Wednesday, June 3, 2015

MAY

May catch up comin' at ya! 

Teacher Appreciation week: 
Monday…a nice note! {and "Thanks a BUNDTch" chocolate chocolate chip Nothing Bundt Cake} 

Tuesday: an apple for the teacher! 

Wednesday: Mammoth shaped sugar cookies baked with love! 

Thursday: Thanks a latte to our amazing teachers! 

And some how I forgot to take a picture of Nolan's Friday gift to Mr. G: a YOU ROCK note and iTunes gift card- perfect for a former rock star 1st Grade teacher! 
But I did take a picture of how the week ended for me:  beautiful roses from my boys! So happy to have their support as I continue to work hard in a career that I LOVE! 

Silly boy wanted me to take his picture before school one day. We are working hard to finish strong…but BOY is this Mom tired and ready for Summer! 

Jayne threw Brad a surprise birthday party! 





 It was a fun night out downtown! 

The next morning I did the Rockies walk with Barb and Sue and Chris. 

It was a really beautiful morning and a very fun walk! 

It ends in the stadium. 

We had hotdogs and icees and enjoyed the sunshine together after walking the 5k! 

Later that afternoon we had a birthday lunch at Olive Garden to celebrate OMA! 
The cousins had a great time together! And they sure loved the BREADSTICKS! 

 Morning play time while Mommy folds laundry! 

Rain, rain, go away! 
Come again another day! {or not}

Another wet and rainy practice with my buddy! 

We went out for pizza after practice to warm up! It was a Mammoth Heights fundraiser! 
When we got home the sun came out and a rainbow appeared! The boys thought it was SO cool! 

But by Saturday, the rain had gone away and we squeezed a game in! 


Love these little soccer studs! 

A fun afternoon with my school girls celebrating Rebecca and baby Reese! 

Playing in the "river"one day! 

Scootin' in the sun the next. We sure try to get out when it does appear! 

Water Day wasn't quite the warmest at Heath's preschool! 
But he had a blast and really enjoyed squirting and splashing with his friends! They even had a water table filled with shaving cream, which he thought was super cool! 

Pajama Day! Never a dull moment around here with 3 different schools and all of the end of the year STUFF! 

A fun Saturday before another storm!

Nolan's end of the year Choir party! I was scheduled to volunteer so it was fun to be able to see him partying! 
Playing Twister! 

Playing the Body Parts game! When the music stopped they had to find a partner and touch whatever body parts the leader called out. This one was knee to knee. 
He won this game! And thought the funniest one was nose to elbow! 

This was the game that I lead each rotation. 
Destroyers! It was fun to watch him go after the balloons and get in the mix with all the kids 1st - 6th grade! 

Not the best picture, but we ended with ice cream sundaes! He had a great year in choir and is sad to not have it for a few months. {Even though his Mom & Dad are quite happy to have an easier weekend schedule for awhile. We love hearing him sing and he has such a great voice, but the practices and performances are A LOT! We are looking forward to relaxing a bit this summer!}

After the choir party, Nolan and I headed over to Swingers to join this crazy crew for a couples baby shower for D.J. & Mariah! 
They had started the party while we were at choir, I didn't think I would have time to drop Nolan off anywhere while we finished the shower, so he just came along! He did a great job just hanging out and I think he enjoyed being the only kid there. He felt so grown up! 
Well, we ended up staying a lot longer than I thought we would, because who wouldn't want to hang out with these cool peeps all night long! So Nolan just played on our phones and eavesdropped! Ha! Good thing he's so responsible, because he probably should have been wearing ear muffs for much of the evening! 

We are so excited for Mariah to join the Mommy Club! Can't wait to meet their little girl! 

When our time was up on the golf simulator at Swingers, we headed over to The Rio for some more fun and yummy margs too! 
We treated Nolan to a Shirley Temple for being such a good sport and tagging along with us! His request for "extra cherries" was more than granted! "7 or 8" to be exact! He LOVED it! After Uncle T and Auntie Laura's wedding bartender spoiled him with bottomless Shirley Temples and cups of cherries there is no turning back! He's a man who knows how he likes his drinks! He was also reading all the signs in the bar…it was cracking us up. He said, "It's 5 o'clock somewhere. I do not get it." Parents of the year award over here! But it was such a fun night out! Thanks E & K for hosting a fun shindig and thanks Brad, Jayne, Oma, and Opa for watching our crazy littles so we could have a night out! 

A Perler Bead fiasco! {Auntie…we will return the favor some day!}

This guy lost another tooth…AT SCHOOL! He was so thrilled to have lost a tooth for the first time at school! He got this cool tooth necklace to keep it in and Mr. G. gave him that neat wooden tooth box for future lost teeth as well. He told me that he was wiggling it in P.E. and it just popped out. I didn't even know it was that loose! (And since this pic he lost the other top tooth as well! His smile is really something else right now! Oh man!)

Preparing HEATH bar ice cream toppings for his ice cream party! The class earned an ice cream party for reading 100 books this year! He was so excited to share his special topping with his class. 

Mammoth Heights Kindergarten Orientation
It was quite impressive! 6th graders gave us a tour of some important school places and scanned QR codes that lead to fun videos along the way! Our guide, Yanni, did a great job! He was very knowledgable about his school! 

We stopped in Mrs. Nicholson's room and were introduced to Ozzy the lizard! Heath got to pet him and check out one of the classrooms that could possibly be his. 

Then we checked out Mrs. Parker's classroom. She has a turtle and a tarantula and a hedgehog too! He is so pumped to be a part of one of these classes next year! 

After the tour it was back to the cafeteria for milk and cookies and some more information! Heath is more than ready for FULL DAY Kindergarten! And we can't wait to watch him learn and grow! {Oh, and by the way…isn't he so cute wearing his brother's hand me down MHE hoodie?! He asked if he could wear it for his special evening at his future school. Love it.}

Volunteering at Nolan's school every Wednesday morning has been such a special time for me. I look forward to spending time in Nolan AND Heath's classroom's next year. 
I snapped this picture of him after he drew a picture of the Poison Dart Frog that he researched. 
He put it into a Rainforest mural and then they attached a QR code that leads to his Explain Everything research project. Crazy amazing stuff they do in 1st Grade these days! 

Off to the Zoo on a rainy day field trip! I ordered him this new rain jacket just for this special day! He LOVES it! And I think it is absolutely so cute too! He had the best time learning about animals with his friends! 

And that about wraps up May's this and that! It was busy but FUN! 

Monday, June 1, 2015

Goodbye Preschool…Hello Kindergarten!

Heath Tyler Jansen is now a KINDERGARTNER! I can't believe it! 


He has blown us away this year with his independence! He has become a confident student, kind friend, and good role model in class! He has grown leaps and bounds both academically and socially and is MORE THAN ready for Kindergarten! It will be so fun to see him doing a lot of the same things that I am teaching at school! I just know he will teach me so much and make me a better teacher along the way! 

Heath LOVES Kidz Bops music, so I surprised him with the latest c.d. as a little Preschool graduation gift! He was thrilled! He also got the Kindergarten book in the photo above. 

On his last day he had a little celebration in his classroom. 

He was SO excited to celebrate! He was buzzing with energy! 

We are so thankful for his great school and pray that Heath will ALWAYS know just how much God loves him! 

Oma, Opa, and his cool cousins came to watch! 
It was super fun having them there! 

Here is the program. 





And here are some clips from the celebration...
He makes me laugh! 

LOVE this! Mr. Manners! 

He had a fantastic year with Miss Karen and Miss Liz! 

One last group hug! 

A SILLY picture of their class! 

 After the celebration in the classroom, we went down to a small auditorium to watch a slideshow of all of the graduating preschool classes. Heath enjoyed seeing himself on the big screen! 


So proud of his certificate! 

We said goodbye to the fam and then we headed over to Challenger Park for a picnic and play time. Mark took the day off to attend, but I had to run to school that afternoon, so I stayed for a bit, snapped a few pictures, and then hugged my little stud goodbye! 
We love you Miss Karen!


Little bro had fun celebrating too! Hard to believe he will be a preschooler next year! Crazy! 

Oh, the places you'll go! 

Hangin' with some friends! 

And this was his final art project of the year! It's based off of the Eric Carle book, A House for Hermit Crab. Pretty neat! 

And now we are FULLY enjoying his summer break! And highly anticipating Nolan and I being done with school as well! We love school but we love the pool too! Looking forward to a restful and rejuvenating summer together! 

We love you Heath Tyler and love watching you SHINE! You are still a boy of high highs and low lows, but you bring JOY and LIFE wherever you go! You will move mountains! We know it!  

Saturday, May 30, 2015

Mother's Day 2015

I had a fantastic Mother's Day this year! It was full of lots of fun and I was completely spoiled as always! So proud to be a Mom to these boys and so blessed to have Mark by my side supporting me through this incredible job. 

We started off the festivities with Moms & Muffins at Heath's preschool. 

They opened up our time together with this sweet song! Heath did such a good job! 

Then his teacher read the story, I'll Love You Forever. Which, normally, I think is a pretty creepy story- you know how the Mom creeps into her grown sons window and rocks him to sleep- that's weird, right?! But it was sweeter this time with Heathy singing and reading along in parts. 

Here he is laughing at the creepy part…I'm with ya buddy! 

And then, of course, my phone storage was FULL! SAD! Bad timing…but I got these videos below from a friend. They are terrible quality, but you'll get the jist.


LOVE was made for YOU and ME! 

After the songs, Heath gave me this gift. 

He made a Shrinky Dink necklace for me!
I proudly wore it all day! 

They also made these flowers with Sharpies and plastic water bottles. They heated them somehow to look like the work of the artist Chihuly. They were so pretty! 

Next we ate muffins and enjoyed our time…just the two of us! It was a fun morning! 

The next morning was Muffins with Mom at Mammoth Heights! 
Nolan dug right in! 
We sat with Nolan's friend Reilly and her Mom. So we snapped pictures for each other! 

We made these sweet flowers together with buttons and pipe cleaners! 

And then it was time for him to be off to class! It was quick but so special! Love this dude who made me a MOM! 

On Mother's Day weekend, Nolan had his last choir performances of the year. 
And it was his best performance yet! I will never tire of hearing him sing! 



Here are some clips from his songs...





You're a Mom! If you love your Mom give me a "WOO HOO!" Loved it! So cute! 

After church we stopped by to see Mark's Mom and give her some gifts! We all sure love and appreciate her so much! She is an amazing Mom and dedicated OMA! Glad we got to spend part of our day with her! And then later that day we Skyped with my Mom too! Loved "seeing" her on her special day as well. 

The boys got me Starbucks for breakfast, new Nikes and work out pants, and a mani/pedi gift card.  Nolan made me this Mason Jar candle holder at school too. 

Then we went out to the new Culvers in Parker for dinner! This Mama always wants a good burger for ALL special occasions! The boys LOVED Culvers too…especially the custard dessert that came with the Kid's Meals! We had the best day together! Thank you to my handsome guys for giving me the best day! And a HUGE thank you to my awesome Momela for setting the BEST example for me of how to be a selfless, supportive, encouraging, and FUN MOM! I learned from the greatest!