This is a whole week late. We've been pretty busy lately (okay, so we're always busy) and have enjoyed some fun activities the past couple of weeks.

I really like this outfit that Elden is wearing. This is him 1 week ago.




A picture that one of my kids took. I think Cal was the genius behind it. Hope you're not nauseous right now.


The last Thursday in August we went to the sprinkler park while Clark was at school.






The last Saturday of August I took the boys to a primary activity on building eternal families. They really enjoyed it. We have great leaders and teachers in our primary here. For lunch we went to the USO. I don't think we'll be doing that again. The kids were great but they didn't want to eat the nachos. Okay, Clark did, but the other kids just picked at their food.


I didn't realize we had the same shirts on till later. Go Dr. Who club!


We then took a trip to the Rubidoux River in Waynesville with Jen and Kristi. There was a good amount of wind for flying kites.








That night we watched our friends' kids and the other neighbor kids joined in on the festivities too.




Work is going well for Lee. It is pretty busy, especially since two more doctors are gone. He has been riding his bike to work everyday in the morning and has gotten a couple of bike rides in on the weekends. The weather here has been amazing and it's been quite a mild summer.

Clark is doing well in school. He didn't get into the LEAP program, which was disappointing. I'm hoping he'll do well on the nationalized testing again so he can try and get into it next year. His teacher recognized me yesterday when I was leaving Walmart and I did not recognize her, which I felt bad about. I had the girls with me at the time and she said that she didn't know I had two other kids. Then I told her I had two more. It was pretty funny. I also found out that Cal didn't get into the free PACE preschool on base. And unlike the LEAP program, I was happy about that.

Everytime I see Clark run into school he seems to shrink into this tiny little boy. At home I need to be careful because sometimes I think I deal with Clark like he is 12, and he is only 6. But it is sad seeing him run off into the school. Shanna had Clark's backpack on the other day and I started thinking about when the girls will go to school. I stopped thinking about it because it was making me sad. What I did with Clark in getting him ready for kindergarten I am going to do with Cal. I am glad he can be home one more year. Plus Cal has had a wonderful time playing with his friend up the street during the day. He and his friend are very cute together and his mom has been taking Cal with them to storytime.

So another funny little story, a few weeks ago I received a call on my cell phone from a number I didn't recognize. I went ahead and answered. It was an automated message saying something like: "I'm calling concerning your credit card. Be assured, there is nothing wrong with your credit card..." HA! Don't people do their research? We haven't had credit cards since February. And Lee got the same message too! A few days ago I got a thing in the mail about Marlboro advertising their website. I am the last person in the world that would smoke. Matt should do a research paper on the mishaps and marketing mistakes of giant companies.

We had a fun week!

On Wednesday Haley was sleeping on the couch. Shanna came downstairs at one point with her and Haley's blankets. Without any prompting, Shanna went straight to the couch and put a blanket on Haley. By the time I got the camera out Haley had moved, but what a kind gesture!


Thursday Lee and I went on a date to the hospital. Dr. Harrison, who was over Lee, retired and there was a farewell lunch for him. I am glad we brought Elden as Lee's co-workers enjoyed seeing him. And it was good to again meet the people that Lee works with.

On Friday Lexie was born! Congrats Roger and Brittany!


Since I didn't get a picture of Clark this week, here he is a year ago with Anthon and Haley in the background.


Cal wanted a photo-shoot with Elden



Shanna and Elden on Friday--notice the "baby bottle"?


Friday afternoon we were at the park. It was wonderful outside! Also this week, I met my weight goal! (According to my scale anyway...) Friday late afternoon I went grocery shopping. I
had a little taste of what grocery shopping will be like for the next couple of months. I don't know why, but it is so fun and exciting to go grocery shopping on a very limited budget. It's like trying to figure out a fun problem or puzzle. Many times in Memphis grocery shopping and putting together meals was not fun, but that was part of being a student. Now I know we aren't students and there is a HUGE end in sight (October 30th!) so I don't mind going back to a "student" food budget for two more months. I am going to miss the excitement and challenge of getting out of debt, as weird as that may seem!

Back to last week, Saturday Clark and Cal's friends came over in the morning. Then Lee and I went on a nice long date thanks to Kari! First we went to the USO for free nachos and granola bars for lunch, then we saw Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. We thought the movie would be free, but it wasn't. At least we had a coupon for one of us to get into the movie for free!

We really enjoyed the movie even though the story was changed up a bit. Okay, quite a bit. What was funny was right when the movie finished, someone behind us said: "That was it?" Guess they never read the book! Yes the movie didn't show the big battle at the end of the book, but the very end of the movie was very appropriate. Before the movie--and every movie on base, a video collage is shown of military people in action while someone sings the national anthem. It was heightened by seeing 50+ servicemen in uniform standing at attention right there in the theater and it was wonderful to feel of the Spirit there. God has truly blessed this wonderful county that my family and I are so priviledged to live in. To end our Saturday, Lee and I played Zooloretto.

We've had a quiet Sunday (except for Shanna and Haley during sacrament meeting). We are enjoying the RED tomatoes from our garden again in salsa today! Thanks Dad!

Here are the kids (3/5ths of them) this evening. Thanks for the pj's Kelly! They love them!




So was anybody fooled by the black and white picture? Since most of you don't know who Lexie is, I guess it didn't faze you. But the color photo of Lexie remined Lee and I very much of Haley when she was born. The black and white photo is of Haley. That would be awesome and funny if Lexie did end up looking like Haley.

I was going to write more, but my thoughts have left me. Maybe they are resting on the Sabbath too.

Lena sent this to me, and she got it from Christina. Anyway, pretty amazing cake!!!! Thanks for sharing Lena and Christina!



Check out the site and article:

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/blog/2009/08/16/life-is-a-bed-of-roses-fondant-for-beginners/

All is well and noisy at the Robertson Retreat. Sacrament meeting was great today (if I don't think about how our kids acted.) For some reason Shanna thinks it's jungle-gym time when we sit down in the chapel. But the speakers were great and you could feel the spirit. I guess every 3rd Sunday the focus is on missionary work. The Bishop had several converts share their testimonies. The youth speaker talked on fellow-shipping each other and the ward mission leader spoke on missionary work. My lesson went well I think. And of course Relief Society was great!

Thursday afternoon we went to the river and then to the USO for free junk food. Friday night we had some friends over and played Settlers of Catan.

Saturday the library on base had a "Beat the Heat" end of summer party to wrap up the summer reading program. They went all out! Snacks (yes we got to eat inside the library!), drinks, free cheap toys, a puppet show, a free little stuffed dog (an advertisement for a business), face painting, balloon shaping (what is it called?!), door prizes, bubbles, sidewalk chalk, water guns, a dunk tank, an critter show of local critters, and to top it all off two firetrucks shooting water at each other and kids could play under the spraying water. They gave away bikes to people who participated in the reading program.














Lee enjoyed a bike ride later that night and we tried to finish a movie, but our DVD player is still acting weird and we could only watch about 30 minutes of it.

A couple weeks ago I found out from a blog, Hip 2 Save, which I would recommend to you all, that Tulle was having a fabulous clothing sale! I had never heard of Tulle, but Lois was planning on buying something from there, so I decided to go ahead and look at the website. The sale was amazing!

Here is what I got: this brushed twill skirt for $6.99 (looks great after a Sunday at church, ha ha.) By the way, the jacket I am wearing Lois gave to me, and she got it for free. The white shirt I got on my mission at Ross' I think. You know sisters, the one south of the VC?


The corduroy jacket I got for $5.99, and the black bermuda shorts (the fabric reminds me of seersucker fabric and it probably is?) were also $5.99. I got lucky and guessed right on the sizes. Shipping was on the high end for me, but tolerable at $8.90. I am really excited for their sale next year! I'll be shopping earlier in the day next time too. There was a shirt that I really liked, but was already sold out by the time I started looking at the clothes.


While I was in Columbia, my parents came for several weeks to help out. My Dad loves gardening and is amazing at it, so I took advantage of that and asked him to plant a garden for us. Well, I think we're hooked! Lee has enjoyed watching every thing grow, and the kids overall have been good to the plants. The one problem has been the tomatoes. The kids (Cal and his tomato raiding band of pirates) keep picking the green ones! Our first tomato to ripen was a little one, but it was so good! Well, today I got to pick two more. Oh so good. I made salsa. YUM! Cal, Shanna and Haley loved the salsa and were chowing down on it, onions and all! Cal was even drinking the "juice" from the salsa.



Cal and Elden hanging out today




I LOVE Elden's smiles!

Clark's second tooth came in before his baby tooth fell out. I pulled it out this evening and hopefully the rest of our kids aren't tainted for life. Lee had a screaming Clark in a full body hold while I was trying to get the dental floss around his tooth. Luckily it came out in one yank. We tried last week, but after two yanks, we decided to give it another week. You can see the adult tooth and the hole where the baby tooth was.


This weekend must be spoil-your-wife-weekend because Lee has done just that! Saturday I was planning on just doing towels and such for the laundry and saving the rest till Monday. Well, he practically did ALL of the laundry! Then today he made dinner for all of us, cleaned up the kitchen and made muffins. And for the icing on the cake, Lee put the 4 oldest kids to bed! We normally both help out with dinner and bedtime, but tonight he gave me a break. I for sure wouldn't have had 5 kids if Lee wasn't helpful. He is a wonderful husband and my best friend. I could go on and on about how much he helps me and does things for the kids! I am truly blessed to have such a wonderful husband.

The boys wanted blue muffins, so I added the coloring to Lee's summer squash muffins.


Clark is enjoying school and aside from the fridge raiders, it is pretty quiet at home during the days. This will be the first full week of school. I have been doing some stuff with my budget and that has been SOOO fun! We are super excited about this Saturday because we get to see Harry Potter for free and we won't have any kids with us! Take care everyone, and you husbands--spoil your wives this week! We're excited about Roger and Brittany's baby arriving this week!