Nov Update

Sheesh, has it really been so long since I've blogged?  Yikes, I'm not sure where all the time has gone.  I'd love to say I've done a million things but that wouldn't be true....I've done a million and one.  LOL

Last week the kids didn't have school on Friday due to Parent/Teacher conferences.  It also happened to be the same week that 2 of Gabby's best friends in her grade & class moved away & they were not related to each other.  One of her friends moved to Gladstone so they will still be able to play together & see each other once in awhile & the other one moved further away in WI.  I am beyond bummed that she lost both of her best friends in the same week, just a day apart.  So sad for her, especially since she is so shy in the first place & has had these friends since Kindergarten.  She even asked me if I thought that she'd make some new friends quickly.  I told her it depends on how open she is & how open a new friend is.  Friendships take time to grow.  She's actually been praying that she'll find a new friend who is a Christian.

Back to the conferences & how they went...I showed up & dropped Gabby & Braly off in the gym.  (The school thought it would be a good idea to allow the parents to see how AR (accelerated reading) tests work so they had crates of books set up in the gym/cafeteria so that the kids could read while parents were in conferences, then parents could read & watch the kids take the tests on the computers.  My kids got extra time to read since theirs were back to back.  They had each read a few books by the time I joined them.)

First I had Gabby's meeting.  She is such a bright girl, she's kind, helpful, sweet, caring, respectful, etc the teacher told me.  And she takes school very seriously.  She had an A- in math (she always tells me she's not good at math) & the rest were As.  How could I be anything but pleased & impressed right?   She's currently at 51.4% if her AR goal & they just finished their 1st marking period so she's doing awesome.  She loves to read & is quite good at it.  She says her favorite thing is recess because she likes to do tricks on the spider.  It's a large dome that is made of many bars in triangles & she loves to hang like a monkey & do tricks.  She also enjoys History, mostly American & Michigan History.  She grasps the information quickly & remembers it so studying for her tests is fairly easy.  She excels at spelling too since she has a great handle on Phonics.  Her current fascination is The American Girl books & the American History they help her to 'live' through.  She's even asking for American Girl doll stuff for Christmas.

Braly's meeting was next & what can I say...his teacher enjoys him too.  She said that the one thing she doesn't have to worry about is Braly repeating something she's told him not to do.  He's so very eager to fix his mistakes quickly.  He may make many small mistakes since he's learning so much right now but she's right, he seldom makes the same mistake twice.  He's one of the top students in his 1st grade class & he's respectful, kind, a good friend, and improving each & every day on all his skills.  He's one of the top readers in his class & he's doing fantastic with his spelling.  I'm thankful that his teacher teaches in great detail about phonics.  He's always coming home with a new rhyme or song about how to remember something.  I was afraid he would have trouble with spelling tests since he is a sight reader but he sure does a great job.  I would say that one of his best skills is his ability to memorize things.  Sometimes Gabby gets frustrated with him since he is so good at memorizing that she thinks its unfair that he can hear a verse from the Bible & have it memorized in 30 seconds & it takes her longer than that to memorize it.  She does just fine with it but Braly excels with memorization.  It's actually how he learned to read, by just recognizing words & memorizing what they say.  If I had to state something that Braly isn't as good at, I'd have to say coloring. Mostly because he lacks the desire to do it.  But let me tell you that bribing with tootsie rolls has made quite an improvement.  Beyond the Tootsies though, he really strives to have his teacher make nice comments on his pages that he colors neatly.  We still have one hanging on the fridge of some pumpkins he colored that she wrote nice job! on.  He beams with great satisfaction when he sees notes like that.

After I left the elementary school, I picked my MIL up so we could go to Martha's conferences to hear what a wonderful student she is.  Everyone is so pleased to have her in their class.  She starts great discussions, has excellent class participation, confidence, knowledge & is just so intelligent that they all enjoy her.  But just like all of us she has one thing to work on, handing her homework in completed & on time.  Oh to be a teenager again...hahaha

I decided since they kids had worked so hard for school that we could go to McDonalds to eat lunch & then they could play in the playland.  They were thrilled.  After lunch the girls & I headed to Joann Fabrics so we could purchase some patterns that were on sale & choose some fabric to make some jammie pants for Gabby & her friend that just moved to Gladstone (they'll have matching pants) & some adorable Monster pants for Braly.  I have to wash the fabric & then we can start learning how to prepare a pattern & make the pants.  Gabby is excited & scared to learn.  I think it is going to be fun & she'll be impressed with what she's made when she completes it.

We got their school pictures back too so come back to see how grown up they are becoming.

It's a Small World after all

Tonight when I was helping the kids put their stuff away the new neighbor boy's mom came to bring him home and we started talking.  I found out that her son, Ethan goes to Preschool at the YMCA.  Last week I found out that one of our favorite Headstart teachers is in charge of the Preschool program at the Y now so we chatted about how awesome she is.  While chatting, we got onto the subject of Todd & how it has affected Morgan.  A few minutes later Holly asked me how old Todd was & what happened.  I started out by saying something like "I'm not sure if you know where Felch is, but....."  She said, "I grew up around there."  We asked maiden names & found out that she's Holly Statum & graduated the year after Natalie & she remembered when she had a class at Bay with Nat & a conversation she had just after Natalie & Todd were married.  It was strange & yet so neat to find out that our new neighbor graduated from the same high school I went to and that our sons enjoy playing together.  I told the kids that Ethan's mom went to the same school as I did & even dug out an old yearbook to show them her pic when she was in 5th grade.  The old pics were just TOO FUNNY!!!   They enjoyed seeing Uncle Todd with lots of hair too.  Makes me really thankful that we have pics of him to share with them. It really helps them to remember him & fun things they've done with him.  Oh, and Holly works at the newspaper & is going to look & see if they wrote an article about Todd & try to see if she can get them to include the part that he saved a life.  So there is another life that Todd has touched. :)

Tomorrow School Starts

Sheesh, I can't even believe that the summer is over & school starts tomorrow.  Today was fun but busy with family over to visit for the holiday.  Felt very rushed getting the kids to bed tonight so they weren't up too late.  Gabby had a hard time falling asleep.  She's just nervous & excited so I completely understand.  I remember how each year I would ahve a hard time falling asleep thinking about the very next day, the 1st day of school for the new year.

I'm so happy that we had an open house at school on Wed last week so the kids could meet their teachers & see their classroom & their desk.  I had to ask the teacher if she would move Gabby to the front of the room so she didn't have to try to see over the heads of all the normal but tall kids compared to her.  Made lunches for the kids & we've got everything set out for them. I still need to take pics of all their supplies laid out.  It is a HUGE pile for each of them this year.  Oh well.  I'm so tired & need to have enough rest to wake them up on time.

I'm thankful that I have Morgan so she can help me not be quite so sad that Gabby & Braly will be gone from me for 8 hours 5 days a week now.

Summer with neighbors

When we first moved to our house 3 years ago there weren't many kids around for our kids to play with.  There was one that had just been born next door to us & there was another one across the street from us around Gabby's age.  This summer has been FANTASTIC so far because the kids have been able to play with the neighbor kids like crazy.  Think Dennis the Menace where all the neighborhood kids were playing together in each others yards.  That is kinda like what my kids get to do and I am thrilled that they are making friends & we are starting to get to know the neighbors a little better.  Last weekend the kids were playing with Allie next door & her 2 boy cousins were visiting.  They were even asked to go to the park with them.  And they've been playing with Allie every chance they can get.  Then yesterday while they were playing with Allie, Isabella from across the street came to play (she just celebrated her 2nd birthday & so did Evelyn who lives 2 houses away).  Then there is Gabbi on the next block over came over for a little bit.  Today was another story.  While they were playing with Allie, they were invited over to Evelyn's house to play.  And they were told that they could come back anytime. Makes me happy to see them have friends like that & that they behave nicely enough to get invited back.  While we were eating dinner Mackenzie came over to see if the kids could go play.  They played for about 45 mins & now its time to get them scrubbed from their adventures in the neighborhood.  This summer is turning out to be quite fun!

Invaluable Time

This morning Gabby & Braly had a really hard time getting up for school.  It seems that instead of enjoying these last days of school they are wishing they were already gone & that summer was already here.  I am biding my time trying to finish getting things taken care of since Bonnie & Martha's grease fire in the kitchen on the evening of May 14th.  So much running around to do, cleaning, sorting, & hauling.  I've been completely exhausted the last several days & trying to catch up on some rest when possible but that seems nearly impossible.  Anyway, back to the story I was about to share.

Morgan was outside waiting with the kids for the bus & talking to the neighbor girl for a little while.  When she left for daycare I told Morgan to take her bike to the backyard & then come inside.  She did it ever so slowly enjoying the beautiful morning.  The sun is shining, the sky is a bit hazy but so beautiful, the birds are singing their brilliant songs & the temperature is just right.  She decided to enjoy God's beauty a little longer & hopped onto the swing.  Did I mention before that my 3 year old can pump her legs to get the swing going pretty high.  Yeah, that's right!  She learned earlier than the other two most likely because she has had access daily to try it out & watch her brother & sister so she got the hang of it.  Woohoo!!! No more having to push her all the time & I think she loves the Independence.  So I heard her talking a bit & then didn't hear anything & went to check on her.  I have almost ALL the windows open in the house so I can hear her no matter what side of the house she's on & still let her play outside.  No sounds makes a momma a little concerned so I went looking to see where she was & what she as doing.  She was swinging on the swing.  Then she hopped down & walked over to the neighbors fence, the vacant one.  I thought she was looking at the super long grass & all the dandelion puffs & thought she wanted some puffs to blow but instead she was starring a the tree.  I had opened the window & was standing behind the lace curtain so I could see her through it but she couldn't see me.  She started talking & shook the fence a little and then I saw it just as she had....it had a fluffy tail & came scampering down the tree...it was a squirrel.  It froze with her rattling the chain link fence & then she talked to him & he started moving again.  She got up & walked toward our shed following the path of the squirrel & watching him intently.  I ran to grab my camera & before I got it ready with muting the sound, she was done with the squirrel gazing & had opened the door to come inside.  Photo-op lost but not the memories of what I saw.  Standing there watching her for several minutes could have been considered time wasted but that time is fleeting from me too quickly already with how fast these kids are growing up so just as she sees things in a different light, I am too.  I don't think that I could put a price on those moments of time...they are invaluable.  And my goal this summer is to live in the moments & enjoy them.

15 days left

In a few short weeks my little Braly, who is not really so little anymore, will be graduating from Kindergarten. I can't believe that its happening already.  These guys grow up so quickly.  It seems that it was only yesterday that I was holding him so he'd get more than a 15 minute nap.  I love hearing Braly's dreams of what he wants to do.  He's a smart little boy & truly enjoys school & learning.  He can memorize things quickly & word for word just like his Daddy.  Such a cool thing to be able to do.  Gabby has been teaching him lots of math.  I'll be interested to see how he does next year.  He'll be advanced in his reading & math but he's definitely a boy when it comes to writing & coloring.  I think he kinda wishes he didn't have to write or color so much.  He has definitely improved through the year though.  He has also learned many things in French already since his teacher decided to teach the kids French that could already read in English. Great idea Mrs. B!

So next year my Braly will be going to school all day long and I'll have 2 lunches to pack instead of just 1.  Although according to him, he's going to eat every hot lunch that they have. LOL So cute!  I love that he's excited to try something new. And really, I don't think the lunches are too bad but I'm sure he'll tire of the same things & ask for cold lunch more often before the end of next year.

It really is a privilege that I get to be his mom & see how he grows & develops into a nice young man.  I'm so very proud of him for his accomplishments and often receive compliments on how well he is behaved from both school teachers as well as his church teachers.  He is a delightful boy who happens to also be struggling with how to deal with his little sister.  As Morgan grows & matures as well, I'm sure their friendship will develop nicely just like Braly has with Gabby.  I pray for them to be strongly connected to each other & be very loving.  Siblings are very important in one's life.  I can say that I truly enjoy all 3 of my sisters.

So here's to you Braly!  You are a fantastic boy.  Mommy & Daddy love you so dearly & enjoy watching you grow up.

Welcome Spring...I think

Yesterday was such a beautiful day in the morning that Morgan & I went outside & started setting up the backyard for spring/summer.  We put together the offset umbrella with minor issues. (Morgan thought it was a fun idea to take the allen wrench that came with the umbrella kit & put it inside the hole of one of the bases so I couldn't find it & had to go get another one in the house.) She later told me what she had done.  When Braly got home from school he helped haul the tiles for the table out of the garage & put them in place.  We picked up trash that had blown into our yard (this happens ALL the time & I dislike it a lot) & we weeded a little bit. Just as we finished setting most of the stuff up the weather turned on us & had a cold wind. I thought we might actually get some rain but not yet. Guess we'll have to wait to enjoy the outdoors with nice weather sometime down the road.

Today Morgan & I plan to head to Menards & pick up a few things to help make the yard a little nicer looking.  We've discovered that the flowers on the side of the house don't survive the rain falling off the side of the house very well so I'm moving everything out of that flower bed & trying something different.  Something I hope to be easier to keep nice.  Since the soil doesn't seem to be very good for growing things either we're going to put rocks in that bed & just place some flower pots on the rocks for color.  really wish we could tear out the sidewalk along the side of the house & redo it.  It's broken up, sunken into the ground, & just horrible to walk on as well as shovel in the winter.  And then after we work outside for a bit I need to wash more of the walls in the living room.  It's coming along nice enough so far but it sure isn't very pleasing to the eyes.

Must head out soon. Morgan needs help getting dressed & then we can get some of the errands done.

April things...

Yesterday was my Grandpa Kenny's birthday & I didn't get the chance to call him & wish him a Happy Birthday. Good thing I'm planning to attend his birthday party on Sunday. I look forward to hugging him & getting another picture with him. He's such a fantastic and special man. Being with him warms my heart.

For the last few days the kids have been really missing their daddy. He's on a business trip to Traverse City and will finally be home this evening. We're all looking forward to his return as I know he is too. In his absence I have taken the opportunity to disassemble the living room ceiling so that we gained another foot and I've managed to tear almost all the wallpaper off the walls already. Next comes my least favorite part of the whole remodeling project and that happens to be washing the wallpaper goo off the walls. So time consuming & unfun. BUT it needs to be done and I am pleased that I am almost to that part in the process. I started this project just Sunday evening and in just a few days it is nearly ready to be patched & taped in preparation for texturizing and then painting. I look forward to having my new painting on display in the living room with warm colors all around rather than white/cream against the dark woodwork we have. And goodbye gross carpet full of 30 years of dirt that a good Dyson wasn't around to help keep it clean until we moved in a few years ago. Perhaps our allergies will improve again. I know I could use less allergy problems on a day to day level. AND Adam will have missed most of the mess that he hates, I had something to keep me busy while he was away, and the kids had fun coloring on the wallpaper & helping me tear it off after. I'd say this little venture worked out for all of us. Glad I had the idea to get working on it. :)

Morgie's New Milestone

This one has taken a long time to achieve BUT is well worth it. Morgan can finally lay in her bed and go to sleep on her own. I've probably explained before why she has never learned to fall asleep on her own until now when she's 3 1/2 but I'll explain again. Since she had so much trouble with breathing we never ever let her cry for long. It would just work her up & cause her more trouble breathing right from the day we got to bring her home. As she grew older she didn't have quite the same breathing trouble but developed Reactive Airway Disease. It's pretty much just shy of being bad enough to call it Asthma. Morgan seems to catch colds quite easily & then has to have breathing treatments twice a day for the duration of the cold to make sure it doesn't develop into something more like bronchitis or pneumonia. It seemed to me that just when she'd get better I'd start working with her to get her to try to stay in her bed & go to sleep & then she'd catch another cold & I'd have to hold her to do a breathing treatment at night & she'd fall asleep in my arms. Not helpful when trying to develop a new habit. She got quite used to falling asleep in my arms or next to me so she didn't know how to do it on her own. After some discussion with Adam, I decided that if Morgie got sick again I'd give breathing treatments earlier in the day & downstairs so that she would stop associating it with sleep and then maybe I could teach her a way to fall asleep on her own. At first the most difficult thing was to get her to stay in bed without me laying right next to her the whole time. I'd sing to her a little & that usually helped but as soon as I would leave the room she'd get out of bed to find me or go harass her brother who was usually already sleeping. (He's like his Papa Blaine & can fall asleep in literally 30 seconds after he decides he's going to sleep.) I had an idea...what always helps me to fall asleep at night besides praying? The answer is rubbing my feet together. I told Morgie to try it & she said she didn't know how. I showed her & I can't believe how well it works. She starts rubbing her feet, I often have to remind her, and after about a minute she starts yawning. Soon after that she's out for the night. I can't believe how well it works. It's almost like magic & I am so happy I thought of telling her to try it. Her future husband might not be as thrilled as I hear many people in my family rub their feet together & some of the spouses get annoyed with the sound of the rubbing feet. I find it humorous as both Gabby & Braly used to rub their feet together when they were babies. Makes me think it really could be a genetic trait. Hahaha LOL

I need your votes!

Good Morning Family & Friends,

I entered a contest to win some prints for pictures, photobooks, or 12x12 pages from a new place that I have quickly fallen in love with...Persnickety Prints. I had them print some of my 12x12 layouts as well as some 8 1/2 x 11 layouts & they did such a nice job with them. Now they have a contest to win $75 worth of prints from them & I'm in it! I am entry #28 and you can go over to their website & vote for my layout to help me win. You have to register in order to vote though. http://www.persnicketyprints.com/layout-contest Once you've registered, just sign in, find my layout of Morgan and click the 5 stars to vote. Not sure if it is only 1 vote or maybe its 1 vote per day. Thanks in advance for your time and your vote.

Valentine Run & Still training

On Sat Feb 6th I ran a 5K (which is 3.1 miles) in a Valentine Race down in Green Bay WI. It was about 18 F but with all the wind it put it down around 1 F. We had to wait around for the race to start which was a bit strange to me since when Allison & I run at 5:30 am we just hit the road right away. So waiting around for the race to start was cold & slightly annoying to me. There were over 1,400 people in the race which also threw me for a loop. I don't like being around that many strangers & it actually makes me a little nervous so I was really happy that I was with friends. When the race finally started it was crazy. There were many people that blew by us but Allison & I still had to weave back & forth through people until we found a spot that we could sort of maintain our space. It seemed that we still had our fair share of weaving though. There were more hills than we were used to but we did really great & out of the 900+ people that were running the 5K we placed somewhere in the 400's. I thought that was really cool & we also dropped our time from about 45 mins to something like 38mins. As you can tell I am NOT a number person (I leave that for Adam LOL). Near the end I could see 2 little kids & an adult from far away & was pretty sure it was my sister, nephew, & niece waiting to cheer me on. As I got closer I could tell for sure it was them & it gave me the goosebumps & the energy I needed to keep going to finish the race. I could hear the kids yelling, "Go Auntie Jet, Go!" It was a great feeling to have them cheering me on & put a HUGE smile on my face as I crossed the finish line with my friend. We received a waxed cheese mold & a candy bar as well as a long sleeve t-shirt for running the race. It was awesome to finish my first 5K with such improvements since I started this new journey just 6 weeks prior to the race. When I started I can honestly say that I had only run a 1 mile in high school & I barely was able to do that & that was when I was a lot thinner & in better shape than I am now. BUT with the encouragement of my family & friends, I was able to learn to breathe correctly & run almost the entire 3.1 miles. My friends have been trying to get me to commit to a half marathon but that isn't going to happen any time soon. I will run another 5K or even the 5 mile race in July so that's what I'm aiming for now. If I can make it 3.1 miles I figure I can make it 5 miles. And now my kids want to train with me when the weather gets nice so they can run too. Adam used to run cross-country in high school so I don't imagine getting him to run along with us would be hard. I think it would be neat to have that be one of our accomplishments as a family...to run a 5 mile race together. Such a great way to teach our children the importance of being healthy & making healthy choices in the things we eat & the activities we do. What a blessing this has been & continues to be.

Valentine Run 2

Click here to view this photo book larger

My wonderful Mom

For my DYL assignment I was supposed to compare 2 people. I thought long & hard about who I should compare & felt that it should be my mom & me. Though I couldn't fit everything I had actually come up with on these 2 pages I feel that I compared enough & could always make another LO expressing the things I've learned from my mom & how we are so similar & yet so very different.

Mom, I love you with so much of my heart. Thank you for helping me grow into the person I am today. I know you aren't perfect & that you never claimed you were but you are a special woman in my eyes & I am proud to call you my mom. Heal quickly & know that God is taking you on the journey He wants you on right now. Allow Him to guide you along the way & your reward will be great! I love you!

A Great Example of a Man

My assignment was to do a LO (layout) about someone I wanted to honor. I was going to do one about Adam but had a hard time finding the photos I wanted to use. I decided the next person I needed to honor was my Grandpa Kenny. He has always been the hardest working man I have ever known. He built his house when he was in his 70s and has always had a beautiful garden & orchard that has grown such wonderful & tasty produce. This man has a distinguished laugh, a smile that I'm sure I'll never forget, and more determination than I thought possible for any one man. Gramps has had several strokes, a few heart attacks and yet he's still here & able to do more than most people that have had even 1 stroke. I've struggled with my weight for a few years now & when I think about how hard my grandpa worked to come back as much as he could from each stroke, I know that if I work hard & put my stubbornness to work for something good, I'll be able to achieve my goal. After all, when I was young, and small, he once told me that "dynamite comes in small packages!" That has stuck with me ever since & now it is my turn to achieve something I have longed to achieve for years. This year is the year I will get in shape, I will be healthy, have lots of energy & will NOT quit, even after I achieve my goal. In Feb I will be running a 5K, something I've never done nor desired to do. And today I cross-country skiied for the first time in my life. Though I fell several times going down the hills, I was pleased with myself that I completed 2.2 miles and had fun. Grandpa has always said, "You're no worse than the best and no better than the rest." In my book that means I CAN and WILL succeed at my challenge and I will be a better person for it. Thank you Grandpa for being such a fantastic Head of our Family, for leading my example and having such drive and determination. Your reward in Heaven will be grand. I love you!!!

100th Post

Horray it's my 100th post. It was actually by chance that I noticed the # but what a fun way to celebrate and add another page I've completed. This one shares a little more personal thoughts about mothering my wonderful Gabriella. Funny thing is that after I did this page, I noticed her attitude change quite a bit. She's not been so grumpy, whiney, & such. She's my Sweet Muffin!

New Layouts from my scrapbooking class

My favorite LO so far is this one of Braly. I have another one of Gabby to complete soon too.

Picture these two side by side to each other.

And this one is like my title page for the class that is called Design Your Life.

Since I love scrapbooking & can always learn more about what I'm doing....I decided to take a scrapbooking class about design and I am loving it. I started it last year & didn't get very far. This year I am determined to finish it through to the end. And I am really enjoying it & we are in the 2nd week. Enjoy the LOs as I post them.