His signature look

This kid cracks me up.

Fall Soccer 2013

He's in a different league this year, playing against older, bigger boys on a full size field. This season has been a whole different experience for all us and it's been much, much more exciting. Plus, the weather this Fall has been absolutely beautiful which has made the season all that more enjoyable. The only downside has been Sparky's struggle with his asthma. The asthma has been rough as we try to get it figured out and he has had to sit out during games way more than he would have liked, but hopefully we can get it under control so that he's at full force in the Spring.

A typical sight

Tiger often climbs into Sparky's bed, sometimes during the day, and sometimes during the night when he needs a little comfort. Sometimes they wrestle, sometimes they snuggle, and sometimes they read. As badly as Sparky wants a room of his own, I know that one day he will miss these special brother moments that come from sharing a room with a little brother.

Birthday Dinner Weekend

Sparky's favorite food is Brats so we invited the family to join us for dinner while Sparky gorged himself on German meats. You know, just trying to embrace our German heritage.

Good times and good food. Well, except for Chad who apparently ate something less than ideal for his "delicate" system and found himself feeling not so well later that night.

The next day was Sparky's actual birthday, which was really a little anti-climatic because he had already received most of his presents the day before and of course we had already had a birthday celebration with the family. However, Grandma had given Sparky his birthday box full of birthday party paraphernalia and so we had to make use of the goods. And we did. We partied to the best of our abilities for a lazy Sunday evening.

Anyone can just blow out their candles, but it takes a smarty pants 13 year old to blow them out with a party blower.

 A few fun facts about him: Besides loving Brats, he also loves fish. He has a 5 gallon fish tank that he has been working on for over a year now and for his birthday we bought him a 20 gallon tank. He is chomping at the bit to get that one set up. He also loves to play soccer and Minecraft. He is a great big brother, a great friend who is kind and accepting of everyone, and pretty delightful to have around. I think we'll keep him.

13

That was then

This is now

I love him.

Happy Birthday!

Today

1. The kids have been back at school for 3-4 days now and I have to admit that the peaceful day times are delightful. I miss them, but I don't really miss them.

2. It turns out that I don't have a lot of motivation to get moving when there isn't anyone else in the house. There is no one to hold me accountable for the time that I waste. I am hoping that I can change this. At some point something is going to need to get done.

3. I have been having a lot of crazy/disturbing dreams lately. I think my subconscious is trying to tell me that I am stressed and that I am just ignoring it. It's true. I feel like once again we have come to a standstill on working on the house. Life gets in the way and the kids are busy, plus there's the previously mentioned fact that so far I haven't been utilizing my day times very well yet. Must keep the goal in mind.

4. Tiger did great on his first day of school. He was able to pull it together by the time he got to school. He even left his backpack on the bus and I thought for sure that that would send him over the edge again, but it didn't. He was able to run back to the bus and get it and then the rest of the day went very smooth. He came home a very happy boy. He has still had little bouts of anxiety every morning since, but nothing like the first day. It has all been very manageable. Now my only concern is whether or not he is actually eating his lunch each day. I told him today that he had to bring home whatever he didn't eat so that I could see how he is doing. We'll see if he follows through.

5. In three days my Sparky becomes an official teenager. It just kills me.

Here's the video once again of Sparky's special "crawl". I could watch it for hours.

Mini Grandpa

This is my boy. Around these here blog parts we call him Sparky. Sparky last week for Boy Scout Camp, but before he left I took this picture of him. I took it because he was so happy and excited for camp and all of the things that he would be doing there. I'm sure it's not because he was going to get a break from me for a bit. After he left I immediately posted this picture to Instagram and as soon as I opened the picture up I was hit with how much he looks like my dad did when he was young. It is quite freaky actually. When my dad had his 60th birthday party a slideshow of pictures was put together documenting his life and at the time people kept commenting to me on how much Sparky looks like my dad did when he was little. Sure, I saw it at the time, but for some reason this picture of my boy just really hit it home for me. I always knew he had a lot of my family in him and now it is proven. He is grandpa through and through.