Catching Up

Our middle schooler

Homecoming Dance with lifelong friend (Michelle)

Jacob's first meet - Emporia, KS

Jacob with teammate and friend (Trenton)



Well, you might think that I fell off the face of the earth since I haven't blogged in almost a year. Life is just super busy and crazy! I had about decided to completely give up on blogging but I recently had the urge to blog again. I can't write about everything that has happened in the last year so I will just try to update everyone on what is going on these days (if anyone will even read this).

Jacob joined a competitive gymnastics team in August. It is power tumbling so he does tumbling, trampoline and a thing called double mini. He is loving it! He practices a little over 5 hours each week. It is a great outlet for his endless energy! He just went to his first meet this past weekend. He enjoyed it and did well. He got two first place medals and one second place medal. It is definitely a little easier for the boys. They don't have as many to compete against as the girls do. He is in fourth grade this year. Can't believe he only has one more year of grade school after this year. I am definitely not ready for him to be in middle school. We have entered the world of orthodontics. He had braces on four of his top teeth for a while. He just got them off and now has a retainer. He stays very busy with school, gymnastics, kid's leadership team (church) and hanging out with friends/neighbors.

Joshua is now a middle schooler. I was nervous about how he would make the transition because he doesn't really like change (he's a lot like his mother). He has done extremely well though. He has a harder time getting up in the mornings (he is almost a teenager now) and doesn't like all of the math homework but other than that he seems to like school pretty well. He is in pre-algebra which is two years ahead. He has always been freaky good at math. He likes science a lot too. They just finished building rollercoasters in his science class. He just might be our future engineer. We were very proud of him when he recently received a student of the month award. He is playing Upward basketball. It is good exercise for him and he enjoys it. I haven't gotten any pictures of him playing yet. Need to do that soon. He loves being a part of the youth group at church now. He still loves legos and video games. He also enjoys reading. He would like to learn how to play the drums. We will be checking into lessons once basketball is over.

Caleb is super busy with band again. He got to play marimba in marching band this year and enjoyed that. His band went all the way to nationals and got 6th place. That was very exciting! He is now participating in a competitive indoor percussion ensemble. They will have their first competition the end of this month. The other big news is that he is driving. He got his permit in October and will turn 16 in April. It's kind of scary but he is a good driver. He went to his first Homecoming Dance in October with a friend from church. He had a blast! He is looking forward to going to prom in April with another friend from church. We are trying to figure out his school schedule for next year. He has applied for Tulsa Tech to do a web design program there. He is very excited about that. We just have to figure out how to get in all the classes he will need to graduate. April will be a very big month for him. He will turn 16, go to his first prom and take the ACT for the first time. Time sure is flying! I know that in the blink of an eye he will be graduating and going off to college. Not ready for that!


I stay very busy just keeping up with the boys and their schedules! I often feel like a taxicab. I am still working at our church preschool as an assistant teacher. I mostly work with the one and two year olds. I love my job! Love my boss; love my coworkers; love the kids; love making some extra money! It is a true blessing in my life! I still try to scrapbook when I can but it is hard to find the time. Kenneth and I help out with the children's ministry twice a month at church. It's so nice to be around little ones since our boys are getting so big.

Kenneth is still working at occidental petroleum. Two upper-level people have retired since he has been there so he has taken on a lot of extra responsibilities. He also is traveling more than he used to. We are thankful that he has a good job with a good company but it gets pretty stressful at times. We are very thankful that he is out of public accounting and no longer has a 3 month busy season with tons of overtime. He is planning a skiing trip with some of his guy friends. He is very excited about that! He loves to ski and it has been a long time since he last went skiing. If Jacob find out he is going he will probably beg to go along. He really wants to go snowboarding!

Well, I think that is a pretty good update on our lives. Hopefully it won't be another year before I do this again.

My Boys

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Snow Day

My boys were very excited to have a snow day today! I didn't really share in their excitement. Caleb immediately wanted to go to a friend's house and Joshua and Jacob wanted to go sledding. Sledding is fun but it is also a lot of work. First, I had to get up in the attic and find the sleds (and go back a second time to search for Jacob's snowboard). Then, I had to get a box out of the garage to find their thermal underwear. Then the bundling process began. It seems to take forever to get all of us bundled up. We were finally ready to go. Jacob had a ball on his snowboard. He crashed several times after trying some jumps. He thinks he is ready to conquer a mountain now. I actually think he would love to go to a ski resort and learn how to really snowboard. He has good form and isn't afraid (he must get that from his Dad). Joshua got a little more daring this year. He doesn't want to try snowboarding but he was using his sled on some bumpy spots and was laying on his back some to go faster. Caleb missed out on sledding with us but I don't think he really cares. He would much rather spend time with friends.

A Tradition Lives On

Every year I take pictures of the boys with Santa hats on. We started this when Caleb was three and he is now fourteen. He still puts up with me doing this even though he doesn't love it. Joshua and Jacob still enjoy it. In fact, this year they asked when we were going to do it. Usually we take the pictures in early December. This year we didn't get them taken until Christmas Eve. I think that is the latest we have ever done it. We had a good Christmas. We got to spend time with family and now the boys are getting to spend time with friends. Caleb is staying with his friend, Kyle, for a few days. Joshua got to spend the day with his best friend, Jackson, yesterday. And today and tomorrow the boys get to spend time with their mutual friend, our neighbor Jimmy. I hope you all had a wonderful time celebrating the birth of our Savior. Best wishes for a happy New Year!

Pumpkin Patch

Jacob and "his" goat (Jacob Jr.)
Chillin' out with the scarecrow
So Serious!
Fun at the Pumpkin Patch


I love going to the pumpkin patch every year! It's one of my favorite things to do in the fall. Kenneth didn't get to go with us this year. He is super busy at work right now. Caleb had band rehearsal. He didn't really care that he was missing it. I think he has outgrown the pumpkin patch. The boys love climbing on the pumpkins. Jacob's favorite thing is the animals. He especially loves goats! He found one goat that he really liked a lot. He wanted to buy it and take it home. I told him that we live in the city and can't have a goat for a pet. I said that when he grows up if he lives in the country he can maybe have a goat then. He said, "But I want this goat." He even named it Jacob Jr. He had to go and say goodbye to "his" goat before we left. We had to drag him away. I swear that boy is going to end up on a farm or ranch someday. He absolutely loves animals! Joshua's favorite animal there was the emu. I didn't get any pictures of them though. They aren't exactly easy to pet.

Back to School - Finally!

The boys are finally back in school. Hooray! They started back a week later than they usually do but it seemed more like a month later. They were really tired of each other and fighting all the time. It's good when they aren't together so much. Unbelievably, my "baby" is in third grade this year. He gets to be downstairs with the big kids and even has a locker. He is enjoying school so far and hasn't gotten in trouble yet. His teacher's name is Mrs. Hair. Joshua is very excited about being in Mrs. Chandler's class. He gets to make an invention later in the year and is already trying to figure out what he will invent. He is most excited because his best friend, Jackson, is in his class for the first time. Can't believe this is his last year of elementary school! Even harder to believe is the fact that I am now the parent of a highschooler. How time flies! Caleb is actually glad to be back in school. He was very bored being at home all the time. He also enjoys getting to see all of his friends. He seems to like all of his teachers which is nice. The last couple of years he has had atleast one teacher that he couldn't stand. He is especially enjoying being a part of the Union high school band. He is getting ready to be super busy with band starting in September. We won't see a lot of him during marching season. He loves it though. I have started back to work and I am enjoying being with the little ones at the preschool. The first day was really rough but it's gotten better since then. I'm just glad to have a schedule again and I'm especially enjoying the cooler weather the past couple of days. Hurry up fall! It's my favorite season and never seems to last long enough.

Jacob and Mrs. Hair

Joshua and Mrs. Chandler

Our tall freshman

Jacob finally gets his wish

Jacob has been begging me for a very long time to take him to a skate park. He finally got his wish on Monday. We met our friends, the Coopers, at the skate park in Owasso. We took his bike and skateboard and Joshua's scooter. We were the only ones there for a while and even then only two other boys came. It was nice to have the place to ourselves. The heat was not nice however! We went in the morning hoping it wouldn't be too bad. We were still sweating like crazy. Jacob just rode his bike for awhile and then finally tried out his skateboard. He kept falling off at first so his friend, Jesse, gave him some pointers. That helped him a lot. He did great until he tried a ramp that was a little too steep. He crashed and ended up with a big scrape and bruise. It didn't stop him from trying the smaller ramps again though. He loved it! He wanted to go back the next day but I told him we needed to wait until it's a little cooler. We also need to get him some new elbow and knee pads. We discovered that the ones he has are too small.

My little BMX rider was in heaven!

Joshua enjoyed riding his scooter on the ramps.

Cool Dudes! Posing with their friend Ben.

Right before the big crash.