janae – Page 6 – Terry Family Shenanigans

Girl Scout Day Camp

Allison went to her second year of day camp this summer. Her arm was freshly broken and still pretty tender but she decided she felt good enough to go every other day. She loves her leader and her best friend Hailey was in her Unit so she had a pretty fun time. We were able to get a cast cover for her so she could not completely swim but still participate and cool off a little in the swim activities. She grumbled about it a little but overall she had a fun time.

Emilee went for the first time this year. Per her usual she was a nervous nelly and not to excited about going somewhere new without me. Jovee signed up with her though which was a big help, and there were several other girls in her group she new from school or gymnastics as well. It was also a huge perk that they got to ride on a bus to and from camp everyday and go swimming. She loved it. She was exhausted but loved it. Her and Jovee were really into SWAPs (Share With A Pal). They are little trinkets that each girl makes a bunch of before camp and then during camp they trade and swap them to pin on their hats, by the end of the week they have a hat full of different trinkets from camp.

I asked Allison if she wanted me to come and be a helper during the week for her Unit. She thought about it for two seconds and said no. I did not ask Emilee because I knew she would say yes and want me there all week and she needs to work on her independence. I also didn’t really want to go to camp. A few weeks before camp I got a call saying Emilee’s unit needed a helper on Thursday. I decided to do it and spent one day at camp with Emilee. We saw Allison once, when we waved she pretended to not know us. We had a pretty fun time. Jovee and Emilee insisted I sit in the middle of their bus seat instead of the empty seat next to them so i wouldn’t be lonely. Sweet thought, I agree. Not the most comfortable though. We spent the ride singing camp songs, talking about what we were doing that day and they shared all the details of their SWAPs and how they traded for them with me. We did opening flag ceremony and went to a science lab station about density. The girls had a great time. Then we made volcanoes out of lemons and baking soda. Then it was their cookout day, so we cooked hot dogs and smores over the fire. Then it was scavenger hunt/hiking time. I think I have mentioned this before but Emilee is the least ‘outdoorsy’ of our family. None of us are very outdoorsy to be honest. We like the comforts of modern amenities but we like going on hikes and enjoying the outdoors on occasion. Emilee does not. About 15 minutes into our hour hike (which was maybe a mile and a half round trip just VERY slow going) she decided to start the whining and asking me to carry her, or her stuff, or just sit down and be done completely. It took a lot of coaxing, begging, dragging, and threatening to get her to finish but she took every step on her own. At several points she did just sit down and refuse to walk any farther. Luckily we were hiking with 8 other kindergartners so it was slow going enough and they took enough breaks that we weren’t to far behind when she finally flopped the last little way back to camp and I was muttering to myself this is exactly why I didn’t want to do this in the first place. Her leader confirmed with me later that she didn’t have any other issues the rest of the week when I was not there keeping up or cooperating with what they were doing. Oh well, we finished our day up with a painting craft and closing flag ceremony and all three of us shared a seat on the way home again (I did insist on taking the outside seat though). We fell asleep as soon as the bus pulled out of the parking area to head home.

Happy Day Campers after their first day.
My day at camp with the girls. Bus ride to camp. We sang LOTS of fun camp songs
This is where we found our last clue on our scavenger hunt hike.
Some of Jovee’s SWAPs. Her dad helped us out and 3D printed a bunch of SWAPs for Allison and Emilee.
Eating our fire cooked hot dogs.
Working on our density science project.
End of the day. Dirty, tired but happy, and ready to head home.
This little power nap on the way home is why they arrived at home with just as much energy as when they left that morning.

May-cember

The new trendy word this year I have been hearing a lot is May-cember. Meaning that May is crazy busy and packed full of end of the school year stuff and it feels like December because so much is going on. It is true, its a busy month. I find the word a little obnoxious though. I feel like it will perpetuate the craziness and people will start making things bigger and more elaborate to live up to the word. I am a little grumpy and cynical today though so maybe it’s just my negative attitude. We have had plenty going on this month though. I have put some of it in other posts but there are a few things I think are worth mentioning that I haven’t yet.

Ryan and I celebrated our 17th anniversary. Wow. It seems like forever and 5 minutes at the same time. The kids spent the night at their cousins and Ryan and I went downtown and stayed at a fancy hotel in the Power and Light District. We ate at a fancy steak house, and walked around afterwards for a bit. We found a place called Insomnia Cookie. They had giant delicious cookies that were served warm and they were open and delivered until 3AM. AAAhhh! I have never met a cookie I didn’t like so I tried a few. They were YUMMY! It was a fun little find but probably good that they are far enough away from my house that I can’t just pop in whenever I have a cookie craving.

Saw this at the Insomnia Cookie place, that would make your day better for sure!

The last time we had family pictures taken was four years ago. I have never gone that long between pictures but I really love the ones we have up now. I have been saying every Spring and Fall for the past two years that we needed to get new ones so I finally made myself make an appointment. Part of the reason I was postponing was because I was going to ‘lose 10 pounds first’ but mostly because it is a lot of work to get clean, coordinating outfits that fit everyone and haircuts, schedules, and the weather to all cooperate. It finally got done though. Instead of losing 10 pounds I gained 10 more, we had to reschedule once for rain, and Allison got a giant purple popsicle stain on her yellow shirt hid from me until we got there because she wasn’t supposed to eat it in the first place, but thanks to photo shop, we still got them done. I haven’t seen them yet, I am anxious for them to come!

Girls fell asleep after family pictures. Smiling for an hour is tough work.

I have been working on a few projects, or encouraging Ryan to work on a few projects around the house that we have wanted done for a while. It is nice to be getting a few of them checked off. Ryan put a screen door on our back porch which is awesome. I love being able to leave the door open and get fresh air with no bugs. Assuming everything lives I finally have the rock beds planted we put in last year and everything replaced that died last year and our front yard is done and can just grow and be pretty. Sherri helped me figure out the back yard while she was here so I can start on that…next year. I decorated our bathroom and master bedroom. We have a nice, pretty, relaxing space for Ryan and I to go hide in when we want to now. I also completed phase one of two in our garage re-organization. I designed some custom shelves that would hold and organize all the sports stuff in our garage. Ryan was willing to build them but I was not willing to wait until he had time to do it so I did it. It took me longer to do it, but it got done sooner that way and I was pretty impressed with myself. Power tools make me nervous but I got over it and used drills, saws and all kinds of power tools to get it done. The next thing I am currently working on is putting a new sink in our main floor half bath. It has a pedestal sink in it now which is completely useless and drives me crazy. I ordered an unfinished cabinet and I am sanding and staining it to match the rest of our cabinetry, then Ryan will put it in. Oh, we got our house tested for Radon as well and it measured at unsafe levels so we had a Radon pump put in. Ryan is convinced and I am on the fence that the whole Radon thing is a farce but we got a pump anyway. They left a PVC eye sore up the entire side of our house when they put it in. Ryan was not happy. The next day I climbed up to the very top of our 30′ ladder while Matthew held it with enough focus that made me feel only slightly more secure then if he wasn’t there at all but he promised to call 911 if I fell. I painted it all the same color as our house. Ryan hasn’t said anything since so it worked well enough that he doesn’t notice it anymore.

Matthew finished up 6th grade! He said it was the fastest year of school he has had so far. He also admitted that it school ‘isn’t that bad’. He had Field Day too but I didn’t make it to his so I don’t have pictures. He said it was a good time though. He always enjoys when he gets to test his speed skills. He is looking forward to not having to ride the bus for 45 minutes next year because he will be at the new middle school by our house. He picked art, cooking class, engineering and I can’t remember the last elective for next year. I was impressed with his variety when he showed me.

I did make it to his award ceremony. He was on the Principals Straight ‘A’s’ Honor Roll and was also recognized for participating in Mathletes and being the representative several times for their school for the events throughout the year. He is such a good boy. He just takes care of what he needs to have done and does a good job and is a good person. I am glad I get to be his mom.

Continental Math
Principal Honor Roll
Good job Matthew!

Mother’s Day Weekend

For Mother’s Day weekend Ryan and Matthew decided that I would love to watch baseball. Just kidding. The coach asked if the moms were on board for a tournament that weekend and none of us were going to be the one that poohooed the idea so the coach decided that’s what we would want to do for Mother’s Day. The boys probably put him up to it though.

I do very much enjoy watching them play though so I wasn’t put out. The rain decided to come down almost nonstop for the whole weekend though so instead of playing baseball we spent most of it waiting the rain out in the car, or under an overhang somewhere. One of our games was close to one of the players homes so we went and had a little Mother’s Day celebration there while we waited for a bit. The boys each gave us a red carnation with a card that they wrote a little note to us on and it had a team picture and an individual picture of Matthew for me. There was brownies, donuts, and chocolate too so it was a pretty fun time. While the moms hung out and relaxed the boys and the rest of the kids decided to have a game of wiffle ball in the cul de sac. I think we only ended up playing one game the whole weekend. We all went to lunch together while we were waiting too. We do enjoy this team and the families. Everyone is nice and friendly and for the most part gets along. We have fun times together.

Emilee and Allison love being around the boys. Allison plays is cool and tries to act like she could take them or leave them. Neither one of them is supposed to be in the dug out but Allison will casually meander in there and try and go unnoticed as long as she can. Emilee is much less subtle. She knows better but occasionally I have to haul her out of the dug out or an after game huddle. She likes to give the boys more attention then they usually want with hugs, jokes, sharing toys, tickling, stealing their hats, offering one sunflower seed at a time, asking them for sunflower seeds and anything else she can think of. Some of them don’t know what to do with her so they just pretend she isn’t there. A few start calling for Matthew to ‘fix her’ and a couple are sweet and play a little bit with her. We remind Matthew that they will never admit it (at least Allison) but they watch him like a hawk and want to be like him and with him as much as they can so when he can he needs to include them. Sometimes I get an eye roll but most of the time he is good about letting them hang around when they can.

Team lunch waiting for better weather.
Matthew running the bases in wiffle ball.
All the moms and the boys on Mother’s Day.
Emilee spending a half inning on dads lap.
Matthew forgot how to wear a shirt.
Emilee giving Cam the run down on how many flowers she collected so far.

Quick Trip to Florida

This past weekend I made a quick trip to see my sister Sherri in Florida. She had a miscarriage earlier this month and was understandably sad and I wanted to see her for myself. I was supposed to get there Thursday around 7 pm but my flight was delayed a lot so it was almost 1 am Friday morning by the time I got there. We were still able to cram in some fun before my 6 am flight Sunday morning.

Friday we went out to have some sister time. We started with getting our nails done then she was wanting to update her ward robe for work so shopping was next. I am not a big shopper on my own. I am becoming more and more of an online shopper actually. I don’t get to shop with my sisters very often though so it is always fun when I get the chance. When I am shopping with Sherri I feel like I am shopping with myself. We have very similar taste and styles. We paused long enough to eat lunch at Ford’s Garage, which was quite an interesting experience. My brain had a hard time reconciling the really good food we were eating with the very authentic ambiance of being in a repair shop, right down to the smell of oil. It was good food though. After lunch we continued shopping a few more hours and then called it a night. We ate chocolate almonds and watched a movie together.

The next day Kenny was having a hard time understanding the concept of a sister weekend so we hung out around their house mostly. We finished a flower bed they had been clearing out. It was nice to be working outside in beautiful 80 degree sunshiny weather. Sunshine is such a cheerful thing. It can make me happy instantly just by walking outside and having the sun shining. We went through a bunch of stuff for our FAT Adventure business and talked about some stuff we want to try and change. Sherri and I went and returned a few things that we changed our mind about when we were shopping the day before then we all went to dinner at a pizza place. Sherri and I stayed up talking late that night. She drove me to the airport to catch my 6 am flight the next morning. It was a fast trip. It is amazing that I can be in Tampa Florida at 6 am and make it home to my house in Kansas in time for 10:30 church. It is less amazing but still crazy that I can leave Tampa and its comfy 80 degree weather and then arrive in Kansas where it is 30 degrees and I have ice on my car windows.

I am very grateful and blessed to have both of my sisters. I am glad that we are friends. I am sad sometimes that we don’t get to live closer to each other but I am glad that we can talk a lot and see each other a few times a year (hopefully). They are both amazing people and I love them a lot.

Spring Break 2019

Spring Break was a week earlier than usual this year, and with as much time off in February as we had by the time it came to Spring Break I felt like we had already been having a Spring Break.

Ryan and I talked about doing something further away like maybe Chicago or Gulf Shores. Neither of us got around to planning it though and we had asked our friends the McDonald’s to do something with us. By the time we did get around to planning it we decided to do a long weekend in St Louis with the McDonald’s and spend the rest of the week at home.

Monday was my catch up day. I told the kids that I was going to be checking as much off my to do list as I could then we would have more Spring Break like activities the rest of the week. Monday was actually the first sunny day with temperatures in the 40’s instead of teens so it felt wonderful to be outside. I ‘made’ the kids go to the park for 30 minutes at least. Three hours later I had to drag them home with sun burned faces. After a quick refueling they were back outside playing baseball and riding bikes, playing tag, roller skating, digging in the dirt, and having a great time being outside. It definitely gave us all Spring fever. It was just a teaser though because the rest of the week was cold windy and rainy.

Tuesday was cold and rainy so we decided to go swimming at the Olathe Community Center with the rest of the people in Olathe. Despite the large crowd the kids still had fun. Emilee in particular can’t wait until it is swimming weather again.

Allison picked our activity on Wednesday. A few weeks earlier she had gone to the Johnson County Museum with her girl scout troop. She loved the kids area and has been begging to go back again. We invited our cousins to go with us. The boys stayed behind to play some video games and the girls came with us. They played at the museum until we were all hungry and then we went to Chick-Fil-A for lunch. We topped the day off with a sleepover.

Johnson County Museum
‘modern art’ toys
Spinning chairs at the museum.

Thursday we played around the house and packed up to get ready to go on our weekend getaway. Friday morning we followed the McDonald’s to St Louis and spent the weekend there. We stopped for lunch and then went to The Arch. We had all seen it before but we had never been in it, or seen the museum with it. It was cool to see the view from the arch. The tiny round 5 person pod that takes you 600+ feet into the air was a little claustrophobic but bearable. After the arch we checked into our hotel and then went to Dave-N-Busters for dinner and to play in the arcade for the evening. Matthew figured out the timing on one of the ticket winning machines so he scored a bunch of tickets for everyone. It almost took longer for then to ‘shop’ with their tickets than it did to play the games. It was a fun night.

Then next morning after breakfast at the hotel (one of the kids favorite things about staying in a hotel) we went to the City Museum. It is an incredible place. It is an old ten story building that they have converted into a giant play area. We went a few years ago and it was a little nerve racking trying to keep track of the kids. They can crawl in a hole and come out in a completely different room. It is almost impossible to keep track of them. They are older now so I was a little less worried. We set a meeting spot and split up to explore. There is caves, and a catacomb area with a ten story slide. There are basically just mazes and places to crawl around all over. There is an outside portion the has tunnels and paths leading all around that is literally attached to the side of the building so you are hanging in the air. Everything is made with recycled material too. It is hard to explain but it is a pretty amazing place. We spent most of the day there exploring. When we were worn out, we ate lunch and then stopped at a well known ice cream place that I can not for the life of me remember the name of now. It was yummy though. We were meeting our long time friends the Schellman’s that night so we had about an hour to kill before we were supposed to meet them. We all decided to stop at the park and play because the weather was pretty nice. After dinner and visiting with the Schellman’s for a few hours we met back up with the McDonald’s at the hotel and the kids all swam for a few hours. The second best part about staying in a hotel. Sunday morning we went to church with the Schellman’s and then drove home. It was a fun weekend. It was nice to get out of town for a few days and enjoy some fun time with family and friends.

Fortune cookie at dinner on Spring Break
We went to St Louis with the McDonald’s
Top of the St Louis Arch
Entrance to the pod that takes you to the top of the arch.
The McDonald Pod
The Terry Pod
Riding up to the top of the arch in our five man pod.
looking out the tiny windows
Top of the Arch
Top of the Arch
View from the top of the Arch
Top of the Arch 2019
Lined up against the outside of the Arch
City Museum in St Louis
Allison crawling through a tube above me.
Emilee peaking out a castle window.

Winter Festivities

This year our resident NFL team did really well. They ended up making it to the play-offs. They haven’t done that for 20 years or something like that. I don’t remember they exact statistic. This year they made it to the play-offs so Ryan took Matthew and went with a friend of his from high school. They got seats for the lower bowl on the 35 yard line. It was COLD! Like low 30’s with snow and wind. They had several layers of everything plus snow pants and boots. They stayed pretty warm except for their toes, but that didn’t stop them from having a great time. The Chiefs won too! They lost the next week, but they won the game they were at which made it even more fun.

Chiefs Play Off Game!
Chiefs Play Off game with dad.
Chiefs Play Off Game 2019

The girls have been taking gymnastics for a few years. A couple months ago we switched to a new gym and they had pictures recently. So I got a cute picture of each of my gymnasts.

Allison’s gymnastic picture
Emilee’s gymnastic pictures

The high school has a Saturday cheerleader camp every couple of months. Allison and her friend Carlee like to go together and dance it up together.

Cheer Camp
Cheer Camp

This is Emilee’s second year playing basketball. She has come a long way. Last year she wouldn’t run to the other end of the court. When the ball went to the other side of the court she would sit under the basket against the wall and wait until everyone came back. This year she runs the court. If she gets tired though she comes up into the bleachers and asks Ryan and I if she can be done. Matthew works on her dribbling with her during the week and she is getting better.

Emilee having a team huddle with her basketball team ‘The Bears’
Emi playing in her basketball game.

February is always an odd month. Its short anyways and there is usually teacher conferences and President’s Day which are no school days. Then there is usually snow days. So far this month thanks to ice storms we have had FOUR snow days and its only half way through the month. Nothing makes the kids quite as excited as a surprise day off of school. We try to get in some fun activities and of course lots of playing in the snow.

Snow day facials
Matthew and Carson built a snow fort.
Emilee and Jovee built a snowman.
Allison and Leah went sledding with Ross and Lauren.
Emilee and Jovee working on their snowman.

Allison was Ms. Coovert’s class Student of the Month. She gets a special certificate and a coupon for a free ice cream at Culver’s. She was very excited and Ryan and I were very proud of her. One of her besties Hailey was PE Student of the Month with her.

Allison was the Student of the Month
Student of the Month with Hailey

More pictures from our Winter.

Allison decided to use her bean bag as her pillow.
Emilee’s 100th day of school celebration
The 6th Graders went on a ski field trip.
I thought this was a cute picture so I just stuck it in here. 🙂

My Grandma and Grandpa Jones

When I was visiting DeAnna we went and saw my grandparents one of the evenings we were there. We spent a couple hours visiting with them and my Aunt Mary. My Grandma’s short term memory is not very good sometimes but she was really good while we were there. I asked her to play the piano for me which she did. I wanted to ask her to play her trumpet too but didn’t want to wear her out. She decided to do it on her own which was awesome. She is absolutely amazing on both instruments. She has played them both all around the world throughout her life. She taught me piano lessons for a little bit when I was younger. I remember I was practicing one of my songs once and she was listening in the kitchen. I hit a wrong note and she told me the wrong note I had played, the correct note I needed to play, and the correct fingering so I could play it smoother. From the kitchen!

My grandpa always has a silly poem or rhyme to tell, or a song to repeat. He read us one while we were there from an Irish song book that he thought was clever.

I had a really nice evening with them. I enjoy seeing other extended family but I was glad to get to spend some time with just them. They are wonderful people.

NOTE: The process for loading videos has changed. I am trying to figure it out but haven’t quite got it yet. Each video should be different but I think instead it is showing all six videos over and over. So…there are six different videos listed here even though it just shows one. Click on the upper left hand corner and it will let you select what video you want to watch.

Visiting My Sister!

We had some Southwest Airlines credit that was going to expire so I used it to go see my sister DeAnna in Utah. I left Kansas and the sub zero temperatures from the polar vortex that was blowing through and had a very uneventful flight (best kind of flight to have) to Utah, which had nice 50’s temperatures when I arrived.

DeAnna had baby number six, and boy number five on December 10th, so I got to meet my newest nephew for the first time when I got there. Joseph is a sweet little baby. He is so chill, he didn’t fuss very much at all but has almost a constant string of grunts. I loved snuggling him as much as I could. In the few days I was there you could tell his eye sight got better and he was getting better at controlling his hands. I think 8-10 weeks old for babies is a really fun exciting time. They start becoming a little more adjusted to life and start trying to figure things out and you see their personalities more. They had his baby blessing the Sunday I was there so it was nice to see that. I think it is the first one I have been to for my nieces and nephews. I loved getting my fill of new baby Joseph snuggles.

I loved seeing my other 4 nephews and 1 niece as well. They have all grown up a lot since I saw them last. Tyler is still as smart as a whip and can build some pretty amazing things with Lego’s. He was great at getting all of his jobs and things done so he could have the rest of the time to play. I got two hugs from him while I was there that made me happy too.

Hannah let me use her room, which I appreciated very much. She is a sweet little girl and does a great job at helping watch out for her brothers. For scriptures one night we read a conference talk and I was very impressed with her reading skills. We drew and colored a picture together one night that was a lot of fun.

Michael and I read some books together. He wanted to cheer up his brother Peter, so he picked out all his favorite books when we read. I thought it was very sweet. He almost always had a snack in his hands and most of the time was very willing to share. He colored several pictures for me to bring home.

Nathan knows what he likes and doesn’t like. He is pretty good at explaining it to you too. I loved his drawing and explanations of why every detail was the way it was. He has a great imagination. He also loves to pose with his food for pictures and if you weren’t in the mood to take a picture, he was good at convincing you to do it anyway.

Peter and I were on a good road to being friends, he would give me a big sweet smile and come sit next to me. The poor little guy got sick shortly after I got there though and then no one would do but mom or dad. I get that though. He would let me wipe his nose without protest before I left though.

We spent most of the time doing things around the house, especially once kiddo’s started getting sick. It was nice to visit and chat. I got to do a little organizing too. John and DeAnna have many talents but organizing is not one of them. I love it though so I don’t mind going through a few closets and drawers one bit while I am there and organizing stuff. We went to lunch and got our nails done and did a little shopping. We stopped at Kneaders Bakery a few times too and sampled many of their desserts. We still have many to go. We watched movies, played games, and talked some more. We talked about having another sister’s trip soon with Sherri, a cruise would be awesome!

It was a nice trip. I enjoyed getting to spend time with all of them and be an in house aunt and sister for a few days. I wish I could live closer to her. I always learn something about being a better mom when I am with DeAnna. She is so patient and consistent and kind with her family. She takes everything in stride and does an amazing job taking care of her them. Her and John are a good pair.

There was a snow storm the night before I left and they had school canceled for the first time ever the next day. Instead of getting to play and enjoy it thought Peter had RSV and an ear infection, Joseph was coming down with RSV, and Michael, Hannah and Tyler all had sore throats. 😢 I didn’t feel like a very helpful sister by leaving. I have been praying that they will all get better quickly.

We went to the Jordan River Temple together.
Joseph in his blessing outfit.
Heading to church.
We spent an evening with my Grandma and Grandpa Jones. They played the piano, trumpet and read us stories.
Sweet little Joseph.
One of Nathan’s many poses with his dinner.
Despite the snow storm, flights were still only 30 minutes delayed.

My Blog!

I order the first two volumes of my blog earlier this month and they have arrived! I have a few kinks to work out when I have them printed but for the most part it is pretty awesome. I have about 400 pages of posts and pictures from last year!

The kids read my blog sometimes but they like looking through the book and reading that a little more I think. It’s fun to remember things. Even from a year ago I forget lots of the details. I read what I said about January last year and then this year. It made me laugh that it is almost opposite. What a difference a year can make.

I also need to proof read a little more use the word ‘too’ less. 😁 I’m ready to blog another year though!

Matthew’s First Time at the Temple

In our church we believe that everyone has to be baptized to live with Heavenly Father after we die. Not everyone has that opportunity while they are on the earth so one of the things we do in the temple is act as a proxy for our ancestors that weren’t baptized before they died. Once you are twelve you can do this so we got a babysitter for the girls and Ryan, Matthew and I went to the temple last week. Matthew is a good kid. He has a kind, good heart. It was a nice night with just the three of us. We stopped at Freddy’s afterwards for some ice cream.

When we drove up Matthew noticed that the shadows above the windows look like little temples. I thought that was pretty awesome.