Kairi's Baptism

Kairi was baptized today.  We were so proud of her.  The pastor made a humorous reference to her desire to become a music therapist. He explained that music therapists often help people with stress, and said he might be coming to her for treatment some day.  Since her whole church family knew her from infancy, it's that much sweeter for them to watch her follow the Lord in baptism.  Jim Wagner was especially surprised to see her all grown up - he asked after church if she still liked the nursery Cheerios!

Faith's Birthday

We celebrated Faith's birthday at Becky's Drive-In.  She got to see "Kung Fu Panda 2" and "Rio", meet Po, ride a fire truck, play on a playground, eat cake and open presents.  It may not have been as well decorated as Juli's party, but it was definitely just as fun!  Not to mention, how can you go wrong with alien glow pops for a snack?

Mother's Day

I had a very nice Mother's Day this year.  The kids and Scott gave me a charm for my Chamilia bracelet. (I thought time to scrap was my present!)  Scott made a tasty spaghetti lunch, followed by this yummy strawberry ice cream parfait.  Laurie and Jon came over to share dinner with us, too.  It was a very nice day!

Fifth Grade Field Trip

Going to the zoo on Nick's fifth grade field trip was a very different experience than going with Kai.  Nick and I had fun, but he was the only one in my group!  And since we know the zoo like the back of our hands, we were hard pressed to find new things to do.  We did get to see baby ducks on the Swan boats, though!

He Lives!

"How sweet to hold a newborn baby,
and feel the pride and joy he gives,
but sweeter still, the calm assurance,
this child can face uncertain days
because He lives!"

I forgot my camera, our family pew was a study in dysfunction, we ended up with four extra guests for brunch, everyone got the times wrong - but who cares?  The sun shone brightly on our Ressurection morning.  Christ is risen - everything else pales in comparison!

Busy Busy Busy

We spent the entire Saturday before Easter cooking.  We made and decorated sugar cookies for the church breakfast.  We made casseroles and cupcakes for Easter brunch.  We made pasta salad for dinner.  Oh, and we colored all those hard-boiled eggs.  It was a long, tiring day but relaxing on Easter itself was worth it.

A Sad Goodbye

Honey had been sick for a long time.  She wasn't able to walk easily, and fell down the stairs quite a bit.  Then one day, a lump started growing on her leg and got infected.  We should have taken care of it right away.  But we were afraid of what the vet might say, and worried about the cost.  She was already older than the average lab. I hate to admit, I didn't even think I liked her that much.  But I was wrong.  I loved her.  She was put to sleep today.  I think I will feel guilt and regret forever. I'm sorry, Honey.

Dyeing to Be with You

We miss Hannah so much when she is with her mom in New York.  That's why it's sad that she only got to visit with us for four hours on Friday night before going to spend her spring break in Florida with Barry - and he took Faith and Juli, too!  Still, at least we got to dye some Easter eggs together before they left.

My New Classroom

It may not look like much, but to me, this is one of the most beautiful pictures ever.  Just imagine teaching seventh grade for eleven years in a triangle shaped classroom with no windows, temporary walls, and open spaces where doors should be.  Compared to that, today's tour of the new school felt like winning the lottery.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Nick!  Nick is eleven today.  He celebrated before school with a pile of presents.  He celebrated at school with doughnuts.  He celebrated after school with pizza and cake.  Now he's headed to the movie theater to see the next installment in the Diary of  a Wimpy Kid series. Pretty sweet!

Surprise!  Cyndy had a surprise party to celebrate Faith's new smile.  Faith was a little overwhelmed at first, but how can you stay shy when there's a room full of balloons and ice cream?   It's too bad we couldn't stay long since I wasn't feeling well - I wish we could all stop playing "pass the germs" in this family!

Juli's Birthday Party

Cyndy asked Juli what she wanted to do for her birthday.  Did she want a party at Chuck E. Cheese?  Bounce U?  The movies?  Nope.  She wanted a party at Aunt Jenn's house.  Someone knows what side her bread is buttered on! So of course, I had to make her garden-theme party great!  Since she cuddled up to me and said, "This was the BEST time," before she left, I think we succeeded. We had cupcakes, planted flowers, decorated flower fairies, and played ladybug games.  A perfect early dose of spring.

St. Patrick's Day

If you're lucky enough to be Irish, you're lucky enough!  We love celebrating our Irish heritage.  We love Gaelic Storm, U2, Guinness (for the grown-ups), Celtic jewelry, Irish foods, and assorted shamrockery.  We celebrated St. Pats's at Aunt Cyndy's house this year. Don't they look cute wearin' o' the green?

Putt U

We have successfully passed on the geek gene. Only a family of geeks would choose mini-golf ball colors based on Hogwarts houses, and then compete for the house cup in "wizard golf".  I was Gryffindor, with a red ball. Kai went for the evil green of Slytherin.  Nick quickly nabbed Ravenclaw's blue, knowing that Daddy would then be stuck in Hufflepuff with a yellow golf ball.  The kids kept insulting him by calling him a "spare".

What can I say?  "Gryffindor Wins!"

Faith's Smile

Isn't she lovely?
Faith has waited for years to finally have something most of us take for granted - teeth!
So today at lunch, when I got the text from Cyndy showing me Faith's beautiful new smile, I had to run around the building showing everyone.

Neon Lights

Nick had a fun project to do this weekend. I probably helped him more than I should have, but we all got into it. He was building a model of neon, and then creating a presentation about it. We ended up using a black light to make the protons and neutrons glow. Then we put LED lights in the electrons and set them in an electron cloud. The end result looks pretty awesome.

Also, I love my cricut. How did we do school projects without it??

The Theater Goes Dark

Our last play at Philip F. Lauer Middle School was a HUGE success. The kids made me cry with this adorable photo board and PILES of flowers. It was possibly our best play ever in terms of smooth, problem free productions. The costumes and sets came out great, too. I didn't think I would miss anything about the old building. But I think I will miss the lecture room. It was such a pain in the butt, but it was "ours".

Valentine Technology

When I was a kid, I could never have made Valentine iPods. Wonder if Nick's kids will wonder what the heck this is?

We had a great time with Cyndy, Ben, and the girls making Valentines for Nick and Faith and baking raspberry hearts for Faith's girl scout troop. I heard "Aunt Jenn's" cookies were really popular at the party!

SUPER BOWL, BABY!!!!

Wow. Wow.. Words fail me. I honestly thought I might hyperventilate myself into a heart attack a few times during the playoffs. But here we are. Green Bay Packers. SUPER BOWL CHAMPIONS! Unbelievable!

Not to mention, my across the hall teacher neighbor now has to buy my homeroom donuts - she's a Steelers fan! HAHA!

S(NO)w More! Please!

We were hammered with snow days in January this year. We had several days for minor amounts of snow. One day, I was so sick of school being cancelled that we took a trip to the zoo. I posted those pics on facebook, but here's one for reference:

Every time we turned around, it was snowing. Or sleeting. Or freezing rain. Or more snow. We had days off in a row. It was crazy.

Districts started not calling off for the little amounts. So it started snowing feet at a time. Now we were stuck in the house AND off from school. And Kai's finals kept getting pushed back farther and farther.

By the time all was said and done, the kids were actually begging to go back to school.

No luck. Next we had a major ice storm.

The worst was yet to come, for me at least. In the end, we had so many snow days that the district took away the Monday before and after Easter from our spring break! Now I'll have a weekend, a SINGLE day of school, and Tuesday - Sunday off that week. How crazy is that??

Playoffs?? Playoffs???

Yup.

Packers v. Eagles.

Wild Card Weekend.

It got sad for awhile there. Hate to see Scott lose. Really.

BUT I FREAKING LOVE TO SEE THE PACKERS WIN!!!! GO PACK GO! 12 more quarters to go!

Scott's A Terrible Bowler

That's what I learned today. Scott can't bowl. Sorry, babe. The truth hurts.

Fortunately, his competition was aged 3-14. So he didn't look quite so bad.

Okay. Yeah. He did. ;) Look at Nick though! He's only bowled once before and he kept up with Hannah. Not too shabby!

Cyndy's Wedding

Cyndy had a beautiful wedding. We worked day and night for three solid days, and only a few guests showed up. This was disappointing at first, but the key point was how much Ben clearly adores her. I hope and pray her partnership with Ben sustains her in good times and bad until the end of their lives. I must have taken a million pictures, but only a few came out really well. Still, it's the vows that count!

"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. And the greatest of these is love." -1 Corinthians 13:13

*sigh* Will I EVER get used to it?

Why do kids get older every year? Kai is fourteen now.

She was so unhappy the day before her birthday. We were supposed to go to Rainforest Cafe in New Jersey and then see HP7 at the IMAX theater in Philly. But a huge snowstorm pummelled the NJ/Philly area (and gave us a solid 6 inches) so we had to cancel those plans. Instead, she ended up going to the movies at the Rave and dinner and games at Rascals. Not as cool, but her friends were happy. And in the end, with all sorts of cheesy prizes in hand (giant sunglasses, light up teeth) she seemed pretty darn happy too.

Not to mention she LOVED her present - French Horn custom Keds!

Happy birthday darling. Why do you have to keep growing up so fast?

Christmas Surprises! (and not...)

Grandma and Grandpa came for Christmas, since Cyndy's wedding was shortly after Christmas. Kairi had found this beautiful, but way too grown up dress on our trip to Sight and Sound. I can't believe how big these two are getting.

One of our big questions with Nick this year was "Does he or doesn't he?" Know about. You know. That guy. We're still not sure - he certainly loved his stocking stuff.
I found the perfect gift for mom - a Jim Shore Pelican. Two great things that go great together, as far as she is concerned.

Scott and I did a terrible job surprising each other this year, and a great job surprising the kids.

I knew my big gift was a Cricut since Thanksgiving. Every gift Scott got was on his wishlist. But the kids had no idea what was in store for them.

They got their own laptops! They were excited beyond belief.

Of course, this is all we saw of them for the rest of vacation:
Jon and Laurie were really surprised by the gorgeous quilt Kairi made for them last summer at Grandma's house.Not to mention our surprise when Ben showed up dressed as Scott's evil twin!The girls were surprised by their giant collection of Disney Barbies, too - but no one else was - we had been telling everyone what we got them since Thanksgiving to avoid duplicates.
It was a crazy day, but in the end, everyone got just what they wanted - even if they didn't know what they wanted!