Last week went by fast for me. The boys were out of school for the whole week and I got out of my regular schedule, that is why I forgot to write. So today might get a little long. I thought I would cover things that happened the last two weeks of what I can remember.
On Friday the 20th I went to the school for a class party for Caleb. It was a pot luck lunch. I ended up bringing instant potatoes. I feel bad about that. I had cut up real potatoes and had them ready to cook, but then was late getting back from the temple and didn’t have time to cook them. But I did make it to the party and enjoyed eating lunch with Caleb and visiting with other adults. I thought it was funny that in talking with Caleb’s teacher I mentioned Ruth and she didn’t know Caleb had a sister. She said he had never mentioned her. She just knew about his brothers, because he talks about them all the time.
Saturday the 21st Neal took Ruth, Andrew and Spencer on a hike in the foot hills of the Sandia mountains. They enjoyed the pretty sunny morning and being out on a trail. There was still snow in places and they even got into a snow ball fight. It sounded like they had a great time. I enjoyed some quiet time with Caleb that day (the others wanted to go farther than Caleb would have been able to handle, that is why he stayed with me.) That evening Ruth went to a birthday party for a friend from school, Brooke. She enjoyed going to that.
Monday the 23rd the boys were home from school. We had parent teacher conferences that morning. I arranged for the boys to play at a friends in our ward who have boys Spencer and Caleb’s ages. They had lots of fun playing there. I enjoyed visiting with their teachers. They are all doing well at school. That evening we went to t a Pie Night activity. Everyone brings a pie and we get to taste many kinds while visiting with friends.
When we came home we saw a "road runner on the roof"so we got some pictures of it.
Tuesday the 24th the boys invited the boys over who they had played with Monday to play at our house. It was a bit crazy with two extra boys. They had fun together and I am thankful the boys can have friends. They even live close enough that we can walk to their home. Wednesday the 25th Ruth was finally out of school. She was happy to be home with everyone. She also helped me by watching the boys that morning. I took Andrew and Spencer on a date to Walmart. This was their choice of activity. We looked at toys and I let them pick out a small toy to buy. They thought that was better than an activity because it was something they could keep. Then I took Caleb out on his date with me to McDonald’s. He wanted ice cream and french fries. He was a happy little boy. It was fun to spend some time with them. Now I need to plan a time to do a date with Ruth.
We enjoyed a quiet Thanksgiving at home this year. I did some cooking Wednesday afternoon and cooked a turkey Thursday morning. It all went well. We enjoyed some good food and enjoyed visiting with grandparents who called. All week, starting on Sunday, I made a pie each day. (I did get a little behind and made three on Saturday morning.) We enjoyed lots of pie this last week and even tried out a new recipe. It is fun to do. Last night we finished off the pie and ended our pie week.
Thanksgiving evening I was tired. Caleb was saying that he wasn’t ready for bed and I said I was. Then he offered to tuck me in. It was cute. I hurried and got ready for bed and laid down. He came in a pulled the blankets up and kissed my cheek. I was so tired I just stayed there, although at first I had planned on getting up and doing a few things after he went to bed. But I fell asleep and ended up sleeping for about nine hours. It was nice.
Friday the 27th we stayed home all day. Neal got out his Lego for the kids to play with. They love that because he has lots of speciality pieces. They built some fun things. I decided to work on the clarinet. I knew Ruth needed to get new pads on the clarinet for a long time now. I knew it would help her playing. I looked into a little and found I could buy a kit to “do it yourself.” I thought “how hard can it be?” I was a little nervous as I took apart the clarinet with the little screw driver. I was able to replace the pads and put the instrument back together where all the keys were moving right. I thought it was all going fine, until I tried playing it. It wouldn’t play. I was discouraged. I started looking at YouTube videos about what to do. I learned a lot. I should have done that before I started the project. I worked on it more Saturday afternoon. I finally got it working! I was worried though because it kept jumping a register. Monday Ruth went into the band room before school and talked to her teacher. His main instrument is the clarinet. He looked it over during the day and said it all looked good. He suggested she get a stiffer reed and try that. Her tone is so much better and is getting better every day. The new pads really have made a difference in the sound. I spent over 10 hours on it and decided that next time I will probably leave it to a professional.
Saturday the 28th the kids just wanted to keep playing with Lego. I was getting them to do their cleaning chores. Ruth was complaining a bit about it. I said “Imagine what the house would look like if it wasn’t cleaned?” She paused and said “I don’t want to.” Then she went and did her cleaning job. It may not be a fun thing to do, but I think we all enjoy a clean environment. After they cleaned then they played with the Lego again. That afternoon we got our the Christmas decorations. I was busy with the clarinet so the kids did the decorating. They did a great job. Yesterday Andrew asked if he could look at the ornaments again. We have so many they don’t all fit on the tree. He ended up redoing the decorating, to “make it look better.” I thought it looks good. We had a hard time knowing where to fit the tree, but it is working okay in the corner of the room in front of the book shelves.
Andrew worked hard to finish up his PTA Reflections projects this last week. He did some great art work. This is the first year I have seen the Reflections accept 3-D art. Spencer and Caleb both made little pots out of clay. They did well with it too. They have got things turned in this week and I hope they can enjoy sharing their art with others.
Caleb's pot, top view and bottom
Spencer's pots
Andrew's art work. He made the fish out of cardboard, pretty good right?
Caleb has a little card board computer that Neal made for him a long time ago. He has gotten it out this week. One day he was playing with it and said to me “don’t look mom, I need to do my secret pass code.” I thought that was fun since I do the same thing to him when we are turning on the iPad.
This week we worked hard to get the Christmas cards sent out. I will post a copy of our letter to the blog, in case you missed it. I also have worked hard the last couple of days doing shopping and can say with happiness that my shopping is done. It feels good to be done with that. I am trying to keep things simple. I got the kids a practical gift, something they want, and a book. I do need to do a few sewing projects but then I hope to have things more relaxed this month than normal. My family expects me to make candy. I do enjoy doing that too, but know that is a big project. I might cut back on that this year too.
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