Spring Recital

Nico had his dress rehearsal and pictures for the spring recital tonight. He looked soooo good. He remembered his routine and did great. The real show is Sunday. Here are some photos of my handsome young man. I am so proud of him.

Our Life in Pictures

This is a post of pictures and the happenings of the last month or so. I can't believe it but Brian turned 18 in March. This picture was from November, but you get the idea of how he has changed. He now has his own car. It scares me to think of him driving around on his own, but he seems to have matured a bit with the added responsibility of driving. I pray he keeps his head about him and doesn't do anything stupid like hot-rodding, drinking and driving, drugs, acting cool. You get the point.


This is Brian at 3 months of age. We had no idea of the obstacles we/he would face. He was always so strong willed. He gave it his all. I wish he still had that motivation. He seems to give up a lot as he got older. He is so smart and funny. People really enjoy him when they meet him. He is very social and loving. I can't imagine my life without this special boy.

Our homeschool coop is getting ready to wrap up our 'structured' learning classes. We will be switching to park days for the summer. We have been studying the states all year. This is a picture of our study of Hawaii. We learned many fact about Hawaii, set off a volcano, and had a luau. The kids were adorable and had fun wearing their bright colors.

Here are the boys Easter Day. It turned out to be such a warm beautiful day. For once we had an Easter with no rain.

Luca smelling the flowers.

This is our rooster Devestator. Unfortunately he is no longer with us. We think the buffalo gnats got him, however, we are not sure. The hens all seem fine. We do not know how old he was since we got him from another family. He may have died of other complications. I really miss his crowing throughout the day. We have 15 new chickens so we are hoping one is a rooster.
Mike had 2 large piles of dirt delivered to the house. The boys had a couple of fun days playing in the dirt before it was all moved around.
Luca especially had a blast on the dirt.

Nico and Luca have fun feeding the chicks by hand. We purchased 10 chicks that are growing up together. I never knew that chickens could be so affectionate. We have handled them since we got them (at 5 days of age). They still like to come right up to you and let you hold them. We are hoping we can introduce them to the 5 remaining big hens without any problem.

Last week we purchased 5 Americauna chicks. They are suppose to lay bluish/greenish eggs. They are so adorably cute. They have these little round heads and big eyes. (just like Nico here).

Surgeries for Brian

Brian surgeries have both been scheduled for June 17. He is having his jaw surgery redone. Yep, redone. This time they are working on the upper jaw. Totally removing the jaw and moving it around The procedure sounds painful, but Brian is so strong! He has to donate blood for this one. This surgery will probably change the shape of his face more. They expect to bring the 'sunken' in part of his cheeks out and his upper lip down. I hate that he has to have this a second time, but with all he has been through, we feel he needs to have it finished up. This surgery is being redone because the first one did not close his jaw as expected.

His back surgery (to fuse the lower part of his back, not fused when he was 5) is scheduled for October. He has to donate blood for this one as well. This surgery will fix the very large curve that has occurred in the lower portion of his back as he has grown over the last 13 years. His hips are greatly out of line and he walks with a large limp. With the spine being fused and straightened it will realign his hips. We are hoping this fixes the problem he has been having with pain in his knees.

I hate to see my baby boy go through so much, but hopefully these are the last. We knew he would have at least the jaw surgery once he was grown, but the back was not expected. I am so grateful for the wonderful surgeons we have and the skill they have to help Brian.

Brian is doing well with school. He should be finished with his online degree by December. He is driving his own car now...this scares me so much!!!! I know we have to let go sometime, but I am just not ready. He seems to be maturing a bit more. I love this boy with all my heart and pray that he makes the right decisions in his life. He has come so far and battled so much.

Talking Machine!

Oh my gosh! Luca has taken off talking and is not stopping. He was doing great before, but over the last two weeks he is really going to town.

The new cute word he says is HOME. I love to hear him say this for more than its cuteness, but because it is home to him and he feels right at home. He says this when we are driving or out, "Mama, where go? Home?"

He loves the sun. We had several weeks a few months back where we didn't see the sun for several days at a time. Everytime the sun was out I would say, "Yay, SUN!" He now says this in the morning as I open his bedroom curtain. He says, "Yay, sun" while clapping his little hands together and the biggest grin on his face.

He cannot say helicopter, but instead makes the sound of a helicopter. Nico was trying to get Luca to say, "Daddy flies a helicopter." Luca would repeat, "Daddy fly bbmmmm." We cracked up!

He verbalizes well what he wants. If we don't understand him he grabs our hands and leads us to what he is talking about. He tends to drop the ending sounds off many words such as up, cup, net, etc...but will put the ending on words such as home, dime, down, etc. We just keep reiterating the ending sounds on words to him. I know he will get it. Nico did the same thing when he was that age.

His new favorite TV show is "Diego." We were in blockbuster and he saw a video and quickly grabbed it saying, "wayweo" his version of Diego. He watches that DVD over and over. The Easter Bunny brought him his own Rescue Pack and he carries it around quite a lot.

He loves to sing. We will be driving and a song will come on, suddenly this cute little voice from the back seat is singing the words right along with the radio. His favorite songs are by the Black Eyed Peas, but he sings several. I need to start him on the preschool nursery rhyme songs rather than my 107.7 music.

He loves the new baby chickens and is not afraid to let them eat out of his hands. He giggles when they peck the food out of them.

We started potty training Dec. 23...that was the last day of diapers. He is doing great with the peeing in the potty, but we were having a hard time with the pooping. I refused to put him back in diapers!! He would run and hide then come out (with his pants full) and tell us, "doo-doo". Welllll, for the last week he has told me each time he has had to go poopy. He calls it 'nana butt'. It got this name because the one time earlier he went on the potty, he looked in and said, "nana!" (banana). I said yes, "nana butt"....ever since then it stuck...I figure, hey whatever works!

Luca just loves his brothers to death. He is also very much a daddy's boy. He is my boy too, but when Daddy comes in, forget about mom.

There are lots and lots of other adorable things about him and his development, but those are some of the high spots on my mind at 5am in the morning after a long night of work. I will post pictures later this week.

Pictures

Here are some pictures of the fun we have been having so far this year. Just last week we bought these adorable little chicks. We are now up to 10 baby chicks to add to our already 5 hens and 1 rooster. We are on the hold list for 5 araucana chicks. Nico is hoping to go to the farmer's markets next year when the chicks should be at their peek production.



This was an interesting adventure on our trip to Montauk State Park, in southern Missouri. Our accelerator cable broke as we were getting off the highway. Mike with all his ingenuity rigged the cable up so he could get us to a part store. He was able to get it fixed enough to get us to the park where it then broke again when we went to leave - luckily my brother had his truck there and brought Mike into town to get more wire to repair it again. Lucky for us we made it back home.


Here are my mom, dad, and my crew of boys. It was a great trip because my mom and dad came and stayed in my brother's camper.
Vernon, my younger brother (but the oldest twin) is helping Nico get ready to fish. I think Vernon enjoyed showing Nico the ropes.

A hollow log we found that was fun to take pictures while looking through.

A snapshot of us on our little hike.

Nico won't eat the fish, but he will kiss them. He caught one each day. We cooked them up when we got home. They were delicious. We had fish fry one night at camp from the fish Vernon caught. He could only have 8 in his possession at one time, so we had to eat some so he could catch more.

This was the last morning. It was the only morning we got Nico up early to start fishing when the siren started. The fog over the river was beautiful. Mike and I sat on the bank with our coffee and watched them fish. Nico had one and it got away. Vernon caught two within a half hour. We are definitely looking forward to going again next year.




In February we went to Kansas City, Kansas to get a little 'warm weather' fix. While it wasn't warm outside, it was warm inside the indoor water park. Brian went with us on this trip.

I love this picture of Mike and Luca. I love Luca's pose. He is such a doll and Mike is a great Daddy!

Here we are. The love of my life.

Mommy and her littlest angel.

The kids sleep area was their own little sectioned off area. It had bunk beds on the other side. Luca slept in his first big boy bed without any problems. He didn't get out of bed at all.
They had story time each night. I dressed Luca in his jammies and we snuggled down to listen to the story.

Luca absolutely loved the water slide. He went non-stop.

Nico also had a great time on the slides. I love seeing my boys smile. Seeing these happy faces and hearing their laughter make me one, proud, happy mama!

Spring Break!

One of the many things I love about homeschooling is that we get to pick the week we take spring break. My brother asked early in the year for us to join him on a camping trip this month. It quickly became our spring break. It looks like the weather might even cooperate and be nice!

We are headed to Montauk State Park in southern Missouri. The park is known for its trout fishing. Nico is looking forward to fishing with his Uncle Vernon, Grandpa, and dad. I am excited my mom and dad are going as well. It was on the fence for mom as she came down with an infection in her gum but was able to get to the dentist to get some medicine. She will be heading out with us in our camper on Tuesday. Dad and Vernon went on Monday.

Brian was going to go with us, but I finally convinced him to call his dad last Thursday. They chatted for a while and he went over there this weekend. He decided he is going to go to Wisconsin with them as they are headed there for some family event on their side. I am glad he talked to his dad and hope that all stays on tract. I hope he stays away from the rotten kids he was hanging out with too. I think he is coming back to our house next week, but who knows. As he said in a letter to his, "DIVORCE STINKS!". We have been divorced since he was 2 yo but I guess you just don't get used to it. He is lucky he has two parents who love him and fight over him so much!

We did have a great week and a half while Brian was with us. The kids got along great, Brian did as he was told, and he completed his school work as instructed and did well. He applied for a few jobs, but hasn't gotten any phone calls yet. I am just glad he made the effort. I can't ask for more than that. We had a great time in Kansas City. It actually worked well in that we left the boys at the hotel since Brian was there while Mike and I went out to The Yard House, for an appetizer and beer sampling. (I found a new yummy beer called the Lindeman's Framboise. It is a delicious raspberry beer).

I will post pictures next week of both of our trips. We will also be getting new baby chicks. Nico has requested baby chicks that he can raise and hopes to sell the eggs. (This is to go with our 5 hens and 1 rooster we already have.)

Crazy Happenings

Wow, things have been busy at our house!

Brian, the 17 year old, has been keeping us on our toes. A few weeks ago he stayed out for 36 hours (without his medication) and would not answer his phone. You talk about a frazzled mama and papa! We were to the point where I was calling news stations to get his picture on the news when his dad found him at someone's house. Oh boy the relief. But, oh boy, the anger at him for not at least calling. His dad kept him with him for a week; taking him to work and keeping him close to him. The next week he gave him a little bit of lee-way, leaves him at home and he pulls it again! He takes off with these kids and doesn't tell anyone and doesn't come home! His dad called me, so I tried calling Brian and he did answer the phone when I called. I don't know what was going on in his mind (or what still is), but he refused to go back to his dad's house and would only let me pick him up. (At least he came home with me!) We talked to his dad, but Brian wouldn't give any explanations, just that he wasn't going to stay there with his dad. I felt so bad for his dad as I know how he was feeling because Brian did the same thing about a year ago. He said he hated my house and wanted to live with his dad, however, he didn't sever the ties like he did with his dad this time. Even though I am divorced from his dad, his dad is always there. I couldn't have made it through these years without the help from his dad. With all of Brian's medical issues, it takes two! So, now we are establishing our lives again with Brian in the house full time. I love having him home, but get so frustrated at having to remind him to do anything! (clean up after yourself, take a shower, brush your teeth, no eating in the LR, eat healthy, do some chores, take your medicine, complete your school work). On the school work front at least he is doing that. He is completing an online HS degree (which I don't particularly like, but at this point we will continue with it and get it done. I'll fill in as we go along). I love him to death and am hoping I can get him to see how precious his life is and how much he really has to offer to the world. He is filling out job applications and hoping to land at least a part time job and meet some good friends from the area. Living in the country makes it hard to meet people.

I have had to explain to Nico that he needs to keep doing what he has always done. Nico is a self motivator and will pick up and clean when he sees it needs to be done. He keeps his toys in order and works hard at his school work. He very rarely talks back. We have seen when Brian is with us that Nico will tend to act up (not listening, lagging behind, goofing off when he needs to focus, etc). After the first couple days, things settled in and our week went smoothly.

Please keep us in your prayers as we continue our journey. Brian has two more major surgeries coming up and cannot risk going out on his own yet. He has so much to learn and so much to do before he is even ready to take that leap. I pray he gains the sight to see this and strive to get where he needs to be with our help. I am with him every step of the way. I pray I have the patience to hold my tongue and not say some of the things I am feeling, but be able to communicate effectively with Brian and the boys. I will be using this blog as my venting stage, so please don't think poorly of me if my frustration shows through here.