Weekend Wrap-Up

Whew!  Ever have one of those weekends that is just an absolute whirlwind of activity.  That was mine this weekend.  A flurry of fun activity - but speaking of flurries - the weather was FANTASTIC and there were no flurries!!

Top 10

10.  A clean house, purchased groceries, and laundry done and put away.  Best way to start a new week

9.  May's Meal Plan is complete!

8.  Pancake breakfast for "Imagine No Malaria."  Got to see the pancake man in action and Kevin got to catch pancakes.  I was glad the pancake guy picked "dad" and not "mom" to do the catching!

7. Tyler pitched for the first time and didn't hit anyone! (I didn't have my camera on Saturday so these are pics from this game last Wednesday... when it was MUCH colder!)

can you see the panic on his face?  Poor guy gets so nervous.

6.  AJ's first game of the season.  He loves his Cubbie uniform... NOT!

5. Helping with Discovery Weekend - preview of what junior high boys are like which is a reminder to embrace my current place in life with grade school boys.  :)

4. Unexpected dinner on Saturday with friends including some awesome homemade ice cream sandwiches.  (by homemade I mean home-assembled-purchased-cookies.  LOL)

3. A nice night out with some of my favorite ladies on Friday.

2. Gorgeous weather!  I mean seriously beautiful!!  Kind of reminded me of the weather we had on our wedding day which takes me to...

1. Celebrating our 12 year wedding anniversary on Sunday!!  Headed to Granite City after church for their awesome brunch and spent the day together - working around the house, watching the White Sox, and enjoying the weather!  I took a stroll down memory lane and here are some of my favorite memories from the big day...

My favorite picture of the two of us!

Precious, precious Jordynne.  She didn't walk down the aisle but how adorable is she!?!?

The party bus!  A little alone time with our closest friends.... and Grandpa Harold.  Grandpa snuck on the party bus!

Me and the Bros

This picture made me LOL as I remembered my entire wedding party trying to bustle my dress.  We attempted this after the party bus/trip to Jimmy's.  Thank goodness for cousin Trisha being sober -she finally figured out the puzzle!

A special picture for my blog-follower Grandma Jane!  A sweet Grandma-Grandson dance.

One of my best memories of this day.  I remember this conversation with Grandpa Harold like it was yesterday.  So thankful for my friend Margo for catching it on film.  :)

Making a Difference

Tyler has a "Making a Difference" project that is due next week.  We affectionately refer to this assignment as "the yellow packet."  The "yellow packet" has had several phases but as a last step he had to come up with a project to do that made a difference at home or in the community.  We had LOTS of ideas but finally landed on Backpack Buddies (a project close to my heart)!  Here are his pictures of him making a difference.  (Although... for what it's worth... he makes a difference in my world EVERY DAY just by being his kind-hearted goof-ball self!!)

 

Time to get the presentation ready....

 

 

 

 

What's AJ been up to you ask.... Just chillin' and chasing "women" (Kindergartners) at recess.  Apparently he chases a girl and sings Gangnam Style but, in his words, "I sing 'little' instead of 'sexy'" (Hey little lady....).  I told him it wasn't nice to chase girls but he informed me she smiles and laughs at him.  Of course she does.

 

 

An Independence Test

I've realized lately that my kids are capable of a lot more than I ask of them.  They are my babies so it's hard for me to wrap my arms around the fact that they are indeed becoming independent.  At least I'm realizing this now, right!?!?  I saw this post on Pinterest about Training Children to be Independent.  When I read it I actually laughed out loud and read through the list of things that Tyler "should" be able to do at age nine.  Oh how I would adore help in some of these areas that both boys "should" capable.  So....... this weekend I decided to test the list.... but I decided to start with one that Tyler would thing was fun! 

I now present - Tyler's first cake!  (Not made from scratch but not just a simple box recipe either.)  Here's the recipe for "Better Than Anything Oreo Cake."

NO Shells!!

 

Ta-DA!!

So Proud

The final touch - gotta make sure everyone knows who the chef was.

 

 

Conference Time!

This week we had conferences for the boys.  I don't typically get super excited about conferences for a couple reasons:

1. I always know the boys' teachers.  I'm lucky that I can pop in after school and help with class parties so this isn't a time for me to get to know the teachers.
2. The report cards are ridiculous.  Everything is broken out in to so much detail that I don't know what to think of their scores.
3. Tyler and AJ are both easy going kids.  They are well behaved so I don't expect to a bad report about their behavior.

So, what else is there, right?  Well this time... conferences were awesome.  The boys both led their conferences so they could show us what they were learning.

AJ counted money so fast that his teacher thought he got it wrong... but he was right.  He did a good job reading to us even though he was embarrassed.  (Found out his ears turn bright red when he's nervous and/or embarrassed!)  He showed us how his writing has improved.  The letter he wrote for his conference melted my heart.  (Or in the words of Grandma Jane, "pulled on my heart strings!")  I scanned the letter below.  Of course, Miss Robinson said she loves having him in class and that he's a great student.

Tyler has led conferences before so he was a pro.  Walked in, sat down, and was ready to go. His teacher was on maternity leave at the beginning of the school year so this was the first time we got to sit down and talk about Tyler with her.  She started by telling Tyler that she hopes her son grows up to be the kind of kid Tyler is.  Can you get a better compliment than that!?!?  He wrote a personal narrative that was awesome.  It's a story about helping Grandma and Grandpa's neighbor on the tractor.  Grandma and Grandpa's neighbor will love the story!

I'm one happy/proud mama!!

A Special Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day was GREAT this year!  GREAT!

The boys and I decided to deliver some valentine's day gifts to a couple of my favorite Ankeny residents.  I'm hoping to teach them to do random acts of kindness as I remember to do them myself!

Both friends that we visited were so happy.  In fact, I heard the words "made my day" from both of them.  As if that wasn't good enough, I was SO SO SO proud of the boys.  Neither of these are people that they know well but they were totally in to it.  They were so friendly and answered a bunch of questions. Only bummer was that I was so wrapped up in the moment that I forgot to take pictures.

Gratitude365

For my 2013 new years resolution, I decided I was going to take advantage of the new iphone and take a picture representing each day.  A good friend recommended the app "Gratitude 365."  You can upload a picture and list what you are are thankful for.  I LOVE this app!  I did pretty well in January and only missed two days... although, I don't know how I missed two days!!!  There may be a slight lack of creativity here since it seems each picture is either the kiddos or food!!  HAHA!!

What Have I Been Doing??

Sooooooo...... I have NO good explanation as to why I haven't looked at this blog o' mine in MONTHS!  I've been putting off posting something feeling overwhelmed about all of the catch-up I should do.  So here it is in bullet points (which does not do justice to the amazing memories!)...

• Tyler had a birthday.  Nine years old.  Holy Moly - how is that possible!?!?  I love that kid so much and I can't believe how fast these nine years have gone.
• Cody the Elf living with us for 24 days was so much fun for all of us.
• Christmas was great.  Christmas break without work and school was FANTASTIC. 
• New Years was fun. 
• Going back to school/work was not. 
• Got roped into helping with a school district steering committee - that has come to an end tonight with a successful vote for a 10th elementary.  Wahoo!  What a learning experience.
• AJ started losing teeth finally!!
• Basketball.  Lots and Lots and Lots of basketball. Both teams are SO fun to watch now.  They are learning so much and are playing games that look a LOT like actual basketball.  There are great kids on their teams with great parents... which is fun for me.

That's my incredibly quick update but now that I have that pathetic little post out of the way, I will get this back in my schedule!