Bragging on Our Boy

Once again I want to brag on our boy, Shawn. His teacher put a pretty lofty reading goal in place for the whole class this month. Shawn has read like crazy and met his reading goal. He has read and taken more AR tests this month that he has ever done! He's read several Weird Schoolhouse books (by Dan Gutman) as well as several non-fiction biographies at home, and he's read several books at school this month, too. We are so proud!

He already has his first book picked for February, too.

Way to go with the hard work, kiddo!

Mostly Wordless Wednesday

Just Because

Jack in the hat. lol

Mr. Picky

This kid. He is definitely our pickiest eater, so when he wanted a banana and peanut butter sandwich, I jumped on the request. He wasn't sure if he liked it while he ate it...although he did give me a thumbs up about it.

It should be noted that it has been a few days, yet he hasn't asked for the sandwich again. I don't think that's a coincidence. Ha!

Question of the Week

What bugs you?

Jason: Uh...what bugs me? My brothers. Ha Ha. Mostly them. They bother me. They pester me. (There was no hesitation here. LOL)

Jack: Nothing. (I asked him if he was sure.) No...nothing bothers me.

Shawn: Nothing. (Come on Shawn. Nothing bothers you? What bothers you?) Hm...bugs. (Bugs?) Yeah, bugs bother me. (What bugs?) Oh, bees and flies. And butterflies sometimes, too.

LOL. This question was asked during iPad time, which may or may not have meant they were less interested in answering than normal.

At the End

Finishing his book...the last of the Harry Potter series.

Only 30 pages to go.
Torn between wanting to know how it ends
and not wanting it to.

It's hard saying goodbye to characters and a story you love.

Shawn's Homecoming Day!

On this day, 11 years ago, our Shawn finally came home after 90 days in the hospital! 

It's a day that is very important to us, and we will continue to celebrate for as long as the boys will let us!

Shawn woke up to some decorations on his door.

We went to his favorite place, Target, and shopped for some fun things.

He got some surprise eggs and bags.

He got to pick what we had for dinner (hamburgers AND tacos).

Then we sang "Happy Homecoming Day to You!" and watched as he blew out his candles. 

I asked him how many candles he wanted. He first told me he wanted a million.
I told him that the cake probably wouldn’t hold that many.
Lol. He settled on three candles - his favorite number.

He was so excited to get some presents. :)

 Happy Homecoming Day, Shawn! Hope you had a fantastic day!

UnBEEleavable!

There is much to celebrate around these parts this week! Mr. Jason won his school's Spelling Bee! He says the bee took 7 rounds to complete, and his last two words were "martyr" and "lustrous." Next up is the County Spelling Bee in March.

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Way to go, Jason! We are so very proud of you!

Mostly Wordless Wednesday - Lovin'

These two are super sweet together. They always go all out, whether that means to drive each other crazy or to love each other to death. This was one of their loving moments, although it did end in a head lock a few moments later! Ha!

Question of the Week

If you drew everything that came to your head, what would you be drawing right now?

Jason: I would draw a perfectly tuned drag car. (He was playing Xbox at the time, so that could have influenced his answer. lol)

Jack: I would draw a rainbow because I love rainbows!

Shawn: A lion roaring at hyenas.

LOL! Always such different answers from this crew. I love it!

Hair Cut Time

This guy got a trim today. Looks so cute!

Super Blood Wolf Moon Eclipse

Tonight we got the chance to see the only lunar eclipse of the year. It was a special because the moon was at it's closest to the Earth in its elliptical orbit and will appear larger than normal, it had a reddish/brown tint to it, and January's full moon (which is where the "wolf" comes from - the Native American title for January's full moon). We were lucky because the started during prime viewing hours for us - 7:30! Perfect!

The boys checked out the moon through the telescope...

Then we had a little chat about what happens during a lunar eclipse (using the flashlight and an "Earth" to block the light).

So cool!

Cute Big Boy Saturday

We almost don't fit on Shawn's bed anymore. These two are getting so big!

Friday Five

Yay for the weekend! Oh boy, has this been a week. We are all very happy to have a nice, long, three day weekend to look forward to!

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The boys are fighting some sort of crud. Jason has a sore throat and is congested. Jack has been off enough that I'm fairly certain it's coming for him next. Poor Shawn is a sitting duck. lol. Let's just hope whatever this is, it will pass quickly.

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Jason will be recognized at the district office in February for reading over a million words again! So proud of him!

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Shawn has been rocking his reading, too, and I am very proud of all of his hard work. He has taken more AR tests (and passing them!) lately than he has in all of his school years combined! He reads books on his iPad in a larger font, and it has made all the difference!

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We just bought Jack new shoes. He is now 1 size away from wearing MEN'S sized shoes! How can this be?!

Guitar Man

He is VERY proud of his work, too!

Mostly Wordless Wednesday

Jack has a project to do! He is making a recycled musical instrument. He chose to make a guitar. :)

Stage 1: construct and paint

Stage 2 is tomorrow!

Question of the Week

Question: If you wrote a book, what would it be about?

Jack: "Uh, a car, listening to my heart, and learning about sportsmanship."

Jason: "Science fiction - it would be a fictional disaster or something. There'd be a few scientists in it. It would a fantastic story."

Shawn: "I'd write about (Cars 3) cars. They'd be racing."

Working Hard

This week is full of rain, rain, and even more rain. It's only been the first of several, and I think we're all going a bit stir crazy being cooped up inside.

Life goes on despite the crazy weather. These two were making the most of things and working hard on homework. :)

Get Out of My Way

We've been doing a lot of talking and practicing about body ownership, and that when a person says, "No." it means to stop without question. Jack has been playing around with the implications of the idea by first telling me he wants snuggles and then quickly saying, "No." and having me stop. He likes to go back and forth with his okays and nos for several exchanges.

Tonight, Jack was back to his tricks and asking and then stopping me from giving kisses. Shawn came into the room at a time when I had told Jack that I was waiting for him to tell me it was okay. Shawn piped up with, "Move it, Jack. You don't want some lovin' then get out of the way. I do!"

LOL!

Better than that is that I know they're really taking to heart this very important message.

Cute Big Boy Saturday

This afternoon he was hiding out in the kitchen reading Harry Potter. My plan to fully indoctrinate him into Potterfandome is working!

Friday Five

The boys have had a FANTASTIC first week back after break. (Blows my mind that it has only been a week, though. Sheesh.) Can't get any better than that. :)

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Jason home from school with all kinds of awards today! He received gift certificates for Lazy Dog, Panera, and Chick Fil A. He also got a hat. To top it all off, he got a framed certificate of achievement AND another certificate for achievement -- all to recognize him for his reading. Way! To! GO! Jay!

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The area lost power today while everyone was in school. The power was out for approximately 15 minutes at my school and for the entire last hour and a half at the boys' school (and for the same length of time at our house). Jack cracked us up when he had to prove to everyone that the power was back on by turning on the lights. "See? The power is on. Whew." LOL

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By the end of this month we will have to have decided which MIDDLE SCHOOL our dynamic duo will go to next year! Our guys are getting all grown up!

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Another shout out for Jay: guess who is going to represent his class in the school spelling bee?! So excited for him!