May 17th, 2009

May 17, 2009

Dear Family and Friends,

Here’s the rundown of our week. Monday we did some shopping and a few other errands. M worked a little extra every day this week. For FHE we talked about prayers, and how to make them a little more like a conversation with Heavenly Father instead of a one way telegram.

Tuesday I had all the preschool kids at our house for preschool. We had a lot of fun. B-man always gets excited to have people at our house. That afternoon we went to the park and enjoyed the beautiful weather. B-man found a caterpillar at the park and had so much fun carrying it around. He wanted to bring it home, but I was able to convince him that he wouldn’t like the hot car ride home. That night M had some Stake training meetings.

Wednesday morning I went to a doctor’s appointment. The doctor was very calm and unworried about what the ultrasound people had said. That made me feel a lot better. I was never really that worried, but now I choose to believe him and eliminate all worry. It’s funny though because when he said I had a large pelvis I considered it a compliment… I guess they do come in handy. That afternoon B-man and I were on a little bike ride. B-man was looking at the pool and we spotted a caterpillar crossing the pool patio. B-man was so excited, that he had to wait and take it home. We waited a long time, more than ten minutes (which is a long time for a boy to be in one place) and then B-man was able to reach through the fence and pick him up. He LOVES his caterpillar. We put him in a jar with leaves and flowers and covered the top with plastic wrap. B-man takes his caterpillar very seriously. I am pretty sure that he plays with him in the mornings before waking me up. Luckily he always tells me that he just held his caterpillar and then washes his hands. So far he has also been great about keeping the top covered. Mostly because he doesn’t want him to be able to escape. I’m not that crazy about having a caterpillar, but I had promised him at the park that if we found one closer to our house we could keep it and see if it would turn into a butterfly. I never thought he would actually find one! So far he doesn’t have a name. That night I went to mutual. We were done early which was a fun surprise.

Thursday we had preschool again at our house. We had a lot of fun talking about gardening and planting some radishes in cups for them to take home. The rest of the day I worked on organizing/washing baby clothes and a few other projects at home. That night after dinner M went to his “Man’s Club” and had a great time.

Friday was all about the “Fathers and Sons Campout.” B-man has been so excited all week for the camp-out. He has told everyone about it, even random strangers in the grocery store. M was able to come home from work very early since he has worked extra hours. We all had a fun lunch together, and then after a grueling reading lesson with B-man we packed up the car and the boys left. Right before leaving B-man came up to me and in a very serious tone said “Mom, will you please take good care of my caterpillar?” It was so cute and funny that he was so worried about leaving his caterpillar behind. The boys then were off. They drove about 45 minutes to a place called “Watermelon Park.” They were one of the first people there, which meant that they had a great campsite. From what I hear they spent the rest of their time having fun. B-man loved throwing rocks in the river, and running around with the other boys. If dirty clothes are a way to tell how much fun he had, then he must have had a blast. His clothes were filthy! They stayed up late and ate a lot of fun food, but they had a great time. While they were gone I was having fun too. I did some shopping in stores that I don’t get to go to very often. Then Q came down and met me at our house. We then ran and did some random grocery shopping for her. It was very fun to wander around Costco together. That night we went to dinner together at a local place that I like. To finish off the evening we watched “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” which we both had mixed feelings about. It’s good, but long and a little slow with a strange story.

Saturday morning we were up and going early. A friend met us at our house and then we all went looking for deals at garage sales. It was a fun day, and mostly fun to be with Q. I am so happy that she is here for the summer! M and B-man had left relatively early from the campout to make it to his first basketball class at a local rec center. B-man had a great time at his class, and it will be fun to see how progresses. After the basketball class M and B-man headed over to help a woman move. He was there for eight hours! I think it is a new record for moves. There wasn’t a great turnout for people to help, so it took a very long time, and they worked hard. B-man apparently did a great job and was being helpful, so he just kept having some father/son time. While they were working I tried to use my time effectively. I went to Home Depot and bought a bunch of flowers and some tomato plants. I then thought, “Well I’ll just start and then they can help me when they get home” but I didn’t know how long it would take them. In the end I planted all of the flowers (there were over sixty) showered, and prepared my lesson for Sunday before they got home. Don’t be too impressed with my work; I am a professional when it comes to finding ways to garden while sitting down. I only stood when absolutely necessary. My digging arm was pretty sore that night though. Once the boys finally came home we had just enough time to eat a very simple dinner, and then get a filthy B-man showered and into bed. He was exhausted from all the fun and excitement. That night M and I watched “Seven Pounds.” We both really enjoyed the movie and talked about it for a while afterwards. It was another slow movie, but the ending really makes all the slowness worth it.

Today has been a good day. B-man was requesting pancakes when he woke up, so I tried to hurry and get some breakfast for M before he had to leave for meetings. The only week that M doesn’t have meetings is Fast Sunday. This is tragic, because we can’t do a big fun breakfast. B-man has started asking “Is today a Fast Sunday or a Slow Sunday?” Today he made several comments about it being a “Slow Sunday” and having a fun breakfast. The morning went so smoothly that I even had a chance for a power nap once M got back from his meetings. Church was great and everything went smoothly. When we got home we had the fun surprise of Q waiting in her car! B-man immediately went and gave her a big hug. We had some friends over for dinner. They used to live in our same neighborhood, and B-man loves one of their kids. They also took great care of me while M was gone. It was fun to have them over for dinner. The boys played really well together. I don’t think there were any arguments! After dinner we put B-man to bed, and Q was very sneaky and did the dishes! It was a great surprise to come back downstairs to see.

We love you all!

R, M, and B-man