Friends

Today I got the wonderful chance to spend a day with my dear friends, Shannon and Kimberly. Shannon has been surprised by the pregnancy of a fourth child. Since she has given away all of her baby items, her girlfriends were giving her a shower. Kimberly and I traveled up to spend the day with Shannon. Before kids, Shannon, Kimberly and I would hang out together, share first pregnancy struggles, pray for each other, cry with each other, laugh with and at each other, etc.

Nine years later.....

Shannon is about to have her 4th, Kimberly has 4 and I have 5. We still stay in touch, but the "Girl Time" is non-existent. It was wonderful to be able to have a day without my kids (even though it was way out of my comfort zone to do such a thing). I left the house at 10 this morning and just got home at 8 to be able to kiss the kids goodnight and rescue my exhausted husband.

6th picture in 6th folder

My friend, Moriah, is a blogging expert and is always giving ideas for the days blog. Today she suggested an explanation of the 6th picture in your 6th folder.





And the winner is................

This is my Grandpa J with Capps. It is October 2006. We are at the Buddy Walk (for Down Syndrome Society). I was pregnant with Mac and couldn't actually go on the walk (too uncomfortable) so I stayed back with Grandpa J and Capps. The picture quality isn't great because it is a picture I scanned in for another project.

Thanks Moriah!

NASCAR Fantasy League

Yes, I said NASCAR. I have never played sports, although I think I would have enjoyed playing if spectators were not involved. Jason is sure I would have been a good athlete, but I have terrible fear of being "in front" of people that I never tried to play anything. I really think I would have enjoyed track and possibly tennis, maybe even soccer since it was the 'family sport'.

I digress.

Back to NASCAR. I love sports! I'm a huge NFL fan. I've cheered for the Dallas Cowboys as long as I've been involved with NFL. I actually started to cheer for them as the underdog in 1989 (I think that was the year?) when they were 1-15. That was my 7th grade year and by my senior year they were winning Super Bowls. Jason liked College Football when we got married, but I 've gotten him into the NFL world (although he is not a Cowboys fan!). We enjoy football games all weekend long throughout the Fall. I also am a huge NHL fan, that is hockey for those of you that have no idea. Jason said it was a yankee sport (Dad from New Jersey, Mom from Pennsylvania), but he has slowly gotten into that also. Unfortunately, here in the South you don't get to see a lot of games if you don't have cable, but we cheer in our hearts. We are Colorado Avalanche fans!

I digress.

Back to NASCAR. Now I have convinced Jason to watch NASCAR. I'm a Kyle Busch fan. I guess you love him or hate him, but hey, he drives the M&M car, what is there not to like? [I'm a Scott Dixon fan for Indy races because he drives the Target car] The first NASCAR race was a few weeks ago and Jason and I got involved in a fantasy league with some friends that we recently found out also liked NASCAR. You pick four drivers each week and get points depending on their ranking at the end of the race. There are more rules than that, but I won't bore you with them. My race today was going well. My four guys were 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 8th (out of 40+ cars in case you don't know) for much of the race. I was feeling good. The guy I'm most interested in beating (Jeremy Armao) in the league had two of his guys' engines die so they were out of the race. YIPPEE for me! My guys ended up 6th, 7th, 8th and 24th and I'm waiting for them to post the scores.

I love sports! Maybe my way of picking who I cheer for is unconventional, but Kyle Busch won today (even though I wasn't able to pick him in my fantasy league and Jason was - UGH!).

..............................Ok, they rankings are posted, out of 19 guys, I'm #5, but I'm ahead of Jeremy!

and if you are interested, Jason is #1 - beginner's luck!

A Child's Perspective

We usually eat dinner at church on Wednesdays, but last week I had a headache, Mac hadn't taken a nap and, well, we just weren't motivated to go. To avoid thinking of something for dinner, I headed out to get some smoked chicken for sandwiches. On my way to our regular barbecue place I saw another place that was much closer to our house. I decided to try it. I just ordered 1 lb. like I normally would and it ended up being a little more expensive than I had expected. Tavis was with me and when I commented, "This better be good since it cost more", Tavis said, "Of course it will be better mom. When you buy a cheap toy it always breaks right away, but the more expensive toys are always better. So, if this chicken is more money it will definitely be better." Oh, kids!

Thankfully, he was right and we have found ourselves a new barbecue place!

Unemployed = "Family Fun"

OK, maybe not really unemployed, but Jason's work is slow (actually there is nothing on the schedule right now). Working in new construction in the economy right now is going to make for an interesting year.

Today we just tried to enjoy Daddy being home, rather than worry about it. Our Children's Museum Membership is about to run out and the big kids were out of school, so we took a long morning with my brother, Philip's, family to go to the Museum and enjoy the beautiful weather at the park for a picnic lunch.

Valentine's Day Parties

I vividly remember in elementary school I missed a lot of Valentine Parties. It seemed to be the time of year I always got sick. I always had my cards filled out a week in advance and then I'd have to send them with a sibling to get my teacher to hand them out. Obviously, it has scarred me deeply. :)

Today was a half day for the kids and then there is no school tomorrow. Therefore, the Valentine's Parties were today. I am Room Mom for Mollee's 2nd grade class so I have missed Tavis' other parties (Fall and Christmas) since they are always at the same time and it would be rude for the person in charge not to show up. This time they were at different times and I was so glad I got to go. Tavis was so excited to have me there and wanted me to sit with him during each activity, it was nice for him to be so excited I was there. Here he is playing "H-E-A-R-T" (not Bingo!) with his best buddy Chase.


Mollee's party was also full of excitement (she has a very "excited" class). Here she is trying to win a contest stacking the most hearts.

It was a good (but very busy) day. Just like when I was young I've been a little "under the weather" the past week, but I made it through two parties, took the kids home, took a nap, and headed back to school for Parent/Teacher Conferences. Needless to say, Little Caesars cooked dinner tonight!

Winter Carnival

Each year in February, the school has a Winter Carnival. My childern have learned to look forward to it. To them the carnival means, inflatable obstacle courses. To me, carnival means cotton candy!

The theme this year was "Under Construction!" Below is Mac enjoying a lollipop and Tavis modeling the hats that were given out.

Here are the kids "in jail"