Joe reading

I found these when uploading some things from Josh's phone.  I don't think I ever posted these.  But they are fun to watch.  This was in late October...   Joe was reading his first Bob book. (a series of books that are short but have a progressive use of phonics in them through the series)

Enjoy!  He was so proud and so excited. (I can only get one of the 3 videos to upload...but you'll get a small picture of his efforts!)

The Jesse Tree, Kittens, and Swimming

   This year for our advent focus I chose to do the Jesse Tree.  I think Joe was more excited at first about putting colored lights on the tree...but now he is enjoying coloring the ornaments (especially Joseph's coat of many colors) and hanging them on the tree. 
   It's neat for the boys to begin to see that their given names have great biblical importance in the coming of Jesus. 

And, in case you are wondering about these guys...they were hovered at the front door this morning...just staring at me through the window.  

Swimming update...We spent the weekend in Bloomington where Josh coached and Jake competed.  Jake did a great job in all of his races.  He dropped large amounts of time in everything...which in part was b/c he could start from a dive off the bulkhead instead of a push off the wall.  But he was very excited to receive ribbons for his work. (at both the other USA meets he has participated in, his ribbons must have been given to other teams...so he hasn't received them)

25 back...11th place 26.82 (1.78 sec faster)
25 fly...DQ-ed for not having his arms come around simultaneously...but swam 28.20 which was 8 seconds faster
50 free...14th place 52.30 (with no flip turn...but 15 sec faster)
25 breast...5th place 31.32 (3 sec faster)
25 free...11th place 22.67 (3 1/2 sec faster)

Snow #3

This guy is ready to play in the snow!!!!!!!!!!!!

Let me back up a few days.  Thursday night brought about 3-4 inches of snow which continued through the day Friday for a total of 10 inches.  So, we played and went sledding on Friday as it continued to snow. 

It was powdery snow.  But once we made a few runs on the slick sleds, we got some good speed going all the way from the propane tank in the front yard to the back edge of the woods. 
Mom taught Joe how to do 360's on the snow with the sled...to his GREAT delight and giddy laughter.

Then, we got a dusting of snow Sunday. 

So, Joe tried the snowboard Monday...and was successfully traveling about 15 yds staying up.  And, of course, we tried to blaze some new trails with the slick sleds.   Joe even would sled down ahead of Josh and then hop off and try to tackle Josh (who wasn't moving as quickly) while Josh was sledding by.  (which Joe thought was hilarious)

And...we got another 1-2 inches Monday night.  So, we managed to do some school this morning and now the boys are braving the colder wind yet again for another fun day in the snow!  I think they are beginning to understand that snow here isn't usually like TN where it melts by mid-morning!  :)

Handmade gift

   Jake is always wanting to do a craft.  So, I felt this was the year for crafts as Christmas gifts.  I wasn't sure how this one would go...but it was worth a try. 
   After Grandma Jean passed away, I found a monkey stuffed animal craft in her things.  I kept it and decided this was the year to have Jake try to make one for Joe.
   Jake was very excited with the idea...and we got started right away (literally...and I wasn't quite prepared for that, but had to be!!!)
   I showed him the instructions (which had some pictures). Then, I happened to find a step by step video someone had posted online.  So, he carefully studied that.  And it proved to be very helpful for my little "attention to detail" guy.  It gave him a clear idea of what he was to do!

  So, he got started. 

 Sewing...

 And sewing...

 

Stuffing...

Cutting some more parts...

 And then, mom helped by stitching the tricky part...adding the limbs, mouth, ears, and tail to the main structure Jake had made.

 And Jake hand stitched on the eyes.

Then, we decided the monkey needed a hat.  So, I showed Jake the steps of measuring and using a protractor to come up with a pattern based on measurements.  And he pinned and stitched it based off his pattern he made.

So, we let the boys open a gift this morning (Jake's been asking for a week since we have had to get all the shopping done early this year! He was so excited to give Joe his handmade gift!)

And our little monkey, Joe, loves his new monkey made by Jake!

And then the weekend...

 We went on a Christmas tree hunt Saturday morning. It was a warm sunny day.  So, it made the trip pretty enjoyable.
 We found one pretty quickly.  Jake helped cut it down.

  Now we have to decorate it!
  Guess that will wait until Sunday...

 After we decorated the tree and split some wood, the boys went out to shoot.  Jake was so excited that he could actually shoot the 22 rifle.  It's heavy for him and has a jump...but using the railing on the treehouse steadied it.

All in a week...

   The senior girls asked me to take pictures of them. So, I took my assistants...they helped me check the lighting before taking the pictures. 
   I thought it was fitting to keep this picture...since this is where they spend 10-15 hours of their week! :)

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    We finally found a day that some friends could come over.  Jake's friend, Aiden, enjoyed the kittens. So, they set up a spot in the garage to play with them. (It was a wind chill of 10 outside!) The boys really enjoyed having friends over...and these two boys are the same ages as our boys.  So, that works really well!

Joe has been building with the blocks...making castles.  So, he keeps asking to take pictures before he has to take them apart each night. 

 
    I thought Grammie and Grandpa might enjoy seeing Joe as he talked on the phone with them...

     Seeing Kaiden on Thanksgiving Day...

One down...four to go?

   It snowed!!!!!

 And these loyal boys were out at 7:30 am to start playing in it!!!

   So, according to our October record keeping...we had 5 fogs...so this should be 1 of 5 snows!  We'll see!  The boys are counting... :)

The kind of week it's been...

 Yesterday on the way to swim practice, I drove past the N Dec HS sign that stated it was 48 degrees out.  My thoughts immediately went something like this... "Hm...that's why it feels so cold out...I thought that it was gonna drop on Thursday...oh, yeah...today IS Thursday!"

  Then, this morning as I looked out over the newly harvested corn field toward the sunrise, I thought it looked eerily wintry with the hazy pink sunrise perking and the icy frost covering everything very thickly on the ground.  Well, of course, (I thought) b/c it was supposed to be 29 last night. 

   Despite my confused state of the time and seasons...we have accomplished a lot in school.  It is so fun to see and hear the boys learning. 
   Jake continues to learn (along with Mom) the stories of our US History.  What beautiful indicators of God's providence and care of our nation!
   Below you can see Jake's summary of hours (and I mean hourS) of reading library books and more about the Colonial Years leading to the American Revolution.

   Here you can see Jake's "quill pen" writing re: the Dec of Independence.  We hunted feathers and berries in the woods so we could make what we needed.  (Now he wants his own ink well)

   Needless to say, I did have a moment yesterday where I wasn't sure I could handle another gun shot mimicry or battle reenactment from the boys.  It has been endless battle noise, reenactment, and mimicry...both physically as the bounce around the house in the midst of daily chores and activity and in the actual battle set ups on the family room floor with daily representations of wars read about.  :)

   Joe is very excited in his learning these days.  He told me this morning (as he wondered -out loud- how much school work he had to do) that he likes doing the letter things.  :)   This week he has been continuing to strengthen his ability to put letter sounds together to determine words.  AND, he is now able to hear me say a word...and write down the letters that make up that word.  You can see his work from today. :)

I must catch up...

 ...I must catch up...I must catch up...

   That's all I can seem to think about these days.  I must catch up with the many things that seem to slip past me each day (on to the next day's "to-do" list that I try not to keep...b/c the days keep slipping by without "to-do-ing" happening!).

   So, here's a brief couple of blogs to catch you up on what has been going on in the last...month!


   Kittens are growing.  They learned how to eat wet cat food.  We weaned them off milk (glad that milk was on sale at the time at Aldi fo $1.69).  They were making too big of a mess in the detached garage ( no time for me to keep that cleaned up too).  So, they were graduated to the barn where they can get out if they want, but it's also probably warmer there, too...since the ground stays warmer as dirt than the slab under the detached garage.
  They are also now eating dry food...that's not even ground up.  So, they are growing well!

And, as far as house projects...in the midst of life we managed to finish the much-dreaded staircase railing.  We were able to figure out how to use the original staircase parts to compile the railing we now have in the house.

Close to the Smokies...

   After enjoying several years of Fall time in East Tennessee where the change of color occurs gradually from the tops of the hills...rolling down into the valleys...   yeah, we miss that view. 

   But we did get to feel a glimpse of it at Brown Co SP where we enjoyed a hike with some friends.

Looking for the detail at that particular stop point on the trail

 LOVE these 2 cuties

That's Joe!

Taking the challenge to reach around the tree