Sweet Josie

Josie was in school today doing an assessment with one of her teachers. I say one, because there are four in her class. Anyways, they were in the hallway right outside the music room. The teacher had to run back into the classroom to grab something. Josie said while she waited she heard the music teacher playing "You are my sunshine". This is a song I have sang to Josie since she was a little baby. I remember singing it to her on maternity leave and just about any snuggle since. As the song played Josie said she whispered, "I love you mom". Sometimes she doesn't share a lot with me on what went on at school. I was delighted to hear this little moment. I could squeeze her I love her so much.

Immediately after the above, she saw I got some Valentine's cookie mix from the store. She asked me if we could make them for some people who need food. Seriously?! How'd I get so lucky.

Lastly, we've decided to do a monthly service project with the kids. The Giving Thanks Project during November was such a hit with the kids, it made me realize we should do it more often. In January we went through our toys and clothes and donated them to the Junior League's Bargain Basket. For February we spent last weekend making Valentine's for kids with cancer. Specifically the Children's Cancer Connection. Josie had a blast. The boys stopped after two cards. Josie wouldn't eat dinner till we made all 25. I am looking forward to doing more giving with the kids this year! Stay tuned... and if you have a suggestion on what we should do next, let me know!

Josie making Valentine cards for kids in the hospital. 

Disney World 2013

The kids (and Grandshe) did awesome on their first trip to Disney. I say first because I can see us easily going back... but I also don't see us going every year!

What I'll remember most as my favorite Josie moments:

• She loved that she was Grandshe's roommate. They called their hotel room their apartment.
• Josie loved all the rides we went on... unlike the boys she wasn't afraid in the dark or when a villain came out. 
• When we were parking the car Josie said something to which my mom replied, "Josie you are a worry-wart." Josie said very matter-of-factly, "I wish you'd call me Arnold." That sentence alone is funny, but it was even better when we explained to my mom that Arnold from The Magic School Bus books is constantly worrying. 
• Grandshe announced that she and kids would break all the rules when we left them in her care the last night we were there. Will yelled, "I'm breaking all the rules." Josie didn't miss a beat and said, "Well except pooping your pants. Grandshe doesn't want you to do that. 

Here are some of the pictures that best capture Josie on our Disney World Trip:

It's rare you find your kindergarten friend at Disney!

School Update

Josie is doing great in 1/2 day kindergarten. It's crazy to think that the year is more than half over! She turns in a Book-It calendar every month. This means we read to her more than 15 minutes a day. She still goes to bed with a pile of books next to her. Currently they are learning about the moon and outer space. Josie comes home with interesting facts for us. They just had their 100 day party. Each kid had to bring in 100 of something. Josie made 100 finger prints in different colors that looked like leaves falling from a tree. She has a great vocabulary for a 5 1/2 year old. We are often impressed by the words and phrases she says. There are a few words that Josie doesn't say as well. I think this is my little reminder that she is still my little girl. For example, instead of saying "finally" Josie says "Fine-it-ly".  Josie also says "mine-zz" instead of "mine". Lastly, instead of saying "inappropriate" she says "in-re-appropriate". The thing that continues to stick with Josie is caring for others. She loves her brothers. She loves to take care of people and make them special. Keep it up Jos! Love you baby girl. 

Homework time!

Not really school related, but it makes me giggle when she gets more words correct than I do while doing Beatles Rock Band and she doesn't read the words yet...

Thanksgiving feast at school

Class picture with Pilgrim hats

Making snowmen on sleds

Josie, Will, and I at her Winter Party

Christmas 2012

 Testing out our new toys!

I looked down at church and Josie was holding Will and Maeve's hands. 

Josie and Jules

Playing board games. 

Morning Shave

At Church with Rich and Bre

Merry Christmas

Pop-Pop time

Magic Show time

November 16th - 22nd of Thanks

Well our project came to an end a week early. We were on a roll too! Once we went to Omaha for Thanksgiving our giving thanks project went on vacation as well. Here's the second part of our adventure:

Day 16: What a treat! Today I was greeted by 3 cuties who decorated cards for me with their daddy. Billy got me a Starbucks gift card too (he knows the way to my heart). It was great to be on the receiving end of project give thanks.

17: Billy gave blood at our church blood drive. He took all three kids with him. I thought this was really brave of him, but the kids did great. We had a good conversation about how his blood will be used.

18: We made a huge tray of goodies and breads for our local firefighters. The kids told them, "We are thankful for you. Thanks for keeping our neighborhood safe!" 8 firefighters were beaming from ear to ear. Afterwards Billy told me "it sure is fun to see how people respond to our thankful acts." I completely agree.

19: The kids and I put together a care package for our buddies Zach Longo and his mama. Zach is only 4 years old and had to have back surgery. We filled a box full of fun things for both of them to do in the hospital, books, gift cards, slippers, etc.

20: We made cards for our soldiers. A week ago we went to the Hy-Vee by the airport over the lunch hour. The kids were in awe when they saw all the soldiers there. They each saluted these men and women in uniform and said "We are thankful for you!" We decided to re-enact this act, with cards in hand. This time around we only found 2 soldiers. You should have seen us on the hunt! Each soldier received 3 cards from 3 excited kids.

21: We thanked a cute family of bell ringers for taking time out of their day to help others. My friend Jen was ringing bells with her kids on their day off from school. We decided to bring them cards and tell them thanks.

22: Thanksgiving. Every year Grammy B puts together our whole yummy feast pretty much by herself. This year, we decided to help her out! The kids made decorations and helped me put together the green bean casserole. We had fun and the kids made sure to let their Grammy and Grandpa know we are thankful for them.

Ben, Josie, and Will treating me to a day of giving thanks!

Will, Josie, and Ben went with Dad to give blood

Josie wrote out the card to the Firefighters

Package for Zach

Greeting a soldier 

Jen and family rang bells and we gave thanks.

Putting together the Green bean casserole with Grammy. 

Half way there

This Thanksgiving we are doing a family project. We are doing acts of kindness each day of the month to show people we are thankful for them. Project: Give Thanks 2012 is half way done and so I thought I'd list what we've done so far.

1: We made cards for Children's Cancer Connection. Hopefully the kid's hospital stay was brighten by our cards, pictures, and stickers. We received a very nice card back from CCC thanking us.

2: The crossing guard up the street was our target. This is where the idea for the project was created. Each day we pass the crossing guard at the neighborhood school on our way to Josie's school. We always talk about how she protects the kids and keeps them safe. So we decorated a bag and filled it with cookies, kleenex, and hot cocoa. She was so surprised by our gift. She thanked us over and over. When she said, "but you don't even know me." Josie said, "Yes we do, we see you everyday taking care of the kids." Melted me.

3: Ring Bells for RKR. This was awesome. I've been working on the Red Kettle Run for The Salvation Army since April. It was a fun run to kick off the kettle season and bring awareness to what all The Salvation Army does in our community. The kids rang bells and cheered on the runners. Will was so adorable. Every runner he yelled, "Good Job, keep going, all the way to the clock." He really was getting into it!

4: Sunday School Teachers. We did bags with tiny flower pots in them with decorated cards. Josie walked into her class and said loud and clear, "I'm thankful for you!" to both teachers. One started to cry. This thankful stuff is easy, fun, and rewarding!

5: Doctor Beebe got a bag of fun from the Bemis kids. Homemade yummies, tissues, hand sanitizer, etc... With 3 kids we know the doctor office well... too well. We needed to tell them we appreciate all they do for us. She was thrilled.

6: All of our teachers. I say ALL because Josie has 4 teachers in her class, the boys have two, plus an awesome preschool director to boot. We gave our last bag of treats for the week but in this one we also put Junior League Gift Mart tickets in there too! I am required to buy so many tickets as a member. Last year I brought a bunch of friends with me to the event, but this year my schedule wasn't looking good. So we decided to give them all away. The boys' teachers all were excited to go!

7: Clive Librarians. We go to the library almost every week. Even when we don't have story time we find ourselves there to check out books and play with the toys. The librarians are always so sweet and the free programs they offer are awesome. The boys brought them a big vase of flowers to say thank you. I get such a kick out of them saying, "We're thankful for you!" It NEVER gets old.

8: Over 30 cards in the mail... this took some time. The kids wrote on most cards and the ones they didn't they helped stamp. It felt good to send some love to our friends and family.

9: Food Pantry donation. Will & Ben's gymnastics were doing a can good drive for the food pantry. By participating we got a free open gym pass... Winner winner chicken dinner! I read an article about the need for protein and kid friendly foods. So I let them each pick something out they like at the store then added some tuna for good measure. 10 can goods later we were set!

10: Postal Carrier. This was a shout out to our Grandshe. We gave a small box of chocolates with a card to the carrier. The boys sat by the mailbox for a good 15minutes just to make sure she got it.

11: Hospital visit. We created a very large basket of yummies for the NICU nurses at Blank Hospital. Those nurses will always have a special place in our hearts thanks for the wonderful care they gave the first 12 days of the boys lives. When each kid said why they were thankful I felt tears in my eyes.

12: Make Dad lunch. We've been working so hard to show others we are thankful for them, we didn't recognize what's right in front of us! Our number one supporter in all that each of us does! It was a simple gesture that went a long way... he used that paper bag to carry his lunch in ALL week. Proud daddy.

13: Good Friends! We made brownies for our besties. The kids all had teacher conferences within a week. The conferences never last long and seem silly to have a sitter drive all the way over here (none of our sitters live near us!) for 45minutes of watching the kids. What do you do when you need help?! Ask good friends to come to the rescue :)

14: Baby shower. A neighbor decided to have a baby shower for a girl who is young and pregnant. She doesn't have a support system and needed help with the bare necessities. We purchased an outfit, diapers, and wipes to contribute to the gifts they were putting together for this soon-to-be mom.

15: Kindness goes a long way. The boys brought flowers to the receptionist at the Chiropractor office. This mom of 3 tends to need adjustments and never gives a lot of warning on when I can come in. Amanda always gets me in right away, which is awesome. But her attitude to everyone who comes through the door is kind. It's the little things in life that are easy to take for granted. So today we thanked someone for being kind hearted.

 This was the picture we used on our Thankful cards this year. 

 Cards for CCC 

 Sunday school teachers....

All of our teacher bags - the kids were so excited for this day! 

The basket of goodies for the NICU nurses. 

Brownies for our besties.... 

30 plus cards in the mail!

Step Aside...

Here comes the professional!

We had the perfect family day Saturday. It might be the last perfect weather day this fall. I say might, because I think we've thought that a few times already this season.... hopefully we'll continue to get a few more perfect weather days.

We got up and out of the house early to get donuts. We knew we needed to seize the day. After donuts we took the kids to play putt-putt. It was a first for our family. Josie loved it and was actually pretty good. Will was enjoying it and Ben wanted more to do with... well anything else really. But we had a blast! After golf we hit the zoo.

It was a great day that was full of Josie one liners that had Billy and I in stitches. While she made her way through the putt-putt course, Josie would tell us "Watch the professional". Then she'd whack the ball and most of the time get it surprisingly close.

Josie also informed Will, in a very serious tone, that she has been looking out for him her whole life. Jos emphasizes the whole life part... like she's been around for more than five years.

Last night, we had Josie's first teacher conference in half day kindergarten. I'm pretty sure we didn't stop grinning for a long time. Josie got rave reviews. While she is doing great in school the thing that made me the happiest was when we were told that Josie makes sure to include other kids. There are a few special need kids in the class and the teacher told us that Josie is a great buddy. That's a skill I hope she keeps for life.

 Josie and Billy at the Zoo. 

 Will getting some Josie love. 

 Putt-Putt Time! Ben, Josie, and Will. 

Breakfast singing....