Winter Updates

WINTER UPDATES:

We went skiing with my Mom's side of the family and had alot of fun. Jake did pretty good and rode on the ski lift with me again this year (note that there was not alot of natural snow that weekend, as can be seen in the photo of us on the ski lift). Henry enjoyed kiddie tubing in the kids play park :)

Jake's class also had a fun Valentine's party and this is a photo of his class :)

Henry is starting to potty train and has really taken off with it. He is pooping and peeing already (Jake would not poop until well over age 3) and enjoys being indepedent and wearing his "underwears" :) He gets a Hershey Kiss when he uses the potty and is doing a great job!

Jake now knows how to write his last name and writes it on all of his papers :) He also is starting to learn money and has memorized our home phone number, Steve's cell, and Grandma's cell number. He also now knows our address, too.

Jake's school Hoops for Heart fundraiser was this month and raised money for the American Heart Association. Jake participated in the program in honor of his Poppy (since he died from his heart stopping) and wore a photo of him around his neck.....Jake's goal was $50 but he got such a response from friends and family that he raised $565 and was the highest fundraisee. He won several prizes, including a gold medal and a lava lamp, and his class got to "pie" 2 of the teachers, too :)

We got 2 fun but brief snows this Winter. The boys enjoyed playing in it and Grandmother helped build this small snowman on their "Big Hill" that they love to play on (which is an old dirt pile in the yard that we never moved from when we were building our house) :)

Henry is such a sweet, loving child. For example, today when Steve came home for lunch, Henry said "I'm so glad you're home, Daddy" and when he was helping clip coupons with me he said "I love clipping coupons with you" - he loves to snuggle and hug and kiss. He is also pretty comical sometimes, when he calls his grandparents by their first names..."I want to go to Catherine's house" - lol. He also seems very insightful when it comes to his Poppy in Heaven and will say things like "Poppy is an angel" without any prompting. It is very sweet, as if there is a spiritual connection between my Dad and Henry. Henry has also learned how to write an "H" :)

Both boys were sick in January and February with a bad virus that caused the throw-ups, red eyes, bad cold symptoms, and high fever for Henry. Henry's needed medicine and was diagnosed as a sinus infection. Jake just had a bad, bad cold.

Henry likes to wear pajamas to bed every night while Jake usually prefers to be in his underwear :)

December 2011

We had a great month in December! We got to go ice skating with the boys (their first time and they did great) - Jake's reading took off and he read me his first short story, which was a wonderful experience as his Mom. The boys were both shepherds at our church's Christmas program and Henry wore his costume and loved it (when Jake was 2 he refused to put his costume on) :)

The boys got to see Santa at the Yankee Candle Factory again this year. Jake asked for a Knight's Castle, boats, and a hunting wii game. Henry asked for monster trucks and boats. They wore matching Christmas ties and were just precious to watch as they interacted with Santa. And Jake said that he was the REAL Santa, not a helper :) And on Christmas morning, they were both so excited to see the gifts that Santa left them! What a magical Christmas we had :) I wish I could freeze time on Christmas morning. It truly is my favorite time of the year~

Late October, November and Early December 2011

Alot to update from the past couple of months:

Jake and Henry enjoyed Halloween and dressing up as knights :) And they looked extra cute at Thanksgiving in their matching tractor sweaters :) Jake had a great soccer season and scored his FIRST GOAL EVER! He was proud! The photo above is of him running through the "tunnel" at the end of the game :)

They got their flu shots on Nov 16th and neither one of them cried! Henry had to go to the doctor in October because he had alot of wheezing. They prescribed him another medicine for his nebulizer to take in addition to his albuterol and that seemed to make him better. He had alot of wax in his ears and the doctor irrigated his ears. Alot of wax was removed but still not enough for her to see his eardrums 100%. Poor buddy! Every time we go to the doc now he asked "what are they gonna do to my ears?".....

Jake got sick with a bad cough for 2 weeks and ended up with an ear infection around 11/28...he got amoxycillin and also had to use the nebulizer for a week. He is better, but did lose weight from his 65 pound norm, down to 62.5~

Jake has been doing great in school and is READING! He read me his first short story "Tig is it" and I was so proud. His teacher is using the same reading program that was used when I was in Kind....the same workbooks and everything! It is so neat! I love it! Also, Jake has not been getting in trouble at all and that makes me very proud. He loves his teacher, Mrs. Monahan, and says that Owen (Lane) is his best buddy.

Henry is wearing a size 9 shoe now and Jake is in a size 1!!!!

Henry enjoys spending his days with me while Jake is in school. He loves watching "Little Bear", "Backyardigans", and "Max and Ruby" - he likes to play air hockey in Jake's room, swing, go on the monkey bars, drive his truck, and looks forward to climbing on the dirt hill in our yard with Jake.

Henry really likes clothes, especially pajamas. He has one pair that is a one-piece that zips up and he calls it his "tiny jacket" :)

Fall info

Jake & his buddy Wesley on their class field trip to the farm~

Henry's final 2 year molar popped through a couple of weeks ago and he is talking talking talking :) He does not say his s's so he has cute words like mute nacks (fruit snacks) and he loves to play with play-do and the game Hungry Hippo.

Today the boys got a balloon as their daily treat on their Halloween countdown calendar. Immediately both boys wanted to send it to Poppy. Henry said "I send balloon to Poppy up in Heaven" and he went to the door and yelled "Poppy! You ready?...He said ok!"...and so we went out and they let the balloon go. Jake said "it has left the Earth" - I video'd it :)

Jake has been sick this week with croupy cough and a fever of 102.2...has missed 2 days of school and another one tomorrow. He has started learning the sounds of letters and read his first word yesterday......SAD :)

We have had alot of rain this Fall so Jake has only had 1 soccer game so far. His team color is red and he enjoys it - he likes his coach alot and even took her some pumpkins to practice one day, an idea he developed on his own :)

We took this family photo in the pumpkin patch~

peanut picker & math

henry picked peanuts with steve today, briefly, before the rain (henry's 1st time)...when i picked him up and asked him about the peanuts, he said "they not good for me...but they good for daddy" :) after talking to steve, i found out that this was henry's way of explaning "i don't like to eat green peanuts but daddy sure does" - hee hee - so cute :)

jake got a 100% E+ grade on his 2nd math test for kindergarten :)

student of the week

9/19-9/23

Jake was chosen as "Student of the Week" for his Kindergarten class this week. It has been fun gathering his show 'n tell items and he wants to take cupcakes one day. They are on letter G so tomorrow he is taking gourds for the class and an apple gourd for the teacher :)

9/21
i am peeling potatoes. jake just bopped henry because henry flushed the potty prematurely before jake was done....henry handled the issue by screaming "your in time out, jake! 1..2..5...go to your room.!" i am back to peeling potatoes.


9/25
So, our newest "pet" is a cricket from the farm, who is missing one of his rear legs. Jake brought it home and asked what they ate. We looked it up and found out they eat about anything, including bread and grapes...I was skeptical. So Jake goes into the kitchen and drops all kinds of stuff in the cage....and good golly if that cricket didn't start to eat the bread immediately! Oh, the fun we have at the Berryman house :)