Acadamic Honors Awards

Gabi was awarded a certificate for making Honor Roll 5 out of 5 grading periods last night at their Academic Honors Awards Program at school.  So proud of this young lady!!!!
When they names were read, they were supposed to stand, face their parents and smile for a pic...my girl did just that!

4 Eggs

Counted 3 eggs yesterday in the bluebird house, 4 today.  Let's hope we have a successful brood this season!

Just Some Fishing

We wanted to do something this weekend...just the three of us - Gabi, Ben and I, so we opted ahead of time to do some fishing in the boat.  We got Gabi from her sleepover, packed a lunch and headed to Stone lake in Middlebury, where Ben's friend said the bluegill had been biting pretty good.  I have to say, there were times today when we thought we would catch us enough to keep and clean, but it slacked off.  We caught some dinkers and then we caught some bigger ones, but we didn't keep enough to bring home.  Gabi was the winner of the most fish caught, but more importantly, we had a great time as a family.  Lots of laughs and smiles and just enjoying our time together. 

Gabi's post on Instagram said it all...

Date Night

So last night Gabi had a sleepover birthday party with her friend so that left Ben and I to a "date night."  We opted for a Cracker Barrel dinner and then some fishing at the Walleye Club!!  I have been in the mood to do some fishing so we decided to check it out.  Ben caught a good size walleye and I caught a keeper crappie.  Not bad for my first time fishing this season :)



Spring Concert 2013

Gabi's Spring Concert was last night and they sang a variety of songs...two of which I knew..."Under the Boardwalk," and my favorite of the night, "Bless the Broken Road."  She looked very beautiful as always when she has to fix up for an event.  Good job, Gabi!!

And I checked today...the baby robins have left the nest.  I was hoping to be able to watch a little of this big event, but they were just too quick for me I guess. 

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!