Christmas 2019!

Once the Christmas decorations and accessories came out the boys found Santa hats that fit and would sometimes wear them to bed.  For some reason I thought of the Elf on the Shelf - kids try to find the elf each morning . . . .Mike would check on the boys when he went to bed and sometimes they'd still have their hats on . . .so I'd take a picutre - Ralph's ended up on his bed lamp after a few days but Henry would continue to wear his intermittently. 

We visted the Lincoln Children's Zoo inaugural Zoo Lights earlier in December.  It was pretty amazing, peaceful, and calming.

Christmas Day!

We spent Christmas morning opening gifts at home . . . . . .Ralph received books, a candle making kit, and a 3D printer. Henry received books and games.

Then we opened at Grandma and Grandpa's (with Uncle Nick and Jenel too). . . more books mostly and a chromebook for each. . . . followed by a great traditional Christmas meal.

Henry: Celebrating 10 Years!

We have left the single digits ~ Henry has turned 10!  This seems like a momentous occasion.  Ten years old?!  Henry has always been my mystery child.  He is a quiet observer, not a big talker, and likes time to prepare/does not like quick changes of the schedule.  He is our lefty.  He is a great reader but prefers graphic novels.  He has a strong interest in greek mythology and wars - specifically World War II.

Henry particpates in wrestling and cub scouts where he is a Webelo I.  This will be his third season wrestling. In his spare time he likes playing Minecraft on the WiiU and creating buildings and structures and watching youtube.  Legos have taken a backseat in his play time for the most part though they are played with once in awhile.

Henry is wearing size 1.5 in shoes and size 8 pants and shirts.   He now has egg, sausage, and usually a chocolate chip protein pancake during the week - and sometimes french toast on one of the  weekend days.  He eats a hot lunch at school most days with a cold lunch 1-2 days each week.  Suppers, when not "forced" to eat a family meal, are usually a hot dog or a soft shell taco with hamburger, cheese, ranch, and dorothy lynch. Chicken nuggets seem to be a thing of the past.

We are still working on improving his handwriting. It seems we care more than he does.  Its just not the formation of his letter but the lack of spacing between words.  His stories would be more enjoyable to read if one could tell where the words begin and end.

Henry opted for a minecraft cake this year - apparently one can make a cake in minecraft and it looks similiar to this one.

Henry with his gifts before they were opened and the excitement is building.

 Henry enjoyed opening a bag of army men - see it in his eyes?!?

Henry with his many gifts - lots of books to read and games to learn!  

The first order of business when we got home from Grandma and Grandpa's was to battle! 

The day after his Birthday, there was a birthday party at Laser Tag.  Two games of laser tag, tokens for the games, and pizza . . what better way to spend less than two hours.

Fall Festivities / Halloween 2019

Our fall festivities were a bit quieter than some years.  We did visit Vala's Pumpkin Patch, carved pumpkins, and went trick or treating.  Between the boys' schedules and them wanting some down time we didn't try to do as much as we have done some years.

We visited Vala's during a school day off - the line was long to enter but luckily once inside everyone scatters enough its not that noticeable.  As we approached the big chair someone asked if we should do the photo in the big chair before the line got to long . . . yep.

From there we ventured to the egg blaster for awhile - a small attempt to escape the wind for awhile.

Then on to the Big Slide!

AND after awhile, across the bridge to the peddle carts where Henry did a lap by himself this year!

I think the camera angle throws off Ralph's height a bit - he isn't quite as tall as it appears though he is going through a growth spurt!

We squeezed in pumpking carving 3 days before Halloween.  Ralph and Henry carved more than they did last year.  They did add some "war wounds" after the finished photo was taken and I forgot to take another photo.

Halloween - the question turned into whether Ralph, being a sixth grader should go or not.  I think I put too much thought into it.  After some discussion and looking online he found a costume that spoke to him - Pikachu!  Henry was doobby, the house elf, again.

The didn't go as far around the development as they did last year - Ralph couldn't get a long stride in and shuffled a lot.  Henry may have just been cold but he really wasn't into it much.  At least one lady took a photo of Ralph.  His costume was a hit.

Ralph; Celebrating 11.5 years!

Ralph spent his 11.5 year "birthday" on Friday heading to a boy scout campout for the weekend - this photo is when they returned home on Sunday.  Ralph likes the campouts but the hours after he returns can be a bit rough as he is usually sleep deprived and needs his space for awhile. So far the campouts seem to get hit with rain and thunderstorms.

He is currently a "Scout" and working on his "Tenderfoot" rank. He has earned 7 merit badges so far: chess, pulp and paper, canoeing, orienteering, 1st aid, swimming, and railroad.  He earned service hours this summer volunteering with the Lincoln Municipal Band again - handing out programs and collecting donations at their summer concert series.  He also volunteered with St. Monica's again during their Amazing Chase.  We were at a clue - participants would have to find our location and figure out their next stop based on a clue we had posted on a wall.

Ralph . . .a middle schooler!  CRAZY!

Middle School seems to be going ok . . . .there was a period of adjustment getting used to the new teachers and their personalities.  It seems like he has a conflict with one of them; a good chance to learn what it is like to work out people of different personalities.  He is able to complete his homework in the "homework club" he does after school.  He had the chance/choice to participate in 4-5 different clubs each day and he chose to do "homework club" to make sure he has time to do his homework.  He has been assigned a chromebook that he brings home everynight to charge.  I have not seen him do any homework let alone any homework on actual paper.  We do receive weekly updates of his grade and can log into our account and look more frequently if we prefer.

Ralph's newest "thing" is visiting friends on his own.  He'll leave the house without a plan and stop by various houses until he finds someone that can play.  I realize most kids do get to experience this a bit sooner but none of his friends are in our development and he either has to cross a busy street OR travel on a stretch of road that doesn't have a side walk.  The 1st week of school he walked from school to a friends house four of the days and that started he quest to go to friends' houses.  He has four friends he frequently checks on and another he has landed at a time or two.

Ralph has continued to embrace the "turtle" nickname at basketball and has more green tshirts than a person should have.  If it's a Tuesday (and any other day he will be going to basketball later that day) you can bet Ralph will come downstairs dressed in a green tshirt.

Ralph has become a little less picky in his eating.  He still prefers cereal for his meal of choice but will eat what is served without complaining most of the time - and sometimes he just complains he'd rather have cereal even if that isn't a choice.  The other week we had a pulled pork in the Instand Pot for lunch - he had another sandwich for supper that same day, lunch the next day, and another meal.  That kind of surprised me.

First day of School 2019-2020

The week before school there was a readiness night for Ralph - the new Middle Schooler and a Back to School Night for Henry to see his new classroom and meet the teacher. 

At school readiness night Ralph had his finger scanned for the lunch program, picked up his schedule, found his locker, figured out his locker combination, found his classes, and met some teachers.  His morning classes are all in the same hallway; the afternoon classes are a bit more across the school.  I later realized some parents took photos of their kids opening their lockers . . .that didn't occur to me but I did snap a photo of him in a class and he presented me with this look?!

Ralph wanted to vist Kahoa's Back to School night but had to help at a scout event at another school SO . . .we ended up at Kahoa in the afternoon so he could "walk the halls" as he put it.  He seemed to venture to about every class to check with the teachers.  They finally returned to the media center.  I left for a few moments and came back to find Ralph missing.  He ventured to a nearby room that was recently turned into a kindergarten room with a new teacher to Kahoa. He was talking to her, asking her about Kindergarten.  I later told him that was nice of him to go talk to her . . .He said "she looked sad".  Aaawwww . . . .

Henry, Mike, and I returned later to meet his teacher and officially see his class and find his desk.

The first day of school came.  The boys obligated with the traditional 1st day of school photos . . .and then got their chance to pose on their own.

Middle School starts at 8 am;  Elementary school starts at 9 am SO . . . Henry and I dropped off Ralph and experienced the choas of school drop off.  Yikes!  We dropped off Ralph and headed home for a bit.


Henry and I headed to Kahoa after awhile and took the traditional picture outside school and headed to the 4th grade door and waited until the bell rang.

After school Ralph made the trek to Koaha . . .I thought this was him giving me a dramatic interruption of how rough and long his day was.  He really just didn't want his photo taken.  He stopped at the Kahoa Marquee - our meeting spot - and waited until Henry was out of school while I waited at the door.

Henry then "snuck' up on Ralph!

Yogurtini was the choice for the 1st day of school/after school treat.

July 4th!

What can I say about this holiday?

Uncle Nick visited.

The boys had a bit too much freedom in picking out their fireworks - they need a budget next year but they had a good time lighting off their picks. 

We visited grandma and grandpa on in the afternoon/evening on July 3rd and 4th.

We spent July 4th in Waverly watching the parade.

After the parade and a picnic lunch the boys visited the Waverly Pool and participated in the coin toss.