Caleb's turning 5 birthday!

We had some excitement at our house this week.  Neal came up for a visit on Friday.  With his new job he has every other Friday off.  He drove in the morning and made it here to eat lunch with Caleb and I.  It was so nice to have him here.  Friday afternoon Neal went to pick the boys up from school and they were happy to see him.  We had a nice afternoon playing and visiting.  Neal took Andrew and Spencer on a bike ride after school.

Friday evening I went to a Relief Society activity.  They did a fondue bar, lots of different kinds of fondue and lots of things to dip in it.  It was all tasty.  I enjoyed visiting with the sisters.  It was a good break for me after spending 16 days on my own with the kids.  Neal enjoyed playing games with the kids at home.

Saturday we had lots of fun family time.  The biggest event was a birthday party for Caleb.  He has been so excited about this.  He has watched the calendar and counted the days until it is the “Caleb party day.”  We had four friends from his church class come and he had so much fun playing some simple games and being with his friends.  Caleb didn’t want cake this year.  I talked him into doing cup cakes for his friends at the party.  He enjoyed eating the cup cakes, so I am not sure why he didn’t want cake.  It was a pretty, warm day and we ended the party by being outside coloring on the drive with chalk and blowing bubbles.  

It was nice to go to church with Neal again.  He was released from his ward clerk calling.  After church Neal finished packing some things up and got on his way back to Albuquerque.  It takes him 6 1/2 hours to drive there.  It is a long drive, but it was so nice to have him here for a couple of days.  He also was able to pack up his car with things to take back that he needs or are of value that he doesn’t want the moving company to move.  

Monday morning we were all a little tired.  Ruth and Caleb were sick.  They both had congestion and Caleb had a fever.  They slept all morning and watched movies in the afternoon.  It was a quiet day.  Ruth was feeling fine by evening.  Caleb woke up Tuesday with a fever still and was so sad that he was sick on his birthday.  He rested and enjoyed coloring.  By the time we picked the boys up from school Caleb was feeling good.  I was thankful he could enjoy some of his birthday fun.

So Caleb’s “turning 5 birthday” wasn’t as exciting as he had planned, we didn’t get to go the places we had thought we would, but I thought it was great that he was still so happy.  He wanted everyone to sing to him too.  When my parents called and sang “Happy Birthday” to him, he wanted them to sing more birthday songs.  Mom got out the Primary song book and sang more birthday songs to him.  He loved it.  Neal’s parents called too and Caleb enjoyed hearing them sing.  He is so happy to be five now.  In the afternoon we went to the store and got some donuts.  That is the treat he wanted for his birthday and he has been talking about for weeks.  I am glad that he felt well enough to eat his donut. 

Today is quiet again.  Caleb went to bed early last night.  He hasn’t wanted to eat much, but is eating.  His fever came back in the night.  He got up and I heard him, I went to him and he had a fever of 102 again.  I gave him some medication and he was able to sleep again.  This morning there is no fever but he is still coughing.  He is doing quiet things.  I hope he can rest and feel great again.  He is always so full of energy.

The weather was so nice this last week, even a bit warm.  We had a couple of days that got up to 80 degrees.  The snow finally melted all the way on Sunday, at least in our yard.  There are still some piles of dirty snow in parking lots.  I enjoyed going for walks.  One day Caleb rode his trike with me walking.  Usually we use the stroller.  He also loves all the play grounds around  here.  He is always so friendly to other kids we see at the play grounds.  I try hard to have conversations with the moms.  We meet lots of nice people that way.  Next week is spring break and we are getting excited for Rachel to come visit.  It will be nice to have another adult to go places with the kids.  We always love visitors.  

Sunny Days

I am enjoying the warmer weather we have been having.  It is so nice to have it.  I have enjoyed going for walks again.  Although, now I take Caleb with me again.  It was nice when I could go without him.  It was nice to not push the stroller.  

Last Wednesday afternoon Andrew had some friends over. They had lots of fun with some old VHS tapes I had.  I had gone through some of my old movies and found I had some duplicates.  Andrew asked if he could see what was inside the tapes.  Before I knew it we had tape all over the house.  The boys had fun with it and they did clean it up.

I forgot to mention last week that in Ruth’s band class they did playing tests and determined chairs, for the first time this year.  Ruth was very excited that she was put as 1^st Clarinet chair.  She told me today that they got a concert piece to practice and it is the Star Wars theme song.  She is enjoying band.  Last night Ruth had her Activity Days.  They did a recipe exchange.  She enjoyed tasting all the good foods the other girls brought.  There were 14 girls that came.  It has been fun for her to be involved in such a large group.  She only has one more activity before she turns 12.  

Andrew enjoyed going to scouts yesterday.  They did a special “field trip” to the city air port.  A man in our ward owns a small plane.  He let the boys sit in it and he talked about planes.  Andrew said they also watched a plane take off and another one land.  He really enjoyed it.  Andrew has been feeling a little sick this week. At first I just thought it was that he was tired from the time change on Sunday.  But today after school I took his temperature and he has a low fever, 100 degrees.  So I guess there is something there bothering him.  He is resting this afternoon.  swallowed 

Last night after dinner we had our scripture time.  We were reading out of Mosiah 14.  Abinadi was quoting Isaiah and the phrase that Christ “carried our sorrows” caught my eye.  We stopped and talked about it.  I reminded the children that not only did Jesus die for our sins, but he also carried our sorrows, that we can find peace, even when things are hard.  Andrew looked up at me and said he needed to hear that and he would remember to pray for that.  I am thankful for the Book of Mormon.  There is so much pure doctrine in it.  Today I had a knock on the door from some Jehovah Witnesses.  I made an effort to talk to them and tell them what church I attend.  I had a good conversation with them about Jesus Christ and scriptures.  I even pulled out a Book of Mormon that was on the shelf by the door and read a scripture from it.  The lady didn’t really like that I called it scripture and kept saying the Bible was all she needed.  She also said she had an open mind about others beliefs.  So I asked her if she would like the Book of Mormon so she could read it.  She turned it down.  But I am glad I could share my testimony with her. 

Spencer has really enjoyed playing with Logan this week.  They are together every day after school.  He commented yesterday that at school his teacher tries to keep him and Logan apart.  I can understand why.  They are a bit silly together and can be loud.  On Sunday we did a video chat with Neal.  Spencer was talking through his sucker.  He was personifying things with his sucker.  It was a bit silly.  It was nice to talk to Neal and see him.  I am glad that the iPad worked to do the video chat.  He doesn’t have internet at home, so it will be hard to do it very often.  He was at the church building, in a class room by himself to talk on Sunday.

Caleb had a funny idea of singing the ABC’s at 2:00 on march 4^th.  Almost a month ago he has asked me to write that “appointment” on the calendar.  Then when the day came he told me it was 2:00 in the night time.  I told him they couldn’t get up in the night, on a school night.  The other boys wanted to do it with him.  So on Friday night Ruth set her alarm for 2:00 am.  She thinks it went off but she doesn’t really remember it.  The boys woke up about 6:00 am Saturday and the first thing I heard was them singing the ABC song.  

Caleb also is enjoying the maps so much I taught him the concept of Pangea and continental drift. He thinks it is amazing.  I think he is amazing that he knows so much.  He is still also very much a little boy.  He likes to cuddle, watch children’s movies and play puppy.

Caleb is also very excited for his birthday next week.  He will be having a party on Saturday and talks about it all the time.  We went shopping yesterday to get things for the party and he is so excited for his friends to come over.  We invited his Primary class to the party.  We are also excited that Neal is coming home this week end.  He plans on driving here Friday morning.  His new job has every other Friday off.  We are excited to see him.  He has said that things are going well for him.  He enjoyed going to a Ward dinner Friday evening.  There are many nice people there that he has met.  

Caleb's bed with his new quilt on it

Ruth had fun building a little village on Saturday

March is Here!

It is another cold snowy day.  I am missing the warmer Texas winters.  The kids have had fun with the snow but even they are starting to tire of it.  Ruth said it wasn’t new any more and she wishes it would go away.  We are all ready for spring and warm weather.

Last week I was able to find Andrew a coat at the thrift store.  It fit pretty good and seems like a nice coat.  It looks like it use to have a zip in lining but he says it is warm the way it is.  He does miss having a hood though, this coat had a zip on hood and it isn’t there.  But I found a coat to get him through the last bit of winter here.

I was able to finish Caleb’s quilt.  I think they turned out fun.  The boys have enjoyed them and said they keep them warm.  I was hopeful I would get them done in time for them to use them during the winter.  

The kids enjoy playing with friends.  Caleb had his friend Justin over on Monday.  Spencer plays with Logan as often as he can.  Andrew enjoys playing with Parker most days too.  It is nice they have friends across the street.  One thing the boys have been doing is gathering ice cycles.  They think they are amazing.  Probably because they haven’t seen any this big before.  On sunny days the ice will fall off the houses and then boys have gathered them in buckets and even filled up one of the plastic sleds with them.  They parked the sled in the garage and the ice lasted for a couple of days until they dumped them out.  It is that cold in the garage.  

When we were at the thrift store I bought a 500 piece puzzle.  Andrew has enjoyed working on it.  He did about half of it over the week end.  I am amazed at how he can sit working on it for a long time and not tire of it.  He has even asked if we can get a bigger puzzle next time.

Monday Andrew gave the Family Home Evening lesson.  He did a great job doing a lesson on Easter, using ideas from the Friend magazine.  He even made little drawings and cut outs to act out the story of Jesus.  I thought he did so well.  Spencer helped make peanut butter cookies for our treat.  He had lots of fun smashing them with a fork.

Neal made it to Albuquerque before the storm.  He was thankful he got there before roads got bad.  Albuquerque got six inches of snow on Saturday, a rare thing for them.  Neal was able to look at lots of rental homes Thursday and Friday.  Then decided on one.  We talked about them on the phone and I looked at the ads to see pictures.  I feel like we found a good house that will work for our family.  It is about the size of our Texas home, no stairs and no basement.  I wont miss stairs but I will miss the storage space of the basement here.  The home has a good size garage and an outside storage shed, so we will have some space for storage of bikes and outside things.  I am sure it will all work out.  Neal moved into the house over the week end.  He is busy getting things set up there.  He started work on Monday.  It is a busy time for him getting into a new job and getting things done to do the relocation.  It is a lot of work.  Sunday he attended our new ward.  Neal knows two men from his BYU research group who live in Albuquerque.  He had talked to one of them and wrote emails with the other.  He knew where they lived and that they were both in the same Ward.  So when looking for houses he started looking in that ward boundaries.  The house he rented is in that ward and he enjoyed going to church and seeing people he knew.  Neal was also invited to dinner with Jared and Abby. They lived in our Waco ward and moved about two years ago or so.   I can’t remember how long it has been. Abby was my visiting teacher for a time, it will be fun to see them again. Jared worked with Neal in church callings.  Neal enjoyed eating dinner with them and visiting.

Monday I had a man come from the moving company that will be doing the move.  He talked about things and then we walked through the house to do an inventory of what we had.  He complimented me that I was letting my boys be kids.  He enjoyed hearing them play and seeing the toys, especially trains, every where.  He thought it was great that I would let them do that and not be yelling at them to be quiet.  The kids do have fun together. 

We have had a lot of snow this week.  Andrew has been so good to help me shovel the walks.  He enjoys it I think.  He has been piling all the snow in the same place and the pile is getting rather large.  The boys like to play on it with the sleds and seeing how big they can get it.  They were outside a couple of hours Saturday playing in the snow.  They were excited that today is early out from school so they will have time to play in the snow again.  I am glad they can enjoy it.

Caleb is so excited that it is finally March!  He has been doing his “yeah” song a lot.  He just says “yeah” over and over with much enthusiasm.  He is counting down the days until his birthday.  He is enjoying maps still.  Since Neal took the iPad with him Caleb can’t play Stack the Countries or States right now.  So I found some old maps for him to look at and learn from.  He still is drawing maps too.  I took a pictures of four of his maps, so you can see what he does.