My blog has become out of sight out of mind!!  Not intentional, I guess things have just been quiet here and not much to post.  I find I don't take lots of pictures because my real camera is big and clunky and my phone is not very good quality.  Looking at options though!

Benjamin survived having his wisdom teeth out over Christmas break.  Very little swelling and pain.  He was not really even down much.  Jacob, on the other hand, had 8 teeth out recently and was taking meds for almost a week.  He is still struggling to eat, poor kid.  He was telling me two days ago that his front teeth hurt from having to always chew with them.  Now that both procedures are out of the way, the orthodontist is working to get Benjamin's teeth moved so he can have jaw surgery later this year.  Once Jacob's teeth start coming in, he will go back into braces.

Benjamin got his license on my birthday.

He is driving a Mazda 6 and loves it.  He continues to rock his work environment.  He is doing so well there.  He finished out the first semester of sophomore year and is doing welding, wood shop, culinary and all the core classes for the second semester.  He has had a very fast immersion into the world of taxes and can't believe they take out $100 of his hard earned money!  Welcome to life son!

My mom was here over my birthday and we had a wonderful time.  Not sure what we did with our days, but I know we stayed busy.  She is always great help around the house and this trip was no different.  She is much better at filling in corners and putting splashes of color places.  I am just not a shopper/browser and that is what you have to be to find things you need.

Jacob is playing basketball and doing well.  Here is a recent video...hopefully it comes through.  Jacob is green #10.  He shines around the 35 second mark.

Our winter has been very mild lately!  Very little accumulated snow and warmer temperatures.  Jacob has skied probably 12 times so far and shows no plans of slowing down.  He chose not to do travel basketball (just playing through the school) so his Saturdays would be free for skiing. 

Christmas and New Years 2019 has come and gone.

Things have been pretty quiet around here.  Christmas was very low key!  We spend Christmas Eve with the cousins and went back over later on Christmas Day.  The boys only had 7 school days off, so I felt like I have been so confused as to what day of the week it is.  New Year's Eve found us back over at the cousins and we just barely made it to midnight. 

Jacob has already skied 8 times!  He and two buddies catch the bus and go up and ski, ski, ski.  They love it and have had pretty good weather and snow.

In the valley we have had a mild winter so far.  Actually, most of our snow on the ground is melted and there is not a lot in the near future.

My work has cut me off.  First time in a year and half I have not had anything to do for them.  Of course miss the money but sure is nice being able to strictly focus on projects!  My biggest project is going through 15 years of photos and cleaning them up so that I have the best of the best.  I have made a few other contacts about short term job opportunities.  We will see where that leads.

Jacob starts 7th grade basketball tomorrow and Joseph is still doing soccer on Saturday mornings.  Benjamin has found a job and is excelling!  He was hired as a dishwasher at a nicer restaurant and he is crushing it.  He has already been cross trained in 3 or 4 other jobs and he receives lots of praise.  One night recently he stayed after work for an hour and sat at the bar and just talked with the bar tender, customers and other managers.  I really think he enjoyed that!   He has always been able to carry on conversations with adults.  His knowledge about random things usually blows people away.
He will get his license in 8 days, but who is counting.  Still trying to figure out if he will have a car at that point, or if he will be sharing ours for a bit.

Hopefully with basketball around the corner, I can get some photos posted!!!  As I have gone through all our photos, seems like my picture taking has really dropped off the last 2 years or so.  Not sure why but suspect maybe because the boys are not as willing to have their photos taken???