August 28, 2006

Hey y'all,
I've been sooo busy, sorry for the long time with no letter!
We are in a hurricane watch, so no school tomorrow and probably Wednesday. I'm not worried at this point, I don't think it is going to be any big deal. If it even becomes a hurricane, it will probably be only a Cat 1, and I doubt we'll lose power for long, if at all. But still, ugh.
Saturday was the boys' birthday party. It was really fun! We had 8 kids come, and we had it at the beach. The weather was perfect and the water was just gorgeous. Apparently it rained cats and dogs at home all during the party, so I guess the beach was a good choice! South Florida weather is so weird. Pouring down rain and 10 miles away blue skies.
I'll attach some pictures, but just to describe it, it was a pirate themed party. I made a treasure chest cake with rolo "gold pieces" overflowing out of it. For lunch I got lunchables for the kids and sandwich stuff for adults. We had a toucan pinata, and I had a "loot bag" for each child with a pirate hat, eye patch, earring, necklaces, rings, tatoos, and some candy. Mostly the kids and adults just played in the water and the sand, though, so it was a pretty low-stress party. The boys got some great presents which they were excited about. I was worried about how they would react to the presents because over the last few months leading up to their birthday they'd gotten a bit greedy about what they wanted, and so I've been talking with them about being grateful and I told them if I heard ONE word about not liking a present, or not getting what they wanted, I would give their presents to charity. Thankfully they either took my words to heart, or else were just genuinely excited by what they got, and they were very polite. :-) Even though Joseph didn't get the new Batman costume he wanted.
My hand is healing ok, I guess. Very slowly. I took the stitches out last week, but as I was doing so I realized one of the stitches had pulled through-- probably the first day or two after I got the stitches! So there is still a part of the cut that is sort of gaping open. But each day it seems to be closing a little, so I guess I just have to be patient. Still, it is obnoxious to not have full use of one of my hands for like 2 and a half weeks now!
Mosey is doing pretty well without his big brothers during the day. I try to keep him busy. I got him a Blues Clues cap at the store the other day when I was shopping for the boys' party, and it has hardly left his head ever since. Yes, he even had it on during church. We couldnt' get him to take it off and I thought Heavenly Father would probably not be too offended by a 2 year old wearing a hat in church. He must really love Blues Clues because normally he will not wear a hat for more than about 2 seconds.
Joseph and Brigham got a 2-person dome tent for one of their birthday presents, and it is set up right now in the family room, and they are sleeping in it tonight. They begged to sleep in it last night but I told them not on a school night. So when they got out of school this afternoon the first thing Joseph said was "We have no school tomorrow so can we sleep in the tent tonight?" They had to be shushed only a couple of times and they are now sleeping very nicely.
Did I write last week about the boys' actual birthday? Can't remember. Anyway, I made them pancakes in the morning (with candles), and brought donuts and cinnamon rolls to their class at lunch time. After Ben came home we went to Walmart and they picked out a present-- radio controlled planes which they flew around a bit in the backyard after eating their special Burger King dinner. For dessert they had donuts and ice cream, with candles again. Mosey really liked the candles and needed some in his donut too. I think I lit and relit those candles 4 or 5 times so they could all have a chance at blowing them out several times. Then they opened presents from Grandma Jackee (a new outfit, animal book, and superman toy for each) which caused probably too much excitement for just before bed, and then got to talk to Grandpa Kent on the phone!
Kent is progressing fairly well. He is stable enough to not need hospitalization, but is not healed well enough to start rehab, so he is in a nursing home for a few weeks until he can start rehab. This is understandably really hard on him and Jackee and everyone, but since Jackee had to go back to work and Kent needs care throughout the day, it was the only good option. I'm praying that he can move on to the rehab place soon.

Ben will be leaving this weekend to spend a week with his family and I hope that will help to cheer Kent up a bit.
Ok, I'll leave you with some pictures and give you a storm update after Ernesto passes us by