Writing to Remember

Monday

Scrappy Caps.  This thing about did me in.  But apparently, Jaxson's class is reading a book and they need to make a scrappy cap to use their "imagination" when they are reading the story.  Which really means that the parents have to be crafty and come up with something-quick!  Jaxson decided on a Star Wars theme (shocker!) and chose Dagobah which is Yoda's swampy home.  I stapled some leaves to the hat and some figures of the characters.  And for good measure-Luke's X-Wing that was stuck in the swamp. Add couple of lightsabers that were really glow sticks and....voila!  Done.  And Jax was very happy!

Tuesday

Justin had to go to Little Rock to deal with the car business.  While there he went to Starbucks and found out this deal was happening.  Yes!  I miss having my Apple Music so this will kinda be the same thing.  Especially when Julie will request songs from the radio and I have to explain to her over and over again that the radio just plays the songs.  I can't chose them.

Wednesday

There is a lot of germs going around the preschool.  Which makes me thankful for it being the second to last week of having to be there.  I ended up with an old fashioned cold.  Man, I felt terrible.  I stayed home from Wednesday night church to take care of myself.

Thursday

Muffins for Mom at the preschool!  This was our photo booth picture.

Friday

I was still recovering from my cold.  Which makes me sound like a baby.  But it really got me good. I ran a couple of errands and parked myself on the couch and enjoyed my day off.

Saturday

The Compassion Experience was in our town and I really wanted to see it. (It's basically a recreation of what a child's life is like in extreme poverty.  Compassion helps get those children sponsors so they have adequate medical care, food, and education.)  I also wanted to take Jaxson so he could see how other kids lived in other countries.  We ended up all going and Julie wanted to see it too.  Well, we went to the first child's story (An actual true story of a real child!) and it was based in Africa and the little boy had to go to jail for stealing.  Poor Julie started crying because she got scared.  It really wasn't scary, but to her it was.  So Justin held her and the boy's story did get much brighter-once he was sponsored. Afterwards, Jaxson and I went to the little girl's story while Justin and Julie went to the car.  We really enjoyed it and it helped open Jaxson's eyes to see that these children didn't have much and lived in very tiny homes.  His bedroom is bigger than the homes these children lived in with their families!  Jaxson asked a lot of questions about that afterwards.  Julie wouldn't talk about her.  She may need therapy after all that.  (Sheesh.)

Sunday

Happy Mother's Day!  Also, stomach bugs are the worst.

Jaxson had his awards assembly today.  And he was very proud of his awards!  He got the Super Star award (no tickets) and the Silver Award for all A's and B's. 

Unfortunately, he did not get his Perfect Attendance award.  He woke up with the stomach bug one day this past quarter and threw up right before school.  He was very upset that I still wouldn't send him to school in his condition that morning!  

Shocking, I know. 

Tonight, while Julie was supposed to be in bed sleeping, she was actually playing a memory card game with Pink Panda.  (Pink Panda is one of her very nearest and dearest stuffed animals.)  And Julie was losing to her panda!  After I caught her playing instead of sleeping, she told me that Pink Panda was winning and that "Pink Panda is just beating me up!" 

It was too cute not to correct her!  I just had to laugh.  And sadly, Julie lost to Pink Panda two times in a row.  She just couldn't believe it and neither could I!

This past weekend was so gorgeous out!  We decided to take the kids fishing and see if we had any luck. 

Even Julie wanted to try it out!

Just waiting, and waiting, and waiting.......

While we were waiting, a bunch of ducks came over to us and were extremely friendly.  They quacked and ducked in and out of the water.  Julie was in awe over them.  I wish we would have brought some bread for them.  I'm sure they were a little disappointed in us.

And finally the kids' patience was done with fishing and we headed to the playground.  Jaxson was very proud of himself for climbing to the top of the rocket ship.  It is pretty tall.  Poor Julie tried to keep up but got a little scared.  She tried the first level and got a little freaked out.  She climbed back down.  Then she mustered up the courage and tried again and made it to the second level.  But then she had to get down again.  She tried one last time and she made it to the third level.  There, she was convinced she was stuck so I had to coach her back down.  After she was on the ground (and safe!) she told me that she will wait until she is 6 years old until she tries that again. 

It was a fun little morning adventure.  We did not catch any fish and I was secretly glad because I didn't want to deal with the whole mess of cleaning them up!

It's that time in Cub Scouts-the Pinewood Derby!  This is the first year that Jaxson has participated in it and he was pretty excited. Of course we pulled up some youtube videos to see any tricks to making the car fast. Btw-there are, but some people get really serious and we just weren't ready for that kind of investment!  Yikes!

So Justin and Jaxson put the car together and they probably put a total of 40-60 minutes. Jaxson painted the car in a Star Wars theme and it was ready to race.

At the Pack Pinewood Derby, Jaxson's car held up great!  It actually beat some cars and much to my surprise he got second place!  He was so happy and we were too, just because there were some fancy cars. But it seemed the fancier the car the slower it would go. 

Yesterday we went to the District Pinewood Derby. Now, we warned Jaxson that there will be a lot of cars there and not to expect a trophy. And again, his little car won some rounds! 

 He ended up racing several rounds, but didn't end up placing. But he had fun and was happy with a participant's ribbon. 

Then last night Jaxson showed me that he made a Pinewood Derby track in his room and he was racing cars. It's actually pretty smart because he modeled it off the track they used yesterday. So he's been racing cars all night and getting Julie involved. Funny how in his pretend derby he always wins first place.....

Hello 2016.  I guess it's time acknowledge that another year has gone by. 

Jaxson is very proud to be in Cub Scouts.  He joined last year and was a Tiger Cub.  This year he is a Wolf!  A lot of his friends have joined and he just loves it.

We finally bought the Wolf part of his uniform.  Each year we have to swap out the hat and the neckerchief.  And he was so happy to have all of it put together.  So happy, in fact, that he was taking a bunch of selfies on the iPad with different faces!

Who taught him this?  Is this just something ingrained in the younger generations?  I told him how we didn't have internet when I was a kid and that just astounded him.  And his teacher told him that phones used to be hooked to walls....how medieval!

Anyways, this weekend we had a car wash to earn money for the troop.  It was a little cold and windy, but those boys worked hard!  And there was always a constant line of cars just waiting to be washed.  It was amazing.  In the end, we earned a bunch of money for the pack to buy awards the scouts will be earning later this year.  And while he was tired of washing cars, I think he enjoyed hanging out with his friends and getting all soapy!

(And notice all us parents had to join in to get the tops and bottoms of cars!  There was always a spot that was missed!)

Well, we had an ice day over a week ago.  And now we had snow!  We got out of school on Monday around 1pm and haven't been back since.  I guess February is giving us a taste of what winter should really be like!  I don't mind it though. Even if we will be going to school until July 4th!  Ha!

This was the most perfect snow ever.  Fluffy, wet, and easy to make snowballs with!

And snow angels!

The kids each had to make their own snowmen.  They were really proud of them!

It was a fun day.  I enjoyed sleeping and watching some daytime TV.  I never do that.  But when you can't go anywhere or do anything, I can justify watching Dr. Oz and Jeopardy.  I had fun playing outside with the kids.  It was great because once we got cold, we came inside for some hot chocolate!

We woke up to sleet and freezing rain this morning.  This ice storm had been hyped up all week and you just never know if what they forecast is really going to happen.  

So when the kids woke up this morning, they were so happy to see snow!  They couldn't wait to build a snowman.  I had to bring down their hopes a bit by letting them know it was sleet and ice-not snow. 

But you know what?  Jax didn't mind at all that is was ice.  In fact, he enjoyed sliding around and hunting for big icicles.

The kids begged that Justin and I go out, so we promised we would after lunch.  But brrr....it was so cold!  Ice was everywhere. 

My poor plants:

The swingset:

And the trees-boy were the tree branches heavy with ice!

And poor Julie.  She wanted to play outside.  She wanted to like the ice and enjoy it like Jaxson did.  But it was just too cold and too wet.  And when her boots somehow got ice in them and her mittens were a little wet-she gave up and went inside where it was warm.  I don't blame her cause I followed along right after her!

It's been a long time since I've done a day in the life post.  I figured today would be as good as any-so here we go!

6:29am  My alarm goes off and I totally snooze it in my sleep.

6:30am  My second alarm goes off and again I sleep-snooze it.

6:40am I finally realize that I NEED TO GET UP!

7:30am I'm dressed and ready for the day.  I get the kids breakfast while I work on getting all of us ready for school.

8:00am Justin takes Jax to school.

8:20am Julie and I leave for school.

By 8:30am, I'm working in my classroom while Julie is running around and playing at the preschool playroom.

9:00am  The preschool doors are unlocked and we are ready for our students!  It's letter C week and I have all sorts of crafts for my two year olds.

12:20pm  School is done for the day.  Whew, the two year olds wore me out, yet again!  They sure are cute, but sometimes it's like herding cats when I need to transition them to the playroom or to the music/art room.

Julie and I come home and eat lunch.  We run boring errands such as the grocery store and the library.  But when we come home, Julie and I practice her Bible verses for Awana tonight.

In case you didn't catch all of that with her hopping, skipping, and falling-here are the Bible verses she was talking about

God loves us and sent his Son. 1 John 4:10

All have sinned. Romans 3:23

While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

For God created all things.  Revelation 4:11

I'm super impressed with her.  Awana has this app for the iPhone that sings the Bible verses.  She loves this app and sings along with it all the time.  

Afterwards, it was time to play.  Every day she asks me to play with her.  And while playing Lalaloopsies is really not on the top of my list, I somehow get roped into it.

Lalaloopsies is very messy.

3:30pm Luckily, I'm saved by the bus!  Jaxson's bus to be more specific!

Isn't it nice that he is dropped off right in front of the driveway?  When I was a kid my bus dropped me off at the very bottom of the street and I had to walk UPHILL all the way to my house.  Which was the very last house on the street.  In 5 feet of snow.  Without snow boots or a jacket.

Oh, I kid.  But seriously.  It was a steep uphill 10-15 minute walk.  Kids these days have it too easy.

After Jax has his snack it's homework time!  Specifically, reading a book, practicing reading words, and spelling words.  Ugh.  I hate homework.

4:15pm  After his homework, I make some sugar cookies to take to the preschool tomorrow for them to decorate.  C is for cookie, you know!

Julie paints while reminding me that she is starving for dinner.

5:00pm We eat dinner.  I just heated up leftovers from last night.  I try to make more on Tuesdays so I don't have to cook on Wednesday with Justin being at the church for dinner and Bible Study and the kids heading off to Awana.

After dinner, the kids sit down with the iPad and watch a movie on it.

6:00pm Jamin picks them up for Awana.

I work on planning the next Cub Scout Den meeting, my lesson plans for tomorrow, and my Sunday School lesson.  I'm in a season of having to be really organized or else I will forget something.

8:30pm  Jax and Julie come back home. I get them in the shower/bath and ready for bed.

9:00pm Bedtime for the kids!

I try and relax but really I just want to go to bed too.  I get so tired around this time!

Here is the Week in the 2012 that I did.  Jax and Julie are so tiny and cute!!!

After our summer cold spell, we are having some nice warm days and we decided to head to the new Aquatic Park to check it out.  This place was great!  They had a toddler water play area, a big train to climb all over, lots of slides, and a lazy river.

While we were all in the lazy river, Jax was bumped by one of the tubes while wiggling his very, very, very loose tooth and out it came!  He was so excited that he has now lost teeth at school and at the pool!

We were enjoying a yummy watermelon slushie.  

We had a great time today and it was a great day to spend it at the pool.  I loved the lazy river the most-for obvious reasons.  Nothing like floating in a circle!