A Group Of Stahrs

07 Jun 2015

Last Day of School

Since we’ve been out of school for a whole week, it seems like it’s time to post the first day/last day of school pictures. I’m happy that it’s not the beginning of the next school year already. A week is good! Although we are starting to get bored. It’s been nice outside so the kids have been having fun with their water trampoline but you can only be in the water for so long before that gets old. Good thing we have a road trip planned for this week!

Mazie, the new high schooler, is so excited about 9th grade. I think it’s funny she is wearing the same color. I’m not liking how mature she, seemingly all of a sudden, looks.

Jamie, the new middle schooler, is also excited about 6th grade. Again, too mature…

Jacob, the new 3rd grader, can’t wait to see who his teacher is. Don’t get me started on his comparison…

The kids had a fabulous school year. Here’s to a fun summer, not waking up too early, being exhausted from all the fun and sun, and simply relaxing for the summer (with a trip or two here and there). Happy Summer Break!

Posted in end of the year, Kids, Random, summer and tagged end of year, school

28 May 2015

Throw Back Thursday

Is it really a throw back if it happened last month? Well, on this blog and for today, we’re going with it. On this last full day of school for this school year, I figured I would play catch up before heading to school for a water balloon toss with my soon-to-be-sixth grader!

So Spring Break…It happened to fall right around Easter. So we stayed home and had a wonderful weekend just the 5 of us. We started the longer weekend with a silly thing called a half marathon. If you’ve never run 13.1 miles or wanted to, you make be wondering “what were you thinking”…the answer is…I have absolutely no idea. I just felt like it was time, found a training schedule on pinterest, talked Jeremiah into running with me, and here we are. Our first half marathon is in the bag. It was the hardest physical thing I have ever done aside from birthing babies. I am proud to say I accomplished one. I am happy for the experience. I would like to do another to get a better time but I felt this way with all my races. My first half marathon was a good experience. I learned a lot about myself…I’m stronger than I thought…yes, I should listen to my husband a little more often ;-). So here is our finish selfie…The race started at 36 degrees and was 52 when we finished. So we were a little ripe…

And our finisher medal.

Funny story, we paid for these but not everyone did. But everyone seemed to get one and since Jeremiah was running with me (instead of me running with him) there were not enough left for us to get ours. So we waiting for them to come in the mail. I may have sassed an innocent volunteer when he said they were out. I may have told him that I just ran 13.1 miles and I wanted my finisher medal like a little brat. He should have sassed back stating that we should have run faster but he was nice and explained that they would be shipped free of charge, of course. So when it came in the mail, I may have proudly displayed it on my neck for the remainder of the day. Maybe. 😉

After the race, we took the kids to Boondocks Family Fun Center. Neither of us wanted to slug the rest of the day and not be able to move the rest of the weekend, so we figured some go carts racing and mini golf were in order…

Easter was, well, Easter. Ham and all the fixings, eggs, candy, kids in heaven.

Every year, I do a fancy dessert. I let the kids pick it out this year. Thanks to Pinterest or Facebook (not sure where it came from now) they all agreed on Peanut Butter Cup lasagna. Pudding, cool whip, peanut butter cups, nutter butters, peanut butter drizzle, and chocolate drizzle. It was, to put it mildly, a huge hit.

Mama’s Day: I know this was only a few weeks ago but just go with it. Anyone who knows me knows that I adore homemade things. Especially made by my kids. So to get handcrafted gifts from my kids is the ultimate special treat for me. I got some pretty cool coupons from Mazie and Jacob and a cool banner from Jamie.

Jeremiah found an interesting way to give me a gift this year. He made me break a plate in the drive way…

You see, if one more plate broke, I could get new plates. And wouldn’t you know, no one would help me with that. I mean, when I was pregnant, I broke things left and right but when I really wanted new plates I couldn’t break one more plate. Not one. So we went outside to smash my last plate.

Now I have enough for lots of people to eat off the same plates when they visit, not just the 5 of us and everyone else gets paper! Thanks for giving me the greatest gifts ever, Jeremiah…the reason I’m a mama and can share this day with so many wonderful mothers…our three fantastic kids. I’m one blessed mama!

Posted in Adventures, Family, Holidays, Random and tagged random

25 May 2015

1 Comment

Eleven

So it’s been close to a month and I am just now getting around to posting about Jamie’s big birthday. While she is the middle child, that isn’t the reason it’s taken so long to post. I am having a hard time admitting my girls are getting older and more mature. Jamie is our emotional little girl who keeps getting older. It’s hard to just go with it like she is so good at doing. She’s always gone with the flow of things and has always been easy-going. So here’s our celebration of her eleventh birthday!

Her actual birthday was on a Thursday this year. So that meant her birthday celebration ended up being the whole weekend! She treated her class to chocolate fudge popsicles, ordered up spaghetti and meatballs (no sauce, thank you) for supper, and her peanut butter cake with peanut butter buttercream for her star cake complete with 11 candles.

After eating (fast), skyping with Pop Pop to sing and enjoy a (fast) few bites of cake and to open presents, we had to head to drum lessons. Thursdays are pretty busy around here. This is her official birth minute photo after lessons…

Friday she opened a few more presents that arrived a little late. Seriously, it couldn’t have been better since she was already planning on the whole weekend of celebrating! Dad took her to Boondocks for her birthday date and to Olive Garden for lunch.

We had her actual party at Sky Trampoline where we jumped for 2 hours and then came home to pizza and her star-shaped cake. She wanted to share a “big star” with her friends. She also ordered up some chocolate chips to go with the peanut butter cake/buttercream.

We also go a few shots of her being 11 years old. She chose the pretty dress she received from the Laughrey’s for her photos. I think it goes great with her teal glasses!

And just one to keep it real around here. Turning 11 didn’t change a thing…

We love you, sweet girl. We hope it was a fun birthday!

Posted in Uncategorized

14 Apr 2015

1 Comment

8

You want to know what’s even worse than your oldest turning into a teenager? Your baby turning 8. I thought since I’ve been to 8 two times before it wasn’t going to be such a big deal. But each year he gets older, it stays being hard. I mean, he’s getting old, I’m getting older. It’s just not fair. I signed up for babies. While I’m pretty happy being diaper-free, no more middle-of-the-night feedings, no having to worry about nap time (wait-I do kind of miss nap time), none of my kids stayed babies long enough. I was robbed!

At any rate, Jacob turned 8 in March. Here’s is official birth minute photo (in the car waiting to go into school)…

He was so excited for his birthday, counting down all month, telling his friends (and teacher) all month how many days til his birthday. His birthday fell on a Thursday which is when he enjoyed his star cake and presents and Skype calls.

Jacob’s party was on a Saturday and he wanted it to be easy. Jumping at the local trampoline center with his buddies (and his sisters and mom and dad), and pizza at home. So that’s what we did. We jumped for 2 hours! Then we had pizza and enjoyed his Minecraft cake. He actually sat down beside me when I was looking on pinterest for ideas. He picked this one out. He also supervised the making of the fondant figures to make sure they were correct. I mean, I don’t know what a creeper is.

A few days before his big birthday, Jacob and I went to the music store to have him fitted for his birthday present from us. An acoustic guitar. He’s been wanting to take lessons so we decided that turning 8 would be a good time. We picked out a guitar that was his size, paid for the first month of lessons, and we were on our way with a pretty big smile on our face!

The day after his big party was our annual mom and son date. I so look forward to this every year. We were going to go for breakfast and then to a movie but he decided the night before that he didn’t think he could wait to eat breakfast at the restaurant. So we opted for a movie and then lunch. We saw Home in 3D (which was such a fun movie) and ate at Chili’s.

We also took his 8 year pictures.

Yep, he’s all grown up! We love you, Jacob.

Posted in birthdays and tagged Birthday, Jacob

12 Apr 2015

1 Comment

Teenager

So in January, yes I’m aware of how long it’s been since January was here, Mazie decided she could just up and turn 13. Just like that. Overnight. No warning, no asking, she just went and did it.

I’m still in denial…that’s why I haven’t blogged it. It seems like if I put it up here, it’s real. Nevermind the fact that it really is true and Mazie is actually a great teen. Nevermind the fact that I don’t want it to be true even though it is. I’m not ready. But anyone who knows Mazie knows that it didn’t matter if I was ready or not. She was doing it anyway.

So here you go. All her birthday wonderfulness. 13 years. Man, she’s old! 😉

We will start with her birth minute photo…

The littles got in the celebrating too. They can’t give her all the attention…

We had a small party at the local trampoline place. She invited a few friends and it was just perfect.

Her annual dad/daughter date. They went to breakfast this year and then to see a movie.

So part of her turning into the teens, we decided to make it a bit more special for her and let her go to my hair salon. The lady who does my hair was so excited to meet Mazie and get to know her. Mazie was over the moon excited when I had made her appointment. She was so tickled with the fact that she was pampered for an hour. I almost cried when I saw her come around the corner. I held it in, though and just smiled and how beautiful she is.

So there you have it. It’s official. Even if it was already all over facebook and instagram since January. It’s officially official now that it’s been blogged. Mazie’s 13 and still amazing. We love you Mazie!

Posted in Uncategorized and tagged Birthday, Mazie

28 Jan 2015

December 2014

I try to blog. I really do. But then I think about how much time it takes to sit here and create a blog and how many other things I should be doing and then I just don’t blog. So for now, you get posts when I post. It’s that simple.

But here is a wrap up of December. Enjoy!

First, we will begin with my birthday. I mean it is really important and all. 38. A few years ago, it seemed like such a big number. An old number. But now that I’m here, it’s not so bad. I mean, yeah I have to admit to being 38 and it sounds old but you really are as old as you feel. And I don’t feel old. Or at least what I would have thought I would feel like at this age. I’m not really sure what I was expecting. All of a sudden, I just turn into an old lady? That’s not really my style anyway. I’ll grow old by gracefully fighting it every step of the way. I mean, 40 is the new 20 right? Actually I don’t want to go back to my 20’s. I kind of like it right now. I’m good. Am I making sense?

Ok so here are a few pixs from my 38th celebrations. The kids were a little disappointed in not having a cake this year but it was ok since I opted for my primal fudge instead. The mess says it all…

And homemade cards/gifts are my very favorite thing…

Jeremiah works with some pretty spectacular people who have become very good friends. Once a month we all get together, sometimes with kids, sometimes without. It always is a good time.

During December the party was a bit of a going away from one of the crew. So this one was a bit bittersweet. These two happened to live across the street from us as well. Jacob happened to love their oldest daughter but their second daughter happened to love Jacob. Yep, our very first love triangle. Also their twin boy and girl are just adorable. I was given the name Missa Megan by the little boy who may have been a little excite to see me every once in a while. You know I have a thing for little blonde haired blue eye boys!

Jamie had 2 concerts with her choir club. One was at the Ogden amphitheater. This was all I was allowed to get for that one…

But she made up for it by posing for the next concert which was at school…

Christmas came and went and it was so much fun this year. Pop Pop arrived in early December and joined us for Christmas this year. The kids (and us parents too) were over the moon about it.

Jacob was in charge of making the reindeer food and placing the treats and milk out for Santa…

So after watching Rudolf, the kid went to bed…

The adults had to get everything ready quietly which was tricky but we managed…

And then Christmas morning was crazy with hot chocolate, cookies, and presents…lots and lots of presents…

And then Pop Pop went home. Boo!

We did manage to do a little exploring of Utah while Pop Pop was here. We hopped on the front runner (the commuter train around here) and took it into Salt Lake City to Temple Square to see the Christmas lights. The kids were excited about the whole thing but Jacob was a little over the top with the train. I have to say, it was simply amazing to see all the lights.

It was a lovely holiday season. That’s all I have downloaded from my camera. More to come some other day…Thanks for looking!

Posted in Adventures, birthdays, Holidays and tagged Christmas 2014

02 Dec 2014

2 Comments

Ten On Tuesday

1. I didn’t blog in October or November. If you follow the blog at all, you already know that. I’m not really sure what happened to the time of October and November. We were just enjoying being us and I didn’t really share it here. I’m kind of torn between keeping the blog going and stopping it altogether. Thoughts?

2. Halloween was fun around here. The kids were minions and Jeremiah and I were Gru and Lucy. These pictures are from Jeremiah’s work party…Oh and by the way, just in case you were wondering, there is no costume for Lucy. Apparently she isn’t a big enough character. I had to piece the whole thing together (thank you Amazon).

3. Jamie had her first choral concert at school. This year one of the elementary teachers and the music teacher decided to start a choral club for the elementary kids. She was in heaven. This girl does love to sing…

4. Thanksgiving was grand. It was a lovely long weekend. We had a yummy turkey dinner with too many sides. But it was just enough to have leftovers one night, turkey pot pie one night, and turkey enchiladas one night.

5. We had a fun little party with some even funner friends. There was a lot of dessert, a little more drinking, a lot more laughing, and maybe some singing. Everyone is tone-deaf when wine is involved, right? It was a good night.

6. My dad’s birthday is tomorrow. Happy Birthday Dad! We can’t wait to celebrate when you are here next week!!

7. That means my birthday is on Thursday. I have already received a gift and a card in the mail (thanks for thinking of me, friends). They are both teasing me from the counter, as I will wait until my actual day of birth to celebrate. 😉

8. I have all of my Christmas shopping complete (aside from my own children). This is pretty late for me. I am usually trying to package all the gifts so they can be mailed.

9. Now if I could get my Christmas cards addressed and mailed and the gifts mailed to various places across the country, I’d be set. It’s a good thing I like to wrap presents.

10. We are decorating for Christmas this weekend. I’m so excited. Again this is kind of late for us but I love doing it. The real tree with it’s pine-y smell and all the lights. It’s so magical. This is my favorite time of the year.

Happy Tuesday!

Posted in Uncategorized and tagged Christmas, Halloween, random, Thanksgiving

30 Sep 2014

Ten On Tuesday

1. Mazie, Jamie, and I went to the Katy Perry concert last night. My ears are still ringing.

2. The girls had so much fun. There were lights and costume changes and all their favorite songs. My favorite part was watching the girls.

3. I don’t think I embarrassed them too much. Although I got quite a few eye rolls and “nice” comments when I was jammin’ to the music in between the acts. I mean, who can sit still when DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince is playing?

4. This weekend last year, we had a dusting of snow. I’m hoping that the forecast for 70s will stay.

5. Jeremiah was picked to be on the Materiel Leader candidate list. If you are in or have been in the AF, you understand what that is. Since I am not, I can not explain it but I do know it’s a big deal. It was only a 30% chance to get on the list of 65 for 32 positions. We will know sometime in December if he gets a position.

6. Parent/Teacher conferences are next week. I’m love hearing good things about my kids.

7. Mazie has a college planning session with her counselor next week. Can you believe that one?

8. I start teaching the Junior Achievement classes to Jacob’s class tomorrow. I’m so excited. Jacob finally admitted tonight that he was too.

9. Mazie wanted to bake a bunch of Fall treats for the school’s farmers market last week. We were told 4 days before that we weren’t allowed to use our own kitchen unless it was commercial or the treats needed to be store-bought. So I asked the chaplain across the street if the chapel’s kitchen might be of use and it was not. So we went to The Sweet ToothFairy (who won on a Cupcake Wars episode) to see if we could get a discount on some goodies to sell. They totally pulled through for us and donated over 150 cake bites! Mazie was so happy. At the farmer’s market she sold some. But it wasn’t until we came home that she really made money. She walked up and down the street with Jamie helping her selling what she had. Thanks neighbors! You Rock!!

10. Since I had already purchased the supplies we would need for all those Fall treats, I have to use them up. So Mazie decided (thanks to a suggestion from Pop Pop) to have a bake sale this Friday. She and her neighbor friend, Lizzy, will be selling the baked goods and using the profits toward their total they were trying to raise for the cancer hospital with their lemonade stands this summer. They are at about $200 already. They will be selling pumpkin whoopie pies, caramel apple cupcakes, applesauce cupcakes with maple buttercream, chocolate chip and sugar cookies, and brownies. If you are around, check them out by the youth center and donate to charity! I’m so proud of these two girls for doing this over the summer.

Happy Tuesday!

Posted in Random

09 Sep 2014

1 Comment

Ten On Tuesday

1. On Friday when Jeremiah and I picked up the kids from school, Jacob got into the car and stated, “I can’t wait for Monday”. It doesn’t matter if his reason was because the school just announced that all Mondays are now free dress, it was music to my ears!

2. Tonight while going through our bedtime routine, Mazie asked if she could pick out her clothes after Jamie did instead of right away. Normally whoever is taking a shower gets right into the shower and the other picks out clothes for the next day and gets ready to take her shower. I asked why out of curiosity and Mazie said she didn’t want Jamie to see what she picked out and then copy her. I told her that one day very soon she will miss that her little sister wants to be like her.

3. We are thinking of letting Mazie go to a different school next year. It’s a charter school for high school but they allow the kids to work on their associates degree while finishing high school. It happens to be a STEM school also. She has to go to the school for a year before applying for the degree program. Opinions are welcome, of course.

4. I found a yummy yogurt that is dairy, sugar, and grain free. It’s by So Delicious and it is just that. If you have had their ice cream, then you should try their yogurt. Jacob asked me this weekend if he could taste my “Geek yogurt” after explaining that it is Greek yogurt and having a bit of a chuckle between us he tried it and loved it.

5. Pinterest has been good to me with some yummy recipes. I made some yummy homemade grain-free granola. And everyone picks at it, including my picky pants husband!

6. I had my routine check up at the dentist this week. I told Jacob that I was cavity free and that my hygienist said I had no tartar and take very good care of my teeth. He looked at me very seriously and said, “I’m so glad you are taking good care of your teeth.” I couldn’t help but laugh. That kid cracks me up.

7. Jamie had to apply for a job in her class. All the kids had to apply for a job. She chose to apply for Art Director. She filled out an actual application and had to get 2 letters of recommendation. She quickly asked Pop Pop to email something the night before he went on his big trip to Ireland (which he did, of course) and she asked the neighbor who is a second mom (between our houses either our kids are over there or their kids are over here). Interviews were last week and Jamie got the job. She was so proud of herself. Of course, we were too.

8. Jamie, Mazie, and I have our big girls night out coming soon. I’m so excited. More for the fact that it is still a surprise to the girls than the actual surprise. Plus we get to have some girl time that we just don’t do often enough. I have almost let it slip so many times but surprisingly have caught myself. I’m really not great at keeping good things secret! This is a new thing for me.

9. Jamie joined the choir. Her teacher happens to have organized it this year for the elementary students. So when she came home with the paper giving the information about it, she was all for it. One plus for the school that cut band and orchestra for this year.

10. I love that Jeremiah can come home for lunch almost every day. There are some days that fill up with meetings or whatever but for the most part he comes home, even if it is for a quick bite to eat. Having his office only 5 minutes away is nice.

Happy Tuesday!

Posted in Random

04 Sep 2014

End Of Summer/Back To School 2014

So the kids were in Pennsylvania for almost 2 weeks this summer without us parents. They were so excited about the whole trip. Mostly because Jacob came up with the whole trip being named “Camp No Rules”.

Here are some pictures from Pop Pop’s camera of things they did in PA…

Fun was had all over PA. They went to Gettysburg, Knoeble’s amusement park, Hershey’s chocolate factory, Penns Cave, Color Me Mine. They also had great fun with Stahr Mam and Pappy John but I haven’t gotten any pictures from that part. They had fun seeing all the family and just hanging without us interfering. Those pictures above are in no particular order. Those were just the few I picked from a cd that had way too many to post. I also have no pictures from their time with Gramma (what’s up with that, Mom?).

And this one is just ’cause I love my baby brother so, so much. The picture was begging to be posted…

While that doesn’t show their whole trip, just know they are still talking about being in Pennsylvania. They really enjoyed their trip!

Pinterest has been fun for us this summer. This is one of the activities I took pictures of. We did the ivory soap experiment. We put a bar of ivory soap (I’ve read this does not work with other bars of soap) on a plate and popped it in the microwave…

Then we started the microwave for 2 minutes. At 40 second down, the soap started to expand and continued for the rest of the time…

When the time was up, we let it cool to touch. The kids were surprised by the way it felt. It looked fluffy and light but kind of crumbled to the touch. It was smooth like soap should be and they could pack it back together but they couldn’t form anything other than solid shapes.

It was pretty could to see. Not really worth buying a pack of 8 bars to use one for this experiment but it’s soap. It will be used up. Plus the whole kitchen smelled of ivory soap for the rest of the day.

First day of school…Two weeks ago! I can’t believe school has been in session for 2 weeks already. The kids are loving this year so far. After registering Mazie for 8th grade about 3 weeks ago, she was so ready to start school. I can’t believe she is in her last year of middle school!

After reading her bio on the school’s website, Jamie was so excited to meet her 5th grade teacher this year. Plus she had just recently updated her eyeglasses so she was ready to show them off…

Jacob was a little hesitant about starting 2nd grade until back to school night a few days before school started. He met his teacher and quickly knew it was going to be a good year. The fact that she happened to be pretty had nothing to do with it. 😉

So looking at these pictures, I’m left wondering how my kids got so old. It’s a mystery to me, really!