Beth's Concert

This comes via another parent's posting of the concert. That's why the videos aren't embedded in the blog. Parts 1 and 2 have Beth. Part 3 are soloists and Parts 4 and 5 is advanced or continuing orchestra.

Part 1
Part 2

Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

Busy Week

This last week was busy. Beth had her first orchestra concert. She did a great job! I was actually very impressed with the orchestra and the band that played at the assembly. These are elementary school kids, and the songs weren't particularly complicated, but still they were playing real songs. Beth also turned 9. It makes me feel old to have a 9 year old particularly since I wasn't exactly young when I had her. She had a nice dinner out for her birthday.

Caleb is very enthusiastic about the upcoming holiday season. He is so positive about everything. He managed to somehow put a big crick in his neck on Saturday at Grandma's house. It was bad enough that we went to the emergency room to make sure everything was fine. We don't mess around with neck injuries. His neck is still quite stiff, but he is doing better every day. We were playing games as a family yesterday and he went out of his way to make sure everyone had a chance to win. That is the type of person Caleb is. He is always looking out for others.

Jacob is out of school for Christmas break (yes that means the other two aren't yet) and he is anxiously waiting for Christmas. I'm actually really proud of him, because he hasn't opened any of the presents under the tree. He wants to, because he has asked multiple times, but he hasn't. He learned Jingle Bells for his Christmas program, which we missed due to a doctor's appointment, and he will sing it for you if you ask. Very cute. Good news from the doctor--he grew a lot. They were worried before because his growth wasn't much. But his weight leveled out almost completely. The doctor said she wasn't too worried since he was getting over the flu. I was worried going to the appointment because I knew that his weight gain wouldn't be great--not eating much for two weeks will do that to a guy.

Rob is slowly getting better, and is looking forward to time off to spend with the kids. The plan is for him to take over my duties so I can get a lot of work done over the holidays. It should start tomorrow.

Wishing all of you a Merry Christmas!

Fish Funerals and Bus Accidents

Today was an eventful day for the kids. First off everyone is fine. Just fine.

Caleb came running off of the bus yelling "Mom something awful happened on the bus today."

"What?" Immediately I thought of throw up. Really what could be ickier than throw up on the school bus you are on. Uggh!

Beth and Caleb together: "We were in accident on the bus."

Me: "What?"

Beth: "A car ran a red light and hit us."

Caleb: "This morning before school."

Me: "Was anybody hurt? Are you telling me the truth?" (I'm wondering why the school didn't call me--to the point that I am calling the school tomorrow--even if no one is hurt I should be informed so I can make an educated decision about the situation.)

Apparently the police came and the other car was very smashed up on one side. No ambulance came. The kids had to wait for a police report to be filled out before they went on to school.


Rob got home from work and checked on the fish. One had been looking quite sickly, and Rob almost put it down before he left for work. It passed away today. So the kids had a funeral for Zippy.

The gravestone said: "Here Lies Zippy R.I.P"

The kids said a few words

Jacob: Fish go live with Heavenly Father and let him take care of you.

Caleb: Go have a nice day with Heavenly Father

Beth: Zippy I hope you have a great life in heaven.

This is the first fish we've had die in the two years we've had fish. We had five zebra danios as a gift from Santa. When we got them we figured we would have a bunch of fishy funerals in the first few months as Rob acclimated the tank, but he managed to keep them alive. A zebra danio's life expectancy is about two years. So Rob has done an excellent job on the care of the fish. The other four look healthy, but they are nearing their life expectancy, so we are expecting a few more fishy funerals in the next months.

Everyone is doing okay so far. Have a good week!

Catching Up--Big Time!

Wow! It's been a really, really long time since I've posted about the family. No excuses from me. But I'm going to try really, really hard to get back to posting once a week again. We'll see how it goes. The blog's been similar to my journal writing, really consistent for a bit, and then not so consistent for a long time.

Elisabeth is turning 9 this week. Blows me away to consider the fact that I've been a mom for that long, but that aside it's been a great nine years. She wanted and got a bike for her birthday. She also had a half slumber with ten girls over. There were some moments when I really wondered why we had invited all of them. Noisy, screaming, giggling girls. So far this year Beth has enjoyed school muchly. She's taking violin and her first concert is this week as well. I'm looking forward to it. She is growing up and can be quite helpful around the house when she wants to be. it's always a pleasant surprise to see what she has done next.

Caleb is adjusting to kindergarten. He's had his ups and downs friends wise with school, but I think he is making progress. Caleb has always been one to look out for other people's feelings and make sure that everyone else is happy and taken care of. He still does that. He'll make sure things are divided fairly or even give up some of his prize without me asking to make sure his brother and sister are happy. He's very energetic and loves to make people laugh. His biggest accomplishment off the week is armpit farting. He can go on with it for hours. This week we went to a work party with Rob, and he asked if he could do it there. (he really is proud of it) and I told him no. He asked me what if there was a grown up band of armpit farters. I said if you see such a thing you can join in. Today he was saying the opening prayer in primary and going along great, but then he suddenly said "blah, blah, blah" and then ended the prayer properly. I almost laughed out loud.

Jacob is doing good. He was pretty sick along with Rob for about two weeks, but he is over it now. Sadly his speech therapist moved on to a new position, and we will be getting a new one. This really made me sad. I don't know that Jacob quite realizes yet, but the last session the speech therapist and I were both in tears. She really helped Jacob move from not making any sounds to talking almost nonstop now. He's doing well overall, and lately I've got myself looking at him and thinking that my baby is just so big. He is missing having Caleb home with him, but preschool is helping with that, and his playdates with Miles. He is going to move up to Primary next month, and they had his class join sharing time today. Jacob sat so still with the biggest grin on his face. He was so proud of himself, and it was adorable.

Rob is recovering from pneumonia. It's been a very long three weeks, and I think he has at least another really tired one to go. But he did manage to kick his Dr. Pepper habit during that time. He told me that he hasn't had any caffeine at work or at home since. I didn't think it would actually happen. But he seems determined not to start back up since he got through the worst of it.

As for me, I'm still juggling everything that comes my way, and hopefully not dropping too many balls at once. I just telling myself that I've got the most important ones up in the air and everything else will work out. Take care!

Things from a Kid's Point of View

Caleb:

"Mom are you going to be gone five grown up minutes or five kid minutes? Because they are different."

(When I got back)

"Mom you were gone six kid minutes"

Jacob:
(He wants a Batman birthday party at Myrtle Beach with friends)

"Mom I love you as much as Myrtle Beach"

Caleb's First Video

Now, it's time for Caleb to get featured in his first video I ever shot of him. I hope you enjoy all of Beth's silly dancing.

Caleb's First Video from Robert Caldwell on Vimeo.

Beth's Day at the Park

One of the first videos I made with Elisabeth. Seems like only yesterday.

Elisabeth's Day at the Park from Robert Caldwell on Vimeo.

Myrtle Beach

We had a great time visiting Myrtle Beach with family, thanks to Karen and my mom for letting us mooch off them for a few days. They had a nice hotel reserved for Chloe's birthday, and it turned out there was plenty of room for some freeloaders, and we don't need to be asked twice, especially when there's free food and a beach involved.

We stayed at the Dunes Village resort, a great place for young kids. They had an indoor watermark that the kids loved. Caleb especially enjoyed the watersides, showing absolutely no fear. He even went down the scariest slide there, one that goes pretty much straight down, then causes you to go airborne for a split second, all inside a dark tunnel. You're supposed to be four feet or taller to ride, so I didn't really expect him to go down it, since he's not that tall. But I look away for one second and he's already at the bottom. He screamed all the way down--not screams of fear mind you, more gleeful than anyone. I guess when he's finally tall enough for roller coasters, I'll have another partner to ride the crazy ones with. He rode the slide five times in a row. Then, all of a sudden he told me he didn't like it, that it was just too scary. I said, "but you've been laughing all the way down. Why the heck did you ride it so many times if you didn't like it?" He told me he just wanted to keep riding it to see if it ever changed.

Jacob loved floating around the lazy river and pretending to be a pirate. We looked at other kids as we passed them by and yelled out at them, "Arrr! Avast!"

Beth loved getting her face painted and spending the night in Chloe's room with Chloe and Tori, a friend. Karen let them all jump on the hotel beds, a highlight of the trip, I'm sure. She also liked talking with the lifeguard at the top of the watersides, though I'm sure she would tell you she wasn't flirting--she was just being friendly.

We played mini-golf at a small course at the hotel. Jacob held his club backwards and awkwardly struck at the ball as if he was trying to club a small woodland animal. And what do you know, he got a hole in one. Pretty amazing stuff.

I climbed in a hammock to take a break from the grueling round of golf and Caleb promptly tried to tip the hammock over and dump me on the ground.

The kids loved the beach. It was perfect weather--not too hot and with a nice breeze. Jacob loved jumping waves. Beth and Caleb loved using their new boogie boards to surf waves. At night, there was an amazing full moon over the water. I really wish I had taken a tripod; I could have gotten some amazing shots of the harvest moon over the water with some fishermen's silhouettes in the foreground.

I did take some video. My apologies to everyone that is not in it. I was a slacker and never had the camera with me. The kids also kept me in the pool most of the time. Everything you see on the video was shot in about 15 minutes on the second day we were there.

I love the beach. I rarely want to leave. I think if I could live near the ocean I certainly would. I need to start checking want ads for Wilmington =)

Myrtle Beach and Fort Fisher 2010 from Robert Caldwell on Vimeo.

Canoeing the New River

I had a great time with friends canoeing the New River. Hope you enjoy the video.

Video from Brevard

We recently took a trip to Brevard, NC with family. We had a great time. The kids loved swimming in the river and standing near waterfalls. The water was freezing, as always. We camped two nights. It was the first time Beth camped, and she loved it, which made me really happy. I can't wait till we can go on river rafting trips =)

Hope you enjoy our little video. And as always, click on the actual vimeo link to view the video in HD (720p).

Human Sling Shots, and Fire Alarms

Yesterday was quite the day. All day long there were moments when I thought I just have to blog about that. So here is the post.

First Caleb created a human slingshot by tying an exercise band between the two railings on the stairs. He was pulling himself up the stairs in the band, ready to launch himself when I walked down the stairs. Good thing too, since he was aimed at a wall only a few feet from the base of the stairs. We don't want another broken arm.

Next we had a great test of all of our smoke detectors. Last night we had BLTs for dinner, yummy. And so I could bacon. I didn't burn any bacon, but it got kind of smokey in the apartment. Well the downstairs smoke detector went off, and so I ran around opening windows, and then the ones upstair went off. We had five smoke detectors going off at the same time, and I couldn't turn them off. Believe me I tried. The kids were flipping out, and It was so loud I'm sure you could hear it out on the street. But now we know they really work, and they work well. So we will be safe in the event of a fire.

Beth likes to pretend she's a dog sometimes and last night she told me she was half dog. I asked which half was dog my half or Rob's, and she replied "My unique half." It was a good answer, but really made me laugh.

She also told me that she's convinced that Jacob is already potty trained, but that he wants prizes, so he pretends not to be so he can be spoiled. Yesterday we went out and got a poopy basket and filled it with toys so that when he poops on the potty he will be rewarded, since that is his major hang up. We also got a Buzz Light Year toy that he will get after being accident free fora week or two. And yesterday he was completely accident free, and very excited about his new toys and prizes. She just may be right. He was trained in April and then backslid, and so we are looking for him to get motivated so that he'll do it and we can be done.

The kids have had a busy summer with swim lessons, a trip to the beach, a visit to Hickory and some geocaching (which involved the kids getting ticks) and other exciting Saturday activities. Have a great summer!

Some Funnies

Recent conversation:

Beth: Mom tell Caleb what a birthmark is?

Me: Why don't you tell him?

Beth: A birthmark is a mark you get when you are born so we know that you don't come from an alien planet.


We visited Busch Gardens recently and went on a ride that was called Tidal Wave at Lagoon, I don't remember the name at Busch Gardens, but it's big boat that goes back and forth swinging up and down. Beth wouldn't go on it, but it was one of the real rides even the boys could do. So they went. They were having a pretty could time, until people started screaming, and then Jacob started crying. We talked afterwards about how screaming makes the ride more fun, and you are supposed to scream. Jacob said: So I'll say Woo Hoo! And then he insisted that he wanted to ride it again, and he Woo Hooed the whole ride through the second time.

Caleb sat down with me to practice reading yesterday, and managed to successfully sound out the words we were going to cover. Reading with pictures is a problem because eh tries to just tell the story instead of looking at the words, but he is doing awesome. His cast is off after eight weeks, and now he is in a splint for another month. Poor Guy--but he can go swimming!

Overheard

Overheard conversation: Beth and Caleb were arguing about which one should be dropped off for school first since Caleb's is closer and starts at nine, but Beth's is farther away and starts at 9:10--which means Caleb is always late for school when I have to drive Beth.

Beth: Caleb I can't be tardy, and that's why mom always drops me off first.

Caleb: What's tardy?

Beth: It's when they put a mark on your report card. And if I get a tardy it will affect whether or not I can go to a good college. BYU is a good college while some other ones aren't, and I really want to go to BYU or at least Mom wants me to. That's why I'm first.

Changes in the Way We Do Things

After a few disturbing stories about predators and photos of children on the Internets, we are changing the way we do the blog. Rob and I have been going back and forth on this issue for as long as we have had the blog, but a particular event pushed us to take steps. Currently we are simply password protecting all video and pictures that are posted to the blog. This means we can post the link to the slideshows and videos, you click on it and then enter a password to view.

We want to share our lives with you, without letting all the creepies in the world join in. So you can email me at miriam (dot) caldwell (at) gmail (dot) com and I will send you the password. I just have to verify that you aren't a creepy. Please don't hesitate to email me requesting the password. Rob and I are both a bit worried that this will put off old friends, that we aren't in touch with on a regular basis or make people feel uncomfortable. Basically if we can verify that one of us has met you in real life and we don't consider you scary you'll get the password.

Okay now that the awkwardness is all out of the way a bit of an update.

Last Saturday we went to the zoo and met Gail and Eldon who brought along Chloe. Beth and Caleb were excited to see her nice green cast, and I think they were a little jealous of her broken arm. It was a fun trip, not a lot of pressure, with some walking. It wasn't hot, which was super nice, but Rob didn't take the camera since they were calling for rain. It didn't rain while we were there, but Gail and Eldon left early because of Tornado Watches or Warnings.

Sunday was a typical day, but the rest of the week has just been one thing after another. Monday was okay. But Tuesday was rough. My day consisted of cleaning a broken plate and finger painting on the wall. Then we headed to the library where a little girl went missing. It was awful, she was found, but I still shake inside when I think about it. The poor mom. It really bothered Caleb, he still talks about her screaming (in grief, panic, terror). The police came. They found the little girl. But everyone at the library was really shaken up. And then we come home. It doesn't get better unfortunately. I'm taking care of a few phone calls downstairs, and then I hear Caleb crying. It's not a normal cry, and I run upstairs. He was walking towards me still screaming and clutching his arm. It looked bowed out and just funny. Plus Caleb's tough and shakes most things off.

So we head to the doctor. We left the house around 1:00 and got home after 6:00. He has a broken arm. He broke the Ulna on his left arm. It's a pretty bad break, the two pieces of bone were at an angle to each other. The radial bone is bowed out, and the doctor thinks it is probably broken as well, even though it didn't show up on the x-ray. Poor Caleb spent much of the afternoon whimpering, and wasn't happy when the doctor wrapped the cast and set the bone. He chose a green cast (no surprise since that is his favorite color) and was upset when the cast got hot as it hardened. He is already complaining of itching and he doesn't like the extra attention--at least not today.

I'd post a picture of the break, but it's in dropbox, and that's Rob's thing. I am just not that technologically savvy. I'm okay with that.

The rest of the kids are doing great. And Rob and I are trying not to feel like guilty parents. (Caleb was jumping off his dresser onto his bed for fun and landed on his arm--Jacob jumped again today---so hopefully no repeats.)

Funnies!

Conversation:

Caleb: What are bulls?

Me: They're male mean cows with horns and nose rings.

Caleb: So they are dad cows that are mean to protect the babies from creditors.

Me: What are creditors?

Caleb: Bad guys who do mean things and steal.

So I didn't post . . .

I didn't post last week. Nothing much had happened, and there weren't any funny stories to tell. I worked all weekend, and didn't want to spend the time on the computer. But this has been a new week. This weekend we were going to go visit the zoo, since we only have a month left on the membership, and we likely won't renew it over the summer unless we go to an aquarium again. It's just too hot to do the zoo all day in the summer.

But before we went (it was kind of a last minute decision to go) Rob decided he did want to go pick up this special release DVD of The Mountain Goats. We hurried to get in the car and drive twenty minutes to the one record shop in town that had some, but Rob neglected to tell me it was Record Store Day, which may have changed my willing ness to participate in this adventure. I drop Rob off since the parking there is awful. The store is right across from NC State on the no parking side, where they are installing the roundabouts. Meaning it's a mess. The plan was I'd do a loop or two and Rob would be out on the curb. So I loop once, really taking my time going through campus. Come back no Rob. Loop again, come back, no Rob. Loop again--no Rob. Finally after forty five minutes in the car, I decide Rob must have died and been carried off in an ambulance during one of my loops. So I find a parking spot on campus--so glad it's Saturday. Haul the three kids out of the car, and it starts to rain. Then we walk to the record store and walk in.

It is filled with old men and a line that wraps around the store. And Rob is still ten people back from the register. Wondering if they take debit cards, since everyone he's watched has paid cash, holding the LAST copy of the DVD in his hand. The kids are upset. I talked to him briefly, ask the person in front of him if they take cards (they do) and then haul the kids out of there back into the construction on the road, and we wait at the bell tower.

The kids still want to go the zoo, but I'm not too keen on the idea because we wouldn't get there until two and they close at five. But Rob's for it. But I make him check the air pressure in the tire. (And there are two previous stories where he brushed my concerns aside, but we won't go there) The air was low, and he filled it up, and found the nail that was causing the slow leak. So now I don't want to drive to the zoo. Even though I'm pretty certain we drove to the beach on that tire, because I filled it up with air a month ago.

So I suggest bowling to the kids. And they say okay, as long as we go to the zoo next week, which is our plan. Rob grumbles a bit about the bowling, but on some fluke we got mailed a certificate for four free games and shoe rentals. We'd only have to pay for one person to bowl, and that's a good deal. But we get to the bowling alley and they are in the midst of a hardcore tournament. So we leave, kids in tears.

Finally we determine to go to Earth Day in downtown Raleigh. The celebration was a lot of fun last year, but as soon as we get there we had issues. Poor Caleb is going through an extremely phobic stage. Pretty bad. And there are two things there he is afraid of dogs (lots of dogs) and the Fat Cat from the credit union, which is someone dressed up in the costume. We ended up touring the history museum, and then went back outside where Caleb had a complete meltdown, and then really hurt his dad. Yeah it was bad. So we left without doing anything at the festival. All three kids were crying, and Rob's eyes were watering something fierce. Plus he could barely walk.

To appease Beth and Jacob we decided to go to the Mordecai House (the haunted house) and check out some ghosts. The kids actually did amazingly well on the tour, which didn't talk about ghosts. It was a mall group us and three ladies. When we asked up the ladies didn't look too pleased and they whispered at each other. You know what I mean. But I'm proud to say that at the end of the tour they complimented us on our well-behaved kids, which isn't something we usually hear. Caleb is convinced there was a ghost because the rocking chair moved by itself. And Jacob wants to get a bathtub shaped like a hat that they had there.

On the way home we hit Sonic during happy hour and got some yummy drinks.

Caleb can write most of the alphabet. There are five letters he needs to work on. The only reason I share this is because i decided on Friday night that we should start working on his writing. So I sat down and said draw me an A Caleb. We went through the whole alphabet, and he'd tell me the sound and draw the letter. It's amazing to me since I haven't worked on it with him yet. And I never see him drawing and writing like Beth did at his age. Then we wrote words together, and he was able to sound most of them out. Super proud.

Beth is really starting to read more and she brought home several fours on her papers. Good stuff. I'm super proud. Jacob is doing amazing with speech. I've a feeling that we might be able to stop soon, but I don't want him to regress, so we'll see.

Have a great week everyone!

Fort Fisher Beach Trip

Fort Fisher Beach from Robert Caldwell on Vimeo.

We recently visited the aquarium at Fort Fisher, NC. The kids loved jumping waves and playing in the sand at the beach. The water was unusually cold--freezing really. We were a bit bummed the civil war history museum was closed for the Easter holidays; the kids wanted to visit a real, live haunted Civil War fort.
And as always, I recommend you click the Vimeo link and watch the video full-screen and in HD on the vimeo site.

Easter!

So Rob should be uploading video of the crazy fun that we had this week. One more day of Spring Break tomorrow, and then everything goes back to a normal schedule.

After Grandma's house the kids came home and had a pretty good week. We made cookies (and a huge mess), and then we dyed Easter eggs the next day. The kids loved that, even though they had already done it at Grandma's house. on Friday Rob had the day off and so we drove out to the beach for the day. I must say that I love where we live, where for a tank of gas, we can go spend a fun afternoon at the beach. We went to the aquarium, and then over to the beach. Rob wanted to hit Ft. Fisher, the actual fort, but it was closed. Rob wanted to see it because it is supposed to be haunted, but the kids were glad that it was closed. They were anti ghost on Friday--though it may be that they wanted to spend more time at the beach. They found a ton of HUGE seashells, and they were all whole. The great thing is that even though it was crowded it wasn't too bad.

There is something about staring out at the ocean that just brings me peace. I get the same feeling sitting the mountains or a forest or at a temple, but it is a wonderful thing. The water was freezing, and I can't believe that the kids spent as much time playing in it as they did. On the way home Rob and I had the whole buying a beach house (in our dreams) discussion. We do this nearly every time we go to the beach. I think it'd be nice to do, but only if we had enough money. We aren't at that point right now.

Then Saturday morning the Easter bunny came. Lots of fun, the kids got more Zhu Zhu pets, and the house thing and candy. Though we did significantly cut back on candy, and it is nearly gone right now. And I'm glad because it means no crazy melt downs or other silliness. Then we set in and watched Conference--which was really good in case you missed it. My major takeaway was the importance of spending quality time with your kids teaching about the gospel and building good relationships. It is nice to hear so much about focusing on your kids. I think it is a change from earlier generations (I could be wrong of course), but now I know so many families that do the same things that Rob and I do, which is spend good quality time doing things as a family, taking time to be together as a family. It is important to step away from the rush, and all of the activities that scatter you everywhere and spend time just being together, being friends and building relationships.

Anyway, sorry to get all philosophical on you all. I hope that you have a good week, and that you enjoy life. It's worth doing.

Spring Break!

We have a whole week stretching out in front of us, and it should be a fun one. No school, no activities, nothing planned. The kids are at grandma's for a few days stay. So I'm going to have a whole day just to myself with Rob home in the evenings. Oh what bliss!

I've been trying to think of what has happened this last week, and I distinctly remember thinking of things to put on, but now I can't remember.

Caleb had fun this weekend playing with a big glider plane at Pap's. We almost gave it to Casey for his birthday, but decided that it was too young for him. The kids also rode bumper cars for the first time, had a cook out over a fire, and in general enjoyed themselves in Hickory--like always.

The drive home tonight was rough. We were nearly, very, very nearly in a car accident on the drive home. The weather was awful, and visibility was only about twenty feet. Cars started peeling off, and going off the road to avoid the accident that happened seconds before. It was pretty scary. All in all five cars were involved, but no one was hurt. It was one of those surreal moments, and I'm just grateful that we didn't hit anyone. The roads were really slick from the rain. And the road conditions got worse from there. There was a tornado siting in that area, and we are under a watch now. I'm sure we'll be fine, but it's not any fun driving in that kind of rain.

Later on, we're going to head to the beach. Just a day trip, and then the Easter bunny should come. Really it should be a lot of fun! I hope you guys all have a great week!

My Poor Boys!

This week was spent at home. The boys were sick. All of my boys, although Rob did got to work. They boys finally felt better on Friday. Caleb went to school, Jacob had speech therapy. Things were getting back to normal. But then they both sacked out for several hour in the afternoon.

Everyone was a little stir crazy on Saturday. They wanted to go to the zoo. But I could tell they weren't up for that. We thought about a hike, since the weather was gorgeous, but no they couldn't handle that either. The solution was that we went and saw The Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Caleb and Beth really enjoyed it. Jacob lasted a good hour, and then we had races up and down the aisle. All in all it was enjoyable.

It was Stake Conference today, and so that meant Rob had meetings yesterday, and then we had church two hours this morning. Caleb told me when we were getting ready to leave that his ear hurt. I wasn't surprised since Rob (the bringer of the sickness) had started with an earache on Friday. But Rob had already left, so we headed on to church. Rob ended up leaving and taking Caleb to Instacare. And then the doctor prescribed Amoxicilian (I forgot to remind Rob that he's allergic), but Caleb's been a patient there before and I know that it's in his chart and the hospital's computer system. Fortunately the pharmacist caught it. I really adore Rite Aid pharmacists. They've caught so many mistakes made by a wide variety of healthcare professionals for my family.

After Rob got home from the doctor with Caleb, Jacob started crying, and pulling on his ear. He's on Motrin, and we'll get him in tomorrow. So yeah, great day, my poor boys. Rob may head in for his ear as well.

On a positive note, Beth put on a play in her drama class at school, and she was fantabulous. Really great. She said her lines very clearly and pulled a cow up the roof and then went up the chimney with real grace. I love Beth's school, and all it gives to her.

Well that's the week. Hope you guys have a great one!

Gymnastics

The kids really enjoy their gymnastics lessons each week. After trying out ballet, basketball, soccer, and other organized sports, it was nice to see the kids take to something so naturally. Caleb loves it. It's like the sport he was born to do. When I saw him walk a balance beam and swing from a bar the first time, I thought about how he's been swinging from his bed frames and walking roadside curbs for as long as I can remember. He's always been self-conscious of his smaller size, but gymnastics is something he can really excel at with his small size.

Thought you might like to see some photos. Sorry some of these are a bit blurry. It's tough taking action photos in dimly-lit gyms.

So last week we went to the museum--this week we didn't. Rob spent most of the week suffering through a cold and trying to convince our stupid health insurance to cover the only medicine that works for him. (He did it because of HIPAA (secretly I was very happy for HIPAA since I deal with everyone else's stuff--we didn't know if he had authorized me on his forms, and then he had to talk to pharmacy's as well). The Jacob started running a fever Friday night, and he refuses to take any medicine. Literally he spits in your face. YOu can hold his mouth shut and do all sorts of things, and he ALWAYS wins the medicine battles. Thanks to Karen we tried chewables, and we had success. So he feels better today.

And then Karen and her family came into to town because Chloe had a gymnastics meet. I enjoyed it. Beth did too, and the boys did fairly well-though I think the only reason Jacob did so well is because he was sick. Then we took the kids over to the cousins' hotel and let them swim--yeah we let Jacob swim sick. But it brought his fever down, and there's chorine in the pool to kill germs right? They were up to late which resulted in Caleb being sick and no one going to church today. Actually I went to Sacrament meeting, but Rob told me he was too sick for me to to stay the whole time. He did sleep a lot once I got home.

My rant on the time change. I hate it! I just do. There is no need to mess with my body's schedule, and since there is confirmed germs in the house I really will get sick this year, just like I do every spring. Stupid time change. Rant done.

Tomorrow's my birthday--yeah I'm getting older. Sadly I wish I could freeze my body in that perfect state of youth--in some ways becoming a Twilight vampire has its appeal. But the whole blood lust thing is a major turn off in my book, even if I was planning on going vegetarian. I'd hie back to my 21 year old self. Maybe twenty. Yup that would be the perfect age for my body to be. But it's not, and I'm not going to dwell on what I don't have right now.

When I was thirty I had a list of 31 one things I wanted to accomplish and at the time I had accomplished one. Now I just looked it over, and I've still only accomplished one. Some of the things are lifelong things though, and I'm working on them. But I haven't exactly been idle. It's one thing to write a book--another to get it published, and published is what I had on my list. I've also found that I don't have quite the same desire to some of those things right now. For example one is to master calculus--which in my mind is passing a basic calculus class. Today I'm not really seeing the point of that. Is it a bad thing to revamp the list? I'm definitely putting thought into it. And another is to get my doctorate. And I'm thinking I'd rather have my MFA--is it all that different? Am I selling myself short?

The thing is about life is that I think it is one constant act of revision and reinvention. As we change, mature, grow older and wiser, which doesn't always happen in a specific order, life's priorities change. And I also think that there are seasons in life. Right now my kids are my top priority. I've only got two more years with babies at home, and then things will change. And I did things in a different order than a lot of people I know. (Everyone's got to do things their own way --so no judging on my part.)

Anyway--here is what you can do for me on my birthday--yeah I know I'm shameless asking for presents and everything. But really all I want you to do is leave a comment telling me which version of my query letter makes you want to pick up the book more. You don't have to say why--just pick one. I'm too lazy to set up a poll, which I should do. So in the comments just put query one, or query two. (For all you non-writers a query is a letter that you send to an agent or editor to convince them that they want to read your book--it should give you a good idea of what the book si about, and catch your interest--sort of what you'd find a book flap)

Query 1

Seventeen-year-old Isis didn’t believe in magic until she accidentally uses it to save her life. Dane, a classmate, witnesses the display and pulls her into a battle between two ancient societies. Isis learns that the strange things that happen around her and her crazy dreams aren’t signs of impending insanity. Isis’ dreams actually mean that she is the dreamer with a power more potent than any other. She has the ability to control people by altering their subconscious while they sleep and the ability to see the future.

As Dane teaches Isis to control her powers the feelings between them grow. Isis is finally finding a place in the world where she never quite fit in—until Kalli, her cousin, shows up to convince her that she’s joined the wrong side of the battle. As Isis pieces together the clues from her dreams she learns of an impending disaster planned by Kalli’s group.

Isis’ powers give her the ability to end the conflict and stop the killing once and for all, but she must choose between fighting for the good of all mankind and saving her cousin, a choice no ordinary girl should make. Good thing Isis is anything but ordinary.

DREAMING ISIS, a young adult fantasy novel, is complete at 65,000 words. It will appeal to readers who loved the intrigue of THE AWAKENING by Kelley Armstrong and to those who enjoyed the paranormal romance elements of NEED by Carrie Jones

Query 2

Seventeen-year-old Isis is tired. Tired of hiding the dreams that predict future events, and the strange things that happen around her. Tired of surviving her mom’s psychotic episodes anytime she hears about something strange Isis did. And she’s tired of her sanity being questioned at every family gathering. So she hides her headaches, which are steadily getting worse and hopes that insanity doesn’t really run in the family.

All that changes the day Isis accidentally uses her powers to save herself from an exploding car and all of her secrets start coming out. Dane, a classmate, pulls her into a battle between two ancient societies. Dane seems to have the answers that Isis has always wanted. He can help her control her powers, stop her headaches and hang onto her sanity. She finds herself drawn to his charms until her cousin Kalli shows up to convince her she’s joined the wrong side. Isis realizes that she’s not the only one who’s been hiding things.

As Isis pieces together the warnings from her dreams she learns of an impending disaster planned by Kalli’s group. Isis has the power to stop it from happening and ending the conflict for good, but she has to choose between fighting for the good of mankind or to keep the love of her family by continuing to hide. A choice no ordinary girl should make. Good thing Isis is anything but ordinary.

DREAMING ISIS, a young adult contemporary fantasy novel, is complete at 65,000 words. It will appeal to readers who loved the intrigue of THE AWAKENING by Kelley Armstrong and to those who enjoyed the paranormal romance elements of NEED by Carrie Jones


Well have a great week everyone!

Fun for the Weekend!

We had a fun filled weekend. Rob and Ifelt like the kids had earned something extra fun, since they put up with us moving for an entire month. Rob wanted to go to the beach, and I wanted to go to the zoo, but we ended up at the science museum instead. it's what the kids chose--go figure. It ended up being really nice out so we did the whole loop and visited the bears, wolves and lemurs. Plus we hit the wind exhibit and the kids had a blast sailing the boats around the little pond. My favorite part was the fact that all the water exhibits were closed due to the recent stretch of cold weather. We even went to the butterfly house. The museum was the most crowded that I'd ever seen it, but it didn't feel that bad wandering around.

Then we came home and I took Beth to her school's skating night. I didn't end up skating because I forgot socks, and who in their right mind wouldn't wear socks at a skating rink? But I did watch and think. First I thought about the few times I went skating in elementary school--I think I was over it by middle school. Hmm, and then all the stories about what "happened" at skating rinks--certainly never happened to me or my friends. And then I started thinking about college. I think I went skating in college almost as much as when I was a little kid. That's thanks to my best friend Suzanne who adored skating and she would orchestrate at least one group skate a year. So yeah--skating. The sweetest thing I saw was a couple (I could tell that they were married because of the panicked looks they kept sending each other) and their two little kids out on the rink. It was painfully obvious that the adults had never been skating before. The mom held tight to the rink wall the entire night, and the dad kept losing his balance, and they were skating so slow--but the point is that they were out there with their kids giving them the experience. It was awesome!

Then we got back and Rob had made some homemade ice cream! Yum! Yum! Yum!

today the kids went on a major throw things around the house rampage, and you couldn't see their bedroom floors or the floor in the hallway. I'm telling you this has to stop. But Caleb has made his bed every day for the last little bit--so you gotta take stock in the small things!

Funny story--this conversation occurred several times

Caleb-- Mom can you take me to the robber?

Me -- Where?

Caleb-- The robber--where they give me suckers

Me -- The robber?

Caleb--you know where they cut my hair

Me--Oh the barber

Caleb--Yes, please.

Needles to say all three got haircuts on Friday. Beth's hair is now at her chin--she looks adorable. Jacob's is super short, because she cut to fix the haircut Caleb gave him, and it makes him looks so young. Caleb looks cute and he's glad his hair isn't in his eyes anymore. The stylist told me she'd never seen three kids behave so well at the hair shop. I said thanks--but I was thinking that's the only place I'd ever get that comment.

But actually I got it again at church today--granted jacob slept through Sacrament meeting, but the other two did really well, and we didn't bring anything for them to do or eat. So i was pleased.

Well that's about it! have a great week!

Thoughts on Schools

Well, after a month of moving, purging and cleaning we are out of our old place. It was one of those places that was truly awful. It sucked the life out of me and I'm so very glad to be gone. Everything is going along swimmingly for the kids. No major funnies to share this week, and no major bad things either.

I am looking forward to getting back on schedule and getting the kids back on schedule as well. They were great when we were doing last minute things and Caleb took it upon himself to properly organize our food storage--and he did a great job. He was super proud of himself. Beth has been a good big sister leading her brothers in games and in a Chinese dragon dance that involved a blanket, lots of falling and giggles. Jacob is just Jacob. During Sacrament meeting, he just kept giving me kisses and saying I love you. You can't go wrong when your son is so happy.

There is a whole hotbed of debate right now because the school board went through a shift during the last elections. They are pushing for neighborhood schools instead of the bussing and shifting around. It's been interesting to talk to people about it. I get both sides of the argument. Parents are frustrated because their kids have been in three different schools in as many years. It is hard when your child is bussed away when you can walk to three different elementary schools. I'm for neighborhood schools, but I don't think they should do away with the magnet programs.

The thing is that Beth is in a magnet school, and I've seen all the extra help that the magnet students and their parents give to the classrooms by volunteering and donation wise. Beth's school is next to a housing project, and I know without the magnet status it would only be low income students that attend. And a lot of those kids are really struggling academically. Beth's in a great school, and I can't wait for Caleb to go next year. I just hope that the program sticks around until all my kids have gone through it. The school offers a lot more than most other schools, and really it could be implemented district wide without a lot of extra money. Rob and I thought a lot about whether or not the magnet programs were right for our family before we applied. The extra long bus ride was one thing we thought about. Usually Beth is home in about thirty minutes, which is the same as some other students who aren't in magnet programs, and as quick as picking her up would be. But the payoffs have been worth it. She is in a very diverse school and that makes me extremely happy. She is being exposed to a variety of cultures and learning so much.

Anyway I had to share my little rant, because I'm getting frustrated with all the people who want the magnet programs gone. I just don't agree, though I do support neighborhood schools as long as the magnets stay in place. I really think I'd feel the same way even if my kids weren't in the program. I can't stand behind something that is going to set up inner city schools to fail and as far as I can tell magnets are a voluntary way to address that problem.

Have a Great Week!

Bloggery Things

Conversation with Caleb this week:

Me: Caleb you have a birthday party this Saturday.

Caleb: Really does that mean I'm six already?

(His birthday was less than a month ago-so yeah)

There was something else this morning that was super funny, but I can't remember if it was Jacob or Caleb who said it or what it was, but if I remember I'll share.

The move is going well. We made four trips to the dump today. Wow! Plus we've filled up two big garbage cans--the kinds the machines lift up and we are working on a third. Pretty much all we have left at the old place is stuff I need to run and donate. And we are Craigslisting some of the baby stuff. I hope I don't jinx myself. It is so freeing to have all of that stuff just be gone out of our lives.

The kids love the new place. They are very happy here. We did have a marker on the wall incident unfortunately. And then we found paint in the storage shed that we though matched, but it was semi-gloss instead of flat. And now we have shiny patches all over the place, because Rob went a little slap happy with the touch ups.

Beth is lost without a good book to read. Any suggestions would be swell. She adored the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series--read the whole thing in about a month. I'm impressed with her that's a book a week.

Caleb is being Caleb. Tonight he informed me that he doesn't actually sleep at night--he stays awake because that's what werewolves do and he's a werewolf--since they have sharp teeth and he does too. (My son goes from wizard to vampire to werewolf to ghost hunter--I wonder what his parents are interested in?)

Jacob is so funny. His s's are sounding lots better and I think he is making so much progress on his speech. He took a nasty fall this week into the corner and half of his forehead is black/gray bruised, plus he has a cut thing going down the center. We walked to story time this week, and Jacob absolutely adored it. I think we will be taking lots of walks once Caleb starts kindergarten next year!

Gail and Eldon came to watch the kids so we could really get stuff done this week and it made a huge different. Plus Eldon helped put some new stuff together. Thanks you guy! The kids had a lot of fun.

Take care everyone have a great week!

Science Fair

I'm letting Rob post the pictures, but I'm super proud of Miss Beth tonight. The science fair project was a success. There were 152 participants at this year's science fair and they had real live scientists come in and judge the fair. She got a comment from the judge written on the project. I was impressed with the entire thing. They gave ribbons to most of the projects, white for good, red for superior and blue for outstanding. Additionally they gave t-shirts to the top scorers in each grade.

I was out in the hall with Jacob sadly when this was going on, because Beth got a t-shirt and a ribbon. I'm super proud of her hard work and her scientific method process style! Rob forgot the camera (and so did I), so we took pictures when we got home after celebrating in style with McFlurries!

Anyway the science project was how different liquids affect the growth of Jelly Crystals. She was very precise in her experiments!

Have a great weekend!

Arrgh!

We are in the middle of the move. Rob pushed our big move day back a week, because we are running behind due to the weather and things in general just being icky. Then today our dryer breaks. The drum isn't spinning. Rob's fixed it before, but he is thinking that he won't fix it until we move. The reason is that the way the washing machine and dryer are in our current place, makes it a complete and utter pain to pull them out. That means Rob doesn't want to fix it until we move. So off to a laundromat I go.

The last week was long. Kids were out of school for three days. And everyone was going crazy. Caleb kept asking when he could go back to school, and there were lots of fights. It was crazy. We were all stir crazy. Totally and completely stir crazy.

This week should be better. At least that's what i'm hoping. The mess keeps coming in waves, but that's what happens when you move, right? At least I hope so. We are doing a great job of purging and even found a way to get rid of toys. We found a charity that will take them. So we can cut back on the toys. I've even purged my books. (Oh the tragedy--but it's a good thing!)

Jacob's doing great on potty training. He either tells me or takes care of it himself. Life is much easier with no diaper changes. Ahh the joy--no more diapers. Ever!

Caleb got bumped up to a more advanced gymnastics class. He's super excited, and I'm excited for him. He is so fun--he is so awesome!

Beth is doing well. She's entering the science fair this week. It should be fun and exciting. At least I hope so. She's also in the middle of a great story that she wants to enter in the PBS story contest!

Have a great week!

New Bare Naked Ladies Song

Strangely enough I'm not someone who gets attached to bands. I listened to the radio a lot in high school, not as much in college, and now I generally listen to NPR. But there are a few bands that I really adore. Rob has introduced a number of them to me, and we went to see BNL in Salt Lake City when we are first married. They were my first concert (definitely not Rob's) and my second concert when we caught them a year later in Chapel Hill.

I was really sad when Steve and the band decided to go their separate ways. This song, from their new album, makes me think that it was hard on everyone. I hope that you guys enjoy. I have a feeling that they are still going to be a great band.

Mountain Goats

So, yeah, it has nothing to do with our family, but for those of you who haven't heard of them, The Mountain Goats happen to be my favorite band. And here's a little clip, cause I'm the sharing type.

Photos

I've posted some photos to some of the earlier blog entries, so be sure to scroll down if you want to see some photos from Birthdays and such. Hopefully I can get some videos up soon too. I've been a bit slow.

Long, long weekend!

If you've read Rob's post (see below) you'll know that we got snow! This was awesome. It happened on a weekend so no pressure to go anywhere. It started snowing early enough that the kids got excited and ran around for a bit before they went to bed on Friday. And then it has stayed cold so it hasn't melted. But it's been a long weekend!

First the kids woke up at six and we went out and played in the snow. (Rob stayed in bed or you'd have pictures of the kids playing in the dark in the snow.) Fortunately they got cold and came in after twenty minutes. I was too tired to do anything but stand on the porch. Then we had sweet rolls and hot chocolate for breakfast! Yum!

Then the kids went out again at 10:30 or so. Rob was supposed to go out with them, but he ended up calling a whole bunch of people telling them that church was cancelled. Whew! So out I went again. This time I chased kids and had lots of snowballs thrown at me. The kids had lots of fun.

Then they came in and totally trashed the house. Every room was awfully messy. Difficult to see the floor. All that kind of fun.
Then they went back out with Rob for a bit in the afternoon. Only Caleb came back in because he heard a dog bark.

They went out again today, but Caleb cut it short because he slipped on the ice. Rob, Beth and Jacob walked over to the park and played on the slide and swung and had fun. Caleb and I watched Mythbusters.

Today I managed to clean the house. Right now it is clean, but I've got a mammoth pile of laundry to do. Huge!

I stocked up on food for this weekend in the event that we lost power, since they were calling for so much sleet. And I remember the great ice storm of 2002. That was not fun. Rob requested that I get a can of SPAM and so I did. (He's the only one who'll eat any of it.) I mentioned that I missed Turkey SPAM. (Sad but true I liked that stuff.) This conversation followed:

Rob: If I had some Turkey SPAM. I'd get some cranberry sauce, and some gouda cheese and make me a sandwich.

Me: But if you spent the money on gouda cheese (which is oh so yummy) Why in the heck would you put it on SPAM?

The thing is that Rob's spam sandwiches are quite complicated. It involves frying the spam, melting cheese on top, frying an egg and then eating the sandwich.

We've had a fun weekend, though we are going a bit stir crazy--with at least one more day of family togetherness since school and Rob's work are both closed down tomorrow.

Have a great week everyone! And try a SPAMwich!

Snow!

The kids had a lot of fun playing in the snow this weekend, and I've been more than happy to stay home from work, sleep in, and basically not do a lot other than goof off with the kids, watch old episodes of Lost, and play an occasional videogame, because that is what snow days are all about, right?
We've built miniaturized snowmen, thrown snowballs (more like snow chunks) and ate a couple pints of snow and/or dirt in the snow. We've watched a couple episodes of "The Dangerous Catch" cause the show seemed fairly "winter-like," with its dangerously frigid fishing in the Baltic Sea. And we might even have to drink a few mugs of hot cocoa. I'll have mine with mint and melted chocolate chips, thank you.
There's still lots of photos and videos I've never gotten around to posting, stuff like birthday parties and baptisms. I'll hopefully get to all that soon, but until then, here's some snow photos for your enjoyment ...

Five!

So it's officially over. Caleb had his birthday party and we are heading into smooth sailing. No more parties, life shouldn't be crazy anymore--but wait! Crap I forgot we are moving in a week. Oops. That's a lot of work in a short amount of time. But it should be all good. I'm glad that we are moving, it's a great reason to purge. (Or get rid of the junk that I don't want in my house.) I'm looking at this as positively as possible, and I'm getting a game plan together as we speak.

Caleb had a great birthday party and is currently growing lizards and dinosaurs in the kitchen. We had a lot of fun, with boys running wild during the party. They played outside for half an hour and hazarded some comments from the neighbors. We blew things up and exploded things and I even heard that Rob's magic show was hot dinner conversation. Great fun!

I must say Caleb is dreading tomorrow since his kindergarten physical is scheduled (read shots) and he's quite upset. It's important for everyone to know that we might have a wizard in the family. Caleb has a scar on his forehead and is absolutely CONVINCED that it means that he is just like Harry Potter and will be able to do magic soon. Very soon. Not magic tricks, but real magic.

Jacob! What a week for Jacob. He is pretty much potty trained. Two days with no accidents until dinner time this week. I can take him on long errands and he does great. I'm super proud. Now we just need to break the paci habit, but that will come with time, and it's only at night. Today he came up and told me three long sentences right in a row. Eight or nine words a piece. It made me so happy. He really has come far. At church today he practiced writing his name for about five minutes. Not quite legible yet, but he is showing interest.

Beth is great, and staying up late to read the Wimpy Kid books. She read sixty pages tonight. So proud. I'm glad that she loves to read, even if it mainly seems to be only at night. She's doing a science project on the Water Cycle with Rob too. So that's great news as well.

That's really all of the family news--on a side note prayers for my mom would be appreciated. She's in the hospital with Pulmonary Embolism, which means she has clots in her lungs. Things are looking like she'll be there for a few more days. Take care everyone!

A fun birthday!

We took the kids to Chuck E Cheese to celebrate Jacob's birthday. He had a ton of fun and so did everyone else. Only one more birthday party to go and that's this weekend. As I type the words I feel myself going into panic mode, but I know that it will work out. They all have. And then I'll be done for another eleven months. Great! A few months of of stress is easier than having it spread out all over the place.

The kids are restless today. I took them to the park to let them run out their energy, but they wanted to leave in just a few minutes. Then we came home and they are all over each other. Not happy. They play well for about ten minutes and then start fighting again. It could have something to do with the interrupted sleep from the drive home late last night. I'm looking forward to school starting again though! I can make it to tomorrow.

Beth has fallen in love with the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books. She stayed up late all last week reading, reading reading. She's currently working on designing her own book. I'm happy. Reading is officially fun, which means I've got a reader on my hands. (I hope that it will continue past these books. I think it will as her confidence keeps growing.)

Caleb had a field trip at the Science Museum. Jakey and I spent the time he was in a class riding the escalator. That's right we rode up and down the escalators for an hour. I was very ready to leave, but the boys both had a great time. And I'm glad. Caleb is growing up so fast, and I think he is so very ready to go to kindergarten. He's all excited to do practice sheets in the books I have.

Jacob has decided he won't wear diapers anymore. So Potty training here we come. I don't know why I've been so reluctant. You think I'd be looking forward to no more diapers ever. You think, but the week of work isn't so much fun. He's doing better with a successful poop on the potty over the weekend. Jacob will be potty trained soon.

Rob had a successful debut in Hickory. It matched the Apex debut. Now they just need to find a distributer and his years of hard work will have paid off. The kids were restless at the premiere on Saturday, so I spent it running around the church. It's okay though, as Caleb told me I've got the whole thing memorized.

Writing is getting back on track and things are looking up. Have a great week everyone!

A Career Change

We are moving to a new apartment! Hooray, more space, and better other stuff! At least we're hoping. Anyway the past few weeks we've been hunting and we decided on our new place and finalized it today. When I told the kids they were okay. Then we had this conversation.

Caleb: "But Mom I thought we were moving to Hickory." (As far as I know this wasn't one of the options.)

Me: "It'd be nice to leave near Grandma, but Dad wouldn't have a job there."

Caleb: "But I want to live in Hickory."

Me: "Do you know a job Dad could do?"

Caleb: "He could kill deer."

Beth: "Killing deer isn't a job, it's a hobby."

Me: "Do you think Daddy could kill deer? He only went hunting once and decided he didn't like it."

Beth: "I don't like it when animals get hurt."

Me: "It's okay if you need the meat though."

Beth: "But Pap doesn't need the meat."

Me: "Yes he does. But that's one reason why we've talked about going vegetarian. It's better for the animals."

Beth: "I don't want to give up meat. I don't care if they kill chickens. They're stupid."

Me: "What about cows?"

Beth: "Cows are just big and stupid. They aren't cute like deer."


What a conversation. The boys had no opinion on killing the deer. I think they'd just rather shoot the guns. Have a great day!

An Announcement of Sorts

Jacob is now three. He's informed me of this two days in a row with absolutely no encouragement from me. It's official, never mind that his birthday isn't until next week.

He keeps telling me:

"Mommy I'm big now. I'm three." Then showing me his three fingers.

I figure it's close enough that correcting him would just be pointless, but does this get us out of celebrating his birthday?

Whew! Getting Back on Track!

This last week was the first full week since the Christmas break. It meant the kids were back in school, speech therapy was back on and Rob went back to work. We also said farewell to my parents and Matt on Tuesday. It was a week of recovery as well--at least for me. The older I get the more quiet time I need. Time to just be alone--it sounds awful since i'm a proud stay-at -home mom, but there it is. Caleb got sick, and slowly recovered. Then Jacob got sick and keeps dodging back and forth between great and not so great--his voice was virtually gone most of the day. And poor, poor Rob is just miserable to quote "This is the worse I've felt in six years." That statement left me wondering what awful sickness he was referring to. Strep always really knocks him out hard, and the worse time he had that when he graduated with his MA. He was miserable then, probably the worst I remember seeing him (worse than now-but I'm not feeling the way he does so who knows?) and that wasn't six years ago just four. So I'm really wondering what the worst he felt in six years means. (Note: I truly feel bad that he is sick, and I want him to get better and sleep lots and I even dragged the kids out to the store he said had echineacia and Keffir and spent over an hour looking for it in the cold, so I am sympathetic--just curious about his statement.)

It's also time to get everything back onto a schedule. We are starting a rewards system to go with our nightly chores routine. It should be lots and lots and lots of fun. At least for me. I'm going to save so much time by having us all work together.

Beth and Caleb loved gymnastics. I was super proud of Beth she got on the tallest balance beam and jumped and flipped backwards and stood on her head, and hands. Stuff I wasn't sure she was going to do. Caleb rocked it. He totally surpassed everyone in his class, but he had a lot of fun. He did have a hard time waiting for his turn and staying on task. I think he just wanted to do everything right away. At the end in his class they had the opportunity to show off a skill. Most of the kids ran in a circle--not Caleb. He did a head spin, handstand into a back flip. There was a collective gasp at his skill by all of the parents.

Beth had her first achievement day activity this week as well and she loved it. She was nervous going into it, but came out extremely happy. Extremely, extremely happy. I love the girls in our ward, her age and a little older. They are so good at being friendly and making her feel welcome.

I tested Caleb and he's doing great on his ABC's. He's got all of the sounds down and five that he needs to learn the names of. And he can write most of them. So we are in a good place. He's going to rock kindergarten next year. I registered him this week. He was so excited to go and so good while I filled out the pages of paperwork. I was super proud of him.

Jacob gets registered for preschool tomorrow. He already wants to go. I think he is going to miss Caleb once he starts school. But I know it will be good for him. It should be fun to be one on one with a kid again.

Well that's it. Have a great week anyone. No real funny stories this week, but I'll keep you posted I'm sure there will be a crazy mess sometime this week!

Family, Vacations, and Visitations

The past two weeks have been busy! First we went to Hickory to celebrate Christmas. It was a lot of fun and the kids loved spending time with their cousins. They even got to play in the snow. I'm pretty sure Rob posted pictures. I stayed home a few days to really clean the house for the family that was coming to visit us after Christmas. So I missed the snow. It's okay, I'm finding the longer I'm away from utah winters the less I miss them. Right now it's cold, and I'm miserable. We may end up in the Bahamas or Florida, but only in the winters.

The kids loved their Christmas and the Zhu Zhu pets were a huge hit. Ginormous! And Beth loved her iPod and Caleb his MP3 player. And Jacob was just generally happy with everything that he got. Rob got a GPS system and was quite content to follow it around to various places in town to see if it knew what it was doing. Sometimes it did, and sometimes it did not. Today was his first day back to work, and he was quite impressed with the traffic report feature on it. He loved his toy. My big gift were pots and pans, but a super nice aluminum set, since I do not want the nonstick kind ever again. I'm actually really impressed at how much better everything is cooking in the pans. We also got couch covers, which are a vast improvement over our current ten year old and then some couches.

After having a great time in Hickory, we came home and my sister and her hubby came for a short visit. My kids were ecstatic to finally meet their only cousin on my side of the family! Jacob was a little put off. He liked Ethan, but I think he was worried he'd become a permanent fixture. Ethan was totally sweet, and it was nice to see Sarah and Cameron too. They are both awesome.

And then my folks flew in for a week bringing Matt with them. They came down for Beth's baptism. It was a great day. I'm so proud of her choice and all that she has decided to do in her life. She's growing up so fast and learning so much.

The visit with the grandparents was fun, lots of playing games, eating food, crafts and even a trip to Build-a_Bear. Jacob was over the moon. It was funny because he'd never been and as we got close to the store he took off running into the store. Jacob loves stuffed animals and he was in heaven. He got a stuffed monkey (of course) and then picked him out a prince's suit and named him King. My mom tried to convince him to get a more manly outfit for the monkey, but Jacob was set on the prince.

We set goals this week for FHE, but I'm also getting schedules set up. My life is much smoother when everyone is on a schedule. It's about to get crazer because the kids are starting gymnastics this week! I'm sure that they will love it!

Have a great week!

Celebrating Elisabeth

It's hard to believe Beth has turned eight. It seems that almost overnight she has matured so much. While preparing for her baptismal service, I decided I wanted to make a little slideshow commemorating some of her life thus far. I hope you enjoy.

Beth's Slideshow from Robert Caldwell on Vimeo.