MID-WINTER Break

I can not believe its back to the weekly schedule again tomorrow ALREADY:-( Oh well it was fun while it lasted. I took the three boys to see Bolt on Friday, it was fun and in the evening JR and I went to CF Prime for the best dinner we have had in a very long time. Jarred had a few friends spend the night and our hockey game was cancelled on Saturday so I took Jarred and a friend to watch another team play (just cant stay away from the rink!)...other than that we enjoyed a very (much needed) relaxing day. Sunday our group from church got together for a couples movie while the big kids enjoyed a movie day with youth group and today was CRAZY BOUNCE! I Love that place and the kids love it even more. The Bennett and Anderson family joined us and all the kids had a blast even Connor got in on some of the excitement....pictures coming!!!

Special Note

Today I received a very special note from one of Jarred's teacher's. 13 almost 14 is a testing age and with all the little mistakes he has and will continue to make I am very proud of his overall behavior. Today before I opened this email I had lunch with a sub who told me she was in the middle school earlier in the week (she is our pastor's wife) and Jarred came up to her just to say HI and was not even sure that she would recognize him out of church, she mentioned he went out of his way to greet her. Later I opened the following email and for today I am taking a moment to be very pleased and proud with our oldest son. He will make more mistakes and we will have more bumps in the road but I hope he will continue to be a nice young man, welcoming of others and just simply KIND!
EMAIL:
Vickie,I have to share that I really like your boy. You have done such a nice job with him and you should be proud of him. Academically, he is continually voicing his critical thinking skills. He has beliefs based on sound points, but he also has a willingness to listen and learn. Jarred is a gentleman to his peers and to teachers. He hates to disappoint people, but he is also a self-assured confident young man. He uses some of his real life experiences to make connections in class, even if his experiences are humbling. Jarred also openly admits how much he adores his younger brothers; they could not have a better role model!Thanks for sharing your son!

Hockey Playoffs

I wish I could remember to take pictures at the hockey games, I have brought the camera the last three games and cant seem to remember to take the pics! Well play off game number three today was a shut out! YIPEE. It was a good game today.

We also went to the movies for the first time with Colton and Brady and watched Madagascar 2. Much to our surprise it went well, both enjoyed the movies and behaved well. Brady fell asleep and come to find out he is working on something, put him to bed this evening with a dose of Motrin and a 102 temp. Hopefully it breaks and he feels better in the morning.

Pond Skating

Today we went over to the Crago's for some back yard pond skating! These boys just love to skate, all three of them. Finally Colton is up and going just as well as his brother. Its amazing the things these kids can do, we will put this one down as the first thing Brady and Colton can do better than their dad!

The boys are Getting BIG

Today Brady and Colton had their 3 year old check ups.....here are the results! Jut for fun I looked up Jarred at 3 as well!
Brady is 38 1/4 inches tall weighing in at 35 pounds (75% - 80%)
Colton is 39 1/2 inches tall weighing in at 32 pounds (90% - 50%)
Jarred was 39 inches tall and weighed 37 pounds (90% - 90%)
Looks like Jarred is the heavy one, Colton is the tall one and skinny like his dad and Brady is the short one but they are all pretty close to eachother!!!

Just for a bit more fun...Today Jarred is an enormous 5'6 142lbs.

Colton is so thin I think the Dr wondered if he was eating enough, I swear he eats more than all of us, his mouth is so narrow the Dr is sure there is not enough room for a mouth full of adult teeth...I told the Dr next time I would have JR bring the boys and he would no longer wonder why Colton is so thin!
The boys were right on track for developmental growth and the Dr was very impressed with their ice skating abilities!! He was also impressed that they do not have accidents during sleep time, I think we got really lucky in the potty training area, it feels like forever sense I changed a diaper and accidents at night are more common than night, I guess, especially in boys but we haven't seemed to have any issues...yet!
The have a "to do list" from the Dr which includes: eat your vegetables (done), brush your teeth twice every day (done), get fully dressed on your own! They agreed with all except number three, I guess its a boy thing!

Hockey

This weekend JR took Jarred to the ND UofM hockey game on Friday, UofM won...GO BLUE - jarred! Then Jarred and I spent the rest of the weekend in Detroit at the Dury Inn for his hockey games. They won one, lost one, played well today. Here are him and his buddies at the hotel and out to dinner after the win.

Family Birthday Party

One Party wouldnt be enough! We got together the next day with both sides of the family. You can tell from the smiles how much fun was had!

GO SHORES

Sporting our new Jersey's from the Anderson's they were a very big hit at the hockey game along with the cool hats from the Hellmann's!

Singing Happy Birthday

Our little Friends

Kyann Hellmann

Brayton, Lilly and Elise

Jace Brainard

The Houle's

Sledding Party

Brainards, Hellmann's and our boys taking to the hills! Kayden, Brady and the Brainard kids would have stayed all day in 20 degree weather!

Happy Birthday Brady and Colton

Cake, ice cream, friends, sledding....Wonderful way to celebrate the big 3rd Birthday!!!

Inauguration Day 2009

Inauguration day began at 3a.m. and my day finally ended at 2a.m. Barack Obama became our 44th President at noon! To be in D.C. on such a monumental Day was phenomenal. I feel as thought I was part of a pivot point in American History. I love this country and the 2 million people who gathered here today all felt the same way, it was obvious WE ARE ONE could be heard and felt in the crowd. A new Day for America and we were here to witness it!!!

Teacher Inaugural Ball

Close Up teachers attended an Inaugural Ball after a long day on Tuesday! We had tons of fun and by the time we were back at our hotel room we had been up for about 24 hours! Whew.....I am feeling my age...OLD

Roommate

My Roommate is from Marshal High School, she is great; Kelly Oaks and a fellow teacher from MN, Adam Tillotson....we are enjoynig our time during this historical time for our country, proud to have a piece of it!

We are One Concert

The portapotty situation here is outrageous!

A few of us teachers were the silly people waving behind the reporters on MSNBC, JR turned it on and saw us!

Marine One flying over head with President Bush

About 1 million people at the "We are One" Concert, it was amazing, loved it "Welcome to D.C. and the renewal of America"-Obama
U-2 was my favorite preformer Springsteen was a close 2nd, massive crowd yet complete peace in the city, hard to put into words the feeling of being here.

Sledding

All three boys had so much fun at the Anderson's last weekend sledding! They would have stayed out all night after a FRIGID hour I yelled out "Its about time to come in" and JR says "They dont want to" Well I am sure Jarred, Colton and Brady would have all stayed out in 10 degree weather until they had frost bite!! You will notice NONE of the girls were out this long!! But look at those smiles, LOVE IT.