Gray

After the longest, wintery, spring season we just had, I finally have a house that looks as lovely on the outside as it does on the inside. It's been 3 years in the making, but it only makes me love it more! 

Here is a picture of the house on the day we decided to make an offer, followed by some landscaping changes and white trim from last fall, and finally the GRAY house I now have. I love it! I'm slowly working on painting the ceiling and floor of the porch. It will be a lighter gray.

Don't forget my YELLOW door and mailbox! Love!

Spring Soccer

Another soccer season has come and gone. Reece had a good season, scored 5 goals, and enjoyed it all. Hopefully, he will become a little more aggressive. He chases the ball, rather than attacks it. This spring ball wasn't as fun as the fall ball, Mother Nature has just been plain cruel! Our final game on May 4th, was the coldest of the season. We also had many practices canceled due to snow and cold temps. Here are some pictures of the season. The very last picture is of Reece scoring. I was so lucky to have my camera out just in time, however, the other team was in my way... he is the only kid in white, surrounded by 3 kids in black. GO, REECE!

Sleepwalker

This is the calm after another episode... he doesn't remember a thing.

I never posted much after we first discovered that Reece truly does sleepwalk. 

Back when we learned of this, it was just after he had that allergic reaction to something and had swollen cheeks...well we kept him on Claritin for a few days, as the doctor requested. Those were by far the worst nights he had. He was definitely reacting to the Claritin. On top of doing strange things each and every night, he was waking up with beads of sweat all over him. When I put that together, we stopped the Claritin immediately, and thankfully his cheeks were looking normal by then too.

After he got off the meds, his sleepwalking has been more random. Usually, he just walks into our room, gives me a hug, and goes right back to bed. Last Sunday, he came in, hugged me, I asked if he needed to use the bathroom, he shook his head no, but went there anyway. It sounded like he was brushing his teeth, so Jake went to peek on him, and had him come out. He came straight to my room, climbed in bed and hugged me. Then he began rambling about being scared in his room...not normal. He has NEVER been scared in his room...unless there is thunder outside. He was a little panicked and I just hugged him and asked him to lay down and close his eyes. He did, he follows directions much better as a sleepwalker. After a while, Jake carried him back to bed, and in the morning, Reece remembered nothing!

The next morning, I found his tongue scraper in the trash can... one other time I found his toothbrush there. So, I guess our toothbrushes aren't safe at night if Reece is sleepwalking. ;)

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A Reece Funny:

Yesterday at breakfast, Reece asked me how many brothers I had when I was younger... I had to joke with him that I have the same amount that I do now. Then it was how many sisters. This quickly turned into the fact that when Riley has kids, his kids will only have one uncle. It was this fact, that got Reece wondering if "Uncle Reece" sounded good together or not. He thought it sounded funny. He was either pointing out that he loves having a large family and LOTS of aunts and uncles and cousins, or he was hinting that he wanted more siblings. Either way, this kid is too eager to grow up. He has told us numerous times that he can't wait to grow up and have a job, because he knows you have to have a job to have money. I hope he sets his goals high and develops an "go-get-em" attitude and ethics, but can he PLEASE just be a kid for now!?!?

Family Fun...or Maybe Not

Friday night, we pulled out Uno Flash...requested by Reece. The idea of Uno Flash is great, but it's not for someone who can't sit still or concentrate on anything for more than 10 seconds.

Game started...having fun...Reece wins right off the bat...

A couple games later...Reece is literally in tears...he didn't win a single game after that...

What really brought the tears on: Reece got down to one card, so he called out "Uno." The card he played was a "Wild" so he got to decide the color. He had a yellow in his hand but said green. The machine chooses at random who gets to play next, and it landed on Reece. Well... he didn't have a green card. It all went downhill from there. He kept crying that he "should have won that game" and "you guys are all against me." There were also rounds that some of us would get stuck with 15-20 cards... that's hard for an 8 year old!

This kid is a million miles per second and just lost focus... we had a good long talk that his losing attitude was keeping him from winning. We talked that we can't win them all, and in this particular game we have zero control on the outcome of the game. The machine doesn't know what card you play. Sometimes you play a "Draw Four" and the machine spins and makes the person that played it, draw four. It's random and out of our control.

By the end of the game, Reece started coming around, but it was decided he can't choose another game night until he is ready to be a good winner... and a good loser.

***

On a brighter note, Reece left this little note for Saturday. Excuse his "forth"... he usually is a great speller for an 8 year old. At least he spelled the word right, just wrong spelling.

Native American Museum

Reece's class studies Native Americans, and we got to come in and hear about them. Reece made a diorama to display too. I was impressed how easy it was for him to talk to all of us guests, one at a time.  He did a great job!

Let's show some teeth this time. =D

Reece studies the Cherokee.
1. Buffalo is pretty much used for everything.
2. They used guns, spears, and bow and arrows.
3. They had art work such as "pottrey" and bead work.

Reece's Art

Riley's Art

It's been a while since I've posted art... sadly, they are bringing home less and less. Just another sign of my aging boys. Good news, is there is less art coming home that I feel the need to frame. ;)

Riley designed a pysanky egg.
Here is what that is... I had to look it up. He used trees, butterflies, suns, sunflowers and wheat.
I thought the details were great!