Granger Fun Run Demo

Gabi's first demo with ICE (Indiana Cheer Elite) was this morning at the Granger Fun Run in Granger.  They wanted the team members to come and demo their tumbling, stunting and dance skills that they have begun practicing.  Maw Maw and Paw Paw even came to support their Gabi :)
Looking good for only one week of practice...and not gonna lie, love the shirts!  You can just tell Gabi is in her element by the smile she wears.  So in love with competitive cheer right now.

The girls later cheered on the runners and walkers in the one mile event and 5k.  They were such cuties!!

  

Birds and Flowers

Two things in nature that really make me happy...birds and flowers.  Namely baby birds and watching new life come to be, Blue birds, Robins and I love my hummingbirds who always come back (mine came back on Ben's birthday this year).  And I love my flowers.  Oh I am so excited for summer.

So very glad to see we had a successful brood of robins in our front tree this year.  Last year, the babies all died :(

And extra excited to see this couple of bluebirds working on their nest the past couple of days.

Did you know that the male bluebird is the most colorful of the pair.  And he shows the female several different possible homes by going in and out of the bird house and flapping his wings.  The female is the one who decides on the home and can actually begin building a nest in several different homes before she decides which one she would like to lay her eggs in and raise her next family....all very interesting!!!  Much like us humans I guess.

Mother's Day

So my husband decided to force me into Verizon Wireless Friday night after dinner to get me a Mother's Day gift.  I begged him several times to not worry about a new phone, but he knew that I was up for an upgrade and my phone had pretty much seen it's better days.  I tried all excuses, including I wasn't his mother so he didn't need to get me a gift, but his comeback was, you have had my children...you deserve this.  Sooooo, still feeling guilty, I got the iPhone 5.  A gift from all of my kids, Ben said.  Aaaaand, I have to admit, this phone is alot of fun.  Especially with the social media aspect.  Gabi said I went a little nuts on the selfies, but it was fun to play.

 Trenton helped me out a bit with my first one for Instagram :)...

Me and my mom on Mother's Day :)

Had to get grandma Jones in on one for Mother's Day too!

I am certainly impressed with my iPhone's camera!!!
I was especially excited that Trenton was able to make it home for Mother's Day.  He got in later on Saturday night and is staying til Monday.  A nice treat for him to be able to come to church and attend Mother's Day festivities with us!!!

Gabi made me breakfast in bed this morning before I got up!!  She is so sweet!  Whole wheat pancakes, sausage, fruit salad, coffee and milk for me!!  She also made a cute little instagram pic that she posted...

 

I really enjoyed the sermon at church this morning...on peace and trying to find peace in our lives.  Next up was of course, lunch with my mom's side of the family at their house.  She is always so gracious to have it every year.  I just can't say enough about my mom...the most selfless person you will ever meet.  Always willing to help anyone when they need it.  So giving and loving.  Supportive of our family in everything we do.  Everything.  I am completely honored to call her MY mom. 

I snuck in a little facetime also with Tyler.  Really missed that boy today.  Very lucky to have Trenton home, but I could feel the void with Tyler not here.  I was very lucky to have spent last weekend with both boys.

We couldn't forget mom R on this day, so we picked up 5 yellow roses from each of us to lay at her gravesite.  She was such a good mom.  So thankful that she was a part of my life and for the time I had with her.
All in all, a great day.  I truly felt loved and appreciated today, but most importantly, I truly felt the blessing of God's greatest gift he gave me - to be the mom of these kids!!!

Ice Avalanche

Gabi found out last night around 9:30 pm that she made the Senior Co Ed Level 3 team called Ice Avalanche!!!  She is beyond excited to start up in competitive cheer!  We are excited for her!!!  More details to come I am sure!!!  Congrats baby girl!!!

Crappie

Ben and his brother went out fishing on Tuesday evening and caught some pretty good Crappies that they were super proud of!

Also got my garden in last weekend, along with my flowers planted (more pics to come in future posts I am sure)...planted some basil, cauliflower, broccoli, green peppers, tomatoes, strawberries (came back from last year), lettuce, cucumber and squash.  Hopefully my veggies will get better and better each year!!!

And look what I found today while momma bird was off the nest!!!  I figured those eggs had to be hatched by now!  Welcome Spring!!

In other news...week one of Insanity is down.  Yep, Shawn T has inspired me and I borrowed the discs from my brother and decided I was gonna try it.  I am hooked.  Because of my foot being so iffy anymore, I am just not sure about running and running was pretty much the only type of exercise I liked because I felt like I was actually accomplishing something.  With Insanity...I feel the same way.  It is getting rougher so I am hoping I can stick with it.  My goal was to get my BP down and I have been successful in just a week.  With the Advocare Cleanse and a good exercise regimen I am on my way!  My BP was 150's over upper 90's when I started.  Now it is averaging 130's over 80's.  Not bad. 
Gabi tried out for ICE (Indiana Cheer Elite) this past week also and we are still waiting to hear what team she made.  She is super duper excited.  She has decided that competitive cheer is her passion.  I'm sure there will be more to post on that as well.  Life is good right now.  Missing my boys with Mother's Day around the corner and was a little down on Friday (a year since Dad R went home), but other than that...things are good.  Not liking this cold spell today and tomorrow (high in the 50's) but the forecast shows better weather ahead.  Again, Happy Spring!

Lordy, Lordy, Look Who's 40!

So glad we had everyone home for Ben's 40th birthday.  Honesly, I don't think 40 is looking too bad!! ;)

It was sad to see the boys have to go back...Tyler back to IU for a summer class and working at Target and Trenton back to North Central to finish his trimester.  Looks like he will be staying in Naperville for the summer also to try and take a class and also work.  Busy boys.  It was so nice to have them home.  I'm already missing them both!

Honkers

Ben wanted a Polish buffet for dinner for his birthday and he also wanted a low key party with only close family...so, he decided on Honkers for dinner.  You can't beat the $9.95 all you can eat Polish Buffet!  They were kind enough to let us have a room to ourselves so we were able to talk and celebrate Ben's 40 years! 

Thanks to everyone who came to Honkers to help celebrate!  I know Ben really appreciated the love!

Fishing

Ben, Dave, Trenton and Tyler headed out to the "big lake," or so they call it, this morning.  I loved Tyler's tweet he posted because it pretty much summed up the day...

"Didn't catch as many fish as we hoped but all that matters was being with family doing something we love @tkreinoehl #fishermen"

And Trenton did some tweeting also...

"Missed you today Grandpa pic.twitter.com/4WKUgJc5Hu"

Boys

So glad my boys made it home this weekend to do a little fishing with their daddy and uncle Dave and to help us celebrate Ben's 40th birthday.  It definitely made Ben's heart (and everyone else's) smile!  Tyler was extra excited because he is actually getting his "new" old car!!!  We have made good on our promise because Tyler made good on his.  I love it when that works out!!! 

 And I love having five places for dinner!

 Maizy was way too excited to play some ball with her pal again!

 So glad to have them home for the weekend.

Signs of Spring!

Apartheid - The Sharpeville Massacre

I for one have never heard of the Sharpeville Massacre...until Gabi and Madison showed us their National History Day Project that won first place at St. Mary's this school year.  A trip to Indianapolis today to show this project at the state level was in order.  Unfortunately, the girls did not place in the top two out of eleven total (to qualify for Nationals) but they received all good marks from their judges.  I must say I was quite impressed with their final project today...



I was very proud of these two!!! 

Slumber

I have been in a rut lately since getting home from Puerto Vallarta.  Maybe it's because we have just seen such little sunshine lately.  The rain and cloudy skies has been somewhat overwhelming.  I am so glad I was able to take Maizy on a walk today on my 3 mile route I used to run.  I felt like I was reconnecting somehow to life.  The sun is shining, people are mowing their yards, it's warmer (60 some degrees) and just somehow finally feels like it is going to turn a corner.  SO GLAD.  I am so ready for camping, planting my garden and flowers, sitting outside, barbecuing, fires outside, and believe it or not, yardwork.  Yep, I am ready to be OUTSIDE.  I started to think about our trip to Puerto Vallarta as I went on a walk and all the notables I don't want to forget...
***Our 1 hour massage on the beach in a tent next to the ocean (Bay Breze)
***Watching Gabi play volleyball with her daddy on the beach
***Seeing dolphins and a whale in their element in the wild
***Walking along the ocean looking for seashells, smelling the salty warm air, taking it all in
***Seeing old Puerto Vallarta city
***Our Outdoor Adventure...ziplining and rappelling
***Our walk to Mega for some aloe vera for our sunburns we acquired the first day
***The look of pure bliss on Gabi's face walking into the hotel's lobby
***Relaxing poolside not knowing what time it was EVER
***Our dinners each night together
***Hearing the ocean outside each morning as we contemplated our biggest question while there...which bathing suit to wear
I already want to go back!!!
We have been keeping somewhat busy though, through all the dreary weather.  Ben brought home the boat to be cleaned up and ready for Spring fishing so that forced him to clean up our garage and put all our Spring furniture out.  Finally purchased a new grill.  Found a car for Tyler ('99 Saturn) to use and made good on our word - a car the summer before his junior year.  So, we have been busy trying to get that in good condition for him when he comes home to get it.  Gabi has been busy with her National History Day project documentary...getting it ready for presentation this weekend in Indianapolis.  She has also been busy on her trampoline that daddy finally put up.  Every dry moment she has been home she has been on that thing.  Literally.  She in convinced that she is ready to be a part of something bigger in the cheerleading world.  Competition.  So we are exploring that.  Closely.  It's exciting and we have seen that this is truly Gabi's niche.  I'm sure there will be much more to come on that. 
And, I have completed some Pinterest projects as of lately.  I can honestly say I love Pinterest.  So MANY cool projects.  And the recipes.  What did we ever do without internet???? LOL

And Instagram...LOVE Instagram.  Found a bunch of pics the other day of our complete family around the same age to compare who looks like who and had to post it on Instagram...

Yep, I am slowly coming back to life...after this yucky slumber I have been in.  Spring is finally here I believe.