Last Day of School

Ian finished fifth grade and Evan finished second grade today.  We started out with annual photos on the front steps of the house and outside of school (well in this case church).

 After a quick flag ceremony to celebrate Flag Day, we went inside to the gym for the awards ceremony.  Both the boys did really well academically and got many awards and hugs from the principal.

After the ceremony, the kids went upstairs and collected their last things and their report cards and we did the last car line of the year.  We hung around instead of just walking home quickly and got some pictures with the boys' teachers.

Here comes the rain...

They talked on the news about the STORM OF THE CENTURY.  We saw it coming and it only lasted about 10 minutes.  But at least there were some cool clouds.

Second to last day of school

The kids have been bringing home odds and ends out of their desks all week long.  Now we'll have to go through and get rid of it here because I know we don't need to keep it all either.  But Evan yesterday also brought home a medal ("real bronze" he kept telling me) for his third place win in the school's poetry contest.

He's got his Wolf Rank

I love my little cub scout, he worked hard this year and got all his requirements done for his Wolf rank and got his gold arrow point and FIVE silver arrow points!

So proud of this little guy!  Now to work on BEAR!

40 things I want to do in my 40th year.

So 21 more days and I turn the BIG FOUR OH (that's 40 in Jen-type)!  I have been working out really well so far this month, all 3 days of it!  I've gotten up every morning and done my Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred DVD.  And today I even on top of that went to the gym and worked out on the elliptical machine!  YAY ME!

So with all the talk of bucket lists and things I wished I had done, I've decided to make a list of 40 things I'd like to do in the year of me being 40.

1. get to a healthy weight
2. buy clothes for a normal everyday person store
3. walk a whole 5K in under 40 minutes
4. go camping on the coast where the wild horses live
5. see Niagara Falls
6. have our family pictures done
7. visit NYC with my family
8. see the Statue of Liberty
9. learn how to play the Doctor Who theme song on the piano
10. learn to make sushi
11. learn to make bread that actually has the consistency of bread from a store
12. visit an art museum
13. go bike riding with my family along the Potomac
14. worry less about things that I can't change
15. get all my photos organized and start ordering digital photo books
16. finish my granny square blanket
17. hike in the mountains
18. visit some of those upper New England states when the leaves are changing colors
19. teach my kids to play Euchre
20. make salsa from tomatoes from my own garden
21. declutter my closets and drawers
22. go to a farmer's market
23. have the inside of my truck detailed including having the carpets cleaned
24. use up scrapbooking supplies
25. use up fabric I bought in Korea
26. go on another photo walk
27. drive a sports car
28. get past level 35 on Bubble Witch
29. organize my tupperware
30. finish reading my chronological bible
31. make (and finish) a t-shirt quilt
32. say no more often
33. take a spinning class
34. try a Bodypump class
35. take a Zumba class
36. roast garlic at home
37. get a pedicure
38. get a facial
39. try going to a Thai restaurant
40. run the kids' running club again

me and the boys at their running club end of the year party

I love playing in the pool with the kids.

Well actually I love being in the water where I can touch my feet safely on the floor while my kids splash around and have fun.  I love having a cool little camera that I can try to take photos of them having fun!!  One of these days I'll learn how to wear a mask so I can go underwater too so I can see what I am taking pictures of instead of just shooting from the hip!!

My budding little photographer.

Evan loves it when I give him my little camera and let him take pictures.  I get lots of signs and the ground but every once in awhile we get some good ones.  That's the great thing about digital photography, you can let them take as many shots as they want and get to see the world as they see it.

Lake Accotink Park

We wanted to go and rent a canoe so that Ian could practice with one before going to Boy Scout camp this summer because he signed up to work on the Canoeing Merit Badge.  We went over to Lake Accotink Park and the lifeguards said that it was too windy to let anyone take out the canoes.  ((Funniest part was as we were walking away I swear I heard him say that he would let us know about tomorrow and I'm thinking, you don't know me how are you going to let me know -- just start randomly calling people in the area??))

Well since we were there and I had my camera out to take pictures of my canoeing men, I snapped some shots of the pretty day and goofy boys.  Besides being windy (which I'm feeling on my face right now, my lips are super chapped) the sky was so clear and blue!

And yes they are trying to show me their best superhero poses there!!  :)

I'm the only one who reads my blog.

Kind of makes you a little sad when you realize that you are the only one who reads your blog.  I guess it is okay since I also talk to myself randomly throughout the day and I can make myself laugh like no one else.

Evan's 2nd grade class participated in a Living Rosary after mass on May 22nd, with their 8th grade sacramental partners.  It was really nice (even if the inside of the church was roasting and I thought we were going to lose kids from heat stroke).  Evan did a great job saying his Hail Marys and taking flowers up to the statue of Mary.  I took some pictures while we were there and a couple of them actually turned out.  Turns out someone had decided to try to look inside my camera through the lens because there was a big greasy nose print on my lens which make most of my photos blurry on one side.

Evan outside before the ceremony.  He was happy I remembered to bring his flowers.

Saying his Hail Marys.

Processing back out of the church.

Evan and his 8th grade partner.

Evan and his 2nd grade teacher.

Evan, his teacher and the aide that works in their room too.

They had cake afterwards and that makes it all worthwhile!!

One Month Later

Man it has been a month since we went away on Spring Break and since I have blogged.  Why is it when I say things to myself like "I'm going to be better about blogging starting today", then I end up going a whole month without posting anything.  Well part of it is because we are a pretty boring little crew.  I do a lot of volunteering at school and just general housing keeping stuff.  Darren works and works and complains about work.  The boys go to school, come home do homework, play for a bit, go to sleep and then do it all again the next day with a mix of running club and scout stuff thrown in just to keep us on our toes.

The last two weekends have been busy for us because we have had visitors both weekends.  That is a bad thing, they were two great weekends but I really am ready for a weekend where we don't do anything!!  Last weekend in April, Ian went on his first Boy Scout campout BY HIMSELF while Darren took Evan to a Cub Scout campout.  While the menfolk were gone my good friend Kim came into town and we toured around downtown DC.  My favorite thing was taking a SEGWAY tour of the National Mall.  OMG if I ever win the lottery I am totally buying myself a Segway because they are so much fun!!

This past weekend on May 5th, Evan made his First Communion and my sister Sally and my niece Evelyn came into town for the weekend to help us celebrate.  We took them downtown too and took a ride on the pedal boats in the Tidal Basin.  We saw baby ducks and geese and they were so cute!

Evan did a great job at his First Communion and I felt so bad for him because he was so excited about the whole thing but once it came to processing down the aisle with the priest he got freaked out and had what I would a assume was a eight year old panic attack and cried through most of the mass because he was nervous.  But he got the job done and now he can go up for a "snack" as he used to call it with the rest of us each Sunday.

He wore the same tie Ian did when he made his First Communion and the same little pin from Grandma and Grandpa.

In other news, I'm still taking piano lessons and I'm getting pretty good at the Mexican Hand Clapping song.  I really enjoy piano but wish my hands were better at playing together.  I feel really clumsy at it most of the time.  My family is still enjoying watching Doctor Who together.  The boys have finally gotten to the 11th doctor and aren't sure if they like him or not, but they definitely like saying "I wear ____ now, ____ is cool!"  Ian wants a fez and a bow tie.  Maybe I'll get him one for his birthday.

Well I am off now, hopefully I'll be better about posting and won't wait until June to do it again.  If anyone has found the magic bullet for losing weight, I'm still looking, please post in the comments if you can make me lose weight with magic!

Spring Break 2013

We took the boys to Philadelphia this year for Spring Break.  I feel like I didn't take many pictures but I know I had a great time hanging out with the boys and Darren.  Monday we did the Duck Ride tour of downtown.  The boys favorite part was splashing into the river!  After the tour we walked around downtown and found the Reading Market Terminal and Chinatown.  Tuesday we spent the whole day from open to close at the Franklin Institute.  Best science museum I have been to!!  We saw 2 different shows in the planetarium and Evan lost his tooth during lunch!  Wednesday we headed back downtown and toured Independence Hall and saw the Liberty Bell.  Afterwards we found Pat's King of Steaks and Geno's Steakhouse and tried philly cheesesteaks from both of them!  We think Pat's is the best!  After that we went to the King of Prussia Mall to walk around and let the kids spend their money at Toys R Us.

Here are a few shots from our trip!!