Life moves on...

Today is Calvin's 13th birthday (my third child). Another teenager in the house! The boys were all commenting how they think he should be turning older. Derrek thought he was turning at least 14. Calvin just tries to keep up with him...always has.

Last week I didn't write anything, well, because I was able to take a nice long nap! I love those Sundays. So...this is what has happened for the last two weeks...

Derrek received his drivers' permit. I included a picture above, just so that you can grasp with me that this is for real! I have found that I have never wanted $90 more than I do now to pay for the drivers' ed teacher to teach him and not me! To his credit, he does really well in our big, 12 passenger, van. I am just waiting, though, for the day he parks it in the garage and accidentally pushes the gas instead of the break and crashes into the water heater that is right there! As long as I am prepared for it, then when it happens it won't be a big deal! I just hope I don't let out a cuss word! I am more worried about that!

This last week, we (Alec) have taught our dog, Shep, how to shut the door. We usually leave the door open for him in the mornings so he can just roam in and out while we get ready for the day. It has been quite cold, in the morning, and so I mentioned to Alec that we should teach Shep how to shut the door. So, he grabbed the bag of hot-dogs and started teaching him. Within a day, Shep knew the word "close" and as proof, we video taped it (shown below). I told Alec, the next thing we need to do is teach him how to throw his trash away. When he is done chewing up a toy, he needs to pick up the mess and put it in the trash! I haven't been able to teach my kids that, so why do I think the dog could? Hope, I guess!

Third, we can't go on without something crazy happening. Two nights ago, Alec was out with his brothers and some kids from our ward. The dad bringing them home (12:30 am), was driving "crazy"...stopping, starting, moving side to side. He just lives around the corner, so the kids were in the back of his truck. So, when he got to our house, he pulled up to the curb, and at that moment, Alec stood up, and the dad driving accidentally hit the gas instead of the break (his foot slipped off the break) and Alec fell out of the back of the truck onto his back. Scott and I were asleep and Derrek and Calvin run in "Dad, Alec got hurt and there is blood everywhere". So, Scott ran outside, and there was a nice puddle of blood where his head was, and so they checked to see how bad it was. Thankfully, it was just scraped up...enough to bleed alot, but not enough to worry a doctor. We took him in the house and had him shower (blood everywhere on his head, hands, etc.). When he took off his shirt, the above picture shows what we saw. He is a little scraped up, but he is good. We are just grateful that he was being looked after. The poor dad driving the kids home is just kicking himself about it. He has called a lot to see if Alec is okay. I keep telling him that Alec could have just done this himself! Anyway, never a dull moment.