The 'chores' are becoming easier.  One of the boys fought us every day on 2 of their chores.  The fights are almost non existent now!  Yay!!!!  Only one of the boys was on room restriction and one was on screen restriction and one had no restrictions!  The biggest bonus, I did not have to harp on them every day to pick up the house.  Small victories, I love them.

All the snow in the lower elevations is gone, minus what is in the shadows.  Yesterday we had to be close to 60 degrees.  If we don't have a wet spring, we are in for major fires this summer.

Jacob took a day off from school to go winter camping with his dad and one of dad's friends.

You can see from the pictures there was still snow in the mountains but definitely spotty.  The had a ball.  Unfortunately the other guy was sick and so they packed up at 2am and hiked out.  Jacob really enjoyed the nighttime hiking.  They hiked 3 miles in.  He did really well and this was a test to see how he might do with a longer hike this summer.  The only thing, we need to find a backpack that is fit for a child's body.  JR ended up carrying his pack part of the time because it was just uncomfortable.  So glad that Jacob can learn some of these survival skills from his dad, because his dad knows a lot about improvising, etc in nature.

Another quiet weekend...I am not complaining!

Benjamin did some more baking this week. There was a 4H bake sale and he made some cupcakes and a big cupcake cake.

Joseph's class did a unit on the presidents and they made this Uncle Sam hat.....

Most of the snow is gone. There is still some in the mountains but from what I hear the skiing is not very good.

The first full week of our chore chart did not go very well and all of the boys are on restriction this weekend. We are making baby steps though and they are getting in a groove! One of them is finding out how advantageous it is to pick up the poop in the backyard daily, particularly as things are thawing. They are also amazed at how often dogs go to the bathroom.

We have started thinking about Jacob's 9th bday coming up. Hard to believe it is almost here. Everything has been bought and wrapped now for a few weeks. Figured if I don't get them wrapped, someone might find them.

I really liked the paper route last week. He is looking for someone to do it 3 days a week. As much as I enjoyed it, my body did not. Just does not bounce back like it use to. However, I can now say I know what it entails. If I could figure out a way to consistently get in bed early so I could get up early, I would jump on it.

This week I will be helping out the family while their caregiver is out of town. Should be an interesting week.

Not much else going on....lots of day to day stuff!

Quick check in....

The snow is quickly melting. Later this week we will be in the low 50s and I anticipate most snow on the ground will be gone by then. Some of the trees are starting to bud. Hopefully we don’t have another deep freeze or it will really mess up the trees and flowers. Bree is shedding like crazy!

We have once again reset things with our daily chores and the boys are on a roll. If I can ever get them trained

It always amazes me how things seem to come across my path. I was not really looking for it, but I now have to small jobs. One of them is a paper route. I am helping out a friend of a friend, who has the route and is really burned out. Sounds like a great set up because I will do it 2-3 times a week. A great way to put a little money back for our Ohio road trip this summer. Also, the boys will have the opportunity to go with me from time to time and earn a little extra money. It is a 7 mile route, one neighborhood over and once I learn the ropes, I should be able to do it in an easy hour.

Then another friend of a friend needs some help while she has to go to Iowa for some reconstructive surgery (prob 2-3 weeks). She has her own business and she takes care of clients. Several of her clients are out of town right now, but one family I will check in with daily and run any errands, do shopping, etc. The mother has severe lyme disease and the dad has lymphoma. I think the business owner is interested in growing her clientele but has not really had anyone around consistently who could help. So, could be some open doors down the road! Really excited that it is fairly flexible and it is all about serving/helping.

This kiddo got a hair cut and he really loves it. It appears to be his style. He also has new glasses on order!

We continue to plod along in life up north! This week the temperatures will reach mid 40s! This is the time of year when most are ready for the green grass and shorts. I am no exception to that. We have even pulled the bikes out for the boys to ride. I think one of my favorite times of the year is around spring daylight savings time. The sun is starting to hit our back fence, so the shadows are quickly fleeting. Bree will be very happy when she can lay in the sun in the backyard.

Go Broncos! So fun to say we saw them the season they won the Super Bowl and who knows, number 18's last season!

Bree continues to keep us on our toes. She recently chewed a hole right in the middle of our living room carpet. I was talking with someone else recently and they were telling me how she needs to be mentally stimulated just about as much as physically ~ ugh. So, I have ordered some more 'food puzzles' for her in hopes of engaging that brain. She loves to wrestle with her rope and nowadays when I take her for runs with the car, I have to beg and plead to get her in the car. One day she had gone 3 miles and still wanted more! She has been spending a little more 'free time' in our field and we are finding that she is staying closer and coming back when called. (I would love it if we could just open the gate for her to go on a self-guided romp and then return on her own).

Seems we have had some misc. doctor appts lately. Jacob continues with the orthodontist. Poor kid, several of his teeth are so catywompus (how do you spell that) because he has no room. Benjamin has his yearly eye appt this week. I know he is very ready for new glasses and probably a new prescription. I am finding my vision, particularly distance is waning! When your child looks fuzzy across the gym, guess it is time for another check-up.

This is the last week of basketball for Joseph and then Jacob goes one more week later. Then we get our Tuesday evenings back! Joseph is still doing gymnastics on Mondays and is considering switching to hip hop. His dance moves amaze me. Awana will soon be winding down too, so our Wednesday afternoon/evenings will be free. Benjamin enjoyed his ski PE and if the snow holds, he has 2 days in March. Joseph is still hanging on to speech. He is due for another insurance verification so we will see if they extend services for another 3 months. He is struggling some with reading so we are watching that at the school. He could probably use some occupational therapy in regards to motor planning, but I am told state law prohibits him from receiving OT services at school unless he also qualifies for speech. Now, that sounds ridiculous to me. A kid with obvious delays but he can't get services because they base the need on speech. This kid has worked too hard for 5 years for him now to start falling through the cracks with services at school. I hope it does not turn into a fight for this mom.

Our summer is starting to fill in. We are going to be around most of June, which means the boys will be able to attend a lot of the sports camps offered free through churches, etc. Benjamin has his sights on 2 different week long camps this year ~ both of which are Christian based. It always makes it easier to send him away for a week knowing he will be studying and learning more about God. We are behind on our homeschooling hours (the state requires so many hours) even though course work we are just about on target with the public school schedule. However, I was thinking that each of his camps could count towards those hours, since it will be massive times of Physical Education and bible study.

JR continues to stay busy. I am hoping in March that I can go up one day a week and help him. I need to figure out what to do with Benjamin, but there are options. That seems a much easier solution than trying to navigate worker's comp policies when our payroll is still small.

Off to wake up the boys and get another school day rolling.