Way to Go Dad!!

The past seven and a half years my husband has spent the late part of December and January writing a focal. A focal is basically a brag sheet of everything you have accomplished in your job over the last year! A committee of managers meet and discuss all the brag sheets and in March you see how your previous years work weighs out. These ratings help with new jobs and standings in the company i.e. promotions! Adam always holds his own every year, but I am extra proud of him this year. As he was being interviewed before the committee met his manager told him he had 5 pages of reviews or positive remarks. His manager told Adam it was the most he had ever seen or heard of! I am very proud of him and always have been. I am glad that Intel is finally catching on too :) I love ya honey, great job!! Bring it home and I will hang it on the fridge :)

From One Amelia to Another!!

Last month I was surprised to find a package in the mail from my second cousin Amelia. She is a wonderful young lady still in grade school!! She had her very own address labels which I thought was just the coolest!

She sent my little Amelia a very cute outfit and welcomed her into the Amelia club!!

Her favorite colors are pink and purple and so she chose an outfit in purple.

Today Amelia wore the outfit for the first time! She loves it as you can see!! She just wishes that her mom could take pictures that are centered!!! Thanks Amelia for thinking of our wonderful little girl. We can only hope she turns out as sweet as you :)

Spring Break

Daddy took his boys to a Cubs game on Tuesday! They sat in the grass and had a great time! Alex was able to run around and enjoy himself as Dad and Adam enjoyed the game :)

You can't go to a Cubs game without a hot dog with "Chicago Green Relish"!

We enjoyed St. Patrick's Day during our break! We had green pancakes for breakfast and corn beef and cabbage for dinner with green rice krispie treats :) We spent lunch at Game Works, the kids favorite thing to do was skeet ball...

The only way to end Spring Break...a Star Wars marathon!! Adam has really enjoyed his Wii Star Wars Legos game that he got for Christmas. On Saturday and Sunday we watched the movies and it was fun to hear him say "I know what's going to happen next!" The game truly follows the story!! Episode one was his favorite because of Jar Jar Binks.

Life Lessons...

My children are lucky enough to have a toy room. They really don't understand how truly lucky they are and how much they really have that others don't. For the past two days I have been asking all of my children to clean up the toy room. This is something that seems to send them right over the edge! Last night I offered Adam a treat if he would pick up the toy room and he said no! Tonight I asked all of the kids to work on it to earn an ice cream cone. I am sorry to report that no one got ice cream. They don't seem to care if it gets thrown away because amazingly enough toys are always coming in by ways of birthdays, holidays etc...Today I had had enough of my little ones not appreciating what they have.

After they went to bed I went to work...

As I was cleaning up everything my first idea was to put it all in the garage, the more I thought about it though...out of sight out of mind came into my mind.

I decided to stack it all on top of the toy room cabinets so that they can see them, but not play with them. This might seem simple to each of you as your reading this, but today is the first day of Spring Break. I just might loose my mind over the next few days!!

I have decided that they can earn their items back one at a time. They will have to either do a chore or a kind gesture that I think is worthy of the return of a toy. If this strategy doesn't work there will be a shelter with children in our area receiving a van full of toys!!

Adam's Field Day Fun

Adam's class played tug a war six times and both teams won three times!!

Adam and two classmates working hard to come in third during a relay.

Who doesn't love playing with a parachute!!

Their goal was to get the rubber animals to fly off of the parachute.

The classes final activity was to sit on a board with wheels and push themselves to a basket full of bean bags. They returned to their team and then another classmate would go. Adam's team got 5 bean bags!! Way to go Adam you did a great job :)

Amelia's Blessing

Amelia was such a good baby during her blessing!

She is wearing a dress made from my wedding dress that Grandma created :)

Cheese!!

Smiles!!

Family and friends truly made this day special. Grandma, Grandpa, Nanẽe , Uncle Jared, Great Grandma Greg, the Ashton Family and the Peterson Family helped celebrate and bless our little Amelia. We are very grateful to have so many love our little ones!!

Daddy's Crew

I was standing in the kitchen yesterday when Adam requested the camera. Much to my surprise he was snuggled up with his two little ladies!

When I started taking pictures of the girls with their dad the boys wanted in on the action :) This is the first picture of all five "A's" with the "J" behind the camera!!! Double click on the photos to make them larger! Amelia is rockin a great smile.

Adam's February Journal

Adam always has a great journal to read each month. I thought I would share a few favorites from this month with you!
Sorry about the light print... my scanner must not have liked his pencil :)

"President's Day is in February. We have been learning about presidents. I learned Abraham Lincoln the stacheo in the city over D.C."
Translation: President's Day is in February. We have been learning about presidents. I learned that Abraham Lincoln's statue is in the city of D.C.!

"I can make the dinos aliv because My mom sed I can triy."
Translation: I can make the dinosaurs alive because my mom said I can try!

Emiey you or ceoot because your checks or ceoot. and I woant to merey you.
luv Adam
Translation: Emily you are cute because your cheeks are cute. And I want to marry you.
Love Adam

We have been learning about Dr. Seuss this week. My favorite Dr. Seuss book is Fox in Socks it is fune.
Translation: We have been learning about Dr. Seuss this week. My favorite Dr. Seuss book is Fox in Socks it is funny.

Cute huh! Just in case you are wondering...Emily is a girl in his class :)

Addison Makes the Local Paper!

Addison's preschool class was spotlighted in the local paper last week. Addison is a part of an Inclusion Preschool program. If you would like to read the article the link is...
http://www.ahwatukee.com/sections/article/gallery/?pic=9&id=9086

Addison's 1st Day

Addison started Preschool today! She was accepted into the Kyrene School District program. Her teacher is Ms. Pat and she said Addison had a great first day. Addison went to the library and was the official door holder!

Before school Addison wanted to give hugs and kisses to Amelia and Daddy!

Dressing Up!!

Alex came up to me after church yesterday with a handful of clothes. To my surprise they were his sister's princess costumes from the dress up box in the play room!! He was adamant about wearing the Snow White dress, crown and shoes :) Once he was dressed he ran to the other room saying "I'm Pretty!" You might think that he was only in the dress for a few moments and then on to something else right...wrong! He stayed in the dress for a good two hours.

Addison noticed how much fun he was having and decided to join in the fun. She stared the day by being a butterfly. She would jump from the chair to feel the wind in her wings :)

Alex thought that would be great fun!! Have you ever seen Snow White fly??

Addison tired of the butterfly and moved onto a ballerina. Her Grandma bought her a book with positions and Addison takes it very seriously. She doesn't let me skip one of them before moving on to the next page :)

We even had a few superheros over for dinner! We asked Lil Adam if he wanted to dress up and he was very sure that dressing up wasn't for him!! Addison changed into Belle after dinner and Alex had a quick return to Snow White before PJ's were a must for bed :) I am sure that he will love these pictures as much as we have the older he gets!! I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to share them with you!