Day Three...

Today we went in to the Seward pool for the Parent/Tot swim time...Andrew dunked his head twice! (Not without lots of encouragement, but he did it)! Afterward, we went out for a special lunch treat with my friend Heather and her two boys, Andrew's buddy Jonah and Baby Jack. A good time was had by all!

PS: Before we got out of the van at the restaurant, I said to the boys, "Let's have a reminder talk about how to act in a restaurant." To which Andrew interrupted..."We don't have to have a talk; we always behave." So I took his word for it and ended it right there, and I was very proud of their manners, etc the whole time! He was right! :)

Andrew is READING!

I can't believe I haven't posted on this yet! Andrew has been so anxious to begin reading...frequently commenting on how he wanted to know what words were saying! So a few weeks ago we finished up with all of his letter sounds, and then he learned to read all of the -at words. He was THRILLED!!! When I'm reading aloud to him, I stop and let him read when we get to any of the words he knows, and he's so proud. (Let's just say we've been reading an awful lot of Dr. Seuss lately)! He can even spell the -at words...I think it's so amazing that he can visualize the words in his head to pull them out like that!
This week we're working on the -an words, and he does especially well when I give him the letter cards to manipulate and change the sounds with (he's very hands-on). It was great fun for me today to see him able to make the letter changes, ie: mat to man to ran to rat. I'm so proud of him!
(I can now answer "yes" to my own question of whether it was worth hanging on to some of the classroom materials I had made back when I started teaching 1st grade in PA and then used when I taught up here...I made those letter cards NINE years ago. Wow...that made me feel old. I'd better stop now)!

Day 2...skiing fun!

We made it through Day 2 of Mark's trip! One of Mark's co-workers (Dustin) also went with him on this trip, so Dustin's wife Christy and I had made some plans to break up the monotony of having them gone! (Hey...they get Las Vegas)!
So today Christy came up and we all went skiing. We couldn't have asked for a nicer day...about 25 degrees, plenty of sunshine, and fresh snow from last week! It was also nice to get a picture of the boys and I on a skiing excursion, since I'm always the one taking the pictures.
I just pulled Jacob today, since he didn't seem to be in the best mood to ski. But at this point my hip joints might be just a little too loose to be able to do that much more this winter! :?
Mark's trip is going well...it was 65 degrees when he called to say good-night to the boys. In the high seventies all day. Rough.

Uncomfortable?

This was Jacob at snack-time this morning. Yes, I offered to fix his work glasses. He said no thank you. Okay then. :)

Such a sweetie...

We had a second bout with the flu on Friday...poor Jacob complained that his "pummy 'urts," and no sooner had I picked him up to check for a fever, than up came his breakfast. So Jacob and I are both sitting in the rocking chair, covered in frosted mini-wheats, and I very calmly asked Andrew to bring a bowl and a towel, which he did promptly! After we were all cleaned up and snuggling on the couch (with a bowl!), Andrew came over to rub Jacob's back..."I'm so sorry you're sick, Jacob!" Bringing him toys, trying to cover him up with a blanket...he's just so tender towards his brother sometimes!

Bath Time!

This picture is from a few days ago, but thought I should post a bath picture, seeing as it's one of the boys' very favorite activities! (Jacob will still even ocassionally pitch a fit when he's made to get out of the tub)!

Day One...

Mark left on his business trip to Las Vegas (of all places!) last night, so today was our first day with him gone. Having him gone on weekends is the hardest, since we're used to, and enjoying, having him around more! But the boys did manage to keep occupied today after church...Andrew built a "castle" that he was very proud of (out of all manner of toys), they spent quite a bit of time spinning Jacob in the office chair, and I let them have a "picnic" in the living room with a Thomas movie for dinner. They were thrilled...oh, to be so easily entertained! :) Before bed we put an X on today to mark it off...only 6 more days left!

Mark's Birthday!

Wednesday was Mark's birthday, and it was so neat to see how excited Andrew was about making preparations for it! He helped me with the cake and balloons, and both the boys made cards for him that they were very proud of. After dinner (Mark's menu choices...and no, we didn't have cheeseburgers-he wanted meatloaf), we had an impromptu party over at church before Bible study started.
We tried to get Jacob to join the picture, but he thought joining the picture would mean forfeiting the movie they had picked out to watch during Bible study. Oh well!

Marble painting

Andrew's friend Neil came to play on Tuesday, so we did a painting project! First I showed them how the three primary colors mix to make secondary colors, and then they had a marble in a tray to roll around through just the red, yellow, and blue paint. They had a blast!

Where babies come from...

A friend emailed us this picture the other day, to be sure that we know where babies come from. :) Looks like we'd better get a mailbox installed at our house before too long!

Forensics Team

Here's the forensics team that I've been coaching for the past two weeks. I really had the easy part...they already had their pieces prepared for the school competition, I just helped them polish up for the district-wide competition. Andrew and Jacob really enjoyed going to the school...they would eat their lunch and play quietly while I worked with students, or Erin, a parent of two of the forensics students and a perpetual volunteer, came to watch them at home for the hour I was at school.
They did a fantastic job at the competition...the team brought home 6 first-place ribbons and 2 second-place ribbons! These kids are a joy to work with, and I love being able to connect with them and their families!

Overnighter with Gramps and Grandma!

This past weekend, Mark had to be in Anchorage all day Friday through Saturday. And I've been coaching the forensics (public-speaking) team from the Moose Pass school, and the competition was Saturday at 9:30 a.m. in Kenai. Since Mark wouldn't be home and we would have had to get a very early start, we just went and had a slumber party at my parents' house! The boys always enjoy their time there...and although they find it tiring, I think mom and dad enjoy it, too! They took the boys to the kids' workshop at Home Depot while I was at the competition...pictures will follow after mom gets hers developed!

Andrew

Andrew was just too neat of a bean eater to get an action shot, but got a nice picture of him anyway!

Green Bean action

For dinner the other night, we had green beans that were longer than usual, and Jacob decided to eat them as you would a long piece of spaghetti! I went to grab the camera because he was looking cross-eyed at the bean going in, but he never did it again once camera was in hand!