The Gymnast

Jacob has now finished his first season of competitive power tumbling.  He loved it and he did great!  He ended up with a ton of medals - mostly first and second place.  He went to four meets.  Two were in Emporia, KS (one of which was the OK/KS state meet), one in Neosho, MO and one here in Tulsa.  Trampoline is still his favorite event and his strongest event.  He continued to improve over the season in all 3 events - trampoline, tumbling and double mini.  Even though the meets are over now they continue to practice year round.  He practices 6 hours a week and may increase to 9 hours a week starting in August.  The year round practicing is actually really good for him.  It is a great release for his endless energy.  I can't believe he is 10 years old now!  In a little over a year he will officially be a middle schooler and will also move up into the youth group at church.  That is crazy!

 

 

 

 

Exciting Times for Caleb

It has been a busy and exciting couple of months for Caleb. He participated in an indoor competitive percussion group. That was a lot of fun to watch and they did great! In April he has taken the ACT, gone to prom with a friend from church and turned 16. This past weekend he got his license and we had a big party for him. We also got him a used, Honda Pilot which he is enjoying driving. This morning he drove to school for the first time. It is a strange thing to have him driving on his own now. Can't believe he is this old!

Upward Basketball

Joshua finished his last season of Upward Basketball. It is very bittersweet! He has played since he was in kindergarten. He really enjoyed it and it is such a great program! He had some of his best games ever this season. Kenneth and I joked that the key was one of us not being at the game. When Kenneth was off skiing Joshua made 4 baskets in his game. The game that I missed he made 3 baskets. I have been a part of Upward for the last 8 years. I am sad that it is over!

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.

The Ups and Downs of Summer

Summer is always difficult for me. It's so completely different from the rest of the year. It seems like time just stops during the summer and the days are really long. I also have to adjust to having the boys home all the time - and they have to adjust to being together more (which leads to lots of fighting). We go from being super busy during school to not having much to do. This is good and bad. I am always ready for a break from the craziness. However, it's a bit too extreme opposite for me. I'm always telling Kenneth that I wish it wasn't all or nothing. Having three kids keeps us very busy during the school year and then everything just stops in the summer (all or nothing). Something in between would be nice. June has gone by pretty quickly. It helps that we have taken a couple of trips and now the boys have camp. I'm sure the last month of summer will drag by for me and I will be really ready for school to start. I am a schedule person. I like having a schedule and knowing what's going on. That's another thing that bugs me in the summer - no schedule. Kenneth likes not having a schedule. It's one way that we are different.

This week I get to have a few days just with Joshua. I'm really looking forward to that. I enjoy my boys a lot more when I get time with them by themselves. Today I even got some time to myself (which I really miss during the summer). Caleb is in Colorado at a youth conference and Jacob left this morning for camp. Joshua spent most of the day at a friend's house. Tomorrow we are going to hang out together. We are planning on going to a movie and going to the library and then he has a Scout activity tomorrow night. I'm trying to enjoy the quiet while I can. We had a noisy weekend because we had an extra boy staying with us and starting Wednesday afternoon we will have another extra boy with us for a few days. That definitely will not be quiet! We seem to always have at least one extra kid at our house - especially during the summer.

Awards and Gymnastics

Ok, I did things a little differently this time - kind of by accident. I was going to blog and also post a few pictures but I wanted to put more pictures on. So, you can look at the pictures in the last blog and read about them in this blog. You might think that Caleb would feel short- changed having only two pictures of himself. Actually, he hates having his picture taken so I was doing good to get two. His pictures are from the induction ceremony for the National Junior Honor Society. He wasn't very excited about it - or about getting awards in math and science- but we were very proud of him. Can't believe that at the end of this school day he will officially be a high schooler. How is that possible? I can't really be that old, can I? He is going to be a part of the Union High School Band - in the percussion section. So, he will be living and breathing band. It's an incredible band but that's because they practice a lot - huge time commitment and huge financial commitment. We probably won't see much of him during marching season. His life will consist of school, band, homework, church and guitar lessons. I'm sure he will try to squeeze in time with friends also.
Joshua is still doing Scouts and really enjoys it. He graduated from Webelos 1 and got a walking stick. This was his first year to get grades at school. He made the Honor Roll - all A's.
He was pretty proud and so were we. He was also the 2nd best speller from his class so he got to be in the school spelling bee. He is rapidly approaching the middle school years and I'm not ready for that. Next year he will get to do some special things since he will be in 5th grade. He will help with the school news broadcast - being a writer and possibly helping with tech stuff. He might also be in the honor choir. He is still on leadership team at church and enjoys helping with tech stuff there.
Jacob is full of energy as always. I keep hoping his energy level will decrease some as he gets older but it hasn't happened yet. The pictures of him were from gymnastics. He loves it and is really good. Starting in June he will go to a new gymnastics place that has more opportunities for boys. He thinks he might want to compete at some point. I think he is good enough to compete but he will have to choose between soccer and gymnastics at that point. He is still playing soccer.
We are taking it one season at a time. It is getting more intense already - even though he is only 8. He enjoys it though and it's a great outlet for all of his energy. He likes to play defense - sometimes as goalie. It stresses me out when he plays goalie.
I'm sure you've already figured out that I keep myself very busy just driving them to all of their activities. Summer will be a nice break. Jacob will still have gymnastics once a week and possibly some soccer stuff and Caleb will have some band practices but it won't be nearly as bad as during the school year.

2010-05-25

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The Boy of Many Scars

I am going to start calling Joshua the boy of many scars. He has three scars from stitches and two in spots where he probably could have used a stitch or two. These are all on his face. Now he has a new one to add to the group. It's on his lower abdomen - right where his appendix used to be. Two weeks ago we had friends over for dinner. The kids were playing outside and jumping on the trampoline - Joshua included. He was fine and having a great time. When he was getting ready for bed he started complaining about his stomach hurting. We didn't think a whole lot of it since he has a sensitive stomach and complains about his stomach hurting pretty frequently. We got concerned though when we were up with him most of the night. He had a hard time getting to sleep and then didn't sleep for long before he woke up again. We debated whether we should take him to the ER. In the morning he threw up and we thought maybe it was just a stomach bug. We waited a little while but the pain didn't go away. So, I took him to urgent care. To my surprise (and Joshua's) they said we needed to take him to St. Francis hospital because it might be his appendix. Joshua was very upset at urgent care because the doctor talked about the possibility of surgery. He threw up again on the way to the hospital. They took blood and a urine sample. They put an IV in and did a CAT scan. They decided from the tests that he did need to have his appendix taken out. So, at about 6:30 on Sunday he went into surgery. Thankfully his appendix had not ruptured. He got to go home by 5:00 on Monday and was back in school by Thursday. It was all really crazy! He was a real trooper. The most difficult part was when he was in the recovery room after surgery. That was not fun! He's doing well now. He's ready to be able to play outside again and jump on the trampoline but he has to wait one more week. He also can't participate in PE at school. He wasn't very happy about missing out on PE and recess. I'm just so thankful that he hasn't had any complications and he will be all better by summer break. I'm also very thankful that we have insurance!

Still Alive

Ok, I figured I should blog since it's been over two months since my last one. Life has been very busy and doesn't show signs of slowing down (it will actually probably get busier). I am enjoying my part-time job! It's only 10 hours a week. I can't imagine working more than that. It's so fun being around little ones again! I can't believe it but my "baby" will turn 8 in 3 weeks. I think that's why I enjoy being around toddlers and preschoolers again because I don't have any at home. Joshua and Jacob just finished Upward basketball. I just love that program! They both enjoyed it. Jacob tended to be a ball hog but he wasn't the only one on his team. He seems to be more aggressive with basketball than he is with soccer. Soccer has started again now. You would think that soccer and gymnastics would help Jacob get out all of his excess energy. Unfortunately, he always has too much no matter how many activities he is in. Joshua is in Cub Scouts still. He really enjoys it. He is a Webelos this year. He has a great den leader and is earning a lot of badges (they are actually pins but they are called badges). Caleb stays busy with band (percussion), guitar lessons and friends. He has always been very social but that has increased with his being a teenager now. We got him enrolled for high school next year. I can't believe I will be the mother of a highschooler. How did that happen? He is excited about being in the Union high school band next year and taking a web design class. I spend a lot of time driving them to all of their activities. I often feel like a taxi driver (except that I don't get paid).
I don't have any pictures to put on here right now. I need to transfer pictures from my camera to the computer. I will try to get that done soon so I can post some of them.

Snow Fun!

The boys love to go sledding when we actually get snow!

Kenneth got to go with us this time.

Our snowboarding boy

The boys built a snowman with our neighbor, Jimmy.


The boys were so excited to have a white Christmas! The best part was that it snowed while Kenneth was home. Usually it snows during the week and I have to take the boys sledding by myself because it usually melts before the weekend. It looks like the snow will stay around for a while this time. The boys had a blast sledding! We were the only ones sledding and it actually didn't feel too terribly cold because the wind wasn't very strong. Jacob had fun snowboarding. Kenneth tried out our snowboard also. I asked Jacob if he wanted to snowboard on a mountain sometime and he said yes. He would probably love to go skiing with his Dad. I'm not much of a skier myself. The bunny slope is about all I can handle. I prefer to stay inside by a fire with some hot cocoa and a good book. The boys also had a snowball fight and built a snowman with our neighbor. Unfortunately the snowman lost his head shortly after being built.