Preparation for New Jersey

Preparation has begun for our summer trip to New Jersey.  Homer is hanging out at the Pet Hotel, and our fish and frog are enjoying a little time away at Ms. Paula's house.  

The kids didn't have a difficult time dropping Homer off this time, but Danielle was a little sad after leaving her fish at Ms. Paula's house.  Peter reminded her that they were heading to New Jersey the next day, though, and she was just fine.  :)

Happy Birthday Mommy!!

Today was my birthday.  I turned 34.  I remember when I used to think 34 was old.  Um, not anymore.  :)  The past few birthdays have been extremely difficult for me emotionally.  I was not sure what today would hold, but the day turned out to be absolutely perfect.  It was spent with some of my kids, some of my friends, and some of my family.  Although my life may not currently look exactly like I had envisioned it would look at 34, God has blessed me with wonderful kids, a wonderful husband, wonderful friends, and a wonderful family who have walked with me through some really rough times.  Thank you to everyone who has been a part of my life.  Thank you for sticking with me and being my support system.  Thank you for believing in my and not giving up on me.  I am excited to begin a new year of my life and see what God has in store!!!

I woke up to hear Peter telling me to please not come in his room.  A few minutes later he emerged to let me know that he had cleaned his entire room all by himself.  That was his birthday present to me.  He was so proud of himself.  

We spent the morning at the splash park.  The weather was perfect and the kids had a blast.  We got there at 10:30 and stayed until 3!!!  It was pretty crowded when we arrived, but somewhere around 2pm, everyone had left and it was just us.  Peter and Danielle played so well together and just had the best time.  The after-school crowd started coming around 2:50, so we dried off and headed home.

A few of my favorite kiddos - Danielle, Peter, Alex, Sam, and Emily

I LOVE this picture!!

Andrew got off early today after going into work at 6:30am, so we were able to have an early dinner at Red Lobster.  Poppy came too, and the food was delicious!!  The kids did great, and it was just an overall relaxing meal.  That made this mommy happy! :)

Poppy brought over a cake and ice cream.  The kids were quite excited!!

BLESSED!!

Lots of phone calls, texts, Facebook messages and posts, birthday cards, and Dove chocolate really made me feel loved today.

On top of an absolutely wonderful day today, I was able to reconnect with some really special people to me this week that I hadn't spoken to in 3 years!!  I'm so excited to catch up soon and rebuild those relationships.

And maybe the most exciting thing?  I got several more Vacation Bible School registrations today as well as several more people volunteering to help!! Ok, that's not more exciting than the rest of my day, but as a VBS director of a VBS that's just over 4 weeks away, having people tell you they want to volunteer is a GREAT birthday gift.  :)

A Moment

Peter and Homer enjoying a moment.  They are best buddies!!

The Life of Peter

Peter found a stack of index cards today when we were cleaning out the closet under the stairs.  He told me he was going to make a book out of them.  It was going to be a book about his whole life.

Here's the first card --

First he drew himself inside my tummy.  Then he added the red blood inside both of our tummies.  He said he would do the next card tomorrow.  He seriously amazes me.  He is always thinking outside the box.  We have never done any type of activity that he could have modeled after for this book he's making.  I'm interested to see what happens next in the story of his life...

Danielle Says...

Andrew has been pumping the kids up for the Super Bowl all week.  He tells the kids the teams that are playing and lets them choose who they want to root for.  This year's game was the San Francisco 49ers vs. the Baltimore Ravens.  We don't really have any allegiance to either.  Danielle and Andrew picked the Ravens to root for, and Peter and I picked the 49rs.

I ended up spending most of the game at the grocery store, but the kids hung out with Daddy and watched some of the game.  There was a loss of power in the middle, so the game was delayed and lasted longer than normal.  Peter fell asleep on the couch.

The Ravens won.  I got Danielle ready for bed and got her tucked in.  She turns to me and tells me that she was glad her team won.  I find that funny in itself because I really didn't even know she was paying attention. Then she tells me that she was happy that the Raymond's won.  She knows another Raymond.  I ask her who that is.  She proudly tells me that it's the Raymond that tutors with me.

The whole time she thought that the team was called the Raymonds, just like one of my tutoring students.  Too funny!!  Well, I'm glad her team, the Raymonds, won.  :)

Peter the Lizard Catcher

The weather here has been beautiful lately.  Cold in the mornings, but beautiful afternoons in the 60s and 70s.  The kids are enjoying playing outside again.  Andrew and I were just relaxing in the living room today when Peter burst inside, yelling for us to look at what he caught.  In his hand was a little, squirmy lizard.  He was so proud!!!  A few seconds later, he was holding the tail in one hand (still wiggling - ew!) and the rest of the lizard in the other hand.

Of course he wanted to keep it, so I found a little plastic box with a lid.  Peter gave the lizard some grass, a couple of rocks, a roly poly, and a piece of cantaloupe.  The lizard joined us for our bedtime story, and now both are now fast asleep in Peter's room, lizard in his box and Peter in his bed.

Home Depot Day

The kids love the first Saturday of the month because it's Home Depot Day!!!  Andrew was working, so I took the kids up this morning before my tutoring session.  Today's project was a Valentine's Day Mailbox.  It was a really cute project.  We're going to hang the mailboxes in their bedrooms so they can receive mail.  I'm hoping that will encourage Peter in his quest to learn how to read.

They did a great job of waiting patiently while I helped each one with the hammer.  They both did about half of the hammering before letting me finish.  Then they painted their mailboxes.  They both enjoy actually building the project, but I think painting is their favorite part!!

Peter's on the left and Danielle's on the right

Another successful Home Depot project. :)