Karate - Justin

Some pictures of Justin from Karate class (Ok, its really taekwondo if you you want to get technical but I have no idea what the difference is). The big news is that Justin is graduating to his orange belt on next Monday! We were quite surprised because he just started at the end of December but, he is ready, and there is no holding him back! Im so proud of him and how much respect and discipline he has been showing in class.

It's hard for Evan, who started the same time as Justin, and who is not getting promoted. But, Evan is definitely not ready yet. Its difficult for Evan to remember the movements and steps involved, but, he is working hard and smiling the whole class, and this makes my heart soar. Sometimes, those who have to work harder for their accomplishments savor them more. And this is a lesson that I am proud to help Evan learn in karate, and in life in general.

One of the signs of respect in class is to "take a knee" rather than sit down on your bottom while the instructor is talking. Justin does a great job remembering this.
I like this action shot of Justin in the air, his feet scissoring.

Time With Nathan

My parents had the older two boys overnight last night and into today, a holiday from school. Nathan and I enjoyed some quiet time together. No rushing to drop off or pick up brothers, no activities, obligations or chores. What a wonderful day. I love this little boy so entirely. He is simply a joy. He has the most wonderful personality. Silly, fun, smart, happy, well behaved. I took these pictures of him at lunch time. Its wonderful to capture his little personality shine so brightly in pictures and in life.

Stitches and Fun

Ah, poor Justin. Yesterday was quite the "unlucky" day for him, being Friday the 13th. Justin had a half day of school, Evan had no school. After Justin got off the bus our neighbor's son came over and the boys played at our house inside for a few hours, at which point I convinced them all to go outdoors to play in the snow. Justin was reluctant but the other boys convinced him to go out. Not an hour into playing outside I hear a blood curdling cry and rush to see Justin slumped over on the steps sobbing. Justin never cries. He gets angry, he gets disappointed, but, never, ever sheds tears. I knew it was bad when I saw the tears streaming down his face. In his hysterics, and with his hat on, I couldnt quite figure out that he had bumped his head at first. When I finally figured it out, I took one look at it and headed to urgent care.

Luckily Justin's hat absorbed alot of the blood and hid it from his view (anyone who knows Justin knows he hates the sight of blood more than anything else in this world). The story unfolded as the stitches were put in place. Justin was sledding on his knees and hit the mailbox with his forehead. It was a deep cut, more like a puncture wound, but not long or large. Man, did it bleed. The white towel they gave us at the doctor's office to hold on his head when I finally peeled off his hat, was not white for long.

So, now Justin is sporting a tough looking bandaid and cant shower for several days (much to his delight). He was lucky it wasnt more serious and he didnt get a concussion from the crash.

This marks 3 separate stitches incidents in our household thus far. Evan: 2, Justin: 1. For those of you keeping score.

Here is Justin the day after:
And here is cute Nathan in a plastic container playing tonight with G. It shows how small he is, that he can fit in this little plastic container fully, and how dangerous it is to leave containers out for him to climb into.

Snow Day!!!

Last night we got snow. The kids were thrilled. I was secretly hoping for a snow free winter (then I woke up to the realization that Id dont live down South). I think we got about 4 inches total. Just enough to make for a very white world outside our door.

Here is a picture of Evan at the top of the driveway ready for the first ride on his sled down on the freshly fallen snow. One advantage to our super steep driveway is that it makes for the perfect sledding hill. Provided mommy doesnt get motivated and shovel it. I didnt.
Nathan can sled on his own!!! He had SO MUCH FUN. The kid was laughing and smiling the entire time outdoors. Here is an action shot of him on his sled.
Then he decided to try out his brother's sleds. Justin said it was "not fair because Nathan weighs so little and goes so much faster than we do". Its true. The kid was SPEEDING down the driveway. I was a tiny bit concerned, but, he was happy as can be.
Then Nathan took out his ride on fire truck toy and said, "this goes in snow". And who was I to argue with that type of verbal logic?! So, he rode it down the driveway. It didnt go fast though. So, he abandoned it for another of his brother's sleds.
Justin had a BLAST outside. He is so animated (of course) and just soaks up life so fully. I got some really great shots of him sledding. I have to say, one of the best things about moving was Justin learning to love playing outdoors. He used to hate to be outside, we never, ever played in the snow at our old house. Here, he couldnt wait to get into his snow pants and play. He didnt even have time to take his backpack indoors, he got right off the bus, put on his snow pants in the garage and was off on his sled before I could blink!
Nathan was excited that he could pick up "big snow" as he put it. I think at first he thought it was going to be heavy like a rock and was pleasantly surprised to find it was easy to pick up (and THROW).

A shot of the pine cones on the trees that the kids spent half an hour picking off. Even Nathan was in on the action.

Whats better than playing in the snow? Coming in for hot cocoa, with LOTS of marshmallows.
Quick thinking allergy queen that I am, I found the baking cocoa container and remembered there was a recipe for hot chocolate on the back of it. Some heated up rice milk, a little pinch of cocoa, some sugar and viola, hot cocoa for Nathan too. He couldnt have the marshmallows though, they had corn in them.
YUM. What a fabulous day.

Sewing, Food and Fun

My brand new electric griddle. Big enough to make at least four grill cheese sandwiches without struggling for space to flip on the pan. Also big enough to make the kind of large breakfasts my boys eat on a daily basis. Im in love!!!
The boys karate uniforms needing hemming badly. Justin used it as the perfect opportunity for a sewing lesson from my mom! He did a really fabulous job! And he was so proud of his work. I really love the fact that Justin is just so interested in everything, sewing, crafts, sports, music...you name it, Justin is excited to try it. I think that type of openness to new things and curiosity is such a fabulous personality trait for a person!
Behind this bowl lies one very hungry little boy. He is drinking the juice from his canned fruit. We have been struggling with what to feed Nathan. His latest food allergy test results have just been very hard for me to manage. Nathan is allergic to eggs, milk, corn, nuts of all types, sesame and coconut. We are avoiding all foods with these ingredients. He also has a mild allergy to soy. I have been avoiding major foods with soy like soy milk and soy yogurt. But, havent been able to eliminate soy completely. The corn is the killer right now. Corn is in everything. Corn syrup, corn meal, its there, if you look for it. We havent been able to find a cracker that Nathan can eat yet. Every single one has corn in some form in them. We switched ketchup brands because even our ketchup had corn in it. And dont get me started on chicken nuggets, a staple in our home. Ive been cooking alot from scratch. Muffins, pancakes, breads, pretty much anything that isnt a whole food needs to be made from scratch in order to be safe from Nathan's allergens. Luckily my mom took pity on me and made Nathan up a huge batch of turkey and chicken nuggets from scratch with no allergens in them. Thanks mom!!!!
Nathan abandoned coloring in favor of stacking his crayons. He was quite proud of his tower!!
Justin has chores he has to do around the house now. Vacuuming, clearing the table, putting away his clothes, its nice to have help around the house!!!
Nathan playing with stickers. He likes them on his hands. Some days he will stack up ten of them on top of eachother on the back sides of his hands. Its pretty silly and cute.
Evan got this tracing board from my parents for Christmas. Today he was busily working away on tracing some Cars characters. Its really good fine motor work for him. It wasnt easy, but, he managed to do some great tracing work.

Photos from the First Week of January

This week we laid low and hung around the house. I was very sick with strep throat and then from the antibiotics prescribed for the strep throat. It made for a very quiet week. Aside from feeling so lousy, it was quite a nice change of pace. The younger two boys found lots to entertain themselves with during our days at home. Here are some pictures from the week...

One of Evan's favorite toys are Army men. He loves setting them up, making scenes with them, pretending with them. Its hours worth of entertainment for him. We had a visit from my parents. My dad and G worked on our basement project, while my mom and I had a marathon game of U Build Monopoly with Justin and Evan. Three hours later, Justin won!
Nathan painted while we played, for a little while at least, entertaining himself.
Nathan enjoyed some rare time playing with all his big brothers' toys in the playroom which was newly cleaned and baby proofed (for the moment at least).
We go old school when it comes to 3D technology: View Masters. Nathan discovered he can "see" the images now and is in love. He spent quite awhile taking out the different round cards and putting new ones in to view.
We set up some train track and had fun with trains too. Nathan can put the track together himself now, which is fun!!!

Videos - Evan and Nathan together and more karate

This is quite the video of Nathan and Evan playing with balloons. This is actually calmer than what it started out as. They were getting tired by the time I got my video camera out. Yes, its after December 25th and Nathan is still sporting Santa diapers, its the equivalent of wearing white after Labor Day.

This is a sweet video of Evan and Nathan on the couch together watching a commercial. Evan is asking Nathan if he wants the product (I have no idea what it was) for the bath tub. Nathan is having a conversation back with his brother by answering him "yes" over and over. See, sometimes they are CALM, its rare, but, not impossible to catch.

Evan made me promise to take some video today at Karate class. He is the only white belt in the class, he got a haircut too, so you may not recognize him as readily with his shaved head.