A 14 year old in the house

At the end of January, James turned 14. I can’t believe he is that old. I met him right before he turned 8 and now look at him! He’s an amazing brother and tries hard to always do what is right. I can’t wait to see him as a dad on his own. His wife will be very lucky that he is well trained in taking care of kids. He is kind to others around him and wants to serve. He tries hard to save his money for things he wants, but we all know how that goes. He was able to have a few friends over for a late night/sleepover. They loved playing video games all night. I tried to be creative with his cake. I made it resemble, and that word is used VERY loosely, a dart board. He loved it and the 4 boys devoured it.

Happy Birthday James!!

Sledding in January

So I finally downloaded the pictures off of my camera! There were almost 400 pictures. Slacker, I know. I have lots of good excuses though!

Back in January, Kevin’s sister and her family came down for New Year’s, so we took the kids sledding. Kyle was in heaven. He just sat in his sled to go up and down. What an easy life. Justin had a blast with his cousins!

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Flour, the many uses.

As a little girl, I remember my Grandma always talking about paste that you would make out of flour. Flour is used in so many things to eat. Why not play with it!! I've posted a picture this summer with him, but I got a kick out of seeing his face after he CAREFULLY placed each truck. He had to think about where he was going to place it and then put it in the flour. The kid cracks me up. So methodical.

James the leader

Shortly after we moved into our new home, James was called as the Deacon Leader (leader of the 12 & 13 year olds at church). We've talked to him a lot about what it means to be a leader and how to stand up and teach others the right thing to do, even when others may make fun.

He was doing some fast offering collections today after church and met a new boy that moved in who just turned 12. James had never met him before and he was excited to tell me about him. I asked him if he'd like to make some cookies and take them to him. He did, but little did he know HE"D be making the cookies. We pulled out a recipe and I sat back and watched. He made the cookies all by himself and I have to say, they were delicious!

He made a note for the boy, with his phone number on it and an invitation to the activity this week. He walked over to his house and gave them to him. He is so brave. He forgot to ask the boy his name, so he went back and the mom asked who made the cookies because they were so good. She said, oh your mom made them, right? James was happy to reply, no, I did! He was very proud of this compliment and couldn't wait to tell his leader.

I'm proud of him for not being shy and willing to be a good leader and an example. I need to invite people and not be afraid, like he is.

Clark Griswald

It is Kevin's dream to have a home, someday, like Clark Griswald, from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. You know the one, with the "250,000 twinkle lights" and they can see the house from space. Someday. Someday.

For now, Kevin loves to put the lights on the tree and I love it. He thinks he needs more than 1000 lights though. I beg to differ. He put the lights on this year and because he only did the front 2/3 of the tree, it leans...bad. I had to put a block under the tree to make it lean back because it is so weighted down. If you look closely at the picture, you can see his tongue hanging out.





Kevin also was finally able to get his house lights. Silly me thought 200 feet was enough. Apparently I missed the memo that he wanted to do the roof line and the valleys of the house. How dare I do that. So now, he has to have the house only 3/4ths done. This is how they all had to bundle up to brave the FREEZING cold to hang them up. They do look nice though. Justin also had to get in on the action. He wanted to help with the luminaries. I have wanted to do luminaries for forever. I can remember doing them with my Grandpa Peless. I loved driving around a neighborhood in my hometown that the whole street had them. I love luminaries. The ones we bought aren't so hot, so we'll rely on the candles and bags. If you drive by on Christmas Eve, they should be out. Hopefully I can convince him to do them more than one day, we shall see.

Thanksgiving Morning with Family

On Thanksgiving morning, Kevin's brother, Kenny, and his family (Sarah and Jason) came over to hang out before the meal. The three boys enjoyed the sunshine and just the time to play outside. It's been freezing ever since, and the times outside are few and far between. Jason loves his cozy coupe car (did you know they have sold like over a million of these things?) and Justin is yes, getting a bit big for his bike. and yes mom, Kyle was still in his pajamas at noon.

 

Fun memories this week.

I want to write a few things that I've noticed this week about the boys..

Justin had a trial day at a local preschool and loved every minute of it. Kyle was beside himself in tears as Justin got to stay and he had to be dragged back to the car and heaven forbid, home with just MOM!

Kyle started crying just a bit ago, I scooped him up and he just started to "tell me" all about how mean Justin was and what Justin was doing to him. It was just so cute. Justin had been sitting on him. I'm sure that was NOT fun.

I love seeing the two of them play in the bathtub and watching Kyle copy everything Justin was doing.

We read "How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night" just about EVERY night. I never really knew if Justin understood it or not. I mean, I remember my dad reading us books almost every night. We LOVED a Good Fish Dinner. We could repeat that book and the same with Gertie and Gus. Well, tonight was fun because after the bath, I just started quoting some lines from the book, and Justin knew them! It was cute. He really does listen to me!

These two boys are becoming fast friends and I love to see them together, when they aren't fighting. They are all three sweet boys when they just snuggle together and love on each other. I'm grateful for my boys and for what they teach me and try to teach me every day. Some days I just don't get it and have to taught over and over again. Thank you for our health and our boys. Those are my thanks every day.