FUNNY

The other night in the car Jake was FREAKING out because he was "too hot with his coat on". He was whining quite a bit. Out of nowhere, Allie says "Jake, I think you stole my whine!" I about died laughing. Allie is SO right, she is typically the whiner in our family.

SPRING CONCERT

Jake had his annual vocal music concert on Thursday night. My mom came up to see his big performance. He did great!! Attached are some pictures from his big night.

GIRL'S MORNING OUT

My mom, Allie & I dropped Jake off at school yesterday, then headed to Cup of Joe for some coffee & hot chocolate. We ran over to Target and did a little shopping, then it was over to Red Lobster for lunch. It was a fantastic way to spend a dreary Friday morning!

MATH FAIR

Jake had his Math Fair on Tuesday night. We visited his classroom and learned about the various math games that they play in 1st grade. We all enjoyed our evening.

BASKETBALL

Basketball is over for this season. Jake really enjoyed himself & I saw TONS of improvement from the first game to the last game. The football OBSESSION has now turned to a basketball obsession. I wonder what will happen during soccer & baseball seasons??



PINEWOOD DERBY

Jake participated in his Pack's derby on Saturday. His car didn't do too well. Maybe next year!

MORE SNOW...

We got MORE snow last night. It is blowing like crazy today & drifting as well. Therefore, school was cancelled today, which means we are going to school until June now! YUCK!!

Scott got stuck this morning when he went to snowblow a friend's driveway. He was driving a 4 wheel drive SUV and got stuck in the street near their house. He called later & told me that one of the main roads was AWFUL and that there were drifts, slush, ice etc. He advised me to stay in all day. For those that are counting, I've been in the house since Tuesday afternoon when Jake was sent home sick. I'm ready to get out!!

Jake is still running a low temp. Nothing that is keeping him down, just a little higher than normal. The Math Fair that he SO wanted to attend last night was rescheduled due to the weather situation, so he should be able to go to that now. Tonight is the weigh in for the big Derby. Hopefully, Scott makes it home in time to take him & the car over...otherwise I'll be doing it & possibly making adjustments to the car. That could be interesting!

UPDATE ON JAKE

Jake is still running a slight fever, so no school for him again today. He was pretty bummed...tonight was his "Math Fair" and his classroom was going to have all of the "Everyday Math" games that they play during school. The kids were going to get to show their parents & siblings how those games worked. I told him that there is a possibility that the fair would be postponed due to the impending weather...he was content with that!

This weekend is the big Pinewood Derby. I took his car to the Post Office to be weighed on Tuesday morning. He is .1 ounces light right now. Scott has a small weight that he can stick on the car tomorrow night at the official weigh in if the car is still light.

FEVER...AGAIN!!!

I got a call this afternoon from the school nurse saying that she had Jake in her office and his tummy was upset, his head hurt & his temp was 100.6. No school for him tomorrow since it was almost time to go & they have to be fever free for 24 hours before going back to school.

This is the 2nd round of sickness for him in 10 days...Allie had 2 rounds too. I hope that this is the last of it?!? I'm going to do some major disinfecting tomorrow (although I've done that several times this month already & it didn't help).

SNOW & ICE...

We are finally done receiving snow & ice from the weekend storm. We pretty much stayed home from Friday evening until this afternoon! Roads were closed, schools cancelled & power was out for most of our family (not us thankfully).

This was Scott's Saturday off so he & Jake were able to get Jake's derby car pretty much done since we weren't able to do much!

Allie got another fever over the weekend. She stayed in bed all day Saturday & Sunday trying to get well enough to go to school today! Too bad it was cancelled.

Since there was no school today, the neighbor boys flocked to our back yard for a snowball fight & lots of rolling around in the snow. I'm amazed at how long snow can keep 7 year old boys occupied!!
This is the ice that Scott chipped off of the sidewalk during the late morning hours of Saturday. He went out several more times & chipped ice before the snow came!
Scott & Jake painted derby cars over the weekend.
Ben, Jake, Paul & Adam spend a lot of the day playing in the back yard.

CATCHING UP...AGAIN!!

Jake was feeling much better on Saturday night. He laid around all day long and slept off & one. Once Scott got home, we watched the movie "Open Season" as a family (it was cute).

On Sunday, Jake & Scott began working on Jake's Pinewood Derby car for Scouts. They got most of it done & will finish it up this week. Jake lost interest about an hour into the project, so really it is Scott's car!

Scott's parents came to visit overnight on Sunday. We had dinner out and visited. They stayed all day on Monday & babysat Allie so that I could sub at Jake's school w/out having to take her to daycare. Allie had a wonderful time baking cookies with her Grandma.

We found out after school today that Jake has pink eye. UGH!!!

Jake had conferences tonight. He got 4's (A's) in Math, Spelling, PE, Art & Social Skills. He got 3's (B's) in everything else.

Jake made it in the paper AGAIN...here is the link (he is in the middle front row)

http://www.cedarfallstimes.com/storyDisplay.aspx?sid=features&fid=cft20070216-61038.xml

JAKE IS SICK

Jake was supposed to go to dinner and a movie with his friend Paul last night. I got a call from Paul's mom while they were at McDonald's saying that Jake was sick. He told Kristin that he was tired & NOT hungry so she felt his head & he was hot. She brought him home & he was crying because he didn't feel good & because he was going to miss the movie. We assured him that they would wait and go when he felt better, but that didn't matter...he was devastated! I got him changed, took his temp (101), gave him some ibuprofen & got him in bed and the kid was sound asleep within an hour.

This morning he's still running a temp & is content laying in his bed watching ESPN or playing with his PS2. I'm pretty sure that he hasn't realized that he missed basketball this morning. The tears will be flowing when he figures it out!

VALENTINE'S DAY STUFF

On Tuesday, Jake had his Valentine's Day party at school. Emily's mom brought cupcakes in ice cream cones. They were to celebrate BOTH Valentine's Day & Emily's birthday. They were DELICIOUS!! Jake's class passed out their Valentine's and played games during the party. After the party, Jake went home with his friend Paul until it was time for swimming lessons.

After swimming lessons, I brought Paul & Jake back here for a sleep over (there was no school on Wednesday). The boys stayed up until about 11:00 watching a movie. They got up around 7:00 when I got Allie up for school.

Allie had her Valentine's Day party at school on Wednesday. Her class got to pass out Valentine's and also frost and decorate cookies. She loved every minute of her party.

After school, we picked up Allie's friend Jordyn and we all went to Chuck E. Cheese's for lunch and to play for awhile. After Chuck E. Cheese's, we came home and the boys played with Jake's PS2, while the girls played dress up. All of the kids were home in time for dinner & we were off to Religion class for the evening.


All in all a GREAT Valentine's Day!

Jake eating his snack during his school party.

Jake & Paul looking through their Valentine's treats at school.
Allie & Jordyn yesterday afternoon.
Jake & Paul yesterday afternoon.

Jake showing me the gold dollar coin that Nana & Papa sent him for Valentine's Day. Both kids have a bunch of these coins from Nana & Papa.

"SUESSICAL"

The kids and I joined some friends on Sunday at the musical "Suessical". We went early and had green eggs and ham first. We also got to listen to some storytellers, who happened to be 2 teachers from Hansen, which made Jake very happy!



BIRTHDAY

I celebrated my 29th birthday again last Thursday! Allie & I shopped in the morning and had lunch at Applebee's. We came home & "rested" for awhile since Allie was getting over her fever bug. I let the kids choose where we'd have dinner and as usual McDonald's won! My friend Kristin & her son Paul joined us for dinner. We headed to swimming after that. Jake did a dive (more like a belly flop) into the 11 foot pool and swam to the side. What a GREAT gift!!

On Friday night, Mom, Dad, Mandy, Ben, Michael & Kim came up. We ordered food from Pepper's and had a delicious cake that Mom made for me. I even humored the kids by blowing out a candle.

On Saturday, we all went to Jake's basketball game. He thinks it is SO cool when people come to see him in his activities. After the big game, we all went out for breakfast. The kids & guys went home to watch Iowa basketball while the girls went shopping. After shopping, everyone went home except Michael & Kim. We went out to Carlos for dinner and came home to lots of talking & staying up late!

The picture is of Ben & Jake fast asleep on the air mattress.

THE RESULTS ARE IN...

Allie's throat culture came back negative for strep. She just had a virus. Today, she is feeling much better. Her temp is down and she is up and about like normal.

SICK??

Still no word from the doc about Allie's throat culture. I'm guessing that we'll hear something tomorrow sometime.

She woke this morning at 5:00 with a temp of 102.5. I asked how she felt & she said GREAT! I gave her some ibuprofen and she crawled into bed with me and went back to sleep until about 7:00 (I didn't get much sleep). I took her temp again & it was down to just under 100. She laid in her bed and watched TV all morning. She came skipping downstairs around 11:00 and told me that she "cleaned her room & made her bed". I took her temp & it was up over 102 again...not sure where this child's energy came from w/ a temp that high! I gave her more ibuprofen & sent her back to bed. She did nap this afternoon and is now "soaking in the tub". She acts fine & says she feels fine, but that temp still keeps spiking once the meds wear off! We'll see what tomorrow brings.

STREP THROAT????

Allie woke up this morning with a temp of almost 102 and complained of a sore throat. I normally would have given her something to take the temp down and had her rest all day. However, I got a call last night from my friend telling me that his daughter Mallorie went to the doc yesterday & has strep throat. Allie & Mallorie were together ALL day on Sunday during both a birthday party & the Super Bowl. SO, I took Allie to the doc this morning & the initial strep test came back negative, but we are waiting to hear about the results of her throat culture too see if it is in fact strep throat. Allie pretty much laid around all day long & watched TV. I served her lunch in her bed and she thought that was really cool. She'll stay home from swimming tonight and school tomorrow since her fever is still hanging around. We'll see what the doc says tomorrow when her lab tests come back.

BLUE & GOLD BANQUET

Jake had a Pack meeting last night. It was a potluck and awards were given out. Jake got his soccer belt loop for participating in soccer this Fall.

OLIVIA'S PARTY


Allie went to a birthday party for her friend Olivia from preschool on Sunday afternoon. It was held at the Rec Center. They ate pizza & cake, played "freeze dance" and opened gifts. They also had a style show AFTER they dressed up, put on make up and had their hair & nails done. This was definitely Allie's kind of party!

Here is a picture of Olivia sitting on her throne for lunch. Allie was VERY envious of the throne!
Here is Allie with her make up and hair done. She chose to wear lots of jewelry rather than putting on dress up stuff!
Here is the whole group after their "style show". How cute are they??

SUPER BOWL

We threw a last minute Super Bowl party last night. We had 4 couples and their kids over for snacks and football. We thought everyone would leave at half time because of school today...however by half time it was announced that school was delayed 2 hours due to the cold! So, everyone stayed and watched the Colts win the big game. Jake was disappointed...he was rooting for the Bears. (I forgot to take pictures of the kids playing...DUH)!

BEACH DAY

Last week during Catholic schools week, Allie's class got to dress up in beach wear. Since it was about 25 below zero with the wind chill that morning, we ditched the shorts and flip flops and just went for sunglasses, a hat & her Kiawah Island shirt.

100th DAY OF SCHOOL

Jake had his 100th day of school on Wednesday. I made chocolate cupcakes with the number "100" written on each one. My friend Cathi and I also took little baggies and filled them with 100 food items. Each child received a baggie and they got to dump their baggie into a large bowl to make a trail mix. They counted by 100's to see how many items were in the bowl. 2,500 items later they had their mix!