March 3

Trevor wanted this shirt . . . yellow. I would have picked the brown one. It is so fun to see their little personalities and preferences coming out. Well, except when I pick up things that I only have to return because they HATE it and I LOVE it!


Having a little St. Patty's day fun. Kris is Orange Irish.

Cai and I took Mexican in and had lunch with Ryan at school. It was great to sit there and hang with his little classmates. They were all so grateful to share our chips and white sauce! Ryan was so happy we came. I met one of the lunch ladies and she went on and on about how great of a kid Ryan is and how much she enjoys him. (I agree.) Glory to God!!

Katie's shower

Soccer games starte on Saturday. It was a perfectly beautiful spring day! We had 4 games and were at the field for 6 hours!! Very relaxing day with the family. Here is Cai with his buddy, Liam.

March 2

SWITCH DAY - - teachers dress like students and students dress like teachers. Ryan didn't want to participate, but here's T dressed like his favorite teacher, Mr. Bergey.

Wooo whoo! T's losing teeth. Our poor tooth fairy forgot about him several nights in a row and then when she finally did show up, she left him dental floss!! (money was left, too - - just trying to keep it real:)

I love when Anderson comes home from school with a new wealth of information about something he learned in school that day. This week it was the Statue of Liberty. . . love his pose. Too cute!

Ryan has started the Harry Potter series and I thought that I would read it with him, so we can talk about them together and share the experience. I am trying to be one book ahead of him. I've been reading like crazy! Here I am making dinner. Hee hee!

Friday night dinner with our dear friends, the Bouchers. EIGHT boys!! (their youngest is missing from this picture.)

Cai doesn't like to take naps anymore! The only problem is he still needs a couple of them a week, or else he'll fall asleep just before dinner time, like he did this night!

Anderson has made a little friend in our neighborhood and he let Anderson borrow his DS. Anderson was sooo thrilled, since he only has a leapster. He enjoyed many games of Spiderman that day.

MARCH

I'm behind!! Last week I uploaded my photos for the first week of March and then my internet was not working. Thankfully, my smart hubbie came home from his work trip and fixed it. It was a simple problem. Anyway, I didn't get a chance to get back to the blog.

Well, March came in with a SNOWSTORM in Virginia!! Here is the view out my bedroom window, which made me think, "Yes! No school!" But, no, I was wrong. We had school. . . crazy! Well, not until I remembered that the 5th graders had SOL testing.

We're having a baby shower for Katie. She's having a girl!! This will be Annie and Chad's first grandaughter, they have 6 grandsons. She will also be Grandma and Grandpa Host's first great-grandaughter, they have 9 great-grandsons! Here are the invites I made.

Fun with Laura and Isabelle!! Laura serves us once a month for care group and whenever we need a babysitter, she's our first phone call. She has been coming over and helping me out for 6 years. We all love her!! The other day Kris asked Cai if he was going to be daddy's babysitter. (He was teasing.) Cai responded, "My name's not Laura."

Ben and Liam. These are Katie and Sean's boys. They will be one at the end of this month. We love when they come to visit - which is at least once a week :)

The basketball season came to an end on Friday evening. It was a lot of fun. Both Ryan and Trevor's teams were in the championship tournament. I was a nervous wreck watching their games. I can't imagine what I'll be like when their in high school!! Ryan and Trevor played great, but only Ryan's team came away with the win. It was a good season! Here's Ryan with his trophy.

The next morning, we were off to get the boys ready for soccer. We needed to pick up a few things... like MEN'S size shoes for Ryan! I can't believe it! They look huge! It was a fun morning. Here are the soccer boys.

After church on Sunday, we went out to eat as a family. We went to Salsarita's. Ryan and Trevor used their free kids meal tickets from being on the Honor Roll.

Fourth Week of February

This week Ryan read a 380 page book in one day!!! Why, "Because it was SO good, there was so much action, things just kept popping up!" He loves to read! Every month he earns 10 more points than his AR goal. He already has 150 points!
This is the timeline that T created. It is about his life. It has 7 events on it ranging from being born to becoming a big brother and then there's my favorite, going to the GA Dome. (I thought that was so cute he included that in the major events of his life! Such a boy :) Then below his timeline he fills in blanks about his house and things he likes to do. My favorite line: "Something I want everybody to know. . . that I am really good at football." I love this kid! Look at his size!! He may by small but he has drive!

This is Anderson's 100 day project in its beginning stages. I can't find a completed pick. . . oops! Hopefully I can take another one. It is 100 pieces of bubble gum. He is going to share with his class once they are done displaying their projects. We eventually ordered the sticks in rows of 10 with 2 big and 2 little ones being our pattern. We covered the box and added a label. But in our rough draft below, he wanted to randomly place them and even created one area that represented the Washington Monument (a big stick surrounded by little ones, representing the flags around the monument). So creative and cute!!

Our Wednesday nights have been pretty crazy as of late. Kris gets home from Richmond, after staying the night there on Tuesday, just in time to take the boys to basketball practice. He helps coach and he referees their games on Saturdays. Here they are getting reading to leave for practice.

Saturday was their tournament. If they lost, the season ended. If not, they get to play in the finals on Friday night the 5th. Both Ryan and Trevor's teams one!!! They played really well, too. Here's Ryan's team getting reading to "break" after their big win.

Sally and I did a little kick boxing on Saturday night. I thought it would be fun to get a picture of us afterwards, it was hard to get that kick out at just the right moment for the timer on my camera. We had many a good laughs over that! Afterwards we watched, "My Sister's Keeper" and bawled our eyes out! I am so thankful for Sal's friendship - - 20 years and counting!!

We had to finish up Trevor's diorama of a Pond Habitat. He did all the work on his own, including coming up with the ideas of what his food chain would be and how he wanted to create the items represented. I stressed at many moments and thought about cursing the teacher, but in the end it all turned out well. Trevor really enjoyed the project - - he is a crafty little guy.

Third Week of February

We took Cai's friend Anton to the library with us this week. They had a fun time listening to books about circles and then making a craft. Cai is still LOVING the glue. He is always the last one done.



Ryan and Trevor's school hosted a Barnes & Noble night. Each class was asked to perform some sort of poetry or other reading. A certain percentage of the proceeds for the night went towards their school. Trevor read part of the poem "Sick", with his class.

During February and March, the school is offering Enrichment classes for one hour after school on Wednesdays to the 4th & 5th graders. There were lots of topics to choose from. I wanted Ryan to take the one on Rocks, Minerals, and Gems. His first choice was Law Enforcement and Forensics. Here he is with his teacher.

Anderson has been asking me to come to school and have lunch with him. He also informed that lots of parents do it and they bring in lunch for the kids. (like McDonalds, Wendys, even Mexican!) I finally went in this week. He was SO thrilled. When we first sat down, he told me that I looked beautiful. And then at the end he asked if we could walk around the table so he could introduce me to all the kids in his class.

I love his excitement!!!

Sally and Jaden came over and we all walked to the park. ( I took a picture of all the kids on their bikes and strollers, but it didn't turn out. Here is Cai going down the slide.

"Welcome Oliver"

Joanna's baby shower was at our house. It was wonderful to see her!! The shower was amazing - relaxing and great fellowship!!

Trevor & Gordon; such sweet friends!

Ooops! Again! This picture needs to be on the 4th week of February. Ben spent the night with us on Sunday night. He is one of Katie's twin boys. Cai got to be the big brother for the day. We had lots of fun and Ben loved the atttention!

Second Week of February

Science Fair!!
Ryan had to complete an experiment and present his findings to his class, as well as display his board during the Science Fair. This is one of those things that would have slipped off of my to-do list this year. He was able to pick his topic. Months ago we heard on the radio station that you would not drink Coke again if you saw what it does to a spoon after 3 days. Ever since that day, Ryan has wanted to find out what happens. This was the perfect opportunity!

Here he is with his display.

These little airplanes were a cool "extra" for his project. Kris dropped off some equipment to a patient, who was retired. The man asked if he wanted to take home an airplane. Kris said sure. Thinking he meant paper airplanes. Well, he makes these out of pop cans! I asked Kris to call back and ask the man to make a Diet Coke one, too. (Since Ryan was testing the effects of both Diet and regular on the spoon.) He was more than happy to do it.

Ryan is also part of a 5th Grade basketball team at our church that plays other 5th graders from different churches and schools in the area. They had their first game this week.

Ryan and Trevor were both "Student of The Month" for their grades last month. They found out this week and were treated to a pizza party by their Principal. They were glad to be it during the same month, because they were able to see each other at the pizza party.

I got my hair cut - - TWICE this week. Here is the first cut. I liked it, but I was wanting to try something different and I didn't think this was different enough.

So, the next day I called the girl back and asked her to recut it for me. This is a HUGE deal for me, because I wouldn't want to hurt her feelings. But I asked, and I am glad! It's still not exactly what I had pictured in my mind, but I like it.

This is what the table looks like every afternoon between the hours of 2:30 and 4:30. Anderson will sometimes squeeze in too, but usually he and I just sit on the couch or at the bar.

Report Cards came out this week. Ryan received all A's. Trevor one B and the rest A's. Both of them were given wonderful compliments by their teachers, too. They were given free kids meal coupons from Salsarita's! (Love that place.) Anderson doesn't get grades, yet. He is progressing, with a little bit of "needs to talk less and focus on completing tasks" :) He is a chatter box!

Family Night: Tacos and Train Dominoes!

Yikes, T!

Anderson and Ryan

Kris and I celebrated out 19th Valentine's together! Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of us that night! We went out to dinner and then he took me to the mall. I got a new purse and a pair of boots. AND since my shoes I was wearing were killing my feet he bought me new flip flops. AND since they were on sale, I got 3 pair!! He is so good to me. It was a fun, relaxing evening.

For the family that morning I made a special breakfast - - one of our favorite!