A Group Of Stahrs

22 Dec 2012

Pop Pop

I have so many pictures to share from Pop Pop’s two-week visit. I’ll start at the beginning, of course. He arrived and we celebrated his birthday (which happens to be the day before mine) but the kids insisted on a cake (pumpkin bundt with streusel filling and dark chocolate ganache drizzled on top) and singing.

But even before getting to the celebrating part, the kids were all over him. I mean to say that we miss Pop Pop from visit to visit. It’s usually very loud when the kids finally see him. However, this time, Maxine even missed Pop Pop and had to get in a snuggle…

We had some fancy programs during those two weeks. Jamie had a choral concert and Mazie had her first band concert. They happened to be on the very same night. BOO! Since they were both having daytime performance, we decided to split up so everyone could see all the performances and all be happy.

First, Jamie’s concert. I have to say that this was their best concert yet! I was so impressed with their singing and dancing. Every song brought tears to my eyes. I could see the pride in their little faces. Mrs. Chapman does such a great job with all 100+ students in the school choir. This was Jamie’s Ursa Minor choir (the second and third graders)…

and the choir singing “The Snowman is a Showman”

We also did a few pre-performance photos of the girls…

and of course, with Pop Pop…

I went to Mazie’s daytime performance. The bad thing about this was they didn’t have enough time to do their whole concert since they were sharing the assembly with the choir. So I missed out on a lot of songs. No worries though, I enjoyed the songs I did hear.

Can you spot Mazie? She’s wearing a santa hat and is near a trumpet bell. In the next picture you can see her under the band instructor’s left arm. She played her heart out and worked very hard to learn these songs. Mazie’s come a long way since August. I am impressed with her. She seems to have a knack for music and playing the flute. My heart swells with how excited she is!

I have some seriously talented kids! I love that they love music.

We took Pop Pop to the Safari of Lights at the Zoo for our “Christmas Eve” with him.

It was fun but we were quickly disappointed to find out that we could not get in to see Santa and Mrs. Claus. I think I was more disappointed than the kids. But we were able to see our new elephant barn (which was packed and my camera fogged up from going from cold to hot so no pictures) which had not only elephants but a new black rhino! As disappointed as I was with the whole Santa thing, we were delighted in seeing the rest of the lights and the giraffes are always part of that…

This guy even posed for me with his tongue out and all…

So since that was Christmas Eve with Pop Pop, we had Christmas day the next day. Makes sense! We had caramel rolls for breakfast and then went to the gifts. Stocking first…

If you needed to know, Jacob got an alarm clock that he desperately wanted (and despises because it’s so loud). Jamie got cool purple drum sticks. And Mazie received a big pack of colorful sharpies. Then we went onto the big gifts…

Pop Pop went way overboard this year. The kids received new iPads…

Pop Pop got a few picture gifts and some homemade mugs with the kids artwork displayed…

Jeremiah got a bunch of books from his list including a rare one he’s been looking for for sometime and some running shirts but I didn’t get a picture because I was too busy playing with my new lens…

To say the kids like their iPads is a bit of an understatement. In fact, they like them so much that Pop Pop was left alone for the first time in two weeks!

Don’t feel bad for him, it didn’t last too long. Jacob decided to share his new toy with Pop Pop and they watched a movie together…

We had a blast over the two weeks that Pop Pop was here. We can’t wait to see him again!

Posted in Adventures, Family, Holidays

04 Dec 2012

3 Comments

Ten On Tuesday

1. Today is my birthday. It was such a wonderful day.

2 I received so many texts, cards, Facebook well-wishes. I feel so blessed to have so many people wish me a happy birthday.

3. Jeremiah took the day off of work to spend with me. Well, he took the morning to make an angel food cake for me from scratch and then spend the rest of the day with me. While he was busy in the kitchen I took advantage and went for a birthday manicure/pedicure!

4. I got OPI The Spy Who Loved Me, in case you were wondering. It’s red with gold sparkles. Lovely!

5. And doesn’t he look 0h-so-good preparing it…

I’m one lucky lady, folks!

6. After we picked the kids up for school, I was treated to a special supper. The kids behaved (which they typically do at a restaurant) and we enjoyed our meal unrushed.

7. We came back home to have the oh-so-yummy-looking homemade angel food cake with chocolate fondue. My wonderful family sang to me and I did get a picture or two with my cake…

8. When I cut the cake, we found the middle wasn’t completely done. So we couldn’t enjoy it. In Jeremiah’s defense, angel food is one of the hardest cakes to make from scratch, especially at 6500 feet in altitude. But it was the thought that counted and the kids and I were more than happy to continue dessert with the yummy chocolate fondue with marshmallows and pretzels.

9. Jacob even announced mid-bite that it was the best birthday ever! I have to agree with my little man. It really was a great birthday.

10. The kids gave me their homemade cards while we watched the train circle under the Christmas tree. It was a wonderful way to end the day. My three dozenth birthday (as my husband says) was such a fun day.

Happy Tuesday!

Posted in Adventures, birthdays

29 Nov 2012

Thanksgiving 2012

So before the month is completely over, I guess I should update on our Thanksgiving week. My brother, sister, and niece came to visit from Pennsylvania for the whole week!

We had a concert with all the kids. Jacob sang…

While they were here and before the actual craziness of preparing food had to take place, I took Christmas photos for them. These were a few of my favorites…

And do you see what I see? Yep, there’s a baby bump. Chloe is going to be a big sister around the beginning of April to a new little sister!

Chloe is a little excited about it. She was even thankful for her baby sister in her mommy’s belly at Thanksgiving dinner.

We took a little day trip to the Children’s Museum in Denver. All the kids had fun starting with the fire truck…

We moved on to the other rooms of the museum. The bubbles were a hit…

as was the veterinarian’s clinic…

and, of course, the dress up area where the kids could put on tap shoes and dance around with glee!

We had some glorious weather for the entire week. It was in the 70s for one of the days and so the kids got to play outside for a bit…

They also had plenty of time to just snuggle and be still…

Chloe was excited to help bake with me. I let her put in the most important ingredient in pumpkin chip muffins…the chocolate chips, of course.

She may or may not have stolen a few in exchange for this picture…

I’m the aunt. I don’t have to admit to bribing her in any way. Chloe, I will always have chocolate chips (or any other candy) for you ;-)!

On the actual day of Thanksgiving, I took very few pictures. A turkey looks like a turkey. The food looks the same from year to year. No point in wasting space in my photobox. So we took pictures of the kids skyping…

and the big kids playing…

and just enjoyed each other’s company. It was a great visit. And while I didn’t finish my thankfuls for the month (I know, big slacker), I can say that I am so very thankful that they could visit us again this year. I am so very thankful they are expanding their little family (and it’s not me ;-)). I am also so very thankful that we were all able to enjoy thanksgiving together.

Posted in Family, Holidays and tagged Thanskgiving

22 Nov 2012

1 Comment

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving from our home…to yours!

Posted in Holidays and tagged Thanksgiving

16 Nov 2012

Friday Thankfuls

So another week is gone and it’s Friday. I’m a little behind on blogging and not sure how the middle of November has appeared already. I have a confession to make. I haven’t even taken my camera out of my bag since Halloween. It will get plenty of use next week! So here are this week’s thankfuls in no particular order…

10. I am thankful for Sundays because we almost always skype with Pop Pop and the kids (and me too) look forward to it every week!

11 I am thankful for all the military veterans who have served, are serving, or are going to serve in the future. They keep me and my family safe and allow me to speak my mind.

12. I am thankful for my extended family. We do not always see eye to eye but we wouldn’t be where we are without them.

13. I am thankful for living in Colorado. I love it here. The mountains, the crazy weather, the 300+ days of sun, just to name a few things.

14. I am thankful for our nice neighbors. It’s great living beside people we like and like us back. It makes our upcoming move a little harder.

15. I am thankful the kids’ schools. We have had (and do this year too) some pretty great teachers. They care about the kids and genuinely want them to succeed. I am grateful for everything they have done for my kids!

16. I am thankful that I have the availability to meet my husband for lunch once in a while. It’s nice to have some time to ourselves, even if cadets need to ask questions while we are eating.

Posted in Random and tagged thankfuls

09 Nov 2012

2 Comments

Friday Thankfuls

These are in no particular order.

1. I am thankful for my loving husband. He’s my soul mate, a wonderful husband, and a great dad. I love him.

2. I am thankful for my wonderful kids. They complete my life and fill me with great joy. I am grateful that am their mother. I love them.

3. I am thankful for the AF for giving my husband a great job that he enjoys and allows me to stay home and care for our kids.

4. I am thankful for our health.

5. I am thankful for my friends who check in on me once in a while to let me know they are thinking of me.

6. I am thankful for Mazie. She loves to learn and works so hard. She makes me proud!

7. I am thankful for Jamie. She’s sensitive and smart and is the mediator between the three kids. She makes me proud!

8. I am thankful for Jacob. He is so smart and spunky. He sucks everything in with such enthusiasm. He makes me proud!

9. I am thankful my Fall. It’s my favorite season with all the colors. When the leaves are all fallen, I have baking. I love fall baking.

Posted in Holidays, Random and tagged thankfuls

06 Nov 2012

1 Comment

Ten On Tuesday

1. Halloween: Jamie and Jacob had parties at school. Mazie was able to wear a costume to school if she paid $1 which went to a teacher who lost a loved one over Fall break. Otherwise it was uneventful. We had our annual Guts and Bones dinner (spaghetti squash and bread sticks). But the kids had fun and enjoyed a piece of their candy from Boo at the Zoo.

2. We had a Ninja…and a purple fairy…and a Shake It Up dancer…3. I voted about a month ago by way of absentee ballot. I hate that I had to base my vote on someone who was going to damage the country less. But I voted, nonetheless, did you?

4. Speaking of voting, I have never actually gone to a poll center to vote. I feel I’m missing out on the American process.

5. I will be happy when the election is over and the ads are off the radio and tv…and facebook.

6. With the help of Timmy Tripod and Rowena Remote, I took our family Christmas photos a couple of weeks ago. They are even edited. Putting together the cards may take a while…

7. I received a box of ordered gifts today that will sit in the basement until I have time to wrap and resend them. I am hoping to get this done by the first week in December…

8. My birthday is a month away. Just putting it out there…

9. I am so excited that Thanksgiving is around the corner…My brother, sister, and niece are coming and I can’t wait! Neither can the kids. Jacob has told me that I am to have lots of cranberry sauce so he and Chloe can eat it all! It’s funny what he remembers from last year. Mazie and Jamie are just excited to have another girl around.

10. I am also excited to do my Friday Thankfuls starting this week. Check back to see what I’m thankful for this year!

Posted in Random

30 Oct 2012

1 Comment

Ten on Tuesday: Fall Break

1. I had a blast being in middle school just before Fall break. The science fair projects were amazing. Mazie actually won honorable mention for her collection project. She was pretty proud of her big ribbon.

2. A two-week Fall break is kind of long for kids who love school but I think we did a pretty good job of keeping busy. We went to the Colorado Pumpkin Patch. Actually we went on the windiest day of the year…

3. After picking the perfect pumpkins, we had to carve them. We headed home to draw the faces, scoop out the “guts”, and carve the pumpkins.

4. Dad did all the carving but the kids definitely supervised. The final pumpkins turned out pretty cool. They are now so wilted that they really shouldn’t be on the porch but they can’t be thrown out until after Halloween. Good thing they don’t smell!

5. We went to the Denver Aquarium without the camera. I just wanted to enjoy the outing instead of worrying about pictures. When we arrived a school was just dropping kids off. I was pretty happy with my decision to not take the camera after seeing all the kids!

6. We had pretty hot weather for most of Fall break. The kids were able to enjoy some leaf jumping…

7. I don’t know if you’ve noticed lately. Jacob has been wearing “spikels” in his hair. I am not sure why he wants his hair spiked up but for most of the Fall break he insisted that I put the “stuff” in his hair to make it stand. But when you are a little boy jumping in leaves, you aren’t really looking to find a whole nest in your hair…8. I was actually worried they wouldn’t get any jumping this year. We had a really cold start to October and then Summer decided to show up for a little. Then we had about 2 inches of snow to end it. Gotta love Colorado weather.

9. We also went to Boo at the Zoo this year. It was our first time doing so. The kids had a blast and it was kind of cool how they had it all set up. They had vendors come to the zoo and set up tables and the kids walked around to each table getting goodies. We also saw some of the animals too.

There was a show about animals too. Jacob was picked to be an assistant. He was demonstrating how they can train the tortoises. When the tortoise reached Jacob’s stick, he got a strawberry. Jacob was pretty pleased with himself…10. It was a nice break. The kids were so ready to get back to school on Monday. It was good to have the house quiet again :-).

Happy Tuesday!

Posted in Random and tagged Fall break, science fair

09 Oct 2012

2 Comments

Ten On Tuesday

1. Jacob told us all about Christopher Robins and how he sailed the ocean blue in 1972. He was very accurate about the ships (Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria) and that he sailed the ocean. He was just a little mixed up on the name and date. We’ll work on his memory.

2. Tomorrow Jeremiah is the Watch DOG at school. Jamie and Jacob are so excited that he will be there all day to help out around the school. They get a bit of fame for the day!

3. I get to go to my very first day of middle school tomorrow! I’m so excited. I volunteered to be a judge for the Science EXPO. I will be going to school with Mazie. I think she’s happy about it. I’ll be sure to not embarrass her. Maybe for tomorrow I can be the cool mom. A girl can hope ;-).

4. Mazie’s science fair project is a leaf collection. She had to collect 15 specimens and identify them correctly. Her portfolio and board look pretty cool. I will not be judging collections.

5. Today Jeremiah and I baked. I made 4 different kinds of cupcakes, 2 dozen each. Jeremiah made 5 dozen pumpkin chip muffins. The muffins and half of the cupcakes are going with me to the middle school and the other cupcakes are going to school with Jeremiah. I am not going to be baking the rest of this week!

6. The kids got their first quarter report cards and we had parent/teacher conferences this week. The kids all got great marks. Jamie’s teacher couldn’t say enough good things about how great of a student she is. She is quite the leader apparently. Her shell must be breaking apart! Jacob’s teacher thinks he is a great little man. He is in the top reading group and top writing group. He just seems to keep forgetting his punctuation. He is also a little chatty. We will work on that.

7. Mazie’s a little nervous about her presentation of her project tomorrow. She just came out of her room for the second time tonight to remind me of when she needs to have her things in place.

8. Jeremiah is playing Bad Piggies as I type this. He is addicted.

9. Fall is my favorite season. It’s just so pretty around here. Our tree has completely lost all of its leaves. We are hoping to get a little jumping in this weekend. But the colors this year are so bright. It’s simply beautiful.

10. October marks a sort of milestone for my handsome husband and me. As of October 20, we will have been together for half of our lives. Jeremiah figured out that, based on his birthday, his day is October 4 and based on my birthday my day is October 20. A little bit of fun trivia on this Tuesday!

Happy Tuesday!

Posted in Random

02 Oct 2012

2 Comments

Ten On Tuesday

1. Can you believe it’s October? Most of my September, at least in pictures, went down with another hard drive. I apparently had a string of bad luck with computers over the last year+ but I’m feeling lucky this time with this new computer! Things you won’t see…the balloon festival pictures, the kids writing their Christmas lists, and some every day things that I wanted to put here on the blog.

2. I’m going to start with Landsharks. The kids did the Fall XC series. There was a 1/2 mile division (Jacob), 1 mile division (Jamie), and a 1 1/2 mile division (Mazie). They ran their hearts out each week and had a blast but Jacob has already said he likes the short sprint series in the Spring better. I’m guessing he’s not going to be much of a distance runner! But here they are, proud as can be with their medals. Even the dogs joined in the fun…

3. Jacob is going on his very first field trip tomorrow. They are going to the Colorado Pumpkin Patch. To say he is excited is a bit of an understatement. He told me tonight when I was tucking him in to bed that he just wanted to jump out his window so he could get there now. I suggested that he get a good night sleep. So far I have not heard any jumping out of any second story windows!

4. Mazie has FACS this semester. It stands for family and consumer services or better known as home ec. She will correct you every time you say home ec, however. She made a pillow and was so proud that she let her teacher display it for the whole school to see. That was after she was able to bring it home to show it off…

She is also cooking. She’s made cinnamon knots and french toast. I hear there is going to be some tasty grilled cheese tomorrow. She’s enjoying it!

5. I had to take Jamie to the doctor today because of stomach pain. Since she was running a low-grade fever and had pain at her belly button, I was worried that it was appendicitis. Jamie had her blood drawn (for the first time), gave a urine sample (“Ewe gross, I peed on my hand”), and had an x-ray of her abdomen (“Oh cool, there is a laser on my belly”). All to find it is something viral. While I am thrilled to have my mine put at ease and that it isn’t serious, I really could use those 3 hours we were at the academy back. Jamie had a blast with all the tests but I’m pretty sure she would be good to not have to do any of it again.

6. Mazie was bullied at school last week. It was totally random and completely caught her off guard. She was in Western Hemisphere (social studies) and there was a substitute teacher. She asked the girl (who has sat beside her since the beginning of the year) for help on one of their problems about the bill of rights. The girl looked at Mazie and said that she was going to beat her up after school. Mazie went to her next class and told that teacher (who she trusts) and she took Mazie to the office to get it all straightened out.

7. Do you want to know when Mom found out about all of this? If you said after school, you guessed correctly. Western Hemisphere was 3rd period (way before lunch) and I had to hear about it from Mazie. Not the principal. I was a little upset at that part. So I called the principal immediately after school last Monday when I found out about the situation to find out what was being done with the whole thing. I didn’t get a call back until Tuesday afternoon (and two more calls later) to find out that actions were taken. I couldn’t have the specifics because of legal reasons according to the principal. Mazie was a little nervous about going to school on Tuesday and I couldn’t put her at ease. Thankfully her teacher (the one she went to in the first place) was looking out for her and emailing me throughout the day to let me know she was ok.

8. Mazie said that by Thursday the other girl involved apologized to her. I am happy that it wasn’t anything more than a verbal threat but a little upset by the events that followed. The good thing out of all of this is that Mazie now knows how to handle that sort of situation. We’ve learned to diffusion bullying in taekwondo but that is usually if someone comes up to you and calls you a name. This totally threw her off guard but she did the right thing and is confident again in her abilities to diffusion any bullying situation.

9. I have taught my last cake decorating class. I have classes scheduled for October but not enough interest for the classes to run. I’m a little sad about not teaching. I enjoyed it and I think I was pretty good at teaching the skills to other people. But I want to enjoy the kids’ functions and not worry about whether or not they conflict with a class for the rest of the school year. It just seems like too much to do with a move coming next June.

10. I am so excited to see the leaves changing colors. It’s simply gorgeous around here. I am not, however, ready for the temperatures coming Thursday through Saturday. The highs are to be in the low 50s. Yikes! We went from Summer to Winter in a week. Gotta love Colorado weather. If you don’t like it, wait 5 minutes!

Happy Tuesday!

Posted in Random