  Spencer was so excited to have a speaking part.  He did great with it too.  He also played an instrument, a xylophone.  We were sitting too far back to take any pictures during the program so I got some pictures of him afterwards.  

Yesterday I went to Ruth’s school to hear a presentation from her music class on what they learned on the guitar this term.  It was nice to hear the kids.  I think it is fun that Ruth learned some basics with the guitar.  I hope she keeps trying to play it.  I also took Caleb to story time yesterday morning.  He loves going.  They talked about space.  They had a little card board space ship set up and he wanted his picture with it.  I am glad that he loves the library so much.

Today was Spencer’s Easter activity at school.  We met him at the park to eat lunch with him.  Then we watched the egg hunt.  Spencer was so excited to be there.  Caleb was excited too and was having a hard time not doing the activities, even when I said that it was for the school kids, so we didn’t stay to the end of the party.  Spencer had lots of fun though.

The kids have a long week end, we have Friday and Monday off school.  It will be nice to have a break from the routine.