Can you believe it has been 10 years?

I know I'm not ready to have a 10 year old. That means that I will be that much closer to having a teenager. EEK! Ready or not, I will have a 10 year old tomorrow.

We started our weekend of celebration yesterday by going to Skate Daze in Omaha for a play event with the OPDSN. I was hoping we would get to meet a few more parents, but we got there a bit late, and most of the parents were chasing down their kids to take them home by the time we got there. Maybe next time.

Next we had a late lunch at the Amazing Pizza Machine. The boys enjoyed glow golf, go carts and lots of games. John did very well with the Deal or No Deal game where he got down to 2 suitcases for the 2 highest amounts (200 and 400 tickets). He ended up taking the deal for 300 which was a good thing because he had 200 in his case. After playing the games the boys had another light snack at the buffet, before going shopping.

Ben enjoyed all the noise and action. He was showing off his sitting skills at Skate Daze, and enjoyed sitting up in a big chair at the pizza buffet. He had apple sauce, banana pudding, jello and bread.

Today we enjoyed the lunch buffet at Mahoney State Park. Grandma and Grandpa, and Uncle Steve and his family were able to join us to celebrate both the B-day and Grandma and Grandpa's 45th anniversary.

Tomorrow will be treats at school, and the final day of the celebration.

Noah is continuing to have a rough time with giving up the thumb habit. He can have a rational discussion about it during the day, but at night time when he really needs to suck it, it is a whole different story. We may have to break down and get the plate put in yet.

I'm having problems getting the pictures downloaded, but will add them to this post as soon as I can get the battery recharged on the camera.

It's time for Basket Ball and more

It was a pretty busy week for the Willey family. John had his first basket ball game last weekend in Murray during and ice storm. Just getting there and back was exciting. They won 46 to 4. I think they scored more points during that game than they did all last season.


Noah saying, put me in Dad... I want to play!


John inbounding the ball.


Coaches Rick and Randy inspiring the boys.


John passing the ball instead of shooting, like he was instructed to do. (We were up by 25 points at this point)

Baby Ben had an appointment at Hand Prints and Foot Steps, a pediatric therapy clinic in Lincoln. He was evaluated for positional plagiocephaly - aka a stiff neck. They thought maybe he could not turn his head to the right very well due to tight muscles. They found that while he can turn his neck farther to the left than he can the right, it was not really a big problem. He is also to the age where he is not about to let anyone stretch him out, so we will just keep trying to make him look to the right more by putting his toys on his right, laying him on his right, etc.


Here is a picture of Ben enjoying his bath.

Noah also had a pretty good week. While he is still struggling with the thumb sucking, he is at least trying. He went to sleep 3 night in a row with out sucking his thumb. He still woke up in the night and took his glove off, but at least we know now that he can do it. We are very proud of his efforts.

Here is Noah snuggling with his baby brother.

John also played in Syracuse yesterday. They played two back to back games against Syracuse's A and B squads at 8:30 in the morning, ugh! They won the first game by 4 points, but lost the second game by 4 points. Overall they did really good. When they listened and executed their plays well, they got an open shot every time. They did not always make the shot, but hey, they are only 4th graders. The point is just to learn and have fun.

We are off to another game in Louisville now. They are always very tough competitors, so hopefully we can stick with them.

Christmas Picutres, a bit late...

Finally got around to uploading some pictures from the Christmas celebration we had last weekend at Randy's parents house. His sister Pam was there with her 3 Italian greyhounds. Brother Steve came with his wife Shannon, and kids Emma and Sam. These pictures are from the gift opening.

Grand kids eagerly awaiting the adults getting their act together so they could open presents.

Ben showing off a bow in his hair.

Aunt Pam and her new frog.

Riley in the Christmas Spirit.

John with his new Webkinz.

Day 3. No more thumb sucking

On Monday the older 2 boys went in for their dental checkup. I am still amazed at how fast their Dentist is. We got there at 8:25 am and were walking out the door by 8:45. X-rays, cleaning, fluoride and consultation all done.

Since Noah still enjoys sucking his thumb, and does not want to give it up, the Dentist and I discussed putting a plate in his mouth to get him to stop. The plate they would put in would have holes in it, so that when he tried to suck his thumb, he would not get any suction, and it would take all the fun out of it.

He sat there and told the Dentist he wanted quit on his own, so we have 2 weeks to give it one last try. Of course in the waiting room as we were leaving he asked me "Mom, the two weeks does not start today, does it?" Sorry Buddy, but I am afraid it does.

Night number one was bad, as I fell asleep in the recliner with Ben, and when Randy took Noah up, he could not find the glove that we had used in the past. Last night we got him a set of gloves, that he put on by himself and said he would wear, but he took the left glove off after he went to bed and sucked his thumb anyway. This morning he said that he did not know how his glove got off last night. It must have slipped. Nice try Noah!

Tonight we are going to have to find the glove where I crocheted an edging to hold a zip tie that will keep the glove on. He does not like this glove, as the ties have to be tight enough to keep him from pulling off the glove, and then they are uncomfortable. If we leave the tail of the zip tie on, he can pull it tighter, to the point of cutting off his circulation, so we have no choice but to cut it off and waste a zip tie. So I usually cut the tail of the zip tie off, but there is no real way to make it smooth, so it scratches him. Of course there is always the problem of finding where he hid the glove, then catching him, and holding him down so we can get the glove on in the first place. Hopefully he will be cooperative tonight.

Merry Chritsmas!

As I sit waiting for a couple of free songs to download for my new MP3 player, I thought I would write about about our day. It started early- about 6- when I could hear whispers from down the hall. The boys were debating if it was late enough for them to wake us up. After rolling over to look at the clock, I told them to go back to sleep until at least 7:00, since it was only 6:00. Of course they were not going back to sleep, although I think I did manage to nod off until Ben got wind of them being up and decided he wanted to be up too. About 6:50 I gave up trying to sleep so we all got up.

The first gift Noah opened was a sweat suit and socks. His reaction was "Oh great! Clothes! He did enjoy his new clock radio and Webkinz and a new game for his V-smile. John got the same except he got a Pocket Dog game for his Game Boy. Ben got a walker that will turn into a wagon, a signing video, and a stacking toy. This afternoon Alyce, Gary and Pam came out for a short visit. Otherwise it was just a laid back day spent playing with all our new toys.

A new funny memory from today came this morning as I struggled to make Monkey bread. My brown sugar was hard, and I got off track and ended up doing way to much improvising. Anyway it did not turn out right, and I over cooked it a bit. Noah got his and said "Thanks for making Monkey Bread, Mom. It tastes good, but it looks like turd. Nice! Later this afternoon Randy found some old Kiss concerts being shown on VH1 Classics. When they played the song -I want to Rock n Roll all Night, and party every day, it took me back to when John was younger and he was singing the song in the car one day. He argued with me that they were really saying I want to Rock and Roll all night, and PART of every day. We all got a good laugh, although I have a feeling that John still thinks that he has the correct lyrics and that we are all doing it wrong.

Ben showed of his new sitting skills for Aunt Pam. He has also been doing a very good job pivoting lately. It helps when I put his favorite toys just out of reach beside him. It does not take him long to get them when sitting or laying. We were working on side sitting, to help him move from another position into or out of the sitting position. He was doings a good job of sitting back up, but would not go down to the floor from the side sitting position. We are encouraged though, becuase it seems like he can do just a bit more every day.

Hope everyone had a great Christmas full of memories to cherish for years to come.

The Christmas Play

Sunday was the Christmas program at the Elmwood Christian Church. A few weeks ago, 7 year old Abraham whose Mom Joy was organizing the program, said "Baby Ben needs to be Jesus". We were not sure how it could happen, but then things started falling into place. About a week later I was doing a load of whites and pulled out an old strip of a white sheet. Not quite sure how it got in the wash, but as I pulled it out, I thought to myself that it might work if I put a onesie on Ben and then wrap the sheet around him. The next week we figured out that Ben could sit in his Bubmo seat but needed a way to turn it into a manger. That's when I remembered all the boxes we had over at Dad's left over from the auction. On Saturday, I cut the top to kind of look like straw and drew a manger on the box, then John, Noah and I painted it. It turned out pretty good. It was a bitterly cold day on Sunday but it was warm and toasty in our little church. I realize I am biased, but I sure do think that Ben was the cutest baby Jesus in Elmwood. :)


John was Joseph and Alice was Mary. Ben of course was baby Jesus.

The entire Sunday School got in on the program.