Just a quick word on JB and his arm.
On Monday I took him to my chiropractor. After feeling around a bit, he thought it was a shoulder injury if anything. He taped him up and we were on our way. Tuesday was my regular "Chiro" day, so he looked at JB again. He still did not feel anything but said if we went to his other office on Wednesday, he would x-ray again. Also on Tuesday while at speech therapy, the therapist had a PT person come look at him and they said the wrist. Then at pre-school, they had another PT person come in and they said elbow.

All the while he is not using his arm - at all. It just hangs limp.

On Wednesday we x-rayed the elbow and nothing. He felt all up and down the arm again. He said the pain response from JB was decreased and swelling down, as opposed to Monday. He taped him up and encouraged me to get him using it. We are thinking soft tissue injury, which takes 7-10 days to heal. The plan now is if he is not using it considerably by Monday, will probably call and schedule an MRI.

I am able to move his hand/arm around without him screaming, but he still holds his shoulder weird and will not put it out to protect him. He has voluntarily used it a little bit, small movements, but I will take it.

I have been staying away from the computer lately. Just is a big black hole with me..the less I am on it, the more productive I tend to be.

I've been contemplative lately. Just thankful for where we are at right now. A very steady, secure job, healthy kids and freedoms a lot of others in the world don't have. We had a great Thanksgiving. Went to some friend's house and had two deep fried turkeys and two grilled chickens plus all the trimmings. Even got a few hands of cards in.

Made a trip to Urgent Care today. Joseph threw something at one of his brothers and the (unnamed) brother got mad. He grabbed Joseph by the wrist and flung him off the couch. Immediate tears and favoring the other arm. I watched him over the next couple of hours and he was not using the arm. He even took a short nap and woke up crying his arm hurt. Decided an x-ray was in order. (Our first 'accident' trip ever - not bad with 3 boys).

The doctor did not see anything on the x-ray and assumed it was nursemade (?) elbow. He tried manipulating and pulling traction. He did not get the response from the arm he anticipated. We decided best to watch him the next 24 hours and if he does not have full range of motion in it after 24 hours, we are to go back. He is still favoring the arm and not using it much. Will see how things are in the morning/afternoon.

Been trying to finish up a few projects so I can put up Christmas stuff and get to work on my Christmas puzzle - one of my most favorite things to do. See if I can get a few more things done before bedtime!

Just random stuff....
B is really intrigued by the Titanic and that whole story. He has checked out lots of books on it. Today he was asking me when it sank. I could not remember and then he asked me if I was alive when it sank :-)
I love his individuality. The other day he came home from school with his sweatpants tucked inside his wool socks. This past weekend he went to church with his jeans tucked inside his boots. I always chuckle and he asks me why....I tell him I just love the way he is not concerned with what others think.
He has gotten a big part in the 3rd grade Christmas play/musical at school. Seems he has landed the part of Santa. We are working on memorizing lines, but fortunately it is set up so that the kids have the written script if lines are forgotten. As I recall, in previous years the kids walk up to a podium and speak the lines so takes some of the pressure off. He was very excited!

Jbird...Recently I was talking with another mom who had helped with picture retakes at school. She was talking with J as they walked for retakes. He told her that he needed to get his picture retaken because 'his curls did not lay right.' Then I was going up to his class and taking snack....chocolate chip banana bread. Before I got there, they were talking in class about snack and the teacher mentioned I was bringing banana bread. The kids got excited and then J stood up and raised his arms up and said, 'not just any banana bread, but chocolate chip banana bread - all the kids oohed and aahed.

JR got an small bull elk this past weekend. Anyone want to know what the smell of death smells like...just come visit our garage. But hey, meat in the freezer.

B's Cub Scout Den leader has suddenly quit. Our co-leader was his wife, so we are left high and dry. I have come along, for the moment and am picking up the pieces. So, one more hat I am trying my hand at. Hopefully a replacement would be found quickly. At least the program is so structured and laid out, it is easy to jump in and carry on.

That is all that is in my little head...off to do a few more things before hitting the gym.

It was a beautiful day today.....We have collected quite an assortment of sleds, so took them out for a spin.

JB was getting all the snow in the face....(I love the hair flying).  This was the shot that I literally had to jump out of the way right after I took it - straight for me!

Just happened to catch all of them in this shot...notice B's peace sign...

This was by far the favorite sled of JB's...

We tried all coming down together. Yes, I have on a short sleeve shirt and no gloves!  It was that nice.

We all had a good time. JB got plowed over by a sled and then one trip down some dogs that were playing on the hill ran over him. Not to mention all the times he would tumble off of his sled. He did amazing. He would get back up and tuck that sled under his arm and hike back up the hill.

Some where along the way JB has found his whine...seems like it is almost constant right now. When I remind him that he is whining, he changes his voice to a deep voice. It is funny how he can't seem to whine with his 'deep' voice.

His therapist retested him recently. His expressive language is now at 2 years and 8 months (he is 3 years 3 months). So, he is doing really well with vocabulary, now we need to work more on intelligibility. He did drop considerably in his receptive language though. The therapist said that the test she used has a lot harder content for the 3 year old (versus 1 or 2 year old). Things like you have three words - long, longer and longest. Then you are suppose to point to the girl with the longer hair. If the child points to the girl with the longest hair, they get it wrong. She is not too worried about it, but will keep an eye on it and retest him at some point. Just good to see the long term improvement.

Seems Jbird is taking an interest in animal books of late. One of the most recent books he checked out from the library was a book on squids. Then he wanted to find videos online about squids (wonder if I could get him to try squid). He has checked out books on jungle animals and sharks. B is starting to discover more chapter books. We continue to slowly work our way through our Christian Heroes series. We are trying to finish up the book on Eric Lidell - the guy the movie Chariots of Fire was based on.

We have a very quiet weekend coming up. Nothing on the calendar but church. Hopefully we can try to get in some good sledding!

Winter arrived on Thursday. That night we got 10.5 inches at the house. Then 1.5 inches the next day. We have already hit zero! Would not mind some really good skiing this winter, but hope the cold, cold days are few! Jbird has always loved icicles. So when the sun came up today we went outside and there were plenty to find.

JR got a small buck last weekend. Went out again yesterday but did not get a clear shot on anything!

B has had his mouth appliance put back in. He is not really diggin it. I told him some day he would appreciate it though.

The other day as I picked the kids up from school, we were walking back to our van. There stood a police officer - waiting for me. I was parked alongside the street and seems the man parked in front of me had bumped my vehicle while backing up. It happened right as the police officer drove by, so he was obligated to stop and 'investigate'. I told him I was fine with everything, especially since I could not see any damage. My license checked out, so I was free to go. The other man got a talkin' to from the officer about something though!

On Halloween, we attended a fall festival at a local church. They had carnival type games you could play. The boys got in line for the one where you throw a dart at a balloon. They each got three tries and JB was 3 for 3. I am sure it was not intentional, but he has an arm. Then the other day when we went horse back riding, JB was throwing the ball with Mr. Joel. At one point Mr. Joel was not looking and JB hit him right in the forehead.

To show you the type of questions my child can generate...in science they were learning about the food chain and if things were producers and consumers. B asked the teacher about the Venus Fly Trap. She did not know. Right after school she googled it and then called B on my cell to tell him the answer.

Jbird can now retire his red sweats (that have been worn way too many days in a row.) I finally found some sweats that he likes! I also have a lot of other pairs that will be saved for JB because they are perfectly good
but he doesn't like them. (Choose your battles, right?)

It has always bothered me when I would see kids B's age with pants that were too short.  I don't like short pants and never understood why parents would continually put them on their child.  Well, now I get it.  B has finally hit the stage where all his clothes are sized 8-10, not 5 or 6 or 7.  All of the 8-10s are so long on him, so he is wearing 6-7s.  I keep telling him to pull his pants down a bit.  He balks.  I just hope as he gets older and it is the style to wear your pants really low on the hips that he will continue to balk.

I  was able to talk Jbird into redoing his school pictures. I even sent a note with him in his pocket to give the photographer. It read "Don't touch his hair". In the first shoot, the photographer had parted his bangs down the middle, showing his forehead. I was told after school today that the photographer did not even try to mess with his hair. You don't mess with my son's hair.

I am enjoying helping out in the classrooms. With B's class, I pull kids out individually to help them with flash cards, telling time or counting money. It is fun because I just go down the roster, so I get to hang with all the kids. It is at a terrible time of the day for me. I had considered telling the teacher I would do every other week, but being up there last time and seeing how much they enjoyed it, I will plug along. The kids in Jbird's class enjoy any adult. You can tell those that are starved for attention. I was on the playground today and one boy came up and gave me a hug as I walked away!

Getting our first major snowstorm....planning on several inches of snow in the morning.

This afternoon it was too nice to be inside. So we ventured out to a local fishing access and threw some rocks. I tried to get a good picture of the three of them....Fortunately I had Jbird who was trying to rally the troops for me.  Can you guess who had the attitude...

Good thing I still have a few more weeks to try to get them all looking and smiling at the camera at the same time for Christmas pictures.

B has decided he wants to let his hair grow out.  It is starting to curl on the temple.  I think his hair is too thick though.  Just so interesting to see God's handiwork in each of them...so different, yet they all came from the same DNA.  B has the thick, coarse hair, Jbird has the curly fine hair and JB's is straight and fine.

The boys for some reason have really gotten into wrestling...like all three of them going at it.  Almost too much noise and chaos for me - which is saying a lot. It usually ends with one of them crying, but in the end they all love it.

Parent teacher conferences are this Thursday!  Anticipating a breeze with one teacher and quite a discussion with the other.  B is finally seeing the orthodontist on Thursday, to see if the appliance could be repaired and then it will be put back in.  He has lost another tooth!  They are slowly coming out.

For school all three of the boys are suppose to read every day.  Needless to say we are doing way more reading than before.  It is hard to get in a combined total of 1 hour a day.  I have tried to get B to read out loud to his brothers but that is usually not successful.  So I read to the younger two and then have B read out loud at a different time.  I am amazed at what they retain from our reading.

Today was an early release from school and a beautiful November day. We headed out to some friends' house who recently got a 'kid' horse. The boys had a great time hanging out with Sheena.  They had to 'work' for their ride.

They each rode solo but when it came time for number 1 to get off, number 2 got on the back for a lap or two, then number 1 would get off and 2 would slide up.

I love his dimples.....

We were not real sure how JB would do on the back, but he hung on tight.

I love the scenery in this one....despite what it looks like, Jbird did not fall asleep on the back of the horse and JB looks so serious, but they both were having a blast.

The other half of the afternoon was spent on their hay bales.  I never realized how much fun hay bales could be.  Those pictures coming up on a future post!  Off to bed.

Yes, I got the lovely reminder from my family...it has been 7 days since I last posted!

Soccer is over! Jbird scored a goal on the last game of the season! Yea Jbird.

The boys recently had fire safety week at school. Always a great time to go over our fire stuff at home. The two older boys are all lined out on what to do. The had me test our smoke alarms. We even pulled out the fire escape ladders. They both practiced going down the ladder three times. I wanted to practice going down with JB, but being I was the only adult around at the time, figured I would err on the side of safety. So thankful our firefighters go into the schools once a year to talk with all the kids.

The parts of my bed are quickly disappearing. Seems that 8 -10 years is the life span of linens and bedspreads. My beloved bedspread is gone and my most favorite down comforter now has a hole in it. I am glad one of the boys brought it to me before feathers, lots of feathers, got all over the place. One set of our sheets now has been throw away because I found holes in them. Thankfully it appears to be the type of holes that are worn and not cut - like one of my kids will do from time to time.

The younger two got to take costumes to school today. JB has 4 other boys in his class. I found it cool that between the 5 of them, they had a fireman, policeman, batman, superman and spiderman. All 5 heroes represented. Here is a picture his teacher sent me. Too hilarious. Not sure how she got that exact look.

Opportunity finally presented itself for me to teach a huge lesson to one of the boys. I only took two of them out this evening. One got left behind and did not get to go trick or treating. Have been having some issues and some minor things happened today. Knowing all too often I threaten things or forget about certain consequences, I followed through today and left him at home with JR. He was very upset but then handled it very well. He was very surprised when I told him how much we missed him and his enthusiasm and energy. He told me he learned a lesson and now I can always go back to that specific incident in letting them know I will follow through, even if I don't want to.

JR has not seen anything out hunting. Hopefully the weather will cool down and we will get some more mountain snow to bring the animals lower down.

Off to bed. Will try to get some more pictures soon to appease my nieces :-)

The week has gotten away from me - not that there has been a lot to write. Pretty humdrum days, which are really nice.

We have had our last soccer practice, just waiting for the last soccer game this Sunday. So nice to come home after school and stay home. Lots of time after school for reading, homework, games, popcorn, hot chocolate.

We had our first snowfall last night. Just enough to cover everything. I love going up to the school and seeing all the big snowballs/snowmen. We are only 2 weeks into cold weather and gloves are already going missing! Given that we live in a cold climate, where it is winter a good 4 or 5 months, it amazes me how few homes have mud rooms. None of them are set up for places for gear.

The boys (I had JBs taken too, since he is at the preschool) have gotten their school pictures back. Two of them turned out great and the third...well, not so much. When you get the deer in the headlights look, big time, you really want a do over. Not sure that my child will 'do over'. Been trying to talk him in to it. Retakes are Nov 1st, so my time is disappearing!

Just drawing a blank, so won't go on any more! Seems my blog ebbs and flows. The flowing seems to have diminished.

Today the boys and I headed out to a hay maze. I did not get any pictures in the maze - too busy trying to keep up with the boys, but got a few others.

They had a huge bin of corn kernels for kids to play in. (We found a handful in JB's diaper when we got home - no wonder he was complaining about his bum hurting when he sat.)

They all loved being buried!

JB really liked the little train, so he and I took a ride.

This is a picture of what the maze looks like from the air. (I have decided, whether corn or hay, I just get a headache and dizzy inside of them all - walking around and around in circles.)

JB wanted me to take a picture of him with 'no hands' on the train.

Hunting season starts tomorrow. Hopefully this time tomorrow night we will have an elk hanging in our garage!

B has had his mouth appliance now for a few weeks. The orthodontist actually has not even started tightening it yet. Well, wouldn't you know, we had to go to his office yesterday because it was broken! The appliance fits into the roof of his mouth. Then he has a wire on each side that runs behind the teeth and up toward the front. The wires then bend slightly around and stop - nothing really visible. The other night, JB was flinging his little blanket and flicking it at B. The end of the blanket just caught B's mouth and the blanket got stuck on the wire (go figure). Of course JB had no idea, so he pulled the blanket back and bent the wire all up. It was hanging in the middle of his mouth, making eating difficult. The ortho was actually out of town but an assistant was able to remove the whole appliance and now we are waiting to see if the ortho thinks it will be strong enough once it is bent back, or if another one has to be made. I just laugh...who gets a blanket caught on a mouth wire!?

B recently brought home some of his school work - poems actually.

One is titled Pets.
I have an iguana. He likes to go in the sun.
I have an iguana. My iguana likes to have fun.

I have a Komodo Dragon, he likes to ride a motorcycle
I have a Komodo Dragon, he likes to ride a unicycle.

I have a Killer whale, he likes to bite.
I have a killer whale, he doesn't like to write.

I have a bobcat, he likes to shout.
I have a bobcat, he likes to pass out.

Another one titled Blue
What is blue, what is blue
The ocean is blue, like the gleaming sky

What is blue, part of my bed is blue.
I sleep on it every night.

What is blue? The sea, my shirt, the lines on my paper
My friend's shirt is blue, part of the U.S. flag is blue
Do you like blue?

The third graders also had a native american artist visit their classrooms recently. B came home with all kinds of stories, interesting facts about art, etc. He is really enjoying creating, writing, etc. I love to see my kids flourish and grab hold to something that interests them. His teacher tells me that B's questions always drives her mini lessons in school.

He loves to listen to a local Christian radio station. Since we live in a smaller community, we don't get lots of concerts passing through town. However, there is a Christian Christmas tour coming to town. I am so excited to take B (maybe Jbird?) to hear/see one of his favorite groups. And at Christmas time....I love the Christmas music!

Tomorrow and Friday the kids have off school - statewide teacher conference! I am hoping for some sleeping in!

one of my boys has finally taken an interest in musical instrument. It is one of the biggest regrets I have, not continuing with my piano or other musical pursuits. I have a guitar, keyboard and harmonica, that if I focused on, could probably be decent, at least I would like to think so. I did have a grandmother that taught piano for years, so I like to think it is hidden somewhere in my genes.

Anyway, some teenagers at our church play with the worship team. One of them is starting to work with B a little bit. If nothing else, would love it if he would learn some rhythm.

JB scored his first goal during a soccer game yesterday. JR and I both saw it and he was so pumped. Then we came home and pulled out his "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons Book". He started reading. His teacher has really helped him in school and I was amazed at how quickly he was picking it up. He was so stoked when he realized he was able to 'read'.

I pulled out the boys' journals. It was originally my intent to write periodically in each of their journals. Yes, there is online but there is something about someone's own handwriting. It had been a while since I had written in them. JB's last entry was dated Oct 10, 2011 - almost 1 year to the day. My entry for the day was excitement that he now had 10 words!!!! Look where he is now! Sometimes it is hard to see the progress when you are in it day to day, but looking at the journal, he is doing awesome.

Off to grab the kids...our last week of 4 days of soccer practice! Woot!

Well, I decided to call the manager of the pizza place. I just could not get over my experience there. I am very glad I did. She was so, so appreciative. She was even able to guess who the employee was that had made those statements to me. She said when I called she was sitting there trying to figure out how she was going to keep her staff because sales were down. Now she knows why sales were down, because an employee was giving stuff away. I made sure to follow up with my boys to let them know I had called and how grateful the manager was.

JB can now say his name, minus the first sound. He is so proud of himself when you ask him his name.

Here are pictures from a recent soccer game (B had a bye, so only Jbird played)

And here is one of JB...he is so photogenic.....

Several months ago I finally got rid of my beloved blanket/bedspread. I love blankets. It is probably one of the few things that I certainly have too much of. But I ditched the blanket after 10 years because it was literally falling a part. Instead of buying something new for the bed, I went to the closet. There was a nice big white quilt that will do the job. Thinking it would not stay white for long, I put it on and hoped for the best.

As I grabbed it off the bed yesterday morning to wash it, I thought...this has stayed pretty clean. That was until I washed it. As I opened the dryer door, I instantly saw it. Black, all over the blanket. Then I saw the culprit. A black crayon. Now this was the second load of laundry I had done. Somehow a crayon got mixed up with the blanket and sheets as I tossed them in. I considered trying to clean it based on something I found on google, but there was too much of it. Fortunately I was on the phone with a friend who has a 'thankful' blog. Instead of getting mad, I realized at least it was not a load of shirts, pants, etc. It was only one sheet and a blanket, and one that was not real sentimental to me.

Yesterday we had a very weird experience at a restaurant. We don't go out to eat much, maybe once/twice a month, but there is a local pizza place that has a dinner buffet a few times a week. So, we headed over there. From the car I could see that there was no pizza out on the buffet. I sent B in to ask if they have their buffet tonight - he nods his head yes and we walk in. I always forget what their kid ages/prices are for the buffet. So I told him it would be 2 adults and I can't remember the ages but the kids are 3, 5 and 8. He (probably a high school guy) says, "As far as I am concerned, if they are shorter than me, they are free." Then realizing I did not get charged for the boys pizza, figured I would let them get a drink (versus the usual water). The boys grabbed Gatorade out of the cooler. Upon seeing the Gatorade, the guy said "I am just gonna charge you for a drink because I think it is stupid for me to charge you $2.50 for a Gatorade". I headed to the table thinking he is either a disgruntled employee or not very smart - he had no clue who I was and for him to be selling the business short. Then a little later another young employee proceeded to show my boys how you can play air hockey free by pushing in the coin thing and kicking the side of the machine!! The whole time we were there they only brought out one pizza for the buffet. The guy was really nice but I am still bothered by his lack of respect for his job and employer. There is a part of me that wants to go back in there and let management/owner know. I definitely made it a point to tell the boys what a bad employee he was and just because someone showed him how to cheat the game, did not make it right by him doing it.

B has a spelling test every week and one of the best ways for us to practice is to do the words in the car. It is amazing how it is helping JB. He will sit back there and mimic every letter he says, rattling them off faster than his older brother.

Recently in music class, Jbird's teacher had them howling...not sure why but they had to imitate a wolf. So, that has been a recent sound around our house. Just today Jbird got going again, as we walked to the car after school. Pretty soon he had a neighborhood dog going...it was so funny. Jbird would howl, the dog would howl, Jbird would howl, the dog would howl.

The boys were eating dinner last night and drinking smoothies. I had just given them their dark red/purple fruit smoothies. I turned my back and all of a sudden I heard JB crying and the other two boys started saying my name. I turned around. Poor JB was taking the first sip of his smoothie (he normally uses a straw but not this time) and the whole smoothie had slid down the cup and into his face. I so wish my camera had been close by. All you could see were his eyes. He was so stunned, he did not know what had happened. I managed to hide my laugh as I cleaned him up, but was glad to hear him laughing about it a few seconds later with his brothers.

My boys are finally starting to open their eyes to new food. The other night when B made taco meat, he did not realize it was taco seasoned ground turkey. He just kept talking about how good the meat was and if I would buy it again. I finally told him it was turkey - something he does not 'like'. Then we were at Costco recently and they were trying samples. Jbird tried and loved the vegetable sausage patties. There is hope yet!

All is quiet, so time for me to curl up in bed with a book - one of my favorite places as the weather gets colder!

Just 2 pictures for the day.

The boys are into piggy back rides....and JB/Jbird can now get into the action

This morning the boys and I went to a football game. A friend of ours is on the froshmore (freshman/sophmore team). It was the first 'real' football game they have seen, with pads, etc. We got there immediately after a helmet to helmet collision. We sat there for 25 minutes and watched them backboard a player and haul him off. I was pretty nervous, because what limited medical experience I have, it is never a good sign when someone injured does not move - at all. However, as they wheeled him off he raised his hand...I still never saw his legs or feet move. B did make the comment that he never wanted to play football - which is fine by me! No word on the players injuries.

I loved at the football, JB was using so many words. He would say "Evan back in" or "Evan back out", referring to our friend we were watching. Just so fun to have him be a part of conversations now. I am amazed at some of the words that come out of his mouth - words I have never 'taught' him but he has 'caught' them.

Right now the boys are downstairs cooking. Guess they are tired of my cooking - yippee! B is cooking taco meat and Jbird made himself and JB a grilled cheese sandwich. Could I have a chef in the family? JR was working this afternoon and said he was going to bring home some grilled chicken, so I AM off the hook tonight!

I definitely have an artist. Jbird just loves to draw, paint, etc. He can sit at the table for minutes on end :-) and create. I wish we had more wall space to display all of their stuff.

Three more weeks of soccer. I am seriously thinking about the spring and baseball. Both boys want to play and I know, given the 'league' they will be in, one will have practice/have games on M/W and the other on T/Th. Don't know how things will work when we throw the youngest into the mix. We live in a town of about 10K and there are some days that I put 40 miles on the car and don't ever leave our little town.

The teachers at school are now ready for parent volunteers so I have signed up for both the kindergarten and 3rd grade - 1 hour, once a week. Fortunately both times are when JB is at preschool, so I can focus on the kids. I was in Jbird's class on Friday. I was blown away at the technology they use now. (I am sure it is not much to anyone else, but keep in mind I don't text yet...) The teacher has a projector so she can pull anything up on the computer and project it on to a screen for the whole class to see. On Friday, while the teacher was getting snack ready, she pulled up a video of someone famous reading a book. The teacher told me the other day the person reading the book was one of the actors from Lord of the Rings. The second the actor came up on the screen about half her class started shouting out who he was. I know my boys have not seen Lord of the Rings....I have one that gets incredibly scared in movies, so am very careful what we watch. Then during station time, four of the kids were working on computers. One of them asked me how to play a game and I was clueless. His teacher was also telling me how amazed she is with his puzzle-working abilities....so glad both of my older boys seem to have that 'gene'.

Guess I need to go supervise dinner more closely.......

Why, why, why....words I had forgotten about until a week or so ago. JB has finally hit the 'why' stage. Why Momma, Why. Who uz dat, Momma. I love those little questions. He has also started singing. Whenever music is on in the car, you can hear him trying to match up sounds. And for the first time, he was humming last night. I loved it!!!

B's cub scout pack is selling popcorn. This is the first year he has really taken an interest in getting out there and selling. We went out this past weekend and he walked up to the doors, did all the talking and selling. He has set a goal for himself and is almost half way there and he has a few more weeks to sell. It is neat to watch him gain the confidence to take control of unknown situations. I love teaching him about making eye contact, speaking loud and clear, always saying thank you whether they buy or not, etc.

Jbird went along with us, observing. I knew it was time to head home when he started playing in some tar. Had it all over his fingers and then proceeded to wipe them on his soccer shirt - ugh.

B and Jbird are also taking an interest in their Awana books this year and initiating learning the verses. So nice when mom does not always have to remind them!

We are trying to be very deliberate in what we eat for breakfast. Seems one of the boys is having a hard time focusing in school and the teacher and I are trying to see if more protein and fish oil will help. I was buying fish oil gummies that contained 82 mg of omega 3s in 2 gummies. I checked out flaxseed - a whopping 2400 mg in 2 tablespoons. So now I try to mix up a treat of peanut butter, flaxseed, protein powder, nutella, etc and get them to eat it (I love it with hemp hearts and almonds added). JB is about the only one that really loves it, but with some tweaking of ingredients, hoping to get them all on board. I have decided I am done buying snacks....have been finding too many granola bar wrappers, candy wrappers, etc under the bathroom sinks, under beds, in closets. So, the healthy homemade things will have to do!

Off to grab the kids from school....predicting possible snow tomorrow! I love sweatshirt weather.

This morning was our annual Fall Festival, complete with parade. B went with the cub scouts and Jbird walked with his Kindergarten class. This is the second year that all Kindergarteners are invited to walk in the parade....they are trying to promote all kids graduating. So, sponsors paid for all the K kids to have shirts....made me sad when I saw the shirt....

Class of 2025??? I had never even given thought to when my boys would graduate, but if anyone wants to mark their calendar, it will be 2022, 2025 and 2028. Seems so far away. Jbird said he was excited and nervous, 'that he had never been in a parade before and he gets to walk down the middle of the street.' He was so cute, hugging his friends, holding their hands at one point. I have had parents come up to me and tell me they love watching him on the playground. He is so social and is always the leader with the soccer boys. Every day, I hear a different kid yelling his name across the playground, telling him bye.

It was hard to catch B because when they passed us it was crazy....

JB enjoyed the parade. It lasted 1 hour and 40 minutes....way too long in my opinion. However, I did enjoy the brisket that was cooked all night over an open flame!

Gearing up for soccer games tomorrow.

Could not resist taking this picture....this is one tired little boy. It just relaxes me to see all that hot water cascading down his back. Wish I was small enough to fall asleep and have someone carry me to bed.

Of course here is the littlest one, wide awake because he took a nap today.

Our days seem so busy right now. That is why I so appreciate that my boys are not into an indoor sport...we get a winter break from Nov - March. So looking forward to that!

Off to help with homework!

A few days ago I was treated to a backyard surprise. The boys had some friends over and they made a band, complete with a stage. I was quite impressed...they even used my yellow curling ribbon to hold up the tarp that served as the curtain. They used the 'porch' of their playhouse/lego house. Jbird was on the drums and loved the improvising of the drum sticks...plastic garden tools. Sometimes their creativity blows me away...just wish their cleaning up skills did too - we are still finding yellow curling ribbon outside!

I am tired of fighting with Jbird over his clothes. The other day was picture day and out of a shelf full of clothes, he did not like any of them. So he and I went through what was on his shelf. He kept the clothes he liked and put them into 3 stacks...church, school and weekend clothes. Pretty clever I thought and he came up with it all by himself. Then today he and I spent the morning looking for clothes. We were not terribly successful but we do have about 3 pair of shorts and 5 shirts to add to the mix. I love that he is finally starting to coordinate his clothes.

Went to McDonald's recently..I was craving one of their milkshakes (that I discovered when Jbird had his tonsils out). I pulled up to the drive thru and I guess Mickey D's is trying to get 'healthier'. Listed on their drive thru menu was the calorie counts of their food. Well, 550 calories for a small milkshake was enough for me to change my mind!

Got a music box key in the mail today. Yes, had to order one online because someone locked my music box and no one seemed to know where the key was!

Two soccer games tomorrow....let's hope for a more even match up with B tomorrow. A rather quiet week!