A Group Of Stahrs

Friday Five

1.  Jacob got me sick.  Again.  I was better for about a week from my cold from my favorite Minnesota boy and then Jacob sneezed and coughed on me several times.  Now I have laryngitis.  The kids are loving that!

2.  November is the month to be thankful.  So since today is November 4, here are my first four days of being thankful reasons…1). I am thankful for my husband. He’s good to me, is a wonderful dad, and I love him.period. 2). I am thankful for my wonderful kids, they drive me crazy sometimes but I am so happy that I was able to have them for them to do so and they really like to do that to me.  I love them.period. 3).  I am thankful for the life that we all have together.  I love where we are in our life right now.  I loved it last week, month, years, etc and I know I will love it in the future too.  4).  I am thankful for the Air Force.  I know it sounds corny but without Jeremiah being an officer, we would have never been to the places we have been or met the people who are still very much apart of our lives.

3.  Yesterday Jacob and I were at the doctor’s office (urgent care) and 1 1/2 hours after we got there the doctor walks in and introduces himself.  Jacob looked at him and said, “You’re late”!  He doesn’t like to wait.  What 4-year-old does?

4.  Today the painter finally showed up to assess the house and go over what needs to be done and such.  He asked if we had samples of paint.  I’m sorry but isn’t that his job to bring samples of paint for us to choose from?  I took the kids to get paint chips from Lowe’s in colors we would like.  I hope this isn’t as bad as the roof getting done.

5.  Tomorrow is the big Air Force/Army game.  We will be cheering the Falcons on from our house (see #1).  GO FALCON!

Happy Friday.

Ten On Tuesday

1.  I have no idea why but all day today I thought it was Wednesday.  I’m not trying to speed up my week but it threw me off all day.

2.  I can not believe it is November already.  I am way behind on my Christmas shopping but so excited for the holidays!

3.  Last week was red ribbon week at school.  The kids have a theme for each day to emphasize the importance of saying “no” to drugs.  One of the days was crazy hair day…

4.  Jamie looks like Cindy Lou Who from Whoville, yes?

5.  The girls were non-stop talking about their parties at school.  They had a blast dressing up with their friends. 

6.  We also had fun at the Trunk-or-Treat last night.  The kids enjoyed the decorated cars and the bouncy houses and the 10 lbs of candy they scored!

7.  Mazie got her first set of braces last week.  Just five on the top front teeth to kind of pull them back together.  It hasn’t been as big of a deal as I thought it might.

8.  It’s supposed to snow again tomorrow.  We had 5 inches here last Wednesday from that nice little storm.  It was 60 here today and the high is supposed to be 27! Yikes!

9.  The Air Force vs. Army game is on Saturday.  We were going to take the kids but it’s supposed to snow then too.  I think we will watch from our warm comfy couch instead.  GO FALCONS!

10.  When I picked Jacob up from school today, he kissed my hand and said, “I missed you today, Mommy.” I said, “You did?” He said, “Yes but not enough to cry about it.  I am a big boy, you know.”  Like I was getting too sucked in by his cutie-patootie-self and he noticed and decided to shut it down before I gave him a kiss or something.  Jeez, Mom! 

Happy Tuesday!

It’s October

What happened to the end of September?  I mean, it seems like it just flew by.  Well, today I’m catching up on the last few things of September that I wanted to post but just didn’t have time to do!

First up, Thomas.  We took the kids to Golden, CO a few weeks ago to enjoy A Day Out With Thomas.  It’s so fun to see all the model trains and, of course, Thomas.  Here’s a little collage of our trip…Next, Jamie finished Landsharks this week.  Her last cross-country race was successful.  She finished 57 seconds faster than her previous race!  That’s a 13:52 for 1 1/4 miles!  She was so proud to get her medal…Then we had a celebratory party.  The kids played some games, parents joined in, we had snacks (I made cupcakes), and the runners received certificates…Jeremiah and I decided to get a treadmill.  After putting it together, Jacob wanted to test it out.  Jeremiah stood (and held on to him) behind him while trying out “level 6” on the speed.  I think his face says it all…I took a belt test in taekwondo this morning.  I am now the new owner of a fancy new bo dan one belt.  It is the same as Jamie.  It was a good test!

I will leave you with these images of Fall at our house.  These were taken yesterday and we still have more than half the tree full of leaves!

Friday Five

1.  Jamie’s meet on Monday was a success!  She shaved 16 whole seconds off her first meets time.  She was so proud…

2.  I have a date with my husband tomorrow night! YAY

3.  Jacob’s picture day is on Monday.  He’s a little less than excited about wearing a button shirt.

4.  Mazie is getting a “contraption” in her mouth to expand her jaw.  She’s had spacers in for two weeks and  she gets her “contraption” next week.  I will have to turn a key every day to widen her mouth to make room for her big teeth.  We are so looking forward to it…sarcasm totally intended.

5.  I am going to Denver at the beginning of October for a seminar for Wilton.  I will be learning the Advanced Gum Paste flowers and how to teach it to my students.  I can’t wait.  It’s going to be exciting!

Happy Friday

Ten On Tuesday

1.  Jamie ran her little heart out at her first cross-country race yesterday.  First the team warmed up with some high knees…Then she had to make two laps around the field.  Here she is coming in strong for her finish…

2.  Her official time was 15 minutes and 5 seconds!  She wasn’t first but she wasn’t last which was her goal.  She received her ribbon just in time to make it to the port-a-potty to pee.3.  Don’t forget to donate to the WooSong Foundation for our board break-a-thon.  The event is on Saturday.  So donate today!

4.  Labor Day weekend was so wonderful here.  I love 4 day weekends.  And while I still need to post pictures from the balloon classic, I thought I would post some from the rest of our weekend.  All the kids together…

and the girls…

5.  I love this dog…

6.  There was some jumping off the playset…

And some s’mores…

7.  Mazie was talking about something and said “it was jacked up”.  After Jeremiah and I actually laughed at her.  She said it in the correct way but it coming out of her mouth was funny.  When I asked where she heard that she replied that her STEM teacher said it.  Nice.

8.  Speaking of funny things the kids are saying, Jacob has been saying things are “freaky” lately.  Like he makes a noise because it’s freaky and he likes that.  I’m not sure where that one came from but I have a feeling “the sisters” are involved.

9.  Jamie has been saying “sweet” a lot, as in “cool”, which apparently isn’t the right thing to say.  She said it looked “sweet” when I put a bun in her hair the other day.

10.  Jeremiah ran for an hour with some of his cadets our of Squadron Six for the POW remembrance walk/run.  It’s pretty neat that the bases do something like that.  They keep a POW flag in motion for 24 hours.  That’s sweet and jacked up all together, I think! 😉

This and That

These are some things I want to share since I was without blogging tools for some time.  Mostly from the last part of our summer.

Since Jeremiah was super busy with basic training, read we never really knew when or if he would be home on any specific day, we tried to make a camping trip for when he knew he would be home.  Since we couldn’t actually go anywhere, we decided on the yard.  Good place for a campout, right?  Even Max was confused by the whole thing…

But the kids and Dad made it all night long, in the tent in the yard…

And, yes, I wasn’t insane enough to sleep in the tent in the backyard while my comfy bed was mine to have all to myself!  Max and I stayed inside.  But the kids had fun and one night was enough for Dad. 😉

For our anniversary in July, the girls drew pictures of us on magnadoodles (or magnetdoodle as Jacob says).  What do you think? Do they look like us?

Jamie drew us at our wedding.  Funny how Jeremiah had a top hat on.  Mazie, for some odd reason, drew us in bathing suits.  Not sure why I’m in a bikini but whatever.

Jamie learned to dance with Max…

Speaking of Max, she’s been fitting into our family quite nicely.  It’s like she’s been here forever and not just since May.  She’s actually becoming a lot more comfortable with our family.  She’s been eating while we’ve been out which is huge since we was very undernourished when she came to us.  She’s been dancing a lot more in the yard which thrills the kids (and my dancing, I mean doing a dog race around the yard at top speed!).  It’s been really great having her here, for all of us.

After the girls started back to school, Jacob and I decided to go to the zoo one day.  It was nice.  We dropped the girls off at school and just went.  It was fun hearing all about the animals through Jacob’s version of things.  Like where the animals really.  He was right on most of the animals.  I guess he pays attention more than I thought!

Today was picture day for the girls.  Since we don’t buy the school pictures, I told them that they still needed to dress nicely due to the fact that these are the yearbook photos.  I also added that they shouldn’t pick their noses and should smile nicely.  I guess we’ll see when we get the yearbooks!

Happy Wednesday!

Friday Five

Sorry for the lack of blogging around here.  My hard drive decided to stop working and I had to wait for the computer wizards to retrieve my stuff and send it back to me.  So here we are…back to blogging.

1.  School started for the girls August 2.  Here are your back to school pictures…First my FIFTH grader…

and my SECOND grader…

They are having a great time in school.  So far it’s been a fabulous year!

2.  Jamie and Mazie both joined the school choir.  Jamie is in Ursa Minor and Mazie is in Ursa Major.  I love that play on words with the music program and our scienc-y school.  Jamie is in Landsharks for the cross-country season and will be running a full mile for her meets in September!  Mazie has signed up for Robotics as well.  I can’t wait to see the team’s robot this year.  All this means…busy, busy, busy for a full semester!

3.  Jacob will be starting school September 7 and he can not wait!  He hears how excited the girls are when they get home from school and wants that.  He did start his weekly class at The Little Gym today and was super excited about that!

4.  Can you read this sign?

‘Cause apparently some people can’t, or don’t understand it, or don’t want to.  I had a roofer come to the door just a few weeks ago asking if I wanted a free estimate.  I guess maybe since he was offering me something free, he didn’t have to abide by the sign.  And just a few nights ago, Jeremiah had a person try to sell him windows.  Really?

5.  Check out the business blog if you haven’t for a while.  It will too be updated over the next few weeks!

Friday Five (or so)

1.  I apparently need to play catch up so I’m doing it here.  The last post on Pop Pop’s visit a few weeks ago is of a trip to the zoo.  I was so excited to catch this guy posing this way for me…

He was fun with his tongue hangin’ out.  It was a clue to how hot it was at the zoo which meant there was ice cream consumed…

and a carousel ride…

This one I wanted to post because Mazie was actually touching the baby wallaby…

We had a great visit with Pop Pop and can’t wait to see him again (hint, hint)! 

2.  The kids were playing on Mazie’s computer.  I love how they were all having a good itme…Even the chef of the day!

3.  It’s been hot around here.  Like in the 90s which is unusual for Colorado.  So we’ve been cooling off with sprinklers.  Sometimes at the fountains at the movie theater…

and sometimes here in the back yard…

4.  July 4th was fun.  We picked up supper and took it to Jeremiah at USAFA since he was working.  Since the wind picked up while we were there, I decided it would be better to come home to watch the SkySox fireworks show from our porch instead of staying at the stadium.  The kids didn’t mind as long as they were watching fireworks somewhere…

5.  Facebook tells me that our anniversary is on Sunday.  We are celebrating 12 years of marriage! I love you, babe, and would marry you all over again.

6.  I had my first wedding cake last week.  It turned out so much better than I was expecting.  I received an email from my customer saying it was a hit and she was so happy with it.  I like reading emails like that!  You can check it out here if you missed it.

7.  Today was the last launch of the space shuttle.  Jeremiah got the kids (and me) excited to watch it live on tv this morning.  It was pretty cool to watch…

Happy Friday and have a great weekend!

Ten On Tuesday

1.  So I’m starting with Jacob’s field day on his last day of school.  It’s been kind of busy around here so follow with me.  Jacob’s class warmed up for the games.  Check out Jacob’s mean air guitar!

2.  The preschooler’s first event was ping-pong cups.  I know, it’s beer pong but there was water in the cups, not beer.

3.  Just a quick note, I was shocked at how accurate Jacob’s aim was.  He got the ball into two cups.  I would hate to play against him and I have already had a little discussion with him about his choice of colleges…no party schools!

4.  The kids ventured outside for a water relay.  The kids were so funny walking with their empty cups to the water buckets and then walking back with their full cups dripping water all over themselves trying to fill their empty bucket…

5.  It was on to the egg relay.  The boys were kind of horrible at this one.  The girls really rocked!  But Jacob, at the very least, concentrated.  He didn’t like that his egg kept fall off of his spoon.

6.  Instead of a three-legged race, the preschoolers did a three-armed race.  It was such fun.  The kids were giggling with glee.  I heard some of the parents laughing too!

7.  Fast forward to Thursday, please.  Jeremiah graduated from college.  His graduation ceremony was on Thursday.  His biggest supporters were there cheering him on…

(yeah, I know, why didn’t I ask someone to take a family photo…I just don’t think of those things)

8.  And here he is, the big graduate, getting his diploma!

Now he can get back to work, right?  Just kidding, he’s looking forward to taking command this week.  Funny to think he is going to be an AOC!

9.  Saturday was a pretty busy day for us.  Jamie and I tested for our next belts in taekwondo.  This is our before picture…

Jamie advanced to a bo dan I belt (meaning she has to get two more belts before getting her black belt) and I advanced to red senior II (I am currently one belt below Jamie).  We didn’t get any pictures of us testing because Jeremiah and the other two were busy adopting our dog. 

10.  Meet Maxine (Max for short).  They went to get her and after our test, this was the first picture I took.  Jamie with her new belt and our newest member of the family.  She is a lab/border collie mix.  The shelter also thinks there is a little golden in there somewhere.  She is awesome and perfect for our family.  The kids love her and she loves to just be here. We are having fun getting to know her!

Happy Tuesday!