JUMP!

today we had a really fun opportunity ...

drew, ben, alex, and i ...



along with jen, brennan, brooks, and blake ...

were invited to skyzone
to be part of a shoot for a commercial

we figured it would be a fun opportunity for the boys
so we pulled them from school
and
we jumped for 3 hours straight ...



our 3 hours ended up including a LOT of bouncing ...

some dodgeball ...

some volleyball for the 'big people'
which was SO much fun ...

lots of rockin' out ...



some basketball practice ...

a mini skyaerobics class ...

lots of flipping ...

AND ...
a lot of time spent wondering
how in the WORLD some people
can do the things they can do!

and these pictures don't even do it justice!
i watch and am just completely amazed.

i am so anxious to see how they use all of the footage they got!

and even if we don't end up in any of it ...
it was a VERY fun way to spend the afternoon

the boys loved having the chance to play hooky ...
i loved getting to spend the afternoon jumping with them ...
and
i know for a fact we will ALL sleep well tonight!

just a taste

we may have 3 boys ...
but sometimes the opportunities arise
that give us a look into life with girls ...



on saturday stacey got that look -
literally ;)

AND ...
not only did he get HIS nails done ...



YEP ...
he did emma's nails as well!

even going so far as to add the finishing nail art pen touches ...



nice job, stacey!
i'm quite impressed.
should computers fail you ...
daisy nails may just be your calling ;)

heaven is for real

for today's picture over on my 365 blog i took a picture of a book that has been sitting on my desk ...



i actually read it at Christmas
but it's still been sitting on my desk -
partially because i enjoyed it so much i hate to put it away
but also because i want to share it
i just haven't let myself give it away yet ;)

if you are looking for a quick read
i HIGHLY recommend it.

a basic overview is ...
it's a story of a 4 yr old boy that had an emergency apendectomy -
he came close to dying - but didn't.
a few months after his surgery he started telling his parents
with amazing detail
about things that took them completely off guard.
he started talking about heaven in very descriptive ways
and he started talking about people/things that he never would have known
had he not really visited there.

now ...
in all honesty i am the biggest skeptic when it comes to stuff like this.
but ...
as i read it i was really amazed.

the book references him meeting his sister that died in his mom's tummy
(this is one of the things that amazed his parents
as they had never told him about her)
and it also talks about meeting his great grandpa 'pop' -
a young version -
who had died long before colton was ever born.

i loved how it made me think about heaven.
thinking about my grandparents in heaven in young, functioning 'bodies' ...
thinking about the babies we have lost ...
thinking about all of the things that someday we will be able to experience!

i didn't want to put the book down
and everyone else that i know who has read it has had the same experience.

if you have a few hours free ...
and you can find the book - it's been selling out often
read it ...
and then let me know what you think!
i promise you won't regret it ;)

and if you can't find it ... and you ask nice enough ...
i might even let you borrow mine ;)

an intense challenge

this afternoon we went back to skyzone

the guy who runs it was putting on a special boot camp class
for 6 trainers
and invited us to be a part of it

of course we were up for the challenge!



he threatened to work us so hard we would throw up
and he came VERY close

it was a very intense workout
and i don't know that i really enjoyed a lot of it ;)
i hate push ups.
if i wanted to do push ups
and be good at push ups
i would do push ups at the y.
BUT ...
i don't ;)
so that meant a lot of this boot camp was not my thing ;)

BUT ...
it was still a fun challenge
and
any parts that involved jumping ...
you can bet i still LOVED those!



i love this place!

i've decided the single trampoline in my backyard is no longer THAT fun
because it's hard to compete with 48 of them all together



and i've also decided i need to start shutting my mouth when i know someone is taking my picture ;)

a rare treasure

before i start i have just a bit of background ...

my grandpa (my mom's dad) was 1 of 4 brothers.

the oldest of these brothers, frank, outlived the rest,

but passed away a year and a half ago at the age of 96.

now, just about 2 weeks ago,

his wife joined him in heaven -

living to the age of 95.

in honor of them,

a really nice article was written in the local paper

and as i read it i got to thinking ...

how many people do you know that stay married for 71 YEARS??

SEVENTY ONE YEARS OF MARRIAGE!!!

can you even imagine?!

that is amazing!

and so rare!

just over 3 years ago they sat down to talk about what it was like to be married for 70 years -

and what has carried them through.

and although i love this line ...

'when asked the secret to their longevity frank replied -

when we first got married we agreed that polly would make all the minor decisions

and i would make the major decisions. so far we haven't had any major decision to make'

:)

their main emphasis ...

a love that was built on their faith in God.

it really made me think.

do we have what it takes to make it to 71 years?

i hope so.

i hope we're 90 years old

and still goin' strong!

i hope we're walking hand in hand -

wrinkles and all ;)

with a whole bunch of little kids running around us -

that we can send home when we've had enough ;)

it seems a long way off ...

but we might as well start working towards it now ...

right?!

although ...

i'm gonna change it up a bit.

i think i'll put stacey in charge of all minor decisions ;)

and i'll just go ahead and handle anything major :)

just sayin.

where in the world ...

drew was SO excited for today to get here
because
today was the geography bee!!

he was one of 10 fourth and fifth graders
from their school that was in the final bee
yet he didn't seem to have an anxious nerve in his body.



that doesn't mean i didn't though!!
the questions were SO hard :)
for the first round 9 out of 10 kids missed their question
and i'm pretty sure out of the 10 i MAYBE would have GUESSED 3 or 4 right.



BUT ...
drew hung in there and made it to round 5



at which point he and 2 other contestants were eliminated -
meaning he tied for 3rd.

he did a great job.
he was proud of himself.
i was SUPER proud of him.
AND
the best part ...
his 4th grade classmate/friend won the entire thing.

yeah for 4th graders!!

and as a funny side note ...
the librarian running the geography bee knew that drew was a packers fan ...
she also loves the packers ...
and knows that drew's teacher is a bears fan ...

SO ...
she created this special geograpy question ...
for drew to give to his teacher :)



poor guy
seems like no matter where he turned he caught some slack today ;)
YET ..
he was still wearing bears colors when i saw him
way to stand proud, mr. g!!
someday the bears will take you to a superbowl ...
maybe.

the best of the best

the best player of the game ...



bj raji
his play rocked
his dance rocked
all 300 lbs of him deserved MVP ;)

: : :

the best at home addition to the game ...
a key lime pie martini with a friend
nothing says GO PACKERS like a cold green drink!
thanks for sharing, tammy! :)

the ice cold beer was also a hit



however next time we'll go a bit lighter on the ice ;)

: : :

the best fan ...



picture speaks for itself

: : :

AND FINALLY ...
the VERY best of the best
the ending ...
the best part of the day ...



THE PACKERS ARE GOING TO THE SUPERBOWL!!!!!!!

which means tomorrow i will be saying a prayer for drew's teacher
who is a HUGE bears fan ...
i imagine his day will not be a quiet one ;)

not holding back

just yesterday ben was at the doctor
AND
ended up missing school because of strep

BUT ...
today was a much different story...
no little strep bug was going to hold him back!
thankfully it had been 24 hours and he was 'cleared' to play



he was even more excited
when he found out today was his day to play his buddy gavin (#24)

in the end we ended up losing by 3 points
BUT it was an exciting day for ben!
the team we played got called for quite a few fouls
and they all seemed to be on ben :)

he was on the line THREE separate times!!

and once was even for a TECHNICAL!!

nice job, ben!!

i don't know basketball all that well ...
but you must be doing something right ;)

me and my gang

last night i got to go to a rascal flatts concert



along with 3 friends -
jen, beckie, and jen



luke bryan opened for them.
i knew his name ...
and know that i saw him interviewed somewhere
but didn't realize how many of his songs i knew
until i heard him

he played for a good chunk of time -
BUT ...
thankfully left plenty of time for the REAL fun ;)

now ...
i hear rascal flatts always puts on a good concert.
but last nite ...
even better.

this year they are celebrating 10 years of rascal flatts
SO ...
they were recording for an ABC special that will be airing in march.
we got a run through of all the oldies and goodies



mayberry ...

God bless the broken road ...

me and my gang ...

and even one of the newbies ...
easy
with a surprise appearance by none other than ...
miss natasha bedingfield!!

it was SO amazing!!

i walked away wishing stacey would have been there ...

wishing that i knew how to play the violin ...

as in ... knew how to ROCK with a violin ;)

AND ...
SO excited for the next time i can see them!!

if you ever get the chance ...
GO SEE THEM ...
it is worth EVERY penny!!

watch for us in march!! ;)

BOING!

a new trampoline place opened in the cities.



as soon as beckie, jen, and i found out that they had an aerobics class ...
we were all over it!

today was our first day to try out 'skyrobics'

we got on our special 'sky shoes' - HA!



aren't they cute;)
couldn't they have at least done some cute pink ones for the ladies?
the dark blue wrestler look just did not do it for me ;)

BUT ...
i moved past how ugly my feet looked
and got right into why we were there ...

TO JUMP!!

we started with some simple stretches and exercises using our own trampline

added in some galloping/jumping up and down the entire court

and spent some time 'running/climbing' up and down the trampoline walls
just like a super hero;)

of course we ended our workout with a little bit of freetime fun
which is when all of these pictures were taken because i was WAY too busy working out to take pictures of it all ;)



it was SO amazing.
my body was completely fatigued, yet i had endless amounts of energy
so much in fact that we still went to latin hip hop tonight!

AND ...
i cannot wait to go back!!
who's in?!