Friday, May 28, 2010

Oh boy, I've got joy!!

So somehow this crazy fun year of Joy School has come to an end. This year was our biggest group ever-6 moms, 6 kids! It was soooo nice to have such big long breaks between teaching. It really helped me to get things done like grocery shopping and visiting teaching because I was down to just Lex at home. When it was my turn to teach, it was a little crazy busy, but so much fun because we had such a great group. The best thing about this group was that they all just loved each other soooo much. We often had many times where I had to actually tell the kids that they needed to stop hugging so we could move to something else. What cute sweet kiddos!! Here's Kade with his buddy, Max. These boys had an especially hard time not loving each other too much.I had the opportunity to teach the last day of Joy school and we had such a great time talking about our families and how important they are to us. We talked about all of the brothers and sisters that had been in our group in the past and about the younger ones that will be joining our group next year. It's always a little sad to see some of the kids you've grown so attached to move on but it's so fun to get to know the next little ones. We had a fun little picnic-indoors, might I add, due to the freakin' snow that decided to hit our house on the 24th of May-what!?! The kids still had a blast!!We had our little Joy school graduation at the Hubert's house. We were actually supposed to have it in our backyard but moved indoors due to the snow mishap. Our program was perfect though and those kids were so proud of themselves for graduating! They looked so cute with their little caps and sang their hearts out! I can't help but mention the presence that was greatly missing this year, our wonderful Joy school dad, Naki. Wow, do we miss you Naki!! I was so glad that Abby still brought sweet Eli to Joy School and so proud of Eli braving out the ache she was going through every day without her dad so she could still be in our group. It wouldn't have been the same without the Mailes. I can't imagine Joy school without them. Here's a pic of us Joy School moms. These ladies just happen to be some of the best out there. I feel so lucky to be a part of this group of amazing women who strive to teach their kids to be the best they can be. Thanks moms for being such great teachers to my little Kade!! We have loved being a part of Joy School this year!!To my little Kadybug, thank you so much for being my sweet boy in Joy School this year and letting me have a chance to be your teacher. You have been so much fun to teach about the wonderful things in the world. I hope that you continue to have the excitement for learning that you have begun to have already. I'm so proud of the awesome boy you are becoming!! You are such a fun kid! I love you lots and lots and lots and lots!!!

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Happy Birthday to Star Wars...and to me!!

Well, today is the original Star Wars birthday!! And mine, by the way. Quite a coincidence that Star Wars came out on my first birthday, huh?Anyway, I had a wonderful birthday!! Let's just say that I had some big plans for celebrating this birthday this year...and they all fell through. I've been psyched for months about going to see U2 in concert next week and then Bono has to go and bust his back. And of course there's always the annual Memorial Day weekend camping trip something something in honor of my b-day...and it snows. So needless to say, I've been pretty darn bummed about all of this all week.
When Ben asked what I wanted to do for my birthday instead, I gave him an honest answer "Nothing." Doesn't that sound great? I mean, if I can't do all of the things I wanted, then for my birthday I wanted to do nothing. Sleep in, no working, no cleaning, just vegging. Awwww.....Skylar said it sounded like a boring birthday. I told her that for a busy mom like me that boring sounded like heaven. And it turned out being an awesome day! I highly recommend a nothing day for every mom's birthday!!
So I slept in (as long as possible until four bouncing kiddos came to smother me with kisses and shouts of "Happpy Birthday!) and before I could even get out of the shower my sweet friend was at my door, with breakfast and flowers! What a great start to the day!! Thank you wonderful friend!! After getting the kiddles out the door and prepping for my nothing day I headed to the school for the awards assembly where my sweet Skylar got an award for Top Academic-aka "The Smart Cookie" award. Way to go Sky! You make a momma proud!!The boys, Lex, and I grabbed some lunch at Costa Vida (yummy!) and headed home and took great naps! This is a new thing for me-a daily nap with Nicky Duncan. It's our deal so that Nick gets a little refresher since he often has rough nights. I'm totally loving this arrangement. The excuse to nap? Awesome! Today was even more soothing with my new sound machine given to me by another amazing friend. Thanks!! I was able to sleep through dog yapping and lawn mowing and felt so refreshed. After I got up, I checked my e-mail and was amazed at the love! Wow! Thanks everyone!! I also got phone calls, hugs, presents, cards, texts, etc., etc. I really felt so loved. Thanks to everyone that made my day special!!
After being inspired by Phineas and Ferb-and a little instruction from my great friend-my kids and I headed outside to the beauty of the day where I was told "Feet up, princess!" and then got my own little Spa day from my kids. Skylar and Kade rubbed my feet and hands and Alexis sat on my back while Nick rubbed my neck. The weather was perfect and it was so enjoyable!!








The kiddos relaxing after all of their hard work making me feel great:When Ben got home we headed out to dinner. I chose Tucano's because I couldn't possibly pass up on my free birthday meal. It's really the only time we can afford to go there. It was so yummy and the kids loved it-they think salad bars are the coolest-go figure. I even let them do the whole embarrass you with the loud congo drum birthday song thing for the sake of my kids. Tucano's knows how to treat you well.We stopped by Iceberg on the way home to get my free birthday shake-free stuff is awesome! Then we headed home for cake and ice cream. Ben got me a chocolate chocolate chip Nothing Bundt Cake. Okay, so I've heard these are good, but really they deserve the term scrupmptious! Ooooo...so yummy and moist. We then opened some presents and finally got the kids to bed super late. Let's just say I was very spoiled. My hubby and kids are so great!! Thanks again everyone for making my ho-hum birthday actually pretty fantastic!!Oh, and yes, those candles do say 24. I'm not arguing with the candles. Candles are always right.

Friday, May 21, 2010

Happy Birthday Empire!

So it's pretty well known that Ben and I are super Star Wars nerds and today just happens to be the 30th Anniversary of the day that both of our favorites, Empire Strikes Back, came out. So tonight, as a family, we're watching it for movie night. I love this movie! It's got everything-comedy, tragedy, romance, action, drama, important lessons, awesome quotes, and....it's got Lando (swoon...that old smoothie). Even more so, I love that every one of my kids also love this movie. Skylar has all of her Princess Leia figures out on her lap, Nick has not stopped laughing since Yoda entered on the screen, Kade is totally intense about the bad guys (with his thumb plopped securely in his mouth), and Alexis has excitedly done a few "poppy" (popcorn) dances. Aren't times like this the best?

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Bubble Blowing

I ran across these really old pictures tonight and it made me laugh. Blowing bubbles with a straw is always a fascinating part of one of our Joy School units. It's pretty cool when it works:But terribly sad when it goes wrong and the bubbles go up the straw:Just look how totally little those two are. So cute.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Pick-me Up

So I've been having one of those days. You know, those kind. I'm just feeling a little perplexed with life and all. In trying to motivate myself to do something, I decided to actually attempt to clean my desk off and ran across a stack of sticky notes. When our kids say funny things, like they always seem to do, we try to write them down. I actually started a new blog awhile back dedicated to their funny sayings. I haven't been too good about putting them on there but I've got plenty of material and maybe every now and then I'll get to it. Anyway, those cute little sayings on sticky notes always bring a smile to my face and the one I posted today made me laugh out loud at the memory. I needed a little pick-me up today. Maybe you do too:
http://melovesyou2.blogspot.com/