What a fun week. Busy, of course as always; but fun. My neighbor and I swapped babysitting this week. That's probably why I am remembering this week with fondness...I had a great date with Lee yesterday!

Now this is what I call creative spelling. Cal thought of it and did it all on his own on Thursday!


Shanna likes to put on different outfits halfway through the day. I guess I was the same as a child. This is one of her favorite outfits. Thanks Sarah and Kelly for the clothes! She loves them!


Lee is in the Elder's Quorum Presidency. We invited the President and his family and the other counselor and his family over for pizza and games. The kids made their own pizzas, which was fun. We didn't get to the games, but that is okay. I'm sure we'll have them over again soon and play games.








I enjoyed our date on Saturday. We visited the USO and had free nachos and snacks, then played three games of ping pong. Next up: Goodwill. We had a fun time there and bought several things! And you can't have a date in Missouri without hitting good ol' Walmart! I am excited about my new 7 quart crock-pot. Last night we had some more friends over and played That's Life! and Set. Very fun.

Since Elden wasn't in any earlier pictures, I snapped a couple off today




Clark and Shanna didn't want Elden to fall off the couch.


Elden's physical therapy continues to go well. He is still going once a week. I am feeding him more "baby" food. The other night I was feeding him the soup part of taco soup and he LOVED it! He also enjoyed some dip/salsa mixture I gave him last night. Guess he inherited some genes from his Uncle Sam.

I had a dental appointment this week to take care of two of my cavities and I COMPLETELY forgot! It's rescheduled now. At least I wasn't the first person ever to forget a dental appointment!

Tuesdays and Thursdays we are going to start having "reading nights". They are mainly for my benefit. There are books that I want to read, but I just am either too busy or don't schedule my time well (the later being the big part of the problem!). If it's not my scriptures, I am not likely to read it anytime soon! But, I am trying to change that. Hopefully I'll report success next week.

Lee just got back from the Priesthood meetings he had tonight. It's nice that he only had to drive to our regular church building to attend. Have a wonderful week everyone!

We enjoyed another 4-day week because Lee had President's Day off. It is sad for me when Lee has to go back to work. I do want to write that I am very disappointed that schools and businesses had work/school off for Martin Luther King, Jr. day and not President's Day. Sure MLK, jr. did some good things, but what about all of our wonderful presidents? Especially the ones that founded this great nation?

The kids had fun with a track that Lee built sometime during the week...photos courtesy of Cal






Shanna and Haley this morning before church. I very often think of how blessed I am to have these two girls. They are so fun!




Mr. Elden today






I can't believe it's been over a year since I headed up to Columbia to be on bedrest. Last year at this time I was still on bedrest. Elden will be one in 2 1/2 weeks! My friend Kristi told me about her friend that went up to Columbia last week because her water broke. I am glad that her friend is farther along than I ever was (32 weeks). Lee and I have a little joke about me "baking" my kids to perfection in utero. We were talking about Elden baking to perfection a few weeks ago, but I basically said how he actually wasn't. He came a little too early (12 weeks early!). Then Lee said, "Well, he was microwaved to perfection after that." It was so funny. Especially thinking about Elden being in the isolette for so long...I guess it is somewhat of a microwave!

Elden started physical therapy a little over a week ago. In a week he will be 9 months old, gestation wise. He is doing things more like an 8 month old. We are working with him to gain more strength, thus enabling him to do 9 month old things. I really like his therapist. Hopefully the sessions will move to once every other week instead of once a week. Last week Elden's first tooth broke through and I have felt it too much already while nursing him. He is also officially crawling! He sure can get around. We have to make sure little bits of thinsg like paper and wrappers aren't on the ground, as Elden has already gagged several times!

Shanna and Haley have been doing pretty well with potty-training. It's been three weeks and they are basically all trained. They are still having occasional accidents, and they are fewer and farther apart, but at this point, my boys weren't have any really accidents. Overall, Lee and I are very pleased with the current outcome. They haven't had any accidents in public, which is great! The girls have been talking a lot more too which is great.

They have been saying some cute things. One thing I say to my girls a lot, in a singing tone, "Pretty Haley" and "Pretty Shanna". What is fun is when Haley and Shanna will say to me: "Pretty mommy." And then when they talk about the boys, they say in a deep voice "Cool Daddy" or any of the other boys' names (or "baby" for Elden.) Last night I was painting Shanna's fingernails and she said "I want to go shopping." It was so funny. I guess having pretty nails gets you in the mood to spend money! One more thing about Shanna. She has a stuffed toy lamb that she likes. She calls it her baa ha ha.

Cal is doing well. He is having a lot of fun with his little buddy Sebastian. He goes with Sebastian and his mom to story time every week, which I love! (Thanks Audrey!) We are working with him on his numbers. Since he isn't in preschool, I am trying to make sure he is somewhat prepared for school. He can write his name, and knows other things like shapes and colors of course. He had a chance to go to preschool actually. There is a free one here on base that called about a month ago with an opening. I decided not to have him go. It would have been more of a hassle than anything. Clark was able to get ready for school at home, so I am hoping the same for Cal. Already Cal is looking forward to school and to the fun things he will get in his school lunch like Clark gets.

Clark had his first trip to the dentist last week. He was wary of going, but didn't put up a fight. Overall, he loved it! And I loved that he didn't have any cavities. Afterwards he got a helium balloon and a bag with a toothbrush and toothpaste, dental floss, a sand timer to use when he brushes his teeth and a little mirror tool--like the one the dentist uses to look at your teeth. He is doing great in school, which with we are very pleased. First grade has been easier than Kindergarten. Helping him learn to read took a lot of effort on our part and his. But now that he knows how to sound out words, AND knows how to read, homework is pretty easy lately.

Our only struggle is when he has writing assignments. His teacher lets him use "creative" spelling (I'll call it) for words he doesn't know how to spell, but I insist that he writes the correct spelling and I tell him how to spell the words. Maybe that's bad, but oh well. One funny story to share about Clark and Cal. Last night Clark was saying that he didn't want me to die. I told him that I wouldn't die for a really, really long time (I hope!) and that he would be an old man too when I died. A little bit later I told him that's why mom and dad go to the temple-so that after we die we can be a family for eternity. It would be sad if we died and then weren't a family anymore. This morning Lee heard Cal telling Clark that he didn't want to go to church. Clark, knowing that going to church is part of having an eternal family, then said, "Don't you want to be a family forever?" Cal didn't answer, but Clark pressed him, "Well Cal, yes or no?" Lee didn't hear the rest of the conversation, but I was very pleased with what Lee related to me.

Lee has been having fun looking at vehicles, bikes, and bike parts online. Now that we found a vehicle, that search is over. He is currently looking at bikes for me and is getting some parts to add longevity to his bike. His work schedule has been somewhat crazy--for me anyway. Usually he is at the 43rd, which I LOVE. Lately though his has been at the hospital more. Oh well. I am very spoiled with his great work schedule!

I have been doing pretty much the same things lately: visiting teaching items, things around the house, etc. I too went to the dentist with Clark. I haven't been for 9 years! Last time I went was on my mission. Unlike cavity-less Clark, I have four cavities. I guess they are small ones, so that is good. I am glad I don't need any root canals! Friday night we played a game with our friend Kim. She and her husband came over and the kids had a ball playing with him. Yesterday Lee and I made babyshower invitations for her. I am going to do a babyshower for her in March. I am excited about it.

Also yesterday I spent at least an hour and a half cleaning the van. Before we bought it or saw it Lee asked the guy if it was clean. He said it was "as clean as a whistle". Well, according to me it was not. I did a once over on it. After I vacuumed it, I scrubbed the two big floor mats, some of the carpet and wiped down a bunch of other stuff. Now I would say it's as clean as a whistle, and our van smells like cleaner. I am thinking of changing our eating habits in vehicles. We'll see how well it goes, but I would like to change a few things. We are usually pretty good--like no Cheeto type stuff, or red/purple juice for the kids, for example. But now that it is all clean, I don't want anyone to eat in it! Though, that is not very realistic with how many trips we take. At least I can always buy more cleaner and scrub it yet again. (And I am sure I will have to!)

Last night as Lee and I were making the invitations we watched Dave Ramsey's DVD, Dumping Debt. Even though we don't have any debt right now it was fun to watch and listen too. And even though we are out of debt we are still working on our budget and trying to reach specific saving goals. We have to keep up with the budget just as much as before. But it's much more fun to actually buy stuff instead of paying off stuff!

We are enjoying life and I am so thankful for my wonderful family! Enjoy the week!

Even with February being so short, I feel like it should be over by now! The other day I thought it was the last Friday in February, only to realize that there is still a good whole week left in the month. I am still not staying on top of this blog as I would like, but someday I won't get behind on it.

A couple weeks ago Clark had in his school music program. He kept reminding me of it, making sure I would come. I even brought the rest of the crew with me. I wasn't planning on it as I think I told my friend the wrong day to come and watch the other kids. We survived though.





Valentine's Day weekend was a four-day weekend and we watched our friend's dog. It was really easy as we just walked to their house to let the dog out twice a day. Also that weekend we went to St. Louis. It is so nice to be able to go to the temple once a month. I wish we could go a little more often. Someday! It was great having Lee home. I am sure spoiled with his work schedule. Also that weekend we became a 2 vehicle family.

I was glad that Valentine's Day was on a Sunday. We like to buy our kids some small gifts for Valentine's Day. With Lee being gone during the week-day mornings, it was nice he was here when they got their presents. They received books this year.




A cute story about Shanna. When Clark came home the day he had his Valentine's party at school, Shanna saw all the Valentines and the candy he got. She looked at me and said with a half frown, "I want to go to school!" And buried her face in a pillow and started a fake cry. It was so cute.








Lee's Valentine from me. We had a $5 budget for each other. I went over $0.15 and Lee went under $0.15 so it all worked out.




Growing up my dad would always leave us kids Valentine's. He would get us each a card and put some sort of treat inside the envelope. He would then leave them at the doorstep, ring the doorbell and sneak away. It was very fun. We started doing the same type of thing this year with our kids. They loved it! Another tradition started! I didn't buy them cards, but I have a stack of foam "paper" and I wrote a note to each child on the cut-out heart-shaped foam. (Well, except Elden..sorry buddy!) It worked out great because they had their treat while we listened to a conference talk.








I hope you all had a fun Valentine's Day! Some people might think it's a day for the stores to get us to buy more junk to express our love to people who should already know that we love them. And sure, they are partly right. But I know that I don't make a constant conscious effort to do special things--out of the ordinary anyway--to show my love and gratitude for my family. I think it's a fun day.

Supposed photo of Joseph Smith

This is very interesting:

We are getting a lot more snow here than we did last winter, and we have been enjoying it. I loved having Lee home for a whole week to help potty-train the girls.







Shanna day 1 of potty-training








I made rolls a couple of weeks ago and the girls enjoyed a flour fight


They also had a hair pulling contest earlier..really!


One of the kids took this of me in my family picture the summer of 1998.


Feb 6th was a fun Saturday. I went to a babyshower that morning/early afternoon. Later that day we met up with Malee and her family and Christina and her family at an indoor pool in Rolla. We had a great time and want to go back again. It sure is fun getting "out of the house" in the middle of winter.










Elden wasn't quite sure what to think of the water. He is used to warm bath water, so the cooler water wasn't much to his liking.


Feb 7th we celebrated Sheldon's birthday. He turned the big 2-0. I just realized that I am 10 years older than him! He is on a mission in Italy at present, so we thought we'd celebrate here at home for him. He told us that Italians think it's weird to have cake and ice cream at the same time! We kept with USA tradition and did have cake and ice cream.

We made him a cake.






Ready to light the candles!


Yep, we used 20 candles!


We even sang to you Anziano Bartholomew! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!


Our nephew's birthday is the same day at Sheldon's. We didn't celebrate his birthday as he has the luxury of celebrating it at home. But we did think of him that day too. HAPPY BIRTHDAY Nathan!!!