Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas....

Love,

 Kate, Caleb & Jane!

A Visit with Santa

Jane was to shy this year to sit on Santa's lap, maybe next year.

Happy Halloween!

Caleb's 1st day of Preschool

Today was Caleb's first day of preschool.....And so it begins.  Caleb seemed really calm and excited and not worried about a thing.  I was worried for him because sometimes he struggles to want to stay in his sunbeam class.  Caleb did Great, he was so ready to go.  He has been wanting to go ever since his big sister Kate went to kindergarten.  We too went to back to school day the day before so he could pick out a cubby and meet his teacher. I think that made a huge difference.  When Caleb is comfortable with who his teacher is and his surroundings he does better.
 Caleb is my sweet tender little boy and it is hard for me to let him go.  This year was not so bad because it's only preschool, but next year is going to be tough.  Caleb is a real joy to have around the house and his presents while he is at school will be missed. 
Caleb had lunch before he left and then we headed off to school.  We took some pictures outside and then went inside. Caleb teacher is Mrs. Moberley, we got to meet her day before.  She seems like a really great teacher.  Hey, my niece Julia had her last year and is now reading. Anyways, He knew right were to go and headed right on in.   I gave him a hug and he immediately asked his teacher to play with some toys.  He didn't even seem to notice I was leaving which was great.  I am so glad he didn't have a hard time.

After I got back in the car, my little Jane said "I want to go to school too."  I said you have to wait a while before you get to go.  I said you get to have mommy and me time, just you and me. That didn't seem to make her feel any better, so I said how about you, me and Grandma go get and ice cream at Culver's while we wait for brother and sister.  She was all smiles after that.
We then picked up Caleb.  He did great and told us that he sang, played and practiced writing. I asked him if he had a good time and he said it was really fun.  So yeah for a great first day for Caleb.  So excited for all the fun things you will learn this year!  I of course made my traditional first day of school cookies for Caleb as well.  He picked peanut butter blossoms.  He just eat a blue candy right before this picture I took, so it will have to do.  I loved giving my kids a sweet treat to look forward to after a, stressful, new, exciting day.   Makes for a great ending to a great day!

Second Grade here we come!

Kate had her first day of 2nd Grade .  On Monday last week. they had a back to school night where she was able to meet her teacher and see where her desk is.  Kate has quiet a few changes that have happened for this new school year.  Since we moved this summer, Kate has to move schools from Westfield, which she loved, to Alpine Elementary.  Each school has great things about them.  I think it was more about changing from what she is comfortable with to the brand new school.  Kate has been more nervous this year because of those changes.

Kate's Teacher Mrs. Peterson

Kate at her new desk.

 Another new but exciting change for Kate is the fact that she gets to walk to school, instead of riding the bus.  I know she loved riding the bus, but I think being able to walk to school made all these changes worth it to her. We live only a couple of blocks from the school.  Kate has been bugging me to ride her bike to school, but me being the protective mom insisted that she walk the first week with me. Then after we get the route down and what to do first, then we can see about riding her bike.  We have some great neighbor kids that are a couple of grades older and could really watch out for Kate which makes me feel better.  We live in a good community, but I always want to be sure my kids are super safe.
So we got up and we got dress right away.  Normally this can be a challenge or an ordeal, but I guess there was to much excitement in the air.  She has been planning what she wanted to wear the first day for weeks.  She loves to wear skirts, and she loves it when I make them for her.  So glad I got to practice while I had a break this summer.  Kate loved her green and black butterfly skirt, she looked so cute in it.  As part of the days look we she wore curlers in her hair the night before.  Kate had to have curls for the first day.  The whole outfit and hair I thought looked way cute.  I am still glad she likes to wear dresses on the first day of school.  I know this phase will pass, so I am taking full advantage of it.  After getting dressed we eat breakfast and I made her cold lunch with a special note left in it to cheer her on during the day.

 We headed of to school around 8:45 am.  I wanted to leave early to take pictures of course.  It was a really cool morning.  Kate was so excited the whole way and then it was time to line up with her class and her eyes began to get teary eyed.  I could tell she was super nervous and anxious about everything being all new, not recognizing any old friends.  I had a hard time, fighting back the tears, I did until I walked away.  You see, this is not the normal reaction I have from Kate, she is my super brave, nothing seems to bother me kinda girl.  So her reaction caught me off guard.  It's amazing how fast those feelings and memories of the first day of school can come rushing back to you in just mil-a-seconds,   even from over 25 years ago.   I had a really hard time on all my first days back to school, it was just tough to deal with the changes and not being with my family.It took all I had to not tear up in front of her.  I gave her a hug when the bell rang and then her teacher came out and said hello to her.  I walked home pretty sad because I was just so worried about her.  I know as soon as she got into the classroom she would be fine.  This year was worse then Kindergarten seeing her go, I guess it was more from Kate's different reaction then normal that made it hard for me as a parent to see.

While Kate was at school I made my traditional first day of school homemade cookies.  I figure since my kids are to nervous to eat a big breakfast in the morning on their first day, I would bake cookies to give them something to look forward to after a big day.  It's turned out to be a fun little tradition.  Kate requested chocolate Chip/M&M cookies.  That's a new request from last year.  The cookies turned out to be so yummy.
What felt like forever until 3:30 I walked back to the school to pick her up.  Kate greeted me with a huge hug and said "Today was the best day ever, I had a good time!"   I told her I knew she would have a great day and didn't understand why she got all teary eyed that morning.  She said she was just sad to leave me and that every thing was brand new.  All the way home she talked about playing in the sand box, and the tour of the whole school and how she loved the library the best.

Kate was so excited to have a big glass of cold milk and yummy M&M cookies when she got home,  she very much enjoyed them.  All in all it wasn't to bad for a first day of school, just a few hiccups but nothing to bad.  I am so glad she has a great day.  Later that day she got to Skype with her dad and share her first day with him as well.  I can't believe I have a 2nd grader, were does the time go??  Well here's hope to another great year of school for Kate.

Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day! This year for Memorial Day I wanted to combine it with our Family Home Evening.  The idea for this was a combination of ideas from my mom and my Uncle Rick,  I thank them for inspiring today's celebrations.
My Uncle Rick each year for Memorial Day find someone to tell his Dad's story, (My Grandpa) about serving our country in World War II.  I wrote to my Uncle  about a month earlier, and asked if I could be his "person" this year.  He agreed and sent it to me by e-mail.  This was the letter he wrote to me.....

Please share this with your children, so they will know of their grandfather's service to our country. 

Every Memorial Day, or on a day thereabouts, I have found someone, or a small group of people and have told them of my father’s service to our 

country. Not only to honor him, but to honor all the men and women who have served, who have fought in battle, who have been wounded, and, especially, the multitude who have given their lives for our county.

As the years have gone by--and I have been doing this for decades--I have found that I cannot get through it anymore without crying. Therefore, I’m writing it this year, and I’m including all of you who are related to him, so you will all know, and will turn for a moment and think of the sacrifices of all these hundreds of thousands of people, and not just them, but their families, as well. We all suffer from war.  

My father was born April 18th, 1919. He was in his first year at GMI when he was drafted into the Army. He served in the Pacific Theatre, in the Philippines and in New Guinea. On the coral beaches of the Philippines, he was shot from behind by a sniper, and the heavy round went through and through on his shoulder and wrecked it for the rest of his life. In the beaches and jungles of New Guinea, he and his squad were in some vicious fighting, and one day while Dad and two other men were sitting in a trench during a bombardment, a mortar shell landed on the stomach of a man sitting two men away from Dad. That man and, if I remember correctly, the one sitting next to him were killed. Dad took multiple pieces of shrapnel to his knee, which was then damaged for the rest of his life. In addition, his hearing was damaged, and he suffered from tinnitus (ringing in the ear) for the rest of his life. Finally, he contracted malaria in the jungle and had a great deal of trouble with that disease for the first decade after returning home. 

As a result of these injuries, he received an insultingly low disability benefit. I don’t remember the amount, but Mom showed me the check one day, and I was shocked. In addition, while they didn’t talk about this until they started paying attention to it and got a name for it, I believe he suffered from a pretty severe case of PTSD.

In addition to the two Purple Heart medals he received for his injuries, he was also a Sargent and squad leader. He and his squad were once trapped behind enemy lines in the jungle for three days, and he brought them all out without a scratch. For that and for an assault on a machine gun emplacement, If I remember rightly, he was also awarded a Bronze Star and a Silver Star. For those of you who don’t knew the honor of those two medals, let me just state plainly that they are given to heroes. Our father was a hero, a true warrior, and we all miss him to this day. He died on, June 6, D-Day 1984. He died unnecessarily, from an internal bleed they never should have missed. Our father was a highly intelligent, creative, intuitive (beyond belief, really), and skilled person. The war changed his life from one in which he would have been highly educated and, quite likely, very successful economically. Perhaps it’s true that we all would have lead more successful lives, if only... 

We didn’t get called to make the sacrifices and suffer the life changes he was given, but what happened to him, also happened to us. Remember him, and remember the others like him, and their families as well.

And may peace be with us.

Rick

 I am forever grateful for my Uncle for Sharing this with the whole family.  I knew some of those facts about my Grandpa, but it was so nice to have the gaps filled in.  I am forever honor and grateful to have known, such a wonderful man in my life, that I called Grandpa.  I only got to spend a short 6 years of my life with him, but to this day I hold many fond memories of him.  My Grandpa was a true Hero!

Your probably wondering how I tied this in with family home evening.  I gathered the family together, Karrie's family joined us.  I talked about why this day, Memorial Day is so special ,and  what it means.  I then showed the kids a picture of my Grandpa, their Great Grandpa ,while my Brother-in-law read the above story.  I know I felt the spirit strongly today in our family room.  I told the children that many people have die in the service of our country.   They have help make it possible for us to worship where and how we may, and for the freedoms we have.  I also told them that many in this world don't know about the gospel and the promise that we can be together forever.  That those who have died at war can once again be with there loved ones.  I talked about what a great blessing in our lives to have that knowledge and the peace that can bring.    I told them that we can see Grandpa Spafford again, and what a joyful day that will be.  We should want to share this with everyone we know. 

We ended our lesson with a song and pray and then started our activity. To help share the knowledge we have of the gospel we decided to buy red, white, and blue helium balloons; and attached pass along cards, with information that people could call to know more about the church and eternal families.  We also wrote messages on the balloons that said things like... God Bless American, We love you Grandpa, We support our Troops, Jesus Loves You, etc.  

We gave each child and adult a balloon to let go into the sky.  We had some troubles with the weight of the card and the string.  We quickly learned the string had to be very short to not put so much weight on the balloon.  The kids had blast with this, they watch their balloons float high up in the sky.  My dad even laid on his back on the ground to get a better view and some of the grand kids joined him.  It was fun to point out the different colors and see how high they were going.  I once did this activity in Elementary school to see if anyone would write back, kind of like a pen pal. It was a neat experience. 

 I don't know if anything will come of those pass along cards, but it sure felt great to take time to remember our veterans, and soldiers.   It also felt great to help share the gospel to others and the knowledge of how Families can be together forever!  We ended the evening with Ice cream Sundaes.  I think this is definitely a repeat family home evening for future Memorial days.  

God Bless American ,and all those who have served and are serving in the Military. Happy Memorial Day to everyone!  We love you Grandpa Spafford!