Some cute pictures of Saul's birthday

Saul was able to open one present on his actual birthday.
Here is Saul's Monster Truck cake. Chad did the cutting and I did the frosting. It turned out really cute.
And here are the three musketeers. Kaiden Withrow, Bryson Theil, and Saul. They are best buddies. So sad that Bryson is moving to Indiana when school gets out. Hopefully he will be able to come and visit sometimes.

On Saturday, Eva and I went to a tea party hosted by the local library. She had a fabulous time! Miss Arkansas, Katie Bailey was there and visited with all the little girls, giving them signed pictures as well. Eva was in heaven. The food was tasty and it was fun to watch all the little girls having so much fun. We got to sit by Carrie Bales and her daughter, Taylor.

After the tea party, we ran to Wal-mart to get a few last minute things for Saul's birthday party. He had two buddies come for the party and it was a success! I will explain the success part later. They played outside for a while and then opened presents. Then it was on to cake and ice cream. His one friend, Kaiden Withrow, had to leave a little early. Bryson Theil stayed longer. The success part comes from both Bryson and Saul having to take showers before they were allowed to roam around the house again. When those two get together, they always end up in the creek wet and muddy. Bryson has gone home in Saul's clothes more than once! But, hey, they have a great time! So, Saul got a lot of cars and trucks and small lego sets. He was happy with it all.

Sunday was as lovely as a Sunday can be for me. I will be glad when I can enjoy Sundays, at least a little bit, again. I had choir practice at 9am but had to go early to practice the organ a little (due to the Eagle Court of Honor Wednesday, I didn't get the chance to practice then...) Chad has early meetings that are supposed to let out at 9am, that way he can take the kids while I lead choir practice, but no, his meeting didn't let out until 9:30.......so no help with the kids this time. I hurried into the chapel to play prelude and there was a definite roar already. By about 5 til I could take it no more. I leaned over to a member of the bishopric, who by the way was also talking, and asked him if he could "please shush the brethren and sisters, I can't even hear the organ playing!" He announced something about being more reverent but it only helped for a short time.....Very irritating! So, the rest of church went okay. The afternoon was nice. We went to Grandma Lena's because she had a gift for Saul. We visited and the kids played with the boys. All had a good time and there was no fighting!

Monday has been very busy. Saul had to pack a lunch for a school field trip. He went to Blanchard Springs Caverns. He had a good time. I took Eva to register for Kindergarten. I can't believe she is old enough already. She knows all her colors, letters, and shapes. There were a couple of numbers she could remember when she was asked about them. She is so excited to go to school! She is almost counting the days! She also learned to ride her two-wheel bike. She is so proud of herself. I will try to post the video I took of her riding. So many firsts in one day.......What a kid!

The Science project went well. I took the stuff to school and Elias read his report and did the experiment. The kids were interested and Elias had a good time with it.

It being Saul's birthday, I took chocolate covered donuts to his classroom. The kids were thrilled and acted as though they had never seen smaller kids before. They wouldn't leave Eva and Jesse alone! They wanted them to talk and all that. So funny.

I made a special dessert for Saul's birthday. It is from Pioneer Woman Cooks site. It is a flower pot dessert. It was really fun to make and the kids loved eating from clay flower pots. There is pound cake at the bottom and then ice cream of your choice, then crushed oreos with gummi worms, if you like in it. Then there is a flower stuck in a straw in the middle. The flower thing worked well for me as there are a lot of leftovers and now I know to whom each belongs. They each chose the color of flower they liked best.

I let Saul open one gift tonight. Chad had to go with the missionaries so he wasn't here. Saul opened a little lego set. He built a small tow truck and has decided legos are his new best friend. We will see how long that lasts. I will post pictures of him getting it out of the Wal-mart sack! Yes, my wrapping is pathetic, I know. But it was a busy day and I did get him something!

Jesse is asleep on my lap now. He was crying for "Papa!" He loves having Chad around in the evenings and lets me know he's unhappy when he's not here. All-in-all, it was a good day....Saul turned seven, and he feels bigger already, he said. Can't ask for much more than that!

I will take a little time now to jot down a few things that have been happening here. First, I'm excited that Hazel, my niece will probably be born today. Way to go Carolyn, I hope all goes well. It is Saul's seventh birthday and he woke up with giving me a big hug. Maybe the seventh year won't be as trying as the sixth was.......we will see, after the birthday happiness wears off.

Jacob Maple was presented with his Eagle Scout award last night. It was fun and very family oriented. 8 of the 10 kids were present with their spouse or significant other. The other two kids don't live in the area and were not able to make it. It was a nice ceremony. Toni did a lot to help put the program together, so I picked up two of her kids from school to bring in to the church. They had a great time playing here after school.

On the way home from school, I usually ask the kids if they have homework.

Elias: "No, wait--oh yea, I have a science project and report due tomorrow!"

Me: (in my mind)-- WHAT!?!

Me: "So, you have most of your information together and part of the report written?"-(haha)

Elias: "No!, you didn't remind me....."

Me: "Uhh, no, that would be your bad, buddy."

Elias: "Well, what am I going to do?"

Me: "I guess when we get home, you will just have get onto it."

Elias: "Okay"

So, when we got home. He did his experiment and wrote his report. He told me it had to be at least one page, he only had half a page. I helped him fill it in with fluff to make it a complete report. What fun!

We are having a birthday party for Saul on Saturday and he has requested donuts for his birthday snack at school. I still have to take all the stuff for Elias' science project up to the school so thankfully, I can do that all at the same time.

Life is good and the kids are healthy. I'm excited for the end of school when we can all be home and do fun things together. My house may not be the cleanest, and the kids probably aren't either, but we have a lot of fun together! I want the kids to remember their childhood with fond memories of working and playing together with their family. I want them to be the best of friends even as adults. I think that is important in this world of constant change, that they will always have friends in their siblings-no matter what.

The Gospel is so true. Our leaders are guiding us in the right way to go. They say to teach our children by example and love them. I love having that constant guidance in my life. My kids keep me going in the right way because I want them to do what is right and it is my example they follow.

Well, have a great day everyone!

Monday night, so much to say.....I just remembered something from Saturday. I had run my little mile and was taking a shower. Chad was working so, not home. I hear blood-curdling screaming coming from Eva. I shouted for someone to tell me what was happening as I was not exactly in a position to jump out of the shower.....Well, they didn't. I hurried and got out to see what the problem was. Eva was sitting on the stool by the front door with her foot up and covered with blood. There was blood everywhere! A rather large pool in her shoe and a good sized pool on the floor directly beneath her foot. I was aghast to say the least. I ran down to see just what the damage was. It turned out that she had actually re-injured her ankle. She had done a carpet-burn style thing to it last Saturday and Saul had run into her on his bike and torn it open. One would not think there would be so much blood! But there was.....We had a little talk about first aid and what to do first. (Saul was standing by her offering her a couple of very small band-aids when I came down to asses the situation) So, after a lot of crying and wailing and such, we had her all fixed up and running again. Aren't kids fun!?!

Sunday, Chad had a speaking assignment in church. I had Saul sit with him and was planning on having the other three. However, Chad took Eva and Jesse down to sit with Grandma and Grandpa. Eva stayed but Jesse wouldn't . He was fine with me on the stand but Eva sulked the entire meeting. Then, she refused to go to primary because she was upset that the boys got to sit up on the stand with us and she didn't. After a pancake and a hug, she was fine. The workings of a little girl......I will never understand, Chad is still trying to figure it out too!

Monday, we had a fun family activity. Chad loaded up the bikes in his truck and met us at the park after school. Chad and I roller bladed and the kids all rode their bikes. It was a lot of fun. They followed directions well. We then got pizza, which was actually the highlight for me......and ate at home. Then Eva was stung by a wasp and that was rather traumatic for her. I got her set up with an ice pack and she is fine now.

As I was putting the kids to bed tonight, I was thinking how thankful I am for their faith. They are a good example to me. They each kneel by their bed and say their prayers mostly by themselves. It is nice to hear them talk with their Heavenly Father and really believe that he hears them. I love to gospel of Jesus Christ. I am so happy to know that I can be with my family for all eternity!

I'm tired and need to get to bed!