School Pics

Genevieve, age 6, 1st Grade

Jocelyn, age 5, Kindergarten

I thought I should update all of my followers (if there are any of you still out there!)
The girls started this year off at a new school and are doing really well! We are so far, very pleased with their progress! Genevieve has really broken out of her shell this year. She has always been quite shy and reserved. She is now much more talkative and social. Don't get me wrong, she won't be a theatre or drama queen, but she can at least now answer you if you ask her how she is doing. :)

Jocelyn has finally adjusted to all-day Kindergarten. Those first couple weeks were a little tough for her. She would come home from school at 3:30 smiling ear to ear, talking about how much she loved school and then by 4:00 she would cry about the smallest thing. She was exhausted! She loves her teacher and only wants to please her! This morning I woke the girls up to get them ready for school. I excitedly told them that it was the last day of school before having 3 days of for the holiday weekend. In unison, they both got sad faces and whined "oh no!" That makes a mommy happy to hear!

Both girls had awesome seasons of soccer! It was fun to see them each week scoring goal after goal after goal! The coaches for each of their teams couldn't be more different. Jenna's was very hard on her and expected a huge amount. He was not a very "sympathetic" kind of guy, but rewarded her when he saw progress. She responded amazingly to this! We were a little nervous that she was going to cry at practice, but instead she would tell us how much she loved it! Maybe our parenting needs to resemble this? :) Jocelyn's coach is a mother and was very loving and caring. The season was more about having fun (at such a young age) which Jocelyn did, but she also got some skills out of it too!

Jenna is now going to be playing Basketball with some of the girls from her soccer team and will have the same coach. She has never touched a basketball so we weren't sure if she was going to be interested in it. She asked us if her soccer coach would be her basketball coach. When I told her that yes it would be, she lit up and is super excited! I guess that says a lot about his style of coaching!

Jenna is the ultimate of loving and caring sisters. She is also very giving. Anything Jocelyn wants, Jocelyn gets. They could want to watch 2 separate movies and Jenna will let Jocelyn decide. Same goes with any other activity. Jocelyn can pick the game, the book, etc. Unfortunately Jocelyn doesn't understand why mommy and daddy don't just give in either. Someone has to put their foot down!

Jocelyn has a strong love for reading. She strives to do well at whatever she does. If she is reading and messes up a word, she doesn't get frustrated but continues to try hard to figure it out. Once she gets it, she practices it over and over again. She also exceeds in math. In fact, her teacher emphasized her math abilities at her conference this week. She can count to 200 (probably more) and can quickly answer addition problems.

Both girls are looking forward to the upcoming winter skiing. Their daddy has engraved in their heads that Winter is the best season because of this! We are planning on spending many weekends up at White Pass this year as a family!

We have definitely been blessed with 2 very sweet and loving girls! 

2012 Central WA State Fair

Gone are the days when our kids knew nothing about any kind of fair. We used to be able to drive a scenic route, only to avoid passing by the giant Ferris Wheel, flashing bright lights, and catchy music, in hopes that the kids wouldn't ask to go. We would tell other parents to be quiet in front of our kids when they talked about taking their own children to the ridiculously over-priced, over-glamorized, and overly dirty and disgusting joint! And now, our kids are in a school that takes an ENTIRE DAY OFF of school, so that kids can go to the fair. They pass out entrance coupons as incentive for those that read a certain amount that month. We have no choice. We HAVE to take our kids to the fair. And we try and act like we enjoy it. :) The girls don't have to try so hard...they just LOVE IT!

Out of the mouths of babes...

Out of no where my 5 year old informed me that she was NOT going to be a policeman when she grows up. When I asked her why, she told me that they are bad people. I explained to her that the cops themselves are not bad people, but that they take care of the bad people, and that really, policeman are good. She said, "Well, a policeman pulled you over?" I clarified that she was right, he pulled me over because I was driving over the speed limit which was illegal and dangerous to us and other drivers. She said matter of factly, "So mom, are going to follow the directions of the road?"

***FYI, she is referring to an incident from years ago that she obviously remembers very clearly!

St. John the Baptist

Today, on August 29th, the church remembers the death of St. John the Baptist. Sam and I were explaining this biblical event to the girls at dinner tonight. Although we were trying to give them a serious understanding of what happened when St. John stood up to Herod, the girls showed their interest in the subject from a 5-6 year old point of view:

Us: St. John was beheaded...

Jocelyn: Macrina's Uncle John? (John my brother, Macrina my niece.)

Us: No, St. John the Baptist. 

Jocelyn: Today?

Us: No, a long time ago. Herod had him beheaded and then his head was served on a platter. 

Jenna: Did it bleed?

Us: Yes.

Jocelyn: IT DID?!

Us: St. John was standing up for what he believes...

Jenna: If  we do what God wants, will we get OUR heads cut off?

Us: No, you won't get your heads cut off.

Jenna: Did St. John go to heaven without his head?

Us: Yes, he did.

Jocelyn: But did his head go to heaven too?

We stopped the lesson at that point. :)

1st Day of School

We are starting the girls at a new school this year. Although they are beyond excited, mommy and daddy are a bit more nervous. OK, fine! Mommy is a bit more nervous.

I know they will do great. They are both very kind, respectful, and obedient girls. We talked with them about looking out for the person at school that looks sad, lonely, and left out and we encouraged them to be brave and be-friend/include that person. We encouraged them to treat all of the children like gifts from God, no matter how different they are. But now I am left wondering, what if the other children don't do the same for my precious girls?!

I have to trust that God will protect my babies! But who could be mean to these cute faces:

Wunder Woman Triathlon 2012

 

My first Triathlon experience was very exciting! I had a blast doing it and definitely plan on doing it again!

The time goal I set for this particular race was 1 hour, 30 minutes. My finish time was 1 hour 24 minutes so I was stoked! 

My stats: 

Overall: 141/500

My Age group:  26/90

The swim leg (1/4 mile) was 8 min, 33 secs. I placed 36th overall and 9th in my age group! This was my best leg.

The bike leg (10 miles) was 41 minutes, 27 secs.

The run leg (3 miles) was 29 minutes, 39 seconds.

A portion of the swimmers getting ready for their wave to start

Sam had to make an emergency visit to the bathroom with Jocelyn, so he was unable to get pictures of me during the swim. But we can pretend one of those people from a different wave is me right?

Just finished the bike leg, headed to my transition spot to prepare for the run

Here I am thinking, "Why did I try sprinting back there? I should have waited until I could actually see the finish line!"

And the finish!

I wouldn't have done this race if my friend Ruth hadn't convinced me to!

Trying to re-hydrate. The last 30 minutes of the race was HOT!

The girls were patient enough (although Daddy thinks this is debatable) to wait until the race was over to play in the lake

Jocelyn's Splinter

Sam and I enjoyed a night out last night without the kiddos. After returning home we asked the babysitter how it went. She explained how good they had been but then she started laughing and told us that Jocelyn had a tough time going to bed. Apparently, they had been in bed for awhile but Jocelyn came out complaining of some splinters in the bottom of her feet. Rebecca was able to get all of them out except for one stubborn one that was difficult to remove. Jocelyn grabbed her foot, stared at the splinter in the bottom of her foot and spoke to it. With a serious face she said, "Splinter, you need to let Rebecca get you out so that I can go to bed because it is way past my bed time!"