Happy Happy Birthday Carson!

My baby boy turned 5 on the 8th of February and we have been celebrating, what seems like, all month long!  We had a family party on the 5th, which he wanted to be all robots. 

It all turned out really cute. 

I even made an attempt at a robot cake!  Pleae don't send this to "Cake Wrecks"  it was my first try!!  Ha!

After I had everything set up, Chad brought Carson in to see all the decorations and his cake.  I think he was happy!

Today, we had Carson's party with all his friends from preschool.  I think they had a lot of fun!  Carson wanted  a scientist party, so we went to Whiteside Park and did all kinds of fun experiments.  The kids through on huge t-shirts and got busy making terrariums, polymer and goo!

We even had our science goggles on hand!

What sweet friends Carson has at school!  These boys are darling and have started preschool together and will most likely be together in school until they graduate high school!  He has even more boys in his class on T/Th, but we couldn't invite all 19 boys, so we just did the M/W/F kiddos.  We missed the other ones, but sometimes you just have to say no to 19 five year old boys!  Ha!!

Time for cupcakes!!

The kids seemed to really like their treat baskets too!  They got a science lab sticker kit, a science journal, Pop Rocks, eyeball candy, science stamps and a beaker or test tube necklace.  They were pretty excited!

Thank you everyone for making Carson's day so special.  We had a wonderful time!

Happy 5th Birthday Carson! 

We love you more than you will ever know or ever understand.  You are the absolute light of our lives.  We are so thankful for you and will be forever grateful to your birthmother for giving you the gift of life. 

Happy happy birthday C!

Theology Uncorked!

Chad and I are so blessed to have all of our family here in town.  We have amazing parents who help us out all the time with the kiddos.  Every Thursday night, and I mean every Thursday night Chad's dad and step-mom (Granddad and Netty) come over to hang with the kids while we have a date.  They offered to do this for us almost 2 years ago and unless they are out of town, they are at our house.  They are amazing!  We are so thankful to have this time to be together, just the two of us!  

Tonight, was no different, it's Thursday, so it's date night!  We had a yummy dinner at Pei Wei and then headed to St. Mary's for Theology Uncorked.

It's a new group the church is starting that pairs a different wine each week with a different talk about our Catholic faith.  Tonight we had a white wine, Beringer Chenin Blanc.  It was ok.  I'm not a huge white wine fan.  I LOVE red and I LOVE it dry.  So, this one was a little different than what I usually choose...very crisp and very sweet.  We also had a great discussion on "How to Read the Bible". 

Fr. Kastl was our speaker tonight and he's just wonderful.  He's funny, such a people person, young and knowledgeable.  He gave a nice talk about different ways to read the bible rather than just starting with Genesis and reading all the way through to Revelations.  One of the ways he talked about is called lectio devina.  It's where you read a passage of the bible, maybe the daily reading, and you read it once, then again.  On the third time around, you find a part of the passage that really grabbed your attention and you meditate on just that part and how it relates to your life.  In prayer, you ask God to help you reflect on that part of the passage throughout the day.    Another way, he suggested, is to read "Word Among Us".  I don't know if any of you have read this, or heard of it, but it's wonderful.  It gives you the passages for the daily readings and you look them up in your bible, read them and then go back to the "Word Among Us" and read the daily reflection.  Another book I love is called "Little Black Book" and it's full of daily meditations, just for Lent.  They have "Little Blue Book" for advent and "Little White Book" for Easter.  These are great ways to start your day, if you have time, between making lunches, getting children ready for school, ironing uniforms and wiping noses! 

In closing tonight, Fr. Kastl said, " Scripture is meant to move our hearts, to draw us in, to continue the mission of Christ."  So true.

Happy Lent!

Lenten Special

Mardi Gras was this past Tuesday and we celebrated in true kindergarten fashion in my classroom. Both classes were given fun beads and the other kindergarten teacher and I made gold, green and purple pancakes for the kiddos as they arrived. The kids loved it!

We have so many wonderful things planned for our kindergarteners this Lent incorporating prayer, fasting and almsgiving and I can't wait to share them with you! I have been addicted to Catholic Icing http://www.catholicicing.blogspot.com/. It's amazing and the mom that writes the blog has the best ideas for kids! You'll see a lot of her stuff on here during Lent, that I'm going to use in my classroom. Love her!

Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. I love Lent! I really do. There is just something about this time of year, right before the beauty of Easter and spring arrives. It's a time to renew your spirit, and recommit yourself to God. I usually don't give something up, but I do committ to doing something...something with God or for God. I just don't get much out of giving up chocolate or coffee etc., not that it's wrong, I just don't get much from it. I like to do something, something that brings me closer to Christ, that strengthens my relationship with Him. I've decided what I am doing this year, and I'm really excited about it. I feel like it's exactly what I need right now and exactly what Christ wants me to do. I'll share more later, maybe after Lent, about my experience and how it changed things for me. Happy Lent to you and I just pray that your Lent is meaningful and time well spent preparing your heart for Christ!

Quick prayer request...Kennedy is recovering from pnemonia. She is doing better, but night time is always the hardest time. She and I stayed home from school today and we'll do the same tomorrow.

Good night...

Happy Heart Day!

Good morning! I hope you all had a wonderful heart day with your loved ones! Chad went out to get us coffees at Starbucks and brought back this beautiful bouquet of roses!!

We made red heart pancakes for the kids for breakfast. Carson loved it and Kennedy wasn't so sure that she liked them being red!

Here are my two sweeties before church...

We had a great day and we finished it off with a yummy steak dinner that Chad cooked!

Hope your V-Day was great!!