4/8 - March Madness no doubt

I can see this blogging thing isn't going to get much better until the summer hopefully. I'll continue to plug away because for me, this my scrapbook. I will find a balance and it will happen in about 1.5 more months.
Eli has continued with therapy and is doing so great and really making some progress. Here are a few samplings of what Eli has done over the past few weeks. He has worked on buttoning a little and finally has started to figure it out. He put the vest on an buttoned it up almost by himself. He loves to play "rocket" with Ms. Lisa. He lays down a scooter board and the scooter and his feet go up against a door to a closet. On the count of three, he has to push as hard as he can and then I catch him. All of his muscles are getting so much stronger. He then made a little obstacle course which he loves to do. It wouldn't be a therapy session without a swing and he was able to use the barrel swing. He's finally got it figured out how to push and pull on the straps and how to move his body to make the swing go. This is huge progress for us. He finished this particular therapy session with writing some letters (which he won't really do for me at home) and holding the marker in an appropriate way.

Here is a therapy session from last week. Eli is constantly seeking out to feel and experience sensations so that is one reason why swinging is so good for him. He was trying to swing in a normal swing except this swing swivels around and that makes it really hard. He does like to go on his belly and then run and push off with his legs to go really high so Ms. Lisa mixes "her way" (normal swinging which he can't do yet) and "his way" to keep him compliant and happy. He then had to cut some paper and put together a little puzzle and he chose to sit in the ball pit to do that (more sensory input). He then had to find little bean bag animals we placed at the bottom of the ball pit and then throw them out. To help with his fine motor skills, he had to then pick up the bean bag animals with a gripper toy/device. It's great to help build-up his hand strength and he thinks it's pretty fun. His activity of choice at the end was to play with these little magnetic monkeys that he has to push a lever and make them flip onto a magnetic board (good for fine motor skills too). He is still switching hands all the time but it looks like his right hand is more accurate but for whatever reason, he likes to still use his left.

 Something pretty exciting happened for me a few weeks ago. I unhooked the washer and dryer I bought in college and that we have used for the past 13 years (it was GE and I didn't have a single problem the entire time I/we used them)!!! We then went shopping and I found a new washer dryer. I was excited about the new washer and dryer but the boys were ecstatic about their new boxes that they turned into forts! They have colored and written all over them. We have draped the boxes with sheets and outfitted them inside as well. I just put them away for a bit because they are huge and take up our front entry way but the boys just love them.

There was a birthday party for the daycare that Eli goes and parents were invited (it was the birthday of the school, not a child). Brad has not been able to do anything for either child in regards to their school and attending things so he decided to go. He was going to fly at night so he slept in like normal and then woke up a little early to go to Eli's school. Brad was one of just a few parents there but Eli had so much fun with him.

Aiden was finally able to have a play date with a friend at school the Friday before Spring Break for him. He had so much fun. I'm hoping we can find some friends to play with around here this summer. There are no kids his age within a few houses of us and then there are a bunch of empty lots so it's not looking so promising for friends right next to us but hopefully at least a few in our housing development which is huge.


A few sunday's ago, Eli comes out his room saying he needs help with his shirt. I notice one button is already done and ask how did he get his shirt on with that button already done. He said that he did it himself. I was so happy for him. I told him we don't do the very top button but that was awesome he was able to do the tiny button on his shirt!!!

Brad's schedule has continued to be just insane. We took at 5 day break and went to Orlando for part of Aiden's spring break and met up with Mrs. Rusty (his former therapist and a great friend to me). On the way down to Orlando, we stopped at the outlet mall so I could see if I could find any clothes for the boys next winter. Brad and the boys had lunch while I shopped and here is a picture that Brad sent me saying they were coming to find me but got a little side tracked (see picture of Aiden with the muppets). We stayed at a timeshare we have stayed in before and loved but this time we were in a different building. We then find out they just put a new children's water park somewhere (there is a HUGE one already). We got to our room and went to our balcony and this is what we found. The new water park and it just opened. Amazing!

We had a good time just getting away and having family time.
We went to the little water park in our backyard once Rusty and her family came over the next day. It's been much colder in Florida for this time of year than it normally is and man, was it cold. I was in a sweatshirt and pants at the pool but the kids were determined to go in the water. They ran in a got pretty wet going down the slide and running through spraying water. They then crawled up the chairs and strikes a pose for me (pictures to the right). Aiden was pretty cold so he just rolled up into a ball. After Eli's lips started turning purple and blue, we decided to move the other pool which was just a few steps away. That water was much warmer but it was also pretty deep so the kids wanted a grown up in the pool. My awesome husband volunteered went in because our kids are too cute and love their daddy so much. It was a little chilly for him (freezing for me) and he went in a played with all the kids (Rusty has 3 kids).

We had fun with the Becker Family!!! Since this blog is in-place of a scrapbook, I'm going to post a few pictures from there:

We went and ate at Cracker Barrel and that was fun. I went to a consignment sale the night before we left and bought a $6 barrel of tinker toys. I came home and cleaned every single piece with clorox wipes and decided to pack them and take them with us because the forecast called for some rain while in Orlando. I'm so glad I did. These toys kept these kids busy for a few hours which enabled the grown-ups to talk. It was great. It also worked out that Rusty's kids showed mine how to use them and put them together since Aiden had never seen them before.

We went to a few different playgrounds in the resort (timeshare) and went to the big water park too. This is going to be the summer when the boys learn how to swim. I just now it. Eli loved putting his goggles on and even put his face in the water a few times. Aiden loves the big fast slide and Eli loves going in the zero-entry entrance with a tube and playing bumper boats (he bumps in to you). This game is also a favorite of Aiden. I was fine in the water but it was too windy to be getting in and out.

Here is our family having fun. Eli was looking so cute with his goggles on. The boys were so excited to see Brad so much and just play with him. I was glad to see Brad too and watch him play with the boys. It's always fun to hang out with the boys because they are so different yet get along so well. Eli's imagination just cracks me up and Aiden continue to surprise me with wanting to wrestle and do things that involve touching (which he would never do before). 

I was getting annoyed with the boys asking to play on their kindle's so much so I put some small activity pads in the van and they are really liking them. Eli, who normally won't color if it's voluntary, asked to color a picture in one and then proceeded to pick up the chunky colored pencil (in his left hand) and hold it somewhat correctly. That was amazing and awesome to me.

I was able to go on a field trip with Aiden's class to Diamond Ranch last week. It was originally scheduled for a Tuesday which was the spring break at Jacksonville University (where I work) but it was rained out. It was rescheduled on a Wednesday which was good because I was still able to go (I work on Tues/Thur). Aiden had a great time. He wanted to hold my hand as we walked everywhere but it was great to see him with all his friends/classmates. He rode a pony, fed cows which were totally nasty, and let goats lick oats from his hand. Did someone take my Aiden. The feeding of the animals was amazing and so beautiful for me to see. Before he would have screamed when a tongue touched his hand and he would have been done. Nope. Not anymore. He went back for another handful of oats and continued to feed the cows. In the bottom picture on the left, he's standing in the back on the right. His favorite thing of all at the farm, this barrel roll. If I had to bet, I would say he would never go on it and if he did, he would want to do a half roll (versus going all the way around). The kid was first in line and said he wanted to go all the way around. I asked him if he was sure and he said yes and ran to his seat. I wasn't sure if I was going to be taking pictures of him puking or smiling but I was ready. He seemed to enjoy it (or the kid sitting across from him that was about to puke just hated it that much that it was all relative). Aiden is the one sitting closet to us holding on to the pole.

Just when I thought Brad's schedule couldn't get much worse, we return to find out he's on the night flight for 3 days in a row AND he always has the latest flight (which means he then stays even later for water washes to clean the helicopter). Talk about a punch in the face from his squadron. He has meetings all day on Monday and doesn't have time to get any work done so then stays late to do work but tries to come by 6:30ish. We generally eat dinner around 5:30-6:00ish these days. From Tuesday to Thursday, he slept until about 1-2pm and then would wake up and get ready for work and then get Aiden from the bus with me at 3:00pm and then head in to work. He would work and then fly and by the time he's done with water washes and debriefing from the flight, he drives the 35/40 min home and would shower and crawl in to bed sometime around 4-4:30am. On Friday, he slept until just 10am because he had a noon meeting that he needed some time ro prepare for. Needless to say, Eli didn't see him for a few days and Aiden was lucky enough to get a huge from off the bus and then he was gone. On Friday had a full day and then we needed some groceries from the commissary so he didn't get home until about 6:45ish. This kind of schedule can kill a guy and a family. We rarely saw Brad last week. He hasn't been home from work on a weekday to have dinner with us in about 2-3 weeks. The good news is he came home tonight for dinner with the family!!! It was great and I'm so thankful God (and the squadron) have given him a night or two off of night flying (even if it was because I made him complain).

On Saturday we were able to celebrate Grace's 5th birthday at her party. It was at O2B Kids, which is an amazing place we will be visiting much more this summer. The kids had a lot of fun. They had giant-sized Connect Four and a foosball table (Aiden and Eli versus Brad). They also had a huge kitchen area which Eli especially liked. One of the things Grace chose for her party was gymnastics so they were able to go on a small tumbletrak and bounce around and use the cheese mats for forward rolls. She also was able to use the playgrounds outside and both boys loved that. Aiden loved climbing up this huge open structure while Eli preferred the more traditional playground around the corner. They had a ton of fun and it looked like the birthday girl did too.

I have massive amounts of grading to do starting tomorrow night so it will probably be another month before I post again. Playing single mommy during the week with my teaching schedule and also trying to keep up with Eli's therapy at home, housework, meal planning, meal cooking, etc is so challenging. I am so looking forward to this summer so I can take a break from so much work (teaching/grading) but am also a little nervous for having the boys all summer (they are usually in daycare). It will be good though because I treasure the fun times I can have with them and that's so limited right now with all the other responsibilities I have. 

3/8 - Can't keep up with life ...

As you can see from the frequency of blog posts, life is just moving faster than I have time for and it really bothers me. We will have some big changes coming in a few months. I was excited that Brad came back at the beginning of February and was so looking forward to family time. The joke was on me and after a week of being really frustrated and upset, I realized that if I just changed my expectations, things would start to get better. Brad was not home much ... at least not at the same time that the kids and I were. Because of the level and needs of the younger pilots in the squadron and the ratio of pilots who are qualified to check-off certain things, Brad ends up flying 2 times a night and usually has the latest flight which then means even more time to clean everything up. This past week he finally made it home for dinner on Monday which was awesome. He's been working until late on Mondays because he has meetings all day and can't get anything done so he gets home around 6:45/7:00pm. On Tuesdays he goes in late because he has to fly on Tuesday nights. This stinks because everyone else is up and going and we need to try and be quite so he can sleep and we don't get to see him. He usually does wake up for a few minutes to say bye to the kids and I but then we don't see him again until Wednesday morning when I or the kids wake him up right before they leave for school to say bye. This interferes with his sleep though because he's tired because he didn't get home until 1 or 2 am. This cycle continues of seeing him for just a few minutes in the morning all during the week. Needless to say, no one planned for this regular of a night flying schedule and not ever being able to see the kids or me. I have to go to work on Tuesday and Thursday morning and then on Wednesday I've been going to bible study. We thankfully have Saturdays to spend together and some of Sunday. Because of church in the morning and awana in the evening, we actually don't have much family time on sunday. Whatever time we do get we are cherishing it right now because it's better than daddy being gone completely (that's what I have to keep reminding myself).

I have way too much work to do and have had some problems with a medication interaction with my narcolepsy medicine which was a problem for a bit. We are working the kinks out of that right now hopefully. Eli goes to occupational therapy on Monday afternoons. I had no idea how much help Eli needed. I knew he had a lot of sensory processing stuff going on and now it's trying to figure out what it all means and how to set him up to succeed as best as we can. We are trying to get his trunk stronger and also increase his bilateral coordination. Ms. Lisa had him take his right hand and bend up his left knee to touch and it was so challenging for him. She then had him alternate to make the left hand touch the right knee and he was all kinds of backwards. We are trying to do all the therapy she gives us as homework but Eli is not near as compliant as Aiden and sometimes that is a challenge. Thankfully Eli really likes Ms. Lisa and I can convince him to do it for her because she asked. Here are some pictures from therapy over the last few weeks. Ms. Lisa let Aiden come a few weeks back and that was fun for both of them. Ms. Lisa was Aiden's original therapist and he misses doing therapy so he had been asking if he can go with Eli sometime.

Eli's trunk is getting stronger and he doesn't get as tired so soon when he's doing activities that use his core and trunk. The fine motor skills are starting to develop and he can actually do a few buttons now. He is still switching hands when doing various tasks but is starting to be a bit more right-hand dominant. Most of the time though, he just switches hands when the hand he is using gets tired or when he's forced to cross midline. He really doesn't like to hold a marker or crayon correctly so I've tried to stick with tiny pieces of chalk so he's forced to use his fingers. He's starting to get the hang of some bilateral coordination exercises but is still really struggling with doing the bicycle (see the bottom right picture in the collage above) and hopping when he touches his right hand to left knee.

We built a new car track on our rolled paper and it's been good for Eli because we can force him to cross midline as he is playing because we make him stay in one spot rather than moving all around the paper which is what he used to do. We have to get sneaky with therapy with Eli but at least we still try and make it fun.


The boys have been doing a lot more chores around the house to earn money for awana. Right now, the club is collecting money to adopt a club somewhere and the boys have really gotten excited about it. They are unloading dishes, separating perler beads for me, vacuuming, and I have bribed Eli once to do his therapy for money (it is a good cause). Aiden has actually finished his Sparks book already is going back through to review it. He is very good at memorizing and he gets that from Brad since my short-term working memory is completely broken. Eli is doing well in Cubbies too. If I can put his verse to a tune he's familiar with it and sing it, he's good to go. He loves music and I'll use that to his advantage to help him memorize his verses.

We decided it would be a great idea to take the boys to Monster Jam to see the monster trucks. They did enjoy seeing the trucks in the pre-party and even got a few autographs. They probably had the most fun after eating dinner in the back of the van and then playing in the grass with a few others kids while we waited until it was about time for the show to start. The boys thought he first 10 minutes were really cool. Aiden was asking Brad all kinds of questions and he was so excited. Eli was excited that we bought a container of french fries because it was so cold and he kept trying to sneak a bite (bottom row, center picture). About 40 minutes in to the show both boys were asking if it was time to go home. The fun stuff was coming up but they didn't understand or care at that point. We ended up leaving at around 8pm which made me sad because they would have LOVED all the stuff after the racing but they also had a long day and it was past their normal bedtime and Eli didn't get a nap so I was slightly scared of a complete meltdown. Next time Brad and I will go and leave the boys at home so we can stay for the entire thing and we can take the boys in a few years when their bedtime is a little later and they have more interest.

Teeball has been going pretty good. Aiden is letting practicing with me some which is great so he's getting better. Eli doesn't want to practice so he's not getting any better but that's okay with him because he doesn't care. Aiden won his i9 medal in the 4th week and Eli won his in the 6th week. We will definitely not ever play i9 tee ball if I have any say about it but it's been a mostly enjoyable experience and it's been great to get the boys exposed to sports.

Eli continues to love his new daycare and says, "this is my favorite daycare and I don't ever want to move to another one" which makes my heart happy. In the picture below, he's riding around with Tortuga, the class pet. He was able to take him home for the weekend and we had to document all the things they did together and then add our page in "Tortuga's Adventure Book" which was neat.


Aiden has continued to do really well in school and is reading like a champ. The past 2 weeks have been Dr. Seuss theme and he came home off the bus like this the other day. They read Horton Hears a Who and had a blast. His teacher is just fabulous and even made green eggs and ham for them one morning when they read that book. I was shocked when Aiden told me that the liked it because I would have put money that he wouldn't even have tried a bite of it. He's world is expanding everyday and he's doing so much better with food and trying things.

We took he boys to Dairy Queen last Saturday night and we had a blast. Eli has been begging us for ice cream and we got some coupons at the Monster Jam so we decided to use them. We had a nice time sitting outside and just chatting away during dinner. It was dessert time and it also started to get cold outside so we went inside and had dessert. Eli ordered a cone and Aiden ordered a Dilly Bar. The awesome thing was that Aiden didn't get sick from it. I was nervous to let him have it but he didn't start itching or anything which is promising. We may try pudding soon for him as a dessert if he wants. 

I volunteered Aiden's school for Jump Rope for Heart and he said, "can you come early and have lunch with me?" How could I turn that down? I went early and had lunch with him and then was even paired with his class (and another) as the volunteer so I went around from station to station with his class. It was fun and I wish I could have stayed for a few other classes to help out but that was not an option. Nana was nice enough to volunteer for a time slot too. Speaking of Nana. She's had to go a few months without any medication for her MS and it's wearing her down. She's a huge help for the boys and I because she pretty much packs both their lunches the night before. Here she is below playing with new flashcards that I got for Aiden. They are playing a game and adding up their cards and the person with the highest total gets the cards. It's like math war and it's great that Aiden thinks it's a fun game. 

Brad and I were lucky enough (thanks to Nana) to escape for a night and go to Gainesville to watch the Lady Gators do some awesome gymnastics.

It's been very hectic and I think I am done teaching my on-line classes. I'm not being able to be the kind of teacher I want and I am also failing at being the kind of mom I want to be so something has to go. I love teaching in the classroom so I will stay with Jacksonville University and I even get to teach 2 classes next fall. I have no idea what I'm going to do this summer because I'm not sure if I can handle both boys home for the entire summer. That would be a first for me. If my narcolepsy is under control and we can find some other kids to play with, it could be a lot of fun. I think we have also finally found a church. We've tried a couple of churches but I think we've finally found one we can call home and stay at. It's called Journey and it's much different from what we are used to but ... hopefully it will work. Brad signed me up to join the softball team and we both were able to play last week which was a ton of fun. I was so incredibly sore after not playing for so many years but it was fun. We were supposed to play again on Friday night but the games were called off because of all the rain. It's the first time in a long time that I've actually looked forward to doing something because it's something fun rather than a chore or something on my "to-do" list. Hopefully I can get myself in a different gear and be able to post more. I say this is going to be the boys' scrapbook but it's not a great scrapbook if I can't write and post pictures more. Here's praying I can be better at time management or being okay at something being "average" rather than great and allowing myself more time for other things.

12/31 - Christmas 2014

So we learned some very valuable lessons this Christmas. Let's backtrack a little and I'll take you through our past 2 weeks. While waiting for Grandma Jo and Grandpa Dave to get here on Dec. 18 (Wed), Aiden and Eli decided to play their Tell Tale Story game and they made some very interesting stories for me to listen to. The boys were very excited to have Brad's parents here. On Thur, Eli had a dr appointment because his belly had been hurting him quite a bit and it was starting to effect his eating and his behavior. X-rays revealed he is really constipated and needs some help to move things along. Eli was also fighting a cold that Aiden and I already had when he woke up on Friday morning, he blew some blood out of his nose. While it was odd, he was acting fine. I then noticed lots of dried blood in his ear that still has the tube and that was a red flag for me. Needless to say we went to the dr on Friday afternoon and had Eli checked out. Thankfully Dave and Betty Jo (Brad's parents) went out grocery shopping for me because Eli and I were at the dr so long on Thursday (appt, x-ray, prescription, and driving = 3.5 hrs) and then unexpectedly on Friday. I was a ball of stress and I kept busy in the late afternoon trying to find hotels for Brad as he headed East towards us.

On Saturday morning, I decided to take the boys to Jump Zone (a local bounce house place) on Saturday morning. They had mixed feelings about this place which was funny. They ran around and bounced for a while and then Eli kept sneaking into the toddler's area and playing in there. Aiden snuck in the area as well and they played with blocks in there for a while. After I forced them out, they bounced a bit more and then wanted to wonder over to the video games. Thankfully they had a free air hockey game that was really cool because it was shaped like a u and the boys loved playing it.



Brad finally made it home on Saturday night. It was so good to see him and know he was home to stay for a bit. It was a busy mess from Sunday to Christmas Day. I've been so stressed with Brad being gone for so long and trying to keep up with everything and failing at that. I didn't even send cards out this year. I took care of presents for the boys but didn't have the time or brain power to do anything other than that. I bought enough stockings for everyone but didn't buy stuff to put in the stockings. I spent 5 hours trying to make Christmas presents snacks for teachers and ended up with nothing since I burnt the chocolate both times because I thought our microwave was under 1000 watts (according to the GE website) and it's actually over 1100. I didn't have a single present wrapped until company came to help me do it.

This year I really wanted to focus on giving to others and making the kids see the true meaning of Christmas and emphasizing Christ. However, I only partially succeeded. I had planned to do an Advent Calendar that I was working on but that never got finished and I was lucky the kids were getting fed and bathed during the month of december. Here is a picture of what the boys woke up to on Christmas Day. I will not lie to my boys about Christmas and Santa. Brad and I did not bring up the word Santa or say that Santa was even coming but we answered the boys' questions with other questions usually. I was barely hanging on this year to the idea of Santa and I think next year we might approach Christmas differently. The one thing my boys are sure of is that Jesus was born on Christmas Day and that is the purpose of Christmas. We did a minimal Christmas. Having all these crazy presents takes away the true meaning of Christmas in my world. The boys received a few presents from us, 1 or two from the grandparents and then Aunt Pat sent a bunch of stuff which we will ration out to them through the year for various holidays.


Below is a collage from Christmas day. Upper left: boys playing with a Hex Bug toy; Upper middle: Aiden looking at his cool new dinosaur book; Upper right: Daddy showing Aiden how his new toy that Santa brought works (which he couldn't play with because I didn't get D batteries); middle left: the boys opening up a box with hex bug which they were excited about; middle left below: Eli being super excited about the fake food he received as a present from Aiden; Center: Family picture on Christmas; middle right: Eli watching the hex bug crawl upside down in a tunnel; middle right below: Aiden being super excited that Eli also got a stars projector; bottom left: us opening up a family present which was the game of Twister; bottom right: Brad just built Aiden his new hot wheels track that Eli picked out as his present for Aiden yet both boys are playing with their transformers (which cracks me up for some reason)

We are thankfully in a position that if we really need something at some point in the year then we get it. Maybe because that is possible for us, I (and Brad) view Christmas and Christmas presents a little differently. Brad and I don't do presents for each other really.

Aunt Pat bought both the boys this star projector thing which is really cool. Here is a picture from Eli's room. It shines these green stars onto the ceiling that float/move around. You can then add this hint of blue in to the scene if you want.



Below is another collage from Christmas day and the days leading up to Christmas. Upper left: The boys playing Don't Break the Ice and Eli pointing to Grandpa Dave since he just broke the ice. You can see Aiden in the background all excited that the ice just broke; Upper right: Nana and the boys while they were on a walk; middle left top: Aiden and Eli walking outside looking at ducks while with Nana and Grandma Jo; middle center: Eli getting a ride in Grandpa Dave's truck and enjoying the view; middle right top: Eli sneaking in to a picture of Grandma Jo and Grandpa Dave with Bronco; left lower middle: Grandma Jo with the boys on a walk; right lower middle: Nana opening her present from Eli which was a craft she has to do; lower left: Grandma Jo and Aiden coloring a Christmas picture; lower right: Aiden giving Grandpa Dave his present of a sudoku puzzle book.

The boys have had a blast playing with the grandparents over the past week. Aiden was able to play the game of Sorry at least once a day I think (that's his favorite game). They were also able to play lightsabers quite a bit which has probably been a highlight of the holidays for them.









We kept ourselves so busy that we didn't get around to finally making our ginger bread house until after Christmas. Here are the boys decorating their house. Aiden was really in to it and telling me where he wanted the icing and carefully deciding where to put his candy decorations. Eli wanted to eat the candy and had a hard time putting the candy balls on the house (they would fall out of his hand and onto the floor). They worked hard on it and made a beautiful house. I've even let them eat some of it!!

I've been a bear for the past few works because of being so stressed and tired of Brad being gone. I've been short with people (my mom and Brad's parents) so we have definitely learned that we need a bit of a buffer period after Brad has been gone for a while for us to gather ourselves and then be social as a family. My friend had a good analogy for all of this. I'm this little wind-up toy and everyday I get wind-up more and more with everything that needs to be done. By the time Brad comes home I'm about to break from being wound-up so much; my little eyes are about to pop out and my feet are sprinting. Adding family and Christmas onto that wasn't a great formula because rather than starting to un-wind (not even sure how to do that at this point), I was still continuing to wind-up. We did have a good Christmas and enjoyed seeing Brad's parents but we also continue to learn about Brad being gone and how it affects me and the rest of the family and how we can deal with it better in the future.

Brad's parents left on Friday and then Brad headed in to work to check-in to the squadron and see what was going on. Here is a quick picture I snapped before Brad left. My little boys have missed their daddy so much and Eli kept asking if Brad was going to come back this same day. It is heartbreaking to hear him ask those questions but so cute at the same time. 

On Saturday, Brad took the boys and Bronco out for walk in the morning. Nana found a really cool path the other day when she took Bronco for a walk so the boys went to find the same path. They explored back there and had lots of fun running around and being Ninjas, which is their newest obsession. Brad took pictures of both boys doing their Ninja poses. Eli's picture cracks me up. He's the not-so-secret Ninja waving hi and wearing yellow and red. Aiden, serious as always, had no problem showing his ninja moves.

So a few days after Christmas we gathered the boys and told them we are re-doing the way we do electronics in our house. On Black Friday, Brad and I waited outside Best Buy in the freezing cold and it totally paid off getting $99 Kindle's for the boys. So now I have my original iPad back and we have 2 kindles in the house. This is great because it reduces setting the timer and taking turns with the iPad. Aiden is reading a lot more and we can check books out of our public library (electronic versions) and then he can read them on the kindle as well. I love the FreeTime App because we give the boys a limit to using the kindle and then it just turns off. They are learning to manage their time better and by now are not even using all of their allotted time. It does crack me up that while they have apps that are different, they also have a few that are the same. I don't even remember what Toca game they are playing in this picture but it was so cute to see them playing right next to each other and talking to each other about what to do next and where to go. 

On Monday late afternoon, I took the boys down the clubhouse area and we played around for a while. They were being Ninjas and deciding who could see them and who could not. I was having fun watching and listening to them and then I jumped in on the action as well and became a ninja for a bit. In the upper right, the boys were seeing if these 2 older boys (ages 9-10 playing putt putt golf) could see them. In the upper right, Eli was telling Aiden the coast was clear and they could run and hide behind something else. The middle circle is what happened when I said, "boys, give me your ninja poses." Lower right you see the boys hiding behind the bushes so they wouldn't be seen and the bottom right cracks me up because it's Eli hiding by just laying on the ground. In his defense, he was low enough not to be seen by the group of people they were hiding from. Unfortunately the group of people had no idea that there were 2 little ninja's around because they did a relatively good job hiding from them minus the one or two screaming streaks from Eli.

We celebrated the last day of the year with Brad doing errands, Eli at daycare, Aiden and I at home taking down Christmas stuff in the morning. Early afternoon we had a visit from our friends Mike and Grace and a long playdate. We ended the evening with trying to get this blog done in time to put in the book for 2013 and watching HGTV and watching people buy houses.

2013 was a challenging health year for me but thankfully we are figuring things out. I'm so thankful for a supportive family, traditional and modern medicine, and God continuing to show His hand in our lives.

12/15 - Yes we are alive

I've never been away from the blog for this long. Brad has been extended out in San Diego and things got really crazy here and I'm just now recovering. Recovering isn't even the correct word. I can breathe now at least. Recovery will happen once Brad is and the holidays are over. So what has happened in the last month?

Well, my mom and I took the boys to the fair. We went on Veteran's Day around 1pm and got in free and then we also bought some wristbands and then just went wild. Aiden loves the fun house with mirrors and did a great job navigating us through it. We all went on the giant ferris wheel which was great because then the boys could see all the other rides and we knew where to go. Eli just made the cut-off for many of the rides so his world was great. He needs to grow really fast next year so I don't have to go on so many rides. The boys had a ton of fun but we left around 5:30ish because it was starting to get completely crazy with hundreds of people showing up and we were tired.

Aiden has had a few events at his school over the past couple weeks that I've been able to go in and help with. He is doing so great in school. His teacher just told me he has a few first grades sight words to work on and then he can go to second grade. I had no idea he knew so many words. My mom and I were able to go to Aiden's class one day and help make rice krispie treats which I had never actually made before. It was fun and the kids did a good job following the recipe. Aiden really wanted Nana to help at his table and that was cute to watch. Aiden's teacher invited the parents in for Thanksgiving for Pumpkin Pie which was fun. Aiden started off crying because someone gave him a slice and I ate a little bite and then convinced him to try a bite and he liked it. He then proceeded to have a second piece of pie. They even sang a few songs for us and they looked adorable in the attire they made for themselves. Aiden has earned a V (very good) for his behavior everyday this year. His teacher said an 'E' would be extremely hard to get and if you saw one or two during the year then that was really good. Aiden finally got an 'E'! He was so excited and had no idea. I called him over and then took his picture when I showed it to him (middle right picture) and he was so excited and then held up his paper to show me. 

Eli's daycare invited the parents to come and have Thanksgiving lunch. We signed up to bring mac and cheese and green beans. It was cute and the kids made their own place settings. Eli ate a ton of food which doesn't really surprise me. We were able to read a few books together while the rest of the parents showed up. Nana and I didn't get the memo that we would be almost the only women because all the dad's came (there was one more mom). It was a bit shocking but warmed by heart too. Eli's daycare is going okay. It was touch and go for a while but we are just trusting in God that he is in the right place and with the right teacher. I used to get things from his folder almost everyday and when he moved teachers, there was nothing in his folder ... for weeks so I eventually stopped checking it. I finally did check it last week I realized that they have started to doing things which is great and that he missed a birthday party (boo on mommy for not checking his folder). 

Brad was able to take leave and come have Thanksgiving with us which was great. We did a low-key dinner here and were just excited to be together. The night that Brad came home, a group of guys from church came over and helped do a bunch of random stuff like change lightbulbs, get all my christmas stuff out of the closet and put a ton of boxes in a closet, trimmed a hedge, and then put chrismtas lights around our house on the roof. It was so helpful because they did almost everything on my to-do list for Brad which enabled us to have family time together instead of Brad is here to work. I actually had A TON of grading to do so Brad played with the boys quite often so I could grade. I did take a solid couple hours off and we went to Wild Adventures in Georgia. It was about 2 hours away and I was nervous after driving that far and not seeing one sign for it. You then pull up and it looks like it's in someone's backyard and I got really nervous. It ended up being awesome for the ages of the boys. They were able to go on about 70% of the rides which was great. Military got in free which is why we went in the first place. We had a blast there and it was much colder than we were hoping. We were there for 6 hours I think and I was certainly worn out. 

 After church on Sunday, we made a stop to Home Depot on the way home to get a Christmas Tree. I wouldn't be able to get one without Brad so if we were going to have a tree we needed to get it now. We even put it in the stand and in the house before Brad left. I put lights on it after a few nights and then the boys wanted to put ornaments on it so we did that for a bit one night. I never actually went back to "fix" anything so we have a ton of ornaments from hip height and down and few from me that are up higher. I also added a few lights on the house as well. It's not in the picture below but we also have our blow-up train and my 3 spiral christmas trees. Our house looks quite nice. I blew the circuit the first night so I had do some creative plugging in so that everything wasn't going to the same circuit (the garage and outside outlet are on the same circuit). I haven't really decorated inside because well, I would have to take it down and if I don't have time to put it up, I surely won't have time to take it down. :)  It can stay in the box and hopefully next year will be less hectic and I can properly decorate.

We were on base twice last weekend for Christmas stuff. Last weekend the squadron that Brad is checking in to had their children's christmas party and I took the boys to it. They had blast watching Santa fly in on a helo and then just playing in the bounce house and watching a magician/comic for a bit. Aiden was obsessed about participating in a cake walk (I didn't even know what it was). Well, he had a complete breakdown after his second time walking because he still didn't win. They let him participate in the last one (they had 4) and surprise, he won. They totally let him win because he was crying after the other one from not winning. My kids seems to do that alot and I told them I am tired of it. I told them I will be a better mommy and make sure they are disappointed more often because clearly they need practice in how to deal with disappointment and loosing. So, we have been practicing that lately :)  

So the rest of this is just some randomness that I wanted to include: 

I never thought I would see the day where Aiden would peel an orange but here it is. I'm so thankful for all the therapy he has gotten and how much it has transformed him. He hasn't received any on-going therapy since we have been here in FL and is doing great and his food choices are coming along so well. 

Little Eli had some testing done the other day and we had to stop by the store so I could get some cold medicine. We found these santa ears and Eli tried them on. He' facial expressions just crack me up most of the time. He did well on his testing but is very weak in fine motor skills but also scored much higher in cognitive thinking skills than I thought which is sorta troubling for me. He can be smart if you make it fun and a game but usually doesn't want to put in the effort to have to think. I think this child is going to test me so much when it comes to school and academics.

 We were able to help a friend celebrate her birthday a few weeks ago. The day before this and the day after this had highs in the 60's and this one day it was about 80 degrees in Florida at the end of November. It was crazy warm at the park and the boys were seriously sweating. They had lots of fun celebrating Jordyn's birthday and seeing some of their friends again though.

 This is Brad and I when I dropped him off the the airport after Thanksgiving. He really does balance me out which is why it's so hard on me and us when he is gone.

We did do our Thanksgiving tree again this year. It wasn't the same without Brad here though. I have a before and after picture but Blogger isn't letting me access to those so I'll have to post them next time. I love our Thanksgiving Tree and it's so neat to see what the kids have come up with every night. It's great when I've had a stressful day where everything seems to have gone wrong because it also puts everything back into perspective for me and I realize how truly fortunate and blessed we are.

In mid-November I was blessed with tickets to see Toby Mac in concert. I invited Arin along we had a great time. We were shocked to find out our tickets were floor tickets, just one section back from the stage. There were lots of awesome artists there too. Our friend from Maryland, Cindy, sent the tickets to me about 2 months before the concert just for fun. How awesomely nice that was. 

Things are going to be busy here over the holidays as Brad's parents come to visit us. It will be great to see them and it will be an awesome Christmas present to get Brad home before (or on) Christmas Day. Merry Christmas everyone!!