Monday, November 16, 2015
Sunday, November 15, 2015
Graham age 9
Seeing these pictures of my Graham-bo makes me a little sad. He's growing up too fast and I just wish I could slow time a little bit. It seems there's never enough time to sit and talk and enjoy each of my kids. I feel like I'm so rushed and ready to move on to the next thing...dinner, bedtime, schoolwork, etc.
Graham turned nine years old in August. How is that possible? He is enjoying 3rd grade much more than 2nd. Ms. Seetai is much sweeter and soft spoken than Ms. Leandro and it seems like a better match. Graham has always been a great student and has no problem understanding concepts in school. I know his teachers always sing his praises and he has lots of friends at school.
Mr. Graham was on the swim team here at Sigonella for a while, but then started to have ear trouble. Another set of tubes helped his chronic pain and irritation, but whenever he got in the water, he couldn't stand the discomfort. So......he had to stop. He enjoyed his time swimming, even if at times he claimed to hate it. His favorite stroke is the breast stroke.
The big event of this spring is his role in the school musical. It's more of a community musical here in Sigonella. He got the lead in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang! He is Jeremy! Rehearsals have started and he's doing a fabulous job! I think we were all a little surprised that he got it, but he has a great voice and is such a bright kid. I can't wait to see how it all goes down!
Graham loves playing with his friends. He feels very, very frustrated when a day passes when he didn't get to just "play". If he has homework and then has to go to sports practice or scouts, he isn't happy that he didn't get time to just "relax". His favorite Wii game is Mario Galaxy and he loves to play Minecraft on the iPad. Graham is a great big brother and is almost always great about letting Benny follow him around and play with him and his friends. Henry Boller is one of his best friends and they share a lot of the same interests. A bunch of the neighborhood boys love to get together and play a live version of Minecraft outside on our street.
Graham is also a fabulous soccer player. He loved playing goalie this year on his team, The Fire Breathing Rubber Duckies. I had fun watching and coaching him this fall. He is signed up to play basketball starting next month. He claims that's probably his favorite sport.
For breakfast every morning Graham has pancakes (if Jason has made a big batch recently), but if there aren't any, he has two pieces of toast with peanut butter and "sprinkles". We got the sprinkles from a package that Susanna sent us from The Netherlands.
Graham has a tough time getting up for school. It starts so early here! They have to be out for the bus at 6:55 am! He has a hard time settling in to sleep at night, too. Of all my kiddos, he seems to need the least amount of sleep time. He really needs time to read a book for thirty minutes or so in order to relax and get tired. Sometimes Jason and I will come up to go to bed, and we will have forgotten to tell him to turn out his reading light and go to sleep. He will have read for over an hour and a half!
One of my favorite things about this boy is his expressions and enthusiasm. I've always said that it's all or nothing with this boy and the same still applies. If Graham likes what J or I have made for dinner, he goes on and on and on about how good it is and that he loves it. If Graham thinks that something is unfair, it's all we will hear about for a very long time. He's quite the little debater, too. Just the other day, he didn't want to do his after school chore. I told him that he doesn't get paid and that he'll be upset when he doesn't have money when we go to the store. He promised that he wouldn't and said, matter of factly, "You should just be glad that I'm not commercial." When he talks about something he's excited about or mad about, his blue eyes get really, really big and his eyebrows raise really high. Every time.
I love it when he is getting ready to leave the house to play and he'll say, "I love you, Mom" before walking out. He does the same thing when he has asked to play the iPad and I say yes.
Graham loves it when I assign him to watch Sullivan for a while as I shower or get something done. He plays with him and can really get him laughing. He doesn't, however like it when I let Sullivan play in his room while he's at school and he destroys his whole Minecraft Lego set-up. Oops.
This boy has a very tender heart. When we told him and the other kids about Grandpa Lynn's death, he was very, very sad. He cried for a while and I could tell a lot of his heart ache came because he was sad for Jason. During the funeral, he cried nearly the whole time. It made my heart hurt, but also made me grateful to see him feel something so strongly about someone else.
I love this boy. So very much. As my first son, he'll always have a special place in my mother heart. He teaches me so much. Yes, that includes patience, endurance, and humility. He is also teaching me how to not let the small stuff matter so much and to focus on the most important things.
Graham turned nine years old in August. How is that possible? He is enjoying 3rd grade much more than 2nd. Ms. Seetai is much sweeter and soft spoken than Ms. Leandro and it seems like a better match. Graham has always been a great student and has no problem understanding concepts in school. I know his teachers always sing his praises and he has lots of friends at school.
Mr. Graham was on the swim team here at Sigonella for a while, but then started to have ear trouble. Another set of tubes helped his chronic pain and irritation, but whenever he got in the water, he couldn't stand the discomfort. So......he had to stop. He enjoyed his time swimming, even if at times he claimed to hate it. His favorite stroke is the breast stroke.
The big event of this spring is his role in the school musical. It's more of a community musical here in Sigonella. He got the lead in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang! He is Jeremy! Rehearsals have started and he's doing a fabulous job! I think we were all a little surprised that he got it, but he has a great voice and is such a bright kid. I can't wait to see how it all goes down! Graham loves playing with his friends. He feels very, very frustrated when a day passes when he didn't get to just "play". If he has homework and then has to go to sports practice or scouts, he isn't happy that he didn't get time to just "relax". His favorite Wii game is Mario Galaxy and he loves to play Minecraft on the iPad. Graham is a great big brother and is almost always great about letting Benny follow him around and play with him and his friends. Henry Boller is one of his best friends and they share a lot of the same interests. A bunch of the neighborhood boys love to get together and play a live version of Minecraft outside on our street.
Graham is also a fabulous soccer player. He loved playing goalie this year on his team, The Fire Breathing Rubber Duckies. I had fun watching and coaching him this fall. He is signed up to play basketball starting next month. He claims that's probably his favorite sport. For breakfast every morning Graham has pancakes (if Jason has made a big batch recently), but if there aren't any, he has two pieces of toast with peanut butter and "sprinkles". We got the sprinkles from a package that Susanna sent us from The Netherlands.
Graham has a tough time getting up for school. It starts so early here! They have to be out for the bus at 6:55 am! He has a hard time settling in to sleep at night, too. Of all my kiddos, he seems to need the least amount of sleep time. He really needs time to read a book for thirty minutes or so in order to relax and get tired. Sometimes Jason and I will come up to go to bed, and we will have forgotten to tell him to turn out his reading light and go to sleep. He will have read for over an hour and a half!
One of my favorite things about this boy is his expressions and enthusiasm. I've always said that it's all or nothing with this boy and the same still applies. If Graham likes what J or I have made for dinner, he goes on and on and on about how good it is and that he loves it. If Graham thinks that something is unfair, it's all we will hear about for a very long time. He's quite the little debater, too. Just the other day, he didn't want to do his after school chore. I told him that he doesn't get paid and that he'll be upset when he doesn't have money when we go to the store. He promised that he wouldn't and said, matter of factly, "You should just be glad that I'm not commercial." When he talks about something he's excited about or mad about, his blue eyes get really, really big and his eyebrows raise really high. Every time. I love it when he is getting ready to leave the house to play and he'll say, "I love you, Mom" before walking out. He does the same thing when he has asked to play the iPad and I say yes.
Graham loves it when I assign him to watch Sullivan for a while as I shower or get something done. He plays with him and can really get him laughing. He doesn't, however like it when I let Sullivan play in his room while he's at school and he destroys his whole Minecraft Lego set-up. Oops.
This boy has a very tender heart. When we told him and the other kids about Grandpa Lynn's death, he was very, very sad. He cried for a while and I could tell a lot of his heart ache came because he was sad for Jason. During the funeral, he cried nearly the whole time. It made my heart hurt, but also made me grateful to see him feel something so strongly about someone else.
I love this boy. So very much. As my first son, he'll always have a special place in my mother heart. He teaches me so much. Yes, that includes patience, endurance, and humility. He is also teaching me how to not let the small stuff matter so much and to focus on the most important things.
Tuesday, November 10, 2015
Sunday, November 1, 2015
Halloween 2015.....by Lucy Ray
We had a great time enjoying the Halloween festivities this year.
My Little Pirate
Graham wasn't too happy about being a bunny, but he figured it out
You can't see Lucy's gruesome Zombie bite from this angle, but it looked pretty scary.
Here is the story that I heard from the girls
First, I young boy who caught the Zombie disease was walking into a soccer game, and Alyah (the one in the red) tripped over the soccer ball and was bitten in the face. So then, Alyah was walking around at night and saw Bailey (the one in the white) trimming her tree, and Alyah bit her. Then Bailey heard noises from a fashion show, and apparently, Lucy was too busy looking at her self in the mirror getting ready for the runway, she didn't see bailey sneak up behind he and bit her neck. Now they are all going around eating people's brains.
Thursday, October 15, 2015
Fall Soccer
Fall soccer 2015 was an overall success. Benny loved going to his games, but especially loved the snacks provided afterwards. His buddy, Teyfen Jones, from church was on his team, which made sideline visiting more fun for us! We love the Jones family!
Benny could be seen showing off his ninja moves as well as soccer skills. He's a quick little brick and I loved seeing how determined he could be! Every time he made a goal, his smile was sooooo big and bright! Someone would always comment something like, "Look at that million dollar smile!"
Dad did his hair the morning of his last game. Thanks, Dad?
Teyfen and Benny boy
Sullivan made game watching and coaching a little tough because he always wanted to be at the park a little bit away from the field. It seemed like there were always some girls willing to keep an eye on him for us, though. He's quite the charmer!
Lucy had a great season, too! She was still recovering from her knee injury that she got early last summer (fell down hard during PE), but the brace helped a lot.
She is a determined player, too and never gave up! It's tough playing in a league of girls and boys 11-14 years old! Some of those boys outweighed her by 50 pounds or more, but she kept barrelling through!
Phil Andre and I coached Graham and Ella's team again this year. We were named the Fire Breathing Rubber Duckies. Catchy, I know! It was a great group of kids and I really enjoyed the time with Graham.
Benny, Phil, Penny, Eliza, Gabe, Jeff, Cavin, Jared, Jacob, ME,
Graham, Ella
One of the moms made these amazing cookies for us at the end of the season.
Thursday, September 3, 2015
First Day of School......by Lucy Ray
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| Benny and his poster |
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| Notice beautiful Mt. Etna in the background |
Graham not being cooperative
Lets just say Lucy was not as excited to start school as Ben was
Benny was very excited to start his fist day of kindergarten
Thursday, July 23, 2015
Crazy Days
WRITTEN IN JUNE 2015
I really have sooo much to blog about, but it's a little too overwhelming to think about right now. So, instead I'm going to just journal about what's going on in our lives right now.
We had oh so many visitors this spring! It has been wonderful! Maleah and Bob Christensen came in March, Tanna and Jed Grunig came in April, Trent and Lichelle Perry came in May, and The Kidd girls (Tami, Kalleen, Carol, and Lydia) just left yesterday. We absolutely LOVED showing them this part of the world. With each visitor, we tried to make sure we saw a few new things, too. Although, we made sure to show all of them our favorites. We love Taormina and the Catania market, so everyone saw that. I'm pretty sure everyone saw Siracusa and Ortygia, too.
I can't believe that Benny is done with preschool this week. I'm not sure I'm ready for him to be in full day kindergarten in the fall, but he is counting down the days. I know he'll be fine and will be successful, but I'll miss my little buddy. He's such a sweet, fun little boy. I love hearing his sound effects as he plays with his "guys". He still likes to bring toys with him when we go on a car ride. If Graham is coming, he brings his, too, but he gets extremely irritated with the noises Benny makes. Benny LOVES snacks, playing with Graham on the Wii or outside, and showing us his ninja dance moves. He can really get down to some "Moves Like Jagger" or "Dynamite". He's going to do a dance for tomorrow's talent show in preschool. He spends a lot of time with Evan, our little neighbor. Graham has a turkey hot dog every day for lunch with chips and some green peppers or carrots.
Sullivan is getting so independent! Just now I heard the front door open and knew it was him that opened it. I yelled, "Hey Sully. Don't go outside." He immediately yelled, "NO!" We hear that word a lot, but we also hear, "Hi, Mom!" or "Hi, Dad!" Usually he is waving as he yells it when we come into a room or he'll say it to us over and over at the dinner table.
I really have sooo much to blog about, but it's a little too overwhelming to think about right now. So, instead I'm going to just journal about what's going on in our lives right now.
We had oh so many visitors this spring! It has been wonderful! Maleah and Bob Christensen came in March, Tanna and Jed Grunig came in April, Trent and Lichelle Perry came in May, and The Kidd girls (Tami, Kalleen, Carol, and Lydia) just left yesterday. We absolutely LOVED showing them this part of the world. With each visitor, we tried to make sure we saw a few new things, too. Although, we made sure to show all of them our favorites. We love Taormina and the Catania market, so everyone saw that. I'm pretty sure everyone saw Siracusa and Ortygia, too.
I can't believe that Benny is done with preschool this week. I'm not sure I'm ready for him to be in full day kindergarten in the fall, but he is counting down the days. I know he'll be fine and will be successful, but I'll miss my little buddy. He's such a sweet, fun little boy. I love hearing his sound effects as he plays with his "guys". He still likes to bring toys with him when we go on a car ride. If Graham is coming, he brings his, too, but he gets extremely irritated with the noises Benny makes. Benny LOVES snacks, playing with Graham on the Wii or outside, and showing us his ninja dance moves. He can really get down to some "Moves Like Jagger" or "Dynamite". He's going to do a dance for tomorrow's talent show in preschool. He spends a lot of time with Evan, our little neighbor. Graham has a turkey hot dog every day for lunch with chips and some green peppers or carrots.
Sullivan is getting so independent! Just now I heard the front door open and knew it was him that opened it. I yelled, "Hey Sully. Don't go outside." He immediately yelled, "NO!" We hear that word a lot, but we also hear, "Hi, Mom!" or "Hi, Dad!" Usually he is waving as he yells it when we come into a room or he'll say it to us over and over at the dinner table.
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