Brotherly Love x3

The boys were horrified when I made them wait for me to take this picture. The neighbor boy was standing outside the door waiting for them. God forbid he ever find out they love each other!

They had been fighting over everything that morning. When it came time to leave for school of course they fought over who was going out the door first. I told them they weren't going anywhere until I both heard and saw love. I had to take a picture to prove it actually happened.

Snow Day Fun

Brotherly Love

Matthew and Logan were at each other's throats this morning so they spent 15 minutes on the living room floor loving each other uninteruptedly. This is one of their favorite activities. :)

Logan's Underware Sign

Logan's class sang the Rudolph song with the silly words. When they sang the silly words, someone held up a sign with a picture of the silliness. Logan got to hold up the silliest of all... UNDERWEAR!

Logan's Underware Sign #2

Orin

Orin's Christmas Program

Logan's Christmas Program

Unfortunately, I didn't get as good a view of Logan as I did of Matthew and Orin.

Matthew

Matthew's Christmas Program

Grandpa Farver's Stilts Were A Hit!

Our Belated Christmas

This year the Christmas schedule put Matthew at his mom's on Christmas morning until about 3:00 and the boys were to spend a couple hours at their dad's. Since we would be spending the afternoon/evening at Mark's parent's and wouldn't make it home in time to open gifts, Logan and Orin thought it would be a good idea to wait until the following morning to open our gifts. They didn't want to open anything without their little brother here.

Late Christmas Pictures

Reward/Punishment Boxes

I've implemented something new in our household. We have two pretty little gift boxes sitting on top of the fridge. One is a reward box. The other is a punishment box. Inside the corresponding boxes are slips of paper with either punishments or rewards written on them. The boys and I sat down one evening and came up with them together. Some they thought up were rather creative.

Be the boss of the house for 30 minutes. (reward)

Eat a spoonful of horseradish (punishment)

Dust the entire house (punishment for anyone but Orin - he likes to dust)

Extra $1.00 for good behavior

Scrub the toilets

Invite over a friend

There were many others. Some rewards/punishments are greater/more drastic than others, but they never know what they'll pull out of the box. It's great for me - I just say "you'll get the box" when they're acting up and I don't have to think up a punishment on the spot. Seeing the reward box on top of the fridge gives them incentive for good behavior.

Logan

Today Logan had his very first guitar lesson. We weren't sure what to expect. Would he actually play the guitar or simply learn to read the music and how to hold the instrument properly, etc.

I dropped him off and took the younger two to the library while we waited. Upon picking Logan up, the smile he greeted me with literally reached from ear to ear. He was ecstatic! All other noise faded into the background as I eagerly listened to his excited chatter. The wild excitement in his eyes nearly brought tears of joy to mine.

He learned to play the intro to Smoke On The Water. Wow!! I'm certain we'll hear it over and over and over and over until we want to scream, but that's ok. His excitement about music is exciting to me!

This evening Orin and I were out shopping for jeans (yes again). I picked up a couple pairs for Logan I found on the clearance rack. When we got home I made him try them on. They are longer than my own jeans yet they fit him just fine. After he went to bed I was folding laundry and happened to notice his tennis shoe laying on the floor, so I tried it on. Would you believe it fit?! This boy is nearly as tall as me in 4th grade.

Logan is thoughtful, helpful and kind most of the time. Of course he has his moments - as does any 9 year old boy, but he's a great kid. He seems to be exceptionally well liked at school - both by his classmates and by his teachers. He often tries to be the peacemaker between his brothers, yet I often find him being an instigater as well. He's weird, and not afriad of being different and that makes him fun. Logan has a great sense of humor and a big desire to please.

I'm proud of you Log!!

Why Mark's Knee Hurts

Logan has a snowboard. He was trying it out today for the first time. It looked like fun. I tried it out and fell several times, but didn't get hurt. (Unbelievably) Mark just had to give it a go and of course he couldn't just do it in the grass - safely - the way we were. He had to act like he knew what he was doing. He chose to attempt the sled path. Down the small hill on the side of the house, over the driveway and continuing down the hill to the edge of the ravine.

He looked great on his way down the small hill. I was awed by his talent when he made it over the driveway. It was when he hit a rock on the other side of the driveway which sent him spiraling into the air at least three feet that I became concerned. He came down on his knee with quite a crash.

He recovered quickly, laughing, but has decided his recliner is the best place for him.

OUCH!

The boys were outside sledding. They were following their normal path. Down the small hill on the side of the house, across the driveway and continuing down the hill to the edge of the ravine. Over the summer Mark and our neighbor cleared out a bunch of brush in the ravine in order to enlarge the area where we dispose of leaves and other such debris, so the boys were having a blast speeding over the ravine's edge and dropping into the huge pillowy pile of leaves. I, of course, questioned the safety of this due to sticks and other things possibly poking and/or scratching but was assured by my darling husband that all was well. I watched as they did this over and over and over and it looked like so much fun that I decided to give it a try.

That was my big mistake.

I hopped on a sled and followed the exact same path the boys had used over and over again. I came to the edge of the ravine and the next thing I knew my butt hit something hard enough to knock some wind out of me. I just sat there unable to move. Mark had been standing at the edge watching and I heard him ask if I was ok. I think I uttered Ouch Ow. Ow. Or something along that line and I heard him yell to the boys - "No one come down here".

Mark was at my side in a flash. I was embarrassed to be unable to hold back tears. I can't remember ever feeling pain quite like that. I was determined Mark was not going to have to carry me up the side of that ravine and into the house. Though it took some time, I managed to make it inside. Mark and the boys helped me get my snow pants, boots, coat and all that stuff off and even got out crutches!

Sitting there on the side of the ravine, I couldn't move and I hurt, but I could still giggle. There was one small stump sticking up through the leaves. It couldn't have been more than three or four inches in diameter, but my butt found it. The sled is broken, my tailbone is certainly bruised and the boys have lost the privilege of something fun all because Mom didn't act her age.