JI Marathon of Service

Noelle, Natalie (future JIers), Luke & Emily 4th grade, Rachel & Drew 1st grade, Caitlin 6th

notice Natalie with no shoe on.  It was 45 degrees out.  What's Up?

Instead of walking 3 miles for the JI Marathon fundraiser, the school along with the Knights of Columbus sponsored a JI Marathon of Service.  All the families of JI were assigned someone who needed help with yard work/washing windows/picking up trash etc as a way for them to raise money for the school.  We had  a nice cool fall day and it was nice to do service work for others.  The kids did very well considering their attention span and the fact that they had to work.  Even Natalie and her friend Noelle got in the action.

Rachel is Seven!

For some reason, it's hard for me to believe this girl is seven years old already!  It doesn't seem like it's been that long ago she and I would head to the coffee shop to see our friends, Jen, Kael & Elli.  She was my coffee shop bud.  Now, she's my reading, dramatic, smiley, giggly, beautiful, creative big 1st grade girl!  Time sure does slip away... Rachel had a spectacular birthday-three celebrations in all!  It's not every day a person gets to celebrate that many times.  The weekend before her actual birthday, Gpa & Gma Salfer, Gpa Tom and Gma, Randy & Sheila, and Mike & Irene came for brunch, cake and conversation.  Brian and I made her a guitar cake, which was totally fun!  It's not that bad making a cake when you have an assistant!  I have to admit I was way excited for her themed party!

On her actual birthday, we had lots more fun planned for her and her friends!  I made little guitar brownies and these were actually harder than the cake.  Brownies are not that easy to cut into shapes.  I think they turned out really cute though and from Rachel's reaction, I knew she loved them!  Rachel has always been drawn to playing with boys and when she asked if she could have a friend party, I assumed she'd want the boys.  However, I asked her who she wanted and she said "the girls in my class and Katie".  Awesome!!  But then the next sentence was, "Can I have Luke sleepover though?"  Ummmmm..... NO!  But I compromised and said she could bring Luke along to her birthday dinner at Dino's later that day. :)  Everyone was happy!  The girls had a good time at the party.  We jumped from one thing to the next.  Brian and I had set up a stage in the basement for them to "rock out" with and we had the Wii Dance going.  Air guitar and mic's were all part of the plan for them to become a band, but they ended up just being part of the "set".  We also had a pinata hanging from the tree in the front yard which was a huge hit and alot of candy went home with the girls!  

Rachel's last celebration was eating at one of her favorite places, Dino's Pizzeria in North Mankato.  Awesome, awesome, pizza!  And she brought her bestie, Luke.  I'm fairly certain this was a match made in heaven!  They had good time being silly, coloring/drawing and playing games.  All in all, I think Rachel had a birthday she'll never forget!  We LOVE you Rachel Anne!