SNOW Fun

Being a homeschool family we rarely take a 'snow day' because we already have everything we need at home and if they finish their lessons they can go outside anyway.....however, today was an exception!!! We had a beautiful snow fall last night and the weather was perfect for bundling up and playing outside. There was minimal to no wind and the sun was shining brightly. We took the whole day off of school. The kids were excited!!!

We had plenty of ice around Christmas so were glad for some fluffy snow. This was really Luca's first time in the snow. He really liked it. He was on his hands and knees playing in it and throwing it around. He was laughing and following his big brothers everywhere.

Nico and I had a good snow ball fight going!

The boys wandered down to the pond which was frozen and covered with snow. (There is only about a foot of water in the pond right now). Here they made snow angels.

Luca gets some help

Even, Petey, the dog, had a great time in the snow. Petey has hip dysplasia and rarely gets too excited. However, today all his peeps were outside with him and he was loving the snow! He was rolling in it and sticking his face in it. The cats were out prowling and I have a picture of Hera watching the snow from the window last evening.

Both Petey and Luca wore themselves out today. Petey has been laying on the stair landing all afternoon and evening and Luca took a 3.5 hour nap!!!! (He needs to do that on the days I work).

It was also nice to get outside and maybe clear some germs from our systems. We are all feeling better now and hopefully it will stay that way.

We tried to talk Mike into using the car hood he had sitting around for a sled....but no go...shucks!! Nico even said, "But Dad, there is already a hook here to tie a rope to!!!" Maybe next time I'll remember to grab the sled from the other house.

We came inside and made some yummy cookies. Luca was so funny....he pulled the chair over to the oven, sat on it, and watched the cookies bake...only for a short while because he can't sit for 10 minutes. :-)

What a great day we had together!!!!

Now we have had our snow......Come on SPRING!

n

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Wisdom Teeth, Inauguration, Losing Tooth #3, and 20 months old

There has been the normal routine going on here. The boys were all on antibiotics over the last week and now everyone is doing great, except for Mom who now has the sinus congestion stuck in her sinuses and miserable with sinus pain and dried out from taking sinus medicine; even my eyes are dry. But, at least they are all feeling better.

Nico and Luca played for an hour today with a big box from some shelves I was putting together. It was so fun to watch them and listen to them laugh with each other. They love each other so much. Nico is so glad to have someone to play with. Luca fits right in and for 20 months old, plays like the big guys.

Brian had his wisdom teeth taken out Monday. Yep, he had all four removed. He did awesome! They put him to sleep for the surgery and it is always scary with Brian and his CMS. The surgeon did great monitoring and had all four out within 25 minutes. He has such a high tolerance to pain (with all his past history of surgies and just living with pain), he only took a couple doses of pain meds and even ate Jack in the Box that night (not by my choosing, he was with his dad), but he came out great. He had a bit of swelling and a little bruising. He's my trooper!

Yes, that is the "Mom, not pictures of this!!!!" look.

Here he is 3 days later with just a bit of chipmunk cheeks.

We spent Tuesday morning with our North County Homeschool Coop group watching the inauguration of President Obama. The kids made pennants and actually sat to watch what was going on. It was fun to watch it with others and make it an educational experience for our kids.

The boys working on their pennants.

The swearing in.

Luca intent on watching Obama.

I wanted to add a couple of pictures of Luca with the girls. I love this group because we have two sets of kids all around the same ages.

They were playing with a sticker under the edging of the fireplace. It was so cute to see them huddled there together.

Nico's 3rd loose tooth finally fell out. It has been driving me crazy. He pulled out the last two that fell out of the bottom, but he wanted this one to fall out on its own. It was sooo loose and he wouldn't pull it. The adult tooth started coming in behind it and pushed the baby tooth out so it was sticking out like a buck tooth and wouldn't wiggle backwards anymore. He was sleeping in Brian's room in the trundle bed. He said he rolled and fell out of the top bed hitting his tooth on the edge of the bed. The tooth fell out right into his palm. Brian yelled down to us and we ran up to see the splendor of another sign of my baby growing up. He now has a bit of a lisp. I need to video tape him.

The missing tooth. His lips were so chapped he didn't want to smile. He is so handsome.

"Alright already Mom, it hurts to smile!"

You can see the adult tooth now pushing the next one out. Pretty soon he'll have a big hole in the front of his mouth.

Luca turned 20 months old yesterday. His newest things are doing a somersault, saying 'nana' for banana, 'dye-dye' for bye-bye, says "Hi dad", can sign 'more, please, and thankyou'. He even puts the more and please together. I want to teach him more signing, but am afraid he won't talk if he knows how to do all the signing. It is great, he signs and gets this HUGE grin on his face. We all clap and get him what he wants. Yesterday he brought his bowl to the refridgerator, tried to open it, couldn't, then looked at me, set his bowl down and signed 'more, please'. I knew he wanted blueberries as he had just had some in the same bowl. So smart!!!! He is now walking backwards very well and laughs when he does it. He throws the ball accuratley and loves playing catch. He sits and draws and makes a point to be sure you look at his drawing. He babbbles alot and really knows what he is saying (although we don't quite know it all yet).

Here he is on his 'computer' during lesson time. He is getting to be quite a poser when I take pictures.

Started A New Blog

For anyone who cares to follow more closely, I have started a new blog relating to the life of my son Brian. He was born with Congenital Myasthenia Syndrome. I have been searching the web for others with is syndrome and found a few blogs.

Visit my other blog at www.lifewithcms.blogspot.com to follow his beginnings as I backtrack through is life and how far he has come.

I will keep the family happenings here, but the gritty details on Brian's upcoming surgery and past will be at that blog.

A Fun Filled Day?!

Today started out with another trip to the pediatrician. Unfortunately, I have not found a new one close to our new home. So, I drive an hour to see the dr. we have been seeing for 16 years. (It is time though to find one closer to home!). Anyway, this time I had to bring Luca. I believe he has a urinary tract infection. They started him on antibiotics once we got the urine sample. We'll know for sure next week when the lab results are in, but I am pretty sure that is it.

The next part of our day, we were driving home on hwy 70 when I got a flat tire. I am thankful it wasn't a huge blowout and I was able to keep control of the car. The funny thing is, I think I hexed myself. Last week I was driving to work thinking how much driving I do and thinking I haven't had a flat tire in over 20 years....ha, not anymore! AAA and MODOT saved the day. They had my donut on the van and I was rolling 15 minutes after he got there. Then I stopped in Troy and got 2 new tires put on. They were done if 15 minutes too. (I love my small town). I am also glad it didn't happen Thursday or Friday when it was 0 degrees and less with wind chill. Today it was abaout 25 and it felt good.

Other than that all is well. I will be happy if our weather stays on the warmer side. Although we really want a good snow for some sledding. Nico attempted to go out on the pond today to check the ice. He made it across. Don't worry there is not a whole lot of water in it...maybe up to his knees if he fell through and Daddy was hanging with him.

I stuck to my cooking resolution this week and had 4 great meals cooked on my days off. Is it good or bad if your son tells you "the Chili is good, but next time you should make it from scratch."? I was shocked, what did he think I was doing in the kitchen over the stove for a couple of hours! I sure thought my Chili from Scratch was waaaaayyy better than any canned chili. He laughed and said, 'really?', 'high five mom, you did good'.....silly boy...yes, this is my 16 yo talking. Usually I have home grown stewed tomatoes to use, but not a good crop of tomatoes this summer, so used can, but the chili was great. It went especially well with the cold temperatures we had.

Speaking of chili, off to my dinner here at work, of CHILI!

New Pictures and Update

I took Nico to the doctor on Monday, lo and behold, he had strep throat, not an ear infection! We had to miss our North County Homeschool Coop. He was so dissappointed. He just loves playing his with friends. It was also hard because he was actually starting to feel better. He hates the strep test though. He gags so bad when they do it I thought he was going to throw up all over me. Brian never had a gag reflex, so when he was swabbed it was not big deal. Nico is on his antibiotics and soooo good at remembering he needs to take it.

Brian is doing well. He says he hates it here though because we have the satellite internet and he can't play his computer games on it. I was told I was 'cheap' today because I wouldn't upgrade the system. It is expensive enough already!!!! It is enough for what I need to do right now. I also need to save for our Disney trip.

Luca is our newest comedian and actor. I swear for a 19 month old he is GOOOOOD! He really hams it up. He is learning baby sign language really fast! He can now sign 'more', 'please', and 'thank you'. I am going to start working on a few more. I think I am going to make sign language our 'second language' for homeschooling. It was so cute tonight. Luca was standing at the table and Mike was feeding him some chili. Luca kept standing and starring when he was done eating with his sippy cup in his hands. Mike would ask him, "What do you want?" Luca would set his cup on the floor and then do the signing for 'more', with a big grin on his face! I have to get his signing on video, he is the first I have used it with. He is talking too. He now says 'up', 'nana' (for banana), and this morning he repeated, 'get up' when I told Brian and Nico to get up out of bed.

New Year's Eve, Luca had the best spot in the house.....his favorite place, right next to the food! He has grown 2.5 inches in 5 months and still weighs 28 pounds. How does he do it???? Oh, yeah, he neverrrrrrr stops! But when he does he is out like a light!

Daddy and his boys! I was wondering why it was so quiet in the living room. With three boys there is always noise. I walked in and here they were, all watching some 'manly' tv show (some car redesigning show). It was so cute, them all snuggled up together. He is such a great daddy to these boys.

Luca doing his 'lessons'. Luca is getting into the stacking of the cups. These are kept in our school room, that's why I say 'lessons' and Nico thinks he doesn't do anything! He sat for at least 10 minutes the other day stacking, knocking down, and restacking these cups. I was so excited to see him doing them on his own.

Hey, who turned the lights off???? Luca wearing his biggest brother's hat. He was walking around laughing.

Nothing too eventful

Not a whole lot going on this week. We did get our 'hairs' cut. Luca received a trimming off the top, sides, and bangs. She also layered out the back, but she didn't take any off the length in the back. He still has all his curls! I just love rolling them around my fingers. Brian has his hair cut short and thinned out. He is ready to go apply for those jobs this week. I also had about an inch cut off of mine, just to get the split ends off. It is not near as scraggly now. Nico wants to let his hair grow out, so we are giving him another month until he will need to get it shaped up, but keep the length.

I have been so hungry for home meals that tonight I laid out a menu for my four days off. Kroger has some good 0.88 cent deals this week. I am sticking to this resolution fairly well. We even skipped using our Quizno coupon today and ate the food we had at home. Nico wanted soup instead. This week is going to be Cheeseburger casserole and cole slaw, salsa chicken made in the crockpot with mixed, sauted vegetables, cube steak and mashed potatoes, and chili and salad. Yum! I am hungry already.

Nico seems to have an ear infection so we'll be seeing the doctor tomorrow. The poor thing was feeling so awful on Friday, but is feeling better today. The fever is much lower and he only took aspirin twice today. I just hate when my babies don't feel well.

This week we were back in full swing with lessons, hiphop, tumbling, and art class. The boys are now working toward a fun day each month. Nico picked a trip to Brunswick Zone if they do their lessons well (without complaining). They can only have 2 bad days each for the month (because we all have bad days). Brian gets to pick an event next month. They did great this week!!! It took them forever to get their stuff done on Tuesday, but with two weeks off it was hard to get back into it (This is why we don't take a 3 month break in the summer). I can just imagine what those teachers felt like with a classroom full of 20-30 students after the Holiday break. I will post pictures later of Luca doing his lesson. He is learning to stack the stackable cups. We were busy working on our stuff and we turned around and Luca had a stack of 3 cups on top of each other. He was clapping for himself. It was so cute! Nico says, "It isn't fair that Luca's lessons are so easy!" I have to remind him that every minute of the day Luca is learning, just as we all are.

I am doing pretty good so far with my New Year's Resolutions. When people try to rile me up at work, I just kind of smile and bite my tongue (not always, but better than before). I am thankful to have a job! I have cooked several meals over the last week and a half. I need to make more at one time though to have leftovers for work. I don't really cook for two of my work days as it is all I can do to get 4 hours of sleep in the day and function to drive home and spend time with the kids. As for the house cleaning, well, it didn't all happen last Thursday as I hoped, but I did start cleaning up the kitchen today. My goal for this week is to get our front room clean out. This is the room in the new house that was not designated as any particular room, so all the extra boxes were placed here. Most of it is my homeschooling items that aren't in use right now, but will be in the future. I am going to go ahead and make sure they are in plastic containers and move them to what will become the school house. This room needs to be cleaned out as we are moving everything left at the other house on the 22nd. There are a couple of couches that will find their way into that room plus a TV for the kids to play their video games on so we can have the big screen. So, it is in the works!

Pictures coming later this week. Our internet at home has issues so we are hoping to get someone out to investigate. Living in the country we can only get satellite. I think our satellite is out of whack.

Bad Hair Day!

I absolutely love Luca's curly hair; however, I think he is in the need for a trimming. When I walked in his room this morning, this is what I was greeted with....his cute, lovely, charming self, a few tears, and his hair......

What a precious face to see in the morning. I am calling this afternoon for trimmings for Luca, myself, and Brian.

New Photos

I have the photos from my SIL of the baptism. Luca was so precious. (and is so precious). His new thing is trying to walk up the stairs like a real big boy - taking steps instead of crawling. I can't believe he has grown 2 inches since August 08 (his homecoming). He now says 'ow' when he bumps into something or falls and says 'up'. He loves all his new toys from Christmas; they all have buttons on them!

We have enjoyed our two week break from lessons and will be starting back up this Tuesday. We have a lot to do in 5 months! (We tend to work through the summer, but not every day of the week). Brian just informed me he may need another day or two off to go to Ohio to pick up a truck for him. Apparently his dad has decided to buy him a truck to drive. I am not ready for him to drive on his own yet. Driving will be limited at my house still. He is going to apply for a job next week. Hopefully he gets one quickly. (I was just informed they didn't win the truck from Ebay, so he is home on Tuesday...good, I miss him. He has been at his dad's for a week while we were on school break).

Nico has been having fun helping daddy on his hangar. He has earned extra money to do some after Christmas shopping. He is growing up so fast. Conversations with him are so adult like. I wonder where my baby is? He is getting ready to lose his third tooth. His smile is so funny. The tooth is hanging crooked and there is a big gap where his jaw has spread for the new adult tooth. I hope I have a picture of his new smile to post. I am also posting pictures of Nico's art work from his last semester art class. It was so awesome I framed them and hung them on the wall. One was our nativity scene, as Luca kept taking all the statues from under the tree. It will be framed and stored with the Christmas items and hung up each year now.

Mom and her prince - he wouldn't leave the hat on, but Heather snapped a quick photo.

How precious. We had lots of 'oohs' and 'aaahs' as we walked into church.

Three little monkeys. Just look at Luca looking at Connor - learning the ropes!

This picture I just love. Who is that little boy in the background drinking out of the baptismal font? Yes, that is my Nico. But he wasn't actually drinking out of it, just seeing if he could get his hair wet!

Christmas morning! My two Guatemalan Princes. I haven't had Brian on Christmas morning since I was divorced when he was 2 years old. His dad always celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve with his extended family and we did Xmas Day. So, it was conveinent and made us all happy to keep the same thing and Brian could spend the holiday with both families. I miss having those first morning pictures of him. Luckily I have been blessed with two more!

There's his new falling out tooth smile. I love his smile! He always has one on his face. Never mind where the bows are located. He is so silly!

A favorite gift from Grandpa Jim and Grandma Darla. The eyeclops was a hit with the older guys looking at their gray hairs and whiskers. Nico was looking in the carpet for bugs. Thank goodness he didn't find any.Nico loves his webkinz. He recieved 4 new ones Christmas morning. Here are Spots and Spartacus. (Yes, we have been studying Roman gladiators - thus the name).

Luca and his SmartEBear. He was leaning in to give him a kiss.

I love you SmartEBear!

My mom and dad with all their grandkids. Seven of them are not biological (2 step grandchildren and 5 adopted). But, mom and dad love them all the same! It was so great to actually have everyone at home this Christmas. We were only missing Mike's daughter who lives in California. Unfortunately we don't get to see her very often.

Grandpa sneaking in some icing and cake to Luca. Luca walked up to him and put his little arms up and said, 'up'. Of course, Grandpa swooped him right up. I love this photo!

Who is that guy at our window? We'll welcome you in! It is just my brother though. For some reason he went outside and peeked in the window. It would have been great if he put on a Santa suit while doing it. I'll have to remember that for next year.


Yep, Brian got his computer...eventually.... I made him wait until late in the afternoon to get it. Now he will be off of mine. I made him sign a contract and laid out the rules prior to opening the gift. All parental control is still maintained even though it is a gift.

The kids ready for Nerf Dart Tag. This is Connor and Nico. They are two years apart in age (Nico being older) they are great buddies. I am so thrilled Vernon met Heather and she had a young one so Nico could have a cousin close to his age to grow up with. I loved having my cousins to play with.

My nephew: BIG BAD BRAD. He just turned 19 this week. Goes to show you, you're never to old to play!

Our Nativity Scene. It couldn't get more beautiful for me than this. I found this to be more precious than the statues beneath the tree. Nico did a great job on it. It is hanging on the wall by the tree.

Three of his pieces I framed. The others I still need to get frames for. I could not buy pictures that complete my wall any better than these. Nico has such talent. I can't even draw a stick person right. We have decided to decorate most of our home with vacation photos and art work from the kids. I have a 13x19 inch printer that printed some awesome photos from Oregon and California. We have them framed. We just have to hang them up.

New Year's Resolutions!

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and a wonderful start to the New Year.

The boys and myself spent it with my family -again- at my brother's new house. It was great fun. I so enjoy spending time with my family and reliving old memories. This year was hysterically funny because the 'old folks' (my mom, dad, uncle, and aunt) were playing the Walgreen's Wii version of bowling. They were having a great time with the music turned up. Us kids are sitting at the kitchen table playing board games. We suddenly find ourselves all bopping to this music! It went on all night. I am surprised the tune is not still rattling through my head. I actually took video this year, but did not get footage of the bopping to music, darn!

Usually I don't make New Year's Resolutions, well, none that I actually stick to. This year I am going to make obtainable resolutions and do them. Here they go:
Cook a full/fresh dinner at least 3 nights a week. (Leftovers the rest of the week or quick meals). This is very hard for me. I have a hard time planning ahead for meals. I base my meals on what I am hungry for at the moment. Also, working 3 nights a week I am thrown off schedule for 4 of my days. However, last week, I went home and threw a meal in the oven and baked it before Luca and I went down for our naps. This worked perfectly because I then had a whole meal that we could just reheat before we headed out the door for the sitters and work. This is my new plan on the nights I work.
All of us will clean the house together with a thorough cleaning on Thursday afternoon. My plan for this is that after our lessons we will break up and do a thorough house cleaning. The jobs will rotate week to week so we all get the fun job of cleaning the 3.5 bathrooms! The kids will also be responsible for their rooms making sure nothing is on the floor to get sucked up by the vaccum monster.
I will quit complaining about my job and be thankful I have one; especially one that allows a schedule where I get to be home with my children and am able to homeschool them. (Melissa, you know you can catch me on this one - she is my favorite coworker.)We complain alot at work about how our raises stink, how much work we are expected to do, etc. This year I vow to not complain nearly as much - I can't promise not to complain ever. I am thankful I have a job where I only work 3 nights a week. It hasn't always been this way and it always has the potential to change, but for this year again, it looks like this is the schedule we will have. The time with my children is so precious and I am so fortunate to be able to work a full time job, full benefits, and good wages. There are many people laid off, without jobs that would do anything to be in my position. I do enjoy what I do, but often feel very under appreciated. I need to just know that I am doing a good for the community and it is appreciated, even though the people who are administered what we manufacture don't know us.

These three goals (resolutions) I know are attainable. We'll be starting tomorrow with a wonderful home cooked meal (pasta fritata) , a glass of Florida wine, and a comfy night with my honey and 2 of my boys. (Brian is hanging out with his dad over our Christmas break from lessons). Today we were at a friends house for late lunch/early dinner so I got out of cooking today. And starting tonight by working overtime and helping not only my pocket book but helping the company and my fellow team members.