Bye CCS...Hello Summer!

Yesterday was the last day of JK, K and 2nd grade at CCS. It was a very fun day for the kids. I on the other hand, cried during the chapel slide show. CCS is such a great community. I love how my kids are learning so much academically, but are most importantly learning about God and working God's truth into their thinking.

The morning started with the chapel, then classroom parties including autographing yearbooks, hot lunch on the upper playground (KFC and Moon Pies), talent show and it ended with huge Popsicles and dancing on the playground.

Sam with Mrs. B, Mrs. H. and Mrs. D.

Emma with Mrs. H

Claire with Mrs. F.

After school we headed to the pool! Then we had french toast for dinner with whipped cream. Then we all fell deep into a sugar coma and headed straight to bed!

Art On The Eternal Refrigerator

Today was the second to last day of school. There is no longer any learning to be done. It is rather a cleaning out of the school. The kids came to the van today carrying art portfolios much larger than them. I could barely see their beaming smiles! As much as I wish I could display all of these on my refrigerator forever, I can't. So for my own enjoyment and yours I have snapped a photo of most of them while hanging on my refrigerator door. ENJOY!

Emma's clown

Emma's bear

Emma's hand prints and self-portrait. I love the doinks in her hair. It must have been a day that Emma did her own hair!

Emma's flowers

Sam's Van Gogh

This is Sam's page out of the JK book. It is Jesus with a goatee and God with a big tummy!

Sam's self-portrait and his name

Claire's monkey and bear "Rachel" and "Kate"

Claire's sort of scary guy!

Claire's Picasso

Claire's Medieval Castle

Claire's Blue Jay

Claire's Dinos

Claire's modern art piece

Give Scott A Hand

Monday night after Scott got off work he was walking out to his truck, with his keys in his hand, walking up the concrete steps of the parking garage, he tripped, fell and landed on his fist holding his keys. That would be his right fist. He landed hard as any "big guy" would! I can call him that, it is sort of a joke in our family!

Anyway, it swelled up and turned black and blue. Like any good doctor he got up the next morning and went to work. The benefit of working at a hospital and being a doctor is that while he was at work he had an xray and he got to have it examined by an orthopedist. The radiologist who read the xray said that his 5th metacarpal was fractured (the bone in your hand that lines up with your pinky finger)--big bummer. However, the orthopedist said, "I can get you in at 10 am tomorrow"!

So today he went to the ortho's office and after much prayer that he would not have to have a cast...he came home with only a splint! Yeah! He is supposed to have another xray in a week to make sure the bones are not moving but if they continue to stay put it should heal with time and use of the splint. There is only a slight chance at this point that he will need surgery and that is only if the tendon gets misaligned causing him to be unable to extend his pinky! We will be praying that things hold and that surgery is not needed. He really does not have time for surgery right now with all he has going on! Like anyone really ever has time for surgery!

The bluish coloring has subsided, but the swelling is still present. Here are Scott's lovely hands for memories!

See how the knuckles on the right hand are barely visible.

Being that Scott is on heart call this week some guys in his group did come to his aid and are taking his call for him tomorrow night and he will be able to supervise nurses the rest of the week so he does not have to use his hands as much. Please join me in praying for quick healing and for Scott to be a compliant patient!

Progress

As my days often mix together and I feel like a hamster in a wheel most of the time, sometimes it is good to look back and see progress. This weekend I have seen progress in different areas some which are worthy to share.

1. I have made progress with my laundry/basement. This Spring Scott and I spent time re-organizing our basement. One big accomplishment was actually placing the dryer next too the washer!! Novel idea I know but obviously the previous owners did not think this was as important as we do. So now 3 years later, they are side by side!! This weekend I came up with an organizing/sorting system for the clothes. Yes, I am very, very, very uptight about my laundry! Scott said he used to have a dark pile and a light pile for his clothes. I smiled and said, "marriage brings about so many different choices doesn't it?!" He now can choose one of 6 or 7 baskets to toss his soiled laundry in to! The kids (so far) think this system is fun as they enjoy getting naked in the basement and throwing their clothes in the appropriate basket. There is one basket that is labeled "not sure? toss it in here." I am waiting to see how long it takes before they just toss all their clothes in that basket!

Here are the baskets with their colored coded label systems! It does really help to keep things up off the floor and it is another chore for the chore chart! Even though Scott teases me about the system secretly I know he loves it. He loves that the clothes are not all over the floor. And for the few of you who have had the special privilege of getting to enter our basement I am sure you will appreciate no having to step over all of our undergarmets and such :)

2. Physical fitness progress has been made. This week in boot camp I had to hang from a bar for 10 sec. in a chin up position. This brought back awful memories of my childhood as I did not ever make the Presidential Fitness certification. My girls recently received the "participant" certification and were very upset. I told them that mommy could never do the chin ups either and so don't worry...maybe you will be able to do it when you are 31 and everyone is watching you at boot camp! Yes, I did it! In addition to my 10 sec chin up hold I had a great run today. I decided last minute to do the 10K (6.2 miles) University City Memorial Day Run and to keep with my race conditions of '09, it was raining. I was well rested and feeling good. I recruited MC and Melanie to run it too! I have been continuing with my running since the April race, but I haven't had any goals in mind. Last night I sat down to create a half marathon training regimen on the Runners World website. It asks you to put in a current race time and just for fun(since I knew I would run a 10K today and because I wanted to push myself) I typed in my 10K race time as 55 minutes. So, since I typed that in I had to make that my goal for today! I did my best run ever. I ran the 6.2 miles at a 9:02 min/mile pace! According to my Garmin watch I ran 6.27 miles in 56:37 minutes! I think I came pretty close to my goal- yeah! I am not good at math...maybe that is why I love my watch so much. I was really excited and I am starting training for the Sept. 13th Lewis and Clark half marathon!

3. So now I see the importance of setting goals. Goals for laundry, goals for running, goals to motivate me to achieve things that I think I cannot. The funny thing about me is that I need goals for laundry even more than I need goals for running. I would so much rather run than do laundry!

JK Art Gala

Last night was the JK Art Gala. It was a lovely event and was a fun night for Sam to show us his art, tell us what he has learned about several different artists and serve his friends and family some fruit and dessert. He wore shorts, a t-shirt, a sport coat and his Keen's. When you are an artist you can have a lot of freedom with your wardrobe too! We all dressed up for the event and our friend Sarah even came to join in the fun!

Sam's Michelangelo- He painted this on his back with the paper tacked up to the underside of a table. He chose to paint a picture of the feeding of the 5,000.

Here is Sam serving his 2 beautiful sisters! It was quite a spread!

Here is our little artist next to his aluminum foil sculpture entitled "Master Spy"!

This is his family painting! Blitzen even made the painting. I am the bigger parent with the curly hair and Scott is the smaller parent with the short spiky hair! At least he got the hair right!

Sam's class has been studying art for 3 or 4 weeks. Earlier in the month I went with him on a field trip to the St. Louis Art Museum. I was a bit skeptical about what children this young could learn about art, but boy was I surprised! They learned the styles of Michelangelo, Van Gogh, Kandinsky, Mary Cassatt and others as well as to respect art. Even last night Sam kept reminding us to not touch the art and to not step on the carpet underneath the mobiles they created! I love it that my kids have the privilege of learning about artists and that we live in a city with a wonderful art museum! I am constantly reminded that I may not know as much as my JK'er!!

The questions in my head

Sometimes I wonder about lots of random things.
Why does the house next to me keep attracting single men?
Why doesn't the latest single man cut his grass?
Why can't I find a running shoe that fits well?
Why are all the fun summer camps in June? What about July or August when Mommies really start getting burned out?
Why did I want to get out of jury duty today? Was I scared to give up my free time?
Why today during bootcamp, did I long to be at jury duty!?
Why won't Emma wear denim?
Why does Chesterfield mall have to be nicer than the Galleria?
Why does my dog jump on my friends?
Why can't I get every stain out?
Is it possible to teach Claire to do laundry?
Why haven't my kids made their bed all week?
Why haven't I made my bed all week? Okay, maybe each question answers the one before!
Why do my kids keep stepping in "dog,dog,doo,doo"?

WHY,WHY,WHY? Luckily none of these keep me up at night. The things that keep me up at night are the much bigger questions in my life. The questions I cannot blog about. Things in my life that are questions that I feel like only God really knows the answers to at this point. And yet, I am choosing to trust him during this time of transition in our lives. He holds the answers and I am on the journey with him.

Mother's Day!

So today was the big day! As listed in my previous post I really did not expect or deserve any additional Mother's Day treats or gifts. However, by God's amazing grace I somehow get more than I deserve all the time. I am so blessed to have a wonderful, loving and giving husband who is more selfless than I could probably dream of being. I am also so blessed to have been entrusted with these 3 children who constantly refocus my life and bring me great joy and a little frustration too :)

Our day began with kids sleeping in! That is a special gift that only comes once in a while. Emma slept until 9 am!! Scott took Sam to early service and I came later with the girls to the 9:45 service. The girls wanted to do Sunday school because they knew they would make special mother's day gifts, so I sat alone in church. The sermon was wonderful about Hannah and her long prayed for son, Samuel. Those of you who know my story know that my Samuel was not long prayed for... so that part made me chuckle! However, the sermon spoke to my heart and made me realize once again, what a special privilege it is to have children.

After church, Claire and Scott went to get mommy's special surprise! They went to Bread Co. to get me a yummy sandwich and to Subway to get themselves sandwiches. Then they came home and packed a picnic and we headed to Creve Coeur park for a picnic. We also loaded bikes and fishing gear. Did I mention that I didn't get a bike?!!

This pictures is of Sam and Emma. It sort of looks like he is saying, "Hey, I'll trade you this pear for that cookie." and she is saying, "Ah, whatever!"

The day was sort of cloudy so it wasn't the perfect day to lay on a picnic blanket all afternoon as Scott had planned for me. Instead he took them fishing and gave me the keys to the truck so I could go there if I got too cold. I worked on my Bible study and played around with my camera. It was fun, relaxing and quiet. We headed home and grilled out. Then I got to take a 6 mile Mother's Day Fun Run with 2 of my running buddies.

It was just what I needed and completed my day.

Mother's day is always a tough one for me. Ever since I lost my mom I think I have sort of felt weird celebrating it. I almost feel like it is a day of sadness and mourning. I usually spend this day with my grandma Lorene who has lost both of her children. This year I felt like I needed to be with my own family to have some time to re-group. My sister took my grandma out to dinner and I do hope they were able to celebrate and not mourn. I miss my mom so very much and I am sad that I don't have a mother to celebrate with on Mother's day. I do think that if she were alive that she would want me to celebrate another year of being a mom to her 3 grandchildren and that she would tell me, "Now don't get me anything for Mother's Day...I don't need a thing." I think she said that because she bought her own gifts too!! (see previous post!)

I hope all of you who are mother's had a great day!

Mother's Day Prep!

So EVERYONE knows that Sunday is Mother's Day, right? This day will get it's own post later on, of course. The point of today's post is that all Dad's need a little help on this day. Of course I envision Scott taking all the kids on a shopping trip possibly to a jewelery store or the mall looking at various items choosing something special for mommy and wrapping it up in cellophane and a bow! But this is really never what happens. To his credit he has given me some great mother's day gifts! I often make suggestions to him or to friends just in the event he may ask. He often gets it right...but just to make sure this year...I just did my own shopping!

I told Scott when he got home today that REI was having a sale and I purchased some running shorts and a shirt. I suggested that he tell the kids he bought them so they could give them to mommy!! True confessions here! He thought that was a good idea, I mean it saves him time shopping plus I get what I want. The truth is my new running hobby is really taking over. He actually got me a Garmin Watch (from him) when those were on sale a couple weeks ago! So I have maxxed out my mother's day for sure. I do not want anything else. I am so thankful to have all the new running toys that I have and am getting. However, I do have to share the funny dinner conversation tonight.

Me: "I looked on Craigslist for a bike today. I found one, but I am not really sure what I want/need"
Sam: "I know mom. I want to get you a bike for mother's day!"
Me: "No, Sam. Daddy already got you something to give mommy for mother's day, but you can get me a bike if really want too!"
Scott was quietly chuckling...I don't think I am getting a bike ;)

Lego Party!

Months ago Sam said he wanted his 5th birthday to be a Lego theme. I was sort of stumped but I knew I did not have to re-create the wheel on this one. Thanks to this blog several friends came to my aid with lots and lots of ideas-thanks ladies :) I am usually a Dierberg's or Schnuck's girl when it comes to cakes, but I was determined to make this Lego cake off the Betty Crocker website. Thanks to my mother-in-law's help it turned out pretty well!


The 5 boys we invited plus Sam seemed to be quite content just playing in Sam's room upstairs and occasionally jumping on the furniture...it's a party, right?! But once we got things under control the time actually flew by. We had a lego tower building contest, Lego free play, they all got to assemble their own Lego firetruck and firehouse kit and take it home. Watching these boys actually follow the instructions and create something was amazing! Scott and I bounced around giving help where needed, but for the most part they did a great job!

Luke and Charlie enjoying their lunch before CAKE TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This face says it all! I think all the boys had a fun time, but most of all I know Sam had a great time. It was a party just for him. His sisters weren't even there! He had the theme he wanted and really enjoyed his time with special friends. 5 is looking pretty good!