Happy Father's Day

Today after church all the kids were so excited to give Jared their church Father's Day gifts. Anika must have been really excited because she saw me and ran up to me just as excited as could be and smashed her papers into my hand and said, Happy Father's Day mommy!"
On a serious note, I just want to say how grateful I am for my husband.

Jared is one of the most caring and loving people I know. He does so much for me and our family, weather it is going to work, helping around the house, playing with the kids or whatever it may be, he is so willing. He loves his children and teaches them so much.


They love when he comes home, as they yell "Dad's home-Yaaa!" He's so good at getting on the floor and playing with them,
or running around the neighborhood playing ball or whatever they want to do. He is a great supporter of me and all the crazy things I want to do, try and do and don't always suceed at, and for the things I do do! He helps me want to be better. He is a great example of living what he preaches and serving Christ. I am so grateful that we have had such a great 10 years,
3 months and 2 days together. We are lucky to have him as the Dad in our family.
I love you so much Jared.

First 'Official' Haircut

Aubrey had her first official haircut a few weeks ago!
Now, of course, she has had hair trims through the years, but this time she wanted her hair short! I was not too sure I wanted her to cut it all off, but she had been asking for a few months. I just wanted her to wait until the end of preschool and ballet so her 'end of the year' pictures would reflect who and what she was during the year. As well, Grandma Allen was a little nervous to cut it, in fear of Aubrey not liking it, and she loves her flowing blond hair, but she did it! Aubrey was so excited to wash
her hair in the sink, do the hair cut (during the cut we would ask if she was still sure, and she was!)
and sit under the dryer,
like she sees Grandma's 'ladies' do! Well, it turned out so cute and I love it as much as she does! She looks so grown up and mature! We can still get it into a short pony tail and it is short when we curl it, but it looks so cute and pops out her pretty brown eyes.
Of course, our little parrot, Anika, wanted to have her hair cut too! So, up on the chair she went and after about two snips (of a trim) she was ready to be done! Heaven forbid, our little wiggle worm sit still for 5 minutes, but she did it with a classic Anika look on her face!

Kindergarten Graduation

Somehow, I missed posting Andrew's kindergarten graduation...

Andrew graduated kindergarten this year with flying colors. He received all A's every report card. I can't believe how much kids can learn in such a short period of time. Reading was not a favorite thing to learn for Andrew, and in fact it caused many frustrations in our household! But, in the short (yet, sometimes long!) 8 months of struggling, our Andrew is a reader! In fact, words I thought I might not hear from this child of mine, "Dad, I love reading!" Learning brings great happiness and confidence in a person, it is a great thing. His teacher, Miss Eschler and his instructor, Miss. Sharette
did an amazing job teaching him how to add, subtract, the states and continents,
write very neatly in cursive, and so many other things. I think one of his favorite things was art, he is quite the little drawer. During the year when he would come home with homework because "I ran out of time" and yet he had time to do drawings on the back of the papers, we had to give the talk of 'we work first, then we get to draw/play!' The kids did a great job at their end of the year,
'Show What You Know' assembly. The teachers made each of the students candy necklaces and had a nice little treat at the end! Thanks for Grandma Allen and Aunt Chan
booking off some time from work to come! Andrew is one of the kindest boys I know. Anywhere we go he instantly has a friend. They may have met 5 minutes prior, but you would think they were life long buddies, he is very kind to other kids and loves babies. Andrew was the tallest kid in his class, and one of his good friends, Griffin, was probably the shortest kid in his class. So, it is pretty funny to see them together!
Now you have to understand, Andrew is a big kid, (Jared calls him his "little lineman."), but his voice has not yet caught up to his size! Nearly every morning, we would get to school about the same time as Griffin, and Andrew would jump out of the van and with his high pitched voice yell, "Griffiiiin" and off they would go to school.
Side Note- the last day of school, we went to help clean up Alex's classroom and the kids in Alex's second grade class were measuring up to Andrew, and he was actually taller then quite a few of them!
As our tradition with the kids, we go out for lunch/dinner of the child's choosing, and Andrew chose, Sweet Tomatoes.
Why? Because, "we can have as much ice cream as we want!!" (well, except for mom's limit!) Jared had to teach his class that night at the the 'U', so I ventured out on my own with the four hooligans! It was a fun and exciting day.
I know he is excited for summer because he loves playing with friends more than anything!
Andrew has grown and matured so much this year in kindergarten. We are excited for his learning and accomplishments.

Birdie Get Out

Alex came to tell me that a robin was stuck in our kitchen, being the jokester he is I did not believe him until I heard Anika, "Birdie get out!" Well, a robin flew in our kitchen through the sliding door, the screen was almost closed, but not quite all the way! The hanging blinds were opened so it was standing on the kitchen floor flapping it's wings a bit at the back of the door hitting the window to get out. A little paranoid, I told the kids they had to stay downstairs so they didn't scare the bird to start flying around the house, as we know what birdies do when they are scared, just look at what it left on my kitchen floor!
After calling Jared to find out what to do, (his answer was to put leather gloves on and catch it)- no thanks! and calling a neighbor to see if he would put leather gloves on and catch it I had a bright idea, maybe I should just open the door from outside! I went around back and opened the door the rest of the way. In between doing this and going to get the camera he was able to get out, I assume since I haven't seen him flying around my house! So no need for leather gloves after all!
My other neighbor called to tell me Andrew told her the story about a bird in the kitchen and she asked him if his mom was freaking out, he simply said, 'no, she just cleaned it up with a mop!'
p.s. don't worry, I relysoled and bleached my mop for a long time! It's a good mop, I don't want to through it out! Is that gross?

It could be worse...

We have had so many things go 'wrong' lately. They say it comes in 3's, but ours has been multiples of 3, I think we are on #18! The latest is one of the bedroom walls. I moved the boys to a different room and started the prep work to turn a boy room into a girl's room. I primed the walls and then
started taking the baseboards off. I got to the corner and the wall behind the baseboard was damp....so out came the exactoknife
and I started cutting a tearing out the wall...luckily there is plastic behind the wall thus not allowing moisture to get into the instulation. A very small amount of mold was on the back of the drywall to indicate it has probably been moist for a little bit. It is just that little corner, but in order to figure out what is going on we will have to cut up the seam of the drywall. Huh! the sad part of it is I can't go on with any other project because in order to move other rooms around I first have to have this one done! So, once again I am in limbo! Hopefully, we will be able to figure it out sooner then later! We think it is the roof, but we need it to rain again to really know for sure, so pray for rain. Think of the water bill you are saving on if it rains! and the a/c bill! I love spring, it could stay spring forever and I wouldn't mind.

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

'The girls' have been in and out the last few days and each in and out seems to bring a new outfit!
Even Jared got in on the action...
little did he know I had the camera close at hand!

I hope that anybody reading this does not take this as bragging on my kids, as I use this as an open journal that will one day be printed off for our family memories....
It is fun to stay kept up with your families and read things we probably wouldn't otherwise think to talk about.

School's Out- Bring on Summer!

Now my oldest, Alex is officially out of school and will be heading off to 3rd grade in the fall. This year Alex had a wonderful teacher, Mrs. Oz
(Ottley-Zeeman, as she was remarried). A few months into the year he told me he was the luckiest kid in the 2nd grade because he has her for a teacher! Also, a huge thank you to our classroom instructor, Mrs. Ferlo
who Alex really enjoyed. (Each class has a teacher and an instructor and then it is like jr. high were they split and go to other classes with specialized teachers for the subject.) It is a great feeling when your kids enjoy their teachers and going to school. Alex received a certificate for 100% attendance this year, I was surprised when they called to tell me as I had not realized I had done so well at sending him off each day!! :) (only 2 tardies!!) Side Note-Poor Andrew lost this award the first 2 days of school as he was home sick!! End Side Note! Then Jared and I were even more pleasantly surprised to find out moments before the assembly that he was going to be presented another award, 100% on his State CRT Testing for math!! Wow!!! We were so excited and thrilled to hear this. Thanks to a wonderful math teacher, Mrs. Lloyd who taught and challenged him this year. There was one other boy who got a perfect score as well. Kind of funny, this other boy and Alex were the last two in the class to battle back and forth to win the classroom spelling bee, and Alex did end up winning. I hope they stay good friends and help challenge and motivate each other through the years. Speaking of Spelling Bee I should have blogged that, but Alex did go on to the school spelling bee (grades 1-3) one from each class, so 6 kids and he came in second. Not to put the kid down who won (the 3rd grader), but I think Alex would have had a way better fighting chance except they gave us the wrong list to study!!! So, we are proud of Alex's efforts in getting 2nd place without having the right study materials.
Each year, the last half hour of school everyone meets outside at the flag pole for a ceremony of taking the Flag down.
I had never been to this before, and it was such a neat thing. The band played the Anthem that everyone sings to and then The School Director, Mrs. Sharette, read "Taps" and the choir sang the song. A few boys in the school who are Boy Scouts dressed in their uniform to take down and fold the flag and hand it to one of the Board members to put away until school resumes next year. It was a really neat thing.
For our kids end of year award, Jared and I took them to the matinee showing of Kung Fu Panda-
would recommend. If you have to give a lesson or an FHE lesson their are a lot of things you could pull out of this movie and relate to your own/kids life....What a fun great year.
Alex has also really excelled in his piano
this year as well. He flew through his lesson book and then when he was bored he self taught himself quite a few primary songs out of the Primary Song Book and has tried a few out of the Hymn Book. He will be going to a new teacher in the fall who I think will challenge him a little bit more while keeping it fun. He loves playing the songs for us to sing every week at FHE.
This summer Alex will be 8. I remember when he was first born and we lived at the Univ. Village at the 'U', and thinking about people, not in a bad way, just thinking, "Wow, they have an 8 year old, they've been married awhile! Their a little bit older..." Now that's me, I'm in the 'their a little bit older' group!!!
But, that is okay as I really really enjoy this point in my life. (although I could do w/out the grey hairs I am starting to get!) I love for the most part the stages my kids are in. Even Anika is no longer in diapers through the night, not that that is a good thing some nights!
Schools out and summer will soon be here, so if you are doing anything fun give us a call so I don't go Crazy to quickly!

La Caille

Sorry, no pictures on this one, I wished I did!
Since Jared is on the Governing Board of our children's school we were invited to the 9th grade graduation dinner and dance held at La Caille last night. The kids were dressed to the 'T' in there gowns and tuxedos. It is a very formal night as they have been taking an etiquette course over the last 3 years (if they have attended the school that long). Upon arrival, we were cordially met by the school directors line and then ascending upstairs we were greeted with a boutonniere for Jared and a wrist corsage for me and a glass of lemonade! Entering the banquet room an instrumental quintet played beautifully while we mingled with the teacher's FSO Board and students. We had a lovely dinner where we even tried escargot, I tried it, I just didn't chew it, swallow and drink! We then got sorbet to cleanse our pallet in preparation for the 3 course meal! After dinner the students danced dances they had learned in their class. In keeping to my 'have more fun in life' Jared and I had a good time dancing with the kids, but off to the side a bit as to not get in the way! Although for one waltz they some how were short a girl and I got to dance with one of the 9th grade boys, I am sure he wasn't to impressed to dance with an 'old lady'. Jared says, he should have, he got the 'girl of the room'! What else is a husband to say, but I do enjoy the compliment none the less! We were the only adults who danced and it wasn't out of lack of trying to get others to join in! I don't know what it is, but I cannot get the slower dances figured out as I always step on Jared's feet! However, we do have a good time doing the swing! It was so much fun. After the dance we watched a short slide show and had an ice cream crepe and a big chocolate dipped strawberry! Yum! Yum! And I wonder why my hips won't go down!
I am so glad Jared and I got to go out for a fun night. You would have thought it was my graduation as I was in such a fun & happy mood when we left!
I am so grateful for such a great, hard working husband. I am also grateful for his parents who so willingly and often take our kids for us so we are able to have these opportunities. I am also grateful for the opportunity my kids have to go to such a great and inspiring school. It is so worth the 7 minute each way drive every morning. The directors and teachers are amazing and I love that they know my kids and us and our concerns intimately (marked by very close association, contact, or familiarity)!!!!! I love our school!

Birthday Fun

Anika's 3rd birthday party was at The Kid Barn
which is a 5000 sq. ft. warehouse with bounce houses.
We invited 3 of Anika's little friends, but only one was able to make it, (Ya Boston!)
but that's okay. Side Note- Parents, I know it is easy to threaten your kids of a punishment of "you better be nice or you can't go to your friends party today" Yes, I have even threatened it, but be careful because you may have to follow through...! And are you punishing your child or the birthday child and the hard work the parents went through to pay and get it ready?! That is all I will say about that! :)
So, like my friend Ali said in her latest blog, she is trying to find more joy in life. I recently had been thinking about that as well, and I decided that we, as the adults would not be able to sit on the side lines watching, but we all needed to bounce and jump and play as well! What fun it was. Although I do have to admit this morning I am a little stiff from climbing the rope to the top of the slide and I slept in until 9am-sad, but true!:( Thank goodness for 1 o'clock church! Even Grandpa Allen (B.A.) climbed the slide, although he did did fall into a smoldering heap at the bottom of the ladder, but in his defense it was 5 steps quite steep!!! With Kennedy's

help grabbing his hand at the top he was able to make it over! ;) Watch out Grandma Allen (Velene) no excuses of teeth or socks, next time we will bring advil and socks for you! As always, Chantel and Kennedy were a great help
with entertaining the kids. The kids ran from one to the next,


never missing a beat. Alex loved racing through the obstacle course as he was beating everyone. I was the last he challenged, and it was a pretty smug challenge as his confidence was up as he had even won all the adults he had raced. Being the competitive person I am, (especially with a smug 7 year old, well almost 8 who thinks by the time he is done, maybe his mom would be through the first part!) I took him on! So, when I was ahead and he had to turn to cheating by pulling and jumping on my legs all it took was one good kick to the chest to pop him off and I still came out victoriously! Aubrey and Andrew were cute to help push Anika
and Boston's little bums up on the bounce slides as a few of them were a little high or slippery for them to climb! Anika and Boston had fun together climbing up
the slides (they probably aren't sore!)and are cute little buddies
hopefully, they will get more playing in over the summer months.
The birthday fun went to our house were Anika opened presents
and had yummy Princess Cake
(thanks Costco). I would have to say this was my least stressed birthday party and it was still a great success! Happy Birthday Anika! We Love You.