Doing the Plunge

Since Brian missed last year's Polar Plunge he was even more excited to do it again this year.  The weather was unseasonably warm so it made it more enjoyable for us spectators watching these crazy people!  Drew Lundquist has been getting this group together for quite a few years now.  Great bunch of guys/dads.  I believe overall the plungers from St. Peter raised over $100,000 for Special Olympics.  Amazing!

Lauren Mary is TWO!!!!

Oh goodness!  It seems like yesterday this child was entering the world and here we are two years later.  Sassy and spunky, sweet and squirly.  She's entering the terrible twos.  I never really agreed with that saying until this child. :)  The other girls were more "naughty" in their 3's not their 2's.  Lauren however is proving that the two's can sometimes be terrible.  Don't get me wrong, her sweetness far out weighs her sourness.  I'm guessing by having 4 older sisters and listening to them and acting like them doesn't help her.  We all adore and love Little Lady Lauren (i made up a song that i sing to her called Little Lady Lauren).  The girls still fight over who gets to hold her, help her, play with her, bathe her, etc.  I love that.  And she probably does too. :)  Who wouldn't love all that attention?  Lauren loves to play with her sisters, she loves to watch Octonauts and Curious George.  She is my buddy and loves her mama.  She also loves her daddy-except at bedtime.  Speaking of bedtime-we've created this monster who doesn't go to bed on her own but wants to rock-a-bye and pretty much ends up sleeping with us at some point in the middle of the night.  She is a pretty good cuddler, except when she wants to sleep with her feet in our backs.  She makes us laugh-she's a little comical like Natalie.  She likes to read books, color, paint, play outside, go on stroller rides, play with her babies and stuffed animals.  She is a peanut like Caitlin was.  Small in stature but Big in attitude.  She looks like Rachel and is kind like Emily (when she wants to be)

Science Fair

This is Emily's last Science Fair and I think she's pretty happy about that.  Even she may let on that she's glad its over, she deep down really enjoyed doing all her science fair projects.  She was a little disappointed that she didn't make it to Regionals this year.  She kind of knew going in though that it probably wouldn't happen. She chose a little easier project than in years past, but still had a good time with the "experiment" portion of it.  Who doesn't love that part?  It's the research and journaling that isn't all that much fun!  We were proud of her and she's come along way in presenting and sounded like an 'ol pro, not even getting nervous!

  

School Trip - All-school Prayer - Middle School Play

I was fortunate enough to chaperon the JI Choir kids field trip to Oliver! in the middle of February.  It was a small group of kids and they were super fun to hang out with.  The play wasn't too bad-the kids had sung a few of the play's songs last year at their concert so they were excited to see where in the play the songs fit.

Natalie and her Kindergarten class led all-school prayer for the first time right before Valentines Day and they did a fantastic job teaching us about God's Love for us.  They were pretty excited and maybe a little nervous speaking in front of their peers and parents.  

Caitlin once again participated in her Middle School play called Andromedia's Galaxy.  A Sci-Fi comedy in which Caitlin and cast were Andromedia's brain.  It was actually pretty good.  Caitlin had a few more lines than last year :)  She had a great time performing.  I love that she likes sports and drama-well rounded kid!

Miss Lauren-aka Trouble

Lauren....where do I start with this one?  I haven't posted much on her but will when I get to her birthday.  Here's a preview....

Emily-Basketball

Emily played her 2nd year of basketball for her school John Ireland and had a fun season.  The girls definitely improved during the season and they were alot of fun to watch.  They may have only won one game but they were always very good sports!

Good Times

Ok...not starting off 2015 so well with journal entries.  Life happens and I have priorities.  But before I forget all we've done in the past few months I better do a little catch up.

So here we go with the rest of January...

My Mom's group friends.  These ladies are awesome and I'm so blessed to have them in my life.  We laugh, we cry, we pray, we tease, we complain, we lift up, we support, we are all going thru life raising kids together.  It's always nice to know someone's got your back.  Not all the ladies are present here in this picture and not all my friends who are equally awesome are a part of this group, but you get the picture.  Blessed...Totally blessed.  Love them!

Lauren also gets to hang out with her friends

Here she is with Caleb.  Her other friends were either hanging on their mom or playing toys somewhere :)

Girls girls girls!!!!

My best friend growing up, Gina and her husband Steve, Brian's college friend, invited us to their house along with our other college friends Heather and Doug for a get together-good food and good conversation.  A good night to catch up with one another and watch our girls reconnect and have a good time together.  Between all of us this is our brood of girls...NO BOYS...11 girls! :)  They are all so sweet!  It was such a fun night!  We always wonder why we don't do this more often...busy schedules perhaps? :)