One of my favorite things in the morning

Dear Boys...

One of my favorite things in the morning is when all of you boys are sitting at the breakfast table eating and your dad walks in to make his coffee. Last night the Yankees played the Orioles so the discussion quickly went to the game. Everyone listened intently as dad recounted amazing plays that helped the Yankees win. I don't get involved with the discussion, just listen. And it always makes me smile. I imagine I will miss these conversations some day...but for now I just like to listen.

Love, mom

January 16, 2013

Dear boys...

What a day!!! It will take me awhile to re-cap!

Today was the day of the "Big Bee." The spelling bee. Both Ben and Joey were in it. I was so proud of you guys. Ben spelled "paper" correctly. Then Joey spelled "prove" correctly. Ben's second word was "summer." Unfortunately, I think you were a little nervous and spelled it "cummer." You said you thought you said "s" but oh well. Jody's second word was "Martian." Difficult word!" So, we got to come home after two rounds. It doesn't matter! I am just so proud of both of you! And , like Ben said, there is always next year!

I came home and got dinner figured out and immediately went to a meeting about high school scheduling. I have to say I almost had a panic attack thinking about it! Kindergarten was no problem. Middle school went fine. But high school?? How did that happen??? I know I will be way more emotional when you go to high school. You will do great but it doesn't mean I have to love it'! :-)

I love you guys!! Have a great night!!

Love, mom

January 15, 2013

Dear Boys...

I think I drive you nuts.  No, I'm sure I do.  I guess as a parent that is my job.  You drive me nuts a bit too.  But, as a kid, that is YOUR job.  So, we're even.  :-)

But, ultimately, your dad and I are so incredibly lucky to have such good kids. I am touched some times at the comments I get from other parents, teachers, adults about you guys and how great you are.  I see it every day but it feels so good when other people see it too...and it means enough to them that they actually tell me about it.

Jack, you are relentless in your passion for certain things.  This is amazing.  As you get older, this will help you so much as you go through high school (next year! yikes!) and then to college. Remember to continue to use that passion and you will achieve great things.

Joey, you are so competitive and set such high standards for yourself.  Don't be too hard on yourself when you don't meet those expectations.  I know you will just work harder the next time.  In most cases, what you DID achieve is probably higher than any standard anyone else would have set!  Oh, the things you will do!!

Ben, silly little Ben.  You are so funny, and happy, and there is nothing in this world you don't think you can do.  I love that you will try anything and you feel confident doing it.  You make friends easily and have fun with whatever you do.  Keep doing that and you will forever have happiness!

I don't think I tell you guys this stuff enough so I wanted to write it down.  I will make sure I tell you more and more every day too.  It will be so much fun to see all the things you guys will do over the years!

I love you!  More than anything!

Mom

January 9, 2013

Dear Ben...

Tube
Been
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Prevent

Those words will be sketched in your memory forever. Your very first spelling bee! You did awesome!! When you told me you wanted me to sign you up for the spelling bee I will admit I sort of didn't want to. Please please understand that it wasn't because you couldn't do it or aren't good at spelling. It's just a parent thing where you never want your child to ever feel disappointment. But, the flip side of that is that if you don't allow your children to feel disappointment, they will never experience success either. I really really want you to have success and know you can do anything! So, I signed you up! You were looking forward to this ever since that day. I could not believe how excited you were to be in the Spelling Bee! Even this morning when I woke you up, I reminded you of the SB and you jumped out of bed and got dressed. Bouncing down the stairs you announced today was THE day! Your brothers did their normal harassment of you and we reminisced about the words they mis spelled in the bees they were in. When I got to school this afternoon your teacher even said you didn't seem nervous at all. I could tell you were a little shaky but i am so proud of the way you are able to overcome that! So, you made it through 5 rounds of words and qualified to spell in the older kids' bee next week. (With your brother Joey!) Besides having some disappointment that you "didn't win anything!" you had fun and it was a wonderful experience. We are so proud of you Ben! We would have been proud of you just for trying but going "the distance" is fabulous! We love you...

I love you little boy!

Love, Mom

January 7, 2013

Dear Boys...

Holy Moly we are all tired today! We are relatively grumpy and not very motivated. (Okay, we'll, maybe it's me who isn't motivated...) it will take us this week to get back in the swing of things. Ben seemed to be the most excited about being back at school even though he slept the latest today. Joey, you said the sweetest thing today when, not realizing Ben was already downstairs eating breakfast, you came to me and said, "mom, can I gently go wake Ben up?" That made my heart melt. There are those times when you can be so sweet to each other! Hopefully it will be that sweetness that wins out in the end...

Jack, you have just two weeks of this grading period left and I know you can get great grades again. I know you don't think life skills and health are that important. Ultimately, it's not about the class title. It's about doing what you need to do and taking things seriously even when you don't think they matter..because someone thinks they matter and are important for you. Please remember this. You are so smart. Don't let life skills and health be the classes you don't do we'll in. We are so proud of you!

Love you boys!!

Mom

January 6, 2013

Dear Boys...

Have a great day at school tomorrow. I love you so much!! And don't worry..spring will be here before we know it! As much as we long for those warm days, we have to try to love in the moment and not wish the days away. Life is short my boys. Blink, and you'll miss it. Enjoy every day. Find the goodness in every day. And know that every day is better because YOU are in it!!

I love you...

Love, Mom

January 5, 2013

Hey guys...

We didn't do much today did we?  Unfortunately, it is that time of the vacation when we have to start getting ready to go back to school and work.  (ugh)  I know I tried to get you to do your homework but I am not sure it all got completed or not.  (double ugh because that means we have to be sure it all gets done today...after having two weeks to do it...)

The week has been a blast.  I am hoping the hustle bustle of going back to school doesn't get in the way of us continuing to have fun together and doing cool things we did this week when we weren't in school.

Church in the morning.  As much as you are going to moan about it, church is good.  God is good. I know you grumble about it now but some day, hopefully you will look back on these days and know that the fight I wouldn't let go of helped build a good foundation for your beliefs.  Church IS important. God is important. We have much to be thankful for.

Most of all, I have you guys to be thankful for.  I love you.

Love, Mom

January 4, 2013

Dear Boys..

It is Friday before we go back to work and school.  I was planning on playing the lottery today...just in case...but I didn't.  We did watch Shark Tank tonight so maybe that will inspire me to come up with some great idea so I won't have to go back to work but can make a decent amount of money just doing something cool that I love around the time you are away at school. Unfortunately, I'm not that creative....okay, back to plan B...which is working out decently enough I suppose.  (I will ALWAYS be grateful your dad and I have jobs to begin with that allow us to have a good life with many wonderful things for which we should be incredibly thankful!)  

Sledding today was again FUN.  You guys definitely fought more today than yesterday.  Who could make it furthest down the hill seemed to be the biggest challenge...and everyone wanted to win.  Well, Jack probably had just a bunch of fun while Joe and Ben did most of the competing.  You got a good talking to also about screaming bloody murder when you hurt yourselves.  I swear the entire park could hear you yelling...thinking you had a broken leg or something when it ended up being..uh, maybe an EYELASH in your eye!  (we will laugh about this some day..I promise!)  

We have had a great week together.  I love staycations.  Just hanging around with you guys is the best. The house is a disaster and I haven't even gotten that upset about it!! :-)  (right?  Just agree with me here)  

We still have the weekend so hopefully a morning trip to IHOP and just a little more fun doing random things will help ease us back in to reality on Monday morning.  

But I'm not guaranteeing anything.

Love you guys..

Mom

January 3, 2013

Dear Boys...

Holy moly I had so much fun today! We started by teaching Jack how to make sunny side up eggs. Hopefully now he will be empowered to make his own breakfast when he wakes up at 11:30!!

Mariokart is kind of a daily thing around here during the holidays. One of these days we will be able to play without someone crying!! (Maybe?)

When I had finally reached my tear maximum, we decided to go sledding. So.much.fun!!! We bought a couple new sleds but you guys preferred to all pile on to one sled and give that a whirl. It was so funny to see you all cram on one tiny sled when we had two other perfectly fine sleds!! Ben held his hands up so everyone could see he was going down the hill with no hands!!

It was a great day and I am so lucky I got to spend it with you guys!!

Love, Mom

January 2, 2013

Dear Jack, Joey and Ben..

Happy New Year! This is going to be a great year! You guys are growing up so fast! We have lots to do this year so let's make sure we do it together. I love you and our family and our lives. We have so much to be thankful for. Let's try not to forget that.

We had fun at COSI today. Remember how scared you were of the Adventure exhibit? But then it ended up not being too scary! The 3d shark movie was pretty good. I love that stuff. Burger King was a good thought but I know we all regretted eating there when we were done! Blech!

"Boys, let me take your picture!" (just keeping it real!) 

"come on, give me a little bit of love..."

I love you guys and hope for lots more "Adventures" in 2013!!!

Love, mom

P.S. Don't ever forget this AWESOME snow fort you made!!!

Jack is practically a man like his dad. This makes my heart melt.

Ben working like a dog.

A rare expression of love between two brothers had to be caught in a picture!