A Cocoa Daisy Layout--His Will is Strong

The pictures I hurriedly snapped this past rainy Monday (see this post), reminded me of a layout I had yet to post.

I am still amazed it rained on the first day of school. The rain plus the fact I was dropping all three boys off at three different schools made taking beginning of the year pictures difficult to take. To save time I decided to just use my phone to snap a couple before the boys got in the car.

Carter picked up Jude who was running around in the carport. Jude LOVES "side" as he call the outside. Anytime we go outside he is determined to get down and take off. So this time when Carter picked him up so I could get a shot of all three of them, Jude was not a happy camper. In both pictures he is wiggling, squirming, and protesting in an effort to get down.

His squirmy protests reminded me of a few months ago when the same thing happened on the last day of school. On that particular occasion, I was lucky enough to capture a few good shots with my big Canon camera. But then I tried to get a few pictures with my phone to share on Instagram and Facebook. The layout below shows the resulting chaos.

For this layout I used the May 2014 "Here I Am" Cocoa Daisy Kit . I also chose the title after considering Ronda Palazzari's One Little Word for May 2014 "Will".

This layout makes me laugh and is such a great snapshot of Jude at this age and how his brother's react to his new need for freedom. Jude loves to outwit the big boys and to wiggle and whine just enough to get his way with them. The big boys, as you can tell, find this behavior quite frustrating.

Oh how these boys keep me on my toes! Luckily, I usually have my phone close by to capture our everyday crazy.

Back to School

Towards the end of July the five of us begin to get tired of one another. By the time the middle of August arrives we are crazy tired of being together. Since Jess and I both teach, we spend all summer at home with the boys, which gives us so much time to make memories, but eventually the summer gets long and we are all ready to head into a more structured schedule.


 I am always amazed at how much my boys grow and change over the summer break. All three of them grew taller and after Carter's physical (he is going to play football for the first time) I realized he had also put on almost 7 pounds. No wonder my grocery bill has been going up! We have entered the "They will eat anything that doesn't eat them first" stage of boy raising.. Fabulous.


 Each year I take a beginning of the year shot of the boys and a last day of the year shot of them. It is always fun to look at the two most current photos and see how much they have changed. In this case the end of the 2013-2014 school year in May (daycare, 2nd, and 4th grades) compared to the beginning of the 2014-2015 school year this past Monday, August 18th (daycare, 3rd and 5th grades).

The first picture was taken on the last day of school and the second picture was taken Monday as we all headed back to school.

This year it rained on the first day of school, in August.. Weird. I can't remember a time when it has rained in all my years of attending or teaching school. So this years annual back to school photo was taken in the carport instead of by the dogwood tree in the front yard.

Taking these type of photos are a reminder of how quickly time passes. On one hand I want the school year to pass quickly so I can have a summer to spend with the boys. But on the other hand I hate feeling like I am wishing my days away. I treasure each and every moment with these three and the idea of them growing up and driving, having girlfriends, and then moving out and leaving makes me sad right now. It all seems to go by so fast.

It really is hard being a Mama with her heart walking around outside her body in these three.

Not a Wordless Wednesday

They say every summer has a story. Five weeks into our summer & this is our story...

Two baseball playing all-stars. One on a 7-8 Little League Pitching Machine team, the other on a 9-10 Little League Minor League (live arm) team. We have played in the morning, afternoon, & night (still playing at midnight...3 TIMES!). We have played in the blazing sun, the pouring rain, & wrapped up in blankets & jackets. All within the past five weeks. 

 Little brother has been happy to go along as there have been toys, snacks, his tennis ball & glove, and did I mention snacks? He has been up early, missed naps, been up past bedtime, & has done it all remarkably well.

The big boys have loved every minute of playing and still aren't done. There is one more State tournament to go.

I love watching my boys make memories, make friends, and become better ballplayers. I love watching little brother watch and imitate his big brothers & want to be out there in the middle of it all.

These are the moments I live for. The moments when my boys show me who they are & what they love.

I love them and the things they are passionate for. I'd follow them and their dreams to the ends of the Earth.

This is what we do

Over the weekend I snapped this picture of Jude watching his brother play baseball. This photo reminded me of another picture I had taken in May 2007 of Ethan watching his cousin, Brittany, play  t-ball.These two photos say so much about our family and who we are.

Jude- July 2014

Ethan- May 2007

I knew when I married a coach that I would have children who participated in sports, which was fine with me. I grew up a ballet dancer and a band member & completely lacked an interest in sports and more importantly, lacked athletic ability.:) My younger brother on the other hand was blessed with athletic ability and as he grew up I sat through many a baseball game. I loved watching him play and especially enjoyed summer ball when my dad coached him.

Fast forward to today with our three boys. We spend a great deal of time at ballgames. Basketball in the fall and spring and lots of baseball in the summer. I love that this is who we are. We show up to almost all of Jess' high school games, during the school year,  to cheer on Daddy and his players, then on Saturday's we are there to cheer on Carter and Ethan as they play basketball. During baseball season we are at all the boys games encouraging them.

There are so many great things about being a sports family, but the absolute best part of it is that we are all there together making memories and cheering each other on. I know as adults my boys will look back on these years and the biggest memory I want them to have is that their family was there supporting them and loving every minute of getting to watch them play.

This is what we do & who we are. Love my sweet family!

Adventure

The layout I am sharing today was made using the October 2013 Cocoa Daisy Kit“Sweater Weather”. 

I started out with the April Sketch seen here and it kind of took off from there. I love sketches; they just make scrapping easier for me, because I don’t have to think about the design. Instead I get to focus more on the story I want to tell and the pictures I want to include. Cocoa Daisy puts out great sketches each month for their sketch challenge  and I also print off the monthly Page Maps sketches and keep those in a binder that it always close at hand.

This layout includes 9 pictures that I took over a twenty-four hour time period at my parent’s house. It was a quick trip and actually may have been less than twenty-four hours. My parents live two hours away and this particular weekend Jess’ basketball girls were playing in our High School Basketball District Tournament, which was taking place about 45 minutes from my home town. So after the finals Saturday evening, which we won, the boys and I drove to my parents for the night.  

I grew up on 90 acres of open land with lots of trees, ponds, and creeks. I know every inch of those 90 acres from constant exploring as a child.  The way Mom kept an eye on my brother and me was to yell across the pastures every once in a while as we were out exploring.  As long as we answered her yell, we were good to go. I do the same thing with the big boys when we visit. I love that this tradition continues for my boys.

When we are home visiting the boys feel a great sense of freedom and they take full advantage of every minute of daylight. It helps that they have cousins right across the pasture to play with and that my Mom has a no technology policy at her house when the kids are all together.  They literally wear themselves ragged playing.

Jude hasn’t figured out how much freedom he has quite yet. He loves to explore Mom and Dad’s large yard, lounging dogs, and have the attention of his grandparent’s and older cousins. He has also taken a ride or two on the go-cart while riding in Mama’s lap and loved it.

This layout captures the busy and the worn out.  I think it still lacks a little embellishing, but I still love it. Right now it is still sitting on my scrap desk. It may get a little more embellishing or it may just go into an album.  I have yet to decide. 

Happy Scrapping! 

Aspire and Dream

Yesterday I shared my love for Ronda Palazzari's monthly One Little Word's. Today I want to share two more layouts, one for January 2014 word #79 Aspire & one for March 2014 word #81 Dream.

For Aspire, I wanted to share how proud I am of my big boys and the amazing people they are becoming. I am the first to admonish them when they make mistakes, but I am also their biggest champion. My mother heard a speaker on American Family Radio speak about raising children and shared some of the wisdom with me. The biggest thing I took away from our conversation is that many parents spend their time trying to raise great children, when in fact parents should be trying to raise their children to be great adults.

That really resonated with me & it is exactly what Jess and I try to do on a daily basis. We want our boys to be able to leave our home and be responsible, Christian young men. I don't always feel like we are accomplishing it, but I am always willing to get up the next day and try it all over again.

Jeremiah 29:11 is a verse that we use often in our house to remind our boys that God has even bigger plans for them than we do & that his plans are more important than any we can make for them or that they can make for themselves. They just have to be willing to be patient and listen to the Lord.

This verse was my jumping off point for my Aspire layout, along with sharing with the boys what I hope they aspire to do in their lives now & in the future. 

For this layout I used the January 2014 Cocoa Daisy Kit- Blueprint along with stamps from Technique Tuesday and some labels from My Mind's Eye. 

My second layout was for the word Dream and I knew immediately that I wanted to scrap pictures of all three boys sleeping. The biggest obstacle for this layout was picking a single picture of each boy to use from the 4,580 sleeping boy images I have saved. That number might be a slight exaggeration, but not by much, because I love catching the innocence of them as they are sleeping. 

There are not enough words to describe how much I love this layout. I am thinking that this one may end up hanging in a shadow box in the house somewhere. Such a calming layout and beautiful pictures of my little boys. Such a brutally, sweet reminder at how quickly time passes. 

For this layout I used the January 2013 Cocoa Daisy Kit- Pemberley, some older Heidi Swapp ghost shape stars covered in Slate and Silver Alcohol Inks, a Technique Tuesday stamp, and some small wood veneer stars from Studio Calico.

Magic & Calm

Hello All,
It's been a while! February and the first part of March are always super busy with all the high school basketball that we watch. We won our State Basketball Championship again this year. It so amazing and a stressful journey to win in back to back years. I feel this journey deserves a post all its own, so I will leave the details to another day with maybe a layout or two :).

Today I want to share a couple of layouts I have made based on Ronda Palazzari's One Little Word. Ronda puts up a new word each month on the fifteenth and I have been playing along here and there for the past few month's. She has the uncanny ability to pick words that touch a cord in me and usually makes me immediately think of a photo and story I want to tell. I can honestly say that many of the words she has picked have led to really heartfelt journaling on my pages. It is amazing how a simple word can pull such emotions from within you, such as this one I did in September 2012 based on her word Unlock.

The two words/layouts I want to share were from December 2013 #78 Magic & from March 2014 #80 Calm.

When I saw the word Magic I knew immediately that I wanted to right about the Magic of the Christmas Season as seen through the eyes of Jude, who had just turned a year old. There is nothing better than watching a young child taking in all the wonder and sparkle of Christmas.

I love this picture of Jude, you can definitely see how magical this Christmas season was for him. These are the moments I treasure and I am so glad I scrapbook them for the boys when the are older. They may not remember these times, but they will have the memories from my thoughts and stories. 

I made this layout using a Page Maps sketch & the February 2013 Cocoa Daisy Kit Double Feature. Calm is so very overrated at our house. The boys are very busy, all the time, and unless they are sleeping or entranced by technology there is always some sort of activity going on. Luckily all three of them get along really well & I usually find them playing altogether or at least playing in the same room. I am also very glad that we have a basement playroom that houses the video game systems, a pool table, and the majority of their toys. It is great to send rowdy, big boys downstairs to play on days that it is too cold or wet to play outside. 

I have two more layouts to share using some of Ronda's wonderful words, so please check back tomorrow to see Aspire and Dream.

Until tomorrow!

Wordless-ish Wednesday

Snow days are very rare in Arkansas, even more rare is a Martin family photo. Thanks to my mom for taking this picture of all 5 of us together.

Twelve things on the Twelfth-- the Love Edition

Last month I posted a "Twelve Things on the Twelfth" list for each one of the five of us. I then simply took the pictures and lists I blogged and made them into a layout using the January 2014 scrapbook kit- "Blueprint" from Cocoa Daisy.  Here is the end result. (Please pardon the less than stellar photos, winter is not a great time to photo layouts.)

I rarely do two page layouts anymore so this layout was nice change for me. It was also came together very easy since the journaling was already complete and all I had to do was print and add it to my layout. 

On to this month's "Twelve Things on the Twelfth" blog post. Since it is February each list will include things that we love right now. I plan to use this month's Cocoa Daisy kit "Color Swatch" to scrap this layout as well & make it a two page layout similar to January's. 

He loves:

1.  reading the paper everyday. He always reads the sports first.
2.  basketball this time of year, lots of games, preparing the team for district, regional, and state tournaments.
3. reading basketball blogs to see what people are saying about our team & other teams throughout the state. It's a big bonus when bloggers post links to games he can watch online of possible opponents in the state tournament.
4. Sportscenter. I go to bed earlier and when I turn on the TV the next evening it is usually on ESPN from the night before.
5. watching the boys play basketball, but gets easily frustrated with their playing, the coaching, or the officiating.
6. cherry cokes from Sonic.
7. coconut popsicles.
8. lazy days/evenings in front of a roaring fire.
9. rocking Jude to sleep.
10. watching sports with the boys and talking about the games and plays.
11. visiting with people. He is very social and approachable and enjoys talking with others.
12. his family more than anything else in the world.

She loves:

1. reading, mostly middle grade/YA fiction, but trying to get back into reading adult fiction as well. 
2. her job as a middle grade librarian.
3. watching her big boys play sports & watching them grow as players from game to game & year to year.
4. watching Jude try, say, & learn new things.   
5. the time she has carved out of her schedule each week to blog & scrapbook. The creativity is a stress reliever & very enjoyable.
6. the fact that she is lightening up and making friends. She tends to be more reserved and family driven, so friendships are few and far between.
7. heels and boots, but right now her right foot is hurting because of them (stress fracture maybe?).
8. cooking, but doesn't have a chance to do as much as she'd like to because of the busy schedules.
9. to cross stitch & has a number of patterns waiting for her.
10. a clean house, but it is hard to keep up with. Too many mess makers, not enough cleaners!
11. Pinterest for creative & decorating ideas & Instagram for photo sharing with friends.
12. her family of crazy guys!

He loves:

1. acting silly and having an audience to watch his antics.
2. playing sports & is good at most things he attempts to play.
3. to play ball outside, even when it is cold.
4. being a water boy for Dad's ball team because he gets to sit on the bench.
5. wrestling around on the floor with Jude and letting him jump all over him.
6. to argue. Not his parents favorite activity.
7. to read, but prefers a lower level book instead of one that challenges him.
8. play ball with Ethan, but gets irritated when Ethan won't play by his rules.
9. snow and is upset we haven't had more snow days this year.
10. playing games on the Wii, Xbox, and Kindle.
11. math. It is his favorite subject and he is capable of doing lots of problem-solving in his head.
12. his family even though his little brothers can irritate him and he thinks his parents aren't fair sometimes. 

 He loves:

1. to play outside in the leaves.
2. to irritate others and thrives on watching their reactions. 
3. to work puzzles, crossword and word finds, and read What do you see, hidden picture books. 
4. playing ball with Jude.
5. to read and snuggle up with his Mama.
6. sneaking into the living room to have his Daddy rock him, even though he knows we know that it is only a ploy to stay up later.
7. technology.
8. leave his clothes on his bedroom or the bathroom floor.
9. show others what a good big brother he is.
10. to be the water boy on his Dad's team, but his real favorite is being on the court with the girls during the pregame shoot around.
11. that he is 31 days away from being 8 years old.
12. his family and is glad he is the middle brother.

He loves:

1. being the center of attention.
2. going to ballgames, but is over it all by halftime & lets everyone know he is ready to go.
3. playing with Carter and Ethan & following them around when they are playing without him.
4. climbing. This is going to be a problem.
5. anything round, because in his mind it is a ball.
6. rocking on the rocking horse that I had as a little girl.
7. to dance.
8. taking a bottle at night even though his brothers were not allowed to have bottles at this age. 
9. flipping through board books and chattering as he does it. Another reader in the making.
10. throwing almost all the balls out of his ball pit and leaving them out for someone else to pick up.
11. to eat, almost anything. He also loves to pat his fat belly afterwards.
12. his family and is happiest when everyone is home with him. 

What I’ve Read this Month- the January 2014 Edition

As a middle grade/intermediate school librarian, I am constantly reading. I spotted this post over on Stephanie Howell’s blog and it caused me to think about what I read. 

Before I became a librarian I read a lot of adult fiction, but these days I tend to read more of what my student’s (5^th and 6^th graders) are reading. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE middle grade books, but as I read Stephanie’s post I realized how much I miss adult books.  So this month I challenged myself to read at least one adult book.  Thanks Stephanie, I needed someone to get me back to the adult fiction world! I forgot how much I loved it!

In the past years I have kept track of what I am reading using the Good Reads website. This is a wonderful website that I find very user friendly and full of good reviews of books for all ages. I haven’t always been the best at keeping up with what I am reading, but with Good Reads help I have been making a better effort going into 2014.

This month I have read:

  

                          

         
        

 

   

Flora & Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo (Just won the Newbery Award, Yay!)

The Cheshire Cheese Cat: A Dickens of a Tale  by Carmen Arga Deedy

39 Clues Series books #2-#9

2. One False Note by Gordon Korman

3. The Sword Thief by Peter Lerangis
4. Beyond the Grave by Jude Watson

5. The Black Circle by Patrick Carman

6. In Too Deep by Jude Watson

7. The Viper’s Nest by Peter Lerangis
8. The Emperor's Code by Gordon Korman
9. Storm Warning by Linda Sue Park

Bear Feels Sick by Karma Wilson

Henry and Mudge: The First Book by Cynthia Rylant

Dear Mrs. Larue by Mark Teague

I also started Touch & Go by Lisa Gardner & planned to finish it, but it just didn't happen.

What I’ve noticed this month about what I’ve read is that..

 1) Once I start a series it is very difficult for me to stop reading it or read anything else until I finish the whole series.  That’s why I get so frustrated when I finish a book in a series and realize the next one has not been published yet… MAKES. ME. CRAZY!!

2) I know I’m not reading enough with the boys. This month Ethan only read me three books, which is not enough for a second grader! Carter reads every night, but not usually to me. He reads every night as part of his reading requirements for his literacy class at school. I began the year having him read to me from his book, but that has dwindled since we are in the middle of basketball season, Jess is gone so much & I spend the majority of my evening cooking/cleaning and maintaining the chaos that is three little boys.

3) I have read a lot more this month than I have in a while. I’m not sure if it is because I am keeping up with it better & holding myself accountable, or if I am just enjoying reading a series… Who knows, but I am really enjoying it. I notice I am spending less time in front of the t.v. at night & more time in the bed reading myself to sleep. I am more rested and happier.  

4) My taste in adult fiction tends to be more of the James Patterson, Patricia Cornwell, Lisa Gardner, Michael Conelly variety, full of murders, mysteries, detectives, and lawyers.  I also tend to gravitate towards the books that are part of a series, usually with a main character  you see in all the books. Alex Cross… Kay Scarpetta… Harry Bosch… D.D. Warren.  Because of this fascination with characters I now have a long list of adult books I want to read or reread. I’m not usually a re-reader, but I know I’ve missed or forgotten some things about my favorite characters and I need to go back and make myself familiar with them again.

4) I need to actually review the books I’m reading using the Good Reads site, but I’m a little timid to do so. I know that sounds crazy, but as a librarian I feel like I should review a book using all kinds of good literary terms. In reality, I tend to go with my gut feeling about a book when I read it and that makes it harder for me to write a review. 

Thinking about books for February, these are on my current to read list:

Middle Grade:

The Rest of the 39 clues series

The Boy on the Wooden Box

Moonbird

Prisoner B-3087

The Real Boy

Breaking Stalin's Nose
Half Brother

I also want to read as many of the books on this list as I can before School Library Journal Battle of the Books begins. This is something I will share with my students and I want to have read as many as I can to promote and share them with the students.

Adult:

D.D. Warren series by Lisa Gardner  

For My Own Boys:

To encourage their own interests in reading, to just listen to Carter read from his assigned book, to sit and let Jude just flip through his board books and attempt to read books to him from his book shelf, it he will sit and let me.  I did recently run across an email from Scholastic that has lists of books that are good for students depending on what grade they are in. I’ve marked the ones we have or have access to and Ethan and I are reading through some of them as well.

Twelve Things on the Twelfth...Well the Thirteenth

This post should have gone up yesterday, but I had already posted PL week 2, so I waited until this morning. I can totally live with it being a day late...I think...

He:

1.  has obviously matured a lot when it comes to being on the basketball court. He shines as a leader and encourages the other kids on his team. So proud of him!
2. has started reading while using the bathroom, resulting in longer times spent in there. He is a man in the making. When I asked him about it he said it's quiet in there and his brothers don't bother him.
3. made all A's this 9 weeks! His semester grades were also all A's. He was so excited! Super proud of him!
4. is looking forward to baseball season and going through the draft again. He is a little nervous about the team he will end up on.
5. is a Band-A-Loom fanatic. He and Ethan have started a business called Swag Brother's Bracelets and are taking orders from classmates for bracelets. They sell them for $.50 each.
6. is still hard headed and prefers things his way.
7. is eating more and more all the time and growing taller every day.
8. loves watching Duck Dynasty and Alaska: The Last Frontier.
9. and his Daddy discuss and watch sports together a lot.
10. wants an iPod Touch for his birthday in May. Then he wants an Instagram account. 
11. likes going to bed early and getting up early, like his Mama.
12. loves eggs in a hole for breakfast.

He:

1. is a pest. He enjoys irritating & jumping out and scaring his older brother and picking at his little brother until he screams.
2. has been whiny and moody lately. Not sure what is the deal with that.
3. is enjoying basketball this year. He is a little more aggressive than last year and more confident with his playing.
4. is obsessed with technology. He loves being on the computer, the Wii, the xBox, and the Kindle. He pesters us about it constantly.
5. did really well on this 9 weeks report card. He is on or above grade level in both Literacy and Math. He won't start making letter grades until he is in 3rd grade.
6. loves the color pink lately. 
7. is playing rougher with Jude and getting in trouble for it.
8. is making plans for his 8th birthday party in March.
9. wants an iPod Touch for his birthday too. Great more technology...
10. needs new basketball shoes. 
11. is growing taller, but not eating as much as he should. He is more of a junk food-snacker.Ughhh
12. likes going to be late and getting up late, like his Daddy. But it makes him grouchy.

He:

1. will be 13 months old on the 13th.
2. is fascinated by balls. He has one in his hand or is asking for one 99% of the time. He even sleeps with one and won't lay down until he has snuggled up with it. 
3. is a few weeks shy of being able to run.
4. follows his big brother's around constantly.
5. gets his feelings hurt when they close their bedroom door and he can't get in.
6. loves to play on the high school basketball court before games.
7. has begun dancing. It is sort of an up and down wiggle. So cute!
8. has a fat, little belly. His older brother's were long and lean. 
9. calls most food "nana" and wants to eat all.the.time. This could be part of the belly issue.
10. loves the cat and calls all animals "kitty."
11. is wearing 18 month old clothes easily and could probably wear some 24 month clothes.
12. is constantly snotty. Thanks to day care. Grrr.

He:

1. doesn't get his picture taken very often. He is not a camera guy.
2. is in the beginning of conference play with his high school basketball team.
3. is not stressed about the season quite yet.
4. is trying to keep his girls under control, which is difficult coming off last years State Championship win.
5. may be getting a kidney stone, due to some stress and overage of Mt. Dew. He won't discuss it. I dread it.
6. is excited since Oaklawn Park opened live horse racing this weekend.
7. snores. It makes me nuts.
8. gets frustrated watching the boys play basketball because the referees are awful.
9. is an avid newspaper reader.
10. makes jerky constantly. Some he sells, some he eats or gives away.
11. needs to exercise. He hates when she tells him that. 
12. needs a new cell phone. He has a Motorola flip Razr that is taped together to keep the battery in. 

She:

1. is suffering from a bad sinus infection. Antibiotics are working slowly, very slowly.
2. is cleaning house constantly at mom speed. It will catch up with her and she will collapse because she is exhausted. 
3. would love to hire a house keeper, but know she would clean before the house keeper arrived. So what's the point. 
4. is enjoying blogging again.
5. is 13 days away from turning 38.
6. currently has problems with acne on her chin, due to the cold weather, dry skin, and decongestant meds. Ughhhh.
7. is never far from her phone.
8. got a Silhouette Cameo and a nice, big set of plastic canisters to use in her pantry for Christmas. Neither have been opened. :(
9. weighs 30 pounds more than she'd like.
10. prefers yoga pants to dress pants. (see above for reason)
11. wore leggings for the first time last week, with boots, and a long tunic. It was cute, she needs more tunics and another pair of boots. 
12. is voraciously reading The 39 Clues series (book series for middle grade students) & plans to read an adult book before the month is out. 

Project Life 2014 (January 5 - January 11)

Thoughts of the week:

This week was all about getting back into a regular routine. Fresh off a two week break, you would think that we would all be renewed and ready to go back to work and school. I think that this is true for the boys and Jess. Jude and I on the other hand were not so ready to go back . Jude has reached an age where he understands that I am going to leave him at daycare each day and he has begun to cry a bit when I leave. That hurts this Mama's heart every.stinking.time. :( Luckily I think much of it is for show, since he stops soon after I leave and is happy to find toys to play with. His current toy of choice is a small ball that fits in his hand. Evidently he carries this particular ball around with him most of the day and if some other child makes a move to take it, he throws a fit. Good grief!

Like Jude, I was not ready to go back to school either. For one, I hated sending my kiddos back to school and daycare. I am sadly aware of how quickly all three are growing and I love having them around me. It's hard with Jess and I both working, especially this time of year, to have quality time with the boys. The other reason I hated to go back was that I had gotten very little accomplished over the break due to the fact I was and still am battling a nasty sinus infection. One of the worst I think I have ever have. I waited too long to get on medication to get rid of it. Because of feeling so lousy I didn't get the house as clean as I would have liked before starting back to school. I already felt behind and it was just Monday. *Sigh*

Highlights of the Week:

Monday night I met Mom to get the kids back and have supper. She went to our old meeting spot and I was waiting for them at our new meeting spot. So we had about ten to fifteen minutes of waiting and confusion before we met up. Very typical of us!

Everyone was back on a normal schedule Tuesday and headed back to school. The only problem of course was the crazy Polar Vortex which had made being outside next to impossible. The school has a policy in place that requires the temperature to be at least 32* before students can go outside for recess. Being in the South we don't have auxiliary gyms/rooms for students to play in so students are kept inside. This makes everyone cooped up crazy, especially Carter and Ethan who need lots of physical activity, otherwise they act nutty once they get home.

 A cold, rainy front began moving in Wednesday morning and the drizzle began freezing on overpasses and bridges around town by mid-morning. Because of the freezing precipitation school let out at 2 o'clock so people could get home safely. We came straight home and relaxed in front of a warm fire.Around the time we finished eating dinner the power went out due to a wreck on the highway. This led to an early bedtime for all of us.

The highlight of Thursday was getting Jude into the bath without him throwing a screaming fit. I have know idea why this time was different, but it was heavenly. Considering that most baths are nothing but a clingy, wet race since he screams the whole time.

The big boys both had basketball again Saturday. The three games were spread out starting at 10:15,  & 11:05 for Carter and 1:45 for Ethan. We had to be there early for team picture, so it made for a long day. I don't mind sitting in the gym, but Jude on the other hand struggles with it. He is a busy boy and many times the games fall during his morning nap making for a grouchy, fussy boy. Today he finally gave it up and napped in Jess' arms for about 15 minutes and then napped later in his car seat while I ate lunch at Sonic. Not my first choice of a lunch place, but it did give him a 30 minute nap before we headed back to the gym for the last game. We are adjusting to having him at games and the big boys are good to help corral him to keep him off the court and from stealing the game ball.

These two love playing basketball. They have both improved from last year and we can see an improvement from last week to this weeks games. Having boys who are athletic and enjoy physical activities are a blessing. 

Until next week!