Happy Valentine's Day!

Jaden and I had a great day today!  It was very busy, but wonderful.  We woke up and had a Valentine's day breakfast and Jaden opened his Valentine from Cory and I.  He was so excited about it, I loved his face.  I opened my Valentine from Cory which were really pretty pearl earrings...ones that won't break me out because they are real!  I think I have never had real pearl earrings before!  How nice for my ears for a change :).  Then we headed off to a Valentine's Party for Jaden and all of his little Sunbeam class from church.  I love how we get together outside of Church so the kids really get to know eachother and be good friends.  It was a fun party. 
Then we had lunch with our friends from church, who happen to live right below us.  They are such a great family!  I love having them live so close.  It makes me feel safer, especially with living in Fayetteville :).  Our kids get along great and so do we!
After that, Jaden and I ran a few errands, came back and I found flowers waiting for me from Cory!  I love flowers, and I love him.  We made Valentine Cookies on a stick and then made a heart shaped pizza for dinner.  We were able to have our little friends over, from downstairs, which made it extra special for Jaden! 

This is just refrigerated crescent dough.  I cut it out with heart cookie cutters, filled it with scrambled eggs and cheese, and then topped with another heart and pinched it shut with a fork.  WAY easy.  The scraps I just put cinnamon and sugar on it.  I would have never thought of this idea on my own, so I thank ourbestbites.com for this!

Jaden and I also found this idea online for making Valentine Crayons.  So we did :).  It's really easy and the kids will love helping mix the colors up before you put it in the oven to melt.  You can really do this with any holiday...but of course, being Valentine's Day, what's better than hearts?

Cubscout Field Trip

I have been given the opportunity to be the Cubmaster for Pack 548.  At first, I was overwhelmed and clueless.  But now, I am getting into the groove of things and absolutely adoring each and every Cubscout.  They all bring something so different to the table, and it is, at times chaotic, awesome!  I have such wonderful leaders who are so reliable, and I just couldn't ask for anything more from this group!

I decided that going to an assisted living home would be a great service opportunity for the boys.  At first, they felt awkward and shy.  These boys are between 8 and 11; so being around elderly who are in wheelchairs and say "What?!  I'm hard of hearing!" to things that they would say is a little intimidating.  They weren't sure what to do at first.  But after helping these seniors with a few games of BINGO and playing a few games themselves, they really warmed up to the seniors at the home.  I was thrilled when we were on the elevator and I asked the group, "So, did you boys have fun?"  and they all in unison said "Yes!".

Cooking Class and Home-School

Jaden is taking a children's cooking class once a week at the YMCA located on Post.  He was so excited about it, and he can't wait to go back.  This week, they made fruit and yoghurt parfaits.  He was thrilled when they kept handing him all the different kinds of fruit to cut up: strawberries, bananas, pineapple, blueberries, blackberries, and kiwi.  When the teacher said, "And here is your cup of yoghurt", Jaden looked at me with wide-eyes and said "Yoghurt!".  This was the best first thing that they could have made! 

Yum.  Next week--edible Valentines!

Jaden and I have been working together with home-schooling, in addition to him going to preschool a couple half-days a week.  He'd prefer to stay home with me and do school (he tells me that about every preschool day), so we do have a lot of fun!  He really enjoys it, and I love that he likes learning from me.  He is such a little sponge.  His thing is math...he loves his numbers.  But he is really starting to enjoy letters as well.  Here are a few videos!

There was a page in his workbook with the entire alphabet for him to trace...that seemed silly to me, because there really isn't much learning in that.  So, instead, I decided to have him find and then trace the letter that I tell him.  I figured that would give him good review on recognizing the letters, and by golly, he got every one that I named!  And the preschool he goes to said that he only knows 4 of them........ Watch how he tries to deflect finding the letter off to me.  He knows I won't buy it, so he drops it real quick, but I think his other teachers might!  What a little tricker :)

Math time!  We are working on addition and subtraction.  We started out with chocolate chips (which are the most fun, especially when we do subtraction...of course he eats the ones that we 'minus' :).  But this time we were just using pictures.
 

This is just a funny video of my sweet Jaden.  He makes me laugh at some point every single day.  We were learning about words that begin with L.  One of the words was lips.  Then I started explaining that "our lips are UNDER our nose, and in the MIDDLE of our LEFT cheek and RIGHT cheek".  After I said that, he got this fascination with looking at his nose.  He was so determined.  I just LOVE him!   

Tough Mudder: Probably the Toughest Event on the Planet

I received an email from Wounded Warriors informing us of an event held acrossed the country.  It's called Tough Mudder.  I had no clue what this was, so I looked it up, and oh my goodness!  I can't explain it really, but that it's this massive obstacle course (10-12 miles) designed by British Special Forces, and is INSANE.  I got this burning urge to do it when it comes to North Carolina...so, I talked to Cory and he was willing to do it with me!  And!....we paid our registration fee and registered for it today!!  I'm SO excited and can't wait to really start training on Monday.  It takes place the end of October, and I plan to be ready.  I'm a bit intimidated, but I've always liked a challenge!

SO!  I am sharing this with all of you because (1) I'm incredibly excited!! Ah! I can't hardly stand it. (2) Because I thought it might be something for you to look into if you are interested in doing it yourself, when it comes to your area, after you watch the video. And (3) because it will give me some accountability in our training and goal!  If you know about it, and we talk and you ask me how the training is going, then I'll feel super sheepish if I haven't been doing anything to work on this!...so, I  have something to be accountable for :).

Wish us luck!

Hoorah!!

www.toughmudder.com

Apex, NC Park

Jaden and I had the BEST time today.  We decided to drive up north to Apex, NC.  It is a charming place, and I have only been there one other time, but that was to shop :).  This time, however, was for an outting that I thought was way overdue.  The weather was absolutely perfect (well, after the rain storm), and so what a better day to "play" outside!  Here are some picture before and during our little excursion. 

We packed a picnic lunch, and right when we parked, down came the rain.  Are you kidding me??  I thought I planned it out perfectly: I checked the weather and everything!  So, we had our picnic lunch in the truck, which was just as fun for Jaden since he was able to come up in the front and eat with me!  After we ate, the rain immediately stopped, and out came the sun and "dried up all the rain"!  Perfect :)

Are you curious what he's looking at?  Geese!  I got some pretty cool shots of them, even one taking a bath.

"Ta-da! All clean."

What's the South without some swamp?



A little note for Cory..