Where Have You Been!?!?!

My dear friend and prayer warrior Marie sent me a lovely & sweet little email asking if I was still blogging. Oh dear. I guess it's been awhile, eh? I have a good excuse! Taigen and I found really inexpensive plane tickets to CO that we could purchase with our credit card points. Pretty cool, eh? It would be a quick trip, but a little is better than nothing at all. I hadn't been to CO for almost three years. This trip with the kids was long overdue. So I've been a little absent from my computer screen finishing up with school, and preparing for a brief vacation.

For the first time EVER, we were able to take a direct flight from Boston to Denver. It was on JetBlue and I have to say that the legroom was fantastic! It was my first time on that airline as well and since I wasn't eating my knees, I was already thinking happy thoughts towards the company. The flight was only four hours long, which made it very "doable." (I'd do it again in a heartbeat!)

We left at O'Dark Thirty in order to get to Boston on time, but the kids are always thrilled to get to do that. This put us getting in to Denver at around 9:45 so we had a full day to spend with Dad.

The spoiling started off with a trip to Wendy's. He asked the kids if they were hungry. Marshall was, but Shaylen said she wasn't. I think once she smelled Marshall's chicken nuggets and French fries, she realized that she WAS indeed hungry. Grandpa quickly took care of that. Both kids scarfed up their food.

When we got home we got all settled & the kids got reacquainted with Cadillac (Marshall's best buddy), and also took off for the swings in the backyard. Dad also pulled out something called The Green Machine. This proved to be one of the highlights of the vacation.

We went with Dad to pick up Dillon & Colton from school (Cathy's son, Andrew's boys) and the kids had a blast from then on out.

When Cathy got home from work we devoured the roast beef that had been cooking in the crockpot all day. The kids got introduced to the X-box and Mrs. Pac Mac machine down in Grandpa's basement. Let the spoiling begin...

Piano Progress & Ministry

Marshall & Shaylen continue to progress on their piano. They are so faithful in practicing. It is just part of their day (no arguments...really!). This Wednesday evening, Marshall had an opportunity to play a prelude to the service. He played "Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us" and he did a fantastic job. He seems cool as a cucumber. Mommy is probably more nervous about these things than he is.

I also needed to be sure to get a picture of him in his new duds from Grandma Sherry. Doesn't he look fantastic? They are getting so big.

Shaylen is scheduled for early May. I'll try and get a video of her on here too.

Appliances for the Mouth

For a while now, we've known that Marshall's teeth were going to be an issue. He had an underbite when he was a baby that slowly went away as he got older, but when his permanent teeth started coming in up front, we realized there were going to be other issues. The dentist commented on it every time we were in and said we should jump on it once all of his front baby teeth were gone. About a month and a half ago, Marshall and I went in and had tons of photographs taken, a panoramic x-ray done, a wax mold as well as a plaster mold done of his mouth. I then went in a week later and they talkd me through what should be done to correct what had turned into a cross-bite (apparently the worst type of bite you can have...Eek!). His mouth was like a puzzle and we knew something needed to be done.

The hope & goal is to push the front teeth out in front of his bottom teeth with the help of a retainer. Supposedly, if all goes as planned, he won't need braces later on, but if we did nothing, they think he would have needed oral surgery. Yikes! We bit the bullet and ordered his "orthodontic appliance" (makes it sounds like a fridge or dishwasher or something...and ya know...it is probably similarly priced).

We went in today to pick it up and get educated on the how's, why's, when's of his retainer. Marshall was really excited, actually. The dental hygenist was really, really awesome and put Marshall at ease immediately, but when it came time to put it in, Marshall got nervous and started to cry a little. He was afraid it would hurt. He took a deep breath, put on his brave face and opened up his mouth. It snapped right in.

He looks so cute! His homework was to talk and read out loud as much as possible so that he could adjust to it. It was all we could do to not laugh as he read the little pamphlet they gave him. He was slurring, slobbering, and spitting so much. Poor guy. Marshall needs to wear it 24/7 right now. Eventually he'll only need to wear it at night, but for now, we're in it for the long haul. He's had a great attitude however and is looking forward to having his teeth go where they need to go.

Time With Friends & A Very Special Guest

We were excited to hear that our friends, the Weigles, were going to be in New England for a conference in Windham, NH. With them being so close it seemed like a crime to not have them come to the church and sing. They were with us in the fall and our church just loved them! Taigen grabbed his calendar and the phone and was able to procure them for this past Sunday. We're so glad that he did. They were a HUGE blessing. On Sunday they came over for lunch and we enjoyed a great conversation and laughter around the table. John said that Monday was Sharon's birthday, and rather than travel he wondered if we could do something together. Of course we could!

Now, I have to tell you, that my other good friend Amy Herbster loves Sharon too. She had emailed and told me how much she wished she could be up here with us. We have plans for when she's here next to go to Stonewall Kitchen & the Nubble Lighthouse. So when it was worked out that the Weigles and us could do something on Monday, I determined right then and there to take Amy along with us so she would know we were thinking of her and wishing she was with us. It turned out to be one of my better brain-childs! We had so much fun.

I greeted Sharon at her trailer with Amy's 8x10 face and proceeded to take Sharon & Amy with us to Stonewall, Nubble, and everywhere else we went. It was hilarious. We did have a great time with the Weigles and it was great to reconnect again. The kids all had fun together and we made some wonderful memories.

By the way...we tagged Amy in our photos on Facebook and she wrote us a note saying how much she loved it and appreciated us thinking of her.

Here are all three of us outside of Stonewall Kitchen.

Amy enjoyed sampling the yummy stuff there.

Amy applied for a job...

All three of us at Nubble.

We celebrated Sharon's birthday at Bugaboo Creek. They sing to you and say, "Kiss the Moose!" The kids LOVED it!

The End of the Day & Hardy Boys

We've been having some unusually warm weather here in New England. How warm, you say? Try 80 degree weather! It's insane! Our plants don't know what to do with themselves. They're budding, but there's cooler weather on the way so they'll be shocked in a few days.

In the meantime, we've been enjoying going outside and working in the yard. The kids have loved taking their bicycles out and riding around. It's beautiful. After a particularly wonderful day, and lots of playing outside, Shaylen came inside, grabbed her current Hardy Boys book, some couch cushions, placed them in front of the front screen door, and settled down to enjoy the last remnants of a beautiful day. It was so spontaneous and cute that I had to snap up some pictures.

HBC Annual Spaghetti Dinner & Dessert Contest

Every year the men look forward to donning their aprons, cracking the cookbooks (or daring to sail the uncharted waters of Pinterest) for our church's annual Spaghetti Dinner & Men's Dessert Contest. Remember last year's Super-sized Hamburger? or 2010's Peanut Butter & Chocolate Cake? or 2009's Piano Cake?  or our introduction to the serious fun at our first contest?  We've had fun every year. This year was no exception, and even Marshall got in on the fun.

Taigen & Marshall's entry this year came straight off of a find on Pinterest. It looked easy enough. They made a practice one and we all critiqued it as if we were all chefs on Food Network. Taigen and Marshall tweaked things in their mind, and when it came to making it, they were all business. I stayed out of things, and just had fun watching and snapping up pictures.

In the end, they entitled it "Barrel of Goodness." It looked like a giant barrel of M&M's which would have gotten my vote, but actually it was a moist, yellow cake with homemade frosting, surrounded by Kit Kats and tied off with a red ribbon. Doesn't it just look fantastic?

No, they didn't win. But they sure had fun putting it together (i.e. father/son time...priceless). There were tons of desserts at the church: cheesecakes, mousse, sour cream & strawberry cakes, peanut butter balls (made with peanut butter and Velveeta...really!), an espresso cake that looked like it walked right off of a magazine, and so, so much more. In the end, here are some of the winners:

Mike & Nate did the Rubik's Cube/Golf Course cake, Lee did the Strawberry Yogurt Cake & Jerry did the Chocolate Mousse (he came later and I didn't get a picture...sorry!)



The Fever Bug

The Fever Bug hit the Joos household. Marshall was particularly grumpy on Saturday. It's not like him to be that "touchy." After working at the church during the morning hours, I brought the twins home to feed them lunch. Marshall hardly touched his sandwich. He burst into tears, said he wasn't hungry, and went to lay down on the couch. Not much long after that, he was sound asleep. I immediately knew that he was not well.  When he woke up TWO HOURS later, I took his temp. He definitely had a fever. After changing his clothes into his jammies, grabbing a blanket, his robe, and a stuffed animal, he took ANOTHER two hour nap. The fever was still up by bedtime so we gave him some medicine and sent him to bed. We knew he would not be going to church in the morning. His fever was still raging in the morning when I woke him up. He was more pleasant (amazing what sleep and medicine will do), and we enjoyed a quiet day together while Taigen and Shaylen went to church.

The fever lasted four days. Monday he slept until 10:20 and took catnaps throughout the day. Tuesday he was feeling much better and his fever was pretty low so we managed to squeak in a little school. Tuesday night at dinner I made burritos...a family favorite. Shaylen was mid-burrito when she asked if she could be excused. She said she was full. We looked surprised and reminded her that if she didn't finish her dinner there would be no cake (Taigen & Marshall's trial-run cake for the Men's Dessert contest). She said she knew but that she didn't want any. We knew then that something was wrong. Shaylen never turns down dessert! She went and lay down on the couch and was out like a light. Alas! Marshall had shared his fever bug with his sister.

The next day her fever was raging and she managed to come to the couch in the morning, but go up to her room at about 10:30am and sleep off and on for the rest of the day and into the night. Shaylen and I missed the Wednesday evening service. Thursday was more of the same and Friday finally brought some relief.

It was the strangest bug to hit the Joos household! It only involved the fever. No other symptoms were present. Taigen and I, so far have managed to avoid it. We had to pretty much take off a week of school, but there was plenty of time for snuggles, books, and rest.

An Apple A Day Keeps the Boredom Away

For Christmas, the twins got a new game from Dad & Cathy called Appletters. It is a fantastic game! If you've never heard of it, it's like Scrabble except without the board and there are a couple of options that you can do to make things interesting. The way we like best is to make a long "snake" by adding on to the first or last letter of the word in play.

We taught it to the twins and have been having a blast with it. Our little bookworm, Shaylen, has particularly enjoyed playing, and decided to see if she could clobber her parents. She has even succeeded a few times! Her next mission is to take it on vacation and clobber her grandparents or even Great Grandma.

Pet Update

Do you remember waaaay back in 2010 when I posted about the cats that moved into the neighborhood? Well they survived the first winter. That was a huge relief to our neighbor who has a soft spot for them and went to great pains to make sure they didn't freeze to death or starve. We usually saw three kitties. The kids named the twin cats (the ones that looked so similar) "Patches" and "Whiskers." The runt they named "Oreo." Well, eventually Oreo dropped off the scene. We are hoping that he found a good home (*cough, cough* either somewhere in the neighborhood or that great big catnip patch in the sky, if ya know what I mean!). This past winter we lost sight of Patches. This is somewhat sad because he was the friendliest of the bunch. The kids miss talking to him.

Well, the remaining cat has made it through another New England winter. (It wasn't a long, cold winter if you ask me! It was very, very mild!) Whiskers has made a guest appearance here and there, mostly to mooch off of us a scrap of chicken or turkey, but he will not allow us to get too close. He loves for us to talk to him through the patio glass door, and of course FEED him, but that's as far as the relationship goes. This is fine by me!

At some point during the winter he had obviously gotten into a fight and lost. His poor left eye was swollen shut and all scabbed over. (GROSS!) Poor kitty. But the last time he came by the scab was gone and his eye was looking much better (you can see it in the bottom picture).

We also have another cat that drops by occasionally. He's lost. We know he belongs to someone because he has a collar & license, but he won't let us near him at all in order to figure out who he belongs to. He looks healthy and pretty. He has a long-haired, cream coat with brown smudges here and there. Hopefully he'll find his way home soon. Someone is bound to miss this pretty kitty.

A Masked Bandit

Taigen had his suspicions. He voiced them to me quietly one night after the kids went to bed. "I think that noise I heard outside tonight while grilling might be a racoon. I've seen tracks leading to and from our deck and also leading under our deck. Let's not leave any scraps out for the cats for a while."

Racoons are cute. I love their fuzzy masks and bushy tails, but I know they can be pests when it comes to pets and garbage. We might enjoy seeing one, but we don't want them taking up residence at our house...or deck!

Well, this morning during breakfast, I glanced out my kitchen window to see our masked bandit sitting leisurely under a tree cleaning his paws. So leisurely was he, that I was able to grab the camera, snap some pictures of him, AND call the kids from the table to get a look for themselves. Once he decided he was clean enough, he got up and casually meandered into the woods. Aren't they supposed to be nocturnal? His Daylight Savings Time started a bit early, don't you think?

He was very cute, and he clearly came out from under our deck (the muddy tracks from underneath stopped at where he had been under the tree). Eeek! We haven't seen him since (whew), and it was very neat for all of us to see a (live) racoon, but we're not going to throw out a welcome mat to him any time soon.

Beautiful New England

I absolutely love New England. I think there are parts of each season that are just remarkable. In the fall, nothing quite compares to the color display that we see. In spring, the new flowers bursting with colors and the trees blooming are a sight to behold. Summer brings green trees of every hue, and winter is picture perfect. Here are a few examples of what I mean. On our way home I captured a few pictures of the painting that God gave our eyes to feast on.

Rocky Hill Road (one of our main ways to get to the next town over)

Another view of Rocky Hill Road. I love how the trees overhang the road. Beautiful!

Snow Fun

Of course, you know that homeschoolers really don't get a break for snow. Even though the local school buses cannot safely make it through the snow to pick up the kids at the end of our driveway, WE can still make it up our guest room stairs for school.

After our schoolwork was done in the morning, Taigen and I had a surprise for them in the afternoon. We were going to go sledding! We love going to the local golf course, but since it was still snowing pretty hard and we figured the steep driveway to the golf course wouldn't be plowed yet, we decided to go to the nearby playground where there are some really nice hills down to a ballfield. We had a wonderful time and pretty much had the place to ourselves for the majority of the time.

March Came In Like A...

Our winter here has been so odd. We've hardly gotten any snow at all! Our poor lawn looks so bare. Usually at this time of year, we have several feet of snow. We finally got a big storm today and it made everything look so beautiful and clean.

HBC Homeschool Fine Arts Recital

Well, the big day finally came. All of the hard work and hours of practice on two piano pieces finally got heard tonight. I don't know who was more nervous...the kids or ME. When you have two kids playing a duet, the potential of a domino effect is greater. If one makes a mistake and the other doesn't respond to it properly, you have a piano train wreck. Thankfully, that didn't happen. They didn't play flawlessly, but they certainly did a great job. I was proud as punch!!!

The twins also submitted art work to be displayed downstairs during our reception time. Shaylen chose to draw an ant and Marshall decided on drawing Robert Hooke's microscope. They both got the idea from some art books so there were instructions on how to go about drawing them. They did a great job!

"Consider Her Ways" by Shaylen

"Robert Hooke's Microscope" by Marshall

We had a great time and we loved hearing all of the musical pieces and speeches. Everyone did a fantastic job! Afterwards we all went downstairs for a reception and were able to take our time and examine all of the artwork displayed. Thank you so much, Jane for all of the hard work you put into making this a HUGE success.

On a side note: We were so excited to have the more "formal" occasion in order to use the beautiful, fancy dress that Shaylen has on. It was given to Dad & Cathy by friends and then handed down to us. Shaylen looked beautiful in it! It was perfect. Thank you!