I wanna play in the snooooooooooooooooooowwww

That is all I heard for 3 straight days. It's colder than cold outside but when there is snow on the ground, the temperature no longer matters. So, I bundled the boys up and tossed them outside.

They pelted each other with snowballs, made snow angels and ran around the yard like fools until they could no longer feel their faces. Then when they could no longer take the frigid weather, I unbundled them and thawed them out with hot cocoa. Now they are wrapped up in blankets watching football. What a life!

A day late...

We had some nasty weather on Halloween night, so our trick-or-treating was postponed to the day after Halloween. That was just fine with the boys. A day late is better than no trick-or-treating at all!
They had a great time.
Nathan was a death lord. I don't exactly know what that means but he was pretty freakin' excited about his costume.

Brandon was Captain America. He loves super heroes and Captain America is one of his absolute favorites!

So after filling their buckets to the very top, they helped me hand out some candy. There were some really great costumes this year. But none of them looked as good as my two boys!

Fall Fun

We had some fun while doing our chores this weekend...
Who could resist jumping into a big pile of crunchy leaves?

Smarty Pants

We are wrapping up a two week fall break extravaganza. They've been to the zoo, the library (multiple times), the movies, the pumpkin patch, the Cincinnati Museum Center, IKEA (my favorite outing!) and visited family. And the best part was Brian being able to take some time off and spending loads of time with us! Nothing makes the boys happier than daddy spending the day with them.
Before fall break started, the boys brought their report cards home. Can I just say that we have two of the smartest little men in the whole wide world! I'm so proud of them both. Nathan is getting straight A's and his teachers were very impressed with the progress he has made so far this year. And since Brandon is in 1st grade, they don't get a letter grade but his reading and math are at a 2nd grade level. His teacher says he's such a character. He never whines about the work they do, but when they do something he doesn't like, he wrinkles up his nose and huffs. But he does his work and always tries his best. I'm so happy they are doing this well so far. Hopefully they don't get burnt out and keep up the good work.
Ok, enough of my bragging...
Nathan also started Brazilian Jiu Jitsu earlier this month. It's so much fun to watch, although a little nerve racking at times. There have been a few classes where his feet are above his head more than they are on the ground. And watching some other kid put your kid in a choke hold, isn't cool, but he loves every single minute of it. I think we are going to have Brandon join (if he still wants to) when he turns 8. I'm sure once they both know what they're doing, it's going to be like the UFC in our house. I already hear "I bet I can make you tap out first!" too much. I may have to start taking some classes too just to keep them in line.

Little man's reward wall

Not to be out done by his big brother, Brandon had to make a reward wall. I had been keeping all his little awards from school and certificates from the library in a folder but that was not good enough. They needed to be taped to the wall for all to see! And he couldn't be happier.

The awards/certs that he has up there now are for finishing all his 1st grade vocab words, being an excellent reader, and a certificate for participating in a read-athon. He and Nathan read for over an hour and won a gift card to Half Price Book store. Plus they got to read to these two huge dogs that were just as sweet as could be.
I'm sure we'll have more awards to add to the wall of fame as the year progresses. But for now, this isn't too bad a start.

Nathan's week

Nathan has had a pretty big week.
He turned in a science project that he worked pretty hard on.

 

Which he got an A and his teacher chose his to be displayed in the library for the whole school to see. He was pretty excited! And I'm pretty proud!

 

Then....he ran and ran and ran and ran some more in a cross country challenge and got 18th place.

Look at that smile. He's pretty cute, isn't he? I think so!

Nathan loves the 5th grade. He's becoming such a fine young man, so responsible and smart. He has such a bright future ahead of him. I wish he would slow down a little and stay my little boy for a while longer, but it's fun watching him grow and imaging all the amazing things he'll accomplish.

 



Ending the summer

 

We decided to end the summer with a fishing trip. We didn't catch anything, Brandon was bored two minutes into it and I grossed Nathan out again by pretending I was going to eat the worms, but we still had some fun.

They really like casting their own lines out, over and over and over into the water. I tried to explain that's probably one of the reasons they're not catching anything, but what do I know.
So after a little time watching their bobbers not doing much of anything we headed back to my parents for a dip in the pool and some s'mores. You can never go wrong with s'mores!