Pumpkin carving

Jay said to write, "I can do it myself dad."  Ha.  Doesn't his face say it all? 

The Mysteries

Lately things in our house seem to be disappearing and when we ask our boys about them they have no idea what we're talking about.  Things get broken in our house on a daily basis.  We're use to that but the disappearing act has us a little perplexed.  It all started in August when Mike put his GPS on his desk and it vanished into thin air.  Eight weeks later the GPS is still missing.  Then last weekend I noticed the wooden bench we have in our playground area is split right down the middle (okay this is not something that has disappeared) the perfect place where a four wheeler could have slammed into it.  But when we asked the boys they had no idea how it occurred and said perhaps a deer jumped over it and kicked it as it jumped in mid air.  Really!  Then just two days ago I made our bed as I do everyday.  I remember on Friday morning we had six pillows and on Friday night after we had a babysitter over we were down to 5 pillows on our bed.  I asked Nick about it and he had no idea what happened to our pillow......his exact response........"Maybe Maggie (our babysitter) took it."  My first mistake was I didn't ask Jay where the pillow was.  I found the pillow today in Jay's room so that mystery is solved.  Then our central vac broke.....see what I mean things break constantly in our house so Mike had to purchase a new motor.  When he took the old motor apart there was a rubber boot that is not broken and is needed to attach the new motor.  Mike left the rubber boot on his work bench in his shop and now that we have the new motor the rubber boot has mysteriously disappeared.  The rubber boot is really the biggest mystery because the boys aren't allowed in Mike's shop without his permission so I'm inclined to blame the rubber boot disappearance on Mike.  But regardless it's still missing and as a result we have no working central vac which translates to one dirty tile floor.  The most amusing part is as I was blogging Nick came in and announced he lost his kick start on his four wheeler (what ever that is).  When Mike asked where it went Nick replied......"I don't know, somewhere in the yard." So on that note I'm going to partake in a pumpkin beer I've had chillng for myself in the fridge.  Bottoms up!

R.C

By reading the title of my blog you might think the content of my blog will be about a cola product but no my friends it is not.  My creative juices are not flowing today so in order to remember what I was going to write about I decided to simply abbreviate it.  The "R" is for Reading and the "C" is for conferences. 
As I've written many times in my blog reading is not Jay's thing.  He struggles with it so therefore he doesn't like to read and after the month we had in September I was feeling really defeated in terms of trying to get him excited to read.  Now that we're into October I still can't say Jay is "excited" to read but that being said I've seen a huge improvement.  He's reading daily and appears to enjoy what he's reading.  He's able to tell me what his current book (Jack & Me) is about and everyday I notice he's read more pages than the day before.  I'm one pleased momma about this. 
On Tuesday this week we had conferences for Jay and Nick.  Nick's first grade teacher is on bed rest and was only able to teach the first 3 weeks of school.  She is gone until at least March.  For anyone wondering.......Yes, this stresses me out BIG TIME but there is nothing I can do about it.  The school and the substitute is doing their best but I worry, boy do I worry especially since first grade is a pivotal year.  But as I know from having an older child (who is struggled through school) everything works out - what seems a big deal at the time always has a way of working itself out.  Nick's conference was okay.  I am struggling with several things with Nick which I'm not comfortable putting in a blog right now.  L.D. is on every one's radar right now (where Nick is concerned) and we will soon be starting all the processes we went through with Jay.  The only thing I do know for certain is Nick's deficits appear to be completely different from Jay's - what those are, however, is what we have to figure out. 
Jay's conference was excellent so excellent I shed a tear during his conference.  I couldn't help it and I quickly pulled myself together.  It's been a long road for us and Jay with many, many more ahead but Jay is going to do just fine.  I'm so thankful for the teachers he's had and I'm especially grateful for his LD teacher, Mrs. J.  She's provided Jay with extra help since 3rd grade and no matter what she has approached every situation from a positive perspective.  She said Jay is the student that's been with her the longest and she will truly miss him next year (when he goes to middle school).  I know I will truly miss her. 

I always know when football practice is good when...

Jay comes home looking like this........covered in mud.  Thank goodness for the sanitize 2 hour cycle on my high efficiency washer!

Hanging with cousin Lauren

My sister and my brother in law went on a mini vacation - Yes, I am green with envy.  My mom is watching Lauren while they are gone.  We took Nick and Lauren to the pumpkin farm and they had a ball together.  It was so nice to watch them and see them playing with no fighting.........ahhhh heaven.

Fun times in the corn crib

They played post master together.  It was so cute to watch them bring the mail to each other.

Nana!!!

Jay joined us after the pumpkin farm for some pizza at Nana's.  If you look very closely you can see the tea cups.  Lauren convinced her boy cousins to have a tea party with her.  Both boys happily participated.  Nick is hiding but he was pouring the tea.  He just hid when he saw I'd be documenting the moment with a picture.  Ha.  It was one of those rare nights where my kids didn't run around my mom's house like deranged headless chickens and all the kids got along.  I savored the night.  It was lovely.

Check out my new skips

My bears

Whew this has been a busy week in our house.  Jay has some kind of practice 5 nights a week right now and it's brutal!  It leaves no time for family and I don't like that.  Thankfully the hectic schedule will be over on Oct. 26.   Both  boys are doing well.  Jay is playing football for the third year and he says it's his last.  This year hasn't been as enjoyable for him for a variety of reasons.  He seems to have finally settled into the school routine but somehow I think that when this year is said and done I will say 5th grade has been the most challenging thus far for Jay and I .  There are days where I do a lot of eye rolling (but make sure Jay doesn't see me doing it, ha).  Jay has a lot of attitude.  I love him dearly but he's so preteen right now and he's going through a lot of learning school wise, socially and learning more about kindness towards others.   Some of the "stuff" he's going through and acting out on is all part of growing up and I pray he's learning something and applying it in every situation.  Whew it's hard being a parent! 
Nick is a happy first grader.  He's making friends and has tons of energy.  He finished up soccer and insists he'll play flag football next year.  Nick loves to hang out with the group of big kids that hang out at our house after school almost daily.  And I have to give the big kids credit where credit is due, all of them are good and kind to Nick.  Nick is enjoying reading and loves to point out all of his site words. 

Mary and Bubbles go to work day

About 2 1/2 years ago when I was still working in an office everyday I took Mary Penguin to work with me.  I don't know why it took me so long to post these pictures but Mike found them this weekend on his computer and I just had to post them.  These pictures make my family laugh everytime we get them out.  Basically.....when Nick was about 3 1/2 to 4 years old he loved Mary Penguin and I mean loved her!  He insisted I take her to work with me one day because as he said, "Mary would be a weally, weally, good worker, mom."  And she was!  She blew us away with her compuer skills and she was like grease lightening with the mail. 

Even a penguin needs a break now and then.

The best part of this story was Mike got in on the fun.  Mike and I use to work out of the same building so he got his "security" friends to issue Mary a badge for the day so she could be an official employee.  Okay, Yes, we are total weirdos!

See what I mean......Mary didn't mess around with getting the mail.

Nick's other love was Bubbles the giraffe.  He insisted Mike take him on a business trip with him so Mike got him nice and comfy and positioned him in front of the GPS for a the long drive.  Mike said Bubbles was quite entertaining.

A boy and his tree stand

Jay saved his allowance money and purchased himself a tree stand.  It wasn't cheap either but he forked over the money and when it came in his dad helped him assemble it and wa-la.......you have Jay in his natural habitat!  Kind of reminds me of the movie, "The Odd Life of Timothy Green."  I just need to change the name to "The Odd Life of Jay Siebert."  Jay loves being outside in nature so I can see why the tree stand was so appealing to him. 

90 minutes in heaven...

Don't let the title fool you....I haven't had the pleasure or rather sheer amazement of spending 90 minutes in heaven (I wish).  But Don Piper (the author of the book) took me there and boy has it changed my life - seriously.  I feel like I have grown a lot in my relationship with God over the past 2 years but Don Piper's book took the "fear factor" out of dying for me.  At this point in my life I try to live each and everyday for God's glory and sure there are some days I fail miserably.  Anyway, after I read this book I learned Don Piper wrote a kids version of 90 minutes in heaven so I bought it for Jay.  Here are two facts about Jay.  Reading is a huge struggle for him and as a result he doesn't like to read but when he does read he likes non-fiction so I had a pretty good chance that he'd enjoy Don Piper's book.  He has to read books for school and I got permission from his teacher to read 90 minutes.  He takes his "test" on it tomorrow and I'm happy to report he only has 6 more pages left in the book.  I like to think Jay has started a 90 minutes in heaven revolution.  Ha.  Because he's reading the book for school he's brought the book to school with him everyday and it's gotten the attention it deserves.  After Jay finishes the book tonight we have a huge list of teachers and students we are passing it to - starting with his 5th grade teacher.  She requested first!  Kids have asked him about the book on the bus and expressed interest in reading it.  Just yesterday, Jay's friend, A.J., asked about it and asked Jay to put him on the "list" to read it.  When Jay's friends have asked me about the book they get even more excited when I tell them I heard Don Piper speak about his experience.  I have enjoyed seeing Jay read this book.  He takes it with him everywhere - mostly because he's on a time schedule and had to have the book read within 2 weeks but just the same it's been music to my ears to hear Jay read it and enjoy it.

Our Columbus Day

I hit the ground running this columbus day.  I took the day off work so the boys could have friends over.  They were outside constructing forts by 9 a.m.  The picture above makes me laugh.  How can one even take Nick seriously when he drives his four wheeler with knitted penguin gloves (compliments of his nana and he loves them)?

Jay gave Copper a ride....her favorite part of the day is getting a ride with her best boy.

Nick and his buddy.  They built forts, played laser tag, hide and go seek and rode Nick's four wheeler.

Jay and his buddies.  Yup, I was responsible for 5 boys today and I'm happy to say we got through the day with no injuries and no tears.  Sometimes I amaze myself.  Ha. 

Just me and my boys

The beauty of Jay

As I started this blog I realized I didn't have a picture of Nick for his blog!  But the pictures I've included for this blog really go along with the title.  Jay loves his dog and as you can see his dog loves him.  Copper has been a good distraction for Jay.  And he's so loveable with her, most of the time, other times he plays with her like she's the 3rd boy (brother) in the house. Jay loves his family and is all boy.  He loves being outside.  Recently he called his brother a redneck.  We all laughed because that is like the pot calling the kettle black.  When Jay is in his glory outside he's usually in cut off jeans and covered in mud.  I've always said Jay is my "wait for it" child.  He'll talk to me and show me affection but I have to wait for it.  He'll dish it out but it's on his terms and his time.  As he ages I find we have most of our most meaningful exchanges in the car so I try to get him alone in the car as often as I can.  I pray that Jay never loses his sense of adventure and his love of family.  And I pray there is always a dog by his side. 

The beauty of Nick

Nick's disposition has always been sunny.  He's fairly easy to please and he's eager to do most things and does them with enthusiasm (and some complaining, ha).  Recently he's learned how to whistle and it just makes me smile listening to him go about his business in the house whistling while he's doing what he does.  That being said I can bet his teachers at school may not appreciate the excessive whistling.  Even Jay's friend commented the other night...."Geez,  Nick the constant whistling is kind of getting annoying!"  Tonight Nick set out to clean his room and it gave the song, "Whistle while you work," a whole new meaning!  He was so pleased at his accomplishment he decided to surprise his brother and clean his room too and yup, you guessed it.  He whistled while he cleaned Jay's room too.  At one point he asked me to complete a job in Jay's room.  When I questioned him why he wanted me to do this particular job his response was, "Mom, please just do what I ask without arguing with me about it."  Ummm, that sounds familiar.  I figured it was his domain so I completed my "job duty."  I hope and pray Nick's sunny disposition and sense of humor get him through many of life's obstacles.  And I pray he always goes through life whistling while he works.