HapPy birThDaY JaCk!

2011 welcomes in the year of the "friend" birthday party.  And Jack {along with the rest of the kids} has been planning his party for a while now.  So today, January 29th, exactly seven years since we welcomed Jack into our family, we celebrated his arrival with a

Drive-In Movie Party.  

{I never claim super creativity, but I am a great copier.  So thanks to a link on Lori Phippen's blog, we had a great time!} 

Here are some of the highlights.

The preparations:

The cake {we watched Despicable Me}

The concession stand {the kids had to enter the movie and buy treats with tickets they received}

The treat bags to take home

The kids decorated their own cars

Watching the movie

I think they really had a great time, and it was a really easy idea.

In addition, Jack enjoyed a full breakfast in bed.  He also enjoyed receiving a new Hawkeyes jersey.  Living in Iowa, he is turning into a Hawkeye {after his first love of the BYU Cougars, of course}.

Happy birthday Jack. We're glad you are in our family.  We love you.

Emmie's Thoughts

Emmie just posted tonight on her blog.  I have to say it is really fun, as her mom,  to read her posts.  I am getting a new look into this little person I live and interact with daily.  She makes me laugh and smile.  Here is a poem she wrote and posted.  Quite creative, if you ask me.

THE BIRD I PREFER

As I travel down the road

I heard a song

It came as sweet as sugar

as smooth as honey

I felt engulfed in warmth

As I travel farther

I begin to wonder

Why has this bird

sung his song

just to hear the sound?

Then I heard a note

a long sad note

shrill and ugly

But I could tell

there was effort there

And the bird I prefer

Is the one who cares about the song

not the sound.

Would you like to see more of her post?  Her link is over on the side bar.  But be informed, I am still keeping a tight leash on who visits her.  So if you haven't been invited but would like to be {and I trust you, of course--which is most of you who read this blog :-)}, leave a comment here and I will let you in.

Getting Me Through

So January has been crazy.  Kris's travel schedule has picked up at work, taking him to California two out of the last three weeks (with weather in the 70s, which prompted him to ask last night, "What are we doing in Iowa?").  That leads me to a fun time as a single mom of four kids--countless {and I mean countless--seriously, why didn't we buy a home closer to the center of our lives} drives back and forth to the church and schools, piano and trumpet lessons, band and soccer practices, reporting to federal jury duty {again, seriously?  this month?}, conducting Primary and preparing sharing time for this 100+ group of Primary kids in our ward (not including the sixteen 18-month to 3-yr-old nursery kids we have that aren't pictured here),

{jr. primary--ages 3-6)

{sr. primary--ages 7-11}

keeping up with my choir job and trying to learn the alto part of Brahms' German Requiem which we will be performing in April and June, dealing with cold, yucky winter weather {reference Kris's question above}, preparing meals, cleaning, cleaning, cleaning, and varied other activities that keep our family going.

What is getting me through?

Dove Dark Chocolate and a good daily work out, of course.  Hope you have your escape clauses too.  Have a great week.

Another Great Reason For Having Kids

Free {yeah right!} labor in snow storms.

Beautiful Dance

Saw this on Heidi's blog and loved it.  Thought I would share.

So Maybe She's Not My Daughter

I called Kris today and told him that maybe Emmie wasn't my daughter after all.  When he gave me the confused silence in response, I explained why.

Emmie came home from school today totally excited that, despite what she thought was a bad attempt at testing, she actually made the Waukee Middle School math team--she's officially a mathlete now.  She is one of 13 students from grades 6-8 that will compete in a regional competition in February.

Really?  Math?  She did not get that from me!  Give me a good English book to analyze (which, by the way, she is good at too) and I am good.  But math?  Not my strong point.  (Josh, who is pretty good at it too, likes to remind me that he passed me up a long time ago.)  So maybe she doesn't really belong to me.

To which Kris responded, yeah, maybe she's not my daughter either.   :-)

Well, she is and we are really proud of her.  Way to go Emmie.