Artinghelli Happenings

It seems as though I do this every year.  I just can't seem to find the time to blog.  So I apologize that's its been nearly 3 months since my last blog.  So much has happened.  We went through the Holidays, which were amazing.  We had a lot of activities surrounding the holidays which always turns out to be fun.  This year we went on a train ride with Santa and his elves, my work Christmas party, made cookies, had a bunch of celebrations and even started a new tradition, driving around the neighborhood looking at lights and going out for ice-cream.  I really enjoyed that.  We were going to send holiday cards oversees but didn't make the deadline, but we did send a Christmas Card to a girl who was asking for them because she lost her family in a fire and was wanting these cards to make her feel better and we adopted a boy who wanted Minecraft toys, just like Austin.   Boys, of course were spoiled with love and toys.  They got their 3DS's from us.  This was the present of the year, and Austin has been talking about wanting it for months. It was great to see their expression when they opened it!  They got a lot of great toys this year and are super super lucky.  We keep trying to tell them that they are lucky and that there are people/kids out there who don't have it as good.  Hopefully, they do know they are lucky.  We had a lot of questions this year about Santa.  Is he real, are the parents giving the toys, he's not the same Santa as we saw, etc.  It makes me sad to think that the innocence and the belief might not be here for much longer.   Hopefully we can get a few more years, and I hope the older kids keep the magic going for us.

Austin is rocking with the reading.  I can't begin to tell you how proud I am of him.  It's amazing to hear his sweet voice read to me. He's comprehending too, which is awesome.
A funny story, so for school, Austin had to write about which book he preferred out of 2 books he recently read about ducks.  He had to say why he preferred the book, what he would say to someone who was asking.  So, my little guy, said he liked one of the books better because it was a shorter book.  Little stinker.  I laughed to myself, but then he had to redo the work because his teacher said, that wasn't a good reason!  Hahaha.

Austin is really loving basketball!  He wants that ball to go in the hoop and will keep shooting til it's in there.  He likes to count how many shots he can make in a row.  Can't wait for it to warm up a bit so he can do this at home and not after practice.  I feel bad for him because he is the smallest on the team and it's definitely hard for him to get and keep the ball because everyone is so much bigger.  

Both boys love watching Impractical Jokers.  They just crack up at all of the things the jokers need to do!  It's nice to have a show, we can all enjoy watching.  Not just those pesky cartoons.

We have been enjoying playing Minion Life.  It's definitely different than the Life we played growing up, but it's a lot of fun.  I love playing games as a family.  Uno attack is another fun one, love it when the boys get blasted with cards, haha!   I'm sure Kevin can't wait until we can all play Monopoly!

John is also doing an AMAZING job with his reading too.  I love listening to him read.  So proud of how good he is with sounding out his words.





We signed John David up for the travel league for baseball.  We can't wait to see him out there.  He can't wait either.  He was so good at t-ball, can't wait to see how he does off the tee.  Can't wait to see his arm in action!!!!!  And we are also getting ready to sign him up for flag football.  I know he can't wait for that one!  He is so excited about sports.  Well, John David is excited about everything, he really is just a well rounded kid!

I think we are all ready for it to be nice outside again.  While, we have been blessed with a mild winter, can't wait for spring/summer, when we can be outside!  I miss the burgers and brats Kevin would grill and having the windows open!  It's coming, I know it!