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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

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!

Ok, that’s better. Now I can claim these kids! 🙂

Posted in Adventures, Family, Kids, Random and tagged fun, PA, school

08 Jun 2014

Big Round Up

Hi, my name is Megan. I’m an avid procrastinator of this blog. Sorry for the absence to anyone who actually reads this thing. I actually have a really good excuse for some of the procrastination. I’ve been waiting on the pictures from Jeremiah’s promotion ceremony to be downloaded from his office’s camera and they just keep lending out the camera before it gets done. So we will skip it and return with that when I get those pictures.

1. Anyway, Jamie’s actual birthday was fun. She was overwhelmed with all the gifts and love from our family around the country. She felt very blessed to have so many people think of her on her big day. So now (over a month later) she’s a whole decade old but nothing has changed otherwise. She’s still a sweet, sensitive, caring young lady who thinks of others *usually* before herself.

2. Pop Pop visited for a couple of weeks. He was here for all the big festivities…Jamie’s big 10, Jeremiah’s promotion, support while I was baking like a crazy woman for the whole thing, etc. Seriously he planned his trip perfectly and I was able to keep what sanity I have because he helped me so. As a treat, we took him to the Hogle Zoo, our first time there too.

We were a bit disappointed that the giraffes were unable to be viewed since the exhibit was being renovated but we will go back to see it once it’s open. We were happy to see the primates, however. I mean, really, the kids like seeing their own kind 😉

3. Mother’s Day weekend was super fun for us. We drove all the way to California! As soon as we left Utah, Arizona was amazing and the view was breathtaking. It took us about 10 hours to Anaheim and we were so happy to be out of the car!

After a good night’s sleep, we headed to the one place we’ve missed almost as much as our friend…Disneyland and California Adventure, of course.

After waiting in line to wait in line (Jeremiah waited in the fast pass line for the new Cars ride just so we could wait in the shorter line for the actual ride), we headed for a few rides in California Adventure (and I snapped pictures).

Radiator Springs was simply amazing. Like just out of the Cars movie, amazing. The Disney peeps really pulled it out for this renovation. It was something to see. And the ride we waited in line to wait in the shorter line was worth the wait. Even I rode the ride!

After a quick lunch and our fill of California Adventure, we headed over to Disneyland. This place holds so many memories for us. Like the first time Mazie met Cinderella and she walked Mazie across the park. Or the time Jamie told Winnie the Pooh that she was potty trained. We couldn’t possibly skip it while in California. So we picked a few of our favorite Disney things and crammed them into the afternoon and were pretty satisfied with our Disney experience by the end of the day. The girls insisted on Autopia for one of our must dos. Mazie was tall enough to ride by herself (not well but still by herself). On a side note, it’s a good thing we have 4 years until she is able to actually drive for real.

And Jamie was able to drive if I pressed the pedal. Fine with me because I could stop us, if needed…

Then I decided to just enjoy walking around with my family and taking in all the things at Disneyland. I did take a few pictures of the parade which is always a must when we are there…

After getting dinner in Downtown Disney, we headed back to the hotel and passed out. The next day, we played in the pool at the hotel and did homework that was due when we returned home, just relaxed. The kids were in a wedding this weekend so we went to the rehearsal. We found out then that Jacob was actually carrying the real wedding rings on his pillow. So I had to tell him we was really the most important person (besides the bride and groom, of course) and he had to be so so careful with his pillow. We were so worried about that part that we may have forgotten to tell the kids that they were going to have to stand for the whole ceremony. Luckily, the bride and groom kept the ceremony short and sweet (like ours 15 years ago!) that they didn’t seem to notice! But more on the wedding in a minute…

4. We got up early one morning to make the 45 minute trek to Redondo Beach to meet up with the Laughreys, the Pikes, and the Shertzers for breakfast. It was so great to see everyone and catch up (as much catching up as you can do in an hour). We are a good lookin’ bunch, donchathink? (This picture is minus Wally who was snapping the picture and Cory-I’m not sure where he happened to disappear to).

5. Now onto the wedding. So we drove back to Anaheim with just enough time to get ready (girls needed hair curled) and head to the church. Jacob was so handsome in his little suit and was so proud to be wearing it. He was honored when they asked if he would “be in charge of the rings”. He did such a great job.

my handsome men 🙂

and one with me and my little man

The girls were beautiful, of course, in their matching dresses and with pretty bouquets. They, too, were honored when Erin and Tony asked if they would be in the wedding. They walked behind Jacob down the aisle to the altar and Jacob escorted Jamie back down the aisle at the end of the ceremony.

These were taken after the ceremony while we were waiting on the bride and groom to make their getaway.

We made our way to the reception and the kids were so excited that they did so well. They were proud of themselves but not prouder than I was. I think every person at the ceremony came up to complement us on the kids. It was nice to hear.

The bridal party was introduced with a little bio. The kids were first and I was a little late catching all of Mazie’s bio. But Jamie’s bio and Jacob’s bio were in full. They were all well done and the kids loved it! Congratulations Tony and Erin! We wish you many, many years of wedding bliss!!

6. So we get up super early the next day to drive all the way back to Utah. It was depressing. We had such a beautiful scenic drive until we got to Utah. The Valley of Doom and Gloom. Seriously. It literally was snowing many inches of snow. On Mother’s Day. We had to slow to a crawl and sometimes a stop on the pass. There were many accidents and, of course, everyone had to pee and no rest stops in sight. When we were able to stop at a rest stop (in flip-flops in snow), we overheard a trucker tell someone on his phone that he wasn’t going to make his delivery because they closed the pass. Thank Goodness we left when we did and did not get stuck there. We were able to make it home (an extra 1 1/2 hours of driving). This was my mother’s day…

I’m one blessed Mama with these three in my life (and, of course, my wonderful husband who made it possible for me to be called Mom).

7. So being back in Utah with three weeks left of the school year, the weeks went fast. All of a sudden, the kids had field trips and field day and projects due and all the end of the year festivities. Mazie had one final band concert (at least at this school). I am so impressed with these kids. The band teacher is kind of flaky and they had to kind of pick it up on their own. They worked hard and it showed.

Mazie has officially started private lessons with a teacher close to the base. When she had a trial lesson last week, I was taken back by how much the instructor reminded me of my old elementary band teacher, Mr. Bowman. Anyone remember him? He was crazy and awesome and everything a band teacher should be. He set the standard for what we were to expect from our instructors. Our high school band teacher fit the bill as well. We were blessed to have great instructors and I can’t wait to hear her improvement over the next few weeks. Mazie is super excited about this instructor as they have similar personalities. Being excited about music warms my heart!

8. So the end of the year just showed up whether we were ready for it or not. The last day of school pictures…

So with that we now have a 2nd, 5th, and 8th grader in the house. *sigh* You can see the first day of school here.

That’s that for now. Hopefully, sometime soon, I can get the pictures from Jeremiah’s promotion and put them up here for all to see. And maybe I can see if there were any photos taken of us at the dining out last week. Who knows? Maybe I will actually start blogging regularly. It’s possible, not likely, but possible. 😉

Posted in Adventures, birthdays, Family, Friends, Kids, Random and tagged Band, California, Disneyland, end of school, family, friends, Jamie's birthday, Mother's Day, Wedding

29 Apr 2014

Ten on Tuesday

1. Easter was pretty laid back here. Pretty uneventful which is just the way we like it. The kids searched for eggs…in their jammies…

2. That’s just how we egg-rolled this year. (sorry, I couldn’t resist)

3. Pop Pop arrived and it’s been non-stop since. If you are friends with me on facebook or follow me on twitter, you know there was a lot going on this weekend.

4. Jamie’s birthday party was this weekend. We celebrated her 10th (*sigh*) birthday at Color Me Mine in Ogden. We had a grand time. The one serious picture I took and Jamie’s eyes were closed…

so we took a silly one too…

5. The kids colored their pieces and then they were sent to the back to get glazed and baked. Then they enjoyed birthday cake with Olaf on top…

6. I’m still at a loss because tonight, on her birthday eve, I have no idea how this…

and this…

IMG_0019_edited-2

turn into this…

7. Jamie and Jeremiah went on their annual date too. They went to see Rio 2 (which Jamie highly recommends) and to eat at Olive Garden. She told us when she arrived home that there was no way she was going to fit into her wedding dress next week if she didn’t stop eating!

8. Today was a fun day for our family. The kids stayed home from school so they wouldn’t be late for Jeremiah’s promotion ceremony. Since his promotion to Lt. Col is official May 1, he just couldn’t take away from Jamie’s birthday tomorrow so he decided to take off tomorrow and do the ceremony today. The kids loved putting on his new rank and were so proud of dad. Pictures to come since I didn’t pick up my camera during the ceremony. Hopefully the photographer there got some good ones.

9. So tomorrow we have 2 tweens in the house and a newly promoted Lt. Col. Big changes going on around here.

10. That is all for now. I have to update the Stahrs Cakes blog and hope to do it soon. Stay tuned!

Happy Tuesday!

Posted in Adventures, Family, Holidays, Kids, Random and tagged Birthday, Easter, Jamie, promotion

02 Apr 2014

1 Comment

Spring Break 2014

Our Spring Break came and went what with 5 whole days off of school. It sure is a difference from the whole 2 weeks we had in Colorado. We just kind of hung around and relaxed for a change. And the kids were ready to go back to school today!

1. Quarter Update: As you may remember, last week Jacob swallowed a quarter. Still not sure how but it’s in there. Friday he had his 7 year check up and we did a few more x-rays to see what was going on with this quarter. Turns out that it hadn’t moved at all from his Wednesday x-rays. This started a little bit of worry in the doctor. She called a GI specialist who ordered a few more x-rays. After a total of 6 x-rays (since Wednesday) we find out that the quarter is in fact in his stomach and can stay there for up to 4 weeks! We were asked to just monitor his poop for signs of a quarter and otherwise come back on Monday for another x-ray to see what’s going on. Monday’s x-rays (2 more) showed the quarter is on the move, still in the stomach but on the move, nonetheless. We check it again next week.

2. Jacob’s new theme song is Radioactive by Imagine Dragons. I may have joked with him about heating some food up for me for supper. All he would have to do is hold it and count to 60! He didn’t find humor in that.

3. I took the kids to school on Jacob’s birthday and when we arrived, it was just the right time to snap Jacob’s official birth picture…

4. This is his first year that school was in session over his birthday. So he was pretty excited to share some mini chocolate cupcakes with his friends at school.

5. When he got home, Jamie and I made Jacob homemade fettuccine noodle while dad worked on the alfredo sauce, shrimp, and meatballs (yes that is what he ordered). Then the neighbor kids came over to wish him a happy birthday while he blew out his seven candles…

My little jokester. He asked for all kinds of dress up things for boys. He couldn’t wait to try them out!

6. We celebrated Jacob’s birthday at Sky Trampoline Arena. The only thing he wanted for his party was to have as many boys as possible at the party. We do not have many boys in the neighborhood and with Spring Break (good job scheduling things, mom!) we didn’t have many to choose from. He was ok with the girls showing up since there were actually more boys anyway.

We were missing a boy in this picture. Not sure how that happened. But there were 6 boys and only 4 girls, officially!

He wanted a Lego cake for his party. He wanted a green piece that was chocolate cake and two white cakes that were blue and yellow. I don’t think I did too bad of a job! All the kids asked for seconds. So that’s good, right?

7. March happened to be Mustache March around here. Jeremiah’s offices never made such a big deal out of it before so he thought he would join in the fun this year. 31 long days of facial hair. Don’t get me wrong, I like seeing men with facial hair. Beards fascinate me. I always want to touch them when I see them. Not that I would go up to a complete stranger to do so but still. So facial hair is not a bad thing…unless you want to kiss it. I personally do not like facial hair tickling my nose when I want to give my husband a kiss. So on Monday, I took this of Jeremiah in all his facial (and head) hair and then ordered him to remove it so I could kiss his handsome face…and he obliged…

8. We had kind of weird weather for Spring Break here. It would rain on minute and snow the next. I’m kind of over the white stuff and we haven’t had much here. I can’t even imagine what it’s like for our eastern friends.

9. We received a package in the mail on Monday holding A Flat Stanley and his passport book. We are so excited to take him into the city and then send him off on his next adventure. He’s had quite a few up to now.

10. Speaking of passports, Jeremiah and I have an appointment on Friday to get our passport photos and applications sent in so we can go to Jamaica in July. I’m kind of really excited. 😉

Posted in birthdays, Family, Holidays, Random

21 Jan 2014

Ten On Tuesday

1. Jeremiah’s birthday was fun. We took him out to eat at his favorite restaurant, Olive Garden. Then we came home and almost burned down the house with all the candles…

2. I wasn’t sure if he was going to blow out all 37 candles but he sure did…without taking an extra breath and without needing oxygen!

3. I am very well aware that I am 5 weeks older than he is but if I don’t pick on him, who will? I love you, Jeremiah!

4. Mazie’s was a bit more eventful. Aren’t all the kids’ birthdays? She decided to open her gifts in the afternoon…

5. She insisted on her very favorite strawberry cake and ordered up a big one too. She wanted it to be for all her friends here on base. She invited them over and she made all the arrangements and I let her. It was the least I could do since I didn’t want to face the fact that she was turning 12 ;-)!

6. So when the neighbors arrived, we all sang Happy Birthday (Jacob was a little lively with his version) and she blew out all 12 candles in one big breath.

Then we cut the big cake (you can read the details here) and enjoyed some homemade vanilla bean ice cream with it.

7. She requested homemade spaghetti noodles with meatballs for her birthday feast. We were finishing up when the clock struck 5.39pm…

8. Not sure how she is 12 already when I haven’t aged a day since I had her at age 25…

9. Her annual birthday date with dad was this past weekend. They went to see a movie (The Nut Job) and out to eat at Olive Garden.

10. That’s all I have for today. Happy Tuesday!

Posted in birthdays, Family, Kids and tagged Jeremiah, Mazie

10 Dec 2013

2 Comments

Ten on Tuesday

1. After Thanksgiving, time didn’t slow for the Stahrs. We spent the weekend gearing up for our Pop Pop Christmas. It’s an actual holiday around here. It’s not on a set day like Christmas but is dependent on when Pop Pop is available to be here and celebrate with us. So we decorate the house and got our tree (on November 30 which has never happened in our house before since I’m usually a stickler for not doing anything Christmasy until December)

but it was done and it was fabulous. After all a skirt is a skirt, right?

2. The kids were pretty excited about Pop Pop Christmas this year. I mean, who wouldn’t be?

They tore into their gifts and it was way too much but they loved it. They are thoroughly enjoying all their new things and it’s been just grand.

3. We also celebrated Pop Pop’s big birthday. So with my new toys from Pop Pop, I made homemade spaghetti noodles (for the first time) with homemade sauce. Then we had lemon drop cake with vanilla bean icing.

4. Do you remember the last post about all those Thanksgiving treats for our little dessert party? Yeah, I’m not gonna lie about purposely ignoring the scale the last week…

5. So my birthday happens to be the day after my dad’s. Jeremiah took the day off and worked very hard on my angel food cake. He opted to go with the boxed version to make sure it would turn out this year. He hasn’t been very successful with this cake the last few years. In his defense it is a difficult cake to make and he has the altitude against him. The cake turned out great and was very tasty with our chocolate fondue!

And although I can’t believe my actual number, 37 feels way better than I was expecting. The kids are keeping me young and old at the same time! 😉

6. On Pinterest, I found these Elf Warnings. I downloaded and printed one for fun, thinking I would not really use it or maybe use it as a joke for the kids. Jacob decided to see what would happen if he bit Max. She did absolutely nothing but I felt he needed a lesson. So Twinkle the Elf left a warning for him stating he saw the whole thing and that Jacob was not on warning to possibly not get any gifts from Santa. Would you believe it actually made the boy cry? He pinned the warning on his chore chart as a reminder to be nice to the dogs. I can’t say that I’m sorry it worked.

7. Today I made homemade fettuccine noodles with my pasta attachments. They turned out so much better than the spaghetti did. The kids even said it was better than the boxed noodles. It was Jamie’s turn to help with supper and she had a blast helping me with them. I love cooking with my kids.

8. So 37 doesn’t make you more graceful. You can still slip on the wet hard floor of your kitchen when you are rushing around trying to get errands done before picking kids up from school. Turns out the desserts from the last few weeks actually didn’t add enough padding on my lovely saddlebags to not hurt when I hit the floor. Ouch!

9. I have mailed all of our Christmas packages out today! I wish I could get the cards out too. I’m only half way on those. I still have to get things for Christmas here too. Somehow Christmas kind of snuck up on me this year. Does anyone else feel that way?

10. I haven’t made any cookies yet. I have made and packaged 3 batches of peppermint bark but I have made nothing for the kids yet. I think I’m going to dial it down this year and only make a few things. What are your favorites at this time of the year? My favorite are sugar cookies, hands down. They don’t even need to be decorated!

Happy Tuesday!

Posted in birthdays, Family, Holidays, Random

16 Oct 2013

2 Comments

Pumpkin Patch

We took the kids to a local pumpkin patch a few weekends ago. We went to Black Island Farms and we had a blast.

There were so many things to see and do. There was a little petting zoo with all kinds of farm animals. There were little pot belly pig races. The kids thought those were cute. There were all kinds of slides and things for the kids to climb all over and huge corn mazes…

Jacob really wanted to take this pumpkin home with us. We convinced him to get on the tractor with us to go to the field so he could pick out an even better one…

He agreed and I even got a smooch out of it!

The kids got really excited when our driver told us we were the first to have our pick of this field. They couldn’t wait to find their perfect pumpkins!

Jeremiah may have been excited about it too.

When the kids picked their perfect pumpkins, they loaded the tractor and we headed back to the parking lot, content with our pickings…

And I was pretty happy with the view…

Posted in Adventures, Family, Kids and tagged pumpkin patch

21 Aug 2013

Summer Round Up

So I figured with school starting next week, I should probably update the blog. Honestly, we’ve just been enjoying the summer and each other. That’s my only excuse for not blogging. It’s just one thing that didn’t happen because I was having fun with the family.

Anyway, the kids had swim lessons and we discovered a really cool park and duck pond that was near the pool. We’ve already played there many times and have had a family picnic there. And we are doing it again this weekend!

See the babies? They would completely dunk themselves under the water and pop up in some other spot. I had never seen a duck or duckling do that before. The kids thought it was pretty hilarious.

So the kids can officially swim and we celebrated by going to a local water park for an afternoon. Yes, that’s right, I walked around a water park (for the second time this summer) in a bathing suit all day long. There was a water slide that I was coerced into doing. I did it once and not again. There were a few pools and the lazy river to float. The kids thoroughly enjoyed themselves for the day. Jeremiah and I couldn’t stop laughing at how they played in the water.

This is what the furry kids have been doing this summer. Trying to stay cool with all this heat and humidity…

I really have no idea why Max looks like she has been put in the corner but that’s kind of her spot. And Sadie is just a weird dog. I think the walls must be cool to her. They love the neighbor dogs and usually end up winning the barking matches they have outside. At least it’s during the day and not early in the morning or late at night when they have to “talk” loudly with each other!

I started chore charts after we moved here. Each kid has their own chart and is assigned various chores per day. One is helping with supper. Jacob was helping me make Susie’s Tacos one night and decided that he better put his apron on because they are “so messy”.

Good thing too, since he’s a messy cook like his mama…

And we apparently needed a little Mexican music to go with all the cooking…

Here is a picture of Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake from our back yard. It looks better in person, if anyone wants to visit…

The kids have been enjoying games of Ladderball with dad. It’s kind of funny to watch the kids “adjust” their tossing distances…

We’ve also been spending a lot of time just playing with the neighbor kids. I had 12 kids on my porch one afternoon playing with Legos and Barbies. They ranged in age from 2 years to 12 years and only 3 were boys! The kids had fun and I just enjoyed listening to their little conversations. A lot of nights, we get a nice breeze after supper and it is nice to sit on the porch and watch the kids ride their bikes or scooters. Jeremiah and I get to catch up with each other on our days and the kids wear themselves out by playing. It’s a win/win situation!

And, if you follow me on Facebook, you will know that we are officially training wheel free here in the Stahr house. Jacob took Mazie’s old Strawberry shortcake bike for a couple of spins last week…

He just kind of hopped on (with a little help from dad) and just went. He realized after a few trips around our little side of the block that he was riding a girly bike and got off. Dad surprised him by taking off the training wheels that were on his boy bike the next night and he’s been going ever since…

So while my Mommy heart breaks that my kids are growing way too fast, I’m so proud of my boy who decided he just didn’t need the extra help anymore. The training wheels were really the last “little kid” thing we had around here. *sigh*

I have to say that I am so very excited for this school year. We went to a registration night at the new school last week. Mazie got her schedule and locker number and combination. She’s happy that she knows 2 people in her first period class already. And that she gets to make pajama bottoms in home ec (or whatever they are calling that class these days). Jamie has a brand new teacher and will meet her on Friday! And if you know Jamie, you know she’s happy about meeting her teacher before Monday. Jacob hasn’t met his teacher yet but is super excited about first grade. He just thinks it’s going to be a magical year! I hope he’s right. I’m just happy that they are all in the same building and they all start and end their day together. They have a little meeting spot (decided mutually by the three of them) where they will meet and come to the car after school. I’m also really excited about the smaller class sizes. I think it will be better all the way around. But more on school next week!

Posted in Family, Kids, Random and tagged summer

20 May 2013

The Wedding

On May 11, my nephew, Joey married his lovely girlfriend, Jenny. They asked me to make their wedding cake. So we went to Pennsylvania for a quick (and very busy) weekend trip. The church was decorated…

and the sound man was doing his thing…

My littles dressed in their wedding best…

and us grownups too…(thanks Josh for snapping one of us)

The wedding began and this is what happened to my nephew when he saw his bride turn the corner to walk down the aisle…

My very favorite part of the whole ceremony was when they were reciting their vows. They were holding hands and swaying while they were saying them. It was pretty cute. And there was the kiss too..