Anna's First Communion

Can't believe our little girl had her very First Communion!!  It was a special night, the Thursday before Easter Sunday--which we found out why they chose that evening and it was because that is when Jesus had his last supper. We were glad to have our family and good friends the Hochhalter's there :)  Grandma RuthAnn made her a special cake.  Anna also recieved many nice gifts, one very special gift being a cross necklace that was her great, great, great Grandmother Anna's :)  We didn't even know they shared a name  until after Anna was already born.

Friends are fun...no matter your age

The older we get we are finding out that our kids have a bigger and better social life then we do :)  It's not uncommon most weekends that we are either driving Zach to a birthday party sleep over, picking up Anna from Volleyball and then taking her to grab a friend so they can both go to a sleepover, etc, etc!  Even Addy has started asking when she can have friends over to spend the night....

We are so blessed in Bismarck to have friends in Bismarck who are, like us, ready to be over the bar hoping, late night parting, feeling like garbage the whole next day scenrio!  Now, don't get me wrong, we still love our ladies nights and the occasional trip to the OK ;)  But we also have just as much fun being at home and sipping on a drink or two or none in our homes while our kids enjoy each other and someone elses 'new' toys!!  When we are all together and can make it, there are 5 couples and 9 kiddos :)

Enter Super Club...

Growing up, I can always remember my parents having a once a month supper and game playing nights with their friends!  They would take turns bringing a potato, salad, desert, meat, drinks...they even had a snazzy chart :)  So last year we decided to start our own!  We each take turns hosting and bringing a meal, side dishes, desert, and we LOVE LOVE LOVE a good theme! 

So our last adventure was over in Lincoln and Danielle, Josh, and Coen hosted a 'Minute to Win It Theme'...the kids and adults both had a ball!!!  Best of all, she had some amazing prizes to give away at the end--sorry I don't have a picture of the fleece out of the shower man wrap :)

GAME ONE...Can you get 6 dice to balance on a tongue depressor?

GAME TWO...

Can you put a cut up cereal box back together(like a puzzle) in less then a minute?

Game THREE....

Is it possible to stack three golf balls on top of each other??  We almost all got at least two, but three is tricky!!!



Game FOUR...

Using nylons and a ball shoved in them, you had to swing your hips--no hands and move the ball on the floor with the ball in your nylons and knock over the cups at the end of the living room...this one was HILARIOUS!!!!

And FINALLY....

Can you get 5 Cheerios on your uncooked spaghetti noodle in 1 minute?  GO!

There were two games I didn't get pictures of, one of which you had to rub Vaseline all over your face and then get cotton balls to stick to your face, run across the room and get the cotton balls into your cup!!  The other was putting an Oreo on your forehead and trying to get it into your mouth without using your hands :)

Get Your Green on Tradition!!

Today is an exciting day, it's the YMCA Zumbathon!!  For those of you who don't know much about it, it's a fantastic, well organized event that helps both the YMCA with their youth programs (such as providing free swimming lessons for some of the 2nd graders in Bismarck/Mandan) and  St.Baldricks, an organization that helps provide money for children's cancer research--so overall GOOD GOOD STUFF!!  Plus for $15 we get to dress up, get a great 2 hour workout in AND a t-shirt this year!!  Yahooo!
The article in Ladies Home Journal shows just what a good time for a great cause it really is:

Last Years Go Green Event!!  March 2012

This year when I found out that we would have such a large group of my favorite ladies who were going to join in the Zumba fun--we decided to get a little more creative with our outfits!  Lucky for us, Sara is Macgyver when it comes to being crafty!  So Tara scored us all .97 tanks at Old Navy and Sara went to work!!



The fronts



And the backs :)



Team Go Bald or Go Home!!!  Love these ladies!!!!



A few of the crew made it to Paradiso for a celebritory drink afterwards....they said they raised around $3,200 at this years event!!  AMAZING!!  See you all next year!!! 

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

Today we started the day with Anna's first Volleyball match at her school vs. the Saints @ 8:30, they ended up playing 7 matches(6 to 25 and the last one only to 15) and won 6 out of 7 matches!!!  Anna is going to have a killer serve and was also great at returning the ball to several serves from the other team!!  This Mom was so super proud and FINALLY a sport I can relate too!  I played vball from jr high on, never a star athlete, but I did enjoy playing :)  It was fun to reminisce with her today after her game and tell her of some of our fun chants and rituals we used to do back in the day....my favorite being our ever popular:

"Bump, set, spike win, who can we can, set it, spike it, that's the way we like it, BOOM shaka laka laka UGH! "

or

"Bump it up, set it up, just don't 'mess' it up---TOGETHER" (that was the G rated version)



Go Anna Go!



After Anna's game we grabbed Gma Alyce and headed out for a girls day!  We went to Bead Chicks and made our own creations!  It was very reasonably priced and we had a lot of fun!!



Picking out the perfect beads is a tough decision!!!





Mom wore a 'bib' for the picture, so you could see her new design :)



After our jewelry making, we headed to the Rocking 50's for lunch!  The girls wanted milk shakes, and they were amazing!!

We then had an hour to kill before our pedis, so we headed down to the mall to kill an hour looking for anything we could use Mom's coupon on at Herberger's...we joke about this often, they have killer deals and coupons...if you can find the 3 items in the store you can use them on ;)  Mom got a swanky new purple jacket--it looked great!

Then we were off to get our nails did!  Fun fact---this is Mom's first pedicure in a nail salon and she figured it has been several years since her cute tootsies were even painted!  So it was as much of a treat for us to watch her have it done as it was for her to experience it :)  I tried to talk her into getting a flowery design on them...but she thought maybe next time! 

                                                  

TOE NAIL POLISH....CHECK!



Ready to be pampered.....



TA DA!!!  The finished product :)

It was a great day full of fun memory making---we must do it again soon!



Sick of Sickness

This winter has proven to be a doozy for our family when it comes to being under the weather!!  Looking back, I don't think we have had a cold/flu season this bad in our house since I worked at Head Start for that year!!

Addy by far has had it the worst--I think she has had some form of a tummy flu 3-4 times this winter!  Sometimes she has been kind enough to share it and it passed through all of us, or just Anna and Zach, and then other times it hits only her!?  This last one was the worst--she had the stomach flu last Wednesday (30th) and she started out fine...all my dc kids got here and she randomly threw up!?  Not a big deal I thought, maybe just something she ate...OH NO...she puked every 30 minutes from then until 9:30 that night. I ended up closing early that day when two of my dc kids also got sick!!  I had my turn  that night at about 8 and by the next evening Josh, Anna, and Zach all had it.  It seemed like a fairly quick bug though and by Friday night everyone was fine!  We went to Rick and Tara's for a fun Super Bowl party and then Zach ended up getting sick again that night---I thought it was from eating wayyyyyy to much junk, but then when I heard that others from their party got sick as well---I just felt horrible :(
So exactly a week to the day from her being so sick....she gets it again!!!  This Wednesday(6th) it started at midnight and she didn't stop dry heaving until 4pm on Thursday when we finally got some anti-nausea meds for her!  Poor Adders :(  There is nothing worse then seeing your little one so miserable and knowing there is really nothing you can do for them!
Not only is it hard on her little system that is trying to fight this junk away...but it's also hard on the family!  I HATE having to call daycare families and tell them I have to be closed :(  It's the worst feeling ever to know that you are closed when they are depending on you to watch their little ones!  I also hate having to depend on others to do what needs to get done!  THANK GOODNESS Grandma Alyce has moved to town to help grab Anna and Zach from school or run and pick up some meds for Adders----I honestly don't remember how we functioned before they moved to town :)



You know she's not feeling well when she voluntarily naps :(



One perk of being sick is getting to eat in Mom and Dad's bed...

 With that being said, I think Addy is on the mend this morning, for the first time since Wednesday she is up and playing a little with Zach...ok, she is watching him play the Wii, but it's better then laying on the couch or sitting on the pot!!! 



 In other news, Anna is just finishing up her basketball at the YMCA--she has really came along way from when they started last fall!  She did her first round through the Bis Parks and Recs & they played at the schools, now this one is with a different team and they practice Tues nights from 7-8 @ the YMCA and have games Saturday mornings @ 10!  She also just started Volleyball!!!  Finally a sport I can relate to ;)  She has practice for VB(this one again is through Parks and Recs at her school) M, T, TH from 3:30-4:30.

I know every family has their own level of craziness and I know as our kids get older, it's only going to get worse before it's finally over and then I will whine about how much I miss it....but here is a look at the Jeffers typical week:

Monday: Anna has violin @ 7:30am before school, Addy has preschool from 12:30-3:15, Anna has volleyball @ 3:30 Zach (and somtimes Anna) do the evening running class at the YMCA and I have trainer from 6:30-7:30pm
Tuesday: Tuesdays aren't as bad, Anna has VB @ 3:30 and I do YMCA bootcamp from 5:45-6:45pm, then I come home and grab Anna as she has Bball practice from 7-8pm
Wednesday: Sara and I meet Nicole to train at the YMCA at 5:15am, Anna has violin @ 7:30, Addy has preschool from 12:30-3:15 and Addy has gymnastics frm 7-8pm
Thursday: Addy has preschool from 12:30-3:15, Anna has VB after school and I have bootcamp @ 5:45
Friday: Ahhhh....we love FRIDAYS!! 
Saturday: Anna has had basketball games and I TRY to get grocery shopping done for the following week
Sunday: Sunday school is at 9:30 w/ church to follow!

Zach isn't on the schedule much right now...he's thinking he would like to give wrestling a shot again, he tried it last year and wasn't too sure as the poor guy has to take off his glasses while he does it, so I'm sure all he sees is a big blur coming in his general direction! 

Busy weeks, but I'm sure very typical for most families!  We also have a craft club that meets once a month and a supper club that meets once a month!! :)

Happy 5th Birthday Addyson Grace!

I can't believe that our little Miss Sassy is the big 5 and in a few months I will be the Mom bawling as I drop her off for the big K!!!  It seems like time has flown with her since she has been a baby---never ever does a day go by that she doesn't do something that I either bust out laughing at or one of us is shaking our head!  She definately keeps us on our toes, but we can't imagine her any other way :)

This year Addy chose a Hello Kitty theme--and boy oh boy did we have fun shopping for this party!  Hello Kitty is EVERYWHERE!!!!

Since Addy started preschool at Merry Go Round this year, she had an actual school friend party--I still think that nine 4-5 year olds are a lot less noisy then Anna and her group of giggling 11 year olds ;)  They were a great group of little girlies....we set up a 'tatoo station' and Anna gave everyone a shimmer tatoo!!

We played pin the bow on the Hello Kitty!  And no party is complete without a litte kids bop and DANCING!

Before we knew it, it was time to have cake and ice cream then open gifts!!

On Sunday, we went to Sunday School and church and then out to lunch with Gma RuthAnn and Papa Leon, Gma Alyce and Papa Ralph, Paul, Julie and Casey--then it was back to the house for our family/friend Addy-palosa part 2!  I didn't get a chance to snap many pictures of this event, but you had another full house of people coming to help you celebrate!!  You got SOOOO many amazing Hello Kitty gifts and lots of Lego Friends--your new favorite right now!!



Your amazing Hello Kitty cake Gma RuthAnn made you

Monday, on your actual birthday, we had a daycare celebration here at home and then took you out to eat at Space Aliens(your choice) for supper!  It was quite the three day birthday bash!!  Happy Birthday Addy---we love you :)

See you 2012...Hello 2013!!!!!

I have come to the conclusion that we really do have the best friends any couple could ask for...how many children/adults can you shove into a duplex on New Year's Eve and still have the best time ever???

The answer is A LOT...I think we had 15 adults and 8 kiddos there at one point during the evening!  It was a fun night filled with WAY too much food and drink, lots of games and laughs and some sore throats due to a mean game of PIT!  Thanks guys for the fun night :)