It's Finally Feeling Like Spring!

It has started to warm up finally and Jon put up the trampoline for the boys to jump around in. When I say "boys", I do mean all of them :))

I am not sure what Nathan is doing to Jon's face!

Owen LOVES to bite Papa's nose!

Science Fair Awards

Justin and 3 other 4th graders voluntarily entered the science fair that was for the 5th and 6th graders. They were teamed up in pairs: Justin and Joseph and Summer and Madison. Even though they were not eligible to go to District because of their age, the Judges still looked at their projects and asked them questions about them. They were then honored today at the Awards Ceremony for participating , the only 4th graders in the whole district (thanks Mr. Helton).

Here are Justin and Joseph next to their project before the ceremony:

Here is a pic of the participants. Summer is hiding her head of course Nathan is sitting with them. I couldn't take any pics of them while they were onstage because the lighting was terrible but they were all so very proud! I'm just throwing in a cute pic of Owen before the ceremony:

Math Night + Tornado = Fun

Every year the school has a "Math Night". This is when the parents and students are invited to the school to have dinner and go to different math stations to see what their kids are learning in the area of math. They also show us what they are learning at a computer lab.

Here is Nathan at his station:

Here is Justin at his:

Then, in the middle of it all, it started to storm! All of a sudden, an announcement came on stating to get to the hallways immediatly because the tornado sirens were going off and one tornado touched down 2 miles from our location and to get on the floor!!! There were over a 100 parents, teachers and kids at the school. Here we were at the beginning of it (me trying not to act too worried):

We all stayed down on the floor for about 30 minutes! After about 20, we felt safer and I got the boys to joke around and smile. In the end, it never got to our school. We just had a ton of rain, lots of hail, and a good amount of wind.

Happy Easter!

I'm Published!

I found this awesome website: www.blurb.com. You can publish your own books there! It can be anything~~cookbooks, travel books or....A BLOG! I am going to publish my blog once a year. The reason for it is because I am always worried that, if I keep this blog up for years, what happens if blogger decides to shut down?? What happens to all my blogs and pictures? This way, I know they are safe. It is a great memory book for the kids when they are grown and can look back on all of it. It is pretty cheap too and you can chose from hardcover or soft! I just created it and downloaded it! I will let you know what I think after I get it!

Van Fun

If I ever run out of ideas on what to do with Owen, all I have to do is let him play in the van. He can play in there for an hour if I let him. I even wash the outside while he is in there. He just plays with the knobs and lights and walks from the front to the back. Now I know it will end once summer gets here and it will be too hot....but just look at the joy on his face every time I put him in here!

Revenge is Fun

Mr. Helton is a 2nd grade teacher at Wood Elementary. I have known him since Justin was in 2nd grade. He used to go into Mr. Helton's class to learn science. Mr. Helton helped Justin with his science project when he was in 2nd grade (he won first place in the physical science category that year and went to the district science fair) and he helped Justin out this year with his science project. Now that Nathan is in 2nd grade, he now sees Mr. Helton for science. I also help him tutor 4th graders in math after school every Thursday. It was one of those Thursdays that he happened to mention that people over 35 are "over the hill". Well, today was his birthday and me and some other "Golden Girls" decided to get him back:

We made 3 of these (that is a Dr. Pepper in his hand and not a "beer" like Jon thought).

We made him a basket with Dr. Pepper and other goodies and he was forced to wear a "birthday boy" pin and beads with a ribbon stating "older than dirt" He had trouble blowing out his candles (trick candles) and it started to get smokey and the kids were screaming so he had to douse them with water.


Revenge is sweet (as Nathan can attest to with a cupcake).

Goodbye, Dear Friend

Last week, we said goodbye to our Saturn. It was a long time coming. Jon bought the car 3 months before we got married so it is 15 years old! Here are some parting pictures:


Those little dents in the back bumper happened in 1994 when Jon was in Korea and I was living with my parents. One of my family members hit the car but no one would own up to it (you can tell me now...it is safe!)Those scratches happened around 1997. We were living in Germany and were having our car repaired for something. An AAFES truck backed into a car (according to a witness) but we never were compensated. Something about lack of proof....

The roof lining eventually fell down so Jon had to staple it to stay up. You can still see it hanging down a little.

Here we are saying goodbye at a car dealership. We got $400.00 for it!

Here are some other things I remember about our Saturn:

• I used to wash it once a week when Jon was in Korea.

• We had it in Germany for 7 years. It survived the autobahn and when we drove around the once named East Germany, people would actually get up close and stare at it!
• It has been to Missouri, Florida, Tennesee (honeymoon), Germany, France, Holland, Belgium, Italy, Austria, Texas and back to Missouri (it's final resting place).
  
• We brought home Justin in it as a newborn from the hospital.
• We brought home Nathan in it as a newborn from the hospital.
• It was the only car we owned for 9 years (we bought the minivan in 2002).

I finally was able to talk Jon into getting rid of it last week! Since he picked out our first 2 cars...it was my turn...we got a 2004 Volkswagon Jetta!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I LOVE IT!! It has leather interior and heaters in the seats! Ofcourse I wash it once a week and it needs to last to the age of 15 also!!

The Homework Blues

Justin and his 4th grade class had their music performance yesterday. I taped a little of it with my camera. My favorite part is the "shoulder action"....you'll see what I mean: (push the pause button (ll) on my Playlist (far right) to hear the video)

I Went to Brush My Teeth....

... and I came back to this:Owen had opened the dishwasher door and made it a play toy~~aye yai yai~~he is a little monkey! --ps---another snow day for the boys today and probably tomorrow too---grrrr!

Fun Times

My friend Cathy had a surprise birthday dinner last night! It was fun to organize and to see her surprised! The best part was watching the Senors at El Jimador mash a pie in her face!~~Such nice friends we are!

It's Been a While!

I am finally back on my old computer! Things have been crazy the last few weeks. First off, Owen has RSV (info I found off the web):

Respiratory syncytial (sin-SISH-shul) virus (RSV) is a very common virus.
Each year, an estimated 125,000 infants in the United States are hospitalized with severe RSV, the leading cause of infant hospitalization. Severe RSV infections may cause up to 500 infants deaths annually in the United States. RSV may also cause more long-term health problems, such as asthma.
RSV season usually starts in the fall and runs through the spring. But it can change. In some areas of the United States, RSV season may last all year. Ask your child’s healthcare provider when RSV season occurs in your area. If your baby is at high risk for RSV disease, be sure to discuss additional protective steps you can take during your baby’s next appointment. Learn more about risk factors for RSV disease.
Some RSV SymptomsUsually, RSV causes mild, cold-like symptoms, such as a runny nose and fever. However, in some babies, the symptoms can quickly get worse.
Call your healthcare provider right away if your baby has any of these symptoms:
Persistent coughing
Wheezing
Rapid breathing
Problems breathing or gasping for breath
Blue color of the lips or around the mouth
Worsening symptoms can be severe and, in some cases, life-threatening. That is why it is so important to help prevent RSV.

It has been hard to say the least. He was in the ER Saturday night and that is where they daignosed him. Justin and Nathan never had it so it was all new to us. He is doing much better now except for the horrible cough. Here are a few pics of the kiddos over the last month:

Nathan and Justin getting some pie for getting straight A's:

Owen acting cute and pointing to his nase (nose in German)with a cheerio stuck to his finger: I can't believe he is 14 and 1/2 months now!

Here his is giving Justin a hug;

Here is Nathan with his mp3 player:

Now the boys have had many snow days so far. Here is a pic of one of them:

Now that is all pretty and fluffy but this past Monday, we had an ice storm. In the following pics, what looks like snow is actually ice! You cannot break through it! Even with a hammer or if you jump on it with all of your might! We were trapped in the neighborhood for 2 days because no one could drive on our street...it is just a blanket of ice. We tried to leave and both cars ended up parked at the bottom of our street because we couldn't even get them back into our driveway! The buses can't get into the neighborhoods so there is no school this whole week. Jon was finally able to get to work today but he skidded all the way out. I think I am still trapped here with the kids though I am going to try and venture out even though I will probably get stuck at the end of the street.

That is not snow...it is pure ice:

That is one of our abandoned cars. There were cars left all over the neighborhood!
That is a 2 inch sheet of ice on the street. It took Jon a over an hour to clear a path in the driveway!

Needless to say, with the sickness, snow, ice, no school....I wish spring would get here!!!

No More Pics for a While

Our computer crashed about 3 days ago. It had a Trojan Horse in it? I have no idea what that means...but the whole thing is down. I am using our laptop right now. Thank God that Jon was able to get our pictures off of the computer and put them on an external hard drive before they were all lost too! As soon (if ever) the computer is fixed again, I am going to start printing all of those pics because I never want that scare again! There are pics on there from the last 3 years including all of Owen's pics! It will be a while anyways. Jon leaves Monday for 8 days so I am guessing by the middle of the month I may have access to some pics. In the mean time, I need to figure out how to down load pics on this relic......

Brag Alert-The following blog has a ton of bragging!

I have left a lot of stuff out the past couple of weeks because I really don't want this blog to be all about my kids, as it has been for almost a year now :)). But really, nothing too interesting happens to me or Jon. Let's see....Jon is still working and going TDY quite a bit...nothing new there....I am still at home, taking care of Owen and volunteering at the school about 3-5 times a month....boring right? So now I am not going to feel bad and write about all the great stuff my boys have been doing the last few weeks so log off if you don't like the bragging :))

First we will start with Justin. Here is what we received in the mail about 3 weeks ago:

(double click to read)

Now, even though it says he was nominated by his teacher, Ms. Sonya Campbell is actually the Principal of the school. She nominated Justin along with 5 other students. To know more about the program, it states that "the National Young Scholars Program was created to identify students with a history of academic achievement and exceptional leadership potential and to stimulate and invigorate their natural curiosity to learn and discover. The Program will recognize and honor the most mature and independent individuals possible in the 4th and 5th grades, and nominations are extended to high-achieving scholars only. Educational advisers are asked to nominate only those scholars who can meet the challenge of our advanced academic curriculum and who merit the distinction of a nomination."----We were of course floored. They go to Illinois for 6 days---without their parents---and stay in a dorm with 2 other roommates. Then they have daily classes on subjects they like and I could go on and on. Now the bad part---it cost $300.00.....A DAY!! There was no way we could afford it so we are turning it down. But we were so proud that he was nominated anyways!

Then in November he earned this:

He is the first 4th grader to EVER reach 1 million words read in a school year! Justin took only 3 months to do it. As of January, he has 1 million 350+ thousand. For Christmas, he received the last Harry Potter book. It has 750 pages in it. He read it in 3 days!

Nathan has not had the opportunities as of yet to accomplish the things that Justin has being he is only in 2nd grade. But he is doing so well in school! We just got his report card and he has all A's again. In fact, he has never had a B so far. On the teacher remarks, she wrote, "Nathan has such a creative mind. He is coming out of his shell and is able to contribute interesting tidbits to our classroom discussions!" He is well above his grade level in reading and is recognized for his artistic abilities! I see him going down the same path as Justin!

Now we can't forget about my sweet baby Owen! He has gotten all A's so far....just kidding! He finally started walking on December 30th~~about 2 days after turning 13 months! He can say Papa, heis (German for hot), licht (German for light), raus (German for out) he uses sign language and can sign for the words milk, all done, eat, fan, night-night, hi and bye. He knows where his nose and hair is if asked. Here is a clip of him walking (just a short one though):

There....I got it all out of my system!