Jacob

Where oh where do I begin with Jacob...

We're one month in to the new school year and things are going GREAT so far!  He is in the 5th grade, which meant he moved to a new school in our corporation.  His teacher has provided me with nothing but positive feedback.  Throw in his currect grades, A's, one B, and one C (in reading), and that makes this Mama very happy.

Aside from school, Jacob stays incredibly busy with sports and extra curricular activities.  He's playing soccer, basektball, and his favorite... baseball.  He also showed cows and goats at the 4H fair this summer.

I can't wait to see what the future holds for my boy... But for now, I'll enjoy these days because Lord knows, these days will be over before I know it...

Kaylee

I'm going to dedicate a post to each of my kids, in hopes of catching you up on what's been going on in each of their little lives.  Since she's the oldest, let's begin with Kaylee...

She's 12 going on 17.  I love this age... I love all the eye rolls, I love getting talked back to, I love how tidy 12 year olds can be.  Like I said, I LOVE THIS AGE!

Uh hem... what I really mean is, I'm counting down the days until she can tolerate me again (and vice versa!)  Holy cow, not gonna lie.  Some days are T-O-U-G-H!  She's a great kid, don't get me wrong, but somewhere in the midst of her stretching her wings and gaining her independence, she's become a grizzly bear to live with.  The same kid who wants more responsibility and thinks she needs a phone, can't remember to hang up her towel in the bathroom or brush her teeth each evening... Really?  Because hanging up your towel and brushing your teeth is a new thing around here, right?  I know she'll get it, she will... And she and I will be friends again someday, right???  Hopefully sooner than later!

Kaylee is in the 7th grade this year... which I find very hard to believe she can be in the 7th grade since we just brought her home from the hospital, swaddled in a little pink blanket last week...  Where does the time go, really?  She is so smart... She loves math and hates to read.  (Not my kid, I was the opposite!)

She is in the midst of volleyball season right now and is looking forward to basketball season.  She gave up soccer this year since it coincides with volleyball.  She spent 5 days at Taylor University Basketball Camp this past summer.  She was not crazy about the idea of being away from home for 5 days, but the deal was if she went to camp and made it the full 5 days without melting down and begging us to come get her, then we'd get her a cellphone.  She was beside herself when I picked her up from camp with the cellphone in hand.  We were very proud of her for stepping outside her comfort zone and making it through camp.

She is still C-R-A-Z-Y about her cows.  Two of them are due to calve any day.  She's looking forward to that!  She will tell you 4H and showing cows is her all-time favorite activity.  She's a huge help to her dad on the farm.  Driving 4-wheelers has become a thing of the past.  She's now a pro with the pickup truck and tractor.  Having not grown up on a farm myself, she amazes me...

So that's Kaylee in a nutshell... Typical pre-teen I'm sure!

Fresh Start...

I've wanted to get back to blogging for awhile now, but every time I open my blog the first thing I see is my last blog post, dated JULY 27, 2013... and I get overwhelmed and think, "Where do I begin?"  So I'm going to do a quick rundown of life over the past few months and then start fresh.  Here goes...

Kaylee started the 5th grade and loves everything about her new school, her teacher, the responsibility that comes with being a 5th grader and being another year older.  I have to remind myself that she is JUST a 5th grader, because she is fairly responsible and sometimes I expect more out of her than what I should.  She has always been a huge help with Anden and I know that at times I take advantage of this.  She played basketball this winter and her AAU team just finished their season this past weekend.  She scored 15 of her team's 25 points in one of the games over the weekend!  Jesse coached her team and was so proud of her!  This spring she's trying volleyball for the first time, so we'll see how that goes!  Of course, she continues to love working with her cows.  She amazes me how confidant she is with them.  I still remember the days of her running in to grandma's house at the mention of moving the horses or cows from one pasture to another.  She was a wreck thinking they'd get loose.  Now she carries a bucket of feed into the barn to get the cows to come in, throws a halter over the cows head, and walks her out of the barn all by herself.

Jacob is in the 3rd grade.  This year has been a pivotal year for him.  He has struggled with reading comprehension for sometime.  I've always attributed it to the fact that he does not like to read.  However, this year, his reading comprehension started affecting his other school subjects.  In Math, a subject that he loves and had always gotten straight A's in, he now was getting B's and C's.  When I looked at his papers, he'd get 100% on his math facts, but if the paper had any kind of story problems involved, he struggled with figuring out what he was supposed to do.  Science and Social Studies are also difficult for him.  After meeting with his teacher and trying to figure out options for him at school, it became apparent that without a diagnosis of some sort, we weren't going to get any help for him.  Long story short, we had him evaluated by a Developmental Optometrist (Dr. Bauernfiend) who determined that Jacob would benefit from Vision Therapy.  Jacob has 20/20 vision, however, it's not functional for him.  It's like saying that just because a person has two legs, they shouldn't be clumsy.  With Dr. Bauernfiend's help, we were able to implement a 504 Plan for Jacob and he's now allowed to read his test to someone and is given extra time to complete the tests.  We see Dr. Bauernfied 2 times each week and she is pleased with his progress.  We still have a long way to go, but his grades have improved some.  I also noticed a change in his attitude towards reading and schoolwork in general.  He actually told me the other day that he, "Likes reading."  Say what?!?!?  Never in a million years did I think he'd say that!  Anyhow, moving on... Sports is still his thing.  He played football in the fall, basketball this winter, and is already starting baseball.

Anden is in preschool again this year.  His teacher is Mrs. Brenda and she walks on water.  He loves everything about preschool.  He's getting very close to being able to write his name by himself.  He's recognizing more letters and the sounds they make.  He can count to 30 and knows all his colors and shapes.  He played soccer this past fall and basketball this winter, both at our local YMCA.  I think he's following in his brother and sister's footsteps with his love for sports.  Not sure that he had a choice though... I remember toting him around at the ballfield when he was less than a week old.  I had to laugh though recently.  His basketball games were always on Saturday mornings.  It never failed... if the other two didn't have a game they had practice, so it was normally just Anden and I that went to his game and Jesse and I finagled getting the other two where they needed to be.  The week before Anden's final game, he looked at me with tears in his eyes and said, "I just want my whole family to come to my basketball game."  It happened to fall on the same weekend as our school's 3rd grade boy's basketball tournament, so I ended up stuck in the concession stand while Jesse, Kaylee, and Jacob went to Anden's game with him.  That satisfied him to have them there though.  He's always been so laid back about getting drug around to their activities.  I'm proud of him for letting us know that it was not cool that he have to go to all their games and they not come to one of his.  :) 

So that's our life in a nutshell! 

Baseball, Baseball, and More Baseball

 

Much of our summer revolved around Jacob's travel baseball team, the 8U Southern Indiana Spikes.

.  Here's a few pictures from the season... 

What a fun group of boys! 

 

 

 

Happy Boy with his first place trophy after a tourney earlier in the season.

 

 

 

Get your wheels on Jacob!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fielding the ball

 

 

 

 

Up to bat at the BPA World Series Tourney ~ July 27, 2013

 

At the BPA World Series, the team could enter the boys into Skills Competition.  They did a Home Run Derby, a Fielding/Throwing Challenge, and a Speed Competition.  Jacob and 4 other teammates competed in the Speed Competition on Wednesday night.  Each boy was timed running the bases and then they took the team average. 

Our boys took first place! 

 

 

 

And when it was all said and done today, he still had a huge smile on his face! 

This kid LOVES baseball! 

So proud of him!

 

 

Kaylee's Basketball

Kaylee's playing on the Upward's Basketball League this year.  She's met some new girls from other schools and had a great time learning a little more about the game.  She has improved a lot this season and is much more aggressive than she was at the start of the season which is a great thing!

 

 

She's #33

 

She also took part in a camp through our school corporation.  I don't have any pictures from the camp, but here are some from when the girls were recognized at one of the Varsity Girls Basketball games.

Little Ranger

Jacob's Little Ranger Basketball Program is in full swing.  He of course loves all sports... when asked what his favorite sport is, he always responds by choosing whatever sport he's playing at the time.  I think his favorite is baseball, but who knows!

 

 

Jesse's coaching his team this year.  Jacob is #7.

Busy Times

Kids have been back to school now for nearly two months...

 

We took some time away at the very end of August for a few days at the beach (more pictures coming soon)...

 

 

 

 

We've made it through Jacob's first season of football...

 

Jacob's got the ball here with a teammate ready to do some blocking.

 

 

 

And he's in the END ZONE for a TD!!!

 

 

Pulling his pants up in the end zone after a LONG run! 

 

 

Seriously Mom, did you have to get pictures of that?

(What a handsome guy, even with his black mouth guard.)  :)

 

 

 

And we're almost through Kaylee's season of soccer.

 

She has made some major improvements this year.

Here she is, right in the middle of everything, going after the ball.

 

She loves playing defense.

 

She got an amazing kick in here.

 

 

Beautiful Girl!

 

 

 

 

As you can see, things are very good here, just busy!

Our Summer... A Race

This summer has felt a bit like the Kentucky Derby...

Right out of the gate, we were off and running and we did not stop...

The week after the kids were out of school, Ben, my amazing 14 year old nephew from Michigan, came for a visit.  He stayed with us for a week.  Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures during the week he was here!  Shame on me!

June was full of camps, camps, and more camps...

Jacob's 4-H Day Camp

Kaylee's 4-H Camp

Kaylee's Girl Scout Camp (no pictures, after 3 days at 4-H Camp, Kaylee only lasted a day at Girl Scout camp... I really can't say that I blame her though!)

All three kids had Vacation Bible School

And finally, Kaylee's Basketball Camp

July was full of THE FAIR!  Need I say more?

The first weekend of August, we were able to make it up to northern Indiana.  We started with some boating on Saturday with my Mom and Dad and spent Sunday visiting with my Uncle Max & Auntie Kay at their cottage on Silver Lake. 

Love them!  Uncle Max is 98 and Auntie Kay is 96.  Amazing!

Their lake cottage is truly one of my favorite places.  Growing up I remember as a little girl visiting them each summer at their cottage.

Normally we visit them on Labor Day weekend and the water is too cool for the kids to get in the water.  Not this year... granted they only got to wade around in the water, but how special to watch my kids making memories in the very swimming hole that I have so many fantastic memories of!

Here is Kaylee with my cousin Liz.

Jacob must have been sick that day... he HATES for me to take his picture!  Yet here he is actually LOOKING at the camera and SMILING!

Look Mom!  A clam!  Gotta love a little boy swimmin' in his undies.

Throw in a splattering of baseball tourneys throughout the summer, and there you have what made up our horse race... I mean our summer. 

And now it's come to and end... Kaylee & Jacob go back to school tomorrow and Anden will start Preschool in two weeks... sniff sniff, boo hoo, hang on while I bawl like a baby...  WAH!!!!  How can that be?!?!?!



Southeast Sluggers

Here are a few pictures from Jacob's baseball tourney he played in this weekend with his Travel Team, The Southeast Sluggers.  We only played in two tourneys.  Our first tourney we got our butts handed to us... in other words, we got beat very badly!  The boys worked really hard this past week and got in a rhythm of playing together as a team.  And it showed this weekend... We played in a tourney at Seymour.  The boys won their first game.  They played well their next two games, but unfortunately weren't able to advance anymore in the tournament.  Jacob was upset after the game, not because they lost, but because this was their final game this season.  He's been playing baseball since April and has thought of nothing else since April.  I tried explaining to him that football is just around the corner, but that didn't help.  He asked me a few minutes ago if I'd go out and throw baseball with him.  I told him he needed to put away the baseball and get his football out.  He told me, "Nuh-Uh.  I need to practice for next year!"  Oh my... it's going to be a LONG summer, fall, and winter...  (I must admit, I'm a little sad myself it's over... I love watching my boy play ball!)

Here he is before their first game, watching a couple of other teams play.

Here's Jacob at Shortstop.  He loves this position.

He had an AMAZING hit here.  Made it all the way to 3rd, and then was tagged out trying to get home.

Jacob after a good hit at First Base.

Team Picture Time!  That's Jacob in the front all the way to the right.

What a FUN group of boys!

Looking forward to next season!