Caleb's Birthday

I wanted to take time to write today to tell about Caleb’s birthday. We had lots of fun with doing a friend party last Wednesday afternoon. We had 7 friends join us. The boys were full of energy and enjoyed being together. Caleb was so happy to have them with him. He loved getting some fun, and some silly, gifts from his friends. We did a talent show as part of the party. It was Caleb’s idea for his friends to share something with each other. The boys came prepared to share  piano songs, jokes and magic tricks. It was a fun activity. We played outside, I was thankful it was a nice day, they boys enjoyed playing tag and playing with balls. I did an art activity with the boys. I had a wood letter for each boys first name. I let them paint their letters. They loved it. I think kids tend to enjoy being creative. I thought the party was a success. 

Saturday was Caleb’s birthday. He was so ecstatic about it. Neal took him to a donut shop to pick out donuts for breakfast. He loved that. In the afternoon we attended his friend’s birthday party at a place called “Main Event.” It was a huge family activity center. I stayed with Caleb, I don’t like leaving my kids at big public places like that. I enjoyed watching Caleb do bowling, a rope course and laser tag. He decided after the rope course that he was afraid of heights. He also got to play a few arcade games and eat pizza. It was a busy place. He had many friends there to play with too. It was a fun party. So even though it was his friends birthday party it was a fun activity for Caleb to do on his birthday! That evening we made pizza, well, really I made the pizza while the boys were playing outside. They are enjoying the warmer weather and are enjoying playing in the garden area. It is like a big dirt pile for them to play in before we plant things. Caleb was excited about opening some gifts. Neal and I had a set of scriptures for him, with his name imprinted on them. He was so excited about them. On Sunday he was sitting looking at the Bible and said to me “I am exploring my new Bible.” I think it was his favorite gift. He has had fun playing with his new toys too. I gave him some building blocks I had found at Goodwill. The boys love building with blocks. This morning Spencer built a fun structure and took pictures of it. Over all it was a happy week with Caleb. He kept saying over the week end “I can’t believe I am finally eight!” Sunday morning he had a visit with the Bishop and is ready for his baptism this Saturday.

Caleb's teacher did this paper at school Friday. 

She had each kid in the class say something about Caleb.

I thought it was a neat thing so I took a picture of it.

Other things that have happened this last week.  Ruth enjoyed going to a Stake dance in Santa Fe with a group of friends on the 10th. She enjoyed the dance and the drive.  I am glad that she has a group of friends who she enjoys being with. Last Saturday she spent some time with Brianna, her best friend. She has been enjoying doing her job. She is keeping busy and some days feels a bit overwhelmed with getting all her projects for school done. But she is doing great keeping up with things and still finding time to write her stories and read her books.

Last Thursday I went with Andrew’s band to a band festival for the district. We went to La Cueva High School for the band to play before judges. It was busy getting the kids to follow directions and keep them moving from place to place, for warm up time, performance, and sight reading evaluations. Then they had a group picture taken and we had a pizza lunch. I am glad that I could help and I enjoyed being around Andrew and his friends. I didn’t ride the bus with the kids but drove with a load full of instruments. It was a fun day. In the evening we had our church activities. The Young Women had their YW in Excellence night. Ruth earned two ribbons and has five all together now. I found out that they would give mothers ribbons for doing things with the girls. I have worked on the personal progress program since Ruth turned 12 and hadn’t said much to the leaders before. Last fall at New Beginnings the YW leaders encouraged mothers to work on the program. So I did more and I earned three ribbons last week. I am almost done with another. It is good for me to work on it and some of things Ruth and I have done together.

Andrew has been attending a Stake merit badge work shop. He is doing his First Aid merit badge this month. He has also worked hard with Neal this month to finish the picnic table refinishing project. It is almost done and should be finished this week. That will finish what he needed for his Family Life merit badge. I am glad that he is working on things and getting some merit badges finished. He enjoys being with his friends. At lunch time they like to eat out side and then go play basket ball on the out door courts at the school. He is a good student and is keeping up with good grades.

Spencer brought home a paper yesterday from the art teacher saying she had picked his work to display at the district art show coming soon. I needed to sign a parent consent form for his art to be displayed. He was pretty excited that his had been chosen. Andrew also had his work displayed when he was in 5th grade. Spencer also showed me his latest creations yesterday. He had found a one inch nail and was working it through pencils. He thought it was neat to have a pencil with a hole through it. Neal said that maybe school wasn’t hard enough for him if he has time to do that. Spencer really likes to create and build things.

Spencer's block work

Tomorrow we have Pack Meeting with cub scouts. Caleb is very excited to now join cub scouts and wear a blue shirt tomorrow. I will be his den leader. I am also his primary teacher on Sunday, I guess I need to spend time with him. Spencer is close to finishing his Webelos and Arrow of Light ranks. He should have them both done by the May pack meeting. This last month his leaders did the Nova Science award with him. He enjoyed that. We are also excited for Grandma Hancock and Rachel to come tomorrow and Grandparent Hubbard’s to come on Friday. It will be a great week end with the baptism and visits with family.

Our apricot tree is in bloom

Busy Life

This has been a busy month for me. The last time I wrote was February 14th. The time passes so quickly with all our family activity.  On February 16th I went to the elementary school and helped with the judging of the science fair. I enjoyed talking to the kids about their projects. That evening Neal and I enjoyed going to an adult ward dinner. Ruth and other young women, served the meal to us and it was a nice evening. We even danced a few dances. Neal’s brother David came for a visit that week end. He drove from Austin and we enjoyed his visit. The kids liked showing him the things they have been working on. Saturday morning we did a family band. The kids had fun with all the instruments playing. Monday we went to the Natural Science museum, the kids had the day off because of Presidents day. We went to the special exhibit on Leonardo de Vinci. It was a neat exhibit and we all enjoyed looking at his machines and paintings. There was a special display on the Mono Lisa that was quite interesting.  That night it snowed a little and it was pretty in the morning, but not the best for David to drive back home in.  That Tuesday Neal also left on a business trip to Arkansas. With Neal gone for a couple of days it seems to make me feel busier. The week went fine though.

The boys with their science fair posters

I have a new calling, cub scout den leader with the Wolf den.  I did the same thing when Spencer was a Wolf, so now I will get to be Caleb’s Wolf leader since he turns 8 soon. I am still teaching primary. The last week of February was busy with lot of school volunteering. I helped at the middle school twice with their book fair. On Wednesday I went into Spencer’s class room and helped with the fifth grade colonial days activities. That was a fun time. I also did my regular library help.  Friday, March 2nd, the boys and I went to a school activity at the elementary school. They enjoyed doing the craft projects and looking at robots. This week I enjoyed going to my book club group. I have been doing ward choir and helping the kids with all their activities.

Ruth and I went to a girls camp meeting. She is getting excited about going again. She will be a 4th year this year and will be doing back packing with the group for two nights. On the day she was off school for parent conferences we went for a short hike in the open space, to start getting ready for the longer hiking she plans on doing in the summer. I enjoyed going to the parent conference with her. Ruth and her math teacher and I had a nice discussion about Ruth, how she is doing in school, her goals and plans for the future. Another big thing for Ruth this month is that she has been hired to work at Kumon Learning Center. I know she is only 14 but they hire 14 year olds with permission from the school. We had to fill out a paper to turn into the school and also all the regular hire papers. Being a “child” she can’t work long hours or evenings, but this job is only going to be two shifts a week, about 7 hours a week. She will be grading papers and helping kids with their work.  I think it will be great for her. She is happy to be earning money too.  We also got a credit union account opened, so she could get direct deposit of her pay checks. She is at work this afternoon and we are getting use to the idea that Ruth needs to go to work!

Last Saturday Ruth, Andrew and I went to a ward fund raiser for the youth. We worked at power raking and clean up of a businesses lawn. It was a lot of work but many turned out to do it and it only took two hours to get it done.  Andrew had fun participating in his Jazz Band Festival sponsored by UNM. He received a certificate for “outstanding improvisation.” He enjoys playing. He was able to attend the band retreat at Hummingbird Music camp. Neal took him up there Friday and the two of them camped at a camp ground close by that night. We don’t like the idea of the dorms with kids this young. Then Saturday Andrew participated with the band classes and activities all day. Neal had fun being in the outdoors for a day. That night Neal gave Andrew and four of his LDS friends a ride home. The camp went through Sunday. I am glad that the school teachers worked so well with us with Neal providing the transportation and the boys being able to leave early. Andrew had a band concert this week and next week is the district band festival. I plan on being a chaperon, so that should be interesting. Andrew enjoys doing scouts too. He likes working on his electric trains when he can. The big thing for Andrew this month is that he will be getting braces soon. The orthodontist that we have been to for consultations feels like Andrew’s mouth is ready for the treatments. He is a bit worried about how it will effect his trombone playing. Andrew just left to go to a birthday party for a friend from church. There just seems to always be something happening around here.

Spencer enjoyed making a cake for the Blue and Gold dinner at church. The theme was “magic” and he made a cake with a wand hitting it with a empty spot, trying to show that something disappeared. We enjoyed the dinner. Spencer enjoyed a field trip recently to the planetarium. He likes learning about space and planets. He enjoys doing things with Jonathan. One Friday evening Jonathan's family invited Spencer to go swimming with them. Spencer had a great time. This last Wednesday I went to pick the boys up from school and Spencer and Jonathan asked if Spencer could go to Menchies, a frozen yogurt place. I gave permission and the two boys walked to Menchies and had fun together getting their treat.

Caleb loves his watch he got for Christmas. He has it set on a 24 hour clock and watches the time closely. He likes being precise with his time too, he doesn’t round to the nearest five but says things like “it is 11:58” or “we need to leave in 6 minutes.” He keeps me functioning on time. Last week we went to the baptism of a friend in the ward, Wyatt Anderson. Caleb is excited for his baptism in two weeks. I had good parent conferences with Caleb and Spencer’s teachers. The boys are doing well in school. I am glad that they have nice teachers that they get along with. Caleb wants to have a birthday party and wanted it on his birthday, next Saturday. Then the day we were going to get his invitations sent out he received an invitation from a friend at school for the 17th in the afternoon. Caleb was disappointed but knew he didn’t want to invite friends to a party at the same time as another friends party. So we changed the date to the 14th after school. He is counting down the days until his birthday with a chain he made at the beginning of February. He loves birthdays! The boys have enjoyed playing outside this week. The weather has been so nice. They like playing in the garden area, a big dirt box. Yesterday Spencer and Caleb had the day off school for parent conferences and they rode their bikes to the school and met with other boys from our ward and played a little game of base ball. They both got sunburned. I cut their hair in the afternoon and we could see a red line where the edge of their hair had been. I am glad that sunburn faded over night.

Caleb, looking all grown up

Well, there is a little about what we have been doing.  I have a hard time keeping up with it all and trying remember everything that goes on.