Getting Old

On Monday I turned 30. I don't remember a birthday where I felt so loved and remembered. Sometimes living a thousand miles from family makes special days harder or lonelier. That was definitely not the case this year. I received darling birthday cards on Saturday which just got things off to a great start.

Sunday was great too. One of the best parts of being in primary is hearing the kids sing. Thanks to the wonderful primary leaders (especially the music people) I was sung to by both Junior and Senior primary. (I even got to use the shakers twice!)

Mike was on call all weekend, and unfortunately got called in about 3:00 am on Monday morning. He kissed me goodbye and I didn't think I'd see him again till after work at about 6:00 for dinner. The boys woke up and came in and snuggled me. They got showered and dressed and were playing happily as I began preparing my CHOCOLATE birthday cake. The doorbell rang and a delivery man with a beautiful bouquet of flowers from my Dad. They still smell absolutely heavenly. We put the flowers in the Kitchen on the table, and went back to playing.

All of a sudden I heard the garage door open. George has been especially fascinated by the garage door lately and loves to open and close it. (Bad activity!) I began hollering to George to come out of the Garage and leave the door alone. I turned around and there was Mike with a balloon bouquet. After apologizing to George, I was able to spend a few minutes talking to Mike as he ate breakfast and made a lunch for the day. The boys gave me tulip bulbs, and a paper towel holder. It was a wonderful surprise.

The boys and I had an enjoyable morning. The weather was beautiful. I love the crisp fall air. Both boys had school in the afternoon, so after dropping them off, my dear friend Janell took me to the most delicious lunch! We went to a seafood restaurant nearby and it was divine. I had a Sea Bass with roasted potatoes and asparagus with a delectable apple cobbler for desert. The company and conversation was as good as the food. Clifton behaved well, and I had a wonderful time.

After School, the boys helped me frost the cake and make dinner. Rich and Janell came to dinner and we had a nice relaxing dinner together completed with the chocolate cake.

On Tuesday my darling visiting teacher brought over lunch. She made Thai lettuce wraps and a pear strudel. It was delicious. Then that evening, a group of friends took me to dinner at a yummy Mexican restaurant. We had a great time. I'm sure the management was thrilled when we finally left 3 hours later!

I had lots of wonderful phone calls and I truly feel loved by my friends and family! Thanks for making it such a wonderful day!

(I love how Birthdays are always filled with wonderful food!!!!!)

Bedtime for Boys

One of the most enjoyable or the most frustrating times of day as a mom is Bedtime. It all depends on the day. The boys can either be wonderfully helpful and sweet, or as stubborn as mules. Fortunately we have many more wonderful days than frustrating days. (It always makes a big difference when Dad is around to help.)

It is so fun to watch my kids grow up and learn to do things for themselves. It's so nice when I can send George and Henry upstairs to their room to get their pajamas on while I change Clifton. They have become pretty good at brushing their own teeth and I can now supervise rather than having to help them as much.

They both love books and stories. We've been reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone to George. It is a little beyond him, but he enjoys it and is excited to be able to watch the movie when we finish.

Henry loves picture books. He will read almost any book he can find. His favorite for the past couple of days is a pop up book called The Itsy Bitsy Spider. He loves to sing the song as we read the book.

Clifton is just my happy baby. He's figured out how to crawl. He does a great army crawl and can maneuver himself anywhere pretty quickly. I really have to watch him now when he's down. He also loves to eat. Today Janie took me to lunch, and I brought him along. He had quite a feast with us. He loved the Sea Bass and the yummy biscuits. He also had his first taste of ice cream (Don't tell Mike!!!!) We have yet to find anything he won't eat. (I hope it continues!)

George's Appointment with Dad

Well, George had his appointment at the Opthalmologists last week. Good news - He has good eyes (at least for our family). He probably won't need glasses for another 5 or so years. We were happy to hear that. One little boy's glasses are hard enough to keep track of.

It was so exciting for George to see his dad in action. He wanted to understand everything that was going on. (He asked if they could take a picture of the back of his eye so he could see what it looks like too.)

The only hard part was getting his dialation drops. As you can see, it was a bit of a struggle for him. (George insisted that only Dad could put the drops in.

All in all, it was a good experience, and Clifton was an angel the whole time.

Pumpkin Patch

On Friday October 5th, the boys and I went to a pumpkin patch out by Lawrence. It was a blast! They got a wagon ride out to the pumpkin patch and found wonderful beautiful pumpkins. We found big ones and little ones. We had a great time with lots of our friends there, and our new pumpkins look great on the front porch!

Go Royals!

We made our first family outing to Kaufman Stadium to see the Royals. It was a great night to go - friday fireworks, dollar hot dogs and great friends! Although it was a little loud for Clifton, the boys had a great time. They lasted the whole game and had a blast. We'll have to make this a more frequent event next year - maybe we'll even get to see a winning game!

Henry's new Glasses!

How quickly things happen around here with these little boys! Mike is doing a pediatric opthamology rotation right now at the children's hospital near our house. We decided it would be a good idea to get an eye appointment for George and Henry while he was there so they could see Dad at work. Well, Henry had his appointment last week, and to our suprise, he had bad eyes! I took him shopping for glasses, and he was so excited! We found some at a wonderful little children's glasses shop, and he got them yesterday in time to go to preschool. We took some pictures of him at school with his new specs! Pretty handsome boy.

Next week it's George's turn. We'll see how that goes!