CHICAGO

Last week I went with my mom and sister Amy to visit my little sister Melanie who is living with her family in Bloomington, IL while her husband is in medical school. It was Mel's birthday on February 24th and she knew my mom was coming for a visit, but we thought it would be fun if Amy and I came along to surprise her. Mel picked my mom up from the airport and went straight to Steak and Shake where her husband Brad would meet up with them. While Mel was picking up my mom, Amy and I were waiting in the airport bathroom until we got a text from Mel's husband saying it was OK to come out and we got in his car and went with him to the restraunt. It was so worth it to see Melanie so surprised when we showed up at Steak and Shake. She had NO IDEA that Amy and I were coming. We spent the first 3 nights of our trip in Bloomington at Melanie and Brad's house. It was fun to see the town they live in and spend time with their kids Chloe and Ezra. On Saturday we took Mel and drove 130 miles to Chicago where we spent 2 nights with just the girls. It was so much fun to be together. I have to admit I did get a little homesick for my little family, but I enjoyed every minute I was able to spend with my mom and sisters. We shopped, saw the bean, went through the Art Museum, saw the Broadway Play "Million Dollar Quartet" (which was awesome), ate lots of yummy food, walked around the pretty WINDY city, and just had a great time hanging out together.

Thanks for the fun memories!!!

So SURPRISED when we walked into Steak and Shake =)

Happy Birthday Melanie.
I sure love you and am so grateful you are my sister.

Spending time with the Chambers Family.

We went to the Childrens Museum in Bloomington.

We had a great time in the music room =)

Melanie, Amy, Me

Hello CHICAGO!!!

The BEANIt is so cool to see the reflection of the city in the Bean.Me looking into the Bean.

...Home Sweet Home...
The kids loved their Chicago sweatshirts I brought them.The 1st Grade class I am an aide for sent me this picture with a text message while I was in Chicago. They said "Emily we miss you and hope you are having a great time." I thought it was so sweet.

SKI RACE

Jake and Adam participated in a snowboard race up at Solitude when I was in Chicago visiting my little sister Melanie. They had a great experience racing. Jake took 1st and Adam took 2nd in their age group. I have a feeling if I know these boys they will be racing a lot more next year. Good job guys!!! =)

SUNDAY FUN

Last Sunday when the weather was in the high 50s we "LOVED" spending time together enjoying the sunshine in our backyard. It was absolutely gorgeous weather...LOVED IT. The kids and Mike were playing flies up and they were getting so into it I had to go and grab the camera. I was laughing so hard when I looked through the pictures I took. Their facial expressions are priceless.

I love how Sadie is in the background crying from a wound from a previous round...FUNNY!!!

It ended with Rachel and Jake wrestling in this little patch of snow we had left in our backyard. GOOD TIMES!!!

BLOG BOOK

YAHOO I just finished our "2010" BLOG BOOK...
and it is ready to print. LOVE IT =)

SCIENCE FAIR

Jake and Will entered the SCIENCE FAIR last week in school. They both did a great job on their projects and were happy with their results. Jake did his project with my nephew Adam. These two are a great team...they both equally helped with the project. Their project was the distance you can jump in different types of shoes.

Will decided he wanted to do is project alone which I was fine with. His project was which liquid will freeze the fastest.

GREAT JOB GUYS!!!

FAMILY NIGHT at the FOOD BANK

We had a great time at the FOOD BANK this last Monday night for family night with the Nelson family. My sister Amy is always so great to schedule times for our family to go every 4-6 months. The kids love to spend time with their cousins and what better way then to spend it doing service together =).
(We missed you Jed, Mandy, Brad and Mel.)

PARENTING 101

Sometimes as a parent it can be so hard to sit back and watch your kids figure out who they are and where they belong with their friends. I have watched my kids as they call or text a friend and they can’t hang out but they find out later that they were together with another group of friends. I have seen at recess some friends say, “Go find someone else to play with today.” I think the hardest thing for me is that when our child gets their feelings hurt it brings back the same feelings that I had when I was young. I want to share a story that happened to me when I was in the 6^th grade and I think it really changed me.

I had a group of about 6 girlfriends in elementary. We stuck together and we really didn’t care about anyone else or their feelings. Yep you could say I was in a clique. Well I was really bossy…I know hard to believe =) and one day my group of friends decided to turn on me and not want anything to do with me. They got sick of me wanting to always be in charge. They would run away from me at recess and say and do really mean things. I am pretty sure I deserved some of it, but they went a little too far in the way they treated me. I had a hard time at school for about 5 days of them being really, really mean. I mean they would wait for me in the hall and just say things that were so mean. I refused to go to school and I stayed home for about a week. I still remember my 6^th grade teacher Mrs. Williams coming to my house with some earrings and saying she missed me and that I needed to come back and try to make new friends and try to get over what these friends had done. It was hard, but I did it. When I came back they apologized and said they were sorry, but the damage was done. I really never was as close to them as I used to be and I learned that nobody likes to be bossed around and I needed to have a lot of friends and not be exclusive.

I am so grateful for my family and the friends I have in my life. I know I couldn’t go through this PARENTING thing without them. I want my kids to know that I too had to figure out which friends were good for me and that it is important to always be who you are and not change for ANYONE.