Jamie got a kindle for Christmas. And she loves it.
After getting an account all set up, she wanted to try it out. So we downloaded a free book, Fairytales Every Child Should Know. 
She is currently reading Magic Mirror which is the story Snow White is based on. I love that she loves reading. I also wish I had those lashes and creamy skin…
But more importantly I do love that she loves reading. And I love her!
It’s been a while since I posted a Mazie Monday. Seems right to do one about her big tenth birthday party!
So let’s begin, well, at the beginning. Her banner was hung…
and the cake was finished (more on the cake on the business site)
Jacob and I surprised Mazie at school by showing up for lunch. There were birthday calls and texts and lots of birthday presents sent from all over. After school, we ordered pizza and waited for friends to arrive for our first slumber party! We had time to get a photo of the birthday girl on her birth minute…
When all the girls arrived, we popped in Megamind and had pizza and chatted (mostly chatted!)…
There was a lot of chatting the whole night. Loud chatting! Who knew, ten 10-12-year old girls could sound like 100? I have to take a second here to say that Jacob was in heaven. He was the only single boy here and loved the attention from all the girls telling him how cute he was. The girls were awesome about including him and Jamie in the fun. I can’t be sure who was more excited about having a sleepover, Jacob or Mazie!
After pizza and a little time to play, we decided to do the cake and presents. Everyone sang…
and watched patiently as Mazie opened her gifts. Pop Pop even skyped from Pennsylvania to watch Mazie!
After a lot more playing and another movie, it was time for bed. I’m pretty sure it was close to 2am when the girls finally were quiet. It was a pretty long night! But they were awake early nonetheless and went right into playing again. After the requested doughnuts for breakfast, the girls and Jacob had fun decorating their own cupcakes. I think they did a pretty good job…
All the girls had left by noon and Jeremiah and I raced to bed to recuperate. Just kidding, our kids were still here! 😉 It was a good thing Jeremiah took off on Friday because he didn’t get much sleep either since he and Jacob had a little boys night in Jacob’s room. Overall, the girls were well-behaved and enjoyed themselves. However, I’m glad the next sleepover isn’t for another two years!
On Saturday, Jeremiah and Mazie went on their annual date.
Mazie’s choice of restaurants was Zio’s and she had such a good time. She wanted to dress up and asked if I would curl her hair. I obliged without overly jumping up and down like a crazy woman! It took about 30 minutes to do her hair and when we were done she was happy and even let me do a little 10-year-old photo shoot.
We survived the first 10 years. It’s still hard to believe she’s ten. As much as I’m dreading her getting even older, I can’t wait to see what the next few years bring. I’m sure it’s going to be crazy and wonderful, just like the first 10!
Sometimes you take a picture and it triggers your memory of another photo that you or someone else may have taken in the past. That’s what happened when I took this photo of Mazie yesterday with my iPhone using the instagram app.
I just wanted a photo of myself with my big ten year-old girl. Instead, what I got was a wonderful comparison of one of my favorite photos. I took this photo of Mazie with a film camera (I know, do you even remember those?) when she a little one year-old just before we moved from Ohio.
I loved this photo the minute I looked at it after getting it back from Wal-Mart’s photo center! The fact that I had no idea Mazie had her little tongue sticking out, the cutie-patootie little face, her expression, just to name a few. It’s been my favorite photo of the two of us for 9 years.
The only thing that would have made the newer photo any better is if Mazie would have stuck her tongue out. But I have to say that this new one is my new favorite of the two of us. I love it because she was willing to take a picture with me, her beautiful face, her big smile (even though she has braces and isn’t too fond of showing them off), just to name a few.
As I struggle with her being 10 years old, I do look forward to all the birthdays and memories we have yet to share. Happy Birthday, Mazie Moo. Thank you for taking pictures with me.
More on her party will come soon!
1. Jacob got Dino Dig for Christmas. It’s basically a block of plaster that holds a dino skeleton that he has to excavate. He loves it!
2. While Pop Pop was here in December, Jeremiah and I were able to get away for 4 days! We went to Las Vegas and had a blast.
This is the longest I’ve been away from any of the kids besides Mazie when we went to Hawaii and she was 18 months old. The kids had a blast with Pop Pop all to themselves too!
3. Today was Crazy Hair Day for Jacob.
He’s not a fan of wearing his hair in spikes but was excited to do something with his hair when he found out other kids in his class were doing it too. He’s one cool little man, I tell you.
4. I’m working on Mazie’s stargazer lilies that she wants on her birthday cake.
It takes a little time for all those petals and leaves to dry so I can put them all together. All of that will be put together to make four lilies. I already had one done so she will have 5 on her cake.
5. Jacob is a little excited about having 10 girls (not including myself) in the house Thursday night. He keeps saying things like, “I hope they don’t love me too much” or “I can’t wait until the girly night”. I don’t have the heart to tell him that he will be sleeping with Dad upstairs while I stay with the girls on the main level.
6. Can you believe Mazie will be 10 on Thursday? I can’t. It kind of suffocates me when I think of it. I can’t seem to get over that.
7. She ordered cheese burgers for her birthday dinner on Friday and will be going out with Dad on Saturday.
8. Jamie has been so excited about school lately. This is to say, she comes home from school and actually tells me about her day. It’s nice.
9. Our mailman jammed three boxes in the package bin of our mailbox yesterday. They were our packages. By jammed, I mean that I actually had to practically damage one to get them out. I almost chased him down to make him open the whole thing to get them out. I don’t know why he does that.
10. I got a Kindle Fire for Christmas. I love it! I’ve read 5 books on it so far. I just finished the Hunger Games trilogy and highly recommend it if you haven’t read it already. Anyone got any suggestions on good reads?
Happy Tuesday!
1. We had a lovely white Christmas here. Just enough snow to play in and warm enough to do so. The kids loved it!
2. Christmas Eve. The kids were so excited about getting to bed but only after setting out goodies for Santa and making the reindeer food and running the train around the tree a few times…
3. Santa and his deer made quite a mess with their goodies! But they did leave a note and some nice gifts under the tree…
4. I was a little surprised that none of the kids got up much before 8am! But they quickly checked out their stash. Even Max took a look…
5. The kids read their note from Santa…
6. Then went onto their gifts…
7. After a break for food, we quickly were ordered to put it all together and make sure everything worked! That pretty much took the rest of the day. That and cooking our traditional brisket dinner. It really was a lovely Christmas!
8. Jeremiah cleaned out our storage room in the basement. He decided to get out some of his old toys. The kids had fun putting the legos together. Jacob was in heaven with Jeremiah’s old matchbox cars…
9. Mazie has been counting down to her birthday for almost a month. Today, instead of saying good morning, she informed me that there are only “9 more days until the big 10”! I’m really not sure if she is excited about turning 10 or that her party happens to be a sleepover this year. I have to say that today (9 days out) I am dreading both…
10. Jacob told me this morning that he can’t wait until Mazie’s birthday because it makes us closer to his birthday. “And since I’m going to be 5 we can to go out on a date” were his words. Again, not really ready for that one.
Happy Tuesday!
To put a little Christmas cheer out there for you, I’ve decided to blog about the kids’ Christmas programs. First up Jacob’s preschool program.
His class was made up of angels and shepherds and Jacob was a shepherd. Doesn’t he look like Linus from the Peanuts Gang?
Jacob’s program lasted about 15 minutes but it was so wonderful. The kids told the story of baby Jesus being born, sang some Christmas songs, and “Happy Birthday” to Jesus. Jacob was so excited to be a shepherd. He was told to keep it a secret and, anyone out there who knows Jacob, knows that that was very difficult for him. But he did it and the program was fantastic. I love kids singing!
Next up, the girls’ choir program…Since Pop Pop was here to join us for this program, we had to do the obligatory photos beforehand…I mean, he is their #1 fan (after mom and dad, of course)…
First we started with Ursa Minor. I love how the music teacher used both science and music for the names of the choirs. It just fit the school and the kids. The second and third grade choir members were Ursa Minor (Jamie’s on the far right of the picture, in the front)…
Jamie even had a speaking part. Can you believe it? Neither could I when she told us that she had a special part a day or two before the program. Yep, that’s right, she didn’t want us to make a big deal about the fact that she would be speaking in front of all these people and end up getting her nervous, so she didn’t even tell us! I have to say that I was so excited about it though. She told the punch line to a joke. What did the one snowman say to the other? Do you smell carrots?
The choir also signed a song while singing. It was pretty impressive!
Then they took a brief intermission so Ursa Minor could exit the stage and Ursa Major (fourth and fifth grade students) get ready. There was some pretty sharp moves…
and kazoos…
Mazie was in a smaller group that sang a song that was just simply lovely…
When Ursa Major was finished with all their songs, Ursa Minor joined them on stage to sing a couple more songs together. One song was It’s Snow Fun/It’s No Fun. The Major sang about hating snow (gasp, I know) and the Minor sang about how fun the snow is. It kind of reminded me of Frosty Returns when the adults are complaining about shoveling and the kids and excited about the snow.
The girls had a great time and the choir sounded awesome. But don’t just take my word for it. You can see Jacob was completely enthralled with the singing…
Again, I love kids singing. It’s just about the best sound, in my opinion. It’s right up there with the sound of kids laughing!
Jacob had a Thanksgiving program at school today. He was so excited about the whole thing. His teachers told the class to not tell the parents anything about the program so it would be a surprise. He followed their instructions and wouldn’t tell us anything!
He was an indian…
Jacob was so proud to be on stage. His class was first to perform and they did so with another class. They sang two songs that were completely out of tune. It was great. I love preschool singing!
After the other classes performed, all of the kids stood to give the blessing for their feast. They all sang the Johnny Appleseed prayer.
Then it was time for the feast. Jacob was excited about this part the most. His class made the applesauce and cornbread muffins (shaped into leaves) for the feast. Those were the things he ate too. But they had a cute little set up for the students…
He does make a handsome indian, doesn’t he?
Jacob was most happy that Dad was able to make it.
I have to say it was one of the best programs I’ve been to in a long time. The rest of the day Jacob sang his songs over again. He was happy he didn’t have to keep it quiet anymore!
Today was our first snow day of this school year. After a measly 3 inches of snow (we had 5 inches last week and no cancellation or delay), the district cancelled school. Jacob’s school follows a different district which was on a 2-hour delay but that meant Jacob’s school was cancelled since he only goes for 2 1/2 hours. So the kids were home today!
After it warmed a bit (the high was only 28), we got our snow gear on and ventured outside to play. Jacob went straight to the snow angels…
but otherwise just rolled around in the snow…
Jamie did some snow angels and played with Mazie…
Mazie went for the swings…
Even Max got into the fun. This photo was taken last week with the five inches of snow we received. She was in heaven…like it was the best thing ever to run in snow…
I couldn’t catch her with the camera today. She was too busy running around the yard!
For those of you with kids, you know how long it takes to get them suited up to go outside. Jacob went out for a whole 10 minutes before he decided he was too cold and needed to come in. I didn’t even get his boots off before he asked for hot chocolate. I’m pretty sure that’s the only reason he went outside!
So I’m two weeks behind with this. It’s Jacob’s first day of school. And while it happened two weeks ago, posting pictures on here made it more real than I was ready for. You see, this happens to be our LAST first day of preschool. And it’s a little hard for me to swallow that truth. But, nonetheless, it happened and it needs it due attention. So without further procrastination…I present Jacob’s first day of preschool 2011.
He was so excited. He couldn’t wait to get started. He had to wait a whole month after the girls started and was quite jealous!
Since we were a bit early, we sat on the bench until the teachers were ready for us. He was telling Dad that he was excited and since he wouldn’t look at the camera with me I gave him kisses…
That’s what you get when you don’t cooperate with mom. 😉 Each child was given a color and shape. Jacob’s was a blue square. He is supposed to find the blue square no matter what room he goes to. That’s his special spot. He found his hook with his blue square and hung up his bag and jacket…
and went right into the room. He was so excited to see play dough ready for them to use…
and with one last smile…
Dad and I were told to leave so he could get on with his learning. So there you have it…our Last First Day of preschool. *sigh*
After Jeremiah’s change of command ceremony, it kind of became a little crazy around here. Jacob’s last day of his gym class at The Little Gym was the following day. Jacob loves Show Day because he gets to show off all his new gymnastics he’s been working on. Miss Alexis introduced each of the kids so they could each make a grand entrance!
Then it was onto the activities. First the group huddle…
then the bar routine. Jacob started out the semester not wanting to be on the uneven bars at all. Now he willingly goes to the bars and goes all the way up. As you can see, he’s quite pleased with himself…
Then it was onto the high beam.
This forward roll on the beam was not a favorite of Jacob’s either. Then he did it only a few times and he wasn’t so scared!
Jacob went onto the tumbling routine. He went through everything Miss Alexis told him to do. Backward rolls, star jumps, back hand springs…
This was the most important part. The medals. The kids all enjoy receiving their medals. Jacob especially…
Then the kids all sat together for a quick group picture…
The theme for this show day was red, white, and blue. So the instructors were playing patriotic songs throughout the class. When the kids were getting together for the group picture “Hail to the Chief” was playing. Jacob marched around and acted like The President himself! It was pretty funny.
Next we move onto what a lovely weekend we had for Memorial Day. It was sunny and warm and perfect. We decided to take Stahr Mam, who was visiting, to a Sky Sox game. 
Really, the kids only like to watch Sox the Fox but Mazie was getting excited when the team finally started racking up points in the 5th inning when they scored 13 runs (4 of them being because of a grand slam)!
The kids had a fun time with Stahr Mam. They took her to some of our parks and played games…
We even roasted our first s’mores of the season! We started the fire pit, toasted some marshmallows, and put the s’mores together. 
This was a first for the kids…
Yes, Jamie’s is without marshmallow.
I love this guy…
Jacob liked the s’mores but really liked toasting the marshmallows! It was a lovely weekend.
stahrscakes.com
A Group Of Stahrs 