Thursday, January 31, 2013

Random January 2013

January 2013

January was filled with lots of wrestling. We weren't able to do many tournaments because many of them were really far away and others were on Sunday. One Friday night, Matthew had a tournament here in town. Jacob and Caleb would have participated too, but one of their best friends had a birthday party. It was sure fun to watch Matthew. He did a great job!


This is a very rare sight in our house. It was a Saturday and the kids had been busy working on projects and chores. I don't remember exactly what we did all day, but at the end of the evening all three boys were asleep on the floor by the fireplace. They were tired boys!

In January, Matthew's preschool did their annual "Moms & Muffins." It was so fun to be able to go to preschool with him and enjoy the fun things together. We did some crafts, played some games, read stories, did a few activities with the class and of course had muffins & juice. More than anything, I loved seeing how excited Matthew was to show me everything in his classroom. I loved seeing his favorite toys and books and seeing the things he loved. He's sure growing up- we're getting ready for kindergarten registration and I'm still having a hard time believing that my little boy is already old enough to go to kindergarten. He's such a sweetheart- I'm really going to miss having him around all day. The moms & muffins afternoon was a lot of fun and I was so glad I could go and spend the afternoon with Matthew!



Jacob has been busy with scouts and was able to receive his Wold badge this month. He earned it a while back, but we were out of town in December. We've got a pretty great group of scouts here and I'm glad Jacob gets to work with such great leaders.


Matthew's class pictures came back. It's actually kind of funny- I didn't end up ordering his pictures because we had just had some taken- but Matthew was SO sad when he didn't get to take home a class picture like his friends. So one afternoon I just asked his teacher Miss Terra if I could snap a picture of the group picture so Matthew could have one. I know my lesson now- I need to always make sure I order the class picture!

Jacob has been doing the advanced program at a different elementary. It's a little tricky because he now goes to a different school than Caleb. He actually has to catch a bus at 7:25am. It's been a different schedule for us and makes it a little tricky to balance everyone, but he's been enjoying it. During the month of January- their classes had a big robotics competition. Each group had a robot that they had to program to do different things. They had a challenge course set up and each team had a certain amount of time to get their robot to complete as many of the challenges successfully as possible. It was really fun to go watch & Jacob's group did very well! In fact- they ended up winning the competition. It was great to watch him and see their hard work pay off.


I finally got a picture of Emily's hair right out of the bath. She was lucky enough to get some of daddy's natural curl. So believe it or not, this is what her hair looks like right out of the bath. I feel pretty lucky because it sure makes my job easy- especially on days when we're in a hurry. I can get her out of the bath, get her dressed, fluff the hair a little and we're ready to go!


This isn't the greatest picture, but I love this cute shot of the kids all gathered around dad for some stories before bed. They have such a wonderful dad and I'm so grateful for all of them!

One morning in January- we had school cancelled. It wasn't because of snow- it was actually because the temperature was down at 40 below zero! They don't cancel school very often around here, but apparently a -40 degree day will qualify. We were ALL excited! The big boys stayed home and we played and baked. I love having school cancelled.

I was looking at my schedule of maternity dr visits. I can't believe that I'm almost to the point of every 2-week visits and soon after, weekly visits.  Seeing it on paper like this really makes it seem close!

Monday, January 28, 2013

Happy 9th Birthday Jacob!

Jacob turned 9 years old on January 28th! I think his very favorite gift for his birthday was a 2-hour late start to school because of snow. He still had to go to school, but at least it wasn't until 10:15. We were able to make waffles-Jacob's favorite- and have breakfast as a family. It was great!
At 10am when the kids had to get to school, we loaded everyone up and first took Caleb to school, then I drove to Jacob's school and dropped him off with a big platter of cupcakes for his class. It was nice that he didn't have to ride the bus on his birthday either.
That night we had a family celebration with dinner, gifts, and birthday cake of course. I'm not sure why I didn't get more pictures, but it was a fun night to spend together. 
We are so grateful for this wonderful boy! I can't believe he's already 9 years old. He's been such a great oldest child, and a wonderful big brother and friend. I'm always so grateful for how responsible and mature he has always been. There have been just a couple times earlier this year when my alarm didn't go off for some reason. I woke up- seeing the clock say 7:30 and completely panicked because Jacob catches the bus at 7:25! I ran downstairs, but Jacob was nowhere to be found. This 2nd grade boy got himself up, got breakfast, all his school supplies together, a lunch packed and got himself on the bus all by himself before 7:25am. I felt terrible for missing it- but I am so grateful to have such a sweet son who is so responsible. He has been this way for his entire life. He has always been very aware and sensitive of others. He is kind and thoughtful and responsible. Our whole family is so grateful every single day for our Jacob!
Happy Birthday Jacob! We love you!



Friday, January 18, 2013

7th Month/ 28 Weeks

Well, I've officially hit the 3rd trimester! I'm now in the 7th month/ 28 weeks along. I'm feeling great- and really starting to feel that need to get everything done! I've really noticed the extra energy this time around and have been tackling all sorts of projects. I seriously wish there was a way to bottle this stuff! I've been organizing closets, cupboards, drawers, going through everything and finishing projects I've been wanting to do for years. Anyway I'm trying to take advantage because I know it'll probably be gone once the baby arrives!
 I even finally had the courage to start potty training Emily. We waited longer for her, mainly because I didn't want to do it during the first trimester of pregnancy, and then I didn't want to worry about it over the holidays. Of course, as soon as we got going- Emily was potty trained in 2 days. It was so much easier than I had anticipated. (Luckily, most of our kids were pretty easy- there was just one who gave us grief- and the poor boy, I can't say I blame him. We moved multiple times and had a new baby.)
I've got 10-12 weeks left, and there is still a lot to do, but I'm really just enjoying the pregnancy. I might not be the norm, but I really love being pregnant. I love feeling the baby move, and although there isn't nearly the time to sit and daydream about the new upcoming baby by the time you get to #5- there are still brief, fleeting moments when I can just sit and enjoy and be excited. I'm so grateful for this new little one.