Winter is here!  We ventured out for our first sledding of the season.

Joseph is actually laughing in this picture

I always find it interesting how the snow settles on the trees.

We went sledding next to a pond.  I found these shapes on the almost frozen pond interesting.

For thanksgiving, the boys and I headed over to some friends' house.  It was actually the grandparents of some of the boys' friends.  We were there for about 9 hours and had a blast.  The boys got to do some snowmobiling for the first time and I played lots of cards!  Here was our view.  The family lives at the end of road in a house over 100 years old.  Lots of charm and character.

  

It was a great Thanksgiving.  Probably the first that my boys have ever experienced where you just go and hang out all day!  All of the kids were the same age as Benjamin and Jacob.  Everyone slept well that night after the snowmobiling, snowman making and running around.

Tomorrow is Benjamin's last basketball game!  It has been fun to see his improvement on the court.  He has quite a bit of drive running up and down the court.  Tomorrow is Jacob's first of four dentist appointments.  Seems that his body never produced enamel on his 6 year molars, so there was quite a bit of decay.  He has to get them capped since they are adult teeth.  Fortunately, he has enamel on the 2 other adult teeth that have come in.  The dentist said that he when he sees this, it is usually just the six year molars.  After Monday (when basketball is over) our life will go back to being a slow crawl.  Looking forward to it, since the snow is here.  It looks like both of my very part time jobs might be coming to an end too- we will see.

We are just plodding along.  Gearing up for the holidays.

B has 2 more weeks of basketball.  He has had a great experience, but I did not realize the toll it would take on me having games and practices 4 times a week, 20 minutes away!  (When it is cold out, I really don't like to venture to far.)  They had a basketball tournament recently and Ben scored.  His first basket of the season and of course, I was not at the game to witness it, but at least the brothers and dad were there.

Joseph plugs along with 4 therapies a week.  His language is getting so good and becoming more and more fluid.  I am guessing by next fall, he will be done with private therapy.  He is showing some pre reading signs, so we have started on some phonics.  He is an eager learner and really into drawing and coloring these days.  He is enjoying his twice weekly preschool class.

Jacob just cracks me up.  Him and I were recently picking up a few things for his teacher for the 12 Days of Christmas.  He saw some fuzzy gloves that he was instantly drawn too.  He picked out a pair for his teacher and then insisted on getting a pair himself.  They were 2 tone blue.  He loved them so much, he slept in them.

Hunting season is winding down for JR.  He got a small white tail recently.  We also have a friend that likes to hunt but does not enjoy the meat, so we will be getting his deer sometime soon.  JR is still hoping for an elk but only a week left.  He has quite a bit of work lined up for the winter.  Hopefully the snow will be slow and steady.  If we get huge dumps, like what New York is getting now, it will be a very tough winter for him.

Another quiet weekend coming up.  Just a birthday party or two for the boys.  Both Benjamin and Joseph were invited to parties and both of the boys are named Wyatt.  Another great weekend for curling up and relaxing!

Two recent photos that were taken on a school playground while waiting for basketball game to start.
Anytime Jacob is not at school, he wears this hat.  He just loves it and it wreaks havoc on his hair!  (yes it was just cut recently!)

This kid got a hair cut too and then decided while sitting at the table, to cut a section right in the front!

Look at my handsome boy.....

He is really enjoying playing basketball.  They are 1-4.  Last nights game was 49-24.  They hold their heads up and fight to the end.  I still need to find a basketball for dummies video so I can learn all the technical stuff to the game.  After the game, he and I went out to eat.  It was a nicer restaurant that had bar seating without a wait.  We chose the bar seating and he loved being in there.  All the TVs.  A couple next to us ordered the blackened salmon and it came out on fire - he thought that was the coolest!  He learned about what it means 'how do you want it (hamburger) cooked'.  He kept telling me it was hands down better than McDonalds!  It has obviously been a while since he has had a burger from someplace other than McDs!

Winter is roaring in.  On Tuesday, Veteran's Day, our high is suppose to be 11 and the low -1.  Seems a little early for THAT cold.  This is when it would be nice if Jacob were home schooled too and then I would not have to leave the house!

Benjamin has been working on a food menu for us.  I figured it was time he learned more of what goes into meal planning and mostly, the cost behind it.  He just does not understand some of my dilemma of shopping with cash.  When the basket gets full, you have to decide if you buy the granola bars, popcorn or frozen fruit, since you can't buy it all for snack.  He has $100 for a weeks worth of groceries, knowing that we have some stuff on hand.  He was so cute, he had lobster on the menu for his dad, until I told him lobster would probably be 1/5 of his budget.   He has some soda, ice cream, etc.  Will be interesting what he decides to cut, assuming he will have too.  I am also hoping he will learn comparison, brand name vs generic shopping.  He scoured over the grocery store ads and tried to put things on the list that were on sale.

We continue to enjoy our ants.  They are slowly dying off.  Not sure what is happening to them once they die.  It seems that the live ants are taking them apart and moving them to the top of a hill.  I watched for the longest time and only saw 3.  Then I dropped a few crumbs in there and within minutes they started scurrying around and I counted 9.  The kids have already asked if we can get more.  You can also buy more 'farms' and connect them all.  That would be fun.

We have several things going on next week.  Joseph still does 4 speech therapies a week.  Jacob has 2 dentist appts.  Benjamin has 4 games next week.  A busy cold week looming on the horizon!

We are in our 3rd week of basketball.  Benjamin had 2 games last week.  The first game they won and the second game they lost - by one point and it came down to the last 2 seconds.  An exciting game.  Got a few pictures......
He certainly was not camera shy...they are warming up..number 10

taking some practice shots

The other team had some big boys....The mascot is a cougar..which was my high school mascot.

The games wear him out.  I like it because they have to learn a scripture verse each week.  Most of them focus on teamwork...something the coach really drives home.  They have to wear khakis and button down shirt on game days and then they change clothes at the school.

Last week we once again changed things up for homeschool.  Seems Benjamin is wanting more control over his day, so trying to make it happen.  I think we are gonna end up doing one subject for the better part of a week.  Today we spent time on the French and Indian War.  I am just amazed what I don't know/remember.  I asked Benjamin who won the war..the French or Indians.  Neither won!  It was the British and they named it that because the French and Indians were their greatest enemies.  It was also the Seven Year War which I had forgotten about and the debut of George Washington, who lost.

Halloween, I did not even get a picture.  Because of Benjamin's basketball practice, I sent the other 2 with a friend after school and then we hooked up with them at 7:30.  The kids had a lot of fun.  It was 60 degrees.  I did not even wear a coat.  The warmest Halloween I ever remember.

On Saturday we went out and supported the local high school soccer team, as they were playing for the state championship.  They lost after a double overtime and a shootout.  The boys were invited to escort all players out on the field (young local soccer players went).  They enjoyed that!  I just watched the game wondering if one of the boys would one day be out there playing.

My camera was hijacked at some point and I found this picture on it.  A great picture of Jbird.