Flurries

After last year's freaky snowstorms, two little boys at our house had high hopes of sledding and snowmen again this winter.  As the season neared an end with nary a flurry-sighting, those dreams were quickly fading.  But, what's that??  Snow flurries in the forecast?  We all waited with bated breath.  The night got late with out any sign of snow.  We tucked sleepy, disappointed Boys into bed.  Around 10:00, my Mom texted me with some happy news: SNOW!!  I rushed into the Boys' bedroom.  O was just drifting off to sleep.  He was ecstatic when I whispered the happy news to him!  He bounded out of the top bunk, ready to head outside.  He was dancing around on the driveway, catching flurries on his tongue in no time!

Noah, on the other hand...The boy sleeps like a rock!  Probably because he has to sleep through 3-5 finger pokes a night.  I finally coaxed him out of sleep, bundled him up and carried him outside.  After a quick glance at the flurries, he decided he really needed his shoes on.  He ran back inside, never to be heard from again.  I found him tucked back in bed fast asleep.  He had no recollection of the whole thing the next morning.

O and I played in the very few flurries that were still falling until exhaustion set in and we headed to bed.  Sadly, that was our only snowfall for the winter of 2011/2012. At least we got pictures to remember it by!

Progress Report

This picture makes me happy.  Three pairs of boots all lined up on the mud cabinet, just waiting to go puddle-jumping.  Some of which we gleefully did last week, once the sun came out. 

Man, I love these boys!

Since it has been soooo long since I've really blogged, I thought I'd start out with an over-all up-date. 

School:

It is going GREAT right now!  We had a hard start to 2012, what with the house flooding and being under construction until the middle of January.  Both Boys went through a very resistant phase at the same time, and Jones was trying to give up his morning nap.  It made for some very rough, long, frustrating, un-productive days.  I am so very thankful for my homeschool support group.  These girls offer me grace and encouragement just when I need it most.  And sure enough, we made some adjustments, Jonesy started napping again, Mommy stopped being so up-tight and rigid...and learning is once again fun!  We are all having a blast right now.

Playing one of our favorite math games: Flash Card Hunt

House:

Praise the Lord, the house is 100% fixed from the flood and everything is working great.  We are so happy to be all settled.  The only major area left to furnish is the school room.  I am working on assembling a huge desk for us to work at, which will be wonderful...if I ever get it done!  We feel so overwhelmingly blessed to be living in this beautiful house in such a family-centered neighborhood.

Diabetes:

Nosy had about 10 days of blissful blood sugars in the middle of January.  He was in range more than he was out of range.  It was a.maz.ing!  Jeremy and I were sleeping 3 hour stretches.  We felt like a huge weight was lifted off our shoulders.  Noah was feeling so great all the time.  We were thrilled to think that maybe 5 years old was the "age of stabilization" for us.  And then the 10 days were over and his sugars have been not so great since, but at least we had those 10 days.  We have hope that maybe one day the good stretch will last 2 weeks, and then a month, and then maybe even longer...

Jeremy Halpin, CPA!!!!!!!!

Sometime during my sabbatical from blogging, Jeremy finished all 4 CPA exams (passed them all on his first try!) and completed all his official paperwork.  He is now a certified CPA!! We are SO proud of him!!!

God has been so very good to us.  We are content and happy and blessed beyond measure.

Quick Up-date

An actual blog post?  Surely not!  I'm pretty sure no one even checks my blog anymore.  With good reason.  It's been awhile.  Here's a quick up-date on each of the Boys, with good intentions to make blogging a part of my week again.

 On January 4th, Owen lost his very first tooth.  He was so brave and excited!  More on that story soon.



Nosy learned to read!  We have been working and working on making sense out of those pesky letters.  He has known all the phonetical sounds forever, but when it came to sounding out a word, he was truly lost.  And then one day, it just clicked!  Bob Books are now our friends!

This picture is Jonesy to a tee. He is joyful and fast and energetic and playful and never meets a stranger.  He chats and jibber-jabbers and babbles all day long.  He is opinionated and daring and an absolute mess.  He is Jonah, and he's so unlike any child I've ever parented before.  He's giving me a run for my money, and I wouldn't change a thing about him.

So, more stories to come soon.  House stories.  School stories.  Birthday and Christmas stories.  Hopefully I can stay on top of this!