Seen and Heard

Thought I would post some of the recent cute things and funnies seen or heard around the house in the last couple of weeks.

Katey is participating in Girls on the Run again for the Spring. She and Mike are both excited that Mike will get to run the 5K with her this time around! (Click here to see shots from the December run) The program not only trains the girls for the 5K but also helps them learn how to deal with peer pressure and peer relationships. Oftentimes they do activities while running their laps for the day. A couple of weeks ago Katey came home with a paper with questions and answers she had completed. Here is what she put:

#1 - What do you do when you are really angry? I grit my teeth
Absolutely true!!

#2 - When do you feel most confident or good about yourself? When I'm happy.
Okay.

#3 - What is the most excited you have ever been in your life? When Seth hugged and kissed me.
This deserves some explanation. Katey loves to hug and kiss Seth. Seth despises receiving hugs and kisses or giving them to Katey. So, there was a day that Seth did this without prompting or grumbling. Reading this totally melted our hearts!

#4 - When you get really sad, what do you do to deal with it? Do yoga deep breathing.
What the heck?? We don't do yoga around here except on the Wii Fit occasionally, and it definitely doesn't involve deep breathing!

On to the next thing. Remember the letter Seth brought home for Mommy? You know, the one that was sweet and loving and wonderful? Well, he came home with a letter for Daddy last week. It said: "Dir Daddy, Plez Stop Tikglig me. Luove Seth" Did you catch that? Dear Daddy, please stop tickling me. Love, Seth.
Fantastic!

On Friday, I was upstairs attending to something (read: laundry) and came downstairs. I decided to chase Katey and Seth through the kitchen and catch Katey, tickle her and pin her so she couldn't move. She looked up at me and said, "MOMMY! You have so much energy! I haven't seen you with this much energy in YEARS!"
Gee, thanks.

And, seen around the house this evening:

























Guess Daddy doesn't have the same energy problem that Mommy does!

My 10 Things

I was challenged by my cousin Katie I mean Kate to do a list of 10 things that make me happy. You can check out her posting here and catch up on her super-cute kiddos as well!

So I've been thinking about this for a week or so and I think that Mike and the kids go without saying. So this is what I have to offer:

10 Things That Make Jen Happy (in no particular order)

1. Hearing Katey and Seth play with and enjoy one another! They are especially into Uno right now and one of my favorite things is to hear Seth say, "Draw Two, Sweetie"!!

2. Mike's magic hands - he can give a fantastic foot rub and willingly does so almost every night. What a great man!

3. The incredible discussions that have been stemming from Woman's Bible Study this year. Okay, happy might not be the most fitting word, but I am definitely enjoying this time greatly.

4. The Christmas quilt wall-hanging that my Mother-in-law made for me. It is still hanging up at the end of February and I smile every time I look at it.

5. COFFEE!!!

6. My computer (which can also double to make me angry as well). This would include the internet and such wonderful sites as Facebook, Foxnews, Charlotte Observer, Cake Wrecks and blogs.

7. Cooking group. I seriously don't know what I would do without these ladies (or the meals)!

8. Incredible, forever friends...both near and far away.

9. Immediate and extended family. Family can drive a person nuts but I have found that I kinda like being nutty!

10. Summer at the pool. Is it summer yet?

11. The first day of school!!

So, I threw in a bonus! Feel free to join the fun and post your own list - I'd love to read it!!

Quite the...

Seth.

Seth has always had a soft spot for his Momma. From the time he was itsy-bitsy, it was me he wanted. Around age 1 he finally stopped screaming when I wasn't in sight and decided that Daddy was good, too. (That was one long year)

Seth is our rough-and-tumble child, forever asking Mike, "Wanna Wrestle?" And he is scrappy - there is no doubt that he can dish it out! (Though it usually ends in him dishing it so hard that he hurts himself)

Seth is our sweet, loving, sensitive son who makes friends with everyone he meets and will gladly curl up on a lap to snuggle for a few minutes. He is happy to give out hugs, except to his sister, and help set the table. (But don't ask him to share a bite of his ice cream)

Seth is a child that will argue endlessly for something that he feels is correct...like not needing to wear a heavy coat when it is 35 degrees outside. (And he's not a graceful loser)

Seth came home from school yesterday and, after scolding me for not properly cleaning out his book bag, handed me a letter he wrote to me at school. He told me that it was written in yellow because he knows I "like yellow a lot". It says:


Translated, this says, "Dear Mommy, You are the best Mom in the whole wide world. Love, Seth"

Awww!!

It's Tradition

Nothing will melt my heart faster than seeing a father and daughter all dressed up and dancing together. Last weekend was the Father-Daughter dance at school. Katey and Mike have been able to attend each year since Kindergarten - this year being their 4th event! Mike describes it sort-of like a middle school dance: girls all in a clump on the dance floor and boys men standing to the side, watching for most of the evening. But, there are the few slow dances that bring the dads and daughters together to share special moments. Oh, and the food helps with that, too (at least in Mike and Katey's case).

The highlights of the evening included Katey hanging out with her classroom BFF, Abby, making crafts and stopping on the way home for an ice cream cone. I'm pretty sure that Mike enjoyed having Abby's dad as a companion to hang out with while the girls were...well, being girls.

Here are some pictures from the evening:
The girls working on crafts - Abby is the one in purple.

This girl has some serious moves!

The theme for the evening was "Red Carpet Event" so Katey is holding up her VIP pass!

Katey picked out Mike's tie (and Jr. Asparagus IS tradition!)

These are shots from each of the previous dances:

Kindergarten (2007)


1st Grade (2008)


2nd Grade (2009)

Darn that serpent, anyway!

Last week Katey was caught red-handed blue-candy-sting-mouthed in a lie. "There is nothing in my mouth." Her punishment was no candy for the day and she had to write a 10 sentence letter to Mommy and Daddy about why she shouldn't lie. This is what we got:

Dear Mommy and Daddy,
I'm really sorry for eating a small piece of candy string. Please don't punish me too severely. I was hungry, and easily tempted. It was almost lunch time, so I was hungry, really hungry. We had had a late lunch, so my hunger grew. I'm so super sorry, I mean it! Please forgive me. I knew it was wrong, but my apple for breakfast had worn off. My punishment seems too severe. Please cut some of it off.
Love,
Katey