Skater Boy

A few months ago, I got Jeremy some skater shoes from Target.  He was so excited to put them on because he said, "These are just like Noah's!  He can teach me how to skateboard."  Noah is our nephew, who Jeremy adores.  Last weekend, we got together to celebrate my sis-in-law's birthday, and it just so happened that our niece, Ashley, had brought her skateboard.  Noah quickly helped Jeremy gear up and they headed out to the driveway.

 How cute is our little skater?!

I was really expecting just to take a few pictures.  I really thought that he'd fall, cry, and give up within minutes. Well, he did fall off many times, but was quick to get right back on the skateboard.  Noah and Jason stood nearby, but he really wanted to try everything himself.  With the chilly weather and bumpy driveway, we convinced him to take the skateboard into the garage.  He practiced balancing while we gave little pushes, but then he wanted to practice kicking off on his own. He ended up consumed with the skateboard for about an hour.  I was so impressed by his balance, his determination, and his perseverance!  I'm wondering if I should look into getting a cheap skateboard on craigslist or if he'll quickly lose interest...

  

40th Birthday Cake

It was my sis-in-law's 40th birthday last weekend.  My mother-in-law wanted to make our family dinner extra special.  Wanting to help, I would've done almost anything.  Well, she asked me to make the cake.  I was on Spring Break and was thrilled to have the opportunity- I used it as a chance to work with fondant again.  I'm not skilled at it, so making a fondant cake takes me a loooong time.  Here's what I came up with- I tried to match it with the party goods my mother-in-law used (let's just say, the plate is "strategically-placed." Don't look too closely, lol).

Pink Thunder

We have been excited about the start of softball season! Last year, Grace played t-ball and had a fantastic experience. She loved it, and we loved watching her. This year, she is playing U-8. Her games are every Monday and Wednesday, and since the girls play 3 innings, we often don't get home until 7:30pm! With this age category, there is no more tee- basically, there are 3 pitches from the opposing team's pitcher, and then if needed, the coach pitches 2 more. 

We requested for Grace to have the same coach she had last year. There are many girls from last year's team on this year's team, as well. This has given us a chance to get reacquainted with some of the other families.  A few weeks ago, her league held a day of opening ceremonies. There was a carnival and each team played several times. Coach Larry put Grace in as a pitcher!

Jason went to him and explained that we have never practiced pitching with her. He was very confident that Grace would surprise us.  He was right and we were amazed!  We were definitely proud parents!  Pitch after pitch was spot on, though each could've used a little more speed. Coach Larry had her play pitcher again for their next game.  Jason has been practicing with her and she has been working hard.  The one thing that has been most inconsistent though is her batting. She is very determined to improve, and we have already seen so much improvement in just a mere few weeks- we are in store for a wonderful season of Pink Thunder softball!

Oh, Jeremy!

I always forget to write down funny things that our kids say.  Jeremy consistently cracks me up.  This post is mostly for my memory's sake! 

Mama's Boy
We were finishing up our dinner at Red Robin a few weeks ago.  The bill came out, and I told Jeremy, "You should pay for our meal tonight."  "I don't have any money!" he says.  "What would you buy me if you did have money?"  "I would buy you a ring and lots of jewelry."  "What would you buy daddy?"  He says, "Toothpaste!"  Jason and I started cracking up- HILARIOUS... and oh, so random!

Girl Scout Cookies
We drove by some girls who had set up a table to sell Girl Scout cookies.  Grace asked if we could stop to buy some.  I replied, "Actually, we bought a lot of boxes a few weeks ago, but daddy ate every single box."  Jeremy says, "What does a box taste like?"  "What?"  "You said that daddy ate the whole box.  What does a box taste like?"  I started laughing and tried to explain that I meant he ate everything IN the box.  So darn cute!
 

Future Volleyball Star

I played a lot of volleyball when I was younger, and over the years, Jason has coached a lot of volleyball teams through school.  We would LOVE for our kids to play this sport as they get older!  We jumped at the chance to sign up Grace for a volleyball clinic through Hoover High School these past few weeks.  What appealed to us is that since she's still young, the clinic focused on building skills.  There were no games and it took place once a week for 6 weeks.  Grace seemed to really enjoy herself, and we certainly enjoyed watching her. 

Everyone's Irish on St. Patrick's Day!

An occasion to hang out with friends, dress in green, eat good food (and drink Guinness)?!  Count us in! 

On Friday night, the kids and I baked some rainbow cupcakes to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.  Grace and I used to bake a lot- these days, life is just too hectic.  Friday night reminded me how I really need to do this more often with the kiddos!

We celebrated St. Patrick's Day with our friends, the Wiens and Brooks families. Aaron made a fantastic Irish dinner consisting of corned beef and cabbage, potatoes, and he even made Irish soda bread! For dessert, we had Guinness Chocolate Cake with Bailey's Buttercream Frosting and the kids enjoyed our rainbow cupcakes. 

I think these turned out pretty well! :)

The kids loved them, and that's all that really matters!

Such a fun evening- I think we should make it annual tradition!  Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Could've Done That for Free!

Jason typically takes Jeremy to get his hair cut, but I had to do it this time.  His hair was out of control!

We have always gone to Cool Cuts for Kids since they are very kid-friendly.  Well, the stylist we got this time around was new.  She asked what I wanted, and I told her we wanted a trim.  "We'd like it to be a little shorter."  I should've guessed that something was wrong when she got out the razor.  Just like that, she buzzed Jeremy's hair from the front to the back of his head in one motion.  My jaw must've dropped because she said, "Oh, was that shorter than what you were expecting?"  She switched the razor guard and somehow managed to make things worse because his hair was completely uneven.  I pointed it out, and after she examined her work, she excused herself.  A few minutes later, the manager came over.  She looked at the hair on the floor, looked at Jeremy's head and said, "O-kay. This is definitely short..."  She spent about a half hour trying to fix it and even it out.  I texted Jason, who responded with, "I could've done that for free!"  The stylist stayed in the back and didn't come out while we were there.  We ended up not having to pay for the haircut, and the manager gave us her card and assurances that we won't be paying for the next two haircuts.  Check out Jeremy's new haircut!   

Sick of it!

We are sick of it!  Sick of Jeremy getting sick!  It seems like it has been an ongoing cycle- Jeremy has gotten what seems like one ear infection after another.   In addition, his symptoms of runny nose and severe coughing have been magnified during specific times this past year.  We've had to make numerous visits to the doctor and to urgent care. We have struggled over this a lot, and Jason has ended up missing quite a few days of school to stay home with our sick son.  Part of the problem is also that his daycare refuses to administer any type of medications, including his asthma inhaler.  If you think this sounds outrageous, we totally agree!  We looked into the laws and asked several medical professionals who confirmed that this is in fact legal!  California allows daycares to opt out of administering meds.  So, every time that Jeremy goes into lengthy coughing spurts, they call Jason to come give Jeremy his inhaler.  Luckily, Jason's work isn't too far away, but it sure has been inconvenient, when all the daycare staff would have to do is give him two puffs of his inhaler!  We've heard the statistic that it only takes 7 years of living in Fresno for a person to develop major respiratory problems... Jeremy's only 4- how bad are things going to get for our poor boy?  We'd love prayers for Jeremy's health!

Some Positives

It has been a very, very tough year this year, and I have often found myself focusing on the negatives instead of the positives.  Well, I will confess that this post is mostly for me, about me.  In the midst of a lot of stress, I need to shine light on the following:

Odyssey of the Mind

I have been coaching 2 Odyssey of the Mind teams since Winter Break.  It has been extremely time-consuming and has definitely taken a toll on me.  I am so thankful for the support of one of my teacher colleagues, who helped me oversee one of the teams- the stress of coaching both teams was truly difficult to manage.  Well, the regional competition took place on Feb. 18 and one of my teams advanced to the State Finals that will be held in Brentwood on March 31.  I was actually half-hoping that this would all be done with by now, but we'll need to continue with this until the state finals.  Wish us luck- it would be nice to be rewarded for all of the hard work that has been put into this competition.

Science Fair

I believe that I am one of the few 5th grade teachers in our district who actually teaches and uses class time to teach my students about the scientific method.  Many teachers just give their students the information and assign for the work to be done at home.  Many of my students don't have the support they'd need from their families to know how to do these Science Fair projects.  Well, the hard work paid off!  At our District Science Fair, I had one student take 1st place and another student take 2nd place!  This is the 2nd year that one of my students has won 1st place at the District Science Fair!

I am incredibly proud that I got to be the teacher who guided these students to achieve these amazing accomplishments.    

Merry Christmas to Me!

This past Christmas, I told Jason that I didn't want any "tangible" gifts.  Instead, I wanted for him to finish up some projects that we've been wanting to do for the last few years and have never had time to do.  I didn't even need for the projects to be done by Christmas- just the promise that they'd be done this year.  Well, unlike some projects that have taken much (much) longer, my Christmas gifts were done by Feb.!!  I was only expecting one and Jason completed two!  I am so excited to share... 

Project 1:
We got this bench and shelf many years ago.  We got it in red, the accent color of our kitchen/family area.  Well, since then, we remodeled our home and the "look" in that area is now more greens and browns.  I felt that the red shelf/bench against our green walls looked too Christmas-y.  I've been wanting to paint them brown for years but have been too busy to commit to doing it.  Well, here's my "new" bench/shelf!

Project 2:

In our front room (aka the kids' playroom), we have bookcases filled with books, kids' toys, kids' supplies, random boxes, our piano, filing cabinets, etc.  Jason and I have been talking for a really long time about what we could do to try to unclutter the room.  For my 2nd gift, Jason decided to install "built-in" floor-to-ceiling bookcases along one of the walls. 

First, Jason drove to Ikea in Emeryville to purchase the bookcases.  Here's our compact Rav-4!  I can't believe that all of this fit in our car!  (A first- Jason removed all the seats except the driver's seat!)  

Jason worked on our bookcases a little bit each day.  It was hard work, especially since our walls are not as straight as you'd think a wall should be.  He even threw out his back during the process! 

Well, on one of his furlough days, Jason called to let me know that he had finished the bookcases.  This is what I came home to:

I LOVE IT!  It was a surprise that Jason also decided to get a T.V.  Would that be considered part of my Christmas gift or would that be considered Jason's gift to himself?! 

Thanks, Babe, for my amazing Christmas gifts- they mean so much to me because I know how hard you worked on them.  What a gift of love- I love you so incredibly much!

3-Day Weekend

We've had a very warm winter- we couldn't believe how beautiful the weather was this past weekend, so we definitely had to take advantage of it.  We had gotten a Groupon for the kids earlier this year and it was about to expire.  We met up with some friends and it turned into a pretty fantastic day!  If only every weekend was a 3-day weekend!



Happy Valentine's Day!