The Jolliff Family

Andrew has been waiting for his birthday to roll around and today was the day!  He is now an entire hand old and is the most precious five year old boy that I know!  He is full of life and energy.  He is always trying to make us laugh, even if it gets him in trouble at times!!  He is also very sensitive to other people and how they feel.  He is perceptive of feelings and wants to help make it right.  He loves all things firefighter and wants to be one when he grows up.  It doesn't matter what toy he is playing with, it somehow becomes associated with putting fires out or firemen or something! He requested a fireman cake and decor. This morning he ate on the "You are Special Today" plate and opened up his many cards and gifts. He received a small pair of firefighters and was thrilled.  He shared so nicely with his brothers. Classic Andrew face!  He was excited about the man and four wheeler he saw at the store. ...

Yesterday I was 16 weeks with the twins!   We had an ultrasound on Monday and everything looked great.  The twins were active on the screen and growing appropriately.  The both weighed in at 1/4 lb. each, though one measured slightly longer.  Baby A was head down and Baby B was breech, though this doesn't mean much because it will change many times before they are born!!  Their heartbeats were good and it was fun for the big brother's, who came with us, to hear the heartbeats and see the pictures on the screen. We are thankful for another week of growth and for a good ultrasound!

We had another fun week of mommy school.  I have to say this is really light-hearted and we are having a blast in the mornings learning together.  This week Andrew worked on his numbers and addition with some puzzles. Sometimes it takes team work to get it to finish.  Sam helped out after we finished our work together. There is a whole lot of silly throughout the week! Sam's turn to work on his math individually. See, lots of silly! Andrew working on numbers with some bottle cap numbers that I made.  I love Pinterest for ideas!! Concentration at it's highest. ;) Back to the good ole beanbag.  The kids love to do anything with this beanbag, so we play lots of recognition games with it.  They have enjoyed cheering each other on, so that is fun. Sam is working on words. At the beginning of our time, we always read for about 15 minutes.  This week we finished the first book in the "Boxcar Children" series. ...

10 years ago I never imagined that we would have three little boys... or that we would be expecting twins... or that we would be living in the Middle East...  or that everyday would be an adventure... or that life would be so beautiful! Happy 10 years to us!

Today we started week 2 of some summer school for the boys.  We realize that the boys are behind slightly in their English learning and summer is a great time to catch up on some reading, sight words, math, and other fun things.  We also want to keep the boys engaged in something productive instead of just watching the Kindle or passing time.  So, some light summer school in session ;) Sam works alone for about 30 minutes while I work with Andrew.  He prefers to work on the back patio and enjoy the sunshine. Andrew works with me for the same amount of time and then they switch off.  Andrew played a color sorting game which he enjoyed. We are working on math with Sam and I made up this cute little "popcorn math" game that I saw online.  He loved it and definitely will be playing it more in the future.   We make a craft a few times a week and made a pasta rainbow at the end of our time last week. Andrew working on spellin...