Fall Time

It is raining today.  It is kind of nice to have a cool wet day, it makes it feel more like fall.  This morning I went to the temple and there were a lot of ash trees that are full of red leaves there.  It was so pretty with the red and some yellow leaves with the gray clouds in the back ground.  I am thankful I can go to the temple often.

Last week Spencer had lots of fun at the school doing a bike safety class.  The school district had a group come to the school.  They had bikes and helmets for the kids to use.  They set up a course to ride around on.  They also did a presentation on safety.  Spencer thought it was great to get to ride a bike at school!  Yesterday Spencer went on a special field trip.  It was a full day of fun.  They went to El Rancho de las Golondrinas.  They saw some fun things about what was life like here a long time ago.  Spencer especially liked the flour mill that was run with a big wheel turning in water.  

Ruth had some fun activities this week too.  Friday evening she went to a young women Personal Progress retreat at the YW presidents home.  The mothers were invited to attend and I went for dinner and some of the evening activities.  They had some fun crafts they did together.  But most of the time they were working on things from their personal progress books and having good spiritual discussions.  I thought it was great.  The girls slept over night and had all Saturday morning to do activities.  Ruth really enjoyed listening to a FacetoFace broadcast that LDS.org did last night with the Piano Guys.  They met at the church to listen as a group and were fed pizza at the end.  Ruth was also excited that her “Camp Half Blood” tee-shirt came in the mail this week.  We ordered it from Amazon.  It is from the Percy Jackson books she has read and enjoys.  It is what she wanted to dress up in for Halloween.  Funny thing was that yesterday I was talking to my sister Mandy and found out that her daughter, who is close to Ruth in age, is doing the same thing for Halloween!  Too bad they don’t live closer, then they could go out together in their orange shirts.

Andrew had a field trip on Friday.  He was able to go to UNM campus and listen to a philharmonic orchestra play. He had to dress up in his church clothes, so that wasn’t exciting.  But, he said he liked the music and enjoyed that they talked about the different instruments in the orchestra.  They came back to the school for lunch and ate by candle light in their class room.  The boys have enjoyed playing hide and seek with the neighbor boys.  They cover a couple of the yards and hide in creative places around them.  They have enjoyed playing out side this week.  On Friday night Neal thought the boys would like having a special sleep over time, since Ruth was on one.  So the three boys and Neal slept outside in the back yard.  They enjoyed seeing the stars.

Caleb was awarded for being a trustworthy student.  There were two kids in each class chosen and Caleb was the boy for his class.  He enjoyed going to lunch with the principal on Friday and eating pizza and three cookies.  Lately Caleb has been saying the word “definitely” a lot.  It is cute to hear.  Saturday morning Caleb came in from sleeping outside and climbed into bed with me. He was talking and telling me things.  Then he paused and said “mom, I love you.”  It was so sweet and spontaneous, I love it when things like that happen. 

The boys are excited about their Halloween costumes.  I am making rat costumes for Andrew and Spencer.  I finished Spencer’s yesterday and have Andrew’s part way done.  I should finish it by our ward activity next week on Thursday.  Caleb is going to wear the dog costume we have.  

 Spencer enjoyed wearing the costume yesterday.  Here the boys are reading stories together.

Neal bought me some pansies and potting soil.  We got the plants planted in some pots we already had.  Neal told me they were my pets.  Also, last week I mentioned how much I was enjoying my little flowering plant.  We had a wind storm that knocked the pot off the counter, breaking the clay pot.  We have a counter area right outside our kitchen window.  I have had some plants on that space.  They seem to enjoy being outside.  But the wind was too much for that little plant.  We repotted it in a bigger pot and it seems to be liking that.  I hope we can enjoy some pretty flowers this winter.

We moved the plants closer to the house yesterday because it was raining so hard and even a little hail fell.  

Last week we did have a good hike with the cub scouts.  I am glad that it all went well.  The boys all came and Andrew had fun helping to lead the group on the hike.  It was a bit hot, but I am glad that the weather was good for it.