Time to catch up!

Oh my gosh!! I cannot believe that it has been almost three weeks since I posted last. Wow does time really fly when you are having fun!

Let's catch up...

It was birthday week at our house. Both boys have September birthdays and it just happens that they fall 3 days apart. So we celebrate birthday week. Jakob had a little something special this year for the first time during school. He received a fun birthday crown and the class celebrated with him by sharing treats and singing "Happy Birthday". I don't know if Zak was more excited because he was able to help at Jakob's school or Jakob was because Zak was there. Either way, both were super happy!

Happy Birthday to Jakob...

We officially kicked off our week of birthday celebration on Thursday night by presenting the boys with our gifts. Z received a Leapster (no more sharing his brother's!), some games, books and a monster truck track. J received a drawing book, lots of transformers, leapster games and an erector set. Both were SUPER excited and couldn't wait to start playing with their fabulous toys. Only downfall... it was now bedtime and we were headed in the car the next morning. Ohhhhhhhhh maaaaannnnn....

A mountain of presents...

Next morning: We took to the road bright and early. Although, now that I remember, it wasn't all that bright seeing as the sun had not risen. Anyway, we were on our way to the cabin. WHOO-HOO! The six hour drive wasn't too bad. The boys had some awesome new toys, I had a book to read and Trav had his iPod. The only thing we forgot was the bag of birthday goodies... you know... cake mix, candles, decor, etc. After a quick stop in Logan to purchase a cake, we arrived to meet Grandma Sylvia and Papa Terry. We settled in, helped with a few chores, ate dinner and then lit the candles for the boys' birthday cake! They were super excited to blow out the candles and celebrate with G-ma and Papa Terry. The weekend was loads of fun! We even took the boys to their first cave. Although they were a bit hesitant, once we started the tour they quickly discovered their sense of adventure.

The boys birthday celebration...

The cave visit...

Playing on the boat...

And at the beach...

We returned home on Monday (it was labor day after all) and made cupcakes to celebrate Z's "real" birthday. His reasoning was that since J had a cake on his "real" birthday, he should have one on his too. We settled for cupcakes without candles. During the next few days packages began arriving from G-ma Vickie and G-pa Oliver. We now have some of the best tools for homeschooling, etc.

On Wednesday we packed the car... again... and headed out Thursday bright and early... again. This time we headed to Salt Lake City. The boys would celebrate their birthdays one last time with G-pa Steve and Nanny. They received some cool "blendy" markers, books and puzzles. I began to work my tail off helping my mom with her booth and make-n-takes at the scrapbook expo. I had the BEST time though!! It was so much fun! Although, I must say that I began to get a little tired of glitter! I'm still finding it and it's been over a week!

Birthday at Grandpa Steve & Nanny's...

Okay... now we're caught up! Whoo-hoo!! Hopefully I'll keep this updated a bit more regularly from now on! Let's just cross our fingers.. and maybe our toes...

Sending Birthday Wishes to Bradley!!

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday dear Bradley!!

Happy Birthday to you!

Hello Cabin! Here we come!

So the illnesses that have been lingering with the family are finally ending their reign!! Thank goodness!! Now, I can prepare for our journey to Travis' family cabin. We have so much fun there!

The cabin at Bear Lake

The boys are super excited. They can't wait to use the boat and swim in the lake. The last time we visited the cabin, Zakary took his first swim off the boat and now he can't get enough of it! Maybe this time we can convince Jakob to dip more than his toes in...

We were also able to see our old pal Marty the Moose. Only on the last trip, he was closer than ever! During breakfast, Marty's mama tried to leap the fence into the side yard. We decided it was because they were so thirsty and we had just watered the plants. After that, the boys were excited to fill a bucket with water and entice Marty and his mama to visit us again.

So today is the "prep" day which means laundry, cleaning, packing, oh... and grocery shopping. We'll be all packed up and on our way first thing tomorrow morning. Grandma Sylvia and Papa Terry are coming to visit the cabin as well so Jakob and Zakary are jumping for joy that they get to spend some quality (ie: getting spoiled, but what are grandparents for...) time with them. Of course, I'm thinking that some of the added excitement is because they'll have cake, candles and birthday presents as well as grandparents for this trip...but what do I know.

Amazing!

In case you didn't know, my hubby is AMAZING!! I've been sick for the past two days (we're sharing at our house...) and it has totally sucked. Well, yesterday evening I dosed myself pretty heavily with non-drowsy medicine and went bowling (I'm on a league...I'm sure I'll expain later...) While I was gone, hubby finished ALL, and I do mean ALL, of the laundry and cleaned the house. He even dusted and vaccuumed! When I got home last night the kids were already in bed and the house was pretty much settled in for the night so I wasn't able to see everything that he had done. This morning was a different story... Talk about AMAZING! I'm speechless... I'm still not feeling good (aches, chills, cough, and all that) but today my house is clean and I can just relax with the kids. I love my husband. He is the BEST!

Happy Birthday to....Jakob & Zakary!!

Jakob, Zakary and Grandpa Steve at last year's party

It's birthday season at our house. The boys have made their lists and recited them to dad for "approval". Unfortunately they both had the same thing at the top of their list... a puppy! Well, dad shot that one down real quick and proceeded to attempt an explanation of why that wasn't going to happen for our two little boys. Let's just say that they still keep asking for the puppy whenever anyone asks what they want for their birthdays!

Right now, they are fighting yet again. You know, there are many pros to having two boys that are only two years apart (compatibility, hobbies/sports, clothing sizes, etc.) but right now is one of the major cons... fighting/arguing/wrestling they can all be linked together. They've chosen a really great topic for today's battle: their birthday party! (huh??) Jakob has now informed Zakary that he is not invited to Jakob's birthday party. Zakary then proceeded to inform Jakob that he wasn't invited to his party either and that he was inviting Charlie and Andrew (his cousins). You know, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there really isn't going to be a birthday party... At least not until we visit the fam in SLC. And even then, it's going to be more of a get-together. Maybe I can plan a little something for tomorrow... hmmmmm... kindof a surprise? (It's a good thing that Jakob can't access my blog yet!)

Sick kids...

I hate it when my kids get sick!! Especially when I don't know that it's coming. Jakob started a fever yesterday and continued into today. After 24 hours, I decided to take him to the local insta-care. Turns out the little man has a sinus infection. YUCK!! I'm glad we caught it quick, I'm just hoping that the antibiotics whoop it's butt... and SOON!!

The worst thing about one child being sick, is that the other has "sympathy" pains... or maybe it's "jealousy" pains?? Hmmmm... Earlier today Zakary came and told me that his tummy wasn't feeling good. "That means I'm sick, mom" is how he described it. I'm sure that it had absolutely nothing to do with his dad buying him a six pack of Airhead candy and him demolishing it within an hour. He actually tried to hide one of the newly opened packages on the side of his leg when I walked in the room... the kid is way too smart for his own good. However, using my mom-sense I saw it and quickly attempted to remove it from his greedy little grasp... I admit, I had to call in reinforcements... dad. So my youngest is now learning the hard way what too much of a good thing can do to one's tummy.

Tomorrow is looking promising... the candy is gone and we've had 24 hours of antibiotics. Hooray!!

School's in session!

School has begun. I cannot believe that my oldest is now in Kindergarten! It seems like it was only yesterday that we first introduced our boy to the world. Wow! It's true, time does fly when you're having fun.

Jakob at his desk on the first day of "real" school.

Jakob is attending school two full days each week with an additional full day every other. I know that it sounds strange and confusing (try being the student!) but I think that it will actually be a blessing. We are starting to homeschool on the days that he's not attending his "real" school. Jakob is so smart ( I know, I know... everybody says that about their kid...) that his "real" school hasn't started to challenge him yet. We've decided that we'll just be sure that he is challenged at home so that he can continue to progress academically and he'll have the social aspect from school. I'm in the process of getting our curriculum ready for him as well as my youngest, Zakary. We'll homeschool him as well even though he's only in preschool. I'm hoping to have Zak begin reading by the first of next year, or at least know his letters and sounds. He is so anxious to get started that he's already bragging to Jakob that he'll read better than him soon!

I'm providing a classical education to both of them following the suggestions from Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer. I purchased their book, The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home six months ago and LOVE everything that it's suggesting! So far all the items are very similar to the education Jakob has already experienced and succeeded with. I'll keep you posted on how it's all working as we go along.