Sept. 29, 2013

Life is busy but so fun here in Provo! I have a lot to catch up on.

Samuel is really enjoying preschool. I'm doing a co-op with 5 others Moms who all live here at Wymount. Each week focuses on a letter and a number but we plan our own activities, basically just using ideas from online. There are plenty out there! We do it MW 8:45 - 11:15, then on Fridays we do some sort of field trip. I really enjoy all the other Moms in the co-op so it's been a lot of fun. It's nice to have some time with just Eliza too on the days that I'm not teaching/helping. Sam had his first take of MBASA kids soccer this week. Unfortunately it was freezing cold, and raining! So the kids were pretty miserable after a few minutes. We practice for 30 minutes, then we're supposed to play for 30 minutes. By the time the game started Sam was crying cause he was so cold and never ended up kicked the ball a single time! Hoping it's better this week. Our team decided on "zebras" for our mascot. :)
Caleb is enjoying his classes and the job hunt! He went to Houston for the National Black job conference where he interviewed 4 times and had a good experience. The work load the second year is less, but finding a full-time job feels a bit more stressful than finding an internship! But Caleb's heard back from several great companies so he's feeling good and like he'll have options.
We're teaching the Marriage and Family Relations course together in our ward (during Sunday school) which is a blast. It's the best calling ever I think! We had our third lesson of 8 today, then they may have us teach it again or we may move onto the parenting lessons. But it's been a real blessing for us. The day before we got the call we'd gone to the church distribution ctr and bought a big marriage manual to do a study on marriage. Then the very next day the Bishopric asked if they could come over and then asked us to teach the marriage class. Coincidence? I think not!
Eliza did great in nursery her first week, then really struggled the second week, and is slowly getting better. I talked to her about nursery today as we walked to church. I told her she'd get to play with the other kids, have snacks, sing songs, then Mommy and Daddy would come get her in a little bit. "Can you be happy in nursery today?" She laid her head on my shoulder and gave her sweet "Yeah." So when we got there she started to cling to me a little bit, then I asked her, "Remember, can you be happy in nursery today?" Her bottom lip started quivering and she said, "Yeah." And lunged for the nursery teacher, because she knew she didn't have a choice. Such a sweetie!! She's really good at sharing lately. She'll just give Sam whatever he wants usually! The other day Sam said, "Eliza, you're the best sister in our family!"
Caleb and I are both playing intramural sports so between that, MBASA activities, info sessions, and whatever else comes up, our mornings and evenings are packed! Our neighbors are awesome to take our monitor when we both have something going on after bed time. It's so convenient!! We're on a co-ed bball team which is really fun. We won our first game by one point.
This week we had a NAC dinner on Wednesday which was SO yummy and nice. Jeff and Kerri watched the kids which was really nice of them. Jeff even brought the kids home and put them in bed before we got home! Best babysitters ever!! Then the women's NAC luncheon was the next day and I took the kids to my sister in law Rachel's in Elk Ridge for several hours. Later Sam asked Caleb if we could have a big family like Rachel's. We heard from Bonnie D. Parkin at that luncheon which was great. It's a blessing to have family around.
Saturday was babysitting day for Caleb! In the morning was the Gifts of the Heart Exchange which is where students can go shop for free. We all donate stuff but mostly the donations are from kid to kid. The owner started it 5 years ago to bless the families who chose to have kids while still in school. We got the kids' winter wardrobes so that was awesome. Then Caleb went to his vball game, then I went on a 7 mile run with my friend Christian (haven't done that in over 4 years!), then at 4 I left to the general RS broadcast. Katie in the ward drove her 12 passenger van so there were 10 of us women that went up together and it was a blast. Loved the conference then ate at chipotle after. I missed seeing Caleb and the kids but they had a lot of fun together and Caleb loved being able to spend that much time with the kids. He never complains when I go places and is just a wonderful husband!

Fun at Macey's

Samuel loves to help me in the kitchen! We try to get him to put his own socks and shoes on, and it's always a bit of a battle. The other day he said, "Mommy, can you PLEASE help me put my socks and shoes on? Because I help YOU, and I love you!" It's definitely true. He helps me all the time. Sweet boy!

Wymount opening social with Jeff and Kerri

Cute MBASA activity on pirate's day. Two pirates and a princess.

A Saturday afternoon (all day for Caleb) spent helping Uncle Matthew clear trees out of this lot. When I told Sam we were going to go help he was SO excited. I can tell when he's really happy about what we're going to do because he turns into an angel child. Anything I ask him to do he gives an exaggerating lip puckered "OKAY!" and does it right away til we're ready to go. :) He carried sticks over to the wood chipper for over 2 hours. We enjoyed dinner the next day at Matthew and Staci's.

BYU duck pond

Ice cream for lunch at Great Grandma Andersen's house!

He never tired of the chair and Grandma was happy to let him ride it all he wanted. She pointed to Grandpa's picture when we were leaving and said, "He was the BEST man I EVER knew. He never criticized me and was so slow to judge." I've heard her say similar things before but was so touched by her love for him.

Love our Tuesday afternoons with cousin Jane!

Waiting in line at GOTHE. Next to my good friend Makana.

Sammers learned to ride a bike without training wheels a week or two ago!

Jonathan and Samuel - laundry helpers. They've become really good friends!