We are in North Dakota. Fairly good trip. The boys are already exhausted and bedtime is a chore! We are at a friends in Fargo. Today we walked over this bridge that spanned the interstate (the boys have always wanted to go over things like that). They loved it and it was a good workout. Went to a few parks, some of which were packed with kids on end of year field trips. We wound up at a skate park. The boys got out their scooters and loved it. There was a kid there that was almost 4 and was really good on his board. Plus, he rode his bike (without training wheels) up and over the 'ramps'. He was so impressive, I asked his mom his name. I am convinced that I will see Moses at some point on You tube or in competitions on tv when he is older. Moses' mom commented about how natural J appeared. Maybe a sport I should expose him to more often.
JB has finally figured out the depth perception thing, I think. He will now crawl over to the side of the bed and just look down, watching. He still has not attempted to crawl up the steps, so don't have to worry about those just yet (atleast from the bottom). He loves to stand up in his crib and reach through the railing to see what he can touch/grab. Sometimes it is several Kleenex, sometimes he turns the radio down, sometimes he likes to drop his dog over the side, all the while just laughing.
Entered a whole new realm last Thursday with B. We went to an informational meeting for Cub Scouts...something I know nothing about. Seems that when kids are in first or second grade (they were doing early recruitment) that parents need to attend everything with them. Sounded a little overwhelming but we will give it a shot. I think he most enjoyed the cookies! I know that was his favorite part of t-ball. Getting the juice boxes and treats after the games. Last night was his last game (since we won't be here next week). The kids were all over the place. One inning the coaches pulled two kids and had them sit in the dugout. I thought it was cute when after the game the coach told the kids "I want you all to be checking your mailboxes this weekend because I will be sending you all an invitation to come back to earth before our next game".
J hopped on his bike after the game and rode the whole way home again!
Last Friday, since it was B's last day of Kindergarten, we went up to the school to have lunch with him. He gets to invite one friend to sit with us. Today it was Kynzi. She is such a cutie. We were talking today and she told me she knows a little boy who acts like a girl sometimes. I told her that was okay and that there are little girls that act like little boys. Her eyes got big and she looked right at me and said "I know, you are looking at one.". After lunch we went to the playground for their recess. There were about 15 kids that took turns pushing JB around in the stroller. J had a ball running around trying to keep up with everyone.
From there we went to the pharmacy to pick up some medicine for JB (eye infection and on the way to an ear infection). While we waited in line, J sat down on the floor and before I knew it, he had fallen asleep leaning against the wall. I had to wake him up and he promptly fell back asleep. Poor guy is just exhausted!
Off to Wausau Wisconsin tomorrow, Janesville, Wisconsin on Thursday and Cleveland, Ohio on Friday!
Hope to post some pictures this weekend.

My little catcher....


He loved playing catcher so much he begged the coach to let him play it the next game (no can do...everyone gets to play every position). He had a lot of fun running to the front of the plate and standing there tagging everyone, even without the ball. He has been so worn out lately, waking up before 6, that he told the coach at the last game that he did not want to play he just wanted to go to bed. I wish it were that easy to get him to sleep once we get home though.

J went to the dentist the other day. He said the tooth looks pretty good and that only time will tell if it starts to color. The dentist office has huge windows so they have all the kids put on glasses so the lights inside and out won't hurt their eyes and 'stuff' won't get on them when their teeth are cleaned. The dental hygenist did a remarkable job explaining all the tools. J never even flinched through it all and the best part, the Sponge Bob toothpaste he got when he was done. Here is a picture of him relaxing in the chair...

J has turned into quite the bicyclist. Twice this past week we have ventured out with the bike trailer and one bike, with the intent of B and J swapping out (riding and biking) when they were tired. J has twice rode about a mile both times. He just chats away and slowly but surely pedals his way down the street.
B is fascinated with Avatar. He has not seen the movie (and won't at this point) but loves looking at the movie or posters of it when we are out. He asked me the other day if he could watch it and I told him I thought it would be too scary right now. I picked up the movie and tried to explain to him the PG-13 rating. I think he finally understood because later he told JR that he would have to go rent Avatar because he was older than 13 and could watch it. (I found it interesting reading the PG-13 rating that they listed smoking....)
Today we were at Wal-mart. They are totally revamping the store. Tripling the electronics section, redoing the whole pharmacy, taking out part of the fabric section, etc. I was so turned around, everything had been moved all over the store. We saw 3 guys come running around the corner, one carrying a stick and the other carrying a trash can. They did not have the traditional Wal-mart garb on, so wondered what was up. They looked like they were having a lot of fun, whatever they were up to. A little later we saw the same three guys again. One of them said, "Oh I found him, over here." It was a mouse that they had been chasing around the store. I guess in their moving stuff around they had most of the aisles/displays elevated and maybe in got in or escaped from his 'home'. I turned to the boys and said "hey, let's watch this, this should be good". They three guys got a kick out of the audience. They successfully put the trashcan over the mouse and then got it scooped into the trashbag. Once they caught it, I thought they would have been a little quicker getting it out of the store, but they proudly paraded around with the see through trash bag.
Today we also went to the chiropractor. His daughter, who is right around 3 had a lizard. She took the lizard out and was just standing there holding it. It was probably 9 inches long and really cool markings but still a lizard. I guess J did not realize it was alive and he reached out to pet its belly and when it moved his eyes got huge and he jumped back. She just stood there squeezing that thing. I told her, where her dad could hear, that if she somehow let that thing go and it ran towards me I would scream. Thankfully none of the boys have taken much to reptiles or bugs. I have tried to never freak out around them though when the boys were around, as to not influence/scare them.
The cows are back in the field behind our house. They show up every spring for several weeks/months. They boys enjoy watching the calves and occasionally they will come up to our fence and we get close enough to touch them.
Finalizing the plans for Monday's departure.

JB went for his 9 month check up and is doing great. Found an upper tooth (one of the incisors) that had come in with 3 other teeth just days away! No wonder he has been a little grumpy and chewing on his hand. He loves to clap his hands and throw them up for the touchdown sign. Whenever he is eating, he loves to flail his arms and always seems to hit the spoon and make a big mess.
I have really started working with the older two about self control and not arguing, talking back or continuing to question me when an answer is given. For three days now we have had a reward system in place that rewards them at the end of the day. So far it is working pretty well. There were probably 5 times today when B asked me something and I said no. In which he said okay. Silence for about 5 seconds and then he would say "hey mom, I did not argue with you...I just said okay". Like the lightbulb is going on that he does not have to rebuttal everything I say.
We have had several discussions about our small backyard and today we were driving around. B commented about a certain house and I told him that would be a great house. To which he replied, "forget the house, I want the yard".
He recently overheard a conversation I had with a friend about how their church baptizes people. (Our church does not have a baptistry, so we baptize once a year in a nearby pond). As we passed our friends' church, B asked me if they did baptisms. When I said yes he replied "how can they, they don't have a pond".
Starting to collect all our items for our roadtrip. Most of the clothes are packed! We leave next Monday, May 24th. B will miss the last 4 days of kindergarten but I figured he won't be able to miss school for too much longer.

Mothers Day weekend

Yesterday we decided to drive a few hours away for an overnight. Nothing specific to do, except for a change of pace. We stayed at a hotel with a fun water playland. The kids enjoyed swimming. It was the first time for JB in the water and he loved it. He would have sat all day in his little float kicking and bouncing. He enjoyed taking in all the sights and sounds of the other kids. J liked hanging out in the hot tub more than the pool (I was happy to oblige). At one point he was running, yes, how many times have we told him not too, and sure enough, he fell. He was wearing his goggles and got a nice little cut on the corner of his eye. It swelled up a bit and had a little bruise. B was practicing swimming. He did great when he was focused on the task at hand. However, when he was playing on the play structures and fell into the water, he would freak out. He would just flap his arms and do the bob thing. One time I was watching him from across the room and realized that I did not think he could get to safety and the kids around him were clueless. I ran across the pull and grabbed him. I guess it is going to take being exposed to many different situations and just becoming comfortable without an adult right next to him. He can do it. When I remind him to put the top of his forehead in the water, that always gets him horizontal in the water.
Two weeks before we head out on our (the boys and I) road trip. Still not sure about specifics but know generalities. Our current route has us traveling about 83 hours on the road in 21 days and covering 10 states. We will definitely hit Niagra Falls and toying with a different route on the way back and hitting Mount Rushmore.
Attended my first Zumba class last week. I really liked it but there is only 1 class offered a week. At least the weather should be nice this week and hoping to go on some long bike rides with the boys.
T-ball is coming along. B is really enjoying it and I am enjoying getting to meet some different moms and kids.
Some friends let B borrow some beginning reader books for the summer and I am amazed at how many times he initiates wanting to read. I am afraid though that he is memorizing the words and keeps 'rereading' them and not really working on reading. Will need to try to find him some good online worksheets for the car. I am sure if I put them in a really cool superhero notebook, that would be all it would take.
Wanted to send out a great big Happy Mother's Day to my mom....thanks for all the countless hours you sacrificed for me. I am getting it, I really am.

After reading over my previous post it sounds like I think J's screaming is cute. Quite the contrary. He is in a phase of getting really angry and yelling, as I send him to his room, about how ug-a-ly I am being to him. We talk about how it is okay to be angry and express it but yelling is not appropriate. He always goes to his room, settles down and then comes downstairs to rejoin the activities. (I still love how he says ug-a-ly though).
I was playing with him today and noticed that is looks like his front tooth has a very slight grey tint to it. (He knocked his tooth several weeks ago). I sure hope the tooth is not dying. What do they do with a baby tooth like that? He does have an appt next week with the dentist so will see what he says or some possible options. J has also had a hard time this past week going to sleep. Even without a nap (which he is phasing out of) most nights he is not asleep until after 9pm. Have started giving him some sleepytime juice (chamomille tea in a sippy cup) which seems to be helping somewhat. I think he has a very small window of being ready to sleep and then getting overtired and not being able to wind down. T-ball twice a week until 7:30 does not help. (Something to look forward too...if B continues with baseball and J takes it up, in 2 years we will be at the ball fields 4 nights a week. Thank goodness the season is only about 5 weeks.
I have continued to sort through things at the house. I have pulled over 45 articles of clothing from my closet...mostly stuff that has be picked up over the years or at second hand stores. I remember one piece of clothing I bought in 1993 and think I have only worn it once in the last 10 years. Now all of my clothes, summer and winter, hang on one rod about 4 feet long, sweaters, sweats and jeans on 2 shelves and then my t-shirts and shorts on 1 shelf. My goal the rest of the week is to tackle atleast 3 more rooms. Our bedroom and front entryway have stayed clean now for several days. Yeah. The book I picked up, for $5 at Family Christian bookstore, is "The House That Cleans Itself". Nothing earth shattering in it but some simple things I had never really considered. Her premise is make your house fit your behavior versus trying to get your behavior to fit your house. One point she makes about decluttering is that everything costs you time. Time to clean it, maintain it, put it away, move it to get what you want, etc. That will come in very handy when I get to the kitchen and purge. Tired of having things around just for the boys to pull out and me to pick up.
JR enjoyed camping this past weekend. I have been winter camping once and can say, I prefer a nice warm bed...but kudos to him for doing it. He loved it. If you can't quite fathom what it is like, check out the photos.


B had another t-ball game last night. Did fairly well despite 40 mile per hour winds. The previous game we played in sleet, although it lasted only a few minutes. The coaches are still having problems with some of the kids and listening. There seems to be fine line between them having fun but also trying to focus enough. He does have a very young team, but my hat off to the coaches...the exude patience.
Here is a few of JB that I love. The one of the two of us a friend from church took it that does photography as a hobby.