Way Back Wednesday

This week in 2014...

Jack - 10/4/2014

 

Handprint Day!

We fell into this tradition by accident, but once I realized it could be a thing, I made it one. Every year on this date, I make the boys stamp their hand prints on paper.

We started it in 2011 - Jack's first year on Earth. He was not quite 6 months old. The big boys were nearing 4.



Jason, Shawn, and Jack (left to right)
September 28, 2011



They were all so tiny then.

They keep getting bigger, these boys.  





Shawn, Jason, and Jack (left to right)
September 28, 2012



Bigger.

Shawn, Jason, and Jack (left to right)
September 28, 2013

And bigger.

September 28, 2014
Shawn, Jason, and Jack

And stronger.

September 28, 2015
Shawn, Jason, and Jack

And even stronger. 

September 30, 2016
Jason, Shawn, and Jack

And even stronger!

September 28. 2017
Shawn, Jason, and Jack

And super strong!

And super, super strong!

This year, these boys' hands are practically manly! I can hardly believe it.

My hand on the right, Jason's hand on the left.

It's a little bittersweet to see how much they've grown.

Their hand prints are such a visual representation of how much they've changed, a tangible way of seeing the passage of time when sometimes it's so hard to grasp in day to day living of life.

These hand prints tell the tale. Our boys are not so little anymore.

Project!

Jack finished his California relief map project this weekend! He did such a good job, too!

The point was to show the different regions in CA. He used dirt for the desert region. A sugar/dirt mixture for the coastal region. He painted the Central Valley. He used purple hot glue for the mountain region. (I did help a bit with the glue after it burned him. Oopsie) He used pompoms for location markers. LOL
 

Haircut Time!

Haircuts always make such a HUGE difference!

As you can see in the before pictures, it was clearly passed time! lol. Not too shabby work, if I do say so myself!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to Isaac! We had a quiet quarantine style birthday - yummy food, yummy cupcakes (chocolate with Funfetti icing, and presents. Yay!

Friday Five

My grandma called this week. She's 98 years old and what was she doing? She was moving furniture around her house so the carpet cleaners could come next week. We should all be so spry ourselves when we get to be 98 years old!

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Speaking of getting older, we have a birthday celebration tomorrow. It's Isaac's birthday!

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Jack has started working on his California relief map. It is shaping up to be quite the extensive project. Sheesh. It's due next Friday, but I think it is a very good thing we started early. He might be nearing half done at this point, I think.

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I measured Jack and Jason this afternoon. Jack is 4'10" tall. He's grown a good 2 inches since May!

I measured Jason today because he was able to reach a toy I had in my hand that I was holding above my head. It surprised me! He is always a bit longer than he measures because it's harder for him to stand super straight, but HE IS ALREADY 5'6" as a 7th grader! I think if he is probably 2-3" taller than that, which puts him at might height! Yikes!

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I think we need to cut hair this weekend. Shawn's hair sits just inside his glasses and blocks his view. lol. If I pull it straight, his hair easily touches the tip of his nose!

We Grew a Mandrake!

This guy made us laugh when we pulled him out of the ground. He looks just like a Mandrake from Harry Potter!

Way Back Wednesday

Today is my mom's birthday, so I thought I would share a way, way back Wednesday photo...

Little me reminds me a bit of our little men. ❤️

Dang He's a Cutie

This kid is giving me his cute, little puppy dog eyes. He wants something. Can you tell? lol

Stars in the Making

Me: Jack, would you rather sing or dance?

Jackson: "I would rather dance because it's easy and makes me happy." With that, he hopped up from his seat and danced around the room a la Flashdance. lol

This kid makes me smile!

Me: Shawn?

Shawn: "Sing. I like to sing because I want to sing in a band."

So, there you go!

Well, That Didn't Take Long

Well, that didn't take long. Tonight we got a pretty hearty, "I don't want to go to school tomorrow." Granted, "going" to school simply means walking 5 steps to the computer, but whatever. He says there is too much to do, and the responsibility of it all is wearing him down. I can see that. I've been back to school less than him and I'm already feeling it.

It's such a hard thing to maneuver right now -- keeping everyone safe while not burdening each with more than he can handle. All we can do is our best and take things one day at a time.

Pancakes

Jason made his own breakfast today. He was quite pleased with himself!

Don't mind the hair. It was early!

Friday Five

Well, we are now solidly into the school year. The transition from summer back to school for us has been a little tougher this year because everything is online. That has translated to me having to work much more than typical. While the learning online thing means less time "in class" for the students, it has translated to twice as much time for the teachers "in class." Hopefully, things can change on this front soon, because it is hard on the entire family when I am putting in 55+ work weeks.

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Jack has a project to work on for geography. He gets to create a map of California that depicts the different regions. It's supposed to be accurate with geographical features and what not. It should be interesting to create (in all of our free time). lol

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Our caterpillars are back! For a while there, wasps were pillaging our poor caterpillars. We tried everything to get rid of the wasps, to no avail. Then, all of a sudden the wasps were gone and the caterpillars are back. Yay!

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This week, instead of "an adventure" we had a special delivery box come. I ordered one special thing for each of them to open on Friday as their special treat. The box came on Monday and sat there until the earned the opening on Friday. They were SO excited to open it by the time Friday came, and they enjoyed their goodies (a book for Jack, surprise toys for Shawn, and some cards for Jay). Fun! May have to have another surprise box in the near future.

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We had to drain the pool, and we are all sad. All the gunk in the air just made the pool too nasty to clean. Hopefully the weather will warm up a bit more so we can fill it back up and enjoy.

Throwback Thursday

This week in 2013 - back when they weren't driving each other crazy simply because they could. lol

Mostly Wordless Wednesday

This kid is getting so grown up lately!

 

More Art

A tennis match...a joint effort by both Jason and Jack (much to Jason's dismay, but that's how little brother roll.)

Another Tooth!

Jack brought me a tooth today!