Birthdays and more adventures

 Caleb sleeping in Daddy's arms during lunch

Joseph and his birthday cake

Joseph blowing out his candles

Caleb riding in the car

The past couple weeks have had some good things and not so good things happen
Good:
             Joseph had his birthday and turned 12 years old.  He invited a friend and we went to ITZ for his birthday (family fun center).  He was ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood and, and graduated from primary to Young Mens.  He also passed the sacrament for the first time, and went to the temple and performed baptisms for the dead.  I wish we lived closer to the temple, Joseph wants me to take him three times a week to go to the temple.
            I had my birthday, I guess that's a good thing.  I got  to read a whole book by myself in my room while the kids played on their own.  I also went out to dinner with a friend and her kids, since Travis was gone that night.   Austin made me a birthday cake.
           We celebrated father's day, I made Travis his special cake, and smore stuffed chocolate chip cookies.
             We've been going on a walk almost every morning, and has been a great way to start out each day.
             I got the girls room really clean and organized, and put together a trundle bed for Caleb, it goes under their bunk bed.
             Joseph survived his first week long campout as a boy scout at scout camp.  He didn't change his clothes once, or use the sunscreen or bug spray I sent with him, but he had a great time.  I think he should have earned a "stayed alive doing as little as possible" merit badge.  He did earn several merit badges, and seemed to have a great time with the other boys.
             We've had some major wildfires near us, and the super smokey sky makes the sun look red, so it has prompted questions from the kids about the end of the world and second coming of Jesus Christ.  The fires have been bad, but the questions and discussions resulting from it have been good.


Not So Good:
             Travis fell off his bike, and landed on his hip, making it very stiff and sore for the past couple of weeks, he says it feels like a "dead" hip.
             I had my blood taken, and they had a really hard time getting blood, and ended up hitting a nerve, making my arm, shoulder, and, neck very sore.
             Travis fell off his bike the same day I had my blood taken.  The older three kids were at camp, so it was just samuel and caleb at home with us.  Travis layed on the couch, and I could barely move my arms, they weren't working.  We were pretty pathetic, finally Samuel was able to warm up some frozen cheeseburgers and give them to us for dinner.
             Betsy was in a car accident with her "Big" (big brother/big sister program).  She is fine though, just has sore neck and shoulder muscles.
            With the kids out of school for a month now, the contention level in our home has gotten drastically higher, with all the kids bugging each other and fighting.  We are having a family council tonight, to try to regain a peaceful feeling in our home.
            We were at the park and the sirens went off for a severe lighting warning, and the weather got bad so fast, we just ran to the pavilion at the park.  We were with my friend and her 4 kids as well.  For at least the next hour, we sat there as the storm got worse and worse.  Terrible thunder, lightening, rain, hail (the biggest I've ever seen) and strong wind.  Joseph pulled out a poncho from his pocket (a scout is always prepared)  He shared it with us, and we all huddled underneath it. (well almost all of us)  Caleb ended up falling asleep in the middle of all of us.  (I guess we made him feel safe amidst the wrath of the storm)  At one point we had to climb on top of the picnic tables, because there was a lot of water flooding in.  The kids would be scared or cry every once in a while, but overall we were fine.  The hail would bounce off the ground and hit our legs, but other than that we were pretty well sheltered from the storm.  We also had some good come of it, we had some good questions after the storm, and talked about the storm of life, and how we can take refuge in Christ.  After the storm had died down, we ran home in the rain, and all jumped in the bathtubs, boys in one, girls in the other.  For two days Samuel's hair stood on end, I could not get it to lay down. It was quite the experience.
           I'm 32 weeks pregnant and I no longer walk, I waddle!