Jesus Birthday Cake

We started a new tradition in our house this year. Making Jesus a special birthday cake with meaning behind all parts of the cake. Here is how you make it:

Jesus Birthday Cake

Three layered round cake. - Round like the world in which Jesus was born into.

Bottom layer-Chocolate-Brown represents our sin which is dirty & ugly.

Middle layer- Add red food coloring to 1/2 of a white cake mix.-Red represents His blood which He shed for us.

Top layer-Add green food coloring to 1/2 of a white cake mix.-Green Represents how we should grow more like Him.

White frosting represents the purity of Jesus' sinless life.

Yellow star in the middle of the cake represents the star which shown and provided direction for the wise men.

One candle in the middle of the star represents Jesus' being the light of the world.

Each child takes a candle and lights it from the one on thecake and puts it in the cake. This represents us letting Jesus' light shine through us.

Sing Happy Birthday Jesus and blow out the candles.

The Cast is Gone!

We are happy to report Caleb does not have a cast anymore. We went to the orthopedist on 11-24 to get it removed and x-rays done. God is amazing!! Caleb's arm does not even show where it was broke. It is completely healed. They said it looked perfect! The thumb is doing great as well. On the new x-rays you could see were it broke and the healing that is being done.

Another Cast For Another Bone

Well, we have a new cast. Not even a week has gone by and we are on cast number 2! We got the first cast last Wednesday. Nothing slows down Caleb. He even jumped in the bounce houses at the school carnivals on Friday night and Saturday day. Okay, okay, okay. So we won’t win the wise parent of the year award! But still, there is no stopping a 6 year boy! But that was not the issue! On Sunday we went to Josh’s parents’ house. Caleb was running around (as usual) and whacked his thumb on Grandpa’s new elliptical machine. He went to Kari in tears, but then a few minutes later he was rolling on the grass with Timmy. Before bed, he complained to Josh about his thumb hurting. Sure enough, it was swollen twice the normal size and was a lovely shade of purple. We took him to Urgent Care, again. They x-rayed his thumb and put a lousy splint on it. We took him to the orthopedist today and they put a new cast on. As you can see, this one is just the same as the last one except for the thumb! Never a dull day with the lively Leonards!

Caleb's Robot Arm

Our Halloween was quite the adventure. Friday, after school, Caleb was playing on the playground and he fell off the slide! He was walking up the slide (Of course!) and he slipped and fell off. He fell about 4 to 5 feet. He landed on all fours and his face. He started complaining of his wrist hurting. Kari took him to Urgent Care. Amazingly, we only spent two hours there! After X-rays and examinations, they discovered a “subtle” break in his distal radius of his right arm. (AKA, the bone on the thumb side of his arm between the elbow and the wrist.) They wrapped him up in a splint and ace bandage. Caleb was fine. He said his arm was sore and he was more concerned about trick or treating than anything else. Josh told him that his bandage was his “Robot Arm”, just like Darth Vader’s. Caleb was sold!

Well, of course we went trick or treating! Both boys came home with full buckets. Caleb even got extra “sympathy” candy for the arm. We still did family visits, church, Team Impact, and school on Saturday, Sunday, and this week. The sling, though, has been an issue. Caleb does not like restrictions.

Today, Wednesday, we went to the orthopedist for our appointment. (Poor Josh! We walked into the waiting room and he hears, “Hi Mr. Leonard!” Sure enough, there was one of his students from Meadow Creek. The poor man can’t go anywhere without running into somebody he knows!) Thedoc pronounced his arm broken (Darn!) but already healing. He said everything looked good. Caleb has to be in a cast for only three weeks, and then a splint/brace for three more weeks. Caleb chose yellow for his cast color. And what a yellow! His cast is “Highlighter Yellow” (According to Kari!). And, he still went to school after the AM appointment. And, this afternoon, he and Timmy were tearing around the house like always. Some things never change!

Brotherly Love!!

Our Boys

The Timmy Moment. Where is Timmy? This happened this afternoon. Caleb and Daddy were working on homework and Timmy disappeared. We look for him, and there he is. You just never know with that boy. At least we’re not bored!

Speaking of never being bored, Caleb’s bonus word this week was EXTINGUISHER. You have got to be kidding me! What were they studying at school? Fire Safety Week. What else. But seriously, I know a lot of adults who spell extinguisher wrong! He did great on his practice test. Tomorrow’s test will tell!

The Leonard Children are Scholars!

First grade is going great for Caleb! He loves his teacher and the class pet, Frankie. His first report card came home with all As! He even had a spelling test on the first week of school. Spelling is a lot of fun for Caleb. While he doesn’t always enjoy practicing for his test, he does enjoy coming home with 102s. His bonus words are exciting as well. His latest was the word Mesopotamia. We had to break it down into Me-so-po-tam-ia for him to remember. What a word for first graders! He loves to tell us all about what he is learning in science and social studies. He came home recently talking about how they used to write in Mesopotamia.

And there is Timmy. Mr. Timmy. What a live wire! This year is his last year in Mother’s Day Out and he has a great teacher. They are learning a letter a week. We were a bit concerned that Timmy wasn’t catching on to the whole letter idea. Boy were we wrong! He was pulling a fast one on his mommy and daddy. For months he showed absolute indifference to anything having to do with letters or numbers. Then, he goes to school and comes home knowing quite a bit. The little stinker! His teacher did an informal assessment on the kids and Timmy knew all the letters and appropriate sounds. Kindergarten should be interesting! Hope he gets a firm teacher with a GREAT sense of humor! Lots of prayer for that teacher!