What do you get?

When you take this sweet (very innocent) boy

and add these 3 objects

You get a DVD drive on the computer that will not open. Mark took it apart and found the cause! What a stinker!

Nate has been very sick this week. I took him to the doctor because of respiratory problems. He almost got put in the hospital - Yuck! Luckily, breathing treatments and steroids are helping him out. The nurse was amazed at how well he took the steroid (truly nasty stuff - Chase used to throw it up). He did one thing at the doctor's office that cracked me up. The nurse called, "Nathan" so Nate corrected her and said, "No, it's Nate". Made me laugh. Nate is much better today. Today, he has been playing doctor. He takes the tubing from the nebulizer and uses it as a stethoscope. He listens to my lungs and says, "good". Then he gives me medicine to make me better. Then it is my turn to examine him. He has also started to play with the action figures. It is so cute! He calls all of them, "Superman". My cute, coughing boy.

I have to brag on my husband a bit. Things have been very crazy here lately. I had a very busy January and then I got sick. That is a very bad combination. I am incredibly behind with my typing. I have had to focus on my typing so the house has not been my top priority. Mark comes home from a long day at work and then he takes care of the boys and cleans the house without me even asking him to do so. It takes off so much of the stress that I am feeling. I am so blessed to have him as my husband. He is such an involved daddy. Whenever I have to be gone for work, I never worry about how the boys are doing. Mark takes them places (Cabela's mostly) and does things with them. I wish I did not have to work, but a good side effect from my working is that the boys have such a good relationship with their daddy. I am blessed.

Back to typing.

Bunco

It was my turn to host Bunco. I did a Fiesta theme. I really don't think that these pictures need any explanation.

Blog Bling

There is something wrong with me when I get so excited about changing up my blog. I have been wanting to do it for a while. I shopped around and found loudmouthlogos. I am so happy with it! I wanted to do monkeys because of the obvious; my boys are monkeys. From the time that Chase was a baby, we have called him "goober monkey". Mark started it, and the phrase has been used with all of the boys. It is used frequently, because they are goober monkeys! It used to greatly disturb Cade until I told him that it means, "I love you". Every once in a while, Cade will ask, "That means I love you, right Mommy?" I love my sweet goober monkeys!

Nate's Update

I have been so bad about blogging lately that I know that I am forgetting some of the hysterical things that Nate does. He is really funny! He is growing and changing so quickly. He is definitely the talker of the boys. Mark gave him the cell phone the other day to talk to me. Almost 30 minutes later, Mark realized that Nate was still talking to me on the phone. I kept trying to get him to give the phone to Daddy, but he would inform me that he was talking to me. He talked and talked and talked. I could have just hung up on him, but I did not want to hang up on my cutie!

Nate has learned the art of denial. He has had an issue with spitting lately. He thought it was hysterical to spit on Cade. Cade did not enjoy it as much as Nate did. Nate got in some trouble for it - which upset him greatly. He then informed me that "No, Mommy. I did NOT spit on Cade Caderraider." The denial routine has continued. Why do I get the feeling that we are about to enter a fun new phase? He has had a bit of attitude lately. I am going to have to get a bit mean which is never fun. Mark thinks that I spoil him badly anyway. It is probably true, but he is so cute!

We were looking at the lunar eclipse tonight. Mark pulled out a scope and put it on the tripod. Nate was sure that Mark was shooting the moon. He kept talking about it; complete with sound effects. Mark was very proud that Nate made the scope and shooting connection.
Go, go Power Ranger!
Nate trying to sneak into the action at the Little Gym
More sneaking. He really thinks that he is just as big as his bubbas.

Helping me make some puppy chow for a party

All that playing just wore him out
Shooting the moon with Daddy

Cade's Update

My sweet Cade. He seems so big to me lately. He is about to turn 6 and he is very, very, VERY excited about his birthday party. Do you want to guess the theme? Penguin of course!! We have had to stop his therapy for a while. I opened a statement from the insurance company which showed me that they were no longer paying for his therapy!!!!! I found this out 4 sessions after the fact (at $200 a pop). GASP, CHOKE, GROAN. Nice of someone to tell us! Cade seems to be making great progress with his therapy. I never thought that seeing Cade skip would make me so happy. After jumping through some insurance company hoops, we got Cade approved for 20 more sessions!

School is a bit up and down for Cade. He is very bright, but sometimes it does not show! If you catch him on a bad day, then it is like he knows nothing. He had an assessment at school on a bad day and the results were bad. He was evaluated for reading on a different day, and he placed on a high reading level. I have a feeling that Cade's future will hold a lot of ups and downs.

Cade just finished a Little Gym session. The Little Gym has been wonderful for him! It really helps him. We started a new session. His class was large and all girls!! Not good for Cade. Cade was having meltdowns and freaking out a bit. Some of the girls found this to be hysterical so they would sneak up on him and touch him which would freak him out which they found funny which led to more intentional touching. It was not good. We switched him to the Karate class which is much smaller and has boys in it. He is much happier! Here are some pictures from show day at Little Gym.
Cade being still and well-behaved - or not!
Doesn't he look so graceful - or not!

Cade with one of his teachers. The teachers at this Little Gym are really amazing!

Dylan's Update

I don't have any recent pictures of Dylan. I need to remedy that. Dylan continues to be super sweet, but he has been in a little bit of trouble lately. I have had him doing extra chores as some behavior modification. Is it bad when I am glad that my boys get in trouble so that I can get some extra work done? One of the things that I have him do is play with his baby brother. He and Nate have really bonded recently. They were playing tennis outside. Nate found this to be great fun. The first thing Nate did the next morning was grab the tennis racket and try to get Dylan to go outside with him. He was heartbroken when Dylan wouldn't comply (it was a school morning). Dylan really enjoys his brother's admiration. It is super sweet.

Dylan just competed in the spelling contest for UIL. He did not study much at all, and he still was a word away from placing. It is funny to me how different Chase and Dylan are when it comes to spelling. Chase is blessed that he lives in the era of spell check! School has always been super easy for Dylan, but he is facing some challenges this year. I would appreciate input from the teachers who read my blog. Dylan is very bright and he tends to live in his own world quite often at school. He lacks focus at times, but grades are not an issue. He has always had organizational challenges, but it has never presented a problem before. He has always been in classrooms with very organized teachers. This year, his teacher is a bit challenged in the area of organization. Dylan's folder is a mess, and he loses things all of the time. I have met with his teacher, and we are trying to find a way to help Dylan learn and retain some better organizational skills. Honestly, he will never be good in this area (my apologies in advance to whomever he marries). I truly believe that it is just in his nature to be a mess (the stain remover that I use on his clothes and the holes in the knees of his pants!). I feel that he must develop some coping strategies in order to function effectively in life. He can't depend on other's organizational skills to help him. Any advice?

Pictures and Updates

Things have been a bit crazy around here. I am more than a bit overwhelmed with work right now, and it has been tough to blog. Then Blogger kept eating my pictures - it seems I am very close to meeting my picture quota - who knew that there was a picture quota? I erased some of my albums that are not on my blog so I have bought a little more time before I have to pay for more storage. Anyone else have this problem?

Here are the pictures of the boys playing while Dylan and I were at UIL. Hopefully, they will show up this time. I thought it would be good to update the boys one at a time. I am going to start with Chase because he is the easiest at this point. It is getting harder and harder to blog about Chase because he cares about what I reveal about him. I am having a hard time knowing how to balance documenting things that I want to remember with respecting Chase's privacy. I really don't have the answer. I am going to write about Chase's first crush, whether he likes it or not. There is this girl at school whom he likes. I can see why he likes her. She is cute, especially on the inside. She is always smiling and laughing. Everytime I have seen her, she has been very kind and respectful. It makes me happy that she is the kind of girl whom Chase likes. It gives me a glimpse of the kind of girl whom he will marry one day. I just know that he will be a wonderful husband and father. I am so proud of him.

Sky Ranch

Mark was a chaperone for the 4th grade Sky Ranch field trip. It is located near Tyler and they were gone for 3 days and 2 nights. They left right after we got back from skiing. It was cold, cold, COLD. Hopefully Mark will add some comments later.
On the bus leaving for Sky Ranch

Arrival
Chase had to take some pictures - here is a lovely scorpion
Here is a picture of a snake
Another snake - this one is fake

Another snake
And another
And yet another - do you think my boy loves snakes?

Listening to the teachers - Mark will have to add info here
Chase my "won't wear a coat" boy. Notice in this picture how he doesn't have his arms through the coat, just the hood on his head - now that is cool.
Getting ready to ride horses

Candle making
Rope making
Putting on a show
The whole group