baby boy and busy

The week after spring break was incredibly boring compared to spring break week.  I can tell I'm going to have a lot to write about this summer.  The kids were back in school, so I was able to breathe much better.  Caleb and I hung out during the day, and things were crazier once the kids got home from school.  All the kids started track this week.  Joseph has track every day at the middle school until 5pm, he comes home exhausted every day.  Also the Monday after spring break  he finished up his dog sitting, and got paid $65, and was able to pay off his debt to me, for melting my blendtec blender, so hooray!!  Austin, Betsy, and Samuel have track practice only on Tuesday and Wednesday, and they all love it.  The weather here has been crazy, and twice in the past two weeks have had track practice and/or school cancelled due to blizzard or high wind warnings.  Apparently Spring in Colorado Springs means a few nice 60-70 degree weather days in between major storms and blizzards.  We found out we are having another baby boy.  I really thought it was going to be a girl, so now I have to return things I've already gotten, for more boy appropriate colors.  Caleb is finally healthy again, and has been much happier, and sleeping better.  He's been doing his "happy dance" a lot, it is really cute.  The other day, the spun honey bucket fell off the shelf in the pantry and was spilling all over the floor.  Caleb discovered it and stepped in it, and got honey all over his legs and feet, and started doing his "happy dance" all over the kitchen.  I realized what was happening, before he left the kitchen, and quickly scooped him up and stuck him in the kitchen sink, and gave him a bath right there.  He thought that was quite fun, and enjoyed the new experience, and got water everywhere.  Then I spent the next 20 minutes, cleaning all the honey off the floor and pantry.  I'm very grateful it was confined to the kitchen, and didn't get in any carpeted areas.  Caleb thought this was all just great fun, and keeps asking me for honey, and then points at his feet.  This week has been absolutely crazy busy.  Monday I had a FRG (family readiness group) meeting to attend, so Travis watched the kids all evening.  During the day I was getting things ready for an FRG Coffee (no actual coffee) I was hosting, and feeding dinner to 16 ladies, and preparing games and prizes.  I made individual size bath salts, and single serving deep dish chocolate chip cookie mixes.  I also made a cheesecake for dessert.  Tuesday, I made the carmel for the cheesecake, a vegetarian lasagna, homemade French bread, for garlic bread, and got the games all ready.  I also went to PWOC (protestant women of the chapel) for 3 hours in the morning.  I was able to leave Caleb in childcare and he did pretty well.  One lady there asked me if I was pregnant with twins.  No one has ever asked me that during any of my pregnancies, so it made me feel pretty fat.  I've gained 15 pounds so far, and that's more than any other of my pregnancies.  Travis says I'm beautiful, so that's all that matters.  So that evening, as soon as Travis got home from work, he dropped me off at the ladies house we were having the coffee at.  We got everything ready, and ladies started arriving.  We had a great time eating, and talking.  Everyone loved the food, and the cheesecake was an especially big hit.  We enjoyed talking so much, that we didn't end up playing any of the games.  By 9:30pm everyone left, and I got a ride home.  Travis was supposed to have taken Joseph to scouts, and the girls to activity days, but he didn't take them.  I found Travis asleep in bed, with Caleb sitting next to him playing puzzles on his kindle.  I put Caleb to bed, and quickly fell asleep.  Wednesday I spent the day planning for Travis' marriage seminar/game night.  He asked me to plan games to strengthen a marriage relationship in five different ways.  Know, Trust, Rely, Commit, and Touch.  Wednesday Samuel also had a psych appointment, so I had to get ready for that and take him to that in the middle of a blizzard.  The roads weren't too bad, just very wet and snowy, but the visibility with the blowing snow wasn't very good, but we made it.  Sam's making progress, but we're still working on getting him some behavior therapy.  All after school activities were cancelled due to the weather.  Wednesday night, Travis had bible study, and I had lots of food leftover from my "coffee" so I took some neighbours some dinner.  Thursday, was filled with finishing up the games for the seminar, I made more prizes and got all of the games ready.  By 4pm Travis came home, and we loaded up the kids and all the stuff for the games that I had put together and drove to the Elkhorn lodge for the event Travis had planned.  We put the kids in the room for childcare, and started setting everything up.  There were supposed to be 25 couples coming, so we had a lot to set up.  I had divided the games/activities into 5 different stations.  The couples started arriving, and we handed them a people scavenger hunt to do, and had them do that for the first half an hour.  Only 13 couples had shown up, so it was a lot less than we expected.  Travis welcomed everyone and gave an overview to what he wanted to teach, then we ate dinner, while watching a video segment about sex in marriage.  I thought that was an interesting choice, while eating dinner, but the couples didn't seem to mind.  After dinner, I explained all the stations, and divided into groups and then had fun.  The first station, was KNOW.  Each couple played the newlywed game.  The second station, was Trust, they did the trust fall, took a trust quiz, and drew a silhouette of their spouse, and wrote in it what they trusted about their spouse.  The third station was a blindfolded obstacle course, they had to be guided through by having their spouse talk them through it.  In the obstacle course they had to step over a broom, set on two chairs, build a tower with blocks, pour water into a cup and then into a bowl without spilling, guide them in a zig zag pattern through cones, and play the first part of "twinkle, twinkle, little star" on my colored hand bells.  The fourth station was about Commit, each couple had a booklet with 10 categories to discuss their relationship and a calendar to commit to things like date nights, talk time, and so forth.  The last station was Touch, first they stared into each other's eyes for a minute, then they had to stick together like "glue" while putting together puzzles, and playing twister, making sure they were always touching.  The couples were supposed to stay after completing all stations so Travis could wrap things up, and talk for another half hour or so, but everyone kept leaving, so Travis didn't end up doing his wrap up.  Everyone seemed to have a good time though, I know Travis and I did.  We cleaned everything up, and took the kids home and put them to bed.  I was so exhausted.  Today the kids have no school, and Travis has another event, for single soldiers this time.  Too much stuff going on, I'm ready for a break.   Today we have to do Austin's science experiment for the science fair, and it should take about 5 hours, so we're going to be busy doing that. 

Here is Caleb singing "you are my sunshine"

Caleb is happy

I forgot to upload our pictures from our easter egg roll, so here they are

Caleb going down the slide head first

Austin won the easter egg roll

Caleb needed a hug

I'm leading Travis through the blindfold obstacle course

Travis and I putting together puzzles while being "stuck like glue"

Spring Break

So to start off our spring break, last Friday, while the kids were in school.  I covered up the T.V., and when they got home explained we would have a "no t.v." spring break.  After their initial groans and upset exclamations, I explained that we would do a little spring cleaning project each morning, and then we would pick from a list of fun activities, and have fun the rest of the day.  They would also each pick one day to plan the meals, and help cook them.  They got more excited, as we made our list of fun activities.  I had looked up some fun activities on pinterest, and they liked my ideas.  The weather wasn't looking very good, so we planned a lot of indoor activities.  Saturday, we had planned to go into Denver to go to the temple, and take the kids to Dave and Busters, and arcade/game type family fun place.  There was a big blizzard when we woke up, and we debated whether or not we should go, but ended up deciding to go anyway.  We bundled everybody up, and put our 72 hour kits in the back of the car just in case, and headed off.  What normally would have been a one hour car ride turned into a two hour car ride in blizzard conditions. The children transformed into gremelins and ate their car seats. Then a giant heffalump came and noozled them with his trunk until they turned back into themselves. (Ignore the last two sentences, I left the computer for a few minutes, and Travis sat down and wrote that).  Anyway, Travis dropped the kids and I off at a place called Dave and Busters, it is a family fun center, with food and tons of arcade games.  Travis had been there before with a single solider retreat,and the manager had given him a $10 game card for each of our kids.  The kids and I had a great time.  I followed Caleb around, while the kids ran off and used up their game cards on games.  Samuel ended up playing skee-ball, but instead of throwing the ball up the ramp to the circles, he climbed up the ramp and put each of his nine balls into the 100 circle, so he won the jackpot and got over 650 tickets.  The second time he tried to do this, an employee caught him, and made him turn in all his winning tickets, and told him he couldn't play that game anymore.  Samuel was quite upset, but I helped him understand he had been cheating and that he had to play by the rules.  The kids ran out of points to play games after about a half an hour.  Since I knew Travis would be at least another hour and a half, I bought another $50 worth of points, but kept it all on my card to get the most points for our money.  Then every time the kids wanted to play a game, they had to find me, and get me to come and swipe my card for the game they wanted.  I succeeded in slowing them down a lot, but ended up getting dragged all over the place for the next two hours.  But we made it, until Travis showed up to come and get us.  By this point I was thoroughly exhausted and it was getting late, so we drove home.  It was a fun place, but definitely on the expensive side.  On Monday, the kids and I cleaned the kitchen for our project, and finished by lunchtime.  It was still snowing outside and very cold, so we did an indoor scavenger hunt.  Here is the list I made:

Indoor Scavenger Hunt List:

1.       A Shopping Bag                                                                 32.  Pillow
2. A Sticker                                                                                        33.  Glue
3. A Photograph                                                                              34.  Wii Wheel
4. Toilet Paper                                                                                                 35.  Scissors
5. Left Sock                                                                                        36.  Necklace
6. Rubber Band                                                                                37.  Measuring Cup
7. A Card                                                                                             38.  Daddy  Bear
8. A Coin                                                                                             39  Something that smells good
9. A Lego                                                                                             40.  Graded Homework
10. A Barbie                                                                                       41.  A Winter Hat
11. Right Shoe
12. A Pencil
13. Piece of Candy
14. Bob Book
15.  Tie
16.  Wash 4 dirty dishes and put them in the dishwasher
17.  Build a tower with blocks
18.  Paper Airplane
19.  A movie
20.  Draw a picture of a Caleb
21.  Scriptures
22.  A spoon
23.  Q tip
24.  A ball
25.  Soap
26.  Tape
27.  Mouse from mouse trap
28.  car
29.  a Crayon
30.  Toothbrush

I gave each of the kids their list, and told them that once they had everything they had to bring it to me, and I would check it off, then they had to return each item back where they found it exactly and then I would tell them their prize. 
This worked out really well, it kept them busy for a long time.  Poor Samuel though, he couldn't read everything, so he had to come back to me after each item, and ask me what was next on his list.  It was a lot of good exercise for them, because they were basically running the whole time, so they could be fast, and most of the items were on different levels of the house.  Well except for Betsy, she stopped and looked over her list, and found items that were in the same area of the house, and got them, then would move onto another area.  Travis had to go to a meeting that night, so the kids and I just had dinner and played some board games.  On Tuesday, we cleaned the living room, then the kids made invitations to invite their friends over to a dance party.  (Dancing with the Wii was the only time the T.V. was allowed to be on, since it was exercise).  So they bundled up and delivered their invitations.  Then we made some peanut butter dough, and shaped it into eggs and dipped them in chocolate.  Yummy.  We all did some dancing (to work off the sugar from the eggs).  The kids played on their own until Travis got home, and then we all went to a town hall meeting about Travis' upcoming deployment.  The kids all brought books to read, so they were good, and Caleb played on my kindle.  I learned that Travis is leaving the beginning of July, and will be going to the middle east until November.  (I can't tell the exact country due to security issues, until he is actually there, but we do know).  After the meeting we drove to IT'Z, another family fun center (but a lot cheaper).  We ate from the buffet, then played games for another hour.  I like this place better, because they have a play area for toddlers, that is all free.  Caleb had a great time, running around and climbing and having fun.  We all had a great time, but it was getting late, so we went home.
Wednesday, we cleaned my bedroom and bathroom.  Then we did a photo shoot.  I was making a photo book for Caleb, about the new baby coming, and what to expect when the baby does come.  So we took pictures of all sorts of different things, and the kids each doing things and playing with Caleb.   The kids had a fashion show, while I was making the book on the computer, and took pictures of each other.  We also had the dance party, that the kids invited their friends too.  We made popcorn and danced until we were all exhausted, but it was a lot of fun.  Travis had his bible study class that night, so the kids and I ate dinner and played board games again.  Thursday we cleaned the boys room and upstairs bathroom.  The weather was warming up a little, so we played outside for a little bit, went to the park, then had a limbo contest, played air hockey, and read (I was too tired for anything else).  Joseph got a dog sitting job for Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, so he went and met the dogs, and learned how to take care of them.  We had the missionaries over for dinner, and had a good time talking with them.  Friday, Travis didn't have to work! Yeah!!  he helped the kids clean the girls room, and downstairs bathroom, while I went visiting teacher.  Another lds chaplain family was moving in, so we watched their 2 and 5 year old boys until about 3pm.  We took them to the park, and played with them all day.  Travis took the kids to a neighborhood Easter egg hunt at 3pm, while I stayed home to teach piano (but they ended up cancelling so I just got to relax). Joseph basically spent all day playing with the dogs is he taking care of.   Caleb was getting sick again, and towards the evening was wheezing and having trouble breathing again.  I gave him a bath with "Breathe" oil in it, and they seemed to help him some.  We decided to have a movie night for a date night, and allowed the kids to watch "rise of the guardians" with us, since Caleb wasn't feeling well.  Caleb struggled all night long, and didn't sleep well at all, I had to give him is inhaler,and some nebulizer treatments to help him sleep.  He just kept telling me he "couldn't" sleep.  About 3am, I was telling Caleb I really needed to sleep in my bed, so he grabbed me by the hand, and took me to my room and told me to get in, so I climbed in bed, and he walked around to Travis side, and climbed up and over him, and snuggled in next to me.  He was still very restless and couldn't sleep well, but I did manage to get some sleep in between his tossing, turning, coughing, and grunting.  I was so tired Saturday, I was ready to give in and just tell the kids to watch cartoons all day, but instead we got up and went to pick up our bountiful basket, and grabbed some breakfast.  Caleb was feeling a little better (he always does better during the day).  Then we went to Costco and came home.  Caleb napped, and after trying to nap, and not being able too, due to dogs barking, and kids playing, Travis and I watched a movie together.  while the kids played.  I was too exhausted to cook dinner, so we went to Denny's (the kids all eat free there on Saturdays). When we got home, Travis and I got our plastic eggs ready for our Easter egg hunt.  We put a 1.5" glow stick and a coin in each egg, then we told all the kids to wait in the garage.  We turned off all the lights in the house, except on the stairs, and hid all the eggs.  We told the kids it was time for our glow in the dark Easter egg hunt.  We also explained the we celebrate Easter to remember Jesus' death and Resurrection and that he is a light in the darkness.  The kids were let in the house, and had a blast looking for the glowing Easter eggs.  After they had found them and collected all their money, they took turns re- hiding their glowing eggs, until finally after 9pm, I told them they really had to go to bed.  They took their eggs with them to bed, so I'm sure they didn't go to bed right away, but I'm just glad they had a great time, and didn't miss the candy part of Easter.  After giving Caleb his nebulizer treatment before he went to sleep, he slept all night long!!!!!  He is still struggling a little bit in his breathing, but it is so much better then yesterday.  I'm staying home from church with Caleb, and everybody else went to church.  We also colored eggs before they left, so we can have our Easter egg roll when they get home.  We had a lot more fun things planned, but I'm sure we can do them this summer.

Joseph, Austin and Caleb playing ball

Samuel throwing the ball at Joseph

Samuel eating a banana

Caleb looking for Easter eggs in the dark

Joseph, Samuel, and Caleb building towers

Samuel reading Caleb a book

Joseph, Betsy, and Caleb

Caleb holding the "new baby"

Samuel at the fashion show

working it

Joseph at the fashion show

Betsy at the fashion show

Austin at the fashion show

Daddy helping Caleb find eggs in the dark



Caleb found a glowing egg, and had to open it to figure out why it was glowing.

life goes on

Meringue cookies with strawberry frosting I made for the ladies I Visit Teach

Samuel riding the racetrack at IT'Z (family fun center)

Caleb all bundled up and asleep after our walk on a cold day

Austin climbing at the park

Betsy at the park

Samuel and Betsy playing at the park

Austin hanging upside down like a monkey

Austin's cake that she bought for $25 at the dessert auction

All the pictures I uploaded are sideways this time, I'm not sure why, they were right side up on my computer.  The last couple of weeks have been boring for the most part because Caleb  has been sick, and Samuel was sick for a little while too.  So, I've been staying home not doing too much.  We've had some interesting weather lately.  It's been cycling through nice 60 degree weather, to blizzard days, and back again through the cycle.  I've taken Caleb to the park a couple of times hoping fresh air will help him get better.  He was definitely happier at the park, and so was I, I needed fresh air too.  Caleb has been sleeping terribly, and our neighbours are dog sitting for the next 2 months, and they bark all night, so I have been exhausted.  I've tried ear plugs, and even slept in Joseph's bed a couple of times, because his room is farther away from the dogs.  We found our that Travis is deploying either mid-june or july and will be gone to Kuwait until November.  The timing is horrible since, the baby is due mid-august.  While telling the kids about Travis leaving, and the baby being born while he is gone, Joseph piped up and said "I'll go with you to the hospital mom", I looked at Joseph and said "Joseph, what is happening when the baby is coming out of me", and then Joseph said " Oh yeah, well, umm....I'll wait in the waiting room at the hospital for you to be done with that stuff, I forgot the baby doesn't come out of your belly button".  I laughed and told him I appreciated his offer, and then he thought for a few more minutes and said "Mom, if you really need me, I'll help  you at the hospital, I'll just need to wear a blind-fold".  I really do have a sweet boy.  I told Joseph that I will keep him in mind, but Grandma is planning to come and help me in the hospital. 
Saturday was a busy day at our house.  In the morning I got to go to a Relief Society Breakfast, which was very nice to get a break from kids.  Meanwhile Travis watched the kids at home, and helped them work on their chores.  Samuel had a birthday party at noon, so I helped him finish his chore when he got home, and wrapped his present for his friend.  We didn't have any wrapping paper so we taped together an old "friend" magazine and used that.  Then I dropped Joseph off at the church since he had to be there early to prepare and set up for the scout spaghetti dinner.  Then I made a couple desserts to take to the dessert auction there, and we went to the dinner.  Joseph did a good job of being a server.  Although the dinner wasn't very good, that wasn't his fault.  We paid $20 for the dinner since it was a fundraiser.  After we ate they did the dessert auction.  Austin had some birthday money, and really wanted to buy a dessert.  So she bid and bought the cake she wanted for $25.  All the desserts went for more than I was willing to pay so we didn't buy any.  But, my homemade mint chocolate chip ice cream went for $45, and my three plates of chocolate scotcharoos went for $10 a piece, and my irish soda bread sold for $10 as well.  It was a fun evening, except Caleb wouldn't sit still, and we kept having to chase him everywhere. 
Yesterday was a good Sunday, although I still stayed home with Caleb, since he still isn't quite well enough for nursery.  I made bacon, german pancake and green smoothie for breakfast.  Travis told me he was bringing a solider home with him for lunch after church, so I decided to make our St. Patrick's day dinner for right after church.  I made Shepard's pie, steamed cabbage, irish soda bread, and a shamrock made of cucumber slices, surrounded by cantaloupe.  It was all delicious, except while making the Shepard's pie, the onion I was cutting was so potent, that I was crying like crazy, and my eyes were stinging horribly, I could barely see.  The smell bothered me so bad, that I couldn't even eat the pie, since I was so traumatized by the onion.  But, Travis told me it was really good.  We had Austin's cake, and homemade mint chocolate chip ice cream for dessert.  Then we played some games.  Austin really wanted to play "Apples to Apples", but since we only play church games on Sunday, we decided to make a church version.  So we got out white index cards, cut them in half, and made our own cards about the church and gospel.  It was a really good activity, and then after about an hour, we had enough cards to play the game.  It was fun, Travis made up some good definition and quotes, like, for instance for "Samson" he wrote "he really brought down the house".  Then we played some challenge games, where we would challenge another member of the family to do something, but we had to do it first.  We did things like doing the splits, putting together puzzles, and who could run up and down the stairs fastest.  Then we played "name that tune" with primary songs, and I gave out m & m's for the prizes. 

a fun weekend

Caleb was sick all week, so we didn't go anywhere.  But we did make some meringue cookies with strawberry frosting that was really good, and dropped them off to the ladies I visit teach.  Finally by Saturday Caleb was feeling better, so Saturday morning we went to Golden Corral for Austin's birthday breakfast.  Everybody enjoyed it, and the kids were so well behaved that the couple next to us, told me how nice and polite my children were, and how is was a pleasure sitting next to us.  That made me feel great, and told the kids how impressed I was with their behavior.  Samuel had a birthday party to go to, and had a great time.  Then in the evening we had a babysitter come over, and Travis and I went bowling and out to dinner.  We went to an International restaurant that we had a groupon for, and Travis got a lamb gyro, the owner was very friendly and we talked with him for a while, and he gave us a bag of Belgian waffle mix for the kids as a gift from him.  He also gave us free herbal tea, he makes from Egypt and Jordan.  It was a very fun evening.  Sunday I made the waffles for breakfast and some pancakes for Samuel.  I forgot about fast sunday, so just caleb, sam, and I ate breakfast.  After church Samuel kept sneaking waffles into his pockets, so I found waffle crumbs and pieces throughout the house.  We had a family over for dinner, and the kids had a good time playing together, while the adults talked.  It was a good weekend

Another Baby, and birthdays

Austin opening her presents at her birthday party

Caleb in his new snowsuit from G and G Hardy

Austin building a Temple with dominoes

Joseph and Caleb playing peek-a-boo at the park

Caleb peeking through a log at the park

Caleb playing with a car at the park

Caleb swinging at the park

"AAAHHH" my shadow is chasing me!!!

Caleb blowing out his candles

Austin and her friends playing "spa" at her birthday party

I am pregnant with baby #6, and have been since Travis got home from NTC in November.  I am due August 14th, and Travis is supposed to be deployed sometime this summer, so I'm not looking forward to giving birth, without him here.  But I'm still hoping for a miracle, and he will get to be home when the baby is born.  I was sick a lot the first three months, and now into the second trimester, I'm just really tired, have no energy, and basically don't want to do anything.  We are very excited to add another little baby to our family though, and are looking forward to the new adventures it will bring.  The past month and a half have been busy, or just boring, because I was too sick to do much.  I don't remember a lot of what happened, but I'll try to remember some of the things.  Travis was gone for two weeks to San Antonio TX for some training the end of January, and beginning of February.  As soon as Travis got home from TX, we had a formal ball for his squadron.  We dropped all the kids off at childcare (Travis said it was provided), and then went to the ball.  It was a little boring, but interesting to see the way other people's behavior changed, once they'd had a lot to drink.  It was a nice evening with Travis, but we left as soon as we could, to go get the kids.  When we got there, we were told childcare would be $72.  We thought it was free, but I guess not.  Caleb really hated going to childcare, so was really clingy to me for awhile after that.   Both Caleb and Austin have birthdays in February.  Caleb turned 2 on Feb. 17th.  We didn't really do much for his birthday, but I did make him some brownies for a cake, and he opened his presents.  He loved all his presents, and played with them for hours, especially a Thomas the Train engine set.  He was so focused on playing with his presents that we could barely pull him away from his toys to eat cake and ice cream.  We also took Caleb to the park, since the weather was decent, and he loves the park.  We had Austin's birthday party yesterday, but her actual birthday isn't until tomorrow.  Travis was in charge of a marriage retreat yesterday, so as soon as that was done, we came home and only had a few minutes until the party was to start.  I hadn't finished Austin's ice cream cake, so I quickly started making the ice cream, as the guests arrived.  They danced on the Wii, until I was done with the cake, and had gotten the games ready.  Austin wanted to do a little spa.  So the girls took turns, soaking their feet in a foot bath, painting their nails and doing hair.  They had fun, and Caleb had to take his turn soaking his feet too.  Next they playing a BFF game, that's asks different questions, they we had cake.  The ice cream was still a little soft, but it was good.  Then she opened presents, and then time was up. 

New Years and Grandma visiting

 

New Year's Eve, we invited some couples over for a game night.  We told the kids they could play in their room, as long as there were no problems.  One couple showed up, but brought all five of their kids too.  I guess next time, I need to be more specific about who is invited on the invitations.  It all worked out fine though, the kids were super excited to have friends come over for their "party" in their room.  There was plenty of food, since none of the other couples were able to come.  We had lots of fun playing games and had a good time.  Travis was very entertaining during this one game called "quelf", in which he had to act like pirate, and lots of other fun things.  Everyone stayed up until about 1:30am, except Samuel who had to go to bed early for some misbehavior. 
We had a lot of cleaning to do New Year's Day, Travis' Mom was flying in for a week to visit us.  While we were cleaning I stubbed my toe real bad on the vacuum.  It was my pinkie toe, and it hurt pretty good for while, made me limp around a little bit, so I'm pretty sure I broke it.  It's still painful 17 days later, but only when I move it, it's fine to walk on, and the bruising is almost all gone. 
It was very enjoyable to have Travis' Mom here visiting.  She was very helpful with the kids and the cleaning.  We even made some applesauce, apple butter, and apple cobbler together while the kids were at school. (I had some apples I needed to use). 
We spent a lot of time fixing the tires on our van.  The van was wiggling a lot in the back, so we took it in to Midas which the place we bought the van from told us to take it.  It was about a 30-45 minute drive each way, there was a McDonalds next door, so we went over there and let the kids play for a while.  They told us the problems was the tires, and they needed to be replaced, so the next day we drove another 45 minutes each way to the tire place we were told to go to, and played at a game store for a while.  They told us they didn't have the tires in stock, so we had to come back the next day.  Travis had been wanting to take his mom to this Irish restaurant he likes.  So we took her to dinner, and yogurt for dessert.  The next day we once again trekked out to the tire place, this time playing at a McDonalds while they fixed the tires.  Travis had been given some free happy meal coupons, so we had plenty of happy meals for our kids.  I didn't want McDonalds so Travis walked to the panda express next door, and got us dinner.  We finally had our car fixed, yeah!  The kids also loved going to the dollar store and picking out 4 things, that Grandma paid for.  Everybody had fun with Grandma and we were sad to see her go.  Joseph and Samuel started Wrestling practice on the 7th, and practice three nights a week.  They are both enjoying it, and just starting to learn the maneuvers.  This last Sunday, a lady in our ward called Travis (since he's a chaplain), she was struggling and asked for help.  Her husband was out in the field, so she and her three children came over and played at our house, while Travis figured out who her home teacher was, and he came over and gave her a priesthood blessing.  They also ate dinner with us, and stayed until bedtime.  It felt good to help someone in need.  Also last week in the middle of the night, Travis got a call from the hospital, and had to go pray over a stillborn baby.  It was very sad.  I went to a Chaplain Spouse Coffee last week, and it felt good to get out of the house without the kids for a little while, although I was only there for a little over an hour, Travis came and picked me up, so I could help put the kids to bed.  On Tuesday I went to the PWOC kick-off and ended up arriving a little late, so the childcare was full, and I had to keep Caleb with me the whole time.  He did pretty good except when we were switching classrooms learning about all the bible study groups.  He didn't want to leave one of the classrooms, and threw a fit, so I stayed out in the halls with him for a while.  At the very end, when it was time to leave, Caleb was throwing a fit and did not want to go home.  So I finally just picked him up, and walked out the nearest door carrying his coat and shoes.  Halfway to the car, I put him down, since I was tired of his kicking and screaming, and thought he would follow me to the car.  I started walked towards the car, but he didn't follow me, he ran all the way back to the chapel door in the 0 degree weather, with no coat of shoes, and knocked on the door we left from, before I could catch him.  A lady let him inside, and I quickly caught up to him, and took him all the way back to the car kicking and screaming. Most of the time Caleb is pretty reasonable, but he occasionally throws his fits.   Last week Joseph got a black eye from a seventh grader at school.  At lunch the boy (very big boy) was calling Joseph a lot of bad words, and Joseph finally couldn't ignore him anymore and called him a "big fat cow", so the boy punched him.  Joseph ran off so he wouldn't try to fight him back.  The teachers in the lunchroom saw what happened and the other boy got in trouble, Joseph went to the nurse's office and they put ice on his eye.  He was fine but still upset about it after school.  The next day after school another boy from his class started calling him names as he left school, so he ran back into the school and told his teacher.  I feel bad about him being picked on, I remember hating middle school.  Joseph is doing much better with his homework and organization this semester, I helped him get his new binder all organized and it seems to be helping.