SNOW SNOW SNOW!!!

That sums up the last week or so here in Ohio! Schools were closed for three days last week due to the weather. Since today was President's Day, we had a day off. It has snowed all day with about 3 inches or so already on top of the white stuff from last week. We have already gotten the call that tomorrow is another snow day. As much as the kids are liking being home, I must say I am getting pretty tired of being home! There is only so much that you can get done at home when you have no other option!

This afternoon we bundled up nice and warm and headed out to play! We had a blast. Billy pulled the boys around on a sled (since we have no hills in our yard to go down on!) They had a blast. Our dogs romped around with us for a while. I think they may love the snow just as much as the boys do!

Long time no blog....

Life has been CRAZY around here. I think that crazy may be a bit of an understatement but it's the best I could come up with! Right before Christmas was the last night I blogged. As some of you may know, my dad has been rather sick for a long time. He was listed on the Ohio Transplant list for a liver and a kidney. After one day of a false alarm, my dad received a liver and a kidney on Christmas Eve. After a very LONG day waiting for the transplant to be over (8 minutes shy of 13 hours to be exact!) and a few weeks of recovery, my dad is doing well. Thank god. You never know how important someone is until you are faced with the possiblity of not having them. Needless to say, Christmas is a blur. Billy and I spent the day spending time with the boys. They were a blast Christmas morning. As always, they were spoiled rotten by Santa and everyone else. We are looking forward to celebrating Christmas with my parents and sister in a few weeks when Susan comes home again. The boys are enjoying the fact that Grandma and Pop still have a Christmas tree up!

This year I decided to create a photo calendar on Snapfish. It was so easy and so much fun finding pictures to include in each month. As I was looking through the tons of digital pictures we have of the last two years, I realized that our boys have done more then some kids have done in their whole life. Biily and I enjoy traveling and seeing the sights. Luckily the boys enjoy doing that as well. From day trips to long road trips, we have done a lot!!

I found some great shots of the boys and of us all together and thought I would share with everyone!

The most wonderful time of the year...

I can't believe that in less than two weeks, we will be celebrating Christmas with our nearest and dearest. We have been busy getting ready for the holidays in addition to living our crazy everyday life! The boys are getting excited for Santa to come and bring some new gadgets and gizmos. We have been talking about how Santa is watching the boys and looking for them to do good things. Kyle has been questioning how Santa, who lives rather far away from Ohio, can possibly see what he does every minute of every day. We told him that Santa is magic and did Kyle really want to take a chance on not thinking that Santa could see him?! I do not think that he is questioning the existence of Santa because the other morning he had an in-depth conversation about what Santa might bring him. We are not ready to give up having the two boys believing in Santa just yet!!!

My sister will be coming home again on Friday for a long winter break. The boys are excited to have Aunt Susan home again. They enjoy playing with her and spending time with her. They ask about her often and miss her when she is not here. Hopefully I will be able to rope her into helping me finish up the last minute things that need to get done.

Last weekend, the boys had their skills evaluation for Upwards Basketball. Last year was the first time that Kyle played any sport and it definitely showed. He enjoyed every minute of it, but wasn't very good at it at all. Well what I difference a year made!!! He did a great job. I think about of all the baskets he shot, he only missed 6 or so. Talk about a proud mama! I think I had a bigger grin on my face then he did! Jacob is also playing this year which should be a hoot. He just enjoys moving and running so who knows how he will actually do. One thing that is for sure is he will be giving his coach a run for their money! God love him.

The boys have been saying some pretty funny things lately. We have enjoyed them so I thought I would share with you!

Jacob in the car last weekend "Mama, my tummy hurts!" Me: "It does, why?" Jacob: "From your driving!" I thought Billy was going to die laughing!

Jacob in the car last weekend "Mama, I can't like Christmas music, I want to listen to the radio instead of this!"

Jacob when asked about how the ride to school with Daddy was: "Not great, that car gives me a headache".

Kyle when finding the phone in the bathroom: "Um, Mom, I think that you know that you don't really need this in the bathroom."

Kyle when reminding me about something I forgot: "That's why I need to remember things for you, because you can't!"

Kyle when talking about doing his homework: "Daddy will have to help me because remember you can't do math!" (I think this thought came from him thinking that since I just teach reading and social studies! At least I hope, because I may not be great at math but I can do 1st grade math!)

Every night when we put the boys to bed and we think about all the ups and downs and turns throughout the day, we are reminded how truly blessed we are to be their Mom and Dad!

A place of their own...

When the boys lived with Diane and Grover, they shared a bedroom. Jacob slept on one side of the room and Kyle slept on the other. They shared a dresser, a closet and play space. When they moved into our house, we decided to put bunkbeds in one of our bedrooms and have them continue to share a room. This was all they had known and we felt it would help with the transititon into their new home. The boys enjoyed sharing a room, who wouldn't though? Someone to giggle with late at night, watch TV with, play with and fight with! The shared room worked well some times put other times it just wasn't ideal. Jacob still takes a nap and Kyle would wake him up! Jacob is an earlier riser and Kyle likes to sleep in. There was no way to seperate them when they needed a break.

Over the past few weeks, Billy and I have been talking about putting the boys in seperate rooms. We have an extra bedroom which they were using as a play room lately. I bounced the idea of their own rooms off the boys about a week ago. Kyle thought it was a great idea but Jacob wasn't so sure about it. I believe his actual words were "No thanks!" Can you blame him? All he has ever known was having his brother across from him or on top of his bed!

This past weekend, the boys spent the weekend at Billy's sister's house. We felt that this was the time to "make the move"! Leaving Jacob's bed and dresser in his old room, we moved Kyle's bed and belongings into the other bedroom. We bought him a new comforter, put his favorite toys in his toy box and put some books on his bookshelf. We set Jacob's room up with his favorite toys as well. Billy and I were very excited for the boys to come home and see their new living arrangements! Well until the boys arrived....

Kyle was SO excited. He was shocked and full of excitement about having his own place. Jacob, who was EXHAUSTED from the weekend fun, was far from happy about his own place. He screamed, cried, jumped off his bed, asked a million questions about Kyle's stuff. Once we finally calmed him down enough so that he could hear us, we attempted to explain to him what we did. He didn't want any part of that either. He just kept repeating "Where Kyle bed, up top?" He needed to see every part of the room that was missing. Jacob also questioned why we put different toys in his room. When he did finally stop crying, he refused to nap on his bed and insisted on sleeping on the floor with the door open. Whatever! I could only imagine what bedtime would bring. Bedtime went 100% smoother and within 30 minutes both boys were out cold.

Kyle is still really excited about having a place of his own. Don't you remember how it felt to finally have a room of your own? That's something that he has never had before. Needless to say, he has fallen asleep with a big grin on his face...a toothless big grin though since he has lost his 6th (I think) tooth! My oh My!

Enjoy the pictures from being tucked in last night!

So many great changes...

Kyle LOVES first grade. He loves his teacher. He loves having lunch at school. He loves Music and Gym and doing work at school. He thinks it so great that his mom works at the school. (He thinks its great that his dad is a principal too!) One day this week, his writing workshop activity was "My mom is..." and some pages to write the responses. Last year, whenever "Mom" was talked about, Kyle would not be talking about me in response. This week was a different story though. His little booklet was mainly about me. The last page was about Diane, his "special mommy" which was so cute!
Tonight while Kyle was waiting to get into the tub, he was watching tv on Jake's bed. I sat down next to him to talk and gave him a hug and a kiss. (Sometimes I don't feel like we do that enough with them!) I told him and I loved him and he said "I love you too Mommy" without any hesitation. A few months ago that conversation would not have played out that way. We have known that Kyle loves us for a while but for a long while he would not reply to us when we said it to him. It is so nice to hear it from him, even if I already knew it!
As we are tucking the boys in tonight, Billy sat down on Jacob's bed to say goodnight and they started giggling and carrying on. Six months ago, Jacob wouldn't even say goodnight to Billy. Billy would say goodnight and Jake would say "No". Tonight it was a different picture. I just smiled and laughed. Loved seeing it!
A year ago the boys didn't really seek out attention from Billy. They would seek me out to help them and didn't really want to go places with him. This bothered Billy so much. Tonight Billy and Kyle bopped out of the house together with a "bye Mom, see you later!". Every morning Jacob comes into our bathroom and asks "Where Daddy at?". What a change!
It's so great how Kyle has truly bonded with us. We have loved him for a long time now and it is nice to know he loves us back! Hard to believe that some doctor said that Kyle will probably not be able to create normal bonds with people. Goes to show, they don't always know what they are talking about!

First Day of School (For Kyle and me!)

Today Kyle and I FINALLY went back to school. We have been enjoying a four month summer thanks to come construction going on in our district. Kyle has been counting down the days until he started First Grade. I am teaching 4Th grade this year which I am very excited about. I am happy to say that Kyle and I both survived the first day of school with smiles on our faces! Kyle said that "Mrs. Wilson made us do too, too much work!" All in all, it was a great day!

Today was also another first for Jacob. He got the ride the bus to school. He has been a

nxiously awaiting this day. Jacob got on the bus at Grandma's this morning. I wasn't actually there when the bu

s came, but my mom did admit that for as excited Jacob was to get on the bus, he was a little leery when the bus finally came.

We are very lucky and happy to have Kyle's teacher be someone who we are friends with. Billy and I worry about Kyle and his behavior at school. He responds well to structure and clear rules and consequences. We know that Mrs. Wilson will be able to meet Kyle's needs and help him have a wonderful year.

The boys are both tucked into bed, sleeping soundly. It's almost time for Mama to do the same thing. Need to get our rest so we can happily face Day 2 tomorrow!

Future Soccer Stars?? Possibly!

The boys are both playing soccer this fall. This is the 3rd sport that Kyle has tried and the 1st for Jacob. The boys are both very active and LOVE running, playing, really any type of activity. Kyle has enjoyed playing each sport so far. He puts a lot of effort into it and trys his best each time. We have been really proud of him for being a trooper through each season. You have to remember this is a kid who after I told him I signed him up for basketball, he said "Oh, cool! Jennifer, what is basketball anyway?"

We have had 3 weeks of games already and while the teams don't get score, you can't help but keep track of goals made. In one game, Kyle scored 4 goals, which were the only goals on for his team. He really has shown some talent with soccer. I think it is the mix of running and competition to get the ball first. He puts everything into each game and works really hard. His coach makes comments on how well he is doing. Now if we could get him to work on not taking the ball from teammates, he would be better off!

Now on to Jacob...well, Jacob enjoys being on the field! Now, as silly as it sounds, there are MANY preschoolers who do not enjoy even being out on the field. Those kids make it known to all that they are not happy! Even though Jacob is playing on a preschool team, he is almost a full year younger then most of his teammates. It shows too. Jake follows the team on the field but doesn't really make any attempt to get the ball and really doesn't understand what to do with it once he does get it. But he is having fun, making new friends and learning to work as part of a group and that is all that Billy and I want from this experience.

I love watching my kids play! The three games have had beautiful weather which makes being there even better.