Monday, May 18, 2009

Our Olympian

We have a little Olympian on our hands or at the very least a confident little girl that loves to perform! She came out ready to lead everyone in the ribbon dance and was the first to volunteer to do her solo routine. She did a forward roll, a bridge up and many more gymnasticy things! After her solo performance she ran up to me and gave me a big hug - she was so proud of herself (and mommy was pretty proud too!) At the end all the kids got a medal - very exciting. She definitely gets the award for the most supporters - mommy, daddy, Aidan, mama Judy, papa Renny, Aunt Alisa, Aunt Anne and Uncle Jerry were all in attendance - thank you to everyone that attended. Enjoy the pictures!


The Opening Ceremony

The Floor Routine

The Beam

Receiving the Gold Medal

All the Olympians


Lauren and Will


Showing daddy and Aidan her medal


Things to do in 2009

If you know me, you know I never get anything done unless I make a list! So, there are so many things I want to do with the kids and then on the weekends I never make it a priority. So here is a working list of the things I'd like to accomplish with each of the kids in 2009. I will change the text to green once we've completed an item.

Things to do with Lauren in 2009
  1. Go to the zoo
  2. Visit a farm
  3. Learn to swing
  4. Try ice skating
  5. Go sledding
  6. Make a snow man
  7. Blow bubbles - we do this lots!
  8. Grow her own vegetables - we're growing lettuce, strawberries and tomatoes this summer!
  9. Have a pillow fight
  10. Jump in a bounce house (bounce day at summer camp)
  11. Have a campout
  12. Build a sandcastle (Memorial Day at Mark Twain Lake)
  13. Go fishing
  14. Go out on a boat
  15. Participate in the summer reading program at the library (we've joined!)
  16. Carve a pumpkin
  17. Bake cookies
  18. Help plan her birthday party - Princesses!
  19. Join a sports team
  20. Learn to swim
  21. Pick flowers - she picked some beautiful flowers with mama Jane last week
  22. Roast marshmallows (Memorial Day)
  23. Learn to write her name
  24. Watch fireworks
  25. Have a dance party
  26. Invite friends over to play
  27. Learn to ride a bike (or try!)
  28. Pick apples
  29. Have a birthday party with friends
  30. Visit the Butterfly House
  31. Go to a Cardinals game
  32. Go to a Blues game - March 15
  33. Try a dance class - she's currently taking beginner ballet, tap and acro at St. Peters Academy of Dance
  34. Dye Easter Eggs
  35. Go to a parade - St. Patrick's Day in Cottleville
  36. Spend the night at mama's
  37. Go to a pumpkin patch
  38. Go trick or treating
  39. Go to the Magic House
  40. Spend a whole day with just mommy
  41. Spend a whole day with just daddy
  42. Go see a movie
  43. Go to Six Flags
Things to do with Aidan in 2009
  1. Go to the zoo
  2. Visit a farm
  3. Go sledding
  4. Make a snowman
  5. Blow bubbles
  6. Jump in a bounce house
  7. Have a campout
  8. Build a sandcastle
  9. Go out on a boat
  10. Dye Easter Eggs
  11. Go to a parade - St. Patrick's Day in Cottleville
  12. Bake cookies
  13. Watch fireworks
  14. Have a dance party
  15. Pick apples
  16. Visit the butterfly house
  17. Go to a Cardinals game
  18. Go to a Blues game - March 15
  19. Go to a pumpkin patch
  20. Go trick or treating
  21. Go with mommy to Gymboree or the Little Gym for a fun class
  22. Go to the Magic House
  23. Spend a whole day with just mommy
  24. Spend a whole day with just daddy
  25. Go to Six Flags
Things I will make an effort to do with the kids in 2009
  1. Plan more art activities
  2. Plan more weekend activities
  3. Visit more parks or try out more new ones
  4. Visit the Zoo
  5. Visit a farm
  6. Cardinals game
  7. Butterfly House
  8. Magic House
  9. Six Flags
  10. Read more to Aidan
Last week was a fun and busy week as usual. On Wednesday, May 13 we had the Child of God end of the year picnic at Dames Park in O'Fallon. The kids had a lot of fun. When we first got there, her little friends Anna and William (aka "yum yum" or "yimian) came running up going "Lauren's here, Lauren's here." First friendships are so cute. We ate hot dogs, chips and cookies and the kids got to run around on the playground. Aidan loved going down the slide and he did really good. Last summer he was too scared to go down, but he now loves it - my little dare devil. One of the mom's that helped with Lauren's Race for Education said she was so cute that day. I guess each time they'd finish a lap they would get their card punched. Well Lauren wanted each of the volunteers there to punch her card multiple times for one lap and of course no one could tell her no! So, not sure exactly how many laps she actually did! When it was time to go Lauren gave her friend Anna a big hug and then they gave each other a kiss - how cute is that????





Thursday night I took Lauren to Factory Card Outlet to look for decorations for her party. She had so much fun and was soooo good. I explained that we weren't taking the balloons home yet and that we couldn't play with the things we bought and she totally got it. We organized everything when we got home and she hasn't even asked to play with it. She was so sweet when we got home - she goes - "thank you mommy for all my presents for my princess party." So sweet and she just can't wait until the party. Hope it lives up to all her expectations.

On Friday Shawn and I went to a trivia night for one of his friends kids soccer team. This was my type of trivia! I called it trivia night for dummies because we actually knew a lot of the answers and didn't come in last place! I also won a spa basket with some gift certificates and things - it was a good night!

Saturday started out with a slightly hung over mommy taking Lauren to dancing school. The girls showed us their routine and they are doing really good. Her teacher also gave us a sheet with the words and steps on it, so we'll be sure to start practicing at home. Lauren and I then ran several errands - St. Charles Decorating Center and Costco - and then home for a nap!




Sunday was my day to get things done around the house. I painted our front door - still not sure if I like the color, but it is growing on me. I think I picked the coldest day of the last couple weeks to leave the door standing open for 12 hours - we were all bundles up in pants, sweatshirts and blankets! I also hung a picture over the fireplace, reorganized by ladder bookshelves, redid the shelves in the foyer and started to hang some pictures over my bed, but got frustrated b/c they weren't straight, so I'll have to get back to that another day. We also took a break in the morning for some breakfast at Cracker Barrel - yummy! Then that night Shawn and the kids went to his parent's for dinner.

Tonight is Lauren's gymnastics recital - fingers crossed that she actually performs and doesn't freak out!

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Easter 2009

Here are some of my favorite photos from Easter. Lauren wasn't feeling real good, but we had a nice day. At Mama Jane and Papa Ken's Aidan found the "Golden Egg" in the Egg Hunt - $100! Good job Aidan!




Love,
Jennifer

Easter Activities

Here's some of our fun activities we did for Easter...

Lauren's Classroom Easter Party - Child of God School - April 9, 2009


Waiting patiently to play a game



Craft and snack time!


William, Charlotte and the one and only David - Lauren made sure I got his picture!





Easter Egg Hunt - Child of God School - April 11, 2009

This event was so cute - the kids hunted for eggs in an assigned classroom and each child got a ton of eggs - like 30 each. Then there were games and food afterwards. Aidan ate 2 1/2 footlong hot dogs and popcorn - boy that kid can eat!




That's all for now!
Jennifer
Ok, so it has been a really long time since I posted to the blog, but I'm going to try to keep it up again. This past week has been a crazy one, so I'll get everyone up to speed.

Thurday, April 30 - Lauren had Mom's Spa Day at school. We sure had a lot of fun! When we arrived I got a beautiful flower necklace that said "Lauren's Mom" on it. We started the evening out in the Flip Flop room where we decorated a paif of flip flops for me. This activity was in Lauren's classroom and she had already picked out hot pink flip flops for me, she was very excited that they were pink. Once we were done decorating them with beautiful gems, she made me take my shoes off (which she promptly put in her cubby) and I wore the flip flops the rest of the night. After our flip flop activity we went to the nail salon where Lauren got to paint my finger nails - yes, you heard me right, Lauren painted my nails (and fingers)! Don't tell, but when she went to bed I repainted them! Lauren did a great job though, many moms had 5 different colors on their nails! After my manicure we got to go to the hair salon where Lauren combed my hair and put lovely clips and rubberbands in my hair. I also got to sample about 5 or 6 different body splashes as well! After that it was on to the cafeteria for a photo and a snack. They also had beautiful pinwheel flowers for us - I of course got a pink one - who doesn't love pink?

Friday, May 1 - Lauren ran/walked in her Race for Education at school - she ran around the track 14 times! I'm so proud of her - great job Lauren! Aidan also moved up to the Giraffes room today - what a big boy! I played in a golf scramble for work at Gateway and actually did pretty good - not too bad for not having played in over 4 years!

Saturday, May 2 - I woke up this morning with itchy, red eyes, so had to go to the eye doctor. He thinks it's allergies, but could be an infection - yes, guess he went to optometry school to tell me that! Anyway, got eye drops ($60! Ridiculous) and get to wear my lovely glasses for several days - I'm sure I'll be quite hot! We ended up missing dancing school this morning which didn't go over well with Lauren - she just loves it. Then that evening we had Child of God's trivia night. It was me, Shawn, mom, dad, Aunt Anne and Uncle Jerry (Alisa and her friend Kristy bailed when they found out about my eyes). Well, we had a lot of fun, but ended up in dead last - wow, we were not good at trivia! But again, had a very good time.

Monday, May 4 - Aidan came home from school with a fever - poor baby does not feel good.

Tuesday, May 5 - Happy Cinco De Mayo! Shawn took Aidan to the doctor today - he's congested, but it isn't in his ears - yeah! He gave him a decongestant, but he still just isn't feeling well. I had to leave work early today to go get him from mom's - he just wanted to cuddle. We had tacos for dinner tonight which Lauren and mommy loved! Daddy ate pasta that one of his accounts gave him today and A didn't feel like eating - hopefully the medicine will kick in soon.

Wednesday, May 6 - Yeah, Aidan is feeling better!

That's all for now, I will update this post soon with pictures from our Mom's Spa Day!