It began with a vision

This Tuesday is the long anticipated annual pinewood derby at Jack's Cubscout pack meeting. Jesse has worked tirelessly helping Jack come up with the coolest car. This year the car of choice is the truck, but not just any truck, a lowrider. It's quite stunning. Whether it can win the race is yet to be seen. Tune in Wednesday for a play by play of the actual event. Hopefully there will be video.

The license plate reads "lwrdr", get it!?!

Snakes

Spend much time around our family and you will meet all sorts of reptiles and amphibians. Jesse is a collector of sorts and is training the kids to be collectors also. While working in the yard this weekend he found the cutest little snake. The kids had a lot of fun with it and of course it now makes it's home in one of the empty aquariums we have lying around for just this purpose. We won't keep it long, just long enough for everyone to get their fill. It's taken me a while to get used to this lifestyle but I am proud to say I am okay with the reptiles now and even hold them on occasion.

Me holding the snake. I've heard rumor that grown men would actually put their garden tools away and go in the house at the sight of a snake just like this one, but I can't imagine ever meeting anyone like that. Oh, and I'm not talking about you, Kyle;)
Emma was trying to be so brave. She just couldn't quite hold it together at this point. Enough snake for her.
Katie loves all animals equally, including the creepy, crawly, and the slimy. She doesn't really play favorites. This little snake has been very loved since making it's home in our living room.

Slow Down!!!

My girl is just growing up so fast and I am not liking this at all. Recently she came home from school and said that the boy she has liked and has liked her for about 1 1/2 years said that he knew she couldn't "go out" and that she isn't allowed to date but wondered if she was allowed to go to the movies if there were a lot of people, as a group. Well, my first reaction is "Uh, no". And I tell Jesse thinking he would fully agree but he says "That'd be okay as long as there are lots of other kids and it's not a date". I'm thinking he's teasing or crazy but we talk about it a little while and I realize that that really wouldn't be a problem. I remember being her age and going to the sporting events after school and meeting up with groups of friends and such. Growing up in a small town we didn't have things like movie theaters or anywhere to socialize at that age so I'm not used to the idea. But we said yes and gave her the rules and this weekend was it. She was so cute. We picked her up last night at 9:00 at the front of the theater. There were 4 or 5 girls and the one boy. She said it was a lot of fun. I quizzed her too thoroughly about the goings on and she assured me everything was as it was supposed to be. She's such a cute girl. I have to say that while I stand firm on the no boyfriend thing I really love watching her go through this stage. She isn't boy crazy. Never talks about boys. Totally fine with the no boyfriend policy in our home and has never questioned our reasons. I am very lucky. This is a fun time in life and will continue to be fun if she keeps it uncomplicated.
I have to say the silly, cheesy, sappy mom part of me did come out though. As I'm quizzing her about everything she tells me he offered to by her a slushy and I almost cried. Isn't that sweet that a little 7th grade boy would offer to buy the girl he likes a drink. She turned him down of course but I loved that he offered.
I still wish she would slow down and quit growing up so fast.

Jesse and Leanne's Grand Adventure

About a year and a half ago my sister and her husband gave us two Southwest Airlines buddy passes. We could fly anywhere Southwest flies but had to use them by April 9, 2009. We have been so busy since I started back to school that we just kept putting off our trip. We had originally intended to visit Oregon but had discussed many options. The time finally came that we had to use these tickets because they are expiring. Unfortunately it's Spring Break for everyone in the country and these are non-revenue passes, meaning we are the last ones to get on the plane and only if there is room. As we are trying to figure out where to go and get the timing right so we aren't going on the most popular days, things got more and more complicated. I was really hoping we could get to San Francisco but we realized Sunday night that we couldn't get on any of the flights going to the west coast. We decided that we could just pack some clothes and get to the airport first thing in morning and make it as far as we could get. If that meant San Antonio or Lubbock so be it. But as luck would have it we were able to jump several different flights and maneuvered our way to Chicago!!! I have always wanted to go to Chicago so this worked out great. And the luckiest part was that on the day we were there the city had a record temperature of 72 degrees. The weather was fabulous the whole time. We got in Monday evening and took the "L" to downtown Chicago where we had booked a room at the Inn of Chicago. The location couldn't have been better. We were blocks from Michigan Avenue and what is famously known as the Magnificent Mile. The shopping along this street was incredible. We didn't go into many of the stores because it hurt just to look at the price tags but it was fun window shopping. We were only 10 blocks from Navy Pier. This was a fun place to walk to and look out over Lake Michigan. We were also only blocks from the Theater District. We got great tickets for a showing of A Bronx Tale with Chazz Palminteri showing at The Oriental. It was a lot of fun and a very different experience for Jesse. He's so anti-theater that I almost fell over when he said we could go see anything I wanted. I chose the gangster play over a musical because I didn't want to push my luck.
While in Chicago we had the best food I think I've ever had. We ate at a place called Rosebud on Rush. The pasta was handmade and just about melted in our mouths. It was incredible. The next day we had to have pizza and found a place called Giolano's (I think). It was the best pizza, oh my. We loved it. Later that night after our play we stopped in an oyster bar called Shaw's and had great seafood. There was a live blues band playing and it was so fun.

I LOVE Chicago. I can't wait to go back. What a fabulous city. I think it's my new favorite.

This is the only picture of us together in Chicago. Great, huh!

Looking at the city from the park at Navy Pier.



And then last night (or really early this morning)Kisha had her baby so when we came home we had a wonderful little niece to go visit at the hospital. What a wonderful Spring Break so far. Now if my kids were just home everything would be perfect.

Yea Me!!!

For the last 2 1/2 years I have been killing myself in school to make great grades because I knew that getting into grad school was necessary to practice as an independent speech-language pathologist. It has been difficult at times and I have questioned my sanity here and there because I was having to work so hard at school while trying to keep up with the family needs. But it is all beginning to pay off. I just received an acceptance letter from UNT today. I tried to tell myself that it didn't really matter if I didn't get in to any of the schools I wanted, but it did. I am much too proud a person for all of that. I don't know for sure that UNT is where I will end up because I applied to others that may work better for my schedule and life but at least I know it's an option now. I can finally breathe a little easier. I just have to pass this dang astronomy class!!!

Good Food

After the ward activity Jesse took me on a date. We went to a restaurant to get something for me to eat because with the craziness of preparing for the activity I never ate. I rarely eat at the activity because by the time I get to go through the line it's pretty picked over. So with throbbing feet and an exhausted mind and body, Jesse and I went to this wonderful Italian joint right around the corner from us. I am so sad to say we had never tried it. It was wonderful. The atmosphere was great for an Italian food restaurant-dark. The server was excellent. I asked for a recommnendation. He quizzed me about what I like and then came up with a dish he makes for himself using those ingredients. It was perfect. Jesse had the veal and was in heaven. We had appetizer and two entrees and spent $25. The name of the place is Sammy's Italian Bistro. It's right behind to Braum's. Try it out and let me know if you have a similar experience.

Katie's Open House

This is mainly for the grandparents who don't live close enough to go to open house. Katie had her open house last night for preschool. She barely made it back in time. Jesse hauled booty to get her home because I was so upset that she was going to miss it. It took about 5 minutes to go through everything but it meant a lot to her to show us all she is learning. There are butterfly cocoons in the classroom right now. They made artwork of butterflies also. They are studying butterflies right now. She also did a beautiful bird. They study all sorts of animals which is right up Katie's alley. She got to show us her portfolio. We saw all her worksheets she's done throughout the year. I love portfolios because they give a so much better picture of what they are actually doing in school instead of just the grade. Jack also does portfolios at his school and it has been a wonderful thing. I am so pleased with the school Katie has been attending this year. She has so much fun there that she doesn't even know she's learning. That's the best kind of learning, especially at her age.

Donuts with Dad

Last Friday Katie had "Donuts with Dad" at her preschool. Mom wasn't invited so I only have the one picture (which I told them 10 times at least to take before leaving that morning) to show. It's funny because with her being the last child in the family everything just holds so much meaning. It was that way with Sydney too because she was the first. It's a different kind of significance though. I know that I will never have another child in preschool again. How sad. I love preschool. All of my kids have gone and it's just the funnest time. It's when school is about exploration and having fun and socializing. No tests, no pressure. I love the relationships they build and going to the parties and picking up at the end of the day. The joy in their face when Mom walks in like we haven't seen each other for YEARS. And then the tales from the day. Someday they are a little bit "tall". I love talking to the teacher for clarification and seeing the look on her face when she hears the child's version of the day's events. I really love all of this and it saddens me as we draw closer to the end of the year. I thought maybe I needed to have another baby but quickly came to my senses and realized that one would just be the last and I will go through all this later. No matter what, it is sad and happy to change chapters in life. I look forward to all that waits around each corner and love everything about the ages my children are now. They are joys to me every day. But I can't help looking back to the time when they were all little and everything was a first instead of a last.