No news is good news :)

Well, I realize it has been since June since I have posted, and a lot has happened, but I will try to keep things sweet and hopefully somewhat short.

We are all doing very well here and everyone is healthy and happy.  We got a new camper last year and so we kept busy breaking it in all summer. Everyone started school without a hitch and Jacob is enjoying Kindergarten and Joshua the third grade. Tucker insists that he is never going to school (ha, ha).

We are flying through the school year and are even coming up on spring break, and with spring comes baseball season.  This year Joshua and Jacob will be playing baseball, while Tucker has decided to play soccer.  Joshua starts practices on a AA team with Rick as one of his coaches next week, while Jacob starts in April with the Challenger league, and Tucker is set to start next Saturday with his soccer games.  Needless to say, it is going to be one crazy spring with lots of running boys to different games.  I will still try and be good and post photos and updates.

Jacob is still doing great and even is showing signs of learning to read (which they said may take him a while because of the left hemisphere being removed/disconnected).  He just had his 4 year "Hemiversary" and is still seizure free.  He has truly beat the odds in more ways than one and we are oh so thankful!  He and Tucker are still 2 little trouble makers when they are together, but it is good to see how much they love each other (and Josh too).  

We have plans to get out our camper more this year and have even booked a campsite at Cape Lookout and at Fort Stevens on the Oregon Coast coming up the end of June.  The boys are very excited and Tucker asks nearly every day, "Can we go camping today?".  It will be our first trip back to that area since the summer before Jacob's surgery (when he was still having lots of seizures).  I think we will all be ready for the break.

The weather has been a little too good lately, and has given us all a bit of spring fever.  I keep thinking though, with all this nice weather, we are going to get spoiled and used to it, only for it to turn bad again.

Hopefully everyone is doing well and you are getting to enjoy some nice weather too!

at Christmas with the tree

Next stop-Kindergarten

It seems hard to believe, but Jacob is officially a Kindergartner.   Jacob had his last day of preschool last week and Monday they had their official end of the year party at the park to celebrate everyone moving on.  We have done the preschool party 2 other times, but this one felt a bit different I guess because he is moving up to Kindergarten.  He will will no longer have the same teachers he has had for the last 2 and a half years and he is even changing schools and will now be going to the same school as Joshua.   He made quite a few friends this year, but it looks like some of them (even the ones staying in preschool) will be going to his school next year too.

He and Tucker have already started the summer off with their fighting and getting into trouble, making me think that it might be a long one, but hopefully it is just them adjusting to the new time they get to spend together.  Tomorrow starts the first official day of Summer vacation since Joshua's last day was today.  Here's hoping they don't test my patience too much and that we all fall in the summer time groove easily.  I will have to set up play dates and such (especially for myself) to keep us all sane.

Yesterday also marked the end of Josh's baseball season for the team (the Rockies) that he was playing with all spring (I will post about that later this week), but baseball season in itself isn't quite over because now he is going to start playing in a couple more tournaments with another team.  It wouldn't be summer I guess if we weren't busy.    

No News is good News

 So much has gone on since my last post in November that I hardly know where to begin.

 Every year I say I will get better at keeping up with my blog, and then the boys get older (and crazier-or maybe that's Me), and as usual, I lose track of time and don't get it updated.  All I can say is "I'm sorry".

Joshua has turned 8, Jacob has turned 5, and Tucker is right around the corner from turning 3 (where does the time go?).  They are all growing up and getting so big.  Jacob will be starting Kindergarten next year and will be moving to the same school as Josh and he seems to be excited about it.  He is doing so well and is Mr. Social everywhere we go.  Anytime he sees someone new, he says "Hi, What's your name?" and just starts up a conversation.  It is such an amazing difference to a couple of years ago when he hardly said much of anything.  He is walking very well and has basically 2 speeds, fast and faster.  I am constantly having to tell him to slow down.  He is also jumping with both feet now, something that even a few months ago he did not do, and loves to jump all the time.  He is a truly a miracle!  We still do weekly therapy and we have our own notebook of doctors that like to keep tabs on him, but they all seem to say the same things- "He is doing amazing, and keep up the good work!"  


Joshua will be going into 3rd grade next year and is still as smart as ever.  He is doing baseball right now (and I will probably post about that next week when the initial season is over, lol) and is working hard at it and enjoying it a lot.

Tucker is also a little smart guy and I often hear him correcting Jacob on his speech or how a song goes or anything he sees fit to correct him on.  Tucker and Jacob have become experts at getting into trouble together, or constantly irritating each other.  They have a knack for either being the best of friends or the worst of enemies.  I can honestly say though, even though we had not planned for him, Tucker has been the best thing for Jacob. He has been better than almost any other therapy we could have provided for him because they have taught each other so much and learned so much together.    

Jacob and Tucker emptying the bean bag chair to throw "snowballs"

 Well, I will leave it with some photos and a promise to try and post at least once a month, so as not to overload the blog post.  All our love!
Meghan

Josh shooting a golf ball off a rock

Halloween

For 2 years in a row now, I have forgotten to pull out my camera and take some pictures of my boys in their Halloween costumes.  Fortunately this year, my mother-in law had me take a photo of the boys with her phone, so this is all we got of that night (although Joshua's official trick or treat costume was a ninja). 

Maybe I will set a reminder in my I pad now for next year so I will remember to get my camera out. ; )-

Playing catch up

 Well, since I have not blogged in a while, I thought I would show a quick picture review of our summer (and I hate to say, I am already missing the weather, even though it was a hot one).  Any way, as usual it went by too fast and now it is fall and time for me to try to play catch up. 

Joshua and Jacob are back in full swing with school and I can't believe we are only a few weeks away from Thanksgiving.  Every year when they head back to school I think I am going to have more time to tackle my ever growing "to do" list, but for some reason, every year I feel like I get more and more behind.  Oh well, maybe one of these days.    

We did the usual amount of stuff for the summer, we went fishing, picking blackberries, road trips, went to the zoo, picked huckleberries, celebrated Tucker's 2nd Birthday, and wrapped the summer up with Jacob and I going to Seattle for his one year checkup. 

 Jacob's checkup went very well (as usual) and all of his Dr.'s were pleased with how well he is doing.  In fact his Neurosurgeon even wanted to show Jacob off to another family who was struggling with the decision for their son to have a hemispherectomy.
I later learned that after meeting Jacob they scheduled the surgery right away because they were so impressed with how well he was doing. 

Other than that our lives are still crazy (and very loud) and everyone is doing well. 

Huckleberry picking burnout

Don't need one of these for my boys to be crazy :)

Jacob watching the penguins

Jacob after a day of Dr"s apointments in Seattle

Sick of being sick and Baseball!

Wow, lately we seem to have been hit with all possible bugs out there.  Ever since spring break, we have had a terrible stomach bug (fortunately only to last about 24 hours per person) run through the whole house, get better and now we have been hit with one of the worst colds I can ever remember getting (I even got an ear infection, and I can't even remember the last time I had one of those).  I can say I can't wait for summer, not only because of warm weather, but also maybe to get us away from catching so many bugs!  Any way, we are all finally getting better (knock on wood) and we will hopefully be able to post updates on more positive things from here on out.  Especially because it is time for BASEBALL SEASON!

The season officially started last Friday, but because most of us have been sick, Tucker, Jacob and I have only gotten to go to our first game last night.  Joshua was the first to get this cold, so luckily he has gotten better in time for the start of the season and Rick has only gotten a bit of it (so far).  It was a blustery game and a bit cold, but they all played well and I think Joshua really enjoys playing.  I did not get a chance to take any photos, but I will at one of the next games, so I can post them.  In fact, i haven't taken many photos of the family at all lately, so I will make sure I make up for that soon too!

Any way, I hope everyone else has been well, and I hope no one gets these awful bugs floating around!