I Am Outa Here!

Well, here goes. 
Today is the day. 
It is something that has weighed on my heart for a long time.  One of those things that God has been whispering to me. 
I am going on my first mission trip.  I am leaving for Costa Rica tonight.
Yep, along with an awesome team from our church, I am leaving my babies and husband behind for 9 days and taking a huge step of faith.
I am going to miss them terribly but I know this is something that God has called me to do.  Something bigger than me.
Totally nervous, anxious, excited, thrilled!
Please keep my family in your prayers and pray for safe travels for me.  Please pray that the weather holds out for construction to take place.  Please pray for the children that we will be teaching and loving! 
I am hoping to be able to sporadically blog from my phone.  I will have to wait and see how that goes once I am there.  Sooo, it might be a bit quiet around here.

Hasta luego!
Vaya con Dios!

Love,
Jennifer

The Graduate

Yesterday she was a Kindergartner.....

Now a first grader!!!

Congrats Paige!

Just One More

A couple weeks ago, my mom and I visited a new (new to us) fabric store in Monument.  We fell in love with this fun apple fabric. My mom bought a yard and I made her a large shopping bag with pockets.  I bought 2 yards with thoughts of teacher gifts and this is what I made with my 2 yards.  Three small bags for three awesome teachers.  I thought I was done....
 

In the middle of the last night, while I was lying awake, thinking of all the other things that I need to do this week before I leave for Costa Rica, I remembered Sam's G/T resource teacher.  Oops.  No problem, I got right up this morning and made this cute bag for her.

During breakfast, Paige mentioned that her classroom aide would also like a bag.  Oops.  I probably should have thought of that wonderful teacher.  So, after the kids headed off to school, I ran upstairs and made this fun bag.

While I was busy sewing the previous bag, I remembered Sam's student teacher. Yep, you guessed it. Of course, she needed a bag too. Soooo, I got right to it and sewed up this bag.  I think this might have turned out the cutest, although....

I am really in love with that apple fabric. 

Happy last day of school.  My sewing machine and I are going to take a short nap.....

Jennifer

Singing Running in the Rain

Last night our kids ran races down at Bear Creek Park.  The weather was pretty nice when we arrived but we could see the black cloud in the distance.  We hoped that they would change direction or miss us but no such luck.  It started sprinkling during Mason's run, downright poured and hailed during Paige's run, slowed down a bit for Alice's and the sun came back out for Sam's long run.  Despite the rain, all the kids ran well.  Mason finished his 1/2 mile race without any parental help.  Paige finished in a very wet 3rd place, Alice came in 5th with a great big smile on her face and Sam finished top ten in 9:04 for his 1 3/4 miles.  No matter how many races they run, I always tear up when they hit that finish line.  Maybe because I know how tough it is to finish a race and the accomplishment of pushing yourself through the finish.  I am a bit competitive and I do like to be near the finish to scream and holler encourage my children through to the end. Most of the other parents call me crazy but my kids just call me mom :) 

 Sam coming into the finish

A very wet Paige! 

A blurry Mason at the start of his race.  

Happy 36th Birthday to Scott!  Today we are celebrating his day!  We love you!
Jennifer

Celebrating Early

It seems a bit silly, but with every effort to keep things fair and include everyone, summer birthdays may not go unnoticed.  Okay, maybe because I had a December birthday, I am a bit unsympathetic to the whole "summer birthday" issue.  If you have one, you know that with a summer birthday, there is no loud student led rendition of Happy Birthday, Cha, Cha, Cha or the passing out of a sugary snack to share with your classmates.  Those kids whose parent made the devastating choice to have children during the warm summer months lose out, big time.  Well, not anymore.  It seems the new tradition is to pack in all those summer birthday celebrations right at the end of the school year.  Hey, we don't have anything else going on, right??? 
(insert unnecessary temper tantrum)

With that being said, we happily celebrated Alice's soon to be 8th birthday in her classroom today.  She chose powdered doughnuts as her treat.  I may have tried out a couple ahead of time just to make sure they weren't injected with poison or something....aren't I a good mom???!?!?!?  It did make me feel a lot better. 
After the yummy treat, her teacher let her pick out a game to play with the class and she chose Hangman.  Scott got to be the Hangman artist.  I could tell that Alice loved having her Dad right up there with her.  She picked big long words like Interesting and Satisfied, coming very close to stumping her classmates. 

Happy Almost 8th Birthday, Ladybug!  You are Awesome! 
Jennifer

Block Party

Scott and I have attended our small Methodist church for 11 years.  We started attending as a family of two and now have grown to six.  Our kids love going to church and it has become an extension of home for them.  Our church family has grown to be just that, our family.  It is a place where we feel comfortable, welcomed and spiritually renewed and uplifted.  Today was no exception.  We spent the day at our church's spring block party running games, tuning bikes, chasing kids, enjoying praise music and fellowship with old friends.  It was an awesome day.  The kids had a ball running around in their stocking feet between games, food and bounce houses.  I tried to capture them all throughout the day but seemed to have missed Sam with my camera. 

 Paige enjoyed the craft table, as usual!

 The cake walk is always a popular game. Hmm, I wonder why???

Mason and Melanie (our awesome babysitter and friend)

 Scott doing what he loves, tuning bikes....

 Alice and Abby hanging out in the fire truck.  Also a favorite for the kids....

waiting for the bounce house

I hope you all had a fantastic day full with family, friends and fun.....

Jennifer

Mother's Day~ As Promised....

If you are a mother, have a mother, know a mother....well, you know that Sunday was Mother's Day.  As I often say, tongue firmly placed in cheek, everyday is Mother's Day at our house.  Anyway, Sunday was dedicated to me.  It was all about me....me, me, me.....Well a girl can dream, right?!?!

We started the day at church.  Upon arriving at church, I pleaded with everyone to be on their best behaviors because it was mom's day.  They did pretty good. They are kids after all and the snacks did look really good and they totally forgot that they could only pick one. After church we went out for a bagel lunch which is a crowd favorite at our house.  Anything on a bagel works for us. We headed for home to put on some comfy clothes, hats and sunscreen and then we piled in the Cruiser and headed for the hills.  We drove up to Monument and spent the afternoon hiking around.  We found some fun new trails and beautiful views. Hiking with my family, camera in hand, is definitely one of my favorite things to do.  It has become a Mother's Day tradition and I plan to keep it that way :)  The kids kept the whining (hungry, thirsty, tired, hot) to a minimum and we all enjoyed the day.  After a yummy dinner at Wahoo's and ice-cream for dessert, we headed home.  I turned in my "get out of chores for a day" card and put my tired babies to bed. Mother's Day, same time, same place, next year.  Enjoy the pics. 

Happy Tuesday.

Back to life, back to reality.

Jennifer

Summing Up the Last Week

Before anyone starts staging an intervention due to my lack of blogging, I am back! 

I am healing from surgery and feeling better.  The weather has finally turned gorgeous and I am itching to get out and run.  Truth be told, I am really missing my kid free chat time with my running partner!  Today was my post-op appointment and the doc gave me the okay to start running.  No lifting, but running is good. 

Last week we were busy with soccer practice and games, track days, a trip to the Denver Nature and Science Museum and tons of school activities. Adding to the mayhem, it was also Scott's last week of work.  The kids have eleven days of school left before summer break and until then, life will be busy. 

Alice and friends at track day

 Alice running her heart out.

 Paige in the tug of war

 Sam winning the big foot race

 Sam trying out the tug of war

 Alice and I after her a Mother's Tea at school

 The kids at the Denver Nature and Science Museum

 I am all ears!

 Paige getting ready for her trail race.  She came in 5th!

Alice waiting to start her race.  She rocked it and came in 3rd place! 

Mason having fun with the blocks. 

Tomorrow I will post (I promise, pinkie swear) about my awesome Mother's Day. Have a great week and a happy Monday!

Jennifer

To all my blogging friends~ are you having trouble with your pictures turning blurry after you post them?  I spend tons of time editing and then they look crummy when I upload them.....very frustrating....
I welcome advise or help :)