Happy Mother's Day

I love being a mom. I waited my whole life to have the privilege of being called "mom". This year I spent the day with my mom and kids at church and then Dan took the kids for the day while my mom and I played cards, watched a movie and just had fun being together. I didn't want to cook dinner so my fabulous husband took me out to dinner-
Here are some of my lovely offerings- homemade card and planter from Nathan, a beautiful heart necklace from Jason, cards, lovely tulips from my mom, note cards from my mother in love (not pictured) and a bag of recycled bottles and cans from my brother in law!! I am so blessed!

Happy 18th Birthday Ryan

Ryan's birthday isn't till Thursday, May 13th, but we celebrated today with a viewing of Iron Man 2, lunch at Panera and then back to our house for cheesecake and present opening. Ryan really wanted money for his birthday so he could get some toys and fun things (it is his birthday after all).

We can hardly believe this young man is 18 already. I have enjoyed being a part of Ryan's life for 8 1/2 years, but these other lovely people (pictured below) have known him since he was a new born baby!! They REALLY can't believe he is 18 (and taller than everyone).

Dan and His boy!!

Grandma Mary and Ryan!

Kristen, Ryan and Kim- Honorary Aunties!!

Iron Man 2

We love Iron Man in our family. We have been looking forward to the sequel since the first one ended. We even watched it last night to prepare for today's viewing.

The neat thing about it coming out this weekend is that it was just in time for Ryan's birthday (May 13). Last year we saw Star Trek and this year it was Iron Man 2. We have some friends and family join us at the viewing and then have lunch afterward.
The Gangs all here- Melissa, Steve, Mary, Dan, Kristen, Ryan, Kim, Nathan and Jason!

Jason:: Getting Ready for K!

Jason and I are working together to prepare him for Kindergarten in September. He knows most of his letters and the sounds they make, he knows shapes, colors, animals, body parts, how to get dressed, brush his teeth, etc.... Writing his name is a biggie and one that he will get a lot of practice with!
I had asked him to write just his first name and he wanted to go onto the middle and last part. Next step is working on lower case letters. I thought this was awesome- don't you?

Big Sunday

Today our church, Creekside Christian Fellowship, closed their doors. Yes, you heard me right. All over Orange County churches were closing their doors and going out into the neighborhoods to serve. There were all sorts of opportunities- weeding, picking up trash at Bolsa Chica, picking produce, handing out water to runners for the OC Marathon, collecting food for Families Forward and even organizing at their warehouse.

This was our first year participating as a family. The kids were old enough to join in and we had a great time. We were at the Albertson's down the street from our house collecting food for Families forward. We handed out a nice flier that told about FF and what items were most needed. This great organization services over 150 low income families in South Orange County. The kids did so great passing out fliers and we thankfully had a great return!!

I was especially touched by those who had used an organization like FF in the past and wanted to give back now. Today was about being the hands and feet of Christ- serving the Lord by serving others!!

Butterfly Magic

Life cycle of a Butterfly

A few weeks ago Jason found a caterpillar. Much to our surprise, it turned into a Chrysalis two days later. How were we to know that he was at that stage in his cycle? Since he was from the wild and had attached himself to the inside of a vase.

We guessed how long he would be in the Chrysalis, but it ended up being much longer. We almost gave up on him, but then he started wiggling. Again, we didn't know how long he would wiggle before he came out. Unfortunately we didn't see him get out, but he dropped out on Friday. We thought he was a goner again since he didn't move at all, but thankfully he stood up and has now begun to flutter his wings.
Here he is in a borrowed habitat- drying out!!
Here we are letting him go. Having our little friend with us these last few weeks was really special and a great learning experience for all of us.

3-2-1 Blast Off!!

Nathan- future astronaut!

Today we experienced something awesome. The Discovery Science Center sponsored a Bottle Rocket Launch at the Boeing Company's campus in Huntington Beach. We took Nathan (while Jason had a sleepover at my mom's) and it was so worth it. Since Nathan is a future scientist/ engineer, this was right up his alley.

When we arrived we checked in and were given our launch tickets. We then picked up our supplies (we brought our own 2 liter soda bottle) and headed to the building stations. This event was really well run, tons of volunteers (not enough bathrooms though). Since we had never done this- we watched what others did and then stood in line to launch it. As we were waiting our turn, we could see which rockets worked and which one didn't. You were timed on how high it went up and how long it stayed in the air before coming down. We also had to figure out how the parachute would deploy.Our first one didn't get too high, nor did the parachute deploy- it was back to the drawing board. I went and stood in line (which was really long now) while Dan and Nathan built #2. This time they made a separate capsule that wasn't attached to the bottle (with water in it). This rocket flew so high, but the parachute didn't deploy again- too bad. It did go so high (and fall so fast) that it smashed in the top-flat!!

Nathan with some cool model rockets!!