Yikes! There' a teenager living in my house!

Well, today I am officially the mother of a teenager. I don't know how this happened. My body frequently feels old but in my mind and heart I don't feel old enough to have a teenager. We had Caleb's party on Saturday. We invited 5 of Caleb's friends over for pizza and cookie cake. They were a noisy crew! After eating and presents, Kenneth and our youth minister, Lane, took the boys to play Laser Tag. They had a lot of fun! Caleb got lots of cash and gift cards which he was excited about. He had been saving up for Guitar Hero World Tour. Yesterday I went and got it and the boys tried it out. It's a lot of fun! It has a guitar, drums and a microphone. It definitely should be an interesting ride - life with a teenager. Hopefully we can afford to keep feeding him. He eats constantly!

A noisy bunch of boys!

Trying out Guitar Hero World Tour.

Caleb and Jacob enjoyed using the empty boxes. Caleb is all legs and eating (as usual).

Space Derby

I felt bad that the boys didn't get to do the Pinewood Derby this year. We didn't have the right tools and I had no clue how to do it.
They decided to do a Space Derby with rockets and it sounded easier. It wasn't as easy as it sounded. Thankfully, we had some family in town for Jacob's birthday and they were a lot of help. We didn't get them very rounded because sanding them was taking a lot of time. They still worked well though. In fact, Joshua won a trophy. He won three of the four races that he participated in. He got a trophy because out of his den his rocket did the best. It was a lot of work but the boys had fun. I owe a big thank-you to the grandparents for all of their help!

Joshua's rocket is the one on the right which is winning.

Jacob was disappointed that he didn't get a trophy but he still had fun.

Joshua was very excited about his trophy!

Joshua decorated his rocket with a patriotic theme.

My WILD child!

Jacob is full of life, energy and craziness!

What a cutie! I enjoy watching him try things even though it scares me sometimes.

Jacob sticks his tongue out when he concentrates. His brothers and his Dad do this too.

Jacob is definitely the most daring of my three boys. I let him try things that I never would have let Caleb do at that age. He's been bugging us for almost a year to get him a skateboard ramp. I was really afraid we would end up with some broken bones (which we still might). We got him a small beginner's ramp - complete with helmet and padding. We had told him that he had to be seven to have a ramp. The morning of his birthday when I woke him up the first words out of his mouth were "Will you buy me a ramp now?" He didn't know that we'd already gotten him one. He's still getting the hang of it with his skateboard but he loves using it with his bike. He even caught some air (his words) once after building up a lot of speed. Now he thinks he needs a grinding rail. I said no for right now. He got some rollerblades from his grandparents so he's into blading now too. I'm sure it won't be long before he wears his rollerblades and uses the ramp. It's pretty amazing that he hasn't had any stitches or broken bones yet (knock on wood). Seven years without serious injury is pretty good for this kid.

Snow for Jacob's party - Crazy!

We had Jacob's party on Saturday. We also had about 7 inches of snow. It was insane! I'm used to having to consider the possibility of rain for Jacob's and Caleb's parties but I've never considered the possibility of snow. Our family members didn't get to come to the party because of the nasty weather. Jacob still got to have his friends come over though and we had a lot of fun. The party had a Knights theme so we had jousting, a Three Musketeers game, a knighting ceremony and a battle with a fierce dragon. It would have been nice to do the games outside but we made it work and the boys had a lot of fun. Jacob's soccer team was supposed to have a tournament this weekend but it got cancelled. Sunday got much warmer (60 degrees) so most of the snow is gone now. Jacob is looking forward to trying out his new skateboarding ramp today (with helmet and padding on of course). Hopefully we won't end up with any broken bones.

Seven inches of snow at the end of March - Crazy!

The king (Caleb) performed the knighting ceremony. My friend, Beth, made the robe for me.

The new knights fought the fierce dragon.

Jacob's knight party was a lot of fun!

Trip to Atlanta

We had a great time in Atlanta. We hadn't seen my brother and his family since last June - way too long. They have a different Spring Break so we took our kids out of school on Friday and they took their kids out of school on Monday. Unfortunately it rained pretty much the whole time we were there and my sister-in-law wasn't feeling well. In spite of that, we still had a great time. The boys were so excited about seeing their cousins! We went swimming at an indoor swimming pool one day and we went to a couple of malls. The boys were especially excited about going to the Lego Store. They also enjoyed playing video games with their cousins. They have Guitar Hero World Tour (my brother's Christmas present). Caleb really enjoyed it since it has drums and a guitar. It also comes with a microphone and my brother talked me into doing the singing part. It was pretty fun! My brother is really good at the guitar and drums. He can even do some of the songs on the expert level. It's always sad to say goodbye to them but this time we won't have to wait as long to see them again so that made it a little easier to say goodbye.

Guitar Hero - World Tour

Almost everyone gets in on the fun.

Joshua and Micah try to figure out some optical illusions.

The kids have all grown a lot since we last lined them up and took a picture.

Channel 8 Tour

Jacob loved trying on the OU football helmet. He also tried on an OSU one and a TU one.

Having fun with the green screen.

Getting an autographed picture from Frank Mitchell.

All around the official news desk.

Learning about what a meteorologist does.

Jacob's den got to take a tour of Channel 8. Frank Mitchell took the boys on a tour and then we got to watch them do the 6:00 news. I think the parents enjoyed it as much, if not more, than the kids. The boys enjoyed it but it was kind of hard for them to be quiet and sit still for 30 minutes. Those of us parents that were there were pretty nervous during the taping of the news. Amazingly, the boys were very quiet. This is quite an accomplishment for a group of 6 and 7 year old boys who are full of energy. Jacob got a couple of autographed pictures which he thought was really cool. The sports guy let the boys try on OU, OSU, and TU football helmets. They were very excited about that. The helmets looked huge on their little heads.

Royalty in our family

The whole royal court

My handsome little guy

Megan & Tyler

Megan & Jacob

Jacob was tuckered out on the way home.

Last night our niece, Megan, was crowned Homecoming Queen. She is a senior at Cherryvale HS. Jacob and I left after school yesterday to go see her. First we got to watch her play basketball. She did great - scoring over 20 points. She wanted Jacob to carry her crown so he got to get dressed up and carry the crown on a pillow. It was very exciting when they announced that Megan had been chosen to be the queen. Jacob also got to see his grandparents, his uncle, his great-aunt and his other cousin, Tyler. The boys absolutely adore their cousins! Megan and Tyler make me feel really old. Tyler was our ringbearer and now he is a junior in college. Megan was only a baby when we got married. They grow up so fast! Be looking for a blog soon about how fast my boys are growing up.