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.

The first day of 2015!!!!  Crazy

We have been having fun around here.  Granny has already come and gone.  Lots of pictures from last 10 days!

The Sunday before Christmas the kids were in a Christmas program at church.  All three of them had a line that they memorized and spoke into a microphone.  They all did great!    It was awesome to hear Joseph speak his lines....such progress he has made with his speech.

Then on Christmas Eve we experienced 2 firsts! Granny, the boys and I went on a sleigh ride. The snow was thin, but had a great time anyway.

The best picture I could get of the three of them (I thought as they got older it would get easier)

Our two sleigh ride drivers

Beautiful scenery

Someone had built a cool foot suspension bridge

Our hot chocolate, camp fire and story telling stop.

The two big draft horses

The weather was about mid 20s with no wind...really nice.  Not for from sleigh rides was a pond.  We noticed some people ice fishing as we drove by.  So we decided to stop on the way back out.

Fortunately they were very nice and invited us curious onlookers to join them.

The boys enjoyed it.  They had asked me just a few days prior about ice fishing and how it was done.

The tent has a place to drill 2 holes and you retreat there when the wind picks up or temps drop too low.  They even had a small portable heater.

Two of the boys caught small fish.

I will upload the rest of the pictures later.  HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!