We're Still Alive

Hello everyone. I know it's been a while since I updated this thing, but life gets busy sometimes. There is a lot to report and many pictures to download, so check back with me in a couple of days. I promise, I'll try.

Thanksgiving Feast

Jake's class celebrate Thanksgiving this past Thursday. They are out of school for this entire week, so that's why they did it so early. We had chicken soup, cornbread with homemade butter, and pumpkin pie. All of it was prepared by the class. One mother said her daughter (who as a side note, Jake called his "girl friend". To which Kyle replied, "I don't think so.") came home and asked, "Do you know how long it takes to cut a carrot when you're using a plastic knife?" Anyway, the feast was a success. Like any good kindergarten class, they all dressed up as pilgrims or Indians. Jake chose to be one of only two Indians in the class. We as great time and were lucky enough to be joined by Kyle's parents who had arrived from Texas just that morning.

Ice Blocking

Here is Arizona's crazy answer to snow sledding. You go to the ice store, yes they do exist, and you buy blocks of ice. You throw a towel over it, find a hill, and off you go. We did it at a youth small group gathering and to tell you the truth, it was a blast. Here are some pictures, and yes that is me with my rear end facing the camera. Who thinks these things up?

If you need a good laugh...

Today, Jake had the day off from school. So sad for him, he had to go get a flu shoot. Then we had to go to Wal-Mart to pick up a few odds and ends. On the drive home, the conversation turned to the Ninavites(sp?). We started talking about the Ninavite army. Jake asked if the Ninavites lived in the United States. I told him no that they lived in Ninava, and started to explain that it was in Europe, but he cut me off and said, "Oh yeah, I know, that's were they slap people with fish!" I started laughing so hard, that I was crying. I asked where he had heard that, just wandering were the story had taken a wrong turn. He promptly told me that on the Veggie Tales movie about Jonah, the people in Ninava slapped each other with fish. Now we now how stereotypes get started!! Thanks Jake, I needed a good laugh.

WHO DOESN'T LIKE CHOCOLATE?!

And the answer is: Jake. I know I've said it before, but I still can't believe any child of mine doesn't like chocolate. He's daddy doesn't either, so I guess they are two peas in pod. Today at school they had a little party. They played the game were you guess how many pieces of candy are in the jar. This is the story I was told on the way home from school. "Kevin won the candy. You had to guess how much was in the jar. I put down a wrong number because it was chocolate and I didn't want it." Ha, kindergarten and we're already throwing competitions.

From the Mouths of Babes

Have you ever heard yourself coming through your child's mouth? I did today, and thankfully it was pretty good. And extremely funny. Jake has really taken off in school and Kyle and I try to really be excited about what's going on so that he knows that education is very important to us. Today on the way home from school, we were discussing what was in his back pack. Well, Kailey wanted to be a part so I asked Jake if he had a worksheet she could look at. He willingly gave her one. She looked at it and replied, "Jake, did you do this? All by yourself? That's great, I'm so proud of you. Give me five." Ha, I had to laugh.

Happy Halloween

Well, what a night!! I was originally opposed to Halloween. To be honest, it still makes my heart heavy and a little frightened to know what some use the holiday to celebrate. But my kids love it. They have so much fun, and to see the joy and excitement they have, how could I not enjoy it? We had some friends over for an early dinner and then we all went out together to trick or treat. We all had a ball. Kailey Elizabeth didn't really understand what was coming, but once she got the hang of it, get out of her way. Her bag was as big as she is, and she would be trying to run with it yelling at the bigger kids, "Hey wait for me!" The sacker at the grocery store today asked her if she was going to get candy tonight, she told him, "No, I'm going trick or treating." She was so good at saying trick or treat and would always say thank you. Everyone was so impressed and thought she was the cutest thing. I now realize they were impressed because they don't realize how old she actually is. Now, the costume she is wearing was made the very impressive Mimi, and it was worn by Micah and Jake. I'll try and get some pictures of them on here wearing them. Anyway, here are the pictures. Hope everyone had a GREAT day celebrating the good things in life, friends, family, and especially kids!!

Multitasking

Reading over the blog I've realized that I tend to start my post with either OK or Yes. I have decided to branch out and try to use other words. Wow, when did my life become so complicated?! Anyway, I've written before about my struggle to find a consistent schedule. I've done pretty well with the whole school and nap thing. Now I'm on to trying to get other things into that schedule. One big schedule issue for me is exercise. I really enjoy running on my treadmill. A few weeks ago, we had our garage floor epoxied(SP?) It is beautiful in there now and we don't want to move anything back in. It's like having an additional room. We even bought exercise equipment mats to put the treadmill, bike and weight set on. Back to the story, I decided that now I can run while the kids are awake and they can come in the beautiful garage with me. How, you ask yourself, do they occupy their time? By riding bikes of course! It reminds me of when we were young and use to turn our garage into a skating rink. Well, this is how it turned out...pretty good I think and the kids had a ball!!! Oh no, there goes my excuse...guess I'll just have to think of another one.

"End of Summer Party"...although it's already October

Yes, you read it correctly. We attended a Farewell to summer party that the city puts on. Of course, it was about a month ago, but we have been so busy that I haven't had a chance to post the pictures. It's Jake and Kailey Elizabeth on the rides and in the bounce houses. The lines were a mile long, (maybe not a mile, but long...) and my children were very upset they didn't get to ride all of the rides they wanted. We had a lot of fun anyway.

"I Went Skydivin, I Went Rocky Mountain Climbin..."

Yes, that is my husband several THOUSAND feet in the air. He and our friend, Travis, went skydiving last Saturday. A woman Kyle works with does this all the time, so she set them up with where to go. The story is, Travis is in our youth group. For a while now he's been talking about how "When I turn 18, I'm going skydiving." Well, Travis turned 18 in September and Kyle was not letting him out of it. They had a great time, were quite proud of themselves, but aren't sure they'd ever do it again. They did get a t-shirt out of the deal, and they both proudly wore it to church on Sunday. I'd be wearin that shirt everyday. I told them, "The only way I'm jumping out of a plane is if it's on fire, and even then, you might have to push me." I love Jake and Kailey's reaction, they tell anyone that their daddy jumped out of a plane. When asked if he wanted to do that, Jake's response was NO WAY! This week Kyle is in Nashville for a national sales conference. Jake has told a couple of people this week that, "Now we don't have a daddy, just a mommy." Simply because Kyle is out of town. On Wednesday night at our small group, he informed everyone that, "My daddy jumped out of a plane and now we don't have a daddy anymore." We have to work on conversation flow. Needless to say, our small group thought it was hilarious. Here are the pictures, my mom is probably tossing her cookies...

Growth Spurts

O.K., so I knew that kids grew fast, but how fast sometimes surprises me. Most of you know that to say Kailey is petite is an understatement. The child, who is 2 and a half, still wears a size 12months in shorts. This now has become and issue for me with winter coming. Anyway, back to the original story. I've noticed lately that she seemed a little longer. My suspicions were confirmed this morning when we put on sandals she hasn't worn for a few weeks. Imagine my surprise when her toes were so far out!! I had noticed that she was filling out her church sandals almost to the end last Sunday, but nothing like this. I laughed so hard and just had to take a picture. Here it is. Now the question is, If you live in Phoenix, do you buy a new pair of sandals at the beginning of October. I would say no, but after this morning, I'm starting to rethink my position.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAKE!!

Yes it's true, my little boy is now 6 years old. Hard to believe. He had to go to school yesterday, but it was no ordinary day. Yesterday was a "most of the day" field trip. We had to be at school at 8am and returned at about 1pm. So, I got to spend all day with him. This would have been the first birthday we were apart, but God works in wondrous ways. Anyway, we went to the symphony in downtown Phoenix. They have a program just for school children. It was great, lots of great music. Jake's take on it was, "It was boring and I'm never going back there." Ha!! I thought it was funny just the way he said it.

For dinner Jake's choice was Peter Piper Pizza. Yummy. Then we went home to a little tradition that has just kind of happened since we've been in Arizona. On every one's actual day, mine and Kyle's included, we all don party hats and have some balloons to open presents and have birthday cake and ice cream. Just ice cream in Jake's case. (See previous post.) We all had a great time. I must say, I am quite proud of the person Jake is becoming. He said it was o.k. if Kailey shared his birthday and let us put candles in her ice cream too. He then let us sing "Happy Birthday" to her and even let her open on of his presents. God has really put a tender heart in him and I love him for it. Here are some pictures of the festivities. Hope you enjoy! I LOVE YOU JAKE!!!

Sunday Mornings and Blue icing cookies

Here are the pictures of Kailey on Sunday mornig before church wearing some of the bows that I made her to go with the beautiful dress that Aunt Ginger gave her for her birthday.

Now on to the fun. Kailey and I went to the mall the other day while Jake was in school. After doing a little shopping, I stopped to get a treat. Kailey picked out a sugar cookie with BLUE ICING! Yikes!!! Now, let me stop right here are insert a side note. Having messy kids drives me CRAZY. I do mean CRAZY. I'm learning to let this go. For one thing, at 2 and 1/2, Kailey is still drooling. Now don't panic. I asked my doctor about it at her two year visit and he said, "She'll grow out of it." The next thing is, Jake was never messy, and he only likes sugar cookies and vanilla ice cream. All things white. For his birthday snack on Friday, I'm taking vanilla ice cream. He doesn't like cake, he doesn't like any chocolate, and he certainly doesn't like colored icing. He was just never messy. Anyway, back to the mall. Kailey picked the blue icing, and I will admit I tried to sway her to get something else. She just wasn't interested. So, I decided to let my issues go and buy the cookie. Kailey had a great time on the ride home. When we got home there was an entire cookie left with all of the icing licked, yes licked, off. Here is what I brought into the house. Needless to say, we changed our clothes and went to pick Jake up. Ah Kailey, life would be a snore without her.

Now on to our biggest events. Tomorrow Jake turns 6. I can hardly believe it. It really does seem like yesterday. What a blessing he has been in our lives. I thank God for him every day.

Thank you Lord for the gift of my children. Today and tomorrow I really thank you for Jake. Give them a heart like Yours. Keep me ever mindful that you have given them to me as a gift from you. Help me guard their hearts and raise them to be followers of YOU. AMEN.

Thank Heaven for Little Girls, and Great Friends!

O.K. So it is no secret that at the Wewe house, we LOVE bows. Kailey has literally worn a bow every single day of her life. You know we live by the saying, "Fake it till you make it." Well, we replaced Texas big hair with big bows. The problem was, you can not find a decent sized, shaped, or colored bow around here. I have been obtaining bows for the past two years by either 1) bringing them home from Arlington with me or 2) ordering them online. Either way was not easy on the pocket book. Well, lucky me two of my friends have had babies in the past 6 months. And anyone want to venture a guess as to the gender? You guessed it, GIRLS! And to my good fortune, they like bows. Now to the really good news, they have learned to make them on their own. Recently they informed me they would teach me, and clued me in to a ribbon store that is beyond fabulous. SO, yesterday, the two of them, their cuties and my friend Kim, who has a three year old daughter and an adorable baby boy, all came over for lunch and a "Teach Marna how to save thousands on car insurance, I mean, thousands on hair bows." day. Evidently Kim, whom I have termed the Martha Stewart of our group, has been holding out on me these two years, because she herself is quite the artist with a ribbon and clip. I should have known, she's pretty good at those sorts of things. (She's a hygienist to boot.) Anyway, we had to greatest time, or I had the greatest time, and learned to do something that I enjoy and can be enjoyed for a while. I'm so excited. Now we can be very matchy matchy with our bows. Thank you Kim, Toni and Erin. Without friends like you, I'd be a lot poorer. Kyle thanks you too. Soon to come, Pictures of Kailey in bows created by her mother.

Super Star

Each week in Jake's class, one student is selected to be the "Super Star" student. Now I say selected, but what I really mean is the teacher does it in alphabetical order, only backwards. She said since her name is Wornick and her kids were always last growing up, she decided that the end of the alphabet would be first on occasion. Well, this one time I wish we would have gone in the real order. Jake got to be first. For Jake, this was great. For me, not so great. We were told to create a "display board" that had pictures of the family, the child at different ages, places we've been, things we like to do as a family. The kicker was these six words, "Be as creative as you like." Great I know lots of moms with creativity oozing out of their ears. Well, that's not me. And I had to go first. This little project didn't seem to enlist panic in the rest of the moms. After a little investigation, I found out why. They all did this in preschool. Double Whammy. I have to go first, and I'm a "super star" virgin. Anyway, after much blood, sweat and tears last weekend I finished on Saturday night. After putting the kids to bed on Sunday night I was struck with fear that maybe my board was a little pretentious. Kyle's response was, "Well, what can you do about it now?" . He had a point. I left it as it was and off we went. Now that it's done and at school, I feel quite proud of it. Judge for yourself.

Soccer

The new soccer season started on Saturday. Luckily for our family all our games start at 10a.m. Perfect. Jake is on the same team he's been on for the last four seasons. There are several of them who have been together that entire time. I think it's finally starting to click with them. On Saturday they scored 5 or 6 goal. (There is no OFFICIAL score kept.) They also stopped several balls. Jake played in the goal for one quarter and he stopped 3 balls himself. I was quite proud of him because he "pounced" on each of them, just like they've been working on in practice. He's also gotten much better at being aggressive and going after the ball. When he first started soccer he would cry because the other kids weren't stopping to let him kick the ball. After a couple of seasons and some explaining of how this game is actually played, he stopped taking it so personally.