Update

I don't know how it happens every year. I say, "This year is not a birthday party year." Seems pretty obvious to me what that means.

Perhaps not so obvious to my now 11 year old. Every year as it approaches her birthday she somehow finagles some type of a friend birthday, or "celebration". It might have been when she said, "Mom, could you help me make up a cute little- not invitation, because I know it's not a party, but just a little thing that says when to come over?"

And I hear, "Mom, could you use your amazing photoshop skills to help make something cute?"

So I made a darling "little thing that said when to come over". But I made sure to add a cute little thing that said, "no presents, please", much to the chagrin of Sarah.

And, of course, to Sarah's delight, two of the SEVEN girls that came, brought a present. Which then meant that I had to make up thank-you cards for Sarah to write.

(I love this kit! Made by Flower Scraps and Nibbles Skribbles)


In other news, BA opens up his office in less than two weeks. There is a gal in our ward who did interior design professionally for a while before having her baby. She has been helping us with getting the colors and layout for the office. We just picked out the paint Friday and painted several small areas to make sure it would look good. After it's all painted, this gal is going to help do a faux finish. It should look pretty good.

I helped BA interview for CA's. The first round was an open/panel interview. Then we chose 4 of those candidates to come back for an individual interview. Funny thing is that we figured out that the gal we chose is actually in our ward, although we didn't know it at first.

The kids are doing great in school. Joe was excited that he gets to participate in Battle of the Books. Surprisingly, he has been the slowest to make friends. But I don't worry too much. As the kids get to know him, they will naturally want to be around him because he is so kind and nice. That's how it's always happened.

Caleb's teacher worries me a little. Not as much as I would be worried if we were in Davenport and he was in Mrs. Puls class (which he was assigned to this year, except we moved). But she just seems to have control issues. She wants too much of it. Hopefully first impressions will be wrong in her case.

Sarah is loving middle school. She has made quite a few friends, including a girl who speaks mostly Spanish and has a hard time sometimes with English. She seems to be doing quite well.

BA and I spoke in Sacrament meeting Sunday. Talk about me being a mess! I hate crying in public. I rarely do it. Except when I bare my testimony. Then I'm a mess.

Speaking of baring testimony, our bishop wanted the kids to talk or something on Sunday (Sarah and I ended up playing our violin and Joe bore his testimony). The children were emphatic all week that they weren't going to do anything. Then, just to be funny, BA mentions that Sarah could bare her testimony in Spanish.

And, seeing as how the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, she decides that she is going to be a smart alik and do that. So she googles a site that will translate from English to Spanish. She typed in: I'd like to bare my testimony...(and a few more sentences). When she clicks "translate", it takes the word bare, and makes in into the Spanish word for "to strip, or be naked". We laughed and laughed. She decided not to do that.