"You're a Jedi, you have to care."

If we're friends on facebook, you probably saw this already but I wanted to share on here because I love having a record of the funny things the kids say. 

Let me set the scene for you.....
All of the lights are out in the house, I've turned on the "Star Wars" theme song on my phone, and we are preparing for an epic lightsaber battle.  Jake is running through some quick directions before we start.....

Jake: Mommy, put your lightsaber up in the air.

Me: And wave it around like I just don't care?

*At this point, Jake puts down his lightsaber and gives me a look similar to the one pictured below*

Jake: What?  No.  Why would you do that??  You're a Jedi, you have to care!

Christmas Break - The We Left the House Sometimes Edition

Better late than never, yes?  Lest you think that I did nothing but sit around in my pajamas and eat Christmas cookies all break, I present to you.....the few times we left the house!!  Hooray! 

On Saturday after Christmas, the beautiful weather continued and we ended up going skiing.  Yes, you saw that right..."we".  As in, me too.  Actually, me AND Nana!  Nana ended up being a ski hustler, she told me she hadn't been in over 15 years and assured me that she would be at my level.  First run of the day?  She's swooshing down the mountain like she does it every day!  Hustled by my own mother in law!! :)

Here is a lovely shot of me, looking about as clumsy as I feel coming down the slope.

But seriously, the weather was perfect that day, and the boys had a blast of course!  I was completely drained by the end of the day, and well into the next day... Sunday was a blur, I was pretty much useless.

The week after Christmas, I decided that I needed to get back on track with some type of workout.  The number of times I exercised since the first week of December added up to zero.  That week was when my total body fusion class I take at work ended, and then I spent the remainder of the month walking to the closet to get cookies and called it a workout.  I had signed up for that class again and would start the first week of January after going back to work, so I knew that if  I didn't do something over the break, it would be absurdly painful to start that class back up.  So I popped in the Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred 3 times the week after Christmas and tried to not die or swear at the TV.

 You know, they say you can learn a lot about yourself when you work out....kind of get lost in your own mind and really focus on YOU.  I found that I did learn something that week....I learned that if I mute the TV so I don't hear Jillian's voice yelling at me to keep going and replace it with a blaring Britney Spears playlist on my phone instead, I am much, much happier.  Namaste.

I'd like to think that maybe Brit was even cheering me on....

For new years eve, we headed over to the neighbors house, they host a small get together every year (super convenient for us, since we just have to walk across the street!)  We came home around 11, got the boys to bed, then I declared that I was going to bed, too.  Brian gave me a hard time since it was almost 11:20 by then and couldn't believe that I'd just give up on seeing midnight at that point.  Ugh.  FINE.  So I drag myself downstairs (just in time to see Taylor Swift perform, so at least there was that!)  Then, I look over after her performance to find this....

 OHHHHHHHHH.....maybe going to bed wasn't such a crazy idea, huh??  Then I promptly passed out myself during the commercial that aired around 11:55pm.  We woke up on the couch in a state of confusion at 12:30, mumbled a "happy new year" and stumbled up to bed.  #wildandcrazy

On New Years day, we met a few friends and their kids at the bowling alley, which is always a good time!

And that, my friends, pretty much summed up our Christmas break.  As always, it went too fast, but we had fun while it lasted!!

Jake's Birthday Celebration

Trying to squeeze Jake's birthday post in here during his actual birthday month....where did January go??

His actual birthday fell on a Thursday, so he went off to school with his "special snacks" to share with the class (he chose cheesesticks off the approved list of school snacks...the times have changed, yes??) and that night, we went to his dinner pick....Eat N Park!  No complaints from me.  I'm pretty sure it was the first time he had been serenaded with the birthday song in a restaurant...he took it a bit better than I do, considering I have a panic attack and end in tears.

We headed home after a yummy dinner to open gifts....

 

 

 

Then the next night, GG, Pappy, Nana and PopPop all joined us for his family party!  I somehow manged to get zero pictures that night :(  But we ordered some food and Jake was spoiled some more...thanks for the gifts, everyone!

Saturday night we decided to carry on our tradition of not cooking (you know this made me happy) and we went to Red Robin for dinner.  Bottomless fries, you are my true love.

entertaining himself with a new sticker book from GG & Pappy

 

That's some laaaaaaaaaid back chicken finger eating right there.

 

The following weekend, we went into unknown territory....the very first friend sleepover.

When we first started talking about ideas for Jake's birthday party, he immediately said he wanted a sleepover.  I made him think about it for awhile, reminded him that we could only have a few friends over if we did this (not the 20+ that he's used to at his previous parties) and that he couldn't be disappointed if his friends decided they didn't want to stay all night.  He thought about it for a few days then confirmed that yes, he did want a sleepover. 

We decided to invite 3 friends....2 of them are right in our neighborhood and 1 lives about 2 minutes from us.  Easy escape routes if there was any middle of the night meltdowns :)  Jake requested a football theme and considering we were a week out from the super bowl, this theme was super easy to throw together using supplies from the dollar tree...score!!

 

 

 

The party was....as to be expected when you put 4 boys together, I suppose :)  Lots of crazy running around, not a whole lot of sleep.  But they had fun, and hey...the party was a huge money saver.  Always a bonus. 

Hope you had a great birthday, Jake!!

2014 Reading Recap

image courtesy of thegirlwithgreatexpectations.wordpress.com

 Here is the full list of books that I read in 2014:

• "The Rosie Project" (Graeme Simsion)
• "If I Stay" (Gayle Forman)
• "Safe With Me" (Amy Hatvany)
• "Goldfinch" (Donna Tartt)
• "We Were Liars" (E. Lockhart)
• "The Tao of Martha" (Jen Lancaster)
• "The Vacationers" (Emma Straub)
• "The Island" (Elin Hilderbrandt)
• "I Didn't Come Here to Make Friends" (Courtney Robertson)
• "The Honest Toddler" (Bunmi Laditan)
• "Summerland" (Elin Hilderbrandt)
• "Happily Ever After" (Trista Sutter)
• "Me Before You" (JoJo Moyes)
• "Allegiant" (Veronica Roth)
• "Insurgent" (Veronica Roth)
• "Divergent" (Veronica Roth)
• "Sisterland" (Curtis Sittenfeld)
• "The Storyteller" (Jodi Picoult)
• "The Husband's Secret" (Liane Moriarty)
• "The Interestings" (Meg Wolitzer)
• "And the Mountains Echoed " (Khaled Hasseini)
• "The Girl You Left Behind" (JoJo Moyes)
• "Emily and Einstein" (Linda Francis Lee)

 I would say of the ones listed, my favorites were:

 

Don't laugh at my last pick, it was one of the most entertaining reads of the year for me!! :)

Player of the Week

Jake was recently selected as the "Player of the Week" for his class; not only did he get to be the teacher's special helper for the week, but he got to make this giant poster about himself and have it displayed at his school!

Happy 7th Birthday, Jake!!

Dear Jake,

7 years old.  1st grade.  How did these things sneak up on me? It seems like this was just yesterday, not 7 years ago!

So much has changed, but you can still make us smile, just like we are in that picture above.  You are funny, witty, smart, and athletic.  While you sometimes get frustrated with school work (especially homework), we know that you are trying your hardest, and it's a great feeling to see the huge smile on your face when you come home with a good grade on a test. 

Your love for skiing has continued into this year, and I know you're excited that there are still a few more months left to enjoy your favorite sport.  You gave basketball a shot earlier this year and didn't love it, but you stuck with it and have already said you want to play baseball again this spring. 

Your favorite shows right now are the new Star Wars cartoon you just discovered along with some of your old standbys, like Jake and the Neverland Pirates.  And you'll sometimes volunteer to watch Paw Patrol with Liam; you like to act like you're doing it for him, but I know you love it too :) 

If given the chance, I'm convinced you'd be outside 24/7 if we let you.  You are happiest when you're running around the yard, or riding your bike, or shooting hoops in the driveway.  If you must be inside, you can usually be found building Lego structures, playing Minecraft, sketching football players and helmets in your new sketchpad, or rearranging your various "collections" (football cards, tiny football helmets, etc)  And football!  Football, football.  We play football, we read books all about football, we watch football.  This has been your new obsession as of late.

For as independent as you have become, there are moments when you will still come curl up in my lap and just want to sit there.  You always want to snuggle in as close as possible if we're watching a movie or reading a book (you especially love to "tuck your feet in", meaning that you like to slide them under my legs to keep them warm....but only if I'm wearing cozy pants, you get very frustrated if I have on jeans!)  And Jake, I hope those moments don't stop anytime soon.  You are go, go, go all day long....you seem to have endless amounts of energy....but when you do pause to snuggle, it makes my day.  I can immediately remember sitting in your glider late at night in your nursery, holding you, enjoying the quiet, and breathing in your baby smell.  Your hair now smells like regular shampoo, but it doesn't matter :)  I still sniff it sometimes anyway, which sometimes causes you to wiggle off my lap and say "Mooooooom!" but I just can't help myself.  I try to remind myself that these moments won't last forever...you won't always want me to lay with you for a few minutes before you go to bed.  So even though I always feel like I have a hundred things to do once you guys go to bed, I try to enjoy those few minutes of just laying there with you.  It's sometimes when you turn into the most chatty you've been all day and share things about your day with me. 

Daddy and I are so proud of you, for your effort in school, your progress in sports and most importantly, for the kind heart that you have.  Happy birthday, Jake!!

1 week old baby feet!

2 weeks old

15 months old-passed out cold while eating Easter dinner :)

2 years old

2.5 years old

3.5 years old

4 years old

5 years old

5.5 years old

5.5 years old-and a moment in Jake's life that he still talks about as being one of the best :)  fighting Darth Vader at Disney World!

6.5 years old

allllmost 7 years old :)