Long Time No Blog!

Wow it has been a long time since I've blogged!  Hopefully now that the hockey season is over with I will have a little more time to post some updates. 

It's hard to believe the school year is winding down and I will soon be the mother to a pre-Kindergartner and a Second Grader!  We had the end of the year picnic on Wednesday evening.  It was a beautiful night and the kids were able to jump in the bouncy house, play kickball with their friends on the front lawn of the school and Lutheran High's robot was there - which they each got to operate (they thought that was pretty cool). 

Last night Aidan had his Gymnastics Olympic performance at school.  He did a great job and was so proud of himself and the medal he earned.  His teacher said he did an awesome job this year and we are all so proud of the little guy!  Here are some of the pictures:

Ice Skating

Today we had our first ice skating lessons!  We were very excited about going - Lauren even dressed Lanie (her American Girl doll) in a coordinating outfit with her ice skates and brought her along.  We were really excited ... until we got there.  Then the nervousness and crying started - the skates were ugly (brown rental skates), why couldn't I go with her, why didn't I bring her helmet, the skates were too tight.  So this went on for awhile and finally after standing by the entrance to the ice for about 15 minutes, she decided to join her class...and loved it!  She had a fantastic time and did really well.  Now let's hope we don't relapse into the whining next week!

Yeah - she's finally out there!

Woo - I'm doing it!



Kids were falling everywhere - but she stayed up!

 

Then it was time for Mr. Aidan's class.  He was raring to go and you couldn't hardly hold him back from the ice (they are such different kids!).  His teacher explained that the mommies and daddies would walk them out to the ice and then would leave to sit in the stands to watch.  I started to go with him to the ice and he held up his hand and said "no mommy, you go sit in the stands."  Then he took his teachers hand and off he went!  Such a big boy!  The whole time he had a blast - he kept looking up in the stands and yelling "hi mommy" and "hi daddy".  He's just too precious!



He's ready to get out there!

We made it all the way to the other side!

Yeah for us!!!!!

That's all for now - hear's to hoping I update more often in 2011!

Love,

Jennifer

Run Lauren, Run!

Friday, April 30 was Child of God's Race for Education.  The kids have one hour to run as many 1/4 mile loops as they can.  They asked for donations from family and friends to help support them.  Shawn and I were there to help cheer on our little runner!

They started off by stretching - don't want to pull anything!

And they're off!

Here she comes around the first time!

At the end with Charlotte - Lauren ran 11 laps - 2.75 miles!

We are so proud of you Lauren!

That night Shawn was going to be gone, so I wanted to plan something fun for the kids.  I made homemade fish sticks (yes, homemade!) and for dessert we made a banana pudding.  They helped make the dessert which they loved!  Now Lauren's only had vanilla wafers and Cool Whip - imagine that, but Aidan ate the pudding and bananas too.

Wow buddy, that's a big bite!

Good stuff!

After our dinner and dessert we watched Alvin and the Chipmunks the Squekquel.  They've seen the commercials for it and really wanted to watch it, but I didn't know if they'd sit for the whole movie.  So they both got their sleeping bags and cuddled up in my bed and what do you know, they watched the whole thing!  They giggled so hard at some of the parts - it was so cute!  We had a fun night!

Thanks for reading! 

Love, 

Jennifer

Mom's Night

Lauren's school had mom's spa night on Thursday, April 29.  Now this isn't like any other spa...the kids actually pamper you.  It was a really sweet event and Lauren was so looking forward to it - we had a great night.  

We started the night out by going to her classroom to make necklaces for me.  We used colored cut up straws and beads to make the necklace - it was a cute project.  

After that we went to the cafeteria for a treat - they had strawberry shortcake which was really good!

Next we headed to a classroom so the kids could do their mommy's nails!  I got an arm massage and then my nails painted.  Lauren decided on alternating pink and purple on my left hand and then all purple for my right hand - she definitely has style!

The last stop of the night was to the hair salon classroom where Lauren combed my hair and gave me a ponytail and two hair clips - I was looking quite gorgeous!  I also got many (and I mean many) sprays of Juniper Breeze body splash!  

She had so much fun and was so happy to do all those special things for me.  So sweet - I had a great time!

Love,

Jennifer

(the pampered mommy)

Lauren's Soccer Update

April 24 - 5 goals
May 1 - 8 goals

And no, I am not kidding!  That kid is getting good!

Thursday, April 29th was a big day for the Nevins household - is everyone sitting down?  Aidan pooped on the potty!!!!  He told me that morning that he had to poop...and he did!  So proud of the little bugger!  For those that don't know he's been potty trained since right after he turned two - so crazy that he was so little, but would pee pee on the potty!  The only thing is that he would always poop in his "underwears" as he calls them.  Well, knock on wood, we've had a whole week of pooping on the potty!  Two and a half and completely potty trained - what a smart boy!

 Here he is with his Starburst for doing such a great job!  

He was so proud - bless his heart!

Thanks for reading!

Jennifer
(aka - the proud mommy!)

Getting Organized

A couple of Friday's ago I had a personal organizer come over and help me with the laundry room.  I know what you're thinking - why in the world would Jennifer ever need a personal organizer, right? :)  But I must say, I got an amazing deal on the web site Groupon - 4 hours with a personal organizer for $50.  She came in and walked all around the house and gave me tips and suggestions and then we actually did some hands on work too.  It's really motivated me to form some systems to keep everything organized and in it's proper home!  Below are some before and afters - you can click on the pictures to see them larger.

Before

After

(I think I need to make a new laundry hamper!)

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

(I still want to do something different with those blue bins, I just don't know what yet)

Everything is nice and labeled and in it's appropriate place.  And the best thing is that we've actually kept it up- yeah!