The addiction continues....

It is only May 1st and I have already purchased 7 pairs of flip-flops (3 for me and 4 for Jenna). Just for the record though, Jenna outgrew most of hers from last year, and I...well, I just HAD to have some of the fun new colors I found. Thank goodness they are so inexpensive. :)

Road Trip

Friday night we went to Hillsdale, Michigan to watch our neighbor -Craig - run in a track meet at Hillsdale College. Craig is a grad student at OU and this was his last official track meet. We drove up with his parents and were able to visit with him a little before he went to get ready for his race. He ran in the last event of the night - the 10,000 meter run- and didn't end up running until 10:15pm. I tried to capture some photos of him running, but action shots are definitely not my strength. I told his mom that maybe we could just ask him to slow down a little so I could get better photos. He ended up getting 4th place and really did an awesome job. The kids were so excited to visit with him and watch him run - especially Jenna. She has a "thing" for Craig.

Jacob, Jenna and Craig before the race....


The starting line....Craig is in green on the left side... Yes...I know this photo is blurry...but I think it turned out kind of neat...

Chris and Bob (Craig's Dad) watching the race (notice the HUGE crowd! I guess everyone was tired by 10:15pm!).....


Crossing the finish line....the clock shows his finishing time....

Jenna trying out the track after the race.....

Dancin'....

Last week was "parent's week" at dance class, which means parents are allowed to watch dance class for the last 10 minutes of each session. Jenna was excited for Mommy to come to dance class and watch her recital routines...and I was excited to get a glimpse of what she has learned this year. Daddy and Jacob decided to stay home so they could "be suprised" at her recital (translation...they really didn't want to watch any more dance than they have to!).


Tomorrow we are doing something Chris swore we would never do....we are going to Columbus so Jenna can participate in a dance competition with her class. Only her jazz class is going...and she is so excited!! She's also counting the days until her recital - she loves dancing on the stage.

ballet...."You Light Up My Life"...she's excited because they get to dance with candles!
Tap...."Hand Jive"....the woman in the front left is "Miss Kim" - her instructor
Jazz....."You Can't Stop the Beat (from Hairspray)"...

Now taking requests....

With the warm weather, I decided I needed to add some "summer tunes" to my iPod. You know...those songs that just remind you of fun, summer days - lots of sunshine - driving around with the windows down. Of course, when it actually came to creating a summer tunes playlist, my mind went blank. So....I thought I'd ask you (c'mon Lori...don't let me down!). What songs would you recommend adding to my summer tunes playlist???

Just when you think it's safe....

After the unusual amount of school delays and cancellations we had this past winter, we were so thankful when spring weather finally arrived so we didn't have to worry about any more cancellations. But...we forgot about the FOG! This morning we woke up to heavy fog, which resulted in a 2 hour delay....which turned into a 3 hour delay with extended day....which turned into a CANCELLATION!!! I will admit that usually I am excited about cancellation days....but not this time. This was cancellation #1o!!! for this year, which means we now go to school until June 4th. June 4th happens to be Jacob's birthday. He's never gone to school on his birthday, and was not too excited when he found out that he would be going to school this year!

The good news is that it is supposed to be a gorgeous day - sunny and 74 degrees....a little different than our usual cancellation days.

I have a date!!

The Fed-Ex man delivered these this week:

That means I (actually all four of us) have a date with Derek Jeter and the Yankees at Yankee Stadium in NYC on June 7th! We will be flying to NYC on June 6th and stay through June 8th. Chris and I have been there several times, but this will be the kids first time to visit NYC. We can't wait!!

Speaking of baseball....baseball practice has started for Jacob and games will be starting on May 10th. Several people have asked for his baseball schedule. I added a link on the right side of my blog. That will take you to the home page for his team - the Astros. Once you are there, you can click on the headings at the top, which will take you to their schedule, photos, etc. This year I'm going to take photos of all the players - not just Jacob - and add them to the site. So, even if you can't come to one of his games, you can keep up with his season through the website.

I have been taking lots of pictures and plan to post them this week - so keep checking back.

Spring WAS here...

Yesterday spring was here....and today it is gone. Today it's cold, damp, windy and gray....just plain yucky! The only good thing is that I have managed to get lots done inside the house this weekend. In the meantime, here is some photographic proof that spring really was here....daffodils, blue skies with puffy white clouds, and the sun shining in the sky!!

A test from Miss Jenna....

Jenna LOVES to write. In fact, I think she has used so many materials from the "writing center" in her classroom that I think we're going to have to replenish it at the end of the year. She is constantly bringing home notes, lists, and stories she writes. Today she brought home a test she had written for Chris and I to take. Here is what she wrote - I copied it right from her paper and kept her spelling. You can definitely tell that they have been working on the "ou" and "kn" sound!

Houw wus yor day
good or knot

houw wus lunch
good or knot

we lrnd about miss y*

dus are last name end with y
yes or no


*Miss Y is one of the letter people.

ten on tuesday....

1. I am loving the spring weather that FINALLY arrived. We spent most of the weekend outside and Chris brought up our patio furniture and hung up our porch swing. We even made our first trip to the "rootbeer stand" for dinner - coney dogs with cheese, onion rings and rootbeer!

2. Baseball season is here! They had their first official practice last night, which means games are right around the corner. Several of you asked me to send you Jacob's game schedule so you can come watch him play...I'll be sure to get them sent out as soon as I have one!

3. My new mattress doesn't like me. We spent some tax refund money on new mattress and box springs for our bed. We went with a firm mattress since Chris has had back issues in the past. Chris loves it....and so did I for the first week or so....until my upper back started hurting like crazy when I try to sleep on the mattress. Last night at 3am - after lots of tossing try to find a position that didn't hurt my back - I just gave up and went to the couch. I'm hoping this doesn't last too much longer.

4. I used my aching back as a reason to schedule a massage on Friday after school. Can't wait!!!

5. Jenna had dance pictures last night. Every year I come home from dance picture night feeling so thankful that I choose to be a laid back, low key dance mom. I am also thankful that my daughter is THRILLED to be wearing clear lip gloss as her only make up for dance pictures. Enough said.

6. I am officially done with Physical therapy. I feel like I could have gone forever, just because I want to continue to feel good. The PT wants me to continue exercises at home. In addition my PT/doctor are ordering a home cervical traction machine for me since that helped so much. I still feel pretty good, but not as good as when I was going to PT.

7. The one thing that still bothers me and gives me a headache is prolonged computer use - especially if I am scrolling down the screen. I have to limit my computer time to short sessions - which probably isn't such a bad thing. :)

8. It's almost "crazy season" for me (translated: IEP time). I never have understood why they insist on torturing me by making me do IEPs during the nice weather. Why can't I do them in the cold, dreary winter??

9. I have 2 photo sessions scheduled for next week - a 2 year old girl and a 1 year old boy. I'm searching for the perfect location and hoping for some blooming spring flowers!

10. The Hills is back on. Is anyone else watching it with me???

Look....no training wheels!

Jenna came home from school on Thursday and asked Chris to take her training wheels off. He took them off....and she proceeded to hop on her bike and take off! She's so different from Jacob. It took us a long time to teach him to ride without training wheels - and she just hopped on and took off! Today was a gorgeous spring day, so we went outside to capture Jenna's newest milestone in photos!

Proof that the training wheels are indeed removed....

I loved how her shadow looked...especially the flowers that are in the spokes of her bike and the hint of handlebar streamers....

Peony Pageant

Jenna had the opportunity to participate in the Peony Pageant on Friday night as a flower girl. The Peony Pageant is for high school seniors and is a part of the Peony festival that takes place in Van Wert each June. Each candidate chooses one little girl to be their flower girl during the pageant. Jenna was chosen by a girl who goes to our church, whose name also happens to be Jenna Nicole (to avoid confusion, I'm going to address my Jenna as Jenna C. and the other Jenna as Jenna H. from here on out!). Jenna H was Jenna C's teacher for vacation bible school and Sunday school, and has also babysat a few times....and they instantly bonded! Jenna C. was so excited for the pageant! I took her to get her hair done on Friday afternoon and she also got a new dress. She did a great job! Jenna H didn't end up being crowned Queen, but she did win "Miss Congeniality". Jenna C was so excited for her!! She was also excited that she knew the Queen - the respresentative from Van Wert HS.

I apologize in advance for the quality of the photos. I was in the balcony and forgot to bring my close-up lens. Plus, the lighting on the stage messed with all the colors in my photos (what were they thinking???). It's a little hard to tell, but Jenna C's dress was pale mint green and the Jenna H's dress was chocolate brown.





Waiting patiently for her turn on stage....
Her big moment! As each candidate was introduced for the final time, the flower girls came out and gave them peonies. Then they stood on stage with the escort as the girls walked the stage one last time.

The mom of one of the other flower girls sent me this photo. Her seat was a little closer than mine, so she was able to get a better photo!
All of the flower girls - Jenna is the 5th from the left.
Waiting for the announcement of the Peony Queen....I thought it was so cute that she was sitting there with her fingers crossed for good luck!

All the Queen candidates, flower girls, and escorts

Jenna and Jenna - after the pageant

Jenna with the Peony Queen - Heather (representing VWHS and one of Chris' journalism students)

Kalahari- part 2

On the second day, Jacob and Cade stood in line for the wave rider. Jacob really did a great job with the boogie board! Here he is getting instructions from the life guard.... ...and in action.......and then it was Cade's turn...

Jacob and Cade in the basketball pool....
Jenna and Dane in the wave pool (they had to wear life jackets because they weren't tall enough)....

Cade, Chris, and Jacob on the racing slides. I think this was one of my favorite slides!
Jenna and Gage in our room. We decided when they were very little that they would probably get married someday.

...and playing game boy together...Jacob and Cade - they've been best buddies since Cade was born!