One more week of school for the older two.  JB finished preschool yesterday and has a class party at the park today.  

We have had beautiful weather this week.  Almost perfect!  With the exception of therapies, I am trying to leave the car parked at home and bike wherever we can!  We are close enough to the library, park, grocery stores, fun treats like ice cream, movie rentals, etc.  The boys are all fast enough that it does not take forever to get somewhere.

This afternoon B has a lawn mowing job.  It is just a one time job (family on vacation) and they have an acre.  We went over there recently to check it all out.  B was excited to see the riding lawn mower.  Every time he got on it though, it would die.  We figured out it has a safety feature and he is not heavy enough to keep the motor running.  Hopefully we can put some weights on the seat and get it to work for him.  If not, I will ride and he will walk with the small mower and go around trees, fence line, etc.  Will be interesting to see how I do since cut grass sends me sneezing.  Hopefully between allergy meds and a mask, I will be fine.

The boys and I have come up with a job list, along with standard chores.  I have decided instead of budgeting money for extra-curricular activities, I would ear mark that money for jobs around the house.  This way the boys can earn money for their activities and start getting an appreciation of the value of things.  I know one of the boys has already decided he does not really want to do an $80 week long summer basketball camp.  I have told them that we can split the cost of activities 50/50 for now but hopefully by the spring, they will have banked enough money to start paying close to 100%.  Little JB today earned $2 by cleaning out under the couch and couch cushions.  He is learning about mom's standard of clean, compared to his standard.  Some of the chores seem to pay pretty good, but I have to provide them with the opportunity to earn some 'decent' money.  We will see how it goes over the summer.

Another thing I have implemented recently is our 'get-along' shirt.  I have seen this periodically online and decided it was worth a try.   It is a 2xl t-shirt.  When the boys are arguing and fighting, they both have to put the shirt on for 15 minutes (both heads out the head hole - keeps them real close).  Then while they are 'together', they have to talk out what happened, apologize, etc.  When I first showed it to them, they thought it was cool and started to pretend argue so they could put it on.  However, when it came out for real, they were not happy about it.  In fact, they spent 5 minutes trying to drag the other around and I extended their time.  They soon got the hang of it and it proved pretty successful.

The other day the older two boys were being rude and I gave them some sentences to write (both of them have terrible penmanship so we are serving a dual purpose).  JB got sad and asked where his sentences were.  I wrote him out the sentence 'I will obey' and gave it to him with no instructions other than to write it 3 times.  I was curious, with his motor planning issues, how it would go.  He took the paper, went and sat at his desk and came out a few minutes later with the finished product.

I took the paper to his occupational therapist.  She was quite impressed that he stayed within the lines.  He has not worked on lower case letters, so he did pretty good, not having a 'correct' model.  I obviously did not tell him not to write '3 times' but he wrote it anyways.  We are not sure what happened with the '3 times', if he wrote '3 times' backwards or what.  However, he was consistent in what he wrote each time.  I think I need to make sentences a regular part of his day, great practice for him.

Here is a family portrait that he recently drew.

Other than the lawn mowing, a graduation party and a birthday party, a pretty low key weekend.  Currently have nothing scheduled for Saturday, maybe the boys will sleep in!

We got back this afternoon from 3 nights of camping!  Lots of pictures!

We drove out Friday when the boys were out of school.  The place we camp is 8 miles back and most of those miles are spent driving through private property.  There are lots of buffalo there but you never know on which part of the land they will be.  They did not disappoint this time.  There were probably 600 plus buffalo.

I did not even think about there being calves out there.  Probably over 200 of them.  At one point we stopped on the road to watch them.  I noticed one of the adults looking at us, then it would run along side us and stop when we stopped.  We stopped again and I had my window down.  I became a little concerned when it looked at me and snorted very loudly (I had never heard them do this before).  I sat there contemplating my next move when all of a sudden a calf ran in front of the car.  It seems I had come in between mom and calf and she was not very happy about it.

We pulled up to the camp ground and the car immediately behind us was a family we know from school and soccer.  They have a son, who is Jbird's age, and a daughter B's age.  My concerns over the boys fighting with each other all weekend and bored of each other soon went out the window.  All five of the kids played together most of the weekend.

Saturday morning we realized that the water pump at the campground was not working.  (I guess due to budget cutbacks, the forest service personnel are not able to test the wells, so it was shut down).  We had planned on water on site so I only brought about three water bottles.  I decided to make a quick trip back home to get more water and blankets.  (Seems the outfitter tent works best - warmest - when you are on cots and not the ground - none of us slept well Friday night).  As I headed out on the long road, there were very few buffalo.  However, when I came back an hour and half later, there were hoards again!  Amazing how quickly they can all move.

On Saturday afternoon some other friends came out for the evening.  The family that was also camping out there had to drive back in for church Sunday (he is a minister) but since they were coming back Sunday afternoon, they left their first grade son with us Saturday night.  A thunderstorm rolled in and all 11 of us ended up in our tent.  I am very thankful JR set up his outfitter tent.  There was plenty of room and so nice to be able to fully stand up.

Sunday morning we piled the boys up in the back of JR's truck and drove back out the 8 mile road.  (It is not often they have the opportunity to ride in the back.)  They loved it.  The buffalo were still hanging out! On the way back, look who drove us.

When we got back to the campground, JR and B ran back home to get a few more things.  (Originally JR was going to leave Sunday afternoon, but decided to stay Sunday night so he needed more clothes for work on Monday.)  While they were gone, the younger boys talked me into hiking up a hill that was filled with rocks.  Jbird and his friend scampered right up.  JB and I took our time.  It was not too difficult on the way up.  I was more worried about them dislodging a rock above us.  Then on the way down, it seemed much easier to dislodge rocks as you stepped down on them, so the going was much slower.  I was thankful that JB did not want to go as high as the other 2.  I was starting to get that gut feeling that we need to turn around before we get up too high.

Here is Jbird and his friend, way above us.

This is the view of our campground.  Our tent is in the middle of the picture, in that small green opening.  We were way up there.

JB did really well and is great at problem solving out on the 'trail' and how to keep moving over obstacles bigger than he is.

Few other miscellaneous pictures from the weekend.

This is on the drive in.  Really like this time of year with the green grass and snow capped mountains.

Hanging out by the fire.  My boys sure love to play with sticks in the fire.  However, I was glad to see one of them bring me some matches and ask if he could light them, instead of just doing it.

This boy got the dirty award for the weekend!

The older two enjoyed practicing their ax skills. (Love the tongue...)

I saw this truck drive by and would never had believed it if I had not seen it.  But get a load of this....I guess you would call this the poor cowboy's horse trailer.

 Yes, the above horse was being transported in the back of a truck!

Playing down by the river.

One of our views.

Jbird is actually pretty proficient at splitting logs.

On Monday morning I spent several hours tearing everything down.  (The family who came out Saturday, also came back Sunday and 2 of their girls stayed Sunday night with us.  JR left early Monday for work so I had all the kids play while I organized stuff, air dried blankets, aired out tent, etc.  All the kids were invited to go look at some horses.  I did not get a picture of the boys with the horses, but managed to get them all in one shot (3 days of no shower or hairbrush!)

As I was getting things done, seems one of my boys was going through boxes that were already packed.  Not sure what he was looking for, but he came across the bear spray.  I have never used bear spray and have no desire to.  However, curiosity got the best of him and he pushed the lever, inside the car!  Just a tiny bit came out but him and one of the other girls came running over coughing and sputtering. It seems the residual stuff had gotten in one of his eye and he was hurting.  We spent a little bit washing out his one eye. He was very apologetic and kept saying he did not know how bad it was.  I guarantee you, he will never mess around with a can of bear spray again.  (I was concerned for the drive home because as I was loading stuff in the van I was coughing.  I had brushes my arm up against the back of my seat, which is where the bear spray landed, and my arm was burning.  However, with the windows down, we managed to make it home.)

With the two girls who stayed with us, I knew we would be loaded to the max when we left (we were giving them a ride home).  We got everything into the car and had 4 of the kids squeeze into 3 seat belts. The trip back was fairly uneventful, until I passed a highway patrol and saw him whip around behind me.  He followed me for a bit and then sure enough, turned on the lights.  I pulled over.  He was very nice and asking about where we had been, etc.  He pulled me over because I was going 68 in a 55.  The stretch of road we were on changes speeds several times and I thought it was 70.  He wanted to open the back door.  I told him he was welcome to but did not know if anything would fall out!  He opted not too.  (I have always wondered if double buckling was against the law.)  Thankfully no, because he made a comment that I had managed to get them all buckled somehow and laughed.   Fortunately, he only gave me a warning!

We dropped off our friends, came home, unpacked, took showers, ate and then 2 of them crashed hard.  I found them on my bed.

2 weeks left of school and I am trying to figure out some logistics to have in place to make our summer run better.  I always start off strong with ideas, outings, organization, schedules, etc then falter pretty early on. So, trying to line out some new stuff for the summer.

The older two boys had field day at school.  The 4th graders participated in the morning and in the afternoon, the 4th graders helped the younger grades run through their stations.

B running and jumping through a hula hoop during a relay race.

JB's first selfie...I don't think this is too bad.  I love those eyes!

A picture he took of me!

B playing field hockey.

Some more field hockey (not to worry, for those of you concerned - he got a haircut today :-) )

Jbird trying horseshoes.

B keeping tabs on all the action.

B stepping in to give some direction.

Jbird doing potato sack race.

B really wanted to put this picture in...we got a really good laugh out of it.  I obviously took the picture as he was on his way back down and the hair is flying. Crazy hair day!

Trying out stilts.

Jbird would not just step through/jump through the hoop - he wanted to fly and get lots of laughs.

Another head first. (See the snow capped mountains.)

All in all a great day!  This week has been beautiful.  We were close to 90 today, so not sure how long the mountains will hold the snow.  May is a little early for 88, hopefully we will cool off a bit.

We are going camping for the long weekend.

The boys have discovered snakes out in the field behind our house.  They have created a 'home' for one of them.  I am so glad that my negative feelings about creatures have not affected their desire to seek them out. The snakes home is under the grey brick.  They were adamant that snakes can not go straight up the side of something, so we will see how long he sticks around.

They will spend hours out there.  Just excites me that there are outside options that they really enjoy - no prodding them to go outside.  They just grab a few neighborhood kids and off they go!

B has gotten his rapid palate expander (RPE).  Every day I have to stick a 'key' in his mouth and turn it.  Not as easy as it sounds!  We will go back in 2 weeks and hopefully progress is being made.  Jbird has lost a second tooth, and as with the first, the permanent tooth was already coming in.  No snaggle-tooth for my boy!

We had JB's IEP (education plan) at the school the other day.  As expected, he has improved so much he no longer qualifies for their pre school.  He will be enrolled in a private pre-school in the fall, to continue with the socialization.  Really curious as to how he will do around 'typical' kids.  I don't anticipate any problems because I think his personality will compensate for anything else he might be lacking.  He is working hard on his pronouns and appropriate times to use them.  He never knows when to you he or him, she or her or me or I.  When he is referring to a girl, he will often say 'sher', because it is easier than trying to think if she or her is right.  Another comment one of the therapists made was about his volume.  He can talk really loud.  Because of the apraxia, he does not have inflection, so we all wonder if his volume is his attempt to get inflection.  Guess I had never thought of it, but just one more thing he is going to have to learn.

JB's class had a circus day on Friday.  JR was able to get off work early (a perk of self-employment) and he joined us.  You can't tell from the picture but Joseph is walking backwards on the tight rope (balance beam) while lifting weights.

Here is the cutest little clown.  I was shocked how willing he was to wear it...none of the other kids would.  I love his eye lashes.

 They showed us their tricks....they had to jump through a hoop.  JB never quite got the hang of diving through the hoop, because he would always try to do a 180 as he jumped. (His teacher is the one in pink hair...she is hilarious)

Dad willingly played the part of clown for a brief bit.

I fell off the blogging bandwagon!  The time that JR and JB were in Texas I was not on the computer much.  I spent my time on projects or playing.

They got back from Texas on Sunday and all in all a great trip!  JR did not see as many animals as he had hoped (shot 2 small pigs, 2 foxes and 2 rabbits).  He kept talking about the experience of hunting in the Texas elements!

We are down to our last 3 weeks of school.  Hard to believe that Memorial Day weekend is 7 days away!  Just looked at the weather and mid 70s is in store!  Just might have to consider camping!

The boys spend every day outside playing with the neighborhood kids.  The youngest 2 particularly play hard!  I took my camera outside to get some pictures, but somehow they all got erased, except Jbird performing his latest 'stunt'.

He can ride an entire block without hands!  I predict it is just a matter of time before JB follows suit.  (Notice the snow in the mountains, this picture was taken just 2 days ago!)

We have been playing a lot of basketball.  I even go out there sometimes without the kids and just shoot.  So nice to be outdoors.

Trying to get some summer plans nailed down.  Lining up the car rental stuff and looking at the possibility of a few other side 'gigs' this summer.  No road trips planned, but that does not mean one won't happen.  B is signed up for his first overnight camp.  We were talking about camp tonight and he was telling me he did not want to go.  I knew he was tired and when he gets tired, he gets pretty emotional.  Then I told him about the money I sent in for him to spend at the camp store (ie candy, soda, etc) and he quickly thought about it and how much fun it actually sounded!  Other than a few Vacation Bible Schools, we don't have much else on the calendar.  Laying low this summer and I am looking forward to it.

JR and JB have been gone a week.  It has flown by.  I have stayed busy with projects and fun time!

Here are a few pictures that were taken on his trip.  He certainly does not spend his time calling me - little guy loves not having to compete for toys, movies, attention....He even loves having his own room.