Final Lesson

Last night the kids had their final swim lesson. I don't know how much they learned, but they sure had a good time. They love being in the water. They always wait anxiously for their turn to get in.

Isabelle even went down the slide without any protesting

And they made some mean "ice cream scoops" in the water. But they are still attached to the "bubbles" and the noodles. Hopefully, next time they will be challenged just a little more...but at least they had a good time!

The Greatest Show on Earth

Every year the Ringling Brothers circus comes to town to do a show. We NEVER miss it. We have been every year for the last four years! They really do put on a pretty amazing show!

This year, we didn't tell the kids that we were going. We just started driving. As we reached downtown, Ian started recognizing things. He asked us, "Are we going to THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH?" (that is their own slogan...not just his thoughts) He was right. What he didn't' realize was that our best friends were following right behind us to go to the show too!

Unfortunately, the traffic was terrible. As we sat outside the arena waiting to get into a parking lot or garage, David got nominated to get out of the car and take all EIGHT kids into the circus so that they didn't miss anything! Deer in the headlights doesn't even begin to explain it...but he is a team player and he didn't disappoint! In fact, he took all the kids in AND got them all pottied before they found their seats! I was totally impressed!

By the time Debbie and I had parked, the show had started and the kids were watching so intently!

I was happy to see that we didn't miss all of the elephants performance! I love the elephants!
Mike and Debbie got suckered into spending half of the kids' college fund on cotton candy...but at least they got this adorable hat! (Sorry for the pic Deb, but I couldn't not put my favorite clown on here!)
Isabelle and Kolby enjoyed the little horses. Isabelle perked right up as soon as she heard the My Little Pony theme song being played.
The tigers were a big hit with the kids too! They seem so sweet behind that cage. Isabelle informed me that she doesn't think that they would hurt her if she were to go in the cage. We decided not to test that theory this time...maybe another day.
All in all...it was a great time had by all! I hope we still get to see them when we move!
It was OVER THE TOP!

The ick

It is living among us...the flu, that is. I am not talking about some random stomach bug, but the real, live influenza.

Isabelle started complaining about a sore throat on Friday and by Sunday was running a pretty high fever. I took her into the Dr. yesterday, fully expecting a strep diagnosis. When that came back negative I was almost disappointed. I knew she didn't feel well and I didn't want the whole, "wait three weeks and come back if she still isn't better." Instead they told me they were going to swab her to test for flu. The test normally takes 10 minutes to give a result, but hers was positive in 3. So she is on some meds now and should be able to get back to school on Thursday.

The good news is that I took Ian in this morning to have him tested and he was negative. He has been given a preventative treatment to help prevent it since they spend so much time together.

So off I go to lysol and clorox everything I can...ick!

A Sweet Celebration

On Tuesday, Isabelle got to have her delayed Valentine's party at school. They read a cute story...

Enjoyed some yummy snacks

and shared a little love with each other!
(You can see that Isabelle was loving her cookie a little more than picture time!)

Birthday Bash

Remember how you always used to look at your parents and dream of how you were going to do things differently when you were the parent? Don't get me wrong. I love my parents and I think they did a pretty darn good job of parenting...but we all know the things that our parents said that we weren't going to say, or the things that they made us do that we swore we would never make our children do.

Well, here I am all grown up...okay more grown up...and some of those things I am starting to understand. I do a lot of things very differently than my parents ever did. But I have adopted a lot of things from them also! One such thing is the birthday party rule. When we were growing up we didn't get big blowout birthday parties every year. We were able to do something every other year. Even so, it was usually a sleepover or something reasonably inexpensive. I didn't seemed too bothered by it growing up, but once I had Ian, I knew there was no way I could not have a birthday party for him each and every year. And why couldn't it be a big production.

So it started with his first birthday party. It was at our house with every friend we had in Charleston! Our house was jam packed full of people and the table was overflowing with food. We had a firetruck theme with big "1"s on the side of the truck (in case anyone forgot that it was his first birthday.) We even convinced the volunteer fire department down the road to come by and show their truck to the kids during the party. We even had a firetruck pinata! It was a pretty cool party...until you start to think about it a little harder. We had all these people...that Ian barely knew. We had all this food...that Ian didn't eat. We had a real live firetruck in our front yard...that Ian doesn't remember. We had a firetruck pinata...that Ian wasn't big enough to hit! I soon realized that I didn't throw a birthday party for Ian...he couldn't have cared less! I think he had a great time, but he would have been thrilled with one new toy and the wrapping paper it came in.

So, suddenly I understood my parents just a little bit more.

For most of his birthday celebrations we have been at home with our closest friends, enjoying homemade food and eating yummy cake. He has always had a great time. One time we ventured out to Chuck E Cheese for a party, but I am pretty sure that will be a once in a lifetime event. Way too much money...way too much noise...or maybe it just lost its birthday appeal because I had to do one too many birthday parties when I worked there as a teenager.

This year, however, we decided to let Ian pick what he wanted to do for his birthday. It is the last year that we will be in Virginia for his birthday since we expect to move in the next four or five months. So, we let him choose. He opted for a party At The Hop. It is an indoor inflateable park that you rent out for just your party! We were able to get a SUPER deal on it and the kids had a wonderful time!

The kids jumped, climbed, went down the slides, sang karaoke and played dress up!


This is the little meeting in the back of the jumphouse to plot their next move.
There was lots of running and chasing.
Pizza and cupcakes were enjoyed by all!



We surprised Ian with cupcakes that had autobot and decepticon rings on the top!

There was wonderful blue and red icing enjoyed!
Isabelle especially enjoyed the dressup trunk!

The boys seemed to really get into the present time! Legos were definitely the big hit of this year. Transformers took a very close second place!

All in all, it was a good time had by all. David and I even got in on the jumping and sliding fun! I am sure next year will be back to a simple celebration at our house, but I am glad we did it big this year! And this time, Ian was even capable of enjoying the entertainment!

Happy birthday big guy! WE love you!

Valentine's Goodies

I know these are hard to see. This picture almost reminds me of one of those pictures that you would get in school and you would have to figure out what it was. Do you remember those? They would zoom in on the most random thing...to the point that it was hard to figure out what it was that you were looking at.

Anyway...enough of that. This is a picture of the melted crayon hearts that we made to put on the kids' valentines this year. We have what seems to be an endless supply of broken crayons it seems. We decided to put them to good use this year! We peeled the paper off of all of them, broke them into little pieces and filled a little heart shaped mini muffin pan with them. Just a few minutes in the oven melted them right down and once they cooled, they were adorable little crayons! The kids thought it was so much fun to do!


After all of our crayon melting and valentine making activities, we all crawled in bed to the sound of rain falling outside. It was nice. What wasn't so nice was the fact that sometime during the night, that rain turned to snow. It wasn't much, but you have to understand that I live in Virginia where people can't even drive in rain. Who am I kidding? They can't drive in perfect weather!!! So as we started our morning routine on Valentine's day, I just happened to hear a mention of snow in the weather report and then looked up to see the school delays scrolling across the bottom of the tv screen.

Delays don't affect Ian's school really. He is in afternoon kindergarten, so the roads are clear and there are no worries for him. Isabelle, however, is greatly affected. Her school is only 3 hours long in the mornings. SO, if they have a two hour delay on the city schools, her school is then closed for the day. Therefore, I got the wonderful duty of explaining to her that she now had to wait until Tuesday to have her Valentine party. All in all she took it quite well. Especially when I told her that I was going to take her with me to Ian's classroom party!

So that brings us to his party. As we arrived, they had started passing out their valentines. They seemed to really enjoy it! Then they found a special spot in the room where they could look through all their valentines.

Isabelle was thrilled when she was invited to sit down with Ian for some snacks! Food is her love language!
This is one of Ian's best buddies in class, Brennan. Brennan always has a secret.
After snacks we stayed for centers. We played a lot of playdoh!
And, apparently this is Isabelle's look of concentration. Remember Ian sticks his tongue out? She just opts for the open mouth. Funny girl!

Compassion

Okay...no pictures or words from me right now, but if you want something that will grip your heart and callenge you to your soul, you NEED to read some of these blogs! These people were selected to travel to Uganda with Compassion International and to blog about their time there. If you have a minutes (or a few) you should take a look!

Compassion Blogging Team

My Favorites:

Shannon

Sophie

Fashion Show with PURSE-onality

I have been busy sewing the past couple weeks. It has been exhausting, but it has been for a good cause!



I was contacted a couple weeks ago by Life Network in Colorado Springs. It turns out that they had heard through the grapevine about Kimberlee Faith bags and they were interested in featuring them in a fashion show that they were putting on as a fundraiser! I was more than willing to oblige for such a wonderful cause. All of the bags will be in the fashion show and then will be auctioned off at the end of the show! I don't necessarily expect this to be my ticket to the big time fashion world, but it is still VERY exciting! Unfortunately, I will not be able to be there, but my mom has volunteered to go in my place and represent me!



Here are some of the bags that I have been working on:

Diaper Bag

Mother/Daughter Bags Medium City Bag
Medium Bucket Bag
Messenger Bag

I am praying that this will be a wonderful event for the group and that they are able to raise some much needed funds!

A good chuckle

If you want something to make you laugh...check this out! You will have to get to picture number 21, but then you will understand. That is, if you know my husband!

You see, in December, David was named the USS Theodore Roosevelt Sailor of the Year!!! It is a pretty prestigious title and has brought him many wonderful opportunities! The latest of these opportunities took place while he was out to sea earlier this month. They were gone during the Super Bowl, so the ship put on quite a party for them. David was the lucky fellow in charge of escorting the Miami Dolphin cheerleaders around the ship for two days! You will only see him in that one picture in the slideshow, but he was right with them the whole time (he does his best to avoid cameras!). His main job during the game was CROWD CONTROL! Who would have guessed that the Dolphin's cheerleaders would be attacked for autographs when they really had nothing to do with the Super Bowl this year! And even more importantly...who would have put David in charge of crowd control??? Luckily, he survived and it sure has made for some funny stories!

Birthday Fun

Isabelle and I got to take cupcakes and balloons into Ian's class to celebrate his birthday. We showed up a few minutes early and Isabelle pulled a chair right up next to her big brother to help him finish his math lesson! She loved being one of the big kids!

When the math lesson was done, Ian's teacher pulled him up in front of the whole class and we sang Happy Birthday to him, then he got to hand out cupcakes to all of his friends!

Ian wouldn't miss an opportunity to entertain! He made sure everyone saw his icing covered face!

We stayed long through the end of the school day and Ian got to show me how well he does on the monkey bars at school!

I think Isabelle's theme song should be "Anything you can do, I can do better!" She is never going to miss an opportunity to be just like her brother!

Many of the kids thought that Isabelle was the most exciting thing on the playground to play with! The followed her, called to her, chased her, baby-talked to her and mostly crowded around her. Here is her hero, Ian, rescuing her from a group of kids where he could see that she was uncomfortable. (She was more than happy to be carried away!) This was no easy task for him. He thinks he is so big, but she is sure catching up to him in height!

What a good big brother he is!

At the end of the day, the kids have a chance to share jokes, songs, or talents. Ian and Isabelle were in their element telling Knock-Knock jokes (the kind of jokes that make absolutely no sense at all, but all the kids laugh histerically!) It was pretty cute. Happy Birthday!

Six

Do you notice anything different? Look really close? Are you sure???? He may not look much different to you, but if you ask him, Ian will tell you that he got a little taller yesterday. Why, you ask? Because yesterday was his sixth birthday! Unbelievable if you ask me! He is turning into such a little man!



Here is a picture of Ian when he was one week old. He weighed all of 7 1/2 pounds and he curled up so tightly on my chest. Just thinking of it, I can remember the smell of his little baby head as I held him. He was so little, so precious and so mine. When we went to get this picture taken, David lifted him above his head and flew him around like a little miniature airplane! It scared me and I remember giving David a hard time about it, but now I would love to have him small enough to lift above my head and pretend he is an airplane. He is far too big for that anymore!

This was a picture of Ian at one year. He had accomplished all the major milestones so far. He was now walking and climbing and had developed such a gentle, loving personality. He loved to read books and sing songs. He still gave kisses with a wide open mouth and called from his crib every morning when he woke up, with a giant smile and open arms!

At two years of age Ian was settling into a new home in a new city and enjoying what would be his final months of being an only child. Little did he know how his life would change in the next year! He now slept in a big boy bed, learned to use the big potty and became Mommy's big helper as a big brother!

What a handsome little man, huh? At three, Ian continued to develop into a precious little man. He started preschool and even got to act as the "man of the house" when Daddy was deployed! He learned to write his name and loved to draw pictures for Daddy! His sweet hugs and kisses and unconditional love kept me going too! He has always been an excellent brother, ready to comfort or entertain his sister whenever needed!

At four, Ian started playing soccer, excelled in preschool and had his first sleep over with his best friend, Jayden! He also became the biggest Buzz Lightyear fan known to man! He lived in his Buzz costume the majority of the year and kept us all laughing!

At five, Ian finished preschool and started Kindergarten. He continued soccer and discovered a love for Transformers, legos and reading! His passion for learning is undeniable. He is a social little man and enjoys any time with friends.
Now we are facing YEAR 6!!! It is so hard to believe. Thinking about all that he has accomplished over the past years, I look forward to what is to come. Of course, I would love to hold that tiny little bundle on my chest again, but I am happy that he still loves to cuddle. I would love to see the little hands that used to wrap, just barely, around just one of my fingers, but I am thankful that his hand holds mine as he trusts me to lead him through life. I would love to see those precious baby feet that were so small in the palm of my hand, but I look forward seeing the plan that God has for those feet and where they will take him in life. I know we have many adventures ahead of us in the years to come, I am just so glad that God blessed us with this little man in our lives to join us on our journey! He is a true blessing and I couldn't imagine my life without him!

Happy birthday Ian, we love you!