It's Christmas week! My mom and I made cookies all weekend. On Saturday we made 4 dozen gingerbread cookies. The boys had a really good time rolling them out and decorating them. On Sunday we made 6 dozen sour cream cookies. On Friday I had made toffee, glass candy, fudge, and peppermint bark. So needless to say I have enough sweets!

I started cleaning my house over the weekend and it is really very obvious what has been neglected since school started. I don't know if there is enough time to get my house in shape before my company arrives! Good thing they are only coming to see my kids!

They boys only have 3 days of school this week. They have made me painfully aware that there are presents under the tree that they want to open. Everyday Logan asks if he can open them. Today they got to open two. Debbie's co-worker had gifts for them that I let them open. Then they got to open one from Jeanette and Dave because the rule in our house has always been that the packages that come from aunts and uncles who aren't going to be with us  for Christmas are fair game to open on the day they come.

Can't wait to see all of my families!

Here are a few pictures from the boys Christmas program.

I am done with class! I am so excited have a month off! I did manage to lose my voice today, so my finial presentation tonight was pretty short. My teacher was very nice and understanding.

My brother made it back home yesterday. It is nice to have him here. I spent most of the day with him helping him make sure he has everything in order for when he starts school.

The boys have their  program at church tomorrow night. I will try to record some and post it on here!

I am feeling a little anxious tonight. Instead of working on my paper this morning while the twins were at school I decided to go to my dentist appointment, the grocery store and Target. I don't know what I was thinking, a six page paper isn't going to write itself! I did finally decide on a topic the other day and wrote about 3/4 of a page, still a long way to go yet! I guess I will be getting up early tomorrow and going straight to school after the twins get on the bus. I can get about 1 hour in before class!

I took the twins to their school today for a cookie in a jar party. The kids were able to measure out the dry ingredients for cookies and layered them in a jar. They really had fun making them and when the teacher asked them who they were going to give them to Brenden said Grandpa Scott and Logan said he was keeping it for himself! So I promised him we would make cookies this weekend!

I bought the last of my Christmas presents today. I am happy about that, but I haven't wrapped one yet, Not so happy about that! All 3 boys are going with Scott and Debbie this weekend to a movie, so Tim and I will be having bonding time while wrapping presents this weekend!

I had a meeting with Layne's teachers today and we figured out a way for him to qualify for extra help. I am very happy about that. They will start working with him right away. We have to meet with this teachers again next week to make an IEP (Individual Education Plan).

I have exactly one week left of this semester!!!!!!!!! Yeah!!!!!

I had to take a test today to get into the education program. It's kinda funny that I am taking it now considering I am already in the program anyway, it is a three part test, Reading, Math and Writing. I was super nervous to take it because of the math portion. Well, I got to the testing center at 8:30 and left the center at 12:15, I didn't realize it was such a long test. But I passed the Math and Reading sections! The writing portion has to be sent in to be graded and I will find out in 2 weeks if I passed, but I feel pretty confident. I am so glad that it is over and now I can focus on my last big project of the year, a 6-8 page paper for my mythology class.

They boys are enjoying the snow. They play outside for as long as their checks will allow! They can't wait for Christmas, they think that they need every toy that show up on a commercial. Tim and I can't wait for Christmas to be over so the toy commercials will slow down!

Been a while since I blogged again. Lots has happened so let's see what I can remember! We had the twins birthday party at a hotel with a water slide. It was so much fun, but you wont get to see because my camera is broken! We had a ton of junk food for dinner and the kids and adults really enjoyed it. Logan and Layne swan for almost 4 hours, Brenden fell asleep in a pool chair after about 2 1/2 hours. Wish I had a picture of that! My sister then spent the next 3 days with us because on Saturday morning we were going to head out to Beach for my moms family reunion.

We had a great time with my moms family. There are 97 people in my moms family and 67 people were together in one house! The boys really had a good time because there are a ton of kids to play with. Tim even managed to get in some pheasant hunting. He got 3 birds.

I have been visiting with my advisor about how much school I have left. It has been a bit confusing, but I think I have about 1 1/2 years left. DSU took about 3/4 of my credits from Aakers, and I got them to substitute a couple of other classes.

Looking forward to Thanksgiving. We are going to the lake. I can't remember ever being there that time of year.

Only have 3 full weeks of classes before finals. I can't wait for this semester to be over!

My babies are going to be 4!! Can you belive it!

Thank you for the pillow pets Aunt Jody and Uncle Martin!

It was a really long weekend! Brenden wasn't feeling great on Wednesday night so I took him onto the walk in clinic to make sure his sore throat wasn't strep, because if he was sick and had something contagious we couldn't go to the farm. Well the rapid strep test came back negative, but after visiting with the doctor awhile we decided to put him on an antibiotic anyway. I keep him home from school on Thursday and Friday morning when we got up to go to the farm he looked like he was feeling fine. Brenden didn't say anything or eat anything the whole way to there. As the afternoon went on he started to feel worse and worse by 6:00 he was really bad so I decided to take him to the ER. They ran a new strep test and took a CBC. They diagnosed him with tonsillitis and gave him 2 antibiotic shots. Saturday morning he still wasn't feeling great and he hadn't eaten anything since Wednesday. When I talked to the doctor on Saturday he wanted to see him again so I took him back in. When they weighed him he had lost 2 pounds since Wednesday. The doctor gave him an oral antibiotic to take for the next 10 days. He still isn't eating or talking much, his mouth is full of canker sores. I now thin that when I took him in a couple weeks ago for a sore throat that maybe that was tonsillitis too. I am going to call his doctor tomorrow to see what we should do.

Here are some better picutres of the kids on Halloween.

Happy Halloween!

Sorry this picture is so bad. Our camera is broken! Debbie took some better ones so I will post them later!

We had a great weekend. Some friends call at about 5:30 on Friday night. They were going out to a bar to listen to a band and wanted to know if Tim and I could find a babysitter and come out too. My mom and Joe just happened to be home and offered to take the boys over night. So we went out and had a great time.

Saturday was full of bowling in the morning and errands in the afternoon. We were all tried from Friday night so we went to bed early. Today we went to church and then went trick or treating at the 2 grandparents house in the afternoon so we could spend some time at each of their houses. We came home and had "mummy dogs" and tator tots for dinner and headed out to trick or treat in the neighborhood. The kids are sugared up and in bed wide awake!

Tomorrow I start my first day of job shadowing. I will be at Horizon Middle school all day. It should be interesting!

As you can tell by the date of my last post things have been busy around here. Last weekend Layne joined a bowling league. One of the neighborhood boys talked us into it and I thought it was a good idea. I was on a bowling league when I was a kid and have fond memories of it. Layne even gets a bowling ball for joining, he picked out one this is black and looks like it has red, yellow, and orange flames. Cool!

I had parent teacher conferences for Brenden and Logan on Monday. Logan's teacher was just amazed by him. She said that she has been teaching for 20 year and has never had a child score so many 3's (3 is equivalent to an A). He excels in math and science and she said he talks about nature and the farm all the time. They don't usually do a unit on farms, but she is going to add one this year just for him! Brenden did great too. His teacher said that he does have to be prompted to finish tasks and that he sometimes says things are to hard for him. I find that extremely funny because at home he wants to do everything "by myself!".

Tim and I made salty bones last night for Layne to take to school for his Halloween party (bread sticks shaped like a bone with course sea salt on top). He is going to be a safari guide, Brenden is going to be a monkey, and Logan is going to be a cowboy. They should make a cute little trio when they go trick-or-treating!

I start my pre-professional experience (job shadowing) on Monday. I will be at Horizon Middle School all day on Monday and Tuesday with a business education teacher. i am really looking forward to it. I then get to go to Bismarck High two Monday's, the 15 and 22, to shadow a business education teacher there. I am very excited!

November is going to be a crazy month. I have my job shadowing, the farm for girls weekend, LWML Board meeting and in the same weekend my mom's family reunion, the twins birthday party, and out of town for thanksgiving. Crazy!

Today is the boys Friday. They don't have school Thursday or Friday for teacher convention. Layne thinks he should get to stay up until 10 tonight since he doesn't have to get up for school! We will see about that! I think we will do something fun on Friday, I think the twins are old enough for me to take all three of them to the science center by myself. Layne is a member there and has been there many times, but the twins haven't. So I think that sounds like a fun adventure!

Last night when I was checking on the boys I got my hand caught in the ceiling fan. I was trying to cover Layne up with his blanket and I was standing on the bottom bunk. I pulled up on the blanket and went a little to far! My hand is very swollen and black and blue today!!

We had Layne's parent teacher conferance tonight. Both his regular teacher and his reading club teacher said he has improved so much. Although he does have a long way to go. He best scores were in science and math. We also breifly talked to the school psycologist and set up a meeting for October 28th to go over what she has found out during her testing with Layne.

Layne was on a local radio station this past week. Tim and I missed the live broadcast but his teacher sent us a voice clip of it. I am going to try to insert the link in here.

Another great fall weekend! Layne spent Friday evening and late into the night at school for the "Night of Frolic". The kids get to rule the school from 7-11 p.m. The PTA rents inflatables, orders pizza, sets up a game room, and a salon. Layne came home with sprayed in black hair! It was great for his Tae Kwon Do Tournament on Saturday!

The tournament didn't go so well for Layne. He got nervous and froze up when he tried to do his pattern and when he was sparring (fancy word for fighting) he got kicked in the groin (he was wearing protection, but it was really hard) and couldn't finish the match. He was so upset when we left he didn't want to go to Scott and Debbie's. I felt so bad for him. But I think it made him realize that he has to practice more if winning at tournaments is important to him.

Today was the first time the twins sang during church and it was the cutest thing I have ever seen!! They sang 3 songs at each service. At the first service Brenden sang a little and Logan just stood there. But at the second service the both got in to it and sang. They did the actions too. So cute!! I can't wait to see them in the Christmas program!

Highlights of the week:

• Took Logan to the Doctor last night, he has pink eye.
• Everyone in the house has a cold, we need stock in Kleenex.
• I am not enjoying mid-terms, take all of the above and add 3 papers to the mix.
• Layne has a Tae Kwon Do tournament on Saturday.

Layne lost another tooth!

I have wonderful boys! But they keep begging for snow. Don't they remeber this day!

Layne is an official blue belt. He broke his board last night on the first try. He was so excited when I went to pick him up he was bouncing up and down. So proud of him!

The twins are loving school. Everyday when they get home I ask them what they learned, they both always reply "nothing". Then when I ask them what there favorite part of their day was they always reply "playing outside".  They great really excited when they get to have chocolate milk or waffle stick for breakfast and today Brenden brought home a book order and is dying to order a book!

Next week is mid-terms for me. Hard to believe that the semester is half over. I already know that I have 2 papers to write, so it will be a busy week. Tutoring is going well. I really enjoy working with the kids. I did have to tell one girl that I couldn't help her. She was taking a quiz on "The Crucible" and I have never read it. So I told one of the other teachers that and she took over helping her. I have taught some students a few new things that I have learn. I helped one senior boy with a computer application so he could write his senior term paper at home.

Weather has been super nice here. It was 82 today and it is supposed to be nice all week. Tim and I are going to work at the pumpkin patch again this weekend so I hope it stays nice!

Whew what a weekend! We found out on Thursday that Layne was going to get to test for his blue belt on Friday night. It was a diffucult testing for everyone in his calss, Grand Master Ben almost didn't pass them, but he felt that if time would have allowed that they all would have been able to do what they needed to do eventualy, so he passed them. He gave Layne his blue belt, but he is not aloud to wear it until he has his next class and breaks his board. My and Joe watch the twins fro us while we were at Laynes testing and she decided to keep all 3 of them for the night.

My sister and her 3 kids decided to come up on Saturday. It was such a beautiful day out that we took the kids to the park for 2 hours. Layne brought his skate board along and found a skate park there (all kinds of ramps for him to skate up and down on). So he has now decided that skating is his favortie thing to do and he wants a better skate board and "skater" shoes!

We got the boys pictures taken today. A new friend of ours is a professional photgrapher so we decided to take all 3 boys to the capital grounds. We got some really great pictures of them in the trees, on the petrified rocks, playing in the grass, on the state library stairs, and in front of the heritage center. I can't wait to get them back!

I spent over 2 hours at the walk in clinic tonight with Brenden. Something hit him hard this afternoon and he was complaining that his ears, throat, and neck hurt. He was falling asleep in the waiting room and kept asking if we could go home. They sent us down to the lab to do a rapid strep test, but it came back negative. The dr. said she has been seeing a lot of viral stuff going around with those symptoms. So we will wait and see how he is tomorrow.

It has been cold and rainy here for the last couple of days. I wouldn't mind a little sunshine!!

I started volunteering at Bismarck High today. I am working in the tutoring center and it was a lot of fun. I help out with an english worksheet, health paper, and a senior term paper. It was a little strange to hear the students call me Mrs. Larson! I will continue to work in the tutoring center every Wednesday morning until the end of the semester.

It's been a busy couple of weeks! We are all adjusting to school well. The boys really like school and were sad the last 2 Fridays when they didn't get to go! They don't see much of each other at school so when they get home they have a lot to tell each other.  Layne is enjoying play dates with school friends again! However he is not liking the much harder and longer spelling list!

We had a great time at the farm last weekend. The boys found a whole bucket full of frogs and climbed the trees all day. Layne shoot his first dove. I think he now has the hunting bug. He asked Tim when he was old enough to go goose hunting with him and Justin!

Sorry had a hard time with the pictures. I couldn't get the slide show to work!

My babies had a great first day at preschool! They were so excited to ride the bus! When the bus pulled up the both walked right on like they had done it a thousand times before, never looked back or got a hug and kiss from me! Oh well, I was worried that Logan would cry or be stuborn and not want to go, but they both did so great. Logan's favorite thing about school was brushing his teeth. How funny is that! Brenden's favortie part was playing at the play ground. They certainly were tried when they got home though. I thought that they would both go to bed really early tonight since they had to get up at 6:30. Logan fell asleep right away, but Brenden is still up and it almost 8:00! He is going to be tried tomorrow since they have to get up that early again!

Layne had a really great first couple of days at school. I even got an email from Layne's teacher:

Eileen,

I wanted to drop you a quick email to let you know that I thought Layne did a great job! He was hard working, kind and focused. He even earned my first Roughrider card by going out of his way to include our new student. Layne noticed that the new student did not have a sharpie and the marker he was using was smearing on his notebooks as he was trying to label them. Layne asked the student if he would like to borrow his sharpie. I will keep you informed throughout the year. Please feel free to email or call with any additional questions or concerns.

Thanks,

Erin Jacobson

I am so proud of him and glad that this school year is off to a good start!

On Thursday we took the twins to meet their teacher and see their classrooms. Brenden was really excited and took to his teacher and classroom well. Logan on the other hand was really shy and kept asking if we could go home. Sending them off on the bus on Wednesday should be ineresting for all of us!

We had a nice weekend with friends. We were invited to dinner at at 2 different friend's houses, so the boys were up super late 2 nights in a row, but it was great to spend some time with good friends!

Layne is going to be a third grader tomorrow! I can hardly believe it! He is really excited to see his friends, but is really nervous for all the test he is going to have (his words). I do think this year is going to be harder for him than the last couple. I also think he is going to learn a lot from the older kids since he moves up stairs this year!

My first couple days of school have been good. I love my intro to education class, but algebra on the other hand, not so much! I think I am going to need a lot of help with that class!

The boys are excited to meet their teachers tomorrow. I wish I could be there for both of them, but I at least get to go for one!

I got a call from Brenden's preschool teacher day, she wants him to come in on Thursday at 11:15 to meet her and see his classroom. My heart sank. I am in class until 11:45 on Thursdays. I told her I couldn't bring him, but I would check with my husband and see if he could bring him. Tim said he could and I got really sad. I wasn't going to be there when saw his classroom for the first time! Or meet his teacher! I felt horrible until Logan's teacher called a little while later. She is having an open house in her classroom and I can bring Logan in anytime from 10 to 1. It made me feel a little better that at least I would get to take one of them to see their classroom.

Layne is enjoying that last few days before school starts. We have had up to 10 kids in our backyard the last couple of weeks. I don't know where all these kids have been all summer, but they have been coming over to play everyday since we got back from vacation. It has been really fun and all the kids play really nice together.

We had a really great weekend. I started out Friday by tackling a project that I have been meaning to do for some time, painting our front stairs. Tim help me get the concrete sanded down and then I primed. I did not get to finish painting because it got too hot, but I should be able to finish this week. It already looks better!

Layne was bored while I was painting so I suggested that he set up a lemonade stand. He had been bugging me to do one all summer, but there has never been a good time. He had his stand set up for 2 hours and made $28! He set one up again on Saturday and made $10 more dollars. Now the money is burning a hole in his pocket!

Saturday afternoon we decided to tackle the kids toy room downstairs. The toys had over taken the room. We fill 4 big black garbage bags with toys that were missing pieces or broken. We then decided to down size the toy box to a smaller wooden one. We also got a futon to replace the chair that was down there. The chair was rubbing against the wall and cut almost all the way through the sheetrock, and besides that, the three boys couldn't really all fit into the one chair anymore! Earlier last week we clean out the boys closet and put in some hanging organizers that holds one weeks worth of clothes, we found them on clearance at Lowes. We thought since they were such a good deal that we should get some to put in the entryway too. So now they boys each have a "cubby" to put their shoes, coats, bike helmets, and stuff in. In the one week that they have been install the boys have manage to keep the entryway clean, they think it is fun to have a place to put their stuff, I hope it lasts!

I start school on Tuesday, it is so hard to believe the summer is already over. Time is flying by. It dawned on Tim and I the other day that we have been in this house for 4 years already! Next month I will enter the last year in my 20's, the twins will turn 4 in November, and my "baby" is going to be a third grader in 5 days. I'm not sure if all this is good or bad!

So I have taken a super long blogging break, but now that things have settled down here a bit I can get you all caught up on us!! We had a really great 2 week vacation to the lake and a mini vacation to the cities. The floor Tim put in for his grandparents turned out great and the weather was so nice we were able to swim almost everyday! The Minnesota Zoo was great! We didn't get to see it all so we already have planned to go back next year!

I have had a cold since we left for vacation, today was the first day that I actually felt good enough to get some stuff done around the house, needless to say I have a ton of laundry to catch up on!

I start school one week from tomorrow, Layne starts one week from Thursday, and the twins start on the 1st of September. I am ready to get back into a routine, but it will be interesting getting all four of us up and out of the house every morning!

Tim and Adam won the canoe race!! They were awesome. They kept up with the kayaks and even managed to beat some of them. They beat the next canoe by more than 10 minutes! It was so fun to watch!

Layne had fun performing at the opening ceremonies. He even managed to get his picture in the paper again!

The twins have their first dentist appointment tomorrow. They have to see the dentist and have a physical before preschool starts and since we have 2 weeks before we are gone for 2 weeks I thought I better get to doing some of this stuff! And believe it or not we only have 2 weeks until school starts after we get home, 2 weeks seems to be the magic time here huh?