Happy Birthday Justin!

Friday was John's brother Justin's 35th Birthday!  We all went out to Crush (wine bar) on Saturday night to celebrate.  We were on the rooftop and had a great view of the waterway and the fountains.

Birthday Boy Justin!

Jen & Justin

Me & John

The Ladies

Tammy, Me, Jen, Kami & Cindy

Last Day of School Luau

Thursday was Jaden's last day school at his Mother's Day Out program.  The class had a Luau Party for the kids and parents and it was really cute!  They made grass skirts and painted them (brown grocery bags) but Jaden was too cool to wear his.  His teachers, Ms. Amy & Ms. Amanda, found some straws with hula girls on them and the kids loved them.  Here are some pics from the party.

Clockwise

Joel (1/2 of him), Ethan R., Jaden, Marissa, Landon, Kayla, Asher & Jessie

Jessie & Cole

Ethan W.

Jaden & Landon

Ms. Amy, Jaden & Ms Amanda

Jaden decided he didn't want to smile for the pic. =]

We hope all of Jaden's classmates/teachers have a great summer but we will get to see most of them in the summer session.

Band Practice (video)

After playing the Wii Rock Band drums on Sunday, Jaden has shown a new interest in playing his musical instruments at home.  Below is a video from today.  He set up all his instruments and then pulled me into the playroom to show me his skills.

ROCK ON!!!

Memorial Day Weekend

This weekend Jaden & I attended a Birthday Swim Party for his friend Sophia.  It was great seeing everyone again!  We have known Sophia, Xavier and Sprague (not pictured) and their moms since the kids were about 6 weeks old.  Amazing how fast they're all growing up!

Sophia in pink, Xavier in the green swim shorts and Jaden going down the mini slide.

Jaden relaxing in the pool.

On Sunday, we attended church with John's brother Justin and his wife Jennifer.  The kids all went into their respective classrooms until after the service.  It looks like a pretty day but started raining right after the service let out but I was able to get in a quick pic.

Jaden and his cousins.

Cade, Rylan, Jaden & Conley.

Later Sunday afternoon we attended a cookout hosted by some friends of Justin & Jennifer.  It was sprinkling the whole time but the kids didn't seem to mind since they were in the pool. John, Jaden and I tried out the Wii Rock Band while we were there and I have to say it's a lot harder than it looks.  John was on lead guitar and Jaden sat in my lap and we played the drums.  Fun but we got booed off the stage!  Wish we would have thought to take a picture of our "rock group".....so funny!

Jaden, Conley, Owen & Cade.

J the Junior Explorer!

I've been trying to find fun things for Little Man to do this summer and found a Junior Explorer class through the Recreation Center. They have one every few weeks at the local Nature Preserve. Today's theme was "Feathered Friends". Our first craft of the day was to make bird watching binoculars! Very cool. We then followed our guide for a nature walk. Didn't see any birds but the Park Ranger pulled up to chat with the kids. On the way back up the trail we saw a snake. Eww Eww! I hate snakes! But what freaked me out is that it coiled up like it was going to bite us so I threw a stick at it to scare it off. It was only about 12 inches long but who knows if it was venomous or not! We were able to scare it off the path before anyone else came along. Once we made it back to the trail-head, we made bird feeders out of pine cones, peanut butter and bird seeds. Little Man kept trying to eat the peanut butter off of the plastic knife and then wanted to take a bite of the pine cone when we were finished. Funny kid!

Our guide showing the kids the craft.

Little Man is in the green hat.

Little Man with his binoculars.

Feathers and a beak to make it look like a bird.

I see you!

Walking along the nature trail.

Park Ranger.

Little Man and his new friend O.

All this walking made me thirsty!

Snake!

Making a bird feeder.

We signed up for a couple of other craft type activities and we can't wait! Little Man really had a good time this morning.

Day Three of Birthday Festivities!

Saturday John, Jaden & I went Market Street to walk around.  There was a D.J. there and Jaden was tapping he foot to the music until the guy turned around to say Hi.  Jaden got shy and ran over to John and hid behind him.  Funny!  He's usually not like that.  But they guy laughed and eventually played "She's a Brickhouse" for us and Jaden walked back over to listen.  

Later that night, John and I met his brother Justin and his wife Jennifer and our friends Daniel and Meghan at Tommy Bahamas for dinner.  Really good!  And I scored another free dessert!  =]  On the way home John commented that not everyone gets 3 parties for their birthday and I told him that you should always get extra parties for milestone Birthdays and when he turns 40 (in 3 1/2 years) he can have 3 parties too.  So there!  =]

Jaden keeping an eye on the D.J.

John & I at dinner.

Day Two of Birthday Festivities!

Well, we had the neighbors over but I didn't remember to take pictures until the end of the night!  Argh!  So here's a pic of the 1/2 eaten Birthday cake and the cards and flowers I received. It was fun having everyone over and Jaden had a great time running around with all the kids!

Flowers from my John, Jennifer & Darron, Emily & Jason and Courtney & Tom.

Cards from Family & Friends.

Looking forward to Day 3 tonight!  Dinner with husband, Justin & Jennifer, Daniel & Meghan at Tommy's!  Yum!  Maybe I can score another free dessert!  =]

Day One of Birthday Festivities!

Yesterday was my Birthday and I spent the day shopping!  Jaden was in school so I had ALL DAY.  I tried to break out of my GAP bubble and hit some of the "trendier" shops and I seriously think I was the oldest person in the store!   **SIGH**  =]  I did find some cute stuff....spent most of my time/money in JCrew (LOVE LOVE this store!).  Later that evening, some of the moms from our Wednesday playgroup and I got together for dinner and drinks and had a great time!  John took Jaden over to visit his cousins so a fun evening was had by all!  Tonight we're having neighbors over for cake, snacks & drinks so I'll have those pics posted tomorrow.

Kelly, Wendy, Karla, Allison and I.

This is me after 2 Raspberritinis.  =]

The girls sang Happy Birthday to me and here I am

grinning like a big dork.  =D

Thanks for making the evening a special one girls!

Tomorrow: The Big 4-0!

Found this article online and felt that it expressed how I felt about turning 40.  It was a pretty long article so I did some editing.

Turning 40

By Kim Dziobak

Most of us, at one point or another, take a moment to evaluate our lives and the paths that we have chosen to take. We each do it at different times and with different emphasis. Sometimes people do it around high school or college graduation time, when deciding what career to pursue, how we want to be regarded by society, friends, and family or how to transition ourselves from a student to a grown up.

Some people do the evaluative process when planning for a family. Sometimes it takes the illness or death of a family member, or some other tragic event to make us stop and see if we are taking our life in the right direction.

For many of us, however, hitting a certain age can cause one to stop and take pause. This happened to me last summer. I had just hit the big 3-9 and I realized that in less than one year I would be 40 years old. Now, I have been saying and believing that today’s 40 is yesterday’s 30, but I was still a bit shocked at the prospect that I would soon be what I had always considered middle aged.

Part of the problem for me with aging is that I never “feel” my age. I have this preconceived notion about what a person should be feeling or doing at a given age. I am always surprised though that I never match up with what my notion is. I have also realized that no one ever wants to be their real age.  Teenagers try everything to look older, sometimes even getting fake IDs to get into clubs and bars. Then once we hit 21, that magic age of “real” adulthood, something happens and we start to feel like we should begin shaving off years to continue to be young. The older we get the more years we shave off.

So in turning 40, I started to think about what that meant. I remember that when my parents turned 40, I thought that it did seem old. Today, I don’t feel like I thought 40 would feel. I certainly don’t feel old; I certainly don’t feel like 20 either! So how am I supposed to feel? How am I supposed to act? Do I have to be more serious and mature? Am I suppose to start looking into botox, or getting plastic surgery? Should I start buying sensible shoes? Do I need to start stocking my medicine cabinet differently?

Turning 40 is making me look at my life and the things that I have accomplished differently. What I am realizing is that I really do have some good stuff under my belt. I am realizing that I am the only one holding me back and that I can have another 40 remarkable years if I let myself. I am beginning to truly believe that age is only a number and that the soul is only as old as you feel. In my research, there aren’t any hard and fast rules for how 40 acts or thinks or feels. 

I AM 40 AND PROUD! I hope that when I turn 60 and start to evaluate my life again, I will look over the previous 20 years and see accomplishments, advancements, and wonderments that are only dreams now. I hope that I see that I was happy with my life, and myself. I want to see that my family and friends continued to bring me joy and completeness, and that I have shared more of myself with them. I hope to see that I have continued to grow personally and professionally and that I have more in my life to be grateful for. And mostly I hope that at 60 I feel as great and proud as I do today!

Happy Mother's Day!

John and I wanted to say HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to our moms and I thought I'd post my favorite pics of them with us.  Also included a picture of me and Jaden on my first day as a mom, Good Friday, April 6th, 2007.  Also, congrats to new mom-to-be, John's sister, Renee!

John and his mom Denise

Me and my mom Evelyn

Me and my baby boy, Jaden

Hard to believe it's been 2 years!

On a separate note.  We had to find homes for our 2 cats because Jaden is allergic.  Our wonderful friend Joy and her two boys agreed to take Gordon and came up for the weekend for some fun and to pick him up.  While here, they asked about Katie and I explained that we couldn't find a home for her because of her diabetes, needing 2 shots a day and her age, so we were going to have to put her to sleep next week.  Joy said that they would take both of the cats!  Yeah!  I had forgotten that Joy watched the cats for us when we had taken a trip, so she knows how to do the shots.  Her son Josh has wanted a cat for a long time and he was so happy to take them home!  I was so happy that Joy was taking them both so we wouldn't have to separate them and have to put Katie to sleep.  Of course, I cried off and on the rest of the day.  I was happy but sad too.  I've had them both for about 17 years so they're like my kids.  Jaden doesn't seem to realize that they're gone but thats o.k., I get to visit them!  =]

Katie and Gordon watching Jaden (2 months) play.

Katie cleaning Gordon.

He's Your Son!

Jaden has a new favorite show.  Yo Gabba Gabba!  on Nick Jr.  We came across this by accident on the Noggin channel and Jaden went crazy!  They have guests like actors Jack Black (hilarious!) and Elija Wood who show the characters of the show how to do their favorite "Dancy Dance!" They also sing songs like "There's a Party in my Tummy" (encourages kids to eat their veggies). My favorite song on the show is "Happy Birthday" by the Ting Tings.

The host is DJ Lance Rock and he wears this fuzzy orange hat, glasses and an orange spandex kind of outfit.  Yeah, I know.  Jaden and I stopped at Target today and he zeroed in on the Gabba merchandise so we got a video and something that guaranteed non-stop entertainment.....the DJ Lance Magic Dance Hat!

Foofa, Plex, Muno (red guy), Jack Black (Guest Star), Toodee (blue guy), DJ Lance and Brobee

yogabbagabba.com

DJ Jaden

Jaden watching the show and singing.

Whats so funny?!

In Honor of our 7th Wedding Anniversary! (video)

**WARNING!  Video may not be suitable for all viewers!** You may want to scroll down and pause the music on this blog first.  =D

Wanted to poke fun at myself for a change!  Enjoy!  

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Today

Today Jaden climbed up on a chair to get to a table lamp in our entryway and I though I'd experiment with the light and take some photos of him.  The first one is of him laughing (sorry about the blur)....he has started doing this thing where he covers his mouth when he laughs and it's so funny!  You can see from the rest that he was trying to be patient with me.  =]  But I kinda like the no smile pics, something different.