lots going on...

I am exhausted. We have been going all weekend long.

We also had Aurora this weekend which is also awesome- which also means we had the adorable Beriah with us for a little while.

***OTHER NEWS***I have been waiting to say until it was official... and now it's official. Kenton is going to travel to Europe this summer for 20 days! He was nominated by someone... and then he went thru an application process where he had an interview and had to have 3 letters of recommendation. And he was selected to participate in the "European Odyssey" (doesn't that just sound cool?) thru the "People to People Ambassadors" program... you can google it... or I may explain more later, just tired right now.

We are now in the process of getting him his passport, my baby who is only16!!!

More info to come!

Colors of the RAINBOW!

For the last 2 days in a row, Jade and I have been having this yummy dinner. Today we made brown rice (yesterday was white rice), ground turkey, and oven roasted vegetable- of course some teriyaki sauce... making my mouth water!!!

While packing my lunch for work, I can't help noticing how colorful it is. Throwing in a yogurt, too, for the dairy. You know how they say you should eat a rainbow of fruits and vegetables... done!

Less of me.

Had another Weight Watchers meeting today. Jade wasn't feeling good... not feeling good at all really, so she stayed home. So this week's weight loss is just me, but together from 3 weeks ago we are both down 17.2 pounds. I have hit my 5% weight loss this week.

They help you figure out your goal weight, and then how much of that is 5%, then 10%. So I have now lost 5% of my self. It's over 10 pounds, so I also like the analogy I heard that if you got to the grocery store and pick up a 10 pound bag of potatoes... and carry it around for a while... that is heavy! Well, I lost that 10 pound bag of potatoes just a few more 10 pounders to go!

Also upped my runs to 2.25 miles. Slow and steady... wears my turtle shirt?

I am 36 years old today!

Happy 36th Birthday to me!


Well, today I had a million errands to do. So after dropping off the kids at college, Jeromy and I headed out to get stuff done. It may not sound too exciting to do errands on your birthday but I was happy that Jeromy and I got to spend the morning and afternoon together. Don't get to see each other very often working opposite shifts.

First things first, I got my free birthday spice chai at Home Depot LOL Then we ran to the post office, group health to fill a prescription, then to Costco.

Also, for my birthday, I got a home made card from Kent saying alot of really sweet things to me that he said I could NOT write in the blog :o( he said it was private so just know it was everything a mom wanted to hear- from a 16 year old boy no less! Also got a card from Jeromy with money to go get a facial! I've been telling him I have been wanting a facial for a while, I neeeeeed it!

I also got some awesome homemade cards from the Trig kids and Michelle with a gift of jewelry- you guys are the greatest- and loved the little frog bag Tessa!

I got a call from my mom singing the happy birthday song, and a message from my cousin Kimmy singing the happy birthday song, too!

I have alot of wonderful family and friends... God has blessed me so much in this life, I can never be grateful enough... :o) :o) :o) :o) :o) :o)

My mom also told me that people are wishing me happy birthday on her facebook, I don't have facebook, but she said her distance cousin from Sweden also wished me a happy day, wow!

Hard to believe I'm 36... I still feel 18 sometimes- though I DO NOT want to be 18 again for anything! I think my mom put it into perspective for me, she said "I'm as old as two 18 year olds put together"... wow- that makes me feel ooold! LOL

Going to go run 2 miles now, that's the best present I can give to myself. Thanks everyone!

Finally some time!!!

I have been working 12 hour shifts the last 3 days and was supposed to work a 12 hour shift tonight, but we got all our work done and only had to work 5 and a half hours tonight. I was so happy! It almost feels like a day off only working 5 and a half hours!

Since I have been working so much I have not had a chance to post at all. Here's that dinner I was telling you about the other day mom. I oven roasted some red, orange and yellow pepper, purple onions, and artichoke hears with some yummy spices on them.

Then cut them up and mixed with rice and ground turkey with just a touch of teriyaki sauce... YUM!

COLORFUL flowers from Jeromy!Here's Jade holding the letter from the college saying "Congratulations, you are on the Dean's list for fall 2010 for a GPA of 3.5 or higher". I was so proud of Jade. This is a pretty big accomplishment for her! Honor roll for college woo-hoo!And here's a peak at one of many side projects Jeromy is working on. Besides working and going to Bible college on line, he's also very creative. And he always likes to stay busy doing something new. He has been toying with making a puppet, possibly to use for the children's ministry at church. He final started working on "Juan" (cause he is the first Jeromy said).... here's the paper pattern he got off line...Now the foam...Juan's hands...Juan's trying to get dressed...Now the other night Jeromy wanted to bring "Juan" out while we were having our get together with people from church over. I will admit I was a little nervous cause I didn't know what all the adults would think about a.... puppet. Well, I shouldn't have been worried. The adults thought it was great and the kids LOVED it. They all wanted a try to make Juan talk and move his hands. Even the adults wanted a turn!

So Sunday morning Jeromy brought Juan to church. Again I was a little nervous cause not sure what people are going to think. And the children's ministry people loved it! One of the lady's, Jane, had her own camera and took these pictures and sent them to us and some other people with the title: "We take this children's ministry stuff seriously!"...

Here's J2 getting a kick out of Juan...Jeromy has gotten several requests to make more. Sooo... "Maria" is now in the works. Aurora went with him to pick out her colors!

Also, since my birthday is coming up, and Jeromy knew I've been wanting more magnets for my fridge, he and Aurora had a little project up their sleeves. They bought these little stars and painted them together then added the magnet- homemade magnets from Aurora and Jeromy- thanks guys!

Jade also wanted to do something special for me cause she's such a sweetie pie! She wanted to make me a special birthday cake bought with her own money (turns out this special cake required 3 cake mixes and 3 tubs of frosting). She made the cake Friday night while I was at work. Here's Jade and I holding this mountain of cake...Jade calls it "The leaning Tower of Cake!"... she cracks me up...But you know what makes this cake so special? Besides my first born buying it and making it with her own hands while I'm working to surprise me, you know, besides all that?

It's a RAINBOW cake! And you all know how I LOVE RAINBOWS!!!!

So that's about it for now. More to come I'm sure! Take 'er easy!

Week #2

This is week #2 at Weight Watchers for Jade and I. We have now lost- together...

14.8 pounds!!!

Too little/ too much

I have too little time today and too many pictures to post... lamo.

I really need to get Jade driving so I can quit my part time taxi job during the day and just work my night job :o)

Another January Birthday!!

My wonderful Grandma Shield turns 93 years old today and she is so stinkin' cute! I wanna squeeze her but I don't want to break her!!

LOOK AT HER!!!

She had a party yesterday (check out my mom's blog) but we weren't able to make it cause we had other plans already. But it worked out cause today is her official birthday and we could visit more with less people- tho I heard I missed out on some cake and cinnamon rolls!

It was a nice surprise having my mom stop by! What a great opportunity for a 4 generation shot! We have Aurora with us this long holiday weekend - Thank YOU Martin Luther King for what you've done- so she got in the picture, too!

Last night Aurora had some of her friends spend the night, some of the beautiful Trig girls. How convenient is it that there are 3 girls right at Aurora's age? Thanks Michelle! Here they are, Jade's a big kid at heart so she hangs with them for a while, too.And of course one with Aurora and her dad who loves her beyond belief- Grandma Shield- you can see Jeromy's matching dimple in this picture- opposite Aurora's cheek....I also ran another 2 miles this morning. Trying to run Monday, Wednesday and Fridays, and then one day on the weekend! And to my friend Mindy who commented on me running before church... well, I kind of have an advantage, my kids are at the age where they can do everything independently. I might have to make sure they are up, but from there they do it all. They are my babies and there are still are rules but it's almost like roommates, they do their own laundry, showers, even food when we are all going different directions.... and it's wonderful! It seemed like the days of getting kids up, dressed fed, teeth brushed and the endless list of other things would never end. I'm loving the freedom I am having now while still having my kids around. Another transition phase I guess getting them (mostly me!) ready for when they move out!

Happpy Birthday Denny!

My nephew Denny becomes (que scary music: da da da daaaa) a TEENAGER. Parents run for your lives! Just kidding, Denny is a great kid. I have a ton of pictures of him but none by himself, so here he is with his brother and cousin Jade and Kent. Denny is the one in the orange GAP shirt! Such a cutie!

Also ran 2 miles this morning before church! That's right just upped my 1.75 to 2 miles! Watch out Seattle Half Marathon here I coooooome!

A-N-O-T-H-E-R

1.75 BITES THE DUST!!!

Reunited...

And it feeeeels so goooood!

Yup, I'm a dork- just don't tell my kids cause they think I'm super coooool! LOL!!

First week.

This was our first full weeks on Weight Watchers for Jade and I. And together we lost 10.4 pounds our first week. I'm not going to put down what we each lost cause it's not a competition, so I thought I'd just put the grand total: 10.4 --- woo-hoo! I will say Jade lost over 50% of that total and I'm so proud of her for keeping on track, she says she already feels better and isn't having stomach aches- you may remember I've blogged before about her having stomach ache issues.

So a first great week I'd say!

Running.

I ran today. Been slowly rebuilding my running miles to get ready for the Seattle (I'm doing the Half) Marathon this summer again.

Been running for about a month but not as often as I should. Been slowly increasing and today I increased again. You ready to count how many miles I did?

Ok, here goes.... ONE... and 0.75 miles! That's right. Thought I was going to say some crazy number didn't ya? Well, I did increase from 1.5 last week to 1.75 this week. Woo-hoo for slow and steady increases!

Jade and I also started Weight Watchers. I'm telling you this with Jade's approval of course. She just said "Don't tell them our weight", and to that I said "Duh!". But we're really motivated to stay on track and melt the fat away- together!

Hey Misty, we finally got some snow...

Lately...

Kent was working on his drawing assignment for college. He's in drawing 101, and we got him all the art supplies the teacher listed including an art box for the supplies. So much fun!

It's kinda torture for Jade cause she loves to draw, too, and we didn't get her signed up in time for this class (turns out it wouldn't have worked for our schedules anyway). While I was at work Kent was working on his drawing assignment- drawing a chair: still life- and knowing it was torture for Jade I asked her to take a couple of pictures of him drawing. I love my kids drawing and being creative. I think they both have great talent- and I'm not just saying that cause I'm their mom. Jade has been drawing for years and has the skills to prove it. Kent has drawn off and on as I've prodded him thru out the years and now he's drawing alot more on his own and discovering an untapped talent! So he's pretty excited about his drawing class... just wish Jade could be in there with him.

Isn't he cute? He's got his lap top playing his play list of favorite music... I know he's 16, tall and scruffy faced, but he's still my baby and I just want to squeeze him!

That little red and black box is his art box with some fun stuff in it... if you're into art that is. When we got home that day after getting his stuff Jade was going thru it like it was a treasure chest of fun... poor baby... it is torture for her!And just yesterday our old neighbor Kate came over for a visit. She was Jade's friend growing up on Roanoke. And she's the same girl that lived with us for about a year a few years ago. Here they are back in the day. We've known Kate for about 9-10 years. Aren't they adorable???Kate had a little baby girl named Sadie about 5 months ago. Here's Kate and Jade now and little baby Sadie... both girls are still so cute... or I guess I should say pretty! Oh man, Jade's little pumpkin cheeks are so cute then and now just want to squeeze them... nope.. there's no hope for me people! I'm just madly in love with those kids... poor kids lol!Here's Kate again with baby Sadie. When we all were laughing she's try to laugh a little bit too which just made us laugh more.That's all for now. Good night. Thanks all for the positive words after my last blog... that was a tough day. Read ahead- if you dare- about my cryin' about work lol. Later

Cryin' about work

Not much going on. Just getting back into the routine of work and school for the kids.

We had some running around with them getting the right text books, and other supplies given by the teacher- like all Kent's art supplies.

Work has been especially brutal this week. They're talking over time this weekend- even Sunday, and our shop hasn't worked a Sunday in over a year, maybe even longer.

Just trying to mentally gear up for it. Yesterday was particular tough. I had worked a 12 hour shift the night before didn't get much sleep that night, was driving the kids all over poulsbo and west bremerton getting supplies, then back into work. Working a very physically exhausting job. Call me a baby but I was on the verge of tears for several hours last night. Just exhausted. But I felt God was watching me and trying to help me keep my chin up. I ran into a guy from church who drives buses in the yard, didn't know he worked there. So we had a nice talk. Then my friend Maranda texted me out of the blue- which was perfectly timed cause I was about to lose it again.

So I was able to sleep last night. And I just ate some comfort food, fresh scrambled eggs with delicious turkey sausage. YUM!

Ok, sorry about all that whining but it was a rough day, I left out some of the worst of it cause I'm just tired of thinking about it.

Today has got to be better, just cause it has to!

First Day of Winter Quarter 2011

Jade's college quarter:
Math 90B
Exceptional Child
Intro to Child Care
School age Care

Those last 3 classes are all under the category of Early Childhood Education (ECE), which is the degree Jade is going for.

Kent's college quarter:
Math 99 (this is crazy to me that he has to take this class cause Kent took AP Chemistry and Advanced Algebra Functions and ACED both classes- but this will be a total easy A for him)
History
Art-Drawing (How fun- I want to take this class!!)

Pretty proud of these kids :o)

Happy New Year 2011

Our New Years Eve day started out by watching a play our friend Michelle's kids were performing in. It was so cute! Beriah is in the red, and Julia is in the pink.Our whole family and Laura's whole family came to support the girls, there's an older Hannah in there, too... Such cute girls- they did a great job!So time for our New Years Party!!

Jade helped make a huge 2011 poster for all the kids/adults to color thru out the night. Even the little ones got into it. Here's Hannah S. and another Hannah S.!

Some of the older kids colored, too.... Here is the complete 2011 poster- sooo colorful!!Time for party favors.... here's Maranda with baby Natalie- she's is such a chuck of love!
Laura said she was going to "Bring the Par-taaay"- and she did! Here she is with Jade...
She even had little tiaras for Hannah, Hannah... and Aiden- but we're going to call his a prince's crown!
Michelle and her daughter Tessa...Ok, everyone get your "Game Face" on. We were going to play some Bible Pictionary. We all drew numbers cause we couldn't decide whose team we were going to be on.So Team #1 was Jeromy (J3), Jason, Michelle and Jeremy (J2)....
Here we are Team #2: Laura, Maranda, Myself, Jade, Tessa and Julia at times... we're all trying to guess what Laura is drawing...All the guys trying to figure out what Michelle is drawing for their team...
So here is a picture of the Bible Pictionary champs... was there any doubt??
Okay, now it seams the tables have turned. We were now going to play Bible Trivia, I already am horrible at Trivia, I told my team mates that I was going to be an anchor in this game cause I am a "Baby Christian" meaning I'm still learning alot of what's in the Bible. Our whole team was a little nervous against the Bible Scholar team, we wanted to redraw numbers to make new teams to make it fair. But the "J2, Jason, Michelle, J3" team didn't want to break up, I think they saw their advantage to staying together. Plus us singing the " We are the Champions" song after the first game probably didn't help!!! HAHAHAHA

But it seemed luck was on our side. Cause as my Jeromy said we just made alot of good guesses, and good guesses we did make! I think Jason is starting to see how this game is going to end also...So our team wasn't trying to rub it in, I think we were just in shock that we won the 2nd game! So we wanted another picture with this game box. The "other" team seemed to make this impossible. HAHAHAHA Here's Jeromy conveniently standing in front of the camera when the picture was taken...Here they are blocking our picture with the box...We thought we'd try one more picture, and Jason thru this shoe right into the picture at the right time. It seemed we were not going to get a picture with out some sort of distraction. I don't think I've laughed that much in a long time. My face was hurting!
So we got a picture of all the kids in front of the poster...And got the camera on the tripod and timer and got one of EVERYBODY- COUNT 'EM 26 PEOPLE!!!Just minutes before midnight, I poured sparkling apple cider into over 20 cups, and like a said Laura brought a party in a bag, with horn blowers, little fireworks, and silly string! We all counted down:

10

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

We all drank our sparkly stuff, and then we all quieted and said a prayer thanking God for all the blessings of 2010 and for all He'll continue to do for us in 2011. A few people went around giving words of thanks to God, I think it's so good for the kids to hear how thankful the parents are. It helps to give them a spirit of thankfulness.

Now out side with the silly string kids... that's not snow that's actually bits of silly string in the air, Laura had alot of cans!Oh man, it was really cold out there!

Cute girls: Nadia, Tae', Beriah and Aurora!

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011!!!