Sock Hop!

Two weekends ago we had a Sock Hop at church. It was fun planning and setting up for it. I dressed the boys in jeans and white teachers and slicked back their hair. Diana, Rilla, and I wore skirts and colorful shirts. We had such a great time dancing to 50's music and playing games. Walter won the hula hoop contest. He is pretty good. The only drawback was that was the weekend that we had all the rain which caused the flooding in middle Tennessee. It literally rained all weekend. Poured would be a more accurate term. We luckily weren't directly affected by the flooding since we are a higher elevation, but we saw small ponds of flooding in our surrounding neighborhoods. Nashville was hit hard and downtown Clarksville by the river was flooded and bridges and roads around them were also flooded. Because of this the whole school district was closed for the entire week. It was a lot of fun having the kids home all week despite the circumstances.

Walter's Field trip!

Last Friday I was able to go with Walter on his school field trip. I went with Jem last Fall on his field trip. Jem went to a Pumpkin farm and Walter's was also a farm, just a different one. Their were two Indian mounds at the new one. I had a lot of fun. I even enjoyed riding on the bus (several Mom's couldn't handle the noise). I can zone out noise very easily. Plus, riding the bus means I didn't have to drive, which I don't really like doing. I especially enjoyed spending the time with Walter. It isn't often that I get just one on one time with him. They had a fun tube slide and a hay hill to play on (when they had free time before lunch). The hay ride was my favorite. Feeding the animals was Walter's favorite part.

Fine Arts Night!

We had a Fine Arts Night at Walter's and Jem's school on Thursday. It was a lot of fun going to their school. The grades each sang a song (was optional so Jem did not go up and sing). Walter sang with his grade.

After the singing we visited their hallways to see their artwork. Walter's theme was Australia and Jem's was Asia. I took pictures of them with their teachers, unfortunately Jemls picture turned out blurry.







Rilla and Shirley loved it. They love going to Walter and Jem's school. Shirley especially liked the water fountain that was low enough for him to drink out of by himself.

Easter!

We had a very nice Easter. It was general conference weekend. Our church has it twice a year. Our leaders (Prophet, Apostles, Etc.) speak to us in four sessions, each 2 hours long. We have two on Saturday and two on Sunday. I love that we can watch them on tv or the internet so I actually get to pay attention to them. I really enjoyed listening to their talks. They were very inspiring.

Saturday we colored Easter eggs and in the evening we had an Easter egg hunt at my house. My friend and her boys joined us. The kids really enjoyed that. For Easter my kids got church outfits with their Easter baskets. Walter and Jem received their first suits. They look so handsome in them.

Our newest addition!

Right before Gil was deployed, we had a new addition to our family. her name is Diana (nickname for the blog) and she is 18 years old. She has been in foster care for 6 years and at 18, officially is out of foster care and needed a place to stay. She goes to our church ward and was our babysitter. It was an easy decision to have her join our family and we felt right about it. She is a junior in high school and we have told her she is welcome to be live with us until she graduates and goes off to college. She is planning on attending Austin Pea University here in Clarksville. It has been a great experience for me having her here. I am really enjoying being able to help her. She goes to Seminary now. I am getting up at 5:15 am to make her lunch, get her breakfast, read scriptures with her, and saying prayers before she leaves for Seminary at 5:50 every morning. Luckily, seminary is a block and a half from my house so she can walk there. Getting up early is really good for me. I am able to read scriptures after she leaves and before my kids get up. I usually have a half an hour to an hour before my kids wake up. The only hard part is getting to bed early as I have always been a night person. Even when I am very tired, sometimes it can take a long time to get to sleep.

I am also teaching her how to cook and do a lot of other stuff she has never learned to do. She wasn't used to home cooked meals and in the beginning was positive she wouldn't like some of the meals I cooked, but ended up liking all of them. She also wouldn't drink plain water when she came and I got her to start and now she drinks lots of water. It has felt so great getting to know her and being able to know her. I have helped her bring up her grades, too. That has been fun. I always loved school. The kids love having her here, too. She is great with them and is very helpful.

It hasn't all been easy. It is definately different having a teenager. Her communication skills could be better, or should I say lack of communication. Maybe most teenagers are like that. I got tired of the "I don't know" answer she would give quite often in the beginning. I learned that it could mean that she didn't know, she didn't remember, she didn't care, or she didn't want to talk about it. I just ask for more clarification now. The whole texting thing is new to me, too. I got her a phone and switched our plan to unlimited texting. I set out the rules for it and the time and then checked online a few days later and discovered she was texting during Seminary and school and after curfew. She lost her phone for a week and hasn't used it when she is not supposed to since. She loves having her phone. She wasn't mad at me either when I took it away. She new she was wrong for using it when she wasn't supposed to. I relationship actually grew stronger after I disciplined her.

Wrist fracture!

Shirley broke is wrist two and a half weeks ago. He was playing in the back yard with his brother and sisters and my neighbor girls who come over 3 nights to help out with the kids. No one saw how he broke it. He fell and must have landed on it wrong. He has a buckle wrist fracture. I was pretty sure is was probably broken because he acted similar to the last time he broke his arm. I took him to the ER. When the doctor came in to look at it Shirley didn't act like it hurt when he held and felt his wrist and arm. He did the same thing the last time. An ex-ray was done and it was broken. He know has a cast. He had a temporary cast on for the first day and a half, then had the permanent one put on. I chose orange because he seems to like orange, it is the only color that he gets right all the time. I was grateful for the permanent one since he was able to get the temporary one off. Sometimes he wants the cast off because it gets in the way, but he doesn't act like it bothers him the rest of the time. We go in tomorrow to get this cast off and a new one put on for the final 2 weeks he will be wearing it.

Skyping!

Gil tries to Skype at least once a week. Skype is a program that lets you talk and see someone from another computer (and for free). He Skypes me in the evening, after the kids go to bed on Saturday night and then the kids on Sunday morning. The kids love it. They love seeing their Daddy. It has been a little over a month and they are doing so well with him being gone. They get a little sad occasionally, but that is it (at least so far).