Candy Time

We have had another busy week.  Last Wednesday evening we went to the church for Ruth’s talent night with Activity Days.  The girls did a great job.  They had some fun skits, musical numbers and dancing.  At the end they did a number together and I counted 12 girls on stage.  I think it is great that Ruth gets this opportunity to be with a big group of girls.  In Texas she usually had 2 to 4 girls coming to Activity Days.  She is making some great friends here.

On Thursday the city paper came out and Ruth had her picture on the front page from the Chemistry activity she went to the week before.  It was fun to see a copy and then I found it on their website and copied a digital picture too.  Thursday evening we had the sister missionaries over to eat dinner with us.  They are sweet girls and we had a nice visit with them.

The kids enjoyed the Chemistry activity so much that for our Friday night activity time they choose to do experiments over doing our normal movie night.  They had been given bags with little things they could do at home.  We did some of the activities together and it was a nice evening. 

Saturday morning Neal got the three older kids up and going early and took them fishing.  They tried out a couple of ponds that are close by.  They didn’t catch anything but they enjoyed going.  It was nice they could enjoy the beautiful day.  The weather has been so nice this week.

Saturday evening we had our Ward Halloween party.  We had a good dinner with chili and cinnamon rolls.  I brought rolls.  (It was a pot luck type thing.)  The food was good, the games were fun and then we did a truck-o-treat.  The kids loved walking around the parking lot getting candy.  There are a lot of kids in this ward and it was a big event.  The kids came home with so much candy, especially Andrew who went around the parking lot more than once.  I told the kids I thought a gallon sized bag was enough to fit their candy in.  Andrew had the hardest time because he had so much candy.  So I told them they could go through it and take out what they didn’t like and donate to the trick-o-treating for Friday.  That worked well.  I don’t know what we will do after Halloween, I guess they will need a new bag.

Spencer in his cape he has worn for three years now, he is pointing out he has false teeth in

Caleb in his cute lion pose

Andrew excited to fill up his candy bag

Ruth in her Hawaiian atire 

Sunday I had my first week of being in Nursery the entire time.  It wore me out.  I was so tired when I came home.  We had 18 little ones in nursery this week.  I think I know 3 of their names.  Not only do I need to learn the kids names but I need to learn what family they belong to.  I am so new to the ward I don’t know most of these families.  It is hard to figure it all out.  Thankfully I am not alone in there, we had four other ladies in nursery with me.  Today I was at the park with friends and one of the nursery kids was there and it made me feel good that she talked to me a little.  I think she remembered me from Sunday.

Monday morning Caleb and I went with some friends to the Denver Natural History museum.  Once in a while the museum does free days.  Monday was a free day.  So we went down town and visited the museum.  It was huge.  We only saw a small part of it, with four year olds.  Meaning that I didn’t really get to look at things, I just stayed up with Caleb and his attention span.  It was a nice morning.  

Caleb playing at the museum. I realized I didn't get out my camera again, so this is the only shot I got.

Caleb has been wanting to read scriptures with me.  After I get the kids all off to school in the morning I sit down to read.  He comes in and sits on my lap and asks me to read out loud.  At first I thought he would get bored and run off after a minute, but he doesn’t.  And this morning he came and asked if I was going to read and that he wanted to do it with me.  I think it is special he wants to do this.  I even give him a turn to read and he is starting to read many of the easy words.  His latest thing is learning to tell time.  He likes to look at the digital clocks and tell me the time.  He will ask me what time we are doing something and he will pay attention to the clock to know when it is time.  He is also learning about face clocks too and can understand them some.  He is a fun kid.

Neal had a job interview yesterday for a job in Boulder.  We will see what happens with that.  He is working some temp jobs.  He stays busy.  I realized the other day that I had prayed and hoped that our moving to Colorado would help our family have more time together and help Neal be more involved with the kids.  It has done that.  Now we just need to get the income part flowing again.  Neal has helped the kids with their home work and has taken them places, like last night Andrew had Pack Meeting with scouts.  It has been good for him and for the kids.  I am also thankful that everyone has been so healthy and we haven’t had to go to a doctor.  We haven’t had insurance for awhile now (the SNC job gave us insurance after three months, but it only lasted about three weeks before he lost that job).  I am thankful the kids are healthy and accident free.  I hope that lasts.  I feel blessed.  

Beautiful Fall

We are enjoying some nice fall weather.  I have even gotten Caleb to walk with me, not just ride in a stroller.  Yesterday while we were walking hand in hand he was asking how to spell words.  We had fun looking at things and spelling them, grass, leaf, dog, bark, etc.  He was a cute companion on my walk.  This morning we were enjoying all the leaves on the side walks as the stroller rolled through them.  

Last weekend we had Stake Conference.  Neal and I were able to go to the Saturday evening session together, first time in years.  Usually we have taken turn of who attends and the other person is with the children.  This time we decided that Ruth has been doing a good job baby sitting and we could let her be with the boys.  They did great. In fact the boys were all in bed asleep when we came home.  Ruth is sure growing up and taking on more responsibility.  We enjoyed the meetings.  Sunday was a satellite broadcast for Stakes in Colorado, Wyoming and Montana.  It was nice to listen to Elder Bednar and Elder Scott speak.  We are thankful for the church in our lives.  There were many good messages about following our Savior and living a good life.

Saturday Ruth and Andrew were able to go to the library for a special Chemistry activity.  They had lots of fun.  I had signed them up to go to this free event, for kids 9-14.  They were able to do some little experiments and see some neat demonstrations.  When I went to pick them up they were finishing up a demonstration on liquid nitrogen, so I saw that one.  They had fun learning and seeing fun things.  They both enjoy science so it was a good thing for them.

Ruth is enjoying playing the clarinet and also working on the guitar.  She likes to sing too.  Sometimes we hear her singing in her room.  She has discovered that 6^th grade honors math is hard and takes some extra effort.  She still loves to read and goes through books rather quickly.

Andrew is a hard worker.  He is always so willing to get his chores done.  Sunday it was Spencer’s turn to make a treat with me but he didn’t want to.  Andrew jumped up and said he wanted to do it.  He even got out his scout book and showed a page that said “make a dessert with an adult.”  So we made brownies from scratch together and I signed off his book.  He is working hard to earn things in scouts.  Last week in his den meeting they were doing knots.  Andrew already knew a lot of the things they were doing, so he was helping the other boys learn.  His leaders complimented him on his kindness and hard work.  He is enjoying school and loves reading the National Geographic for kids books his teacher has in her room.  He is also enjoying his math, I think it is because he likes his teacher so much.  He is a nice teacher and matches Andrew’s personality well.

Spencer likes to get out of bed quietly in the morning and get dressed.  Then he sneaks down quietly and likes to surprise me with a big hug.  The funny thing is that I wake him up.  I will go in his room and wake him, then he says to me, “I’m awake, now go away.”  Then he gets out of bed when I am not watching, he doesn’t like me to see him getting up.  He is having lots of fun socially with friends in the neighborhood.  He says he is bored at school and isn’t giving it his full attention some days.  I keep encouraging him to do his best and do the work his teacher is asking him to do.

Caleb had noticed that the park closest to our house had a slide that was broken, it was that way when we moved in.  He told me they needed to fix the slide. Some mornings he would ask to walk by the park, just to see if the slide was fixed.  He said they needed to make a new park.  I would tell him it might not happen that way.  The slide was boarded up, maybe that was all that would be done.  Then this week it happened.  There were work men who tore out the old play ground and today when we walked by they were in the process of putting in new play equipment.  So Caleb will get his new park.  Caleb doesn’t like getting his hair combed.  Yesterday I was trying to convince him to comb it before going to the library.  It was sticking up on the side and looked unkept.  He looked in the mirror and touched his hair and said “don’t touch my hair, it looks beautiful.”  I laughed and gave up combing it that day.  We usually don’t get him to cooperate on the combing expect on Sunday when we make sure it is combed before church.

Neal had a nice lunch with a friend last week, another man who was laid off.  They got together and enjoyed a good visit. He has been busy with job hunting and applying to many jobs.  Now we just need a job to want him. On Friday Neal took off into the mountains for a little hike.  He hiked up to a lake and camped over night, exploring around some too.  He said he went to the “great divide” and even got into a little snow.  He enjoyed his adventure.

While Neal was enjoying the mountains I had an adventure of my own to deal with.  Saturday morning the kids told me that the toilet in their bathroom was plugged.  I thought I would try flushing it before plunging it.  Well it was plugged and the water wouldn’t stop running, anyway, it took me a few minutes to get it unplugged and the water off.  Then I had about a half inch of dirty toilet water all over the bathroom floor.  I was standing in it, so I had the kids go get me the cleaning supplies.  Thankfully I had thrown a towel in front of the door way and the water didn’t get out of the bathroom.  It was awful though.  After throughly cleaning the bathroom I didn’t feel like doing much more on house cleaning and didn’t do anything in the kitchen this week.  I try to keep up with it all.

Sunday afternoon I enjoyed some time with the kids playing games and I do try to relax each evening by reading.  It isn’t all work around here.

Happy Fall

I have been enjoying the fall weather.  The colors are in the trees.  I found a street with many beautiful red leaved maples on my walk yesterday.  I pulled my phone out and took a picture.  Too bad I haven’t figured out how to get the pictures off my phone yet. The kids are enjoying playing in the leaves.  Too bad we don’t have any trees in our yard.  So different from all our oaks and hackberries in our yard in Texas.

I have enjoyed my walks this last week.  I have noticed that the weather is different here.  In Texas I had my cold threshold at about 50 degrees.  I didn’t like going for a walk if it was below 50, because I didn’t like getting that cold.  Here I can go for walks when it is 42 or 45 degrees and just need a light jacket with gloves, which sometimes I take off before I get home.  I decided that the big part of it is that the humidity is different.  Here it is dryer so the wet cool air doesn’t go right through me.  I like feeling the cool air and the warmth of the sun on me.  It has been so nice.  Neal has been home most mornings so Caleb stays home with him.  I have been exploring more of the trails around the neighborhood.  Usually when I walk with Caleb we go on paved walks for ease of pushing the stroller, and also so we can end up at a play ground.  This morning Caleb was with me and we stopped at a play ground. Others were there and we enjoyed visiting and playing with them.

Last week the kids had some time off school.  The boys had Thursday and Friday home, Ruth just had Friday.  The days were used for parent teacher conferences.  I had a nice visit with their teachers.  It was good to hear how they are doing in the schools.  The district does a different grading scale here and I am still getting use to how it works.  It is called “Standard Based Grading.”  They don’t get scores on everything they do, they only get official recorded grades every semester and the grades are: 4 exceeds the standard, 3 meets the standard, 2 approaching the standard and 1 doesn’t meet standard.  It seems a bit vague to me.  But the teachers said that the kids are doing okay in their work.

Friday afternoon Neal and I went to the movie “Meet the Mormons.”  We enjoyed having a date and seeing a nice film.  There were some good stories presented.  I am glad we could go.

Saturday I took Andrew and Spencer out for a little “date” time.  We went and got frozen yogurt.  We went into a store and bought 2 pumpkins.  I thought it was fun that Andrew was asking how to choose a pumpkin that will taste good.  He wasn’t asking if it was the right shape to decorate, but he was thinking more about eating it.  I think I have trained them well.  We also stopped at a park and played a bit.  It was a nice time.

When I got back with the boys I took Ruth to the thrift store to find a costume for Halloween.  She wants to be a Hawaiian hula girl.  She lucked out that she found a grass skirt and it was 50% off day at the thrift store.  She bought it with her own money and it was a first time for her to count out the money at the cashier.  I think she will appreciate it more since she bought it.

Sunday Neal and I spoke in Sacrament meeting.  It went well.  Then I also taught Relief Society.  I enjoyed being with the sisters again before starting my nursery calling full time.  I did go into nursery for the 2^nd hour.  The kids are sweet, I will get to know them and their families and feel more comfortable with it soon.

Neal has enjoyed some bike rides this week.  He had a long one by himself on Saturday morning.  Then yesterday afternoon he took Andrew out again.  They have gone on rides together up to about 7 miles.  Andrew enjoys it too.  It is nice we have so many bike trails right here in our neighborhood.

Andrew wrote a fun poem about Arches National Park.  Then he did a cool visual display of it.  I took a picture of it to try to share and for us to have a way to remember his good work.

Monday for lunch I took Caleb on a date to buy lunch at McDonalds and let him play on the play ground.  He was so excited that he finally earned a lunch treat on his chore chart.  I enjoyed the time with the kids this week.  Caleb is also my little back seat driver lately.  He watches how fast I am going and also pays attention to the speed limit signs.  He will let me know if I am going over the posted speed limit.  We enjoyed going to the library together Tuesday, he really loves going to story time.

We are doing well.  Neal is busy filling out job applications.  We are also enjoying lots of family time.  We are thankful for our blessings.

Another Year

We have been enjoying some nice fall weather.  I am enjoying seeing the colors of the leaves and feeling the cooler air in the morning.  I have enjoyed going for walks. Many mornings I have been going by myself.  Caleb has decided it is nice to just stay at home and play, since Neal is here.  I enjoy listening to my MP3 player while I walk, I have the conference sessions from the last couple of years on it, so I listen to talks while I am walking.  It gives me good things to focus on while I have time to think. 

Caleb has fun playing with his friends.  We met friends at the park again last week for lunch and play time.  The older kids have their friends too they enjoy being with. Andrew went to a friends home after school on Wednesday and they had fun playing board games.  Ruth was at a friends home too and I think they had fun giggling.  They both enjoyed going to their church activities that evening.

The boys have been going around with the neighborhood boys raking leaves.  They are gathering them all into the neighbors yard so they can have a pile to jump in.  One day a man came out of his house and gave the boys each a dollar for raking his leaves.

Friday was my birthday.  The kids were so excited for it.  Caleb had been counting the days down for me.  Then he was telling everyone we saw that day it was my birthday and how old I was, even the clerk at the grocery store.  The kids made little cards for me.  Ruth gave me a butterfly magnet that she had bought from the school rewards store. (They get coupons for good behavior that they can use to buy things in the store.) I thought it was sweet they all wanted to do things for me. 

That evening Neal took me on a date.  We had a babysitter and the kids enjoyed their evening with her.  We drove to Louisville, just north west of here.  We parked on the main street and walked around.  We found a little flower shop that was selling beautiful bouquets, Neal bought me some flowers.  They we found a city history museum that was open.  We went in and learned some about the mining in the area.  Then we walked around and found a nice little restaurant to eat at.  We enjoyed a nice dinner in a quiet corner booth.  And I had a large glass of huckleberry lemonade. It was nice to talk and enjoy doing something fun and not worry about everything else right now.

We got home in time to do candles on a cake for me.  The kids were happy they could eat some cake before bed.  It was a nice day.

Saturday and Sunday we spent at home watching conference.  It was so good to hear from our church leaders.  I am thankful we could watch from our home and enjoy a peaceful week end.  Sunday morning Neal made us a nice breakfast and that was nice not to do it myself.  

Last night Ruth did our home evening lesson.  She had taken time to prepare a nice lesson on the gifts of the spirit.  We have been having some nice scripture times with the kids too.  I like the discussions we have.  The kids are learning a lot.  I am thankful for the gospel in my life that gives me direction and purpose.