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.

Recently, at basketball practice they had parents night, where the kids scrimmaged the parents.

JR was able to leave work early so I happily let him jump it.  He enjoyed himself and got very winded trying to guard his son.....

He resorted to some cheating.... holding Jacob back...(the parents had to play with one hand behind their back)

Then dad got in some time with Joseph.

This was at their last game.  Joseph handled the ball quite a bit and scored again!

Jbird was a mad man.  He was great at driving with the ball but struggled with his shooting.

He got to do the jump shot again!

Benjamin had a great time skiing this past week and will ski again next Tuesday with the homeschool group.

The kids are out of school today. I am very thankful for a quiet day at home. I am surprised how much we are gone from the house. An hour here, an hour there all
adds up.

JR stays busy with work. He seems to have a lot more roofs to shovel this year. Still trying to figure out how to bring on another employee. With worker's comp, it seems we will pay more in insurance and taxes than the employee will receive ~ uugghh.

Other than basketball Saturday and my pinochle group on Sunday, a quiet weekend! Great to curl up with some books!

One of the boys has been struggling with some 'executing' issues ~ mapping out, planning, following through, completing, etc.  After some research, we are hopefully in the process of revamping some things.  We are striving to remove all foods with red dye in them, loading up with more protein (fascinating how proteins affect the neurons in your brain) and bringing on the omega 3s.  (I finally found a great product that tastes amazing and nothing like fish oil ~ Barleans Omega Swirl ~ just like a fruit smoothie.)  It appears that at least the older two boys are in the middle of huge and fast brain development, so in order to support and maximize all the growth, this has become a priority for us.  We have also gotten a membership to lumosity.com ~ brain games that can be completed in 15 minutes a day.  Really a lot of fun and challenges them without them even realizing how good it is for them.  All indications are that their distractions/forgetfulness/unorganization can somewhat be diminished and that part of the brain more developed through these key growth years if we give the brain what it really needs to properly grow.  Time will tell!  It certainly can't hurt putting all this stuff into place :-)

Another thing I am trying to be intentional about is strategy/quick thinking games.  Now that the boys are older, they are really getting into board games and that makes me so happy.  I got Ticket to Ride for my birthday and these two quickly picked it up.  JR even played 2 games and he seemed to enjoy it!!!  Jbird has asked for a variation to this for his birthday and Benjamin has found another board game by the same company that he wants for his birthday.  Hopefully board games will become a part of our weekly schedule now!  

This guy had some kind of a run in/altercation (depending on who you ask) with his brother and he ended up on the ice!  Quite the markings right now.

We had a quiet weekend.  Jacob and Joseph each had a basketball game on Saturday.  It was fun watching the Broncos Sunday secure a place in the Super Bowl after seeing a game live. There has not been much snow lately and does not look like much, at least in the next 5 days.  At least the weather has been cold enough not to melt any snow that we do have.

Benjamin has earned a ski day, on Tuesday, with the neighbor because he has cranked out his math.  When he focuses, it is crazy what he can do!!!  Then the follow week, he will start a ski P.E. class~ a total of 3 days, spread out on a few weeks, but will be with lots of other homeschoolers.  A great break for both of us.

Bree has recently taken to chewing on electrical cords.  Fortunately the first three were unplugged.  She sleeps at the foot of our bed and I always have an electrical blanket.  The cord has been right next to her for months but she never bothered with it.  Well, she chewed through both of my electrical blanket cords ~ ugh.  So, I have made another trip to Pet Smart and bought some more toys.  She totally destroyed one of them in an hour.  The other is still going strong.  I am making a more concerted effort to run her and have gotten some food puzzles and strong tug of war ropes ~ the boys loves playing with her with these.

She just loves the snow.....  She jumps in it, burrows in it, lays down and cools off in it.  She is happiest when she can be in the snow.  Lately when I have taken her running with the car, she runs for several miles on the snow covered roads.  I will stop to let her in and she looks at me and keeps running.

If we ever have one of those 1-1.5 foot snows, I will have to capture it on video, cause you will just see her tail running through the snow.  Recently the boys were out playing in the snowy field.  She was running out back with them.  After about 30 minutes figured I should go check on her, assuming her paws might start getting cold.  When I got in, I found her underside was covered in frozen snow.  I felt so bad ~ just looking at this picture makes me hurt.

I first tried a hair dryer, but the noise scared her too bad.  She would not lay still and did not want water all over the house so I put her in the bathtub for an hour or so while the chunks melted.

We are gonna take her Tuesday for her first grooming.  She just has such a thick coat, it would take me forever to wrestle with her.

A few pics of the field fun.

Jacob has 2 friends that live close by and they are twins.  They are red heads with freckles and I just adore them.  They make me smile every time they knock at the door.  They are Brant and Wyatt and I can't tell them apart (although they do have different hair cuts but they still confuse me) so I just call them B-Dub.  There they are having fun with Jacob.

We are half way through the school year!  Can't believe spring is just around the corner.  The days are getting longer and that makes me happy!

Jacob and Joseph have both started basketball.  They had their first game on Saturday.

Joseph played back to back games and did awesome.  He scored one basket the second game.  He got to do the tip off ~ I don't think either of them really understood what that meant.

He as great at running down court on both offensive and defense.  He would get confused though and would face his opponent, putting his back to the ball.  Even when his team had the ball, he would face his opponent, instead of turning and looking for the pass.  He had a great time.  It is a 1st/2nd grade team, so he is playing up.

Jacob is on a 3rd/4th grade team, so they can now steal passes but not when one is dribbling the ball.

He had a great game and scored about half of his team's points.  He got on a roll!  I definitely need to brush up on my picture taking skills during basketball games because they were all so blurry.  He was moving quick.

We had a quiet New Years Eve.  The boys spent most of the time over at the neighbor's house and I found myself in the bathtub, watching a movie (I put the laptop on a chair beside the tv~ don't worry dad).

On New Years day we met up with some friends that morning for ice skating.  It was about 5 degrees but with no clouds, no wind and little humidity, it felt much warmer.

Then in the afternoon, we attended a 4H sledding party.  It was on private land and we had fire pits, chili, soup, hot chocolate and lots of snacks.  It was fun to see other people's set ups in regards to heating water, etc.

 This ATV was a favorite.  The kids would pile into the black sled and then it would haul them up to the top of the hill.

One of this classic wipe outs.  This kid plays hard.  In fact, that day he played too hard.  Not sure what happened but he came off the sled on one jump and hit a rock with his knee.  He told me his knee was hurting (and acting like it) and at one point he told me he thought it was bleeding.  However, he did not want to get in the car just yet and look at it.  When he finally got in the car, he lifted up his snow pants and freaked out.  He did have blood running down his leg but it did not look as bad as he thought.  However, when he got home he immediately got in the shower.  Upon getting out, we determined it was decent hole and needed stitches.  So, Jacob and I spent New Years Evening in the E.R. They were busy so we were there about 2.5 hours and left with 5 stitches across the knee cap.  As the PA was deadening the area, Jacob was crying, etc.  Then the P.A. adjusted his body and leaned in so that his body was between Jacob and Jacob's knee ~ then he quit crying, making him realize seeing it made it worse.  Then the P.A. told me to cover Jacob's eyes as he scrubbed it out ~ ouch~very thankful for the shot~ and gave him stitches.  A real trooper he was.  They put him in an immobilizer, afraid that if he bent his knee he would rip out the stitches.  We returned a week later and had the stitches removed and he is good as new.

Despite the E.R. visit, a great start to the new year, with friends, sunshine, fresh air and exercise!

Two other things we did while in Texas....I wanted to go visit my cousin, who is incarcerated in East Texas, so we took off on a 2 day road trip.  We went to see him, which was very interesting and eye opening for my boys to see a maximum security facility.  After the visit we headed toward Austin.

We spent 2 nights with some lifelong friends in the Austin area.  Our intention had been to drive to San Antonio to see the Alamo and the Riverwalk all lit up.  Well, when we got to our friends' house, the boys had such a great time playing, we ditched our plans and laid low with Nerf gun wars, trampoline jumping, playing and exploring at Nameless Valley Ranch.  NVR is a deserted camp that was bought in recent years for development.  My friend's husband works for the developer so we had access to the land.

This was the old lodge/cafeteria.  They played a cross between shuffleboard and hockey.

One of about 15 abandoned cabins.

They found this contraption and managed to roll it down a hill and into a building.

The old barn

We ventured away from the cabins and lodge and explored the creek.  A bonus was a pack of wild hogs we saw...The boys.  Fun to have our friends with boys the ages of Benjamin and Joseph.

Jacob just hanging out.

They wanted to cross the river but the water was flowing higher than last time.  So, the boys spent about 15 minutes building a bridge with rocks and logs. The bridge was sturdy enough for all adults to cross over.

You can see this outing was ALL BOY!!!!  Although the San Antonio trip would have been nice, some great memories were made and lots of running around was done, versus 4 hours in the car and walking around San Antonio.  (I was dead set on San Antonio so it was a stretch for me to put it aside, but trying to embrace the moment and throw plans out the window when a better opportunity presents itself.)

We also ate at Chuy's.  A local mexican restaurant.  The boys, especially Benjamin, loved it and claimed it the best ever.  I am so glad to see his taste buds maturing.  Then on the way back to my mom's we stopped by Schlotzsky's for a sandwich.  I love S, but my  boys had never heard of them.  Once again, they were amazed and very thankful for the sandwich.  (Because of our S stop, all three of my boys will ask for a ham sandwich now.  I know it sounds silly but we finally have some more options, other than PBJ, when it comes to sandwiches.