Tuesday, April 14, 2015

St. Patrick's Day Fun!

Another "holiday", another excuse for Mommy to have some creative fun! Starting with Heath's "Tasting of the Greens" party! 
We decided to make some green shamrock jello jigglers to share with his class. 
He said they were a big hit! 
A leprechaun even visited his classroom and made a big old mess…these tracks were the only proof that he was there! Heath thought this was HILARIOUS! 
A few of Heath's school projects. I love that he learned the origin of St. Patrick's Day and the meaning behind the 3 leaf clover- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 

Then, of course, a sneaky leprechaun was up to his usual tricks in our house too! 
The boys woke up ready to run downstairs to see if the leprechauns had come! They were running through the house laughing hysterically about all that they saw. Heath was the most adorable. Such joy in just the simplest, silliest things. 

The leprechaun left gold coins scattered around…

And was playing with every single green toy we own! 

The boys think it's hilarious that he even takes a potty break at our house! 

We had a GREEN breakfast! 

And we prepared some treats for the teachers we are SO lucky to have! 

I usually do a bit of decorating too. 

After school I whipped up some green pancakes for dinner and then I ran out to get us Shamrock Shakes for dessert! A St. Patty's Day must have! 


I am so blessed to be their Mom and Mark's wife and I love any excuse to let them know through fun activities and treasured words...
Happy St. Patrick's Day! 
Kiss Me…I'm {NOT} Irish! 

Sunday, April 12, 2015

February and March Catch Up

This post is just a bunch of STUFF!

Starting with a verse that I prayed over and over as I walked beside my best friend Jill during a scary season of her life.
She was diagnosed with papillary thyroid carcinoma…just like I was over a year ago! She had a partial thyroidectomy and in the end it was found to be irregular cells growing a large nodule, but NOT cancer! We are so thankful for her health and this amazing blessing! Just another way that God has joined us as "soul sisters" as cheesy as it may sound…it's the truth! She is one of my greatest blessings!
 

Life around the house...
This boy LOVES his batting gloves! He wears them all the time! 

Daddy got creative one day and went to town with the pearler beads…by himself…ha! But the boys loved his creation- their names and a heart with an arrow through it. Do you see it? 

Nolan chose to read the book Grandma wrote for him for Show & Tell one week. He was so proud to show off a book that he was the Main Character of! 

My first Shamrock Shake of the year! Mark surprised me with this treat while the boys played in the McDonalds Play Place one Friday Night. Isn't he romantic? No, really, he is! He knows the way to his girls's heart! Ha! 

Pauly D. hair going on after a bath one night. Fist pumps! 

We went to The Broker for our annual adults night out to celebrate Bruce's birthday! 
We always have such a great time being together and actually getting to talk and laugh without the distractions of the kids. 


I think this is one of our favorite Jansen Family traditions! Thanks for a yummy dinner Mom & Dad Jansen!

Wacky Wednesday at school! 

We've had such beautiful weather, but we've also had a snowy day or two as well. So we squeezed in  some last sledding of the year on a Bluebird Day! 

How I found Heath one day! Caught red handed! 

We had the Syers fam over one night and the kids all cuddled up together to watch Big Hero 6! I love the way Nolan is laughing in these pictures! 

Playing soccer up at Chap

My students know how much I L-O-V-E the traditional red jelly beans! They've been gifting me with them all month! So sweet! 

A little Family Room football! 

Firefighter Nolan…a friend of mine from Mammoth Heights sent me this picture of Nolan one day when her husband, a firefighter, was teaching the 1st Graders about fire safety. This picture cracks me up! 

Weekend Target run with the fam...

Backyard boys

Babysitting the Leensvaarts one night...
Brooks adores Nora! 
He kisses her and takes care of her and gives her things. It's just the sweetest thing! 

Nolan was amazed to see sweet Nora getting around now! 

Jack & Brooks, born just 2 days apart! Best buds! 

Brady's 8th Birthday party...

We dropped off the big boys and enjoyed some time with just Brooks! 
That doesn't happen very often, so we really enjoyed loving on our little. 
We went back to pick up the older boys from the party and got to sing and celebrate our fun nephew!

What a goof! He makes muscles and pulls this face when he eats healthy foods! Showing off how they make him STRONG! 

Spring Soccer started! Mark is coaching Nolan and Heath on a K/1 team. Go Flames! 

Nolan singing in the sanctuary with his children's choir. 

I brought home some snails from school. We studied them in our Science Unit, but they needed a home  for Spring Break! They have become super active and happy in Solo's tank! We all love watching them creep around and come out of their shells. 

My Mom, Sister, and Flobby came out for Spring Break and watched the boys while they were home from school. I have a bunch of posts still to do on that fun week. But I'm going to skip ahead to my Spring Break which was the last week of March. Nolan has a modified traditional school schedule, so he has a 2 week Spring Break, which is AWESOME! So it was nice to have him home with me while I was off. We had GREAT weather! 

One afternoon the temperatures were in the high seventies so we decided to break out the sprinklers! 
Nolan had an absolute BLAST! 

Heath ran through a few times, but preferred to dip his toes and put his hands in. 
Brooks was napping while we were playing, so I was sure to snap a picture of him when he woke up later. Couldn't leave this cutie out! 

We didn't do much during my Spring Break, we just relaxed between having two set of family and friends staying with us. So we played a lot of games and stayed in our p.j.s and just enjoyed a slow couple of days before the Sloothaaks came out to visit. (Which was so super fun!)

So I didn't blog all of March and now I have SO MUCH to get caught up on. Hopefully I'll get to a few more posts this week! 

Friday, April 10, 2015

All American You and Me

Waaaaay back in February, during the week of President's Day, the 1st Grade classes at Mammoth Heights had an "All American You and Me" performance. Little did we know that this performance was a big deal! It must have taken a lot of rehearsal and a lot of hard work to pull off! It was adorable and Mark and I were so proud…but completely oblivious going in that it was such a BIG DEAL! We thought they would just be singing a few songs in the classroom and showing off their projects. But it was a packed house in the gym and the classes each did an amazing job! Here are a few snippets of their songs! 
Nolan is on the top row, about in the middle of the flag. 

Star Spangled Banner- I love when he really sings out! 

This Land is Our Land- check out Mr. G. He's so fun! 

America! 

My All American Boy! 
Love him! He is such a sweetheart! 

After the kids sang we joined Nolan back in his classroom so that he could show us his team research project on an American Symbol. 
He chose the Bald Eagle and worked with Dakota and Jayden. Together they made this cool poster! 

Complete with a QR code that we scanned on the iPad. Nolan had to teach me all about QR codes! Oh man! The things they learn in just 1st Grade are amazing! 

The QR code led us to his Explain Everything project where he had typed in facts and dragged in screen shots of pictures of Bald Eagles and had recorded his voice stating facts! 
Pretty incredible! 

Love this kid and so proud of all he's learned this year! So thankful for his great school and dedicated teachers! It was a fun morning!