random acts of kindness

Jon is out of town again and I had to run Kendall downtown for a meeting. He and Kristen had mutual tonight, and I knew we'd be cutting it close, so I decided to grab some pizza on the way home for dinner. Kendall just stayed in the car while I ran in. Haha...while I ran in. I was sooo busy! I ended up waiting for about 40 minutes. I came out and he'd been listening to the radio. What he didn't realize, and I neglected to tell him, is that if the car isn't running, the battery drains. Yep. It was dead. We have jumper cables, but they were at home. I didn't know what to do. I finally called my neighbor and begged them for help. She told me to call Kristen and have her let them in the garage to get our cables. Well, Kristen wouldn't answer and I knew she wouldn't answer the door. I called my neighbor and relayed all of that and in the meantime, a guy backed out of his parking spot and backed in right next to me. I thought he was going to hit me, but he got out and said, "I heard you trying to start that and knew it was dead. Do you want a jump?" Wow! He didn't know me; he didn't have to stop; I'm sure he was hungry too, but he came to our rescue. What a random act of kindness that really meant a lot to me, even though he insisted it was no big deal.

easter fun in pictures!!

jarren coloring eggs

kendall's eggs

  

jenna wanted to actually paint her eggs

kristen having fun--wearing jen's old shirt!

egg hunt at grandma's

looking for eggs

jarren only wanted to find the green ones

kristen finding some bubbles

tired out from a very long, fun day! she was actually snoring

jarren was pretty tired too. he fell asleep with his hand up there, but woke up after kendall took the picture

cute boy kendall! he got a slight sunburn on friday. fun way to spend spring break!

Welcome to the Teens, Kristen!!!

On Monday, I officially become the mother of two teenagers. Kristen had a birthday!! Let's see....if it's "sweet sixteen," it must be "tart thirteen." Or "trial" or "thin"--as in I often feel like I'm walking on eggshells with the moods.

Anyway...aside from having to wake up early for school (oh, Mondays are sooo hard), she was in a good mood and had a great day! She even wanted to go to her tumbling class, since she's just getting her ariel down and didn't want to "lose" what she's worked so hard on.

My bad--I let Jon schedule a re-caulking of the sink and a polishing/cleaning of the granite in the kitchen that day, so we couldn't use the counters at all! Try decorating a cake, cooking a special dinner, etc without the use of the sink or counters. Not easy. She wanted chow mein and potstickers and I made some orange chicken for the meat eaters. She also wanted a plain vanilla cake, but was worried about it being too...plain. So we decorated it up with her favorite candy--Reese's.

I always feel bad because with everyone's crazy schedules, we often can't open gifts until after dinner--6:30-7ish. That's so hard to wait when you're young. She got a new hoodie, new summer outfit, new headbands, a new straightener (so I can have mine back--haha), perfume, and make up stuff. She's a real deal teen now. HAPPY THIRTEEN, KRISTEN!!!! We love you!!!!

gifts!!

Teenage spunk!

opening presents--happy!

bedroom door

yes--we did the balloon clue hunt--the kids love it!

blowing out 13 candles!!

jarren sure loved lighting the candles for me

a look I often see from her. :)

Mummies of the World

On Saturday night, we took the kids to this traveling exhibit at a local museum---Mummies of the World.. This display is only touring the US for 3 years, in select cities only. It was a great experience--very fascinating and interesting. But, unfortunately, a little disturbing for Jenna. She talks and talks about it all day, drawing Egyptian Littlest Pet Shop pictures and reading books about mummies. But at night, she gets a little spooked. They had mummified animals and people from Egypt, Peru, and Europe. Some were only about 200 years old! They don't allow pictures at all, out of respect (so, I don't have any). I'm glad we had the opportunity to go--it's something the kids will remember for a long time.

Bear Award

No, I'm not new to the scouting program, but Jon usually handles it. He should get the little mom's pin, not me. :)

Jarren got new Bear leaders a short time ago and last month, his leader said he was ready to get his Bear. I told her no, he still had one thing to do in this one, and one in that, and....etc. I finally actually read the book and yes, he was done. I thought he had to do every single thing!! So...at the Blue & Gold Banquet, he received his Bear award. Way to go, Jarren!!!

 

 

Goofy

Jarren is such a ham in front of the camera. He loves to be super goofy and make really crazy faces. I was trying to get a nice full-face picture for something and this is what I ended up with:

Basketball

It's so hard for me to take pictures at basketball games. For one thing, they all move so quickly that most of the pictures end up a big blur. For another thing, I usually get so into the game that I forget to. :) I did manage to get one of Kendall when he had to wear the nose guard--he's the one right in the middle of the shot.

They had a pretty good season. It was tough, but fun. He's still going on two of the three teams, but it's almost over and I think he's ready for a break.