A breakthrough!!

I have been a tiny bit worried about Ethan for a few years. Not serious worrying...but a bit concerned. You see...he has the horrible problem of coming AFTER his sister. Even though I am well aware that boys are different than girls, it is still hard for me not to compare them. Unfortunately for Ethan there is not only a gender difference..but Jessalyn is just particularly old for her age (it seems).

She is our guinea pig. She paves the way...in EVERY sense of the word. She sets the standards and poor Ethan is next in line. Also, not in his favor is that fact that he has a much more laid back personality. He isn't as much of a "go getter"....he tends to sit back and let life move around him. I find him not trying new things because he thinks he can't do them and even because "Sissy will do it". I think he automatically thinks that if its something that Sissy can do then he must not be able to do it. He's even commented that "reading is for girls".

We try hard not to actually compare Ethan to Jessalyn...and obviously never do it in front of him, but I think he does it himself.

So compared to Jessalyn he seems to be much more behind in the area of reading and writing. He just isn't eager to learn and if he knows he is learning something he gives up...and thinks its too hard or boring.

I have taken the advice of someone I don't know. I bumped into this person at a restaurant one day and she commented on the kids (I think I only had two at the time). She asked about pre-school and I hadn't yet decided if I would send my kids to one. She said something to the effect of....'your kids are going to be in school 8 hours a day for 12 years and then they will be off to college. If I could do it all again I would keep them home for as long as possible before hand.'

I took this advice to heart and really agreed. I figure, since I'm a stay at home mom there is really no reason why I should put them in pre-school. I feel confident that I can teach them enough at home to have them prepared for kindergarten. Jessalyn proved me right on this one..although, I admittedly don't take credit for all of it because I think she is just smart without much encouraging.

Ethan was starting to make me worry about my abilities to prepare for kindergarten though. Its amazing how every kid continues to teach us what we DON'T know about parenting! The biggest thing is that EACH CHILD IS DIFFERENT...even when they are of the same blood. I've been worried..he's been having some speech issues and just generally behind where his sister was even a year before Ethans age.

We had him tested with the school (who was AWESOME with him) and he blew us all away. We learned that he IS learning..he just doesn't want to admit it, especially to me. He had no trouble showing the teachers how smart he is! He has trouble with some sounds....the "g" sound (as in "go" sounds like "do") and the "k" or "ck" sounds as well. We are working on getting him re-evaluated in this department.

So..onto the breakthroughs!

Yesterday Ethan took the fridge phonics magnets and put them in order by himself!!! He started saying the alphabet and he found the correct letter and lined them all up! I swear..the other day he pretended like he didn't recognize all the letters. I was sure that he only knew maybe 10 of them. I was so excited...he did it ALL BY HIMSELF! He's such a stinker.

A couple days before this he told me that we needed to use tape or "GLUE" (and he said it like it should sound instead of how he normally would say it..."dlue"") to fix the chair that Luke got his finger pinched on! Again..I was so excited.

I think he might be coming around. I KNOW he's a smart kid..he just doesn't want to show it. I think its because he's SO smart he knows that he will be held responsible for his abilities..rather than just letting other people do stuff for him.

I am sure that his schooling will be much different from Jessalyn's. I have a feeling that we won't be looking forward to parent/teacher conferences (like we do with Jessalyn) quite as much. I'm sure it won't be horrible...but it will be different. I am EXCITED!

And besides...even if he gives us a hard time in school....who can resist this face??!!

1000!!

According to the counter at the bottom of my blog I have officially gotten 1000 views to my blog! Its funny to me to have people walk up to me and say "I've been reading your blog...". I am surprised at how many people tell me this and it definitely makes blog writing much more fun! Apparently I get an average of 35 to 40 people checking my blog daily..this is exciting to me! I've seen up to 52 views. (And no...I'm not refreshing my own blog over and over..ha ha ha). The funny thing is that with all these views I only get about 3 or 4 comments per post.

I admit to reading many blogs without commenting. Thats the fun of it. Just for fun though...for this post, why don't you all comment so I can really see who reads this thing! I suppose, if you reeaaallly don't want to that is fine too.

We had a busy weekend. Our friends Heath and Kann came to visit! We had a ton of fun with them and the boys. Between the two of us we have 7 kids...6 of which are boys ages 5 and under. They did really well this weekend..with minimal fighting! We had a birthday party at the Haskins on Saturday. Kann turned 30..as does Josh on Friday. The guys watched basketball while the rest of us watched the eleventy-billion kids run around like crazy.

Its fun to see how many kids we have when we all get together though. On this evening there was...

Jessalyn (7)
Ethan (5)
Daniel (4)
Andrew (3)
Kyndal (3)
Leah (3)
Luke (3)
Riley (20 months)
Sam (16 months)
Owen (1)
Ally (5 months)

Yeah, its fun. And that list was missing Cedies (10), Isaiah (9) and Brandon (7)..because "someone" was too "tired" (ha ha) to be there!

The really cool thing about this group of friends is that on a moments notice we all managed to find babysitters and head out to a movie without kids! Praise the Lord for youth group.

So this blog entry shows where my mind is lately. Things are a bit crazy around here and my whole world seems to be functioning similar to how this blog was written. UNORGANIZED!

Its ok though. Hopefully things will slow down a bit soon!

A true Guitar Hero!

Our good friend Aaron is a crazy awesome electric guitar player..and we are privileged to have him in our "band". He usually dazzles everyone at youth group with his skills in Guitar Hero. Believe it or not..he doesn't have this game at home and plays it pretty much once a week at our house. Its just not fair! Here's a video of his mad skills:)

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I'm hoping to kick butt on the drums if when we get Rock Band. You all better watch out!

The boys have been enjoying Wii Sports. Its been a perfect thing for them this winter. They hardly ever fight because they each have their own "Mii" and they don't have to fight over who's turn it is because the tv tells them! They like golf and baseball the best..along with bowling. I won't let them do the boxing..because I'm afraid might beat each other up..or worse, throw the Wiimotes at the tv. THAT would be a tragedy that I'm not sure Josh would let them live through. (kidding of course:) )

Here is a little video of the boys playing baseball...


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I made fun of my husband for being one of those geeks that camped out in front of Walmart in 30 degree weather to get a Wii when they first launched...but I have to say, I'm glad that he did!

There are so many jokes to play today..

I have SO many in my mind..but I just can't bring myself to do any of them! I am not mean enough. I wish I was.

I remember the day that my stepfather did the old 'salt in the sugar bowl' trick. I took one bite of my frosted flakes that were covered in what I thought was sugar and was so surprised by it that I cried. Yeah. Thats what I do when I'm surprised by something..I cry. I hardly EVER cry... my family says "She's as cold as ice"...its kind of true. You are almost guaranteed to get some tears out of me if you startle me..and apparently when you put salt in the sugar bowl.

The kids are beginning to realize the phenomenon of what happens when you scare me..and they (Ethan especially) are getting quite good at hiding on me. A month or so ago I had told the boys to head upstairs to their beds and I was coming right behind them to tuck them in. Luke had to go potty first so I headed up first..or so I thought. The room was dark..only the light of the hallway was in the room. I picked up a few things from the floor and started putting them in the toy box when I saw the slightest glimmer...and at a closer look I realized it was ETHAN laying so quietly IN the toy box waiting to scare the CRAP out of me! He was so proud..and I was laughing and crying all at the same time, and at the same time found myself proud of him for pulling that off! All this time I thought HE was afraid of the dark. Little stinker.

He has since gotten me a few other times and he thinks its hilarious. It kind of is.

So if only I could pull off the tricks I have in my mind on April Fools Day. I can't. How fun would it be to put up a picture of a positive pregnancy test?? Yeah..fun. But no, I can't do it.

I'm supposed to pick up Sara from school today. I have this whole plan worked up in my mind to call her mom like an hour later and tell her I forgot her. Its too cruel..I just can't. So in the meantime I suppose I will just leave myself open to receive the cruelty of all the people who actually can pull this stuff off..because knowing my husband I will likely be the brunt of some kind of joke.

We'll see....

"Elder-Berry" Pie Toss!!

Leave it to Granny to come up with this wonderful idea...and creative pun to go along with it! The missions team that is headed to Mexico has been sponsoring many events in hopes to help raise money. Thanks to Granny's hard work with the initial ideas and a great deal of the legwork there have been quite a few super fun fund raisers. Along side of "Souper Sunday" and the "New and Improved Valentines Dinner"...our missions team hosted the first annual "Winter Picnic". There was a nice summer themed afternoon after the services on Sunday that included the usual BBQ food, games and the much anticipated "Elder-Berry Pie Toss"! (The Elders of our church were forced graciously volunteered to sit still while people pay to throw pies at them).

This event lived up to its anticipated fun, plus some. A large group gathered around and paid many a dollar to throw pies at the Elders...the Elders have been dreadinglooking forward to this all month! It turned out to be a very entertaining way to earn some cash..and also proved to be a worth while use of $2 as many many pies were thrown. Yes. It was a mess!

I'm not sure if its a good thing or not..but Josh seemed to be one of the most favored target:) I would say that everyone got their fair share though!

I have probably 25 minutes of video of this..so this is a 2 minute clip of random moments during the event. You will see what they looked like at the beginning..and then at the very end. It was most definitely a fun time!

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Rumor has it that it will be the Elders wives in this position at some point to raise money for the bathroom project. We'll see about that!

...might as well.

I am noticing a similar theme among some of my blogger friends...so I figured I might as well join in with them. It wasn't until last night when I was taking pics off my camera when I really FULLY realized it. I knew it was happening but I didn't think it was THAT bad. I mean, it happened to my dad very early and my brother as well.

Yup. I'm going GRAY.


It was made quite clear to me when I saw this picture that Jessalyn took of me while I was having fun with Scott and Stephanie's camera. I can tell by looking in the mirror but there's nothing like having a picture of that side of my head. You can see how nice and brown my pony tail is..and how cruddy colored the rest of my hair is. I guess its time I go see Shara to have this problem fixed!

I'm glad to know that I'm not alone in this feeling of getting old. You can go to The Life of D, A and S or even go to The Mommy Chronicles to see some of my other friends who are coming to this same realization. Then there are those who should be complaining about how old they...like that REALLY old guy over at Faded Cap. tee hee hee hee

Well, I suppose it could be worse. Yes...I'm getting old and gray but for the most part I still have my health and I can be very thankful for that! I can still run, do hip hop class, play guitar hero with the best of them (right Amy??!!)...so whether my hair turns gray or not I can still be "young at heart" right??

And for the record...what is the correct spelling of the word "gray"? Grey? Gray? hmmmmm........

Oh, and I had to add this too. This is the picture that I was taking when Jessalyn took the picture of my gray (grey?) head...


No matter how gray I am..I will still be taking pictures. (hopefully one day I won't be borrowing that awesome camera though...I will actually own it!)

Memories.

Its fun to think back to this time last year. I was just about to my due date with Owen and, although I don't remember it, I was pretty miserable. Its so funny how I forget this part. I look back at the pictures...and think "oh, how exciting that was. I just love having that big belly". Josh quickly slaps me across the face (not really) and tells me "YOU DON'T REMEMBER!". For some reason, he remembers everything about me being pregnant.

Not only am I being reminiscent about this time in my life because of Owens impending birthday...but I am also reminded of these times by the birth of Kim and Chris's baby (they welcomed baby Caleb on Tuesday...a month early weighing 7 lbs 13 ozs!) and the soon to be birth of Nate and Megan's baby!

Its funny how Josh and I can have completely different feelings when we hear of a new baby being born. Josh is happy for them of course...but has that "I'm so glad its not me" feeling. At this point he has no desire to be back there with a laboring wife and then a newborn baby.

But then me on the other hand...I get all sad, wondering if that will ever be me again! Then I am quickly reminded during weeks like this past one..with sick kids and that feeling of being overwhelmed and I start to second guess my thoughts of baby #5. The problem is that 95% of the time I don't feel overwhelmed..and I think "whats another baby?". ha ha ha.

Anyway..this was not supposed to be another one of these posts where I whine about this subject:) I was just gonna post a picture of what I looked like at this time last year.

This picture was taken on March 26, 2007.



I suppose I am glad that instead of looking like that I will be a hip hop class today:)