This kiddo went skiing recently with JR.


They had a good time, despite lots of fog! Next it will be Jacob's turn to go and he has insisted that it happen on a school day so he can miss school.

Benjamin is enjoying his trumpet lessons. He is pretty proficient at holding a note for 10 seconds. He is learning a correct lay up in his basketball workouts. Robotics have been hit and miss for him, based on how the homework went that day. I have helped to organize a Geography Fair for home schoolers which will be held early March. No surprise, but Benjamin has chosen Honduras. None of us, other than JR, have been to Honduras and JR's parents still live there. It would be nice to go see the country he is studying, but not sure if it will ever happen. His hometown is the murder capital of the world, so I can think of a lot of other places I would rather have my kids visit.

This past week the temps have been in the mid 40s, which makes for lots of melting snow. This next week we might get some snow but by next weekend temps are suppose to be back in the 40s. I know the ski resorts around here are hurting. I am glad that we did not sign them up for ski lessons because it is not any fun learning how to ski on ice.

Tomorrow we are heading to some friends' house for the Super Bowl. I think the boys are more excited about an actual 'party' than they are about watching the big game.

Few pictures from an ice skating outing.  The younger two wanted hockey skates for Christmas.  They claim they skate so much better now!  I will say that they are upright most of the time and skating across the rink.

Benjamin plugs along with school. We are participating in a Geography Fair early March. He has chosen Honduras! He is having fun looking at all the pictures online and reading about Dad's home country. We started a new online math and language arts program. You have to reach 100% on a section by answering questions. The first right answer takes you to 10%, then next to 19%, then 28%, etc until you get to 90%. 90% is the challenge zone and each correct answer equals 1%. However, if you miss a question along the way, you can go back 6-8% points. Benjamin was struggling with a few so I sat down with him. UGH. It took him and I talking out every question to finally hit 100% with simple, complex and compound sentences. Check out this question....

We did not have problems identifying simple or compound sentences. We almost always got those right. But complex sentences seemed to throw us about half the time. It seemed we would use the 'rule' and our answer would still be wrong. When we finally finished, we were celebrating with high fives. There is a math section that we are struggling with that has to do with the rotation, reflection and translation of triangles across the x or y axis. We get to about 93% and then get knocked down to 86%. Hopefully this week we can finally conquer it. Here is a picture of another type of problem, that Benjamin cruised through.

Recently Jacob spent some time in the garage with a hammer and nail. It always makes me nervous, but he came out with a frame. Joseph had to 'model' it for the camera.

Yesterday Jacob had another basketball game.  He plays close to the college and we finally hit a hole in the wall donut shop.  The cutest, quaintest little place.  The gentleman has owned it for close to 20 years.  If the kids want sprinkle donuts, he puts frosting on the donut and then they get to dip it in the big bowl of sprinkles.  It has now become a standard....donuts before or after the game.  We were in there about 20 minutes and saw no less than 40 people enter the front door.  In and out...that quick and that good.

I did a little better with pictures of Jacob's game this week, but not much better.  I finally figured out, although I have the 'sports' setting, that allows me to take action shots, I must be moving my camera with the action.  He once again started off the game.  They are up.......

and Jacob gets it.  (I used these 2 pictures to show him how much height one can get if you bend your knees, like he did)

Immediately after the tip off, he was after the ball.  I almost think he got the ball after the tip off.

Being that he is so aggressive, I worry about him 'hogging' the ball.  However, he is really good about passing to other team mates.  Here is one where he got a rebound and took off down the court.  It was 5 players vs 1.  He managed to make the shot.

Nice and blurry but another straight away.

He missed this shot, but another good picture to show him his form.

He scored 6 baskets,one of which was a 3 pointer.  He truly is amazing.  The gentleman that coordinates all of this pulled up a chair beside me today.  He told me what a natural Jacob was and how impressed he was.  I told him it was his first time playing organized ball and he was shocked.  He is just so fluid on the court.  I can't imagine with some 'training' how he will be playing.  (Next year he will be 3rd/4th grade team and will shoot regulation 10 feet.  As you can see here, the younger teams play with a shorter backboard, attached to the regulation size.)  I have been talking a lot with Jacob about being a team leader and what that looks like, giving others the opportunity to shine and remembering where his talent comes from - God.

Benjamin started his basketball training on Monday.  It is really good for him.  7 boys with the coach.  They do lots of drills, like dribbling in and out of chairs, running the length of the court alternating hands will dribbling, etc.  I will try to get some pictures tomorrow.  B is also enjoying his trumpet lessons.  I have yet to sit in on one but he is practicing at home.  He is able to hold a note much longer.

On Monday we are suppose to be up in the 50s.  A record high.  Safe to say if we don't get significant snowfall, it will be a very, very dry winter!

Puzzles.  One of my favorite things to do, although I have done very little of it the last 25 years.  Growing up we always worked puzzles at Christmas time.  I remember after college exams coming home and spending 2 days working a 1,000 piece puzzle.

Over Christmas I am glad my mom insisted on putting up a Christmas puzzle.  She has reignited the puzzle fire around our house.  I recently went and bought several puzzles for us to do.  I am amazed at how long they will sit and work them, especially Jacob.  We have already worked 2 of them in the last week.  They want to start a third.  I keep telling them we need to pace ourselves.  I see many more years of puzzle working.

(the gummy worm puzzle I bought for me :-). I think it will drive the boys nuts right now but it will bring me many hours of enjoyment...turn on some tunes or podcast and I can get lost for the better part of a day.

JR took the day off today and took Joseph skiing.  I think I would have rather been out skiing than learning about roman numerals, complex vs compound sentences and reflection, rotation and transporting shapes.  Although it was quiet at home and we had two long sessions of focused time.
The first run they took was down a full blown slope...Joseph had only had ski lessons 5 times last year and he was rather freaked out by the run.  After he got to bottom, after many tears, he stuck to the bunny hill.  It served him well.

They had a beautiful day.
Here is a video.  I never know if it is going to load or not but I will try.

Jacob had his first basketball game on Saturday.  He loved it.  At one point during the game Jacob was running down court and the coach asked him if he was having fun and he said "oh yeah".  Jacob is on a first and second grade team.  The coaches stay on the court, they don't keep score (until the last game), they don't call traveling, double dribble, etc and players are not allowed to steal the ball.  So once a player has the ball, they keep it until it is passed.  I totally get the rules and for most kids they are probably fine, but Jacob really struggled with it.  He is by far the most aggressive on his team.  I took lots of pictures at the game but only 1 action shot was not too blurry. (I need to change my camera settings for the next game)

He is the tallest on his team and he got the tip off (although a coach was in the way so didn't get a picture)

He made 3 baskets!

This is the clearest action shot I got!  He truly is gifted with raw talent!

At Jacob's last practice, Joseph was on the sidelines practicing his basketball skills.  I think he will have some amazing moves too.  Joseph was able to dribble, alternating hands, while turning a 360 and he could also lift up a leg and dribble under it, without missing a beat - good ball handling skills.  He is already asking when he can play basketball.  The league Jacob is in starts with first grade but if Joseph plays a lot over the summer, I might see if I can get him in a year early.

Benjamin starts his twice weekly basketball training this week.  They will go a full 3 months of learning ball handling skills and shooting.  He is not totally motivated but I know that will change once he gets there.  Mom will probably be outplayed this summer.  (I will still have the height advantage for a while though)

Last week was my birthday.  The night before my birthday the boys headed to the grocery store with JR.  When they came back home, I loved listening to them talking downstairs about how things were going to go in the morning.  They all split up the 'wrapping' detail.  I was so encouraged to hear them working together.  The next morning they woke me up singing happy birthday with lighted candles on a birthday cake.  They had all cooked breakfast (with Dad's help).  After breakfast, we had cake and opened presents.  Birthday cake for breakfast was a huge hit...might become the norm!  (So much nicer having that sugar in the morning, versus at 8pm)

The last 2 days have been 50 degrees.  Seems we get some good snow and then a week later it warms up and melts.  The boys have not gotten out on the snow yet.  Hoping to take them in the next week or two.  JR scored some free passes where he works, so hopefully it will work for him to take one boy at a time!

Pictures from a recent sledding outing.  The conditions were perfect...icy!

Jacob had just caught some air and had a beautiful crash landing!

We have started working with Joseph on tying his shoes.  It is fascinating to watch him because you really see the motor planning issues.  We will work side by side and he cannot mimick my moves.  He tries and tries but just can't get it all down yet.  He has recently learned how to dial my number on the phone and that just excites him.  He can now call me like his brothers do.

Pretty laid back weekend.  Only have Jacob's basketball game Saturday morning.

Just a quick post!

This kid and his imagination.  He can sit for hours and play with Rescue Heroes.  The things he finds for swords.  This is probably why I can never find a pen when I need one.

I recently asked Joseph's therapist, who he has seen for over 4 years, how many times he had seen her.  He has been to her 330 times.  He has also seen another therapist for probably 100 sessions. This kid has worked hard.  Now I sit here and listen to him play with his toys.  He has an ongoing, constant dialogue with complete sentences!

The other day I was helping with some stuff at church and got to talking to a lady I did not know.  Turns out she has taught for 16 years in a one room school house - yes, the one room school house still exists.  The school is actually about 20 miles from us, so I hope one day when the snow melts to drive up that way.  She has 8 students that are in 6 grades, between K-8.  Just so cool to talk with her.  You know you are rural when there is a one room school house about 20 min away!

We have started back up with the schooling with Benjamin.  Sure is hard for all of us to get going!  I think Jacob enjoys his friends at school but misses some of great perks of homeschooling.  On more than one occasion he has told me how it is not fair that they get to do more 'stuff' than he does.  I still feel that at some point all of the boys will home school, just happens to be Benjamin right now.  Although Joseph is getting in some work too.

JR is staying busy.  The snow seems to come in waves, which is good.  Gives the ol' body a break from day in and day out snow shoveling.  The used snow blower that we recently bought broke and we have not been able to find another carburetor.  Lesson learned on the upside of buying new.  He has managed to do all the snow blowing with his other, smaller machine.  He is already getting things lined up for the summer.

Off for a day of 1 doctor appt, 1 speech therapy, 1 trumpet lesson, 1 dentist appt and 1 basketball practice.  One busy day in store for us.  But that is how I would prefer it - everything on one day.

Things are getting 'busier' around here.  This week Jacob started a mini basketball league.  He practices one night a week and has 5 weeks worth of Saturday games.  It is sponsored by a local church and there are over 100 kids.  I think one reason the church does this every year is to obviously expose kids to basketball but I think they are also hoping to build skills for a homeschool team.  The grades offered are first through fourth.  They also do weekly devotionals like Benjamin did.  He really enjoyed it and was pumped that he was number 10, just like his brother was.

Benjamin also has been asked to be a part of a small basketball clinic of sorts.  His homeschool basketball coach is willing to work with several boys twice a week for six weeks to give them more skills so as to better prepare them for next homeschool season.  Benjamin was on the fence about participating but I am going to really encourage him.  One of the moms made a good point about basketball that I had never thought of.  As adults, so many men get together with others to play hoops, so it is great for the long haul in connecting them with others.

Benjamin got a trumpet for Christmas!  He begins lessons next week.  I have found a college student from church to teach him.  He gets to go to the campus for lessons.  I think he will really enjoy being up there and hanging with a cool young man.  I think I need to look into getting one of those 'silencer' things for a trumpet!  My kids first real exposure to structured music.  I hope that they inherited the 'music' gene that was in our family.

One of the things Jacob got for Christmas was a dissection kit.  He loves catching all kinds of critters and thought it would be fun for him to learn about their makeup.  I delegated the overseeing of this to JR.  Recently the kids pulled out the kit.  They dissected a frog and a crayfish.  I think they really enjoyed opening everything up.  They are even scheming about getting their tools on some of the small rodents dad gathers at work.  (He does pest control for some clients :-)  )

The rest of our holiday break.....

Christmas was very low key and quiet.  We actually woke up to about 8 inches of snow.
Then the day after Christmas my mom and I headed with the boys to an indoor waterpark/hotel for 2 days.  I know by southern standards this was nothing, but the boys sure had fun.  We had a few friends come and join us for a bit.

There was all kinds of dripping/spraying water in this corner, which I think was Joseph's favorite.

Joseph realized he was just (like right at 45 inches, if not 44.99 inches) at the height where he could go down the tube slide with an adult.  I attempted this slide earlier in the evening with Jacob and it made me dizzy, so I let Granny go.  Look at the smiles!

The boys crack me up when they wear their masks......

This was the 'funnest' challenge.  To see if you could get across all 4 floating lilly pads without falling in.  I even gave it a go (I dropped because it was bothering my shoulder) but it was harder than it looked.

This kiddo made it all the way across multiple times without using the above rope.  Then I started challenging him to do it with only one arm (which he did) and only one leg (he did not quite complete this one).

This kid had it mastered...and no life jacket.  I consider him officially a swimmer, although he can still freak out and let his legs sink...then he forgets how to recover and start swimming again.

Another mask picture :-)

One day we took a break from the water park and went to a new sporting goods store that was unbelievable.  One corner had a climbing area...

They had a laser gun range that the boys enjoyed shooting at the targets.

They had an amazing animal mount in the middle of the store that you could walk all the way around.  The animals were arranged based on habitat.

There were several photo op spots for kids to 'jump into' the action.

(The shirt Joseph is wearing has been one of my all time favorite shirts and am pretty sure that it has been worn by all of my kids.  It is so true...it says "I tried to be good but I got bored".

There were some sport simulators....Joseph tried his hand at basketball.

There was a life size statue of Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln that moved and spoke.  Looked so life like.  (You can see the ferris wheel in the background)

This was a cool photo op, where you held up a particular piece of board.  Then there was a camera of sorts that would 'read' the label on the board and the animal would then appear in the photo.  You obviously could not take an actual picture, so you could email to yourself from within the store.  (The more I think of it, what a creative way for the store to get your email address....)

I loved all of the mountain lion photos....

This was a 16 chair ferris wheel, that the entire store was built around.

We spent 4 hours in the store!  The boys really enjoyed it.  We even ate in the cafeteria, where we had italian gelato for the first time.

For New Years Eve we met up with 4 other families at 6:30pm for some outdoor ice skating.  We took our fire pit and marshmallows and several other families brought snacks.  It was a lot of fun, except that the temperature was zero.  None of us knew how the kids would do, but once they got out there and moving around, they lasted 2 hours.  The adults stayed close to the fire and talked.  Then we rang in the new year quietly watching movies.