conrad jay - week 16

No, it's not this guys birthday, (although these weeks are passing incredibly fast) it was Gramps and Conrad was so excited about it!

Here's Silas with Conrad.  He is such a good helper.  There's going to be a special bond between these two.

The Ivan Monster.  Enough said.

We hit up the library this week.  And everyone had a hat on.  My hope is to make it there once a week.  We're currently one for one!

Amos has entered the world of books.  It all seemed to click and each day he's reading better and more.  As you can guess, most of his time is spent reading.

I forgot to mention last week, but this smiley guy is rolling from his belly to his back.  He likes to be on his back looking up at things.

The imagination of these guys never stops amazing me.  He's an astronaut, of course.

They were having fun here, I promise.

There's always someone looking out for Conrad.  He needed a blanket and pillow.  And then they needed a blanket and pillow.

We completed our first full week of school!  Everybody was excited and things went really well.  We aren't using in formal curriculum. Just a lot of good books and some practice with the basics.  Reading St. George and the Dragon inspired their own daring stories.  

On Saturday, we all slept in and then headed to Grammy and Gramps house to celebrate Gramps.  There were lots of dog piles and clusters around the star of the show.

Where is Gramps?

This  guy just started his online class and had to spend most of Saturday and Sunday working!  He got it done though and we're hopeful the first week was the hardest.

conrad jay week 15 + school starts

With everyone having their first day of school, Conrad wanted a first of his own!  And I liked his first.

Sleep has just gotten better and better.  This is a good thing, because my need for more sleep keeps increasing.  I'm ready for some sound sleep. 

This guy is more and more in tune with all the things going around him.  He spends most of his time watching his brothers and smiling up at anyone who will look.  He still has to watch out for the Ivan Monster and loud noises, but most of his day is spent sleeping, eating or watching!

Ivan is becoming more and more fun!  His language is taking off and one of my biggest joys is to sit and talk with him and explore what's going on in his mind.  With better communication, comes better behavior.  He's starting to "obey Mom" better and use words instead of whines!  Hallelujah!

There are a lot of sweet moments with these two too!  They're right between hitting him on the head and trying to poke him in the eye.

Saturday we got to go to MSSU and wait for Dad to finish his 67 mile bike race.  We got there a little early and had lunch.

And then we pretended we were in the Olympics and raced back and forth by the track.  That morning the Olympic triathlon was on the TV before we left and Silas was looking to see which one was Daddy!  Haha!

They were all thinking, "One day I'll be riding beside you, Dad!"

All dressed up in a button down for church.  Silas chose his shirt to match Conrad's.  Silas is one of my best helpers with Conrad.  He's always willing to run and grab something for me or to sit and talk with Conrad if I'm doing something else.

Sunday was a busy day for us, but we managed a family lunch at Sam's.  

Monday marked the first day of school for the Vance Academy for Boys.  We're embarking on a new adventure of schooling at home for Amos' kindergarten year.  Silas will be joining us preschool and Ivan will be busy getting into everyone's business.

Amos got a new watch to mark the start of Kindergarten.  He was pretty excited about it.  He'd already worn out (pun intended) the one he got from his birthday, so we figured he was ready for a little more sturdy one.

"It lights up and everything.  Just like Dad's."

And then came school supplies - because, let's face it.  That's the best part of the start of school.

And Amos immediately began writing a new story.  Motivating him will not be the challenge.  Convincing him that he may need some help might be.  We've got lots of learning ahead of us!

conrad jay - week 14

Conrad's going for the gold this week...

Well, this was our last week of summer vacation.  We, of course, spent a lot of our time watching the Olympcis.  I think it was on almost all the time.But when I told Amos he would be 9 next time the Olympics cam around, he realized the importance.  

Here's Mr. Smiley!  He;s been sleeping 9+ hours a few nights this week.  And we moved him up to his room.  It was a little bittersweet, but it is nice having our room back to ourselves.  And no baby gear to stub our toes on at night.

We hadn't seen the Corcoran Gang for quite a while, so it was nice to visit with them last week.  The girls were sweet with Conrad.  Rosie even wanted to read Superheros to him.  How sweet!

We went to the lake one last time before school started.  These were the only two pictures I got, but they sure were sweet ones.  It's amazing how much all three of the older boys have grown in swimming this summer.  Amos even tried the knee board.  Mom wasn't on the boat or it might not have happened, but I think he's hooked.

Saturday night we had a house full of kids.  We just started a Babysitting Swap with some friends in town that also have a ton of kids and a hard time finding people to watch them for date nights.  One night a month we watch 14 kids.  3 nights a month we can go out on a date!  It's a pretty sweet deal for us.

 Everyone was really well behaved.  We broke out the legos and coloring books and most of the bigger kids were entertained for the evening.

Here's the playroom with some of the younger ones.

Dad went back to school on Monday, but he still had time to do some pretending with these guys once he got home.

 Cheese!!

And this guy...he's had a pretty great week.  He's been adjusting back to some more normal sleep times through the day and happy and playful while he's awake!  We think he's pretty great!