MORE SLEDDING

We went sledding again on Sunday. Scott joined us this time & we all had a great time. Jake would like a snowboard now...he stood up on a sled & went down the hill...apparently that is fun!

ME & ALLIE

Jake went to the UNI game with a friend tonight. Allie wanted her picture taken with me before we went to dinner.

SLEDDING

Here are some pictures of the kids sledding today...

FIRESTATION

Jake's Tiger Scout troop toured the fire station today. They did a great job listening and being respectful. For 12 first grade boys that is pretty amazing! After the tour, Jake went home with his friend Mason to play.

BASKETBALL



Jake started basketball today. He got on the purple team with his buddy Paul. They thought that was cool. I forgot to take pictures during the practice...o.k...I was busy talking to friends! Here is one after practice of Jake & Paul.

SWIMMERS

The kids are in the 2nd round of swimming lessons this winter (one more to go). Their teacher, Jamie, is amazing. She has been a swimming coach for 15 years or so & she has made my kids confident swimmers who love the water!

At tonight's lesson, Jake practiced his diving (sitting) and swam the crawl with breathing all alone! He was pretty proud of himself & gave me a big "thumbs up" from across the pool. Allie is working hard on her strokes & breathing while using a kick board to help her float. She almost has the back float nailed too.

SNOW

We got about 4-5 inches of snow yesterday, overnight & this morning. The kids insisted on playing outside for awhile late this morning (there was no school due to MLK Day). It was really cold and the wind chill was below zero, but I let them go. They ended up out for about 30 minutes before heading inside. Jake exclaimed that he was FREEZING...he should have been. There was snow EVERYWHERE...down his sweatshirt, up his sleeves, in his boots etc. I could have made a snowman out of the snow in his sweatshirt hood alone! It appears that he must have been rolling in the snow or something! Allie wasn't quite as snowy, but still cold enough that she needed hot cocoa & a squat by the fire!


Allie has dance tonight. Jake & I will have 45 minutes to kill downtown. I think that Cup of Joe is calling our name (hot cocoa for Jake). Tomorrow, the kids are back to school & we are back to our running...swimming lessons, meetings & volunteering will take up our day!

BEST FRIENDS

This is Ben, Jake, Paul & Adam at the bowling party. They are Jake's best friends & all live within a block of each other. Tomorrow, since there is no school for MLK Day, they have big plans to play in our back yard (& Paul's since it backs up to ours). They are planning a giant snow ball fight I think!!

BOWLING WITH JAKE'S FRIENDS




Jake had a birthday party with his friends yesterday. We went bowling. The boys from Mrs. Wyckoff's class were invited. We ended up having 10 boys bowling in 2 lanes. They had a great time. Thank God Michael/Kim were there to help with crowd control & also my friend Kristin (Paul's mom) and her husband Patrick stuck around to help out. After the boys bowled for an hour & a half, we had cupcakes & ice cream sandwiches & Jake opened his gifts. He got 2 footballs, flags to play flag football, a spy kit, football cards, 2 football DVD's, Star Wars Legos, a PS2 game, a bug maker, Star Wars action figures, an airplane & a sling shot. We finished up by taking a group picture & sending the boys on their way home.























ASHLEY'S PARTY

Allie went to her friend Ashley's birthday party yesterday during Jake's party. They played pin the tale on the unicorn (which Allie won) and some other games. They had a cake & ice cream too. Allie said it was GREAT playing with Ashley, Hallie, Olivia & Abbie!

FAMILY PARTY

We were supposed to have a family birthday party for Jake today. Unfortunately, the snow & ice kept the family away. We got up after calls from both sides of the family saying that the ice from last night & the snow that was forecasted for today was going to keep them home. Michael & Kim were here & we watched the weather & decided that they needed to try to beat the storm home. SO, we quickly stuck a candle in a cupcake (leftover from yesterday) and sang Happy Birthday to Jake (he thought it was cool to get a cupcake for breakfast). He opened up gifts from Kim/Michael, Kelley/Mike, Tracy/Rob, Great Grandma Marge & Julie/Jim. He got a couple of footballs (you can never have too many), Target gift cards, some money, a baseball book & a Denver Broncos stocking cap (which he's worn most of the day).



After Michael/Kim left, we lounged around and I sent the boys out to Wal Mart to pick up Jake's b-day cake that we had ordered for today. We then ran to Target to spend Jake's gift cards. He got a Light Saber and PS2 games. The snow started falling around 3:00 as we were leaving Target...it hasn't stopped yet!



Enjoy the pics from this morning & tonight!

UNI GAME


Scott, Jake & Michael went to the UNI basketball game at the new McLeod Center. They used some of John's (Scott boss) season tickets and ended up in the 2nd row. They said that the seats were AWESOME! After halftime, Jenny (John's daughter) switched seats with Jake & he got to sit on the floor. He was really excited about that. He danced during time outs & had the crowd in stitches. The only bad part of the night was when UNI lost their game. (The picture was taken at Beck's on the Hill during dinner before the game).

I have lots more to post later from this weekend.

MORE BIRTHDAY STUFF

Here are pics from Jake's birthday at school. He shared his birthday with Alex (the red headed girl in the picture with him). Alex brought cupcakes & Jake brought ice cream. The got to each stand in the middle of a circle and pick 7 "candles" (friends) to stand with them and they all sang a song about candles and birthdays. It was pretty cute!




Here are pics from Happy Joe's tonight for dinner. We ate with Jake's friend Paul & his mom. The Happy Joe's employees sang & ran the siren in honor of Jake.

Here are pics from swimming lessons.

HAPPY 7th BIRTHDAY JAKE!!


The birthday boy came into my room this morning at 6:00 stating that "he was too excited to sleep". He decided to crawl into bed to snuggle up with me & fell asleep for another hour.

Once Scott got home from the gym & Allie woke up, Jake opened his gifts. He got a PS2 game & Magnetix from us and a chin strap for his football helmet & a mouthpiece from Allie (she picked the stuff out herself).

Jake decided on French Toast sticks for breakfast. After breakfast there was time to play his new PS2 game and head out the door for school. I'll post more pictures tonight of his school celebration & of dinner at Happy Joe's.

(In this pic he is showing that he is 7 with his fingers)

THIS WEEK

Thought I'd catch up with what has been going on this week & what is to come this weekend...

MONDAY: Allie's preschool teacher returned to school after being on bed rest and maternity leave since November. She was delighted that Mrs. Phillips was back. I went to Jake's school for the majority of the day. I did spelling with his class in the morning and had lunch & recess duty over the noon hour. Allie had her new pre ballet dance class on Monday night. We switched from Thursday afternoons and it was a GREAT decision. She loves her classmates & new teacher.

TUESDAY: I had a meeting on Tuesday morning and Allie got to play with her friend Olivia during my meeting. Olivia has a hampster and Allie enjoyed watching it run in it's ball all over the house. After the meeting, we got our hair cut...it was about time for both of us! The kids started swimming lessons last night with the BEST teacher EVER! Both kids adore her & learn SO much.

TODAY: I was able to get a few chores done today while the kids were at school and after Allie got home. Tonight, Jake has religion class. I was thinking all day today how 7 years ago I was in the hospital waiting for Jake's arrival...little did I know the kid wouldn't come until the next morning!

TOMORROW: Jake turns 7!! We'll open his gifts right away so that Scott can see him. He shares his birthday with a classmate so we have coordinated with the other birthday child and we are bringing ice cream for Jake's treat. I'll run that over in the afternoon. Jake's class is also making Stone Soup tomorrow. Jake volunteered to bring potatoes for the soup. Jake's friend Paul is coming home from school to play and then we will go to Happy Joe's for pizza and birthday ice cream. Then off to swimming lessons. (the pic is from his 5th b-day)

FRIDAY: I have a fundraising meeting in the morning. I am taking Jake McDonald's lunch to school for his birthday (on his actual b-day they were having pizza & he chose to have McD's on Friday). Michael & Kim are coming up on Friday afternoon for the weekend. Scott got court-side tickets to the UNI game on Friday night. Jake is SO excited he can hardly stand it!!

SATURDAY: Jake's bowling party for his b-day. He got to invite all of the boys in Mrs. Wyckoff's class (a total of 11). So far 9 are coming & the other 2 I haven't heard from yet. Thankfully, Scott is off of work to help & Michael/Kim will be there too! Allie has a b-day party to attend during Jake's party & she can't wait! Mandy & Ben are planning to come up mid-afternoon and will spend the night.

SUNDAY: Jake's family b-day party. Grandparents, aunts, uncles & cousins will be here to celebrate Jake's b-day. The weather forecast isn't looking too good...we'll see how many actually are able to come!

That is our week in a nutshell...I'll post some pics throughout the weekend.

OOPS!!

I got an email from Jake's teacher over the weekend...here is what it said.

"I guess this is what happens when you haven't taught for two weeks!

Near the end of the day, I gave everyone a worksheet and tried to say, "Okay.........put your name on this workSHEET." Instead, the "sh" part of the word came out wrong. (Use your imagination.)

There are moments when I think no one in the room is listening to me. Not today! Several in the room shouted, "MRS. WYCKOFF! YOU SAID A NAUGHTY WORD!"

My guess is that no one remembers what that worksheet was about, but they'll always remember what I called it. :)Hope your day ended better than mine!"

SPIDER-GIRL & TRIPODS!

On Friday night, Jake showed us how he learned to do a tripod (the start of a head stand). Apparently, they are doing a tumbling unit in gym class. He also showed us other thing like walking on his hands & donkey kicks. He thought it was REALLY cool when Scott showed us how he could still do a head stand! Anyway, Allie observed some of this & must not have been getting enough attention because she came downstairs all dressed up...

ME & ALLIE

Today was one of those days that I realized how much FUN it is having a daughter. Not that my son isn't wonderful...there's just something about having a girly girl in my house that is FUN!!

It all started this morning after Jake was off to school & I was getting cleaned up for a shopping trip & lunch with Allison. She came bouncing in my room, still in her PJ's and announced that I was to come to a tea party in her room. I humored her & told her that I HAD to get my hair & make up done BEFORE I could come to her tea party. She was satisfied with that answer & went on her way. I went to her room to coax her into getting dressed and found a lovely tea party, complete with guests waiting for me to arrive. I had to take pictures of the company that I shared tea with this morning!!





After our tea party, I told Allie to clean up her room & get dressed. She asked if she could turn on her new CD player and listen to "High School Musical" while cleaning. I agreed. Upon my return to her room (which was clean & she was dressed) I found a dancing fool! She was using ALL of her dance moves while singing at the top of her lungs. It was really amusing!












After tearing Allie away from her music, we went shopping downtown and then hit the mall. We accomplished getting several birthday gifts and hit some sales at Younkers, Victoria's Secret & Bath & Body Works. We also ate lunch together...her choice...Burger King.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!

We spent NY Eve with our dear friends Gopher, Annette, Amy, Johann

& their kids (Michael & Kim stopped by too). We went to a Holiday Inn. The kids got to swim (along with the dads), we ordered pizza, had some snacks/drinks & talked late into the night. We had adjoining rooms so the kids watched movies in one room & the adults hung out in the other room. We had an early NY countdown for the kids and they got to do a toast with sparkling juice. All of the kids fell asleep by about 11:00 except the Pierce kids...they stayed up 'til the adults went to bed. We had an awesome time!!