Making Boats and Cars

For Cub Scouts, Ethan and Rick have spent a lot of time in the garage together.  First, in January, it was the Regatta races.  They had to make the boat  and pray that it would float on the day of the races.  They did a great job with it and learned a few things for next year, too! 

The finished product...

There are no motors on these boats... fully powered by "WIND"... and we all know that Ethan has enough of that to go around!

Next up was the Pinewood Derby Races.  This one took a bit more planning and time for the boys so they started early - 2 months early.

Ethan starting to cut the wood block for his car

Dad had the easy job at this moment... make sure Ethan didn't cut himself.

Still cutting...

Cutting was done... whew.  Now they needed to figure out how to add the weights.  Plan was to drill holes in the bottom of the car and fill them with fishing weights/sinkers

Ethan liked using the drill press!

Sorry, blogger is rotating this one one me.  But you can see the holes they are making on the underside of the car.

Now, filling them with weights

And to be sure they didn't go over 5 ounces, the kitchen scale became a common sight on the table during their work time.

Looking good, Ethan.  Are you at 5 oz yet?

To be continued....

Sledding, snowballs & snowmen

Almost two weeks ago we had a wonderful day of snow.  It was really the first substantial snowfall where it actually stuck to the ground.  The boys had school, but after school we delayed doing homework so we could go outside and play before the sun started setting.  I just love the days when we throw the routine out the door and we have fun!   

The snow was AWESOME packing snow!  So, of course, we had to make a snowman after playing on the sleds for just a bit.  Rick had to go into work at 4am on this particular day and much to our surprise he was able to come home a bit earlier than normal and came to play in the snow with us.  And everyone knows that when Daddy plays in the snow it leads to a snowball fight!  It was one of the best 'after school' days we've had in a long time!

Our snowman. Complete with stick arms, blue golf ball eyes, a cucumber nose and pink chalk smile.  Oh and some straw (that was on our grass from fall) as hair

Ethan was trying to sneak up on Dad

The beginning is the hardest

Why must it be so hard?
Why must it be so hard to take that first step and start?
Why is it that making that first aerobic move is so dang hard?

Seriously, let me review my morning for you and what led up to this post.

I got up at 6am like I do each and every day so that I can be awake and moving before the boys decide to get out of bed. Some days this works, others not so much and they are walking in my room as I am rolling out of bed (not because I am getting up late, but because they are getting up WAY TOO EARLY!

Anyway, I get up. I assess how my hair is. Can I get away with just running a straight iron through it and have it look ok for going into school with the boys? Some days I don't have to go in with them, but today I needed to talk to Trevor's teacher therefore, I needed to look a little put together. I normally would have just showered, but I knew that I wanted to exercise during Cooper's morning nap, so why shower twice, right?!?

I get the boys ready for school, get them dropped off, and then head back home to quickly eat breakfast myself before heading to the motor vehicle place to re-register our van. I wanted to eat breakfast then so that it had some time to settle in my system since I knew that I wanted to excercise during Cooper's morning nap.

I got the vehicle registered, came back home and Cooper was getting tired so I rocked with him a little bit and put him in his crib. I knew I wanted to work out while he was sleeping, remember? Well instead, I decided to check email, look at a couple blogs and before I knew it he had been sleeping for 20 minutes already. I should have only had 10 minutes left in my run, but no....I hadn't even started yet. I didn't have my shoes on, I didn't have my water or the baby monitor or my music. Seriously, why is making that first move towards a workout so tough?

I had to get moving. So I made a conscious decision to stop what I was doing on the computer, put it away and started moving towards the exercise I KNEW I wanted to do from the moment I woke up. But once that time came, I just wanted to drag my feet a little slower with each step. I got all my stuff together, put on my shorts and t-shirt, put on my shoes and opened the basement door. I walked down the steps and just stopped before putting that first foot on the treadmill.

Why is it so hard to start?

I love the way I feel once I am into the exercise so one would think I would jump at the chance to get started...but man, that is the toughest thing for me. Starting. I know I feel better. I know I will look better if I continue to exercise on a regular basis. I know my health will be better. I know the boys see us exercise and it's good for them to see us taking care of ourselves. I know it, I know it, I know it. So why is it so darn hard to take that first step?

I hope to figure that out someday, and also hope that figuring it out will make it easier to take that first step. But for now I guess I'll just be glad that I mustered up the desire (aka guilt) and energy to take that first step for today.

Winners & Not Winners

On Friday and/or Saturday nights we try to play some sort of family game if we are at home for the evening.  On this particular evening we played Uno Attack and usually Trevor is one of the last two to get rid of his cards, but it was a good night for him and he was first to get rid of them both games.  This was Trev's happy face after winning....

and Ethan's face after coming in last place for the 2nd time (which is not normal for him).

Cooper's Favorite Pasttime

Neither Ethan nor Trevor were ever big "put everything in your mouth" kids.  They just never were.  Not that we didn't have plenty of things on the floor or within their reach because we definitely did, but they were just really good with not putting stuff in their mouth when we weren't looking.   Cooper, however, I think is going to give us a run for our money.  This kid LOVES to chew on his hands or his toys or whatever is in front of him, but his ABSOLUTE FAVORITE thing to chew on is the hoodie strings from our sweatshirts!  He will work around other things to get to them.  He will be sitting quietly on our lap and then all of a sudden you look down and he is nibbling on the string ever so quietly.

You Make Me Messy, Brother

Ethan has become quite the little helper when it comes to dinner time.  Many night he wants to feed Cooper his cereal and veggies and if we have the time, I say, "You go for it" and then I eat my dinner in peace while it's still WARM!  Imagine that Moms... eating a meal when it's still warm!  Ahhhh... Heaven!

Well, most things that Cooper eats are not too messy (yet), but we've come across our first messy food.  And the food is most messy when Ethan feeds him.  You see, when we eat carrots while being spoon fed from Big Brother we end up looking like this...

Pick Me Up

Sometimes as a parent you forget that even your oldest child needs time to feel like they are still little.  One of the things I miss most as Ethan and Trevor get older is picking them up.  Rick and I still pick up and hold all three of our boys on occasion, but not nearly as much as we used to!  I miss that!  And obviously, last night Ethan did, too!  Thanks for making him still feel little (and so very loved), Rick!

7 Ways to Be a SMARTER Mom

At my MOPS meeting this month we had a wonderful speaker, Kasey Johnson.  She lives near Kansas City and is a phenomenal speaker.  I won't go into her background as you can get that from HERE on her website.  But she is a mother of 3 boys, very down to Earth, and I wish I could have talked to her all day.  She is the author of 7 Ways to Be a SMARTER Mom  and I can't wait to start reading it. 

(While she was speaking to us about it, she made it known that this is not a "step by step" approach type book where you have to follow specific steps to become a smarter mom.  She realized that there were too many of those types of books around and she didn't like being told "what to do" when trying to figure out how her family dynamic and parenting strategies.  Therefore, she put together this book and it goes through various topics, but has areas for you to write things down in order to analyze your family dynamic and your situations and then be able to mold that into how it will work with your family.  (I am just rephrasing what she was saying, but I will let you know more as I read and work through the actual book.)

I'm not going to give a summary of the whole talk, but it was based on LOVE and each letter stood for something different - L = listening, O = optimistic, V = variety, E = endure.  During her talk she brought in laughter, lots of laughter, real life stories of her family and others, God, tears, and amazing perspective on many different things.  She travels around the country giving talks to various groups on all kinds of topics and like our group, she tailored it to what our topic was for the meeting.   If you ever have a chance to see her speak, I advise you to GO!  Or if you ever have a need for a speaker and you think she would fit into your needs, check her out and see if you can make it work.    We only had her for a short time, but I would love to see her speak again.

Here are a few points that I took away from her talk...
(when you see "them" in the text below, it is typically referring to your kids)

- LISTEN.... get down to their level and listen. Put away the phone, computer, extra stuff and listen to them.

- Turn off technology for certain period during day. Can keep tv, wii, stuff you can do as a family on., but put away the computer and phones and texts.  Spend time together.

- LOOK when your kids and/or your spouse are talking.  Don't just nod and say, "Uh-hu".  LOOK at them and listen, really listen.  Kids, especially, just want you to listen.  And at the young age they want to see you interested in what they want to say.  You don't have long in this stage because as they get older all they want you to do is let go and let them have their independence, not wanting to talk to YOU as much.  So when you have them wanting to talk to you... LISTEN to them. The emails can wait, the text that came in can wait.

- Don't always make your kids wait.  If they are pulling at you and really wanting to tell you something while you're in the middle of a conversation, sometimes it's ok to stop what you're doing and make them feel that what they have to say is important to you. The others (presumably adults) will understand if you say, 'excuse me a minute' when a child is pulling at your sleeve.

- talk softer instead of talking louder. if they (the kids) know you're talking softer, they will too and will know that you are listening to them.

- NEVER get the urge to say "I don't know what I am going to do with you" (when in a struggle or at your wits end with them.)  It is devastating to hear that and tears a kid down.  It's as if you're saying, "You're beyond help."  Instead, say something like,  "I don't know what we're going to do to get through this, but we are going to figure it out and get through it together!"

- variety.... in all things - kids activities, rewards, special outings, dates with spouse, etc.  Getting in a rut is not healthy, not fun, and is BLAH.  Spice things up.  Change things up.  Little changes - it doesn't have to be huge, extravagant changes. 

- MOM Contract - Always here.

- Pay attention to them. Don't miss a moment. (example of mom at restaurant who never looked up from phone the whole time to talk or pay attention to 4-5 year old daughter.)  The daughter was looking around waving at others, happy as could be. That mom missed out on spending that time with her daughter in that moment and will NEVER get it back.

-  Be optimistic.  Not clueless... but hopeful.  Have hope in the Lord.  Believe in your children and/or spouse.  Sometimes when a spouse is going off on something at work or whatever, they don't need you to join in the "bashing" game.  Sometimes it's as simple as saying that you BELIEVE in them and that you know they can make the situation better and can handle the difficult time.  With the kiddos... try to refrain from showing the attitude of "You are old enough, you know how to do this, now go do it!"  Instead, try letting them know that you BELIEVE in them by saying, "You can handle/do it.  I know you can."  This can be used from everything from making their beds when they say "I can't do it" to when they are older and making the "big kid" decisions between right and wrong when with their friends or in school.  Be optimistic and believe in them!

These are just several of the many good points that she spoke of within her talk.  It was enlightening, eye-opening to new ways of doing and thinking of things, and as I stated above, I will go see her speak again if the chance ever comes up.

Valentine's Photo Shoot

Our friend, Valerie, is a wonderful photographer and was putting together an ad for a Valentine's Day special she was running at Valerie's Photography. (click on the link to check out her site).   Back in January, she needed some "helpers" to put the ad together and Cooper was lucky enough to participate in a fun and quick photo shoot.  He was so cooperative that day and it showed in the fun smiles we got from him! 

Thanks, Valerie, for letting Cooper be one of your "models"... I just love the pictures!

a Photo a Day

Not sure if you've noticed but there is now a tab bar under the title of our blog.  It has "HOME" which is this page with all my main blog stories on it.  Then there is the "a Photo a Day" tab.  I will be (hopefully) putting a picture on here each day of something that we did or saw or just a picture from something.  If there's a story to go along with it, sometimes you might see the same picture on the HOME page, but hopefully most days they will be different as I'm not planning on writing a new post each day.

I hope to soon add some more tabs as well....but for now we'll start with the photos.

Enjoy

Back posts

I have been periodically trying to catch up my 2011 posts.  I seemed to have slacked off a bit since Cooper was born. So before I print out my 2011 book, I wanted to get some of these in.  I am still working on them, and will put another "Back Post" link up as I update more.  But for now - here you go. Click away if you want to read some old stuff ;o)

Visiting Santa

boy scouts - 11/14/11

Cooper - 2 months

Cooper's Baptism

Ellis Visit to Meet Cooper - 08/11/11

Big Boys' Time - 8/15/11

We Love our School 

We Are So Fortunate

Recently, I have been connected to some blogs about families that have either lost a child or have a child with a severe disability or something of that nature. They really are very sad blogs to read and I wonder why I get sucked into them. But to read of the heartache and the triumphs at the same time and the struggles and the little victories is amazing to me. I get sucked in. 100% sucked in. It wasn't until today that I realized why I am so enamored by these stories. And it's because it could be me. It very easily could have been our life. Writing of the daily struggles, writing of the little victories for a child with a disability.

But it's not. And we count our blessings each day!

We are one of the fortunate ones that are on the "less severe" side of the pendulum for a child with a disability. It's even hard for me to write "child with a disability" because we don't have any glaring signs of a disability. But it's true. Trevor has a disability called Spina Bifida. He will ALWAYS have it. ALWAYS.  And some day we will have to explain it to him.

Someone on the outside would never know that Trevor has it. But we know it. We secretly worry when he gets a rash. We question what he was into, what new things did he use or play with. Did he have contact with any latex? We've never had a problem with latex, but it's said that people with spina bifida have a higher likelihood to have latex allergies. So we think about it often and take precautions (although we are pretty relaxed in our efforts most times.) When he says his back hurts or his leg hurts or his side hurts, our minds immediately go to, "is this part of his spina bifida showing signs?" Will we have to deal with a tethered cord in the years coming up? Will we recognize the signs early enough of that tethered cord if it reaps its ugly head?

Who knows.

We are so fortunate. We have a laughing, running, walking without assistance child. He doesn't need a catheter. He doesn't have a shunt in his body like the 80% of others with spina bifida. We've noticed that his lower body is not as flexible as other 5 year olds, but if he didn't have spina bifida we would just say "he's not a very flexible kid". No biggie, right? And he still has some accidents at night. No biggie for any other child at the age of 5. But with him, our minds immediately go to, "is his bladder not strong enough when he's sleeping or does he not feel the sensation of having to go?" We don't know yet, but we think he will be ok. He has so many more dry nights than wet ones so it's just taking him bit longer to get there... but he's getting there.

We really don't know how good we have it. We think we do, and we thank God each time we see Trevor running, playing, jumping, and just being 5, but really, we don't. We don't because we've never experienced that other side of the pendulum. And I think that's why I get sucked into these types of blogs or stories. I know in my heart that we could be there. Why we aren't... I really don't know. But I am thankful that we are not.

Trevor is our more "trying" child. He tries to push the line further and further each day and I won't lie, we get upset with him. He is frustrating some days and he makes us wonder what he's going to be like when he's 7 or 10 or 13. However, on days when I am reading these blogs, I step back and remember that I am thankful, so very very thankful that he is even here with us! He is talking to us. He is doing chores and coming to the dinner table without the use of a walker or leg braces or worse case scenario, a wheel chair. We are fortunate!

So, maybe that's the reason I feel the need to read these stories that others write of their daily lives with a loss or a disability. It's to keep me grounded about where we are and where we could have been had things not gone like they did with Trevor. And it's to remind me that Trevor is our miracle and we should thank the Man Upstairs each and every day that he is running, jumping and moving around, device free.

We are so fortunate.

Random thought

Why can't all beds be as easy to change sheets on as twin beds? I can make the whole bed without having to walk around from one side to the other 20 times....love it!!

What we Like to Do

These days Cooper has some fun past times.  They include...

Eating his toes

Pounding on his brother's head... and that's because Ethan lets him do it.

Falling alseep in the high chair after eating dinner

Falling back from a sitting position and just laying here...and then laughing as soon as someone pays attention to him or walks in the room.

And kicking kicking kicking.  If he is on the floor or the changing table, his feet and legs are ALWAYS going.  If they stop, it means he has fallen asleep!

Just My Boys

So, I don't really have a big story to tell but there have been a few pictures taken over the last few days that I thought I'd share...

Our sweet and littlest boy. 

On the way to school yesterday morning he fell back to sleep.  It was chilly outside and I didn't start the van before heading out so he had his hat on.  This is what I found when I took him out of the van... I just love how his little eyelashes are poking out from under the hat.

And this is my oldest... wanting to vacuum.  It needed to be done so you can imagine the happiness in my heart when he said that he wanted to do it.  He only lasted about 2 minutes and then said he was done, but hey, when you you start something, you need to finish.  So he finished up the bedroom and then went back to playing ;o)

For the Super Bowl, the boys were sad we didn't get to cheer on the Packers, but decided they would cheer for one of the teams anyway.  Of course, they each picked a different team to make things interesting.  Last week during Catholic Schools Week they had their face painted and Trevor loved it so he wanted his face painted again for the Super Bowl.  Ethan liked that idea as well so they both ended up with painted faces.  I had no say in the design or the colors - the boys did it all. I just had to follow their direction. 

One thing I did learn though, is that RED face paint does not come off very easily.  Well, it comes off, but leaves a lasting impression of what was there.  Trevor went to school on Monday with a faint "Y" still on his cheeks.  Thankfully he didn't notice it so there was no fussing.

A New Look

In January, after 10 years of wearing the same thing on his face day in and day out, my dear hubby decided to make a change.  Ladies, can you imagine wearing the exact same make-up or hairstyle for 10 years??  I know I can't!  Anyway, he was a bit hesitant to begin with, but I think it was a good change.

He went from this....

To this...