Happy Thanksgiving

 We spent Thanksgiving at my mom's house and it was so relaxing and the food was delish!  Thanks Mom. 

                                    My sister and I enjoying a glass of wine..........quite delightful. 

 Aunt Mimi enjoyed getting a little love from Jay.  You have to take it when it comes with Jay these days.

 My mom did a craft with Lauren and Nick.  They liked it.  Mom is doing to do an ornament craft in December so she wanted to try it out with Nick and Lauren first.  It was success!

 Funny Luke.  My nephew makes me laugh.  I love his little two year old voice.  He's so darn cute.

 I so wish Jay was looking at the camera b/c this would have been a cute picture.  The boys were singing Happy Birthday to Lauren.  Her birthday is Tuesday and the boys won't see her because us girls are taking her to American Girl in Chicago.  More pics to come from that fun day.

 The four kiddos!  Jay looks like a giant compared to his brother and cousins in this picture.

 Jenny is in Haiti so Mike and the kids came out on Thanksgiving night to hang out.  Nick designed these basketball shirts for the kids.  I loved the Tshirts!  So thoughtful of Nick. 

The day before Thanksgiving

 The day before Thanksgiving started with Jay getting sick........all day.  Remember when Jay and Nick got sick 2 year ago in TN?  Yeah, it was TN style.  Jay threw up all day.  He finally came to life around 3 p.m. 

 Mike came home wearing a respirator in the hopes of avoiding the illness.  We'll find out in a few days how that worked for him.  He scared Copper half to death with his ridiculous new fashion statement.

 Nick and I getting ready to make his thanksgiving pilgrim hats (below).  I did this with Jay a few years ago.  Nick and I enjoyed it.  As I'm blogging right now Nick is over my shoulder whistling in my ear - literally........never a dull moment in my house.  Happy Thanksgiving, all.

Jay's "big" secret & Nick's misconception of time

My boys always provide me with some kind of entertainment on a daily basis.  While it's true some of that entertainment makes me feel like I want to check myself into the "funny farm" for a weeks vacation, it's still entertainment and I try to see the humor in it.  Yesterday the boys did provide me with some good, non-crazy, entertainment.  Perhaps using the word entertainment isn't the right word for Jay's story.  Perhaps satisfaction is a better word.  In passing yesterday Jay said to me, "Mom, if I tell you a secret do you promise not to tell?"  Hearing those words from your child would make any parent stand at attention and what better way to share Jay's secret than to put it on my blog (Hey, at least it's not Facebook).  I thought Jay was going to tell me something terrible but instead he said "I wouldn't want anyone to know but I really like school."  It made my heart sing.  Jay likes school this year for many reasons, the independence is one of them but mostly it's because he finally feels successful at it. 
Nick's story is more entertaining.  Gee, imagine that?  Nick is my entertainer in the family.  Nick has always had a hard time with time.  Ask him the days of the week and he'll pause, make a solid attempt at naming them and mess it up somewhere between Saturday and Sunday.  And Yes, he's in second grade.  Clearly the days of the week are tripping him up a bit.  Yesterday he asked me point blank and quite serious I might add if I was alive when Abraham Lincoln was president.  Seriously Nick.........how old do you think I am?  When I told him that even his great grandma wasn't alive during that time period he seemed to grasp (somewhat) the time period.  After I got over my initial shock that Nick thought I was 140-some years old I laughed at the good ole entertainment! 

Thankful

So many people I know right now are really struggling with issues in their lives.  It weighs heavily on my heart and I've lost a fair amount of sleep from it.  I know that life throws you curve balls and I also know your life can change in an instant.  My mom and I were talking about that today and we were reminded how important it is to be thankful for every moment you have each and every day.  These days I cuddle with Mike just a little bit longer, I hug my boys more than they allow me to on most days.  I give praise to Him in my morning prayers for my family still being intact, the health of my husband and boys, the roof over our heads (especially since just 30 miles from us the people of Washington, IL have been devastated by tornados) the companionship and friendship of my mother and of course my sister and friends.
As a side note my dear friend, Jenny, is headed to Haiti this Friday.  All prayers for her safety and flight are much appreciated.  Her mission consists of building a home.  Nick provided us with a little humor about this.  He can't believe a "bunch of city girls" will be building a house or are even capable of building a house.  Jenny is use to Nick's jibes.  We'll be anticipating pics from Jenny so she can prove Nick wrong - city girls are quite capable of building houses!
And I promise...........I will start taking pictures again.

Roller coasters, storms and power outages

Has it really been a week and a day since I last blogged?  Now that I have my laptop back I really wanted to make up for lost time.  Clearly I failed miserably this week.  This week has been a roller coaster with ups and downs and never ending speed.  I ended the week realizing my hair and eyebrows need some serious attention!  Not to mention my car which reminds me every time I get in it that I need an oil change, my tires are low and I have a brake light out.  Yikes!  This week has also been an emotional one.  I can't share anything in my blog except to say all is well with my boys and husband.  I've spent many nights wide awake in bed and many mornings on my knees in prayer.  This weekend was our last weekend before basketball started and we got hit with serious storms and we had no power for 6 hours today.  This is a new week and I'm hoping for peace, calmness and lots of patience with my children - Amen! 

Nick-A-Lick

A good friend of ours, Ryan Neal, started calling Nick, Nick A Lick, last year during basketball season and the name just stuck.  At first Nick hated it but I couldn't resist walking into his room every morning and waking him up with a big "What's up Nick A Lick?"  It's our fun and affectionate name for him around the house.  Nick is loving second grade but like Jay, it's proving to be difficult for him.  He loves his teacher and he LOVES math!  He is playing basketball right now and enjoying it.  Nick is my "I'm loving life kid."  He is a joy to be around and he can usually get at least one big belly laugh from me on a daily basis.  There is a reason he's my second child..........he will be living with me longer and his spirit is exactly what I need each and every day especially as I age.  He recently got glasses (hence the picture above, doesn't he look so grown up?) but to be honest I'm not convinced he needs them.  He doesn't like wearing them and Mike is sure he can see just fine, after all his boy can hit a shooting target like no other!  Anyway, life keeps rolling on and I wish I could slow down this season in my life.  I asked Nick recently if he could stay age 7 for just a wee bit longer than a year.  He's full of energy - so much energy he can be draining and Yes kind of annoying but his 7 year old innocence and sense of humor is what I love, love, love about him.  Sometimes I wake up on Monday morning, I blink and before I know it it's Friday.  My mom told my sister and I to soak it all up as this is the best years of our life.  I can certainly agree with that! 

The Running Challenge

I blogged on Oct. 1 about the Siebert family running challenge.  Here are the results:

Jay's best 2 mile time: 15.09
My best time: 20:49

and the winner goes to Mike (big surprise).  He ran 2 miles I 14.58.  Kid you not.  Granted I think he might have had a small stroke and his knees still aren't right but he did it.  Way to go, Sieborg!

6th grade awesomeness

Since it's been so long since I last blogged I wanted to post some random pics and No we did not get a new dog but my good friend, Laura did.  She got a golden lab, Stella.  Jay adores her! 
We are now 10 weeks into the school year and how's it going for Jay?  The only word I can think of to describe the school year thus far is AWESOME!  I doubt there will ever come a time when I won't remember Jay's start into 6th grade.  You have to understand a few things about Jay.  School has been a struggle for him.  Fifth grade was well kind of a thorn in my side and his.  Jay is also my child that requires more of me - more energy, more direction, more talking......you get the idea.  Many, many times I have called my mom on the verge of tears wondering out loud to her if I'd ever get that boy raised and raised well.  I spend a lot of time on my knees in prayer for both my boys.  In early September I was in tears with Mike again questioning how we were ever going to make it through this long, winding road we call parenting.  Mike was quick to remind me we aren't going backwards, only forwards.  Sixth grade started and I noticed Jay was sailing right along.  He had good grades and very little missed assignments.  He was keeping a grueling schedule with his cross country, small group at church and school but he was juggling it all quite well.  Apparently at age 11, you really can have it all.  Ha!  Recently he was "Spartan of the week."  In order to be Spartan of the week one has to be nominated by his or her teachers for hard work, kindness towards others, good decision making skills - basically just being a good kid.  And Jay got this award!  Just last weekend he dog sat for his principal who happens to be our neighbor.  I figured if Jay was a goon at school then his principal wouldn't have asked him to take care of his dog!  Then on Oct. 30.........a day I'll say will go down in infamy for me I attended Jay's IEP meeting.  An IEP meeting can be intimidating.  You are surrounded by teachers, a psychologist and a social worker.  On average there are about eight people at a middle school IEP meeting.  The meeting started off with Jay's English teacher, Mrs. Griffin, saying Jay was polite, kind, an extremely hard worker and if she could have 20 Jay's in her classroom then she would have it made.  Jay's special ed teacher went on to say Jay is one of the hardest workers she's seen, he gives 110%  with all of his school work.  When he's in her class at the end of the day for extra help he finishes his work and then helps other students!!  His teachers said he advocates for himself, asks questions and is all and all just a good kid!  I was amazed and was just trying to soak up every second of the kind words being spoken about my son.  Then another mother contacted me just the other day to tell me how much she appreciated Jay helping her son get around school b/c her son had leg surgery and was on crutches for several weeks.  She said her son so appreciated Jay's kindness.
I'm so proud of Jay.  I feel like the woman who is trying desperately to lose weight but every week she gets on the scale only to discover she didn't lose the weight she hoped she would or she remained the exact same weight she was the week before.  Despite all her efforts there was no movement until finally one day she got on the scale and wa-la she had a colossal weight loss.  All her hard work had paid off, it just took awhile to see some of the results.  With weight loss and parenting, we all need some of those moments where we realize it's worth the blood, sweat and tears we put into it.

I'm back

For 5 weeks I have been without a computer - kid you not!  My laptop crashed and Mike's crashed at the same time - quite a catastrophe if you ask me.  But stayed tuned.  The month of October was busy but fun and there is a lot to update.