BATTER UP!

OK, I may be a bit biased here but...

aren't these just the CUTEST baseball players you've seen?!

This was the first year we had two ball players going at the same time. Kyle assistant coached Collin's team and coached Brody's team while I ran around shuttling, filling water bottles and snacks and trying to keep track of baseball hat and gloves.  At this stage, it's a pretty short season and we've already wrapped up for the year. Thanks to Kyle (and his color coded schedule- ha!) for who goes where, what field, if we were scheduled to do the score book or bring snacks, the games and practices went smoothly (although a little more sunshine would have been appreciated!)

Collin enjoyed every minute of the camaraderie with his teammates and getting out there on the field. He had a great coach which helped grow him and his abilities.  After a shaky start to hitting, Kyle had his right handed little man batting left handed and hitting the ball. Yes, his daddy that gloats about being a lefty was mighty proud. Great job, Collin!

Brody thrives in this atmosphere of sports and seemed right at home on the field. I imagine I have many of years sitting and cheering on this little man. All coaches were in agreement that he will get bumped up next year. Way to go, Brody!!

Here are a few snapshots from the season...

Celebrate Good Times

We couldn't be more proud of our little guys who have worked hard this year. We've plowed through materials and curriculum and have begun to wrap up a few. We pause to celebrate them!

Brody has mastered the ABC's; names, sounds and starting to blend together and begin reading. I have to say, one of my favorite parts of teaching in the classroom was taking children who didn't know how and teach them to read and write. I cannot tell you what a privilege it is to have the opportunity to do that with my own little guy. This little mama is tickled to see him so eager to learn and take initiative to master each new skill.

Brody got to choose what he wanted to do as his celebration and he wanted to eat out at Red Robin and watch the new movie HOP.

Cheers!! Well done little man!

The week following, Collin completed the entire set of readers for the year. Starting the year, this was NOT his favorite subject but has begun to fall in love with it. We added up all the pages he read independently and the grand total was over 1500 pages!

Collin is growing in so many ways but we wanted to make sure we take some time to enjoy this accomplishment. Swimming was his activity of choice. And thanks to Groupon, we bought their Clackamas Aquatic Park coupon already so we were good to go!

They were so worn out but had a BLAST...here is an "after" picture.

Awesome job Collin!

So blessed to have this teaching "job" and these darling boys! We are so proud of them!

Ahhh, Life With Boys #6

We are "traveling" around the world giving this curriculum a whirl. When we found ourselves knee deep in Italy. Europe, in general, makes my heart beat a little faster and add my bit of Italian heritage and I'm hooked. But what caught my boys attention out of all of it, you ask?

It wasn't testing out Michealangilo's upside down painting methods or being exposed to great works of art like the statue of David (although many giggles were had when they realized the dude was naked). It wasn't paying a fortune for imported goods to create an authentic Italian feast for the family. It wasn't using new materials and creating a replica of the Roman Coloseeum (although their lego men DID enjoy being gladiators for the day).

Nope...a little clay volcano was their height of interest. After learning about Mt. Versuvius and it's explosion over Pompeii, I mentioned as a side note that we would give our modeling clay volcanoes a shot at exploding on Friday after they had time to dry. EVERY DAY, little hands tested those volcanoes, eyes inspected, pitiful pleas were heard to give them a try just a little early.

It was torture but Friday finally came...

Ahhh, Life With Boys!

Project Simplify: Hot Spot #1

I am linking up to a great blog I love to follow called Simple Mom . Over the next few weeks, she has encouraged others to take on different "hot spots" in our home that need decluttering, cleaning and organizing. Click the link on the right if you want to know more about it and join in.

I was MORTIFIED when I saw what the first hot spot was going to be. I would have been fine if I had to show you a picture of my counter tops, desk, entry, cabinets, etc but my WARDROBE....UGH! It is in dire need of some attention. You may never look at me the same! :)

Here it goes - the before picture

Okay, now that the secret is out that I'm not the tidy one in the family, i humbly went to work not leaving a single item unturned.

Here's my proof:

I went through her strict criteria to determine what I needed to toss, sell/donate or keep. I cringe seeing all those clothes in good condition sitting in my "donate" pile (see below). My idea of a good time is NOT clothes shopping. I'm never the size I want to be, it always costs more than i want to spend, and at the end of the day I'd much rather buy something for my boys than me! Pitching the clothes makes me take a hard look at what is really in there! Many of these clothes hadn't been worn in years! If I was being honest, it was long overdue for them to go. I have to say, after they were gone, it felt great!

An unexpected perk was I solved the mystery of why i never have enough hangers to hang up our laundry...they MAY have been in the back of the closet (and that was only MY side **ha**)

The after shot:

Hot spot #1 conquered!! Stay tuned next Friday for hot spot #2 before and after!

Ahh, Life With Boys #5

In the madness of the morning of school projects...Brody and Mama are busy sifting through various letters and their sounds when they finish on the letter which is the focus for the week...the letter U.

Brody points out some pictures that match to the sound while Mama nods in encouragement.

Even though Mama KNOWS she will lose her little men's concentration in seconds, she can't help herself. She leans over with a twinkle in her eye and whispers...

"You know what else the letter U starts?"

Suddenly both boys stop; curious by the hushed tones.

Mama leans in the as if to reveal the most tight kept secret of all time...

"Underwear"

Belly laughs and squeals fill the room and all learning is lost for the moment.

One simple word...so hilarious!

Ahhhh, life with boys!

Big Changes

Announcing a first in the Fischer house...

After years of working in an office building, sharpening his talents, and carving out a career and name for himself...

Kyle recently took a new job that not only has tremendous potential for career growth but also will allow him to work from home.

We are very proud of him!! (notice his press release below)

Life looks a little different around here now. We've been painting, reorganizing, and preparing the way for this new adventure.

There are not many people we would willingly give our school room up for but we kind of like having the big guy around.

What used to look like this...

Now looks like this...fully equipped with the essential candy bowl that was the highlight of when the boys came to visit daddy's office! Collin made sure to get it stocked for him.

After trying to shove our school supplies into a closet with no success...

We were FORCED :-) to go on an IKEA spree and came up with this solution. It works out perfect except for the aching back Kyle had after hours of assembling (thanks, K!). What do you think?



We are all working from home now... in different avenues but as a unit.
What an exciting season of life!


Check Out The Press Release About Kyle's New Position:

Taylor Brands Appoints Director of Product SportsOneSource
Media Posted: 3/1/2011 Taylor Brands, the maker of
cutlery products, announced that Kyle Fischer has been appointed director of
product. Fischer was most recently category manager-tools for Fiskars
Outdoors-Gerber Legendary Blades.Taylor Brands makes cutlery products under the
Schrade, Uncle Henry, Old Timer, Smith & Wesson, U.S. Army, Boy Scouts of
America, and Primo's names.He has also held senior level positions at Scott's
Miracle-Grow and The Garden Grow company. Fischer will oversee the development
and execution of various product lines for Taylor. In addition to this he will
lead product strategies and a robust consumer research initiative. Fischer
will report to Jody Agnew, Vice President of Sales. "Taylor Brands LLC
continues to invest in our business and in our great retail partners," said
Agnew. "Kyle has a broad background that ranges from forecasting, supply chain /
manufacturing management, product development, and marketing. He has an amazing
attention to detail and the ability to make rational decisions while always
keeping the end consumer in mind. These skills will not only help our
organization internally-it will prove invaluable while planning our continued
growth with our customers' business."

http://www.sportsonesource.com/index.asp

Love is...

... a Lego heart built by an 8 year old little boy!

Happy Belated Valentines Day

Calling All Readers...

Hello???

Anyone still out there?!

Where does the time go! I am excited to say, that despite the craziness of life, I think I have found some time to write. And, oh, have I missed it. I love to write. It may be random, but look out baby, I'm coming back into the blogging world! Stay tuned! More posts to come!

In the meantime...a random picture of us exploring Fort Stevens.

It was raining...shocking, i know! :)

Guest Post

Hey friends! You'll find me over at this great blog called, Simple Homeschool today...I am excited to have my very first guest post! Let me know what you think!

Kick off...school year 2010-2011

Fresh crayons, markers and glue are all stocked and ready at hand. The school room has been reorganized and cleaned. New curriculum, fresh paper, and sharpened pencils stacked and ready. All signs...it's time to kick off another school year!

We learned so much, academically and about each other, last year! Although I wish I could have written a bit more about the journey it felt very much like my first year of teaching all over again. Learning new curriculum, keeping the home going, juggling the needs of both kids and adjusting for the kids of "mom" putting on the new hat as full time "teacher" was a sharp learning curve for all. To be perfectly honest, some days were ugly. There were also days when I stepped back and said, this is the greatest job ever! Overall, I feel so blessed to have this opportunity to home school. It's working for us now and we're going to run with it for another year. I'm excited to present some new materials and plans for Brody and Collin that have been in the works for the last few months.

Let the learning begin!

Ahhh, Life With Boys 4

It's those panicked words, coming from the backseat, that will quicken any mothers heart;

"MOM, I HAVE TO GO POTTY!!!"

It's at those moments that I am so pleased to be a mama of two boys! Yes, we've graced the road sides from Portland to Salem making other travelers chuckle as they witness the little guys aim for trees, bushes and grass! So if you see a bush that is particularly thriving, you can thank our little Fischer boys for their contribution...

Ahhhh, life with boys!

Tropical Getaway

Right in the middle of our torrential rain pour we had here in June, Kyle and I got to sneak away to our little island adventure. Thanks to our family and friends who had the kids for a week, we got to sit in the sun, relax and reconnect. We feel so blessed to have had this opportunity.

Healthy living has been a focus for us this year. We are working on making it a lifestyle and have been keeping each other accountable by racing each other to 100 days of exercise. That's right, i said 100 days people!! We celebrated our first day there by running workout 100 on the beaches of Hawaii. That works out to exercising 4 - 5 days a week since January. I understand, to some people that's no big deal but it was a change for me in consistency and purpose in this area. Can't say it was easy but I can say that I feel like I am in a good routine. I have more energy, toning up, eating better and can even celebrate a good burn during a workout. We tried to fit in some exercise most day in Hawaii which I was game for since it often ended in a trip to Starbucks on the way back to the condo! :)

We didn't do too many tourist things this time. We did head to the Haleakala and hiked into the crater to the first cinder cone. At 10,000 feet, it definitely takes your breath away, literally! It was quite a hike, sandy and steep! If you are looking for a workout to work your back end...this is it folks!

The rest of the time you'd mostly find us laying on the beach, snorkeling, or enjoying some great dinners out.

Here is a picture of one of the five sea turtles that showed up every evening outside of our condo and a view from outside of our lanai. We went snorkeling out in front of our condos to try and find the sea turtles one morning but came up short. The next day we met another couple who said sea turtles are a favorite food of Tiger sharks. We decided we didn't need to see them up close! :)

Snorkeling with my handsome man!

Mahi Mahi...YUM!

Mahalo, Maui!

Mama Milestones

I fell in love with the crib the moment I laid eyes on it...dark cherry colored, beautiful thick slats, something of high beauty and quality...yes, that would only be right for my precious first born.



7 years later...Brody's little toes reach the end of the crib turned daybed/toddler bed and he was eager for his first big boy bed. I hunted down bunk beds and last night you should have felt the buzz in the air...the bunk beds were going up and the boys could hardly stand the wait. Oh, they were so excited!



As we cleared the room it was time for the crib to get broken down. It wasn't until that last screw was taken out and I crumbled into tears in Kyle's arms that it hit me - this marked an end of a season of life. Little hands and feet have grown, they are full of life and adventure and my role as a mother has morphed into something new...and my heart breaks just a little bit letting that go. It's a mama milestone.



It's a milestone for the boys too! They think their room is the coolest now...who can resist these smiles!

Ahhh, Life With Boys (3)

For Christmas, one of our sweet aunts gave Collin a box of experiments to do. He was thrilled. First and foremost, he pursued what they called "Sea Monsters".
It hatched...it's disgusting...and thriving!
Looked on the Internet today to find out how long I have to look at this thing in my kitchen window...
Triops have a relatively short lifespan of 20 to 90 days and grow quickly to their adult length of one to three inches. How large they grow depends on the amount of light and food they receive. After hatching, they often double in size daily!
3 INCHES...90 DAYS....DOUBLE IN SIZE DAILY!!!!!

Ahhhh, Life With Boys!

Ahhh, Life With Boys (2)

What does it mean when ... in between trying to break up the beating your sons are inflicting on each other with rolls of wrapping paper you are purchasing, the gentleman in front of you repeatedly offers, or rather, insists you go ahead of him because "he's in no hurry".

Ahhhh, life with boys!

Whirlwind of Activity

Quite honestly, I've fallen way behind in this blog and don't even know where to begin. Between homeschooling, two boys, house, holidays and surgery, sadly, the blog was last priority. So in an effort to bridge the gap here are a few snapshots. What is the saying? A picture is worth a thousands words? Hope so! Here's a quick run down of the last month (or two).

We've been...

Celebrating, Kyle's birthday. Happy Birthday Kyle!

Losing teeth. Looking good, Collin!

Celebrating 11 years of marriage!

Watching our little muscian's first piano recital.


Reaching out to others during the holidays with our Samaritan's Purse shoebox.



Christmas fun!

Girls weekend full of laughter to San Fran with my good friend Angela. Hello Ghirdelli Square!


Off to get a Christmas tree with a surprise visit with Santa.

Playing in the snow!

I hope your winter season has been full of memories too!