Randoms

Um, could we please discuss this RIDICULOUS test question for first graders? 

Guess what, it says "that matches the pattern". That is not a pattern!!! Plus, hi, FIRST GRADE! 

But, then there is the cuteness of my older child reading to his sister...

It was cute until she rolled away...

How cute are these shadow pictures? 

That's all I've got folks...party a minute around these parts! 

Oh wait, it is!!! 

We're excited to see fabulous people this weekend and celebrate a fabulous lady! 

Weekend Phone Dump

I mean, not much can top backwards dinner on a Friday night, but we had a pretty good weekend! 

We woke up to a much rainier morning than expected Saturday. We were clearly not at our sanest and allowed play-doh and science experiments. 

Science experiments are pretty technical around here. You're allowed 4 ingredients. Because I have to have some things left in my kitchen. This week they picked vinegar, salt, oranges, and strawberries. And of course they had to squeeze the oranges to get the juice out. 

I know. It's weird. Teacher mommy has a hard time saying no to things that involve a hypothesis and conclusion. They know me too well. 

But the rain stopped! Yay! So we went to Costco and Lowes, because that's the American thing to do on a spring Saturday. Then we came home and enjoyed the sunshine!

Peter installed a loft in our shed. More space! 

We tried to help, but some of us are waaaay too helpful. So swing set instead! 

Logan made this creepy masterpiece. 

And we chased bubbles! 

Then I got to go out for a fabulous girls night where we laughed so hard. Soooo much fun! 

Today was an exciting trip to the grocery store, soccer pictures, Target, and a soccer game! 

He was so into it today - the kid is fierce when he gets in there! And, I got my first sunburn of the year. All in a day's work. 

Ready for the week now I suppose. Hey, it's almost May - we are ready for some summer fun soon! 

Happy Friday!!!

What do we do around these parts to celebrate? We grab the Peanuts Movie from the Redbox and ice cream sundae supplies. Then we eat "backwards dinner" - sundaes first! 

Because really...why not?

Thankful on Thursday

- I am thankful for amazing authors who say exactly what I'm feeling and make me feel more normal. 

http://austin.citymomsblog.com/2016/04/20/stage-life-hard/

Love it. 

- I am also thankful for friends you can text at 10:47pm to just say "I can't find the monitor that was in my hands 2 seconds ago...I'm not crazy, right?" (Found the next morning...)

- Girls Night this weekend at a new restaurant! Good friends and yummy food? Yes please! 

- Sleep, sleep, sleepy sleep sleep. I'm thankful I have a really, really comfy pillow!

Happy almost Friday!

Super Tuesday

Did I title a post the same on the actual Super Tuesday? Oh well. For a Tuesday today was pretty good so we'll go with super! 

First it was our field trip to the zoo. In past years I've had whole groups of children get lost, a bloody nose so bad that I had to take the child to the zoo doctor place, we've been stranded in DC until 7pm with no busses, we've had such bad traffic that they have gotten an hour at the zoo, and last year it was freezing cold and rainy.  Needless to say it is always interesting! But today...perfection! Absolutely gorgeous weather, happy children, safe children - win! 

Then after school I had some special visitors! My mom and grandma brought Aubrey to school so she could see the baby chicks! Every year a few classes do a project with 4H where they keep eggs and the chicks hatch and then go to a farm. It is so cool! So they hatched yesterday and Logan got to see them with his class but Aubrey wanted to too. There are some perks to being a teacher kid! 

One of my teammates realized there were 4 generations of my family in my classroom and wanted to take a picture! 

Pretty cool! My students only saw them for 5 minutes but they were amazed! Love when they see I'm "real!" They love my mom, she's subbed in there and they think she is the best! 

Then we of course did Tae Kwon Do, leftovers for dinner, and the good ole bedtime routine. I mean, the rest of Tuesday we so wild we had to have some normalcy in there! 

Like sleep. It's very normal. But this is my problem. 

Yep. Truth! Time for Mombies to sleep now!

Weekend Whatevers

Um, that weekend was fast. But good news - fourth quarter is here! There is a light at the end of the tunnel and it's getting brighter! Bring on the summer!!!

Ahem. Nine more weeks. But who's counting? 

Oh, the weekend. We were pretty low key because Peter was told he needed to relax his back. Too much activity! 

So instead we went to soccer. Because that's low key, right?

Here's the boy really proud of himself because he just blocked the ball like 5 times. 

Oh, then there was the GOAL he scored! I mean, didn't get a picture of that, but yahoo! 

Lots of determination here people! 

Beautiful weather! Then we came home and I sat in the shade (and wireless connection) of the garage and did my report cards while the kids played outside.

I know. Glamorous. 

Teacher Workday tomorrow! Room clean up time, yay!

Thankful on Thursday

- No puke this week. Let's all celebrate that! Though the girl does still sleep with her bowl because she's scared. For real. 

- Big kids who like to sit in my lap and watch movies. 

- Oh, the hubby. He's in a lot of pain right now with his back and he's still trying.  Thankful for that! 

- My mom staying true to her sub jobs even when a lot of other stuff is going on and she could bail. 

- Getting excited about a trip to Milwaukee to see lots of fun people! 

- 45 days of school. Look, I'm not starting the countdown yet but we're at the "exactly 9 weeks" point, so that's fun. 

Happy almost Friday!

Belt Testing Day!

Logan has been doing Tae Kwon Do for about 3 months. He really seems to like it, so far! Mostly it's lots and lots of focusing and listening. And pretending to fight Darth Vader. 

By this Saturday, right before Aubrey's party, he got to test for his next belt! He has been sooooo excited so he was very ready! Peter got some great pics since I was so sad to not be there! 

Getting fired up in the car! Yes, it was snowing outside...

Ready to break a board! 

Yay! He did it! I mean, he had to do other things too, but hard to get pictures. 

Here's a video of some serious punching!

 

http://youtu.be/KXoAntVC-Jo

So there he is, our white belt with yellow stripe! Only 37 more belts to go (ha, I have no idea really!)!

Party Time!

So, Aubrey had to wait a bit but it was time for her big 4 year old party! She decided she wanted to have it at Kids in Motion, the same place Logan did his. Sounds good to me! I was quite happy to have it out of the house – I am really, really a fan of parties outside of the house now (my house…other people having parties at their house is totally awesome. But not having to clean my house before or after, or cook? I’ll take it!).

I tried to take pictures with my real camera, but I haven’t used it in ages and they didn’t turn out great. But, here they are!

How is this little girl SO big???

 

Look how much fun the little bestie was having! Love that smile!

 

 

These two had a great time getting to know each other better! Aubrey reports that Kennedy is "So nice and pretty."

 

Almost all of Aubrey's favorite people in one shot! Except for three littles who were like, "Um, sit and listen without my parents with all this fun? No thank you." Can't blame em!

 

 

 Bestie had to take Baby Bestie down this slide 247 times. It was pretty much the cutest thing ever. If you weren't the adult who had to climb up 247 times!

 

I'm so sad I didn't get a better picture of John, but I mean, who wants to sit still when there is a train to climb?

 

The birthday girl in the birthday chair! She has been talking about this since Logan's party!

 

 

I mean, how could you not love a huge mound of purple frosting?

 

 

Thank you to everybody who came out to celebrate with our little girl! And thanks to Grandma and PaPa F who were kind of in the background since they couldn't jump themselves, but who still lent a hand a bunch of times! We had a blast!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thankful on Thursday

From our back deck!

From a student's paper today. 😂😂😂

- Ready for weekend fun: 2 birthday parties, belt testing, and the first soccer game of the season!

- So thankful for everyone who loves and supports our family. We are so very lucky!

Happy almost Friday!  

Tough Tuesday

So, Aubrey thee up again last night. 3am! So fun! And again! And again! Yay! And Peter had to leave the house at 4:45am to get to NJ for the day. Then, they couldn't find me a sub. Good times people, good times. 

But then perspective goes and smacks you in the face. My husband came home, my child stopped throwing up, my parents were here to take the other child to TKD and get him from school. 

But one of my ladies on my message board, my moms board that I've been a part of since Logan was born and have in person meetings with too, she had to pas on hard news. She's had cancer for about 2 years, we've all known and she's been fighting so hard. She is such an amazing person. Well, there's nothing left they can do. She's got stage 4 colon cancer, chemo won't help anymore. 

It hits so close to home because she's my age, and her kids are the same age as my kids. And do you know what she's worried about? That her boys won't think she fought hard enough. She has fought so hard. It's beyond my comprehension. 

So yeah, my rough Tuesday? It's nothing. It's parenthood, which I am so blessed to get to do. It's life, which I'm so blessed to get to enjoy and struggle through. 

In her honor I'm making an appointment for a full physical tomorrow. I haven't had one in years. I mean, I see the doc every year, by I literally don't know when the last time was I had a physical. She is a big proponent of proactive health care because she feels like signs and things were missed that could have been caught earlier. So please consider doing the same if you need to too - it is all too short. 

Perspective. As always, it blows me away. 

Blanket Boy

Oh my child. He gets these ideas. And when he gets them around his Grandma F? She gets determined to make them happen. 

Aubrey wanted my mom to make her some costumes for a play (oh my). So my mom found all these fabric squares. And what do you think Logan said? "Grandma, can you make me a blanket?" 

And then somehow my mother busts out a sewing machine and makes a blanket. 

She says it's not her best work, but um, it's a blanket. A warm blanket that she made in a day. With scraps. 

We're lucky I can make grilled cheese guys. And sometimes even that's burnt. 

But he loves it and declares it smells just like their house! 

Birthday Girl!

Well, since Blogger ate my post on Aubrey's birthday, let's try again!

She was up early to open presents! Wearing her new dress from Grandma and PaPa K!

Barbie camper! Princess stamps! Fun, fun, fun!

Then she came home to a package from Grandma and PaPa K that she was very happy to open! 

Where she found more Barbie stuff and jewels! 

Them grandma and PaPa F came over with more fun including a tutu dress and shoes! Which of course she had to wear the next day! 

They also brought...cake! After dinner at Panera (her choice!) we got to have the yummy "chocolate cake with cherries" that she requested! 

Of course this crazy boy was happy to have some too! 

I'd say she had a very, very good day! I mean, the next day she got the stomach bug, and that stunk, but it was fast, so that's fabulous! 

We had a low key weekend and are ready for a busy week...then Aubrey's birthday party!