THIS IS WHAT YOU DO WHEN YOU "BATTEN DOWN THE HATCHES"

We've been couped up for two days, and I must say I definetly welcomed it! Other than the storms, power ottages, trees down on neighbors cars, junk everywhere, being homebound because of the "Winter Storm" was fine by me! We have had a busy year and I am really enjoying this little time off!! The weather was MUCH better today but we still chose to stay home and hang out!!! So what did we do you ask?? Played lots of games...at least a few that we could find that hadn't yet been unpacked!!!

Apples to Apples...the funnest family game!!! Scattergories....which I am terrible at!
And, lots of video games!!! My kids were in heaven...
How sweet are they?!?!?!

JAKE'S MITEY MITE BOWL & BANQUET

THis is how far behind in posting! Jake's last Football game of the season....The Mitey Mite Bowl. We were a bit bummed when Jake wasn't feeling good and didn't paly, but it was a good game otherwise! We made it thru!
The Defensive Team with their Coach, Eric.

Jake's team had their Banquet at Chevy's. It was a nice Banquet, despite the fact there was SO MANY PEOPLE there! The coaches had nice things to say about all the kids and the Team Moms did a great job putting it together! Thanks!!

JAKE'S BIRTHDAY PARTY

Two weeks later...Jake's party! We had a great time at the Bowling Alley! The kids had a random day off of school so it was fun to have pretty much the whole place to ourselves! The kiddos bowled, had pizza, played video games and had good 'ol fun! What a great group of boys! You'd think with 19 boys, and one girl!!, it would be craziness but they are such a great group of boys!! Thanks everyone who came and helped make Jake's day special and for all the awesome gifts! Escpecially his new digital camera which he loves!!! You never know when he will sneack up on you and take a picture!!! (more pics at my flickr!)

KING'S GAME!

So, Lexi can't make it to Jake's party so they invited him to go with Steph and the kids to the King's first Preseason game. Jake was SOOOOO excited! I had to "steal" these pics from Steph's flickr toshare with you guys!

Lexi, Jake & Slamson...they even got Slamson's autograph... Wolfie, Connor, Jake & Lexi taking a free throw shot after the game.....
And, this picture is TOOOOOOOO cute that Steph cropped and tweeked and whatever else she does to make her pictures look so good!!! How cute are these two??
But, I think the highlight for Jake was after the game Steph took them to "stalk" the players exit. Jake said Quincy Douby walked by Jake and said "Whaddup Dawg" I think it's now his new favorite player!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY JAKEY!

Today Jakey is turning the big 8! It's so hard to believe he's already 8 years old and a big second grader! Jake is my sweet and sensitive one with a wacky sense of humor! He's had a rough couple of weeks between getting his expander put in, Mom messing it up and jabbing a hole in the roof of his mouth, and fracturing his thumb at football last weekend! But, he's tough! He's already had some birthday fun...Kings game with Lexi earlier this week, fun with a friend today, his FAVE Mongolian BBQ tonight and his bowling party on Monday! Hope you have a good day today Jakey-poo!

JAKE'S MOUTH OF METAL!

Poor little Jakey! After months of trips to the Ortho Jake finally had his spacer & expander placed last week. The spacer is not a big deal, just a matter of getting used to it, but the expander is something! Jake has a crossbite and the expander will expand his pallete. I have to turn it and adjust it twice a day! He's such a trooper and doesn't complain, even after the adjusting, and is slowly getting used to it!

SLEEPYHEAD JAKE!

Taking after his little brother...my other little sleepyhead! Can you see what football is doing to my babay?!?! Can you see all the bruises on his arm from blocking?!?! My poor baby!

THIS YEAR, LAST YEAR

WOW! Is all I can say....

Justin and Jake First Day of School 2007....
And last year 2006...


DOUBLE WOW! Jake & Lexi First Day of School 2007....
And last year 2006....

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL 2007

WOW!!! My kids are growing up so fast I just can't believe it! As you all know, Justin started Jr. HIgh yesterday and Jake started 2nd grade. Here's the traditional first day picture! I wonder if the people buying our house will let me come back each year for this shot..heehee!! Jake & Lexi waiting in line for their teacher....
Jake settling into his new desk. It was really quite surreal walking into his 2nd grade class. Justin had the same teacher in the same classroom. I remember being pregnant with Joshy in this classroom! We are very excited for 2nd grade and are so thrilled with the teacher Jake got!
Okay, here's some of the gang. I guess I need to realize that big 7th grade Jr. High boys just don't want Justin's Mom following them around anymore taking their picture :-)) This was on Orientation Day after they got their schedules. So far Justin LOVES all his classes and his teachers and has no complaints!

LOVE LOVE LOVE this shot! The boys crossing the dreaded A Street...walking home from school. All us parents were waiting across the street to pick them up. As soon as they saw me with the camera they were all trying to hide...though TJ I SEE YOU!!! Okay boys, I promise not to torture you during your Jr. High years wanting pictures all the time! Stay tuned for Joshy's first day of school pictures, he starts at the end of the month!

THE BIG DAY HAS FINALLY ARRIVED!

They got their football equipment! Jake has been beside himself waiting for the day to get here! He is soooooo excited about playing football this year. He looks so big and grown up in all his gear!! Football practices officially begin next Mondy (7/30). They will have (I believe) 5 weeks straight 3 hours a day/5 days a week practices then after Labor day it will go to 3 hours a day/3 days a week for the remainder of the season! It's going to be crazy!! At least Justin will have the first two "hell weeks" behind him when he starts JR. HIGH!!!
And, of course, Joshy had to get in on the action....brothers wouldn't let him try on the gear but were kind enough to give him an old chinstrap to put on!!

RELAY FOR LIFE

It was our little towns 3rd annual Relay for Life last night and for the 2nd year in a row we went out in honor of friends and family who have lost their lives to Cancer and the Cancer Survivors. As you may remember from last year Jake tagged along with me and loved it so much that he has been looking forward to it again this year. This year Joshy wanted to go too and after trying for two hours while we were wlaking to explain what we were doing and why I gave up...as most of you can imagine....The boys did awesome and after 1 hour and 50 minutes of NO complaints from Joshy and constant walking he just so non chalantly said he was done and went and sat down! The boys did great and in the end Joshy had 18 paperclips, which translates to 18 laps around the track which equals 4 and 1/2 miles!! What a trooper! Jake & I finished off 2 more laps to make it an even 5 miles. Thanks Alisa for asking us to participate again with the Powerful Pink People! It is such an awesome experience and I love to be a part of it every year!!!

ICE SKATING!

Jake's little friend had his birthday party at the ice rink yesterday and what a hoot it was! Most of the kiddos had never been ice skating and it was so funny watching them out there! Jake loved it and can't wait to go back! Towards the end the boys were getting the hang of it and doing pretty good!

Look Mom, no hands!!
Jake & Jay hanging on for dear life.... Even when he was down, which was quite a bit ;-)), he was smiling and having fun!!!
And, he's down again.....

SLEEPYHEAD BROTHERS!

Brothers are thrashed!!! The kids have been non stop lately and it all caught up with them today! They have both been sacked on the couch for several hours now!! Precious little pumpkins!

Sleepyhead Justin.... Sleepyhead Jake....

ACCORDING TO MY KIDS...

...summer is officially here now that we have setup Banzai Falls! They have been such troopers with all my painting (see previous post) and have been waiting oh-so-patiently to have some summer fun!!

JAKE'S 1st GRADE AWARD ASSEMBLY

Jake receiving his "Outstanding Writing" award! It was a great year for Jake-he made lots of great new friends, had an awesome teacher and overall loved school! We are also very proud of the fact he was quite the reader this year and took AR tests on the books he read (which had AR tests) and his final word count for the year was over 90,000 words read! Way to go Jakey-poo!! Being bashful...believe it or not, Jake is quite bashful!

WHO'S THE SLEEPYHEAD

JACOB RILEY.... JOSHUA ROBERT....

ARITHMETIC 101

THISMINUS THIS
EQUALS THIS
Yes, it's a very sad day for me! I LOVED Jakey's long hair! I felt like my baby was getting his first haircut! But, the poor guy was DRIPPING sweat after his baseball game today and he was afraid he "would die" tomorrow at his football clinic! I told him the girls were going to be so sad Monday at school :-))

A RARE GLIMPSE OF BROTHERLY LOVE!

Imagine my surprise when all is quiet in the house and I instantly assume the boys are up to trouble...but no, I find this..... Jake teaching Josh how to read!! HOW SWEET! I didn't have the heart to tell Jake he should probably teach him his abc's first :-)))

HOLY HAIR BATMAN!

Jake can't understand why I won't let him go to school like this.... it's so long we had a hard time getting it to actually stand up!

WOW!

WHAT A DIFFERENCE 3-1/2 MONTHS MAKES!

Jake....10/13/06Jake....1/31/07
I was not crazy about the fact he wanted to grow out his hair...for cornrows!!!!....not because I don't like long hair on boys, I do!, I just thought it would look stringy and ratty but it really looks cute now!!