Summer's Half Way Over!

I am proud to announce that Beth gave her first talk in church today. For Beth this is huge. She is very shy, and wouldn't even go to the front of the chapel in December to graduate from Primary. And here she is getting up and giving a talk. I'm super, super proud, and she did a great job.

She's getting ready to head off to girls' camp this week. I can't believe how fast she has grown up. It is a little bit crazy to think about all that she 's accomplished in the last year. I know I'll miss her, but she's excited to get a break from her brothers. (I think they might feel the same way.)

Jacob has turned into a chatter. He'll come sit next to me while I'm working and chat, and chat and chat. I love it even though it drives me crazy. His vocabulary is great, and I love the way he talks like a little adult with actually, quite, nearly, and other words that are not common for second graders to use in their every day conversations. He always has the most interesting observations to share. He likes to compare and contrast and explain logical conclusions that he has come to.

Caleb is currently obsessed with the Destiny beta. He is playing nonstop and I think driving his cousins a bit crazy with requests to play with him online. He is so active that the last week has been driving me a bit bonkers since we didn't get to a pool or a park. he just needs a chance to let all of his energy go.

Rob is busy with work, and getting stuff done. He worked from home on Thursday and kept turning to me and asking why the kids were in the room wanting stuff. It's hard to work from home with the kids home.

Summer is slipping by so fast this year. I hope you can enjoy the rest of yours!

Summer Fun

I haven't posted much this summer. One of the reasons is that it is difficult to keep trying to work full-time when the kids are over the summer. Most people I know don't realize that I really do put in forty hours a week on work--mostly because I rarely bring it up. I'm blessed and incredibly lucky that I can work from home, even if it means juggling things are a little bit more difficult during the week. Especially with the kids home.

This summer started out hot. And so it looks like a pool summer. Plus for some reason my kids seem to feel that they've outgrown playgrounds and parks--for the most part. We have been to the pool several time this summer. Beth is insistent that she doesn't need sunscreen because she is so pale. The boys are swimming well enough to venture into the deep part of the pool without me, and swimming vests and floaties are a thing of the past. The older the kids get the easier it is to pack up and do something fun and exciting, with so much less hassle. But I still miss the absolute cuteness of a little baby or two year old (especially a two year old-- toddlers are the best!)

For the 4th, we went to the ward pancake breakfast, amid much complaining about the early hour of 9:00 am. Then we went to Monkey Joes, with Beth almost insisting that she is too old to go. And they kids had a blast. We were planning on going to see the fireworks at a shopping center (I know it sounds lame, but it was a compromise so we didn't have to deal with crowds.) When Greg and Heather invited us over to their house to see them. Our kids were ecstatic, and the show was great. Rob has it on his Google+ page if you want to see the fun. Complete with some videos.

July will consist of more trips to the pool. Hanging with some friends. Sending Beth off to girls camp--where they are enforcing a very strict dress code. (Beth wears longer shorts than the majority of her friends. Nearly to the knee, and yet we must go find some longer ones. Where? She doesn't want basketball shorts, jean shorts, and she is super skinny, at that awkward shopping size. Her current longest pair of shorts is an old pair of size seven capris that still fit her as shorts. If you have any ideas please leave a comment--maybe we'll go capri shopping in the kids section.) A short trip to Hickory for a friend's wedding. And then August will be even busier.

Hope you are enjoying your summer.

Wow! Major Catch Up!

So I haven't posted in awhile. A long while. it's been the hectic last month of school with testing, and concerts and church activities. I feel like we've been running, running running with no breaks. We haven't even made it to the beach yet this year, and it is almost too hot to go.

Rob found some crazy deal (we are paying less than $30.00 a month for unlimited talk and data 3G) and finally got a smart phone which means that he is posting updates of the photo and video variety on his Google+ account, and that means I should figure out how to port them over to the blog. Until that happens, you ought to follow him, I think he only shares photos with family and friends in his circles, so if you want to be added, just leave me a message and I'll make it happen. Lots of fun stuff on the feed like videos of the concerts from both Caleb and Beth, and silliness pictures, and video from the park.

None of it is edited, but it is there.

School lets out this week, and I can't believe that we another school year has slipped by. Beth survived sixth grade, and did really well overall. Great grades, and she made a good group of friends. The transition went as well as I could have hoped for. She decided to stick with the clarinet, and is having a lot of fun with it. Currently, she is reading the Twilight series, and I am getting regular updates of what has just happened in the books. The boys even watched the movie with her last night, in the hopes of seeing some werewolves and vampires fighting.

Caleb made it another year. He started clarinet too, and his band teacher really got them to do a lot. I'm so impressed considering their age. Music seems to help him focus a bit more, and it's great to see him enthusiastic about playing. He has found a comic book series that he really loves, and has subscribed to have it delivered. What makes it even cooler is that the dad of one of his friends is the line artist for episode (or book--I don't do comic lingo) 3 and 4.

Jacob is doing great. All I hear from his teacher is what a joy he is. He definitely knows how to wrap people around his little finger. I worried so much about him because of his Apraxia and all of the years of speech therapy that we had him in.  He worked hard, and it is gratifying to see him excelling at school. He is doing great, and I think he'll keep doing great.

Rob is wrapping up one big project at work and starting out on another one. He is super busy and super stressed. In May he had pneumonia, again. (It's been a few years since the last episode.) It takes him awhile to recover and get his strength back, and part of me wants to tease him about being an old man, since he does turn forty this year, but then I really start to worry about him. I think he's finally doing better now though.

As for me, I'm trying to squeeze everything in. I'm switching to a mostly vegan diet and I'm feeling a lot better overall. I'll cheat every now and then to have something with cheese in it. I love cheese and that is honestly the hardest thing to give up. I also won't put anyone out for my change in habits, and so if I'm visiting I'll eat what is served. But I've switched to whole grains, and almost no sugar. I feel so much better. My happier news is that I've broken through my writer's block and my story is going in a good direction, and that makes me incredibly happy.

Hope you all have a good week.

Easter!

Rob had Good Friday off, and seemed quite miffed that I didn't. But we still had a great time this weekend. Rob looked around for things to do on Friday, since we knew Saturday was going to be rainy all day. We ended up eating lunch at the Farmer's Market and then heading out to look at the old Yates Mill Park, which had the mill closed for renovations and ended up being rather a short trip. The kids (who had been there with school) insisted that the Oak View Farm was better and suggested we go there too. So we did. It was nice, the kids got to feed the goats and we looked at old buildings and a cotton field.

We had our Easter baskets on Saturday, and the kids got hammocks and candy, which is mostly gone. Yikes!  It was a really rainy day. Really rainy, but we did dye eggs and chill. Caleb woke up at 4:00 am, but Beth made him stay in the room with her until it was light out at 6:30. I am so grateful for that!  Needless to say , we had some crazy cranky kids around 6:00 pm on Saturday. Cranky!

Eater was nice yesterday. Everyone was pretty mellow and Rob managed to hang the hammocks on the patio. So the kids got a chance to enjoy them.  It was nice to have a day that focused more on the spiritual part of Easter.

My favorite quote of the week was from Beth. She told me. "Mom, I'm still a kid inside this body of mine. I like to do kid things."  Which made me happy.

This week's a bit crazy. Today is FHE, and is the easiest night of the week. Tomorrow, I've got Running club for the kids, parent teacher's conference for Jacob and a temple trip that are all scheduled for approximately the same time. Wednesday is Pack Meeting, which is stressful more for Rob, but still I have to get the whole family there, plus I have to pick up Beth from her field trip later than normal, which means picking up the boys from school. And then Thursday Beth has a band concert and the boys are headed to a father son camp out. I've been looking at this week for the last several wondering how we are going to survive it, but I think we'll manage.

Have a great week!

April, April, April!

This is a day late because I had one of those really tired days yesterday. I  made it to church and a meeting, but sort of dragged the rest of the day. I never sleep very well close to a full moon. It makes me want tin vest in some blackout curtains, but then I know I wouldn't wake up well.

On the news front at home. Not much to report. It's spring and the yellow pollen has covered everything. The cars are tinged yellow, as are the roads. The bees are back, and seem to love hanging around our front door for some reason. The kids all make running dashes in and out of the house going as fast as they can.

Beth is gearing up for her spring concert this next week. She is loving the clarinet, but not her teacher as much. She's made a lot of progress, and I'm really proud of her. She's adjusted to the early mornings for the most part, and seems to be doing well at school. She got new electives this quarter and she's in a class where she's the only sixth grader. She's a bit nervous about it, but seems to be doing okay with it.

Caleb had a castle project that he had to do. He chose the Caldwell Castle and wrote a report on it. Then he built a model and took it to school. He did a great job, but I think he was relieved when everything was finished. He's also really enjoying the clarinet and plans on taking it again next year.

Jacob is his happy self. He will come to me and say that he is bored, but we are working on that. He loves video games, and any games and will spend hours playing. He played Infamous Second Son the past few weeks. (Rob was playing it too separately.) Jacob got ahead of Rob, and didn't have anyone to turn to to find out how to get through the tricky parts. He managed to beat the game and then started telling Rob how to beat things and he's really good at figuring out the puzzles. He's also has the patience to keep going and not throw the controller when he gets frustrated. He also beat Rob when they played chess this week. Rob said that he got trounced and Jacob was working two or three moves ahead of him. Jacob said, "Well Dad, I was looking at the whole board, you weren't."

It's been a great week, with fitting everything in that needed to get done. I'm so grateful for the Lord's hand in my life. I've felt it a lot more lately, and I can tell that the Lord has guided us so that we get the experiences we need as a family.

Have a great week!

Spring Break!

So, it's occurred tome that if I had a smart phone, I may actually be able to post pictures of the activities we did each week. But at the same time, I shake enough now that I don't know that any of them would actually ever be in focus. I'm glad that Rob's a photographer. It really takes the pressure off me.

On Monday, I took the kids ice skating. It was a lot of fund. They got going like old pros and had a blast the entire time that we there. It was so col in the rink and so warm outside. It was surreal. And we were all bundled up on the way to the rink and got a few strange looks--walking around with mittens and hats on in 70 degree weather.

On Tuesday, we went to Pullen Park, and got to hang out with our friends the Greenwoods. It was fun. Jacob got to practice his parkour. (He wants to take classes.) And Beth loved catching up with Brynn.

On Wednesday, we went to Bond Park, for a short time. The kids had fun, but the park was super crowded with really little kids. I think the park is more crowded because it was the first week all year that's been consistently warm and dry enough to spend some significant time outside.

On Thursday, we took it easy. (Thank Goodness!) And I was able to get some work done. The kids still had a good day. And Friday we went to Hickory for the weekend. The kids have had fun playing with their cousins, taking a quick dip in the lake and hanging out in (and fighting over) the hammock.

Spring break made me realize, I need to get a plan together to get things done over the summer. We will work it out though.

I've really enjoyed conference this weekend. I particularly liked the talk that Elder Oaks gave in the Priesthood session. Some of the talks made me worry for kids. The fact that it is not going to get easier and the chasm is getting wider. But my kids were born with strong personalities, and they have a strong sense of right and wrong. They are much better than I am at explaining our beliefs and standing up for themselves.

Starting Spring Break

I missed posting last week. I had a long week and was tired and Rob was headed out of town for the week--camping. Anyway we all survived.

Kids update.

Last week Jacob got on a Journey kick. Journey is an artsy video game which is played online, and you help other people go through the game. Rob really likes. Jacob played it twice in hopes of becoming one of the guides so that he could help other people through. he watched videos to find the scripts and when that didn't work, he got Rob to advise him on where to go. Jacob always acts out the games that he is playing, and part of becoming a guide is that the robe color changes in the game. He started wearing a white t-shirt inside out to indicate that he had become a guide.

This week he has also decided that he wants to take parkour lessons. He has been climbing walls, jumping, and pouncing everywhere and watching YouTube for hints and tips and tricks. Hopefully he'll come out of this experience without anything broken.

Caleb has been doing really well lately. he really stepped up while Rob was gone and kept a level head. He is my most reluctant one to get up on school mornings, and he was up and dressed in time to drive Beth every morning. He also went to bed a lot easier. I know Caleb is just looking forward to good weather so he can run around outside and ride his bike. Today he insisted on playing the Clarinet for our home teacher for several songs. He's really improved over the year.

Beth is finishing up her third quarter of middle school. She is growing up so fast. I'm really proud of her, because she didn't initially want to go to the Women's broadcast, and i showed her the ad. Then she decided to go. She felt the spirit there so strongly that she thanked me afterward for taking her. it meant a lot to me. I know that Beth is really trying hard to do the right thing and to reach out to others.

Like I said we survived the week of Rob being gone. I missed having him home, but the kids did really well. They missed him too.  rob came home tired, and decidedly not interested in going outside, which isn't like him.

Have a great week!