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| Thor's First Day of School - August 2012 |
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| Thor's Last Day of School - May 2013 |
Friday, May 31, 2013
Kindergarten Graduate!
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Merry-Happy-Christmas-Birthday-Mother's-Day ALL IN ONE!LA
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| Last Christmas Jake's mom Diane got him tickets to see "The Book of Mormon" for his birthday weekend - 5 MONTHS AWAY!!! We eagerly anticipated the show for all 5 of those months. Making plans of leaving the kids with grandparent's and having a whole weekend away in the city. As time got closer plans do what they are wont to do, disintegrate. Grandma D. offered to watch the kids for us overnight if we wanted but Baleigh came down with tonsillitis just 24 hours before we were to leave. Pair that with no dog sitter and we ended up making this just a day trip. |
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| After we had dropped the kiddos with Grandma D. - Jake and I overlooking the river. |
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| I love this picture of the two of us at the Bank Of America Theater. In case you can't tell from our huge smiles, we LOVED the show. Very funny. |
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| Grandma Diane and her two grand-kids! Baleigh helped design the mother's day necklace Diane is wearing. Origami Owl is such a cool company! |
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| My nephew Ryan showing his stink face on us. I just love his little jacket - it was Thor's when he was this size and it makes me smile. This was at my brother and sister-in-law's house across town for mother's day. |
Sunday, May 5, 2013
Surprise!!!
Jake has had a long and sordid past with birthdays. Many things have contributed to his reason for not wanting to have a big birthday party. One thing or another has always stood in the way of it being a truly enjoyable event for him. So this year I made it my personal mission to make his day special.
1. The Idea: Plan Jake a surprise birthday party that he will never forget.
2. Enlist the help of someone to help me pull it off.
3. Keep all the plans a complete secret.
4. Do it on a tiny budget. : )
#1 was easy, #2 was not hard either. I called up a buddy that Jake works with and asked him to handle half of the guest list (friends from work), and to keep Jake occupied the day of the party so I could get the house ready. I emailed friends and family and asked them to shower him with cards on the weekend before his birthday (that part didn't go so well), but Jake's dad replied and said he was planning on taking a bike ride that weekend and asked if we would mind him party crashing (we did not mind). Keeping all the plans a secret was hard. Try buying decorations and trying out cake recipes, and fielding phone calls with two little kids around. I was so proud of them for knowing for almost a week and not letting a single thing slip to their dad.
The day of the party Jake got up early and decided that he was going to spend the day at work since all of his friends has mysteriously cancelled their plans with him. When he left we kicked things into high gear at home prepping for the festivities. We hung decorations, placed framed photos of him at his birthdays or old school pictures throughout the house, and made appetizers and the cake. We decided to keep the fare simple and opted for brats and burgers with fresh fruit and potato salad. We mowed the lawn, finished up the last of the dishes and by 1 PM we were ready. Soooo, we called him and asked if he would like to meet us for lunch in Freeport. His buddy D. had called him and wanted to take him to Iron Man 3 for the afternoon so it worked out perfect. We grabbed some ice on the way home and got to our house 5 minutes before Grandpa Peepaw showed up. The next guest to arrive were our friend Katie and Skipppy, and then the rest of Jake's buddies rolled in. The second to last guest arrived about 2 minute before D. and Jake pulled in. Jake's face was priceless when he walked around the corner and saw everyone. He was stunned. We had done it. He greeted everyone and then we went in to the house to eat. It was very relaxed and everyone seemed to have a good time. Katie and Skipppy and Grandpa spent the night so we had a big doughnut breakfast the next morning. Overall it was a good birthday and we seem to have broken the curse of the bad birthdays.
#4: Total budget $56.23 (this included all the drinks we had -an there were plenty left over)
p.s. I attempted my second atomic cake making and it turned out great. Grandpa even went so far as to say that the bakery in Chicago that we normally order it from had nothing on me. I still need to have a piece - I was to busy making sure everyone was doing ok to get some last night. : )
1. The Idea: Plan Jake a surprise birthday party that he will never forget.
2. Enlist the help of someone to help me pull it off.
3. Keep all the plans a complete secret.
4. Do it on a tiny budget. : )
#1 was easy, #2 was not hard either. I called up a buddy that Jake works with and asked him to handle half of the guest list (friends from work), and to keep Jake occupied the day of the party so I could get the house ready. I emailed friends and family and asked them to shower him with cards on the weekend before his birthday (that part didn't go so well), but Jake's dad replied and said he was planning on taking a bike ride that weekend and asked if we would mind him party crashing (we did not mind). Keeping all the plans a secret was hard. Try buying decorations and trying out cake recipes, and fielding phone calls with two little kids around. I was so proud of them for knowing for almost a week and not letting a single thing slip to their dad.
The day of the party Jake got up early and decided that he was going to spend the day at work since all of his friends has mysteriously cancelled their plans with him. When he left we kicked things into high gear at home prepping for the festivities. We hung decorations, placed framed photos of him at his birthdays or old school pictures throughout the house, and made appetizers and the cake. We decided to keep the fare simple and opted for brats and burgers with fresh fruit and potato salad. We mowed the lawn, finished up the last of the dishes and by 1 PM we were ready. Soooo, we called him and asked if he would like to meet us for lunch in Freeport. His buddy D. had called him and wanted to take him to Iron Man 3 for the afternoon so it worked out perfect. We grabbed some ice on the way home and got to our house 5 minutes before Grandpa Peepaw showed up. The next guest to arrive were our friend Katie and Skipppy, and then the rest of Jake's buddies rolled in. The second to last guest arrived about 2 minute before D. and Jake pulled in. Jake's face was priceless when he walked around the corner and saw everyone. He was stunned. We had done it. He greeted everyone and then we went in to the house to eat. It was very relaxed and everyone seemed to have a good time. Katie and Skipppy and Grandpa spent the night so we had a big doughnut breakfast the next morning. Overall it was a good birthday and we seem to have broken the curse of the bad birthdays.
#4: Total budget $56.23 (this included all the drinks we had -an there were plenty left over)
p.s. I attempted my second atomic cake making and it turned out great. Grandpa even went so far as to say that the bakery in Chicago that we normally order it from had nothing on me. I still need to have a piece - I was to busy making sure everyone was doing ok to get some last night. : )
Saturday, May 4, 2013
We Are Reading!
Thor has been learning to read this year in Kindergarten and he loves school. However, when it comes to sitting down and sounding out words he would much rather have someone else do it. He loves books and we read almost every day; however, he just does not like to take time when it comes to a topic that he loves. He has recently become re-excited by marine mammals and has brought home many a book on whales and dolphins.
But the real story here is our pre-school Baleigh. We have worked a little bit with sounds and the alphabet this year and I knew that she was aware of the sight words that Thor has had to practice. This morning I got up because I heard someone up and talking in the living room. There sat our 5 yr old who has never been to school, READING A BOOK! She had the kindle on her lap open to "The Little Red Hen" and was reading the story to herself. She was sounding out words and taking her time. She only had to skip a few words and was getting what some were using context clues (although she has no idea what those are). Her kindergarten teacher is either going to love or hate her. She knows so much and REALLY wants to share what she knows so I know she is going to be a handful.
I just wanted to share what amazingly intelligent kiddos we have. We are truly blessed.
But the real story here is our pre-school Baleigh. We have worked a little bit with sounds and the alphabet this year and I knew that she was aware of the sight words that Thor has had to practice. This morning I got up because I heard someone up and talking in the living room. There sat our 5 yr old who has never been to school, READING A BOOK! She had the kindle on her lap open to "The Little Red Hen" and was reading the story to herself. She was sounding out words and taking her time. She only had to skip a few words and was getting what some were using context clues (although she has no idea what those are). Her kindergarten teacher is either going to love or hate her. She knows so much and REALLY wants to share what she knows so I know she is going to be a handful.
I just wanted to share what amazingly intelligent kiddos we have. We are truly blessed.
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Like a Fine Wine
I am starting to think of our life as a fine wine. It just keeps getting better with time. This last week we had some fun developments. AWANA is over for the summer but on the last day one of the mom's who I socialize with there and at a few other community events asked if I would like to keep up a Wednesday meeting. This week I cooked dinner for both of our families and next week it will be at her house. We had an absolute blast hanging out and the kids spent three hours of playing with .... drum roll please. No fighting, tears, tattling, or owies. Before they left they all went back to the kids' rooms and helped my kids pick up the toys that they had all gotten out. HOLY MOLY I LOVE THIS MOM! Seriously. I always tell my kids that it is polite to help your friends pick up before you leave and I have NEVER had another child over who helped my kids before. Usually we are doing it after everyone leaves.
While they were here Angie and I popped next door to do some dumpster diving. They are selling the house and had loaded up an industrial sized dumpster with fun stuff over the course of the day. I am now the proud owner of a dresser! This may not sound awesome to everyone but in the 8 years that Jake and I have been together I have not had a dresser. Jake and I share one dresser and it is not easy to fit everything for two adults in one - in case you were wondering. I also acquired several end tables, a lamp that has real potential and a HUGE roll of insulation. I was just telling Jake the other day that I wanted to insulate and finish the garage this summer and now I have the start of it for FREE!
I love having a new friend who is frugal, and funny, and shares my views on raising children to be respectful and kind, without being a crazy straight laced nut job. The best part is that they live just a few minutes away and I see lots more play dates in our future.
This weekend I am throwing Jake a surprise birthday party and I am hoping that I can pull it off. I enlisted the help of a work friend who is taking Jake out to the movies and then to the driving range for the day so we can get the whole house set up and finish the food.
While they were here Angie and I popped next door to do some dumpster diving. They are selling the house and had loaded up an industrial sized dumpster with fun stuff over the course of the day. I am now the proud owner of a dresser! This may not sound awesome to everyone but in the 8 years that Jake and I have been together I have not had a dresser. Jake and I share one dresser and it is not easy to fit everything for two adults in one - in case you were wondering. I also acquired several end tables, a lamp that has real potential and a HUGE roll of insulation. I was just telling Jake the other day that I wanted to insulate and finish the garage this summer and now I have the start of it for FREE!
I love having a new friend who is frugal, and funny, and shares my views on raising children to be respectful and kind, without being a crazy straight laced nut job. The best part is that they live just a few minutes away and I see lots more play dates in our future.
This weekend I am throwing Jake a surprise birthday party and I am hoping that I can pull it off. I enlisted the help of a work friend who is taking Jake out to the movies and then to the driving range for the day so we can get the whole house set up and finish the food.
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