Thanksgiving!

We enjoyed our Thanksgiving vacation time last week.  It was nice to have some family time.  I enjoyed visiting with some of you on video calls.  It is a fun way to do it so we can see each other.  

The week before Thanksgiving I enjoyed going to the school and eating a special Thanksgiving lunch with Spencer and Caleb.  We had fun being together at the school and the food tasted good too.  Then on Friday I went to Caleb’s class and helped with a craft project of making little turkeys out of oreo cookies and candy corn.  The kids were well behavied and enjoyed doing the project.  I am glad that I could go help.  We also fed the sister missionaries that week.  They are sweet girls and it is nice to have them come over.  We have had the same missionaries in our ward for a few months now and it is nice to get to know them more.

Saturday the 19^th we went to a big train show.  The boys were excited to see it.  Neal and Andrew took a lot of time looking at everything, even bought a couple of items.  They are planning Andrew’s layout and ideas for making his own train things.  He really wants to do this and we are working on helping him to do it.  Although when he told me he wanted to make a layout that would be 18 x 12 feet I told him he needed to think smaller, so it will fit in the guest bed room.  We had fun looking at all the layouts and things they had out and the show.  It was a nice family outing.

We all thought the DisneyLand layout was pretty amazing

Ruth coloring while she waited for the others to be done

Monday the 21^st I had parent conferences with Spencer and Caleb’s teachers.  They are both doing well in school.  Their teachers had kind things to say about them.  I am thankful for the teachers and their hard work to bring so many fun ideas into the classroom all the time.  They are working well with my boys.  Caleb is going to be tested for the gifted program.  It might take a few months to get all the steps done but then he could go into the gifted classroom for 2^nd grade.  I am glad that this school is one that has all day gifted classes.  I feel pretty confident he will do well with the testing and get into the program.

Last week we enjoyed some time away from our regular schedules.  The kids had time away from school.  Neal was home from work a couple of days and we just enjoyed being together.  We did a “pie week” where I made a different pie every day from Sunday to Thursday.  We enjoyed eating it all.  We had a nice turkey dinner on Thursday.  Ruth and Andrew helped to decorate the table.  They folded napkins cute and placed the china neatly.  It reminded me of me doing that when I was growing up.  Thursday morning Neal and the boys went to the school and played soccer with a group from the ward.  They had some fun doing that.  

The boys had fun playing outside last week while the weather was so nice

At our Thanksgiving dinner

Friday Andrew was outside looking at plants and came in to tell me that there was a bobcat in the open space.  Neal was curious and went out with Andrew to see it.  Sure enough, there was a bobcat wandering around by the houses and even going into some of the yards.  I know there are wild animals about but they usually stay away from people.  Saturday afternoon as a family we took a little hike in the open space.  Andrew brought his bike and rode around on the trails.  It was nice to get out.  It was cool but not too bad.  Then we got a cold spell.  It has been cold this week, the mornings are around 25 degrees and the high is only about 40.  We had a little snow on Tuesday morning too.  

Andrew likes to help cook.  He cut up these onions and said he liked the way they looked and asked me to take a picture of them.  He is artistic, even in his cooking.

Caleb has enjoyed playing with blocks this week and kept asking me to take pictures of him and his creations. 

Saturday evening Ruth and I went to a production of the “Nutcracker.”  It was very well done and we enjoyed seeing the professional ballet dancers.  It was the first time either of us had seen it.  I am glad that we did it.  I enjoyed watching the choreography from up high in our balcony seats.  Ruth had a friend from church dancing in some of the parts.  It was fun to see her dancing too.  

We have started getting out Christmas things.  The kids are excited about that.  We still need to decorate the tree, but it is up.  This week is busy.  Tonight we have Pack Meeting, young women activity and scouts.  And the boys have choir rehearsal for their Christmas performance this week.  It will be busy but they have enjoyed practicing for the event and I am sure it will sound great.  Thursday and Friday are the performances.

Sandia mountain was pretty last night and Neal stepped out and got a picture

I am thankful for this time of year when we tend to think more of others and how we can serve them as Christ would.  I hope we can all remember Jesus this season and be thankful for his wonderful life.

Busy Fall Time

Some times I think that I don’t have that much going on, after all I don’t work out of the home, all my kids go to school, what do I do?  Well, the time always passes quickly and I stay busy doing things.  I just hope I am using my time well.  I enjoy going to the temple every week.  It is such a blessing to live close to one.  I am thankful that I can be at home as my children go off to school and that I am here when they come home.  I am finding it harder to help with Ruth and Andrew’s home work as they get into harder subjects.  I just don’t remember the rules of math like I should, I guess because I don’t use it.  I have gone visiting teaching this last week.  I am enjoying getting to know my sisters.  They are all great women that I can learn from.  

I worked hard last week to hang up pictures.  I got all the family portraits hung.  I like having them up on the walls to remember those times.  Caleb enjoyed seeing pictures of the other kids when they were young.  He didn’t remember a lot of the pictures, many which have been boxed up for over two years.  I think my efforts look nice.  I still have some random pictures to hang up but am getting close to getting it done.  Maybe I will work on that this afternoon.  I decided to take my sewing machine into a repair shop and get it fixed.  It took over a week and I was getting anxious but I got it back yesterday and worked on mending all afternoon.  Now I got that caught up I can start working on my other projects that have been sitting.  I am thankful for the knowledge I have of sewing, that I can make things for my family.  

We did school pictures this year, so these are current from this fall

When I pulled pictures out I realized I had three identical frames and so I put pictures in them that matched too.  The kids, top 2015, right 2013 and bottom 2012

Last week I went to a Relief Society activity were they did a pie baking contest.  I won an award and that was fun.  I am glad that they enjoyed my pie.  Next week I will make more pies for my family.  I cooked up two of the Halloween pumpkins (the two that were carved) and we have enjoyed some pumpkin foods this week.  I also made home made donuts from a recipe from a friend and they turned out good.  I like baking and cooking.  Today while I was visiting teaching one of the ladies commented to me how thin Neal is and teased me about not feeding him.  I laughed and said I do feed him, he just doesn’t keep it on him.  I am glad that I can cook.  I try to fix healthy things for our family, not all pies and donuts!  Last week I bought some bulb flowers and planted them.  I look forward to seeing them in the spring.  I also got my temple cross stitch framed.  I think it turned out well.

Well, that was a lot about me.  The kids are doing well too.  I went to a Stake Youth Standards night with Ruth.  I enjoyed hearing the questions and answers the Stake leaders did.  It helped me to remember how blessed we are to have the gospel of Christ as our foundation in this crazy world.  

Andrew and Spencer have enjoyed going to the stake children’s choir this last month.  They practice on Sunday evenings.  They will be performing the first week of December with the adult stake choir for a special Christmas program.  I am glad that they enjoy music.

Last week the kids were home from school on Tuesday, for the presidential election.  No school since schools were being used for voting sites.  Then on Friday they were home for Veterans day.  It was nice to have them around more last week.  They enjoyed time home too.  Caleb worked hard and finished his report on komodo dragons.  

Ruth had a babysitting job the last couple of days.  A family in our ward who lives on our street needed some help with their boys after school.  Both parents work and most the time they can work their schedules out to be home for the boys but this week they needed help.  Ruth enjoyed being with the boys and the boys liked her and cheered when the mom said thanks and said she will call Ruth again sometime.  I am glad she had a chance to babysit.  She loves being around children and needed that.

We are doing well and are thankful to be together.  Neal’s work isn’t as demanding right now and he has been able to get some projects done at home.  We are slowly getting things fixed the way we would like.  I am enjoying the fall colors.  We are suppose to have a frost this week end.  So the leaves should change more dramatically and even start falling.  Andrew and I enjoyed watching the “super moon” Monday morning.  Andrew wanted to try pictures of it, but I don’t have a good enough camera for that.  It was pretty.  Spencer continues to read a lot lately, he tends to read a lot of comic book type books.  Andrew likes to dream and draw ideas for train layouts.  He bought a little N scale engine last week and has a small layout on a table top.  It is fun to see what interests the children and to encourage them to explore more.

We were a little slow getting the camera out and just got pictures of the moon setting, taken from our back yard

I think the trees in the front yard a pretty with their red leaves.  I decided I needed a picture before the leaves all fall with the frost.

Happy Halloween

It has been another busy week. The kids had a lot of fun with Halloween activities.  Last Wednesday, the 26^th, we went to our ward activity.  They did the activity outside and that was hard for me to keep track of the kids.  They all had a great time playing the games and doing the truck or treat and getting lots of candy.  Monday, Halloween, after school we carved pumpkins.  Actually Andrew and Spencer carved theirs and Ruth and Caleb painted theirs.  It was fun to watch their creative juices working.  They all did a great job.  Andrew amazed me with a neat carving of a cat face on one side and a more traditional pumpkin carved face on the other side of his pumpkin.  Spencer didn’t want to be outdone and did carvings on both sides too.  I have since cut up, cooked and pureed their pumpkins.  I made some pumpkin muffins and pudding yesterday.  I might get to a pumpkin pie today.  Neal and Andrew also enjoyed eating some for dinner the other night with just butter on it.  They both like squash.  

To finish my Halloween thoughts:  Monday evening I took the kids out down our street and back up the other side with trick or treating.  We live on a long street and it took almost an hour to do just our street.  I thought it was nice how many were participating in passing out treats.  We ended up with a group of friends from church.  The boys were running ahead and it was a big group of kids.  It ended up me keeping up with seven boys and Ruth, her friend, Zaida, and her mom and baby brother that came up slower.  It was a bit crazy for me to keep the seven boys together, but it was also fun.  They were so energetic and excited about it all.  It was a nice evening and I enjoyed the walk.

Backing up in time: On Friday night last week, Neal and I went out to eat.  It was nice to have a quiet dinner and time for visiting.  Then Saturday we were busy cleaning the house and getting things in order before Neal’s brother, David and his family came.  They got here about 2:00 in the afternoon.  They are moving from Idaho to Texas and we were a good stopping point.  We enjoyed visiting with them and had a nice evening with barbecue chicken and sitting outside watching the sun set on the mountains.  Sunday morning they went to church with us.  The ward choir sang this week and I thought it went well.  We enjoyed being at church together.  After church they got busy and organized their things to be on their way again.  They continued on their trip to get to Texas.  We have heard from them that things went fine to get into their new home and they are now working on moving into it.  I am glad that they made it safely.  It would have been nice to have had more time to visit or show them around, but I am thankful they were able to come and see us.

Monday evening we also had visitors.  Neal’s aunt and uncle, Karen and Carl came.  They were on their way to Utah from Texas.  They are starting a mission in a couple of weeks and were going early to visit family in Utah before entering the MTC.  It was good to see them.  When we lived in Texas we would visit with them at Thanksgiving time almost every year.  They just stayed over night but we enjoyed the time they spent here.  They left Tuesday morning to continue north.  

Monday and Tuesday the middle school was closed for parent conferences.  I went with the kids to their appointments to see their advisors and hear how school was going.  I thought Andrew received a  nice compliment that he was adjusted well to middle school and organized, the teacher said that is rare in a boy for this early in the school year.  They have completed their first quarter and received good grades.  I am glad that they do well in school and motivate themselves to get the work done.

Last night was Andrew’s beginning band concert.  He did a little solo too.  He had told me that the teacher was letting anyone do a solo that wanted to.  They were playing simple melodies from their music books.  I thought the kids did great for only playing these instruments since September.  Andrew played two little solos and played well and with confidence.  The beginning orchestra also played.  It was a nice concert.

Andrew is enjoying the trombone.  He likes being with his friends, 

Adam and Adien every day.

Wednesday Ruth went to the temple with the youth in the ward.  I am glad that she can go.  She enjoys it too.  I had been working hard to get some names ready for her to take with her and ended up having 20 ready for them to do.  I am thankful for the youth in the ward who can help me with doing this work.  I am enjoying doing the family history research and find it taking time away from my other projects.  I have some sewing projects I want to do but my machine isn’t working right now, so I just do my family history instead.

Wednesday evening I had activity days for the girls and Spencer and Andrew had their scout activities.  Spencer also had fun playing with Jonathan after school at his home.  He is someone in our ward.  They are both a bit quiet and it is because the parents are helping them get together that they do, but it is going well and they are starting to feel more comfortable around each other.   

Spencer has enjoyed reading this month.  He has been reading a series called “Bone” by Jeff Smith.  He will sit and read for an hour or more at a time.  I am glad he found something interesting for him.  

Caleb has an interesting imagination.  He still talks a lot about “Caleb World.”  For a long time he was drawing maps of the different continents on Caleb World.  Now he is writing out their languages.  He will have a paper filled with make-up words and a title on the paper saying something like Caleb Language 3051.  He has even started typing words on the computer when he has a turn.  It gets a bit hard for me because he will ask me to guess how to say things or what they mean, in his Caleb Language and I have no idea because they are such nonsense words.  He seems to keep tract of things though.  I also learned this week that he doesn’t like to draw pictures.  He told me he isn’t very good with it and would rather not draw a picture.  It came out when I was having him do an assignment for school where he had to add an illustration to his book report writing.  He did do it but at first didn’t want to do it.  He is currently working on his next book report and project on komodo dragons.  He will need to draw more pictures and he isn’t excited about that part.

I love my family and their fun personalities.  

The pretty view from our back yard