Thanks for the cigs, Aunt Lisa.

Hopefully you enjoyed these Xmas photo highlights.

We've really had a great time this holiday - I'm even thinking that intentionally saving the tree decorating for Christmas Eve might need to be a new tradition! It really put us in the mood for Christmas Day - making cookies, decorating, and wrapping it all up once the boys were in bed. It's funny how Libby's accident put life into perspective. We were just so grateful that she wasn't permanently disabled that we were confident that we'd get things done eventually.

This may be our last Xmas that the boys are Believers. I can't imagine Jimmy will make it through another year without some of the older guys blowing it. Of course, I can hope that he'd be willing to play along for Mike but you know brothers....I'm just sticking with the fact that Santa doesn't drop down your chimney if you don't believe in him :)

Here's numerous photos of Christmas Eve & Day. The boys have Santa's goodies ready to go; a photo of them ready for bed, all tucked into sleeping bags in Mike's room; the goodies under the tree after Santa arrived; the boys opening up the coveted Xbox 360. More to follow in the next post (since I maxed out the photos in this one).

Mike's supply of LEGOs needed a more substantial surface - so Jim and I built him this desk out of birch sheet and PVC. He's very pleased to have a nice big area that won't get cleaned off by Mom (unlike the floor). He said it was like getting a Christmas present early ;)

The cold front has arrived in North Texas. It went from being a beautiful, mild day to chilly. I took this cool pic from my upstair bathroom window.

In an hour, I'll be dropping off Jimmy to go camping with Scouts. Mike will follow along tomorrow morning. The Boy Scouts are doing a badge camp for the Webelos and then they'll all celebrate with a family Thanksgiving Feast. Mike will be camping with them overnight on Saturday. The low is supposed to be 32degrees!

No, Jim and I are NOT camping with them this time :)

I love ladybugs. I even have a little pewter one I keep in my wallet for good luck. Jimmy had commented yesterday that there was a ladybug in his room - he wasn't worried and neither was I.

But this was more than I expected to ever encounter! We were packing for his camping trip when he noticed another ladybug fly by and then said "LOOK, Mom!".

We collected about twenty in a jar and have left the other few, out of reach, ones where they are.

Jimmy feels very lucky now ;)

A perfect October evening for Trick or Treating! The kids were out in droves so we went through all ten bags of candy I bought yesterday.

Jimmy, Mike and their buddy Kevin headed out into the night together and returned 2 hours later, sweaty and arms aching.

Now, Jim and I are headed out to see my friend Suzan in a midnight theater performance of the Rocky Horror Picture Show!

See if you can figure it out :) This is the magazine holder in the downstairs "powder room" :D

Halloween. It brings back memories of a childhood in Virginia where it got chilly in Autumn, leaves changed to glorious colors and you had to wade through them on the sidewalks as you made your way to school. In the evenings, the breeze was often aromatically laced with the woody smell of a nearby fireplaces.

It's not quite that way here in Texas - it's still usually quite warm in October, the trees change color a bit but the leaves don't really drop until later in the season, and everyone nearby has gas fireplaces. But, I don't let that dampen my spirits!

Now that the boys are older, I no longer have to decorate "G" and can embrace the spooky and scary :D Last year I made some tombstone forms with leftover plywood but we never got around to doing much with them. So, last week we pulled out the paintbrushes and finally decorated them. They really made the front yard much more Halloween-ish.

The boys have decided what they will be - Jimmy is a vampire and Mike has chosen a ghoul. Due to time constraints, I went ahead and let them order the costumes. Nowadays, you can order them for nearly the same it would cost you digging around the house/Goodwill for pieces or buying fabric. Not to mention the time spent. This time it was worth my sanity to buy.

Mike plans to lay in our Halloween display and scare small children...

Today was Jimmy's first flag football game for the Fall session. New team. But Jimmy must have impressed the coach in practice because he started him as quarterback. They scored a touchdown on the first play.
They didn't win the game in the end but Jimmy played hard and got lots of positive feedback.

Jim and Mike just headed on down the road to attend WOW - the World of Webelos camping trip, joining over 300 other Webelos. Jimmy left last night for the same camp - the Boy Scouts troops are the mentors for this weekend and they will be setting up stations for the Webelos to rotate through and learn all types of cool things. Jimmy never attended this camp because we came into Scouts on the tail end of Webelos, so he may learn some good info too.

It's so amazing to watch the boys enter this new stage of childhood. Both of them are growing so fast (but still snuggle willingly so that's okay) and gaining new skills all the time. Their budding confidence is the coolest thing of all. I have to give Scouts some credit there - for creating activities that get them out of their comfort zones. For example, Mike's den is selling popcorn right now. If you fill your page you earn a marshmallow crossbow. Two weeks passed and Mike had not done anything. I gently pointing out deadlines a time or two but wasn't going to take the lead. Finally, he asked me if would go out with him. He was so shy and our first stop was a no but he took it very well and seemed spurred on by it. He sold at the next house. And the next. And the next. That was all it took. Out of 30 spots he's got 25 filled! But, best of all, he's been Mr. Smiles all week. He's radiating confidence because he's reaching his goal. I'm very curious to see how this positive experience will affect his personality in the long run.

So, I'm alone for the weekend! It's WOW weekend for me too! HAHA Which is actually nice timing due to Jim's overseas travel. I get some alone time in the middle of all the travel. Some absolute quiet. I can actually hear the fridge running as I sit here. Without anticipating when the boys will be running down to rummage through the cereal cabinets and slam kitchen drawers ;) A breather is nice!

I worked out a nicely paced day for myself. The gym. The garden center. Dream dinners (premake your meals at their kitchen and take home to freeze!). Maybe the mall. Then this evening I'm heading out to support five of our dance students at their first stage performance! Our babies are growing up LOL It'll be so neat to see women that WE taught get up there!!! Two years ago I would've laughed if you told me I'd be a dance teacher AND do a good enough job to get five beginners on stage. Too cool!

The rest of my time I think I'll clean and organize things so the next two busy weeks are hectic but not stressful. Sounds a bit sad to clean but I'll just crank up the stereo and make it exercise...so I dont' feel guilty eating that slice of delicousness I bought for myself at The Cake Stand bakery :D And no one is going to ask for a bite of it...

McKinney Baylor Hospital To Break Ground Tuesday

Opening Expected Late 2010

Baylor Health Care Systems will break ground on its McKinney facility at 10 a.m. on Tuesday at the northwest corner of of Highway 380 and Lake Forest Drive, according to the McKinney Courier-Gazette.

The full service 95-bed hospital will open in late 2010, with a medical office building adjacent to the hospital expected to open prior to that. The architectural firm of RTKL of Dallas is working on the design of the new facility, which is expected to expand over time from the initial 95 beds.

Officials say the proposed hospital will have an infrastructure that will allow it to grow into a 12-story building with over 400 beds to keep pace with expected population increase.

Baylor Health Care Systems paid roughly $7 million for the nearly 50-acre site of its McKinney facility.

This is literally right up the street. I pass it almost every time I leave my house and anytime we walk the dogs we go along here as we circle the neighborhood. Plus, last I heard they had limited the # of stories to way less than twelve!

Mess until 2010? Grrrr.

Well, so much for that two blogs a week! I must have jinxed myself :)

We've had a lot happening with Scouts, soccer, bellydance and our other enrichment activities. Today we started our 6 week Friday co-op with other homeschooling families. It's such a great activity but it's also stressful since all of us have to teach classes too. I'm doing Nutrition for the 9-12 year olds. My class went well despite the Murphy's Law of getting things together. All my food pyramids were bright red. Maybe the printer was angry? LOL All I know was the .pdfs on the FDA website were colorful and interesting. But they came out of my printer various shades of red. I gave up at the point and just used them anyway! The kids thought it was funny. Jimmy and Mike had a good day and enjoyed their classes so that's what matters most.

At home, one of our favorite activities is to sit down together and read a "classic". I've been picking books that have a boy experiencing various challenges or life moments. Over the summer we read one about a primitive island boy who leaves his community to confront the sea - which took his mother's life, and almost his, many years previous. He was fearful of the sea and felt his father was ashamed of him, considering they were fisherman. Of course, he overcomes his fears and shocks everyone by returning strong and confident months later.

Then we read The Day No Pigs Would Die. That one was really good too. Another time and way of life. But very sad ending as the boy's prized pig has to be slaughtered and the father dies. The boy, only 13, has to step in and fill his shoes.

We also read a book about a teen who survives a plane crash in the Canadian outback. He is rescued but later decides he preferred the solitude of the outback and returns - with plans to visit a native trapper friend. He comes upon an injured dog and sets off to find the dog's people. On the journey to solve the mystery, he discovers his trapper friend, the wife, and the grandmother, have been killed by a renegade bear. When the "mounties" say they can't do much, the boy hunts down the bear (with the dog's help) and kills it to avenge their deaths.

When we got home today, I finished our last two chapters of our current book, Where The Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls. I warned that the ending was traumatic. Jimmy is very sensitive to that sort of thing - the series he is reading right now had him very angry at the end of the first book. The main character was killed and he was ready to ditch the whole set because it was so upsetting. I encouraged him to continue, "they won't do that to you again in the same story" (I hope not!!!), and he is now almost done with the 4th book. I think he read book 2 and 3 last week. That the fastest he has ever gotten through a series.

Anyway, we piled in the recliner and began. And then we got the box of tissues. And cried. And blew our noses. And cried some more. The last two chapters were heart wrenching. We were all puffy faced and stuffed up by the time I finished the last page. Then we sat quietly, remembering the characters' journeys and absorbing the story's messages.

But this is the sort of thing that I love about homeschooling. I don't know where we'd find the time for these moments if we were the typical public school family. But today, the boys and I were graced by sharing the ending of a memorable story of trust, faith, friendship, determination, love, loss, change and healing. All good things for boys to learn and appreciate as they grow into young men.

I've been using my photo organizing software this evening and thought Grandpa and Grandma would get a kick out of these two photos....left one is June 05 and the right is August 08.

Can you imagine the picture for 2011? Jan & Jim might have to switch places with the boys ;)

A friend warned me not to go for very long in between posts or I'd start to feel behind and put it off. So, my goal is to post a minimum of two times per week - if I manage more that will just be "gravy"! I'm doing good at this point...

These past two afternoons, we managed to squeeze in some bowling (Thursday) and swimming at the Natatorium (Friday). Both times, we carpooled with our friends, Suzan (mom), Andrew (13) and Katie (6), and had so much fun hanging out and running errands too. It had been a while since we'd all had some quality time :)

I've toted along my handy (new) little Canon Powershot (CR Top Pick, Grandpa Jim!) and have been very pleased with the convenience- and results. I even managed to find time to read the manual and play around with it last weekend. Technology is funny since my much more expensive camera, from 5 years ago, is half the mega-pixels. For my Xmas present, I plan to pick out another camera - probably the Canon Rebel - to be my serious camera when I want really great pics and am willing to tote it along. This Powershot is my purse camera - it goes everywhere so I can grab those everyday moments I realized I was missing.

Mike had his first fall soccer game this morning and it went really well. The weather was beautiful and they all looked great in their bright (clean) new uniforms. Mike got busier in the second half and was dishing it out. They still have some things to work on but Coach Sam seemed to be pretty happy with their overall performance.

Sadly, Jimmy won't be doing football because signups were in June! Who would've thunk it? Oh, well. It means one less place I have to be for the next two months. And we heard a rumor he would've had to cut his hair!!!! Gasp! So, he doesn't seem to be dissapointed.

Today was our first official science lab in our Biology class. Another homeschooling mother was super generous in offering a 7wk course in her home for only $15 a kid. I'm thrilled since it would be 10x that at the local science museum.

We started last week and the topic was cells/DNA. Their homework was to create a 3D model of one and present it. We chose to do one of each and found some really fun ideas on the internet.

Mike selected a Twizzlers Double Helix concept using colored gummy bears to represent the four organic bases. Jimmy went with a Jello Cell that used various candies as the organelles. Overall, the creations went very smoothly and we were able to find candy that matched quite well. We used things like Nerds, jellybeans, gumballs, gummy worms, etc. It was undeniably fun! I mean, how often does a kid have a good excuse to buy a load of candy for schoolwork AND get to eat the leftovers? Our only glitch was discovering that Jim had eaten our "nucleus" (plum), so we had to improvise with a green jawbreaker. No harm done.

Everyone presented their models, though I must brag that Jimmy and Mike did an impressive job and had an attentive (perhaps hungry?LOL) audience.

After presentations, the group moved onto bones and had their first dissection. A cow leg bone, fresh from the butcher. Armed with scalpels, they studied the bone layers, dug out the marrrow, looked for nerves - and made a lot of faces :) But they still had enough of an appetite to polish off the Jello Cell at the end of class!

Overall, today's class was a very fun and interesting. Next week's assignment has a few options, including creating a joint or orally presenting info on bone related topics. I'm curious to see what each of the boys chose to do! I wonder if I can convince Mike to do an oral presentation on how a broken bone heals? He absolutely hates public speaking but it would be so great for him to try it out in the this small setting - and he has plenty of experience on healing broken bones! HEHE

Gustav is slowly making his way into our area, although we haven't seen rain yet. In fact, it's been quite a lovely day aside from the amazing gusts of wind warning of his arrival.

The boys jumped on this windy opportunity and dug out the kites in the garage. Mike seemed to have the most fun since it's allowed - he's still only nine, compared to Jimmy's "too cool" eleven.
But of course, Mike loves any opportunity to run with "Lord of the Flies"-like wild abandon ;)
Hmmm, he seemed to enjoy that more than actually getting the kite up in the air LOL

I realized that Mike needed a Aerodynamics 101 if that kite was to stay up more than down, especially since he won't usually listen to Jimmy's advice. So, I covered a little bit of Bernoulli's principle and then let him figure it out. Sometimes it's just about having a good time, right?

Oh! I just noticed the sprinkles are starting - I love it when it rains while the sun still shines!

In the early years of children, as you pick up a shoe or toy for the millionth time, you (or at least I did LOL) often fantasize about the day when THEY will be big enough to pick up their own stuff, wash dishes, carry laundry baskets and so on.

One reason is because you just want to have someone share the workload, but the other reason is that you hope your kids will finally begin to understand all the hard work you do as Mom (or Dad). You hope they will realize why muddy shoes up the carpeted stairs can practically bring Mom to tears. Why we don't need another critter to clean, feed and try to keep alive. Why it's so helpful when we rinse the sink after brushing our teeth or they improve their aim in the bathroom.

About a month ago, I told the boys (who were helping me carry down ice chests from the attic) how much I appreciated their help and how nice it was that they could now do so much. I commented how everyday stuff was getting much easier compared to when they were little.

Jimmy (perhaps it's the "Y" chromosome?) looked over his shoulder and said, "But, it's not like you had to do very much." What?*^%@$! Pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding (for years!), diapers, sleep deprivation.....

As you can imagine, it was a long car ride to the grocery store. And now he's been introduced to the lawnmower!

Relief! Stan (Jimmy's snake) has been returned to his home. Well, a temporary home until we can repair the screen lid that the cats busted through at some point. They aren't unusually strong or smart but one of them just got lucky after jumping down onto the tank from a bookcase.


The weird thing was that I dreamt about a snake (that looked like Stan) throughout the previous night. After waking, I even made the mental note to be extra aware of snakes in the next few days and told Jimmy and Mike about the dream at breakfast.

A bit later, when I returned from the grocery store, Jimmy greeted me at the door looking very sad.

"Mom...Mom...ummm...I don't know how to tell you this.....my snake....the lid is busted (my left eyebrow goes way up at this point)....and...Stan is missing."

I was so fascinated over the dream snake connection that I didn't even freak out LOL

We searched most of Jimmy's room and found nothing but figured we'd wait for Jim so he could move the heavy stuff. When he returned from work that evening he noticed Purrsephone (cat) sitting attentively in Mike's bedroom closet, staring at the shirts. Bingo! Sure enough, Stan was safely hidden behind the fire escape ladder on the closet floor.

See...mayhem.