A+ For America

Clarissa's school (and other Catholic schools) are doing Catholic Schools Week. Each day they have an activity planned either during or after school hours along with out-of-uniform days all week. Clare loves her uniform but like all kids she loves to dress up. I thought it would be fun to include Kimberly in on the dress up days.

Catholic School Week started yesterday January 30th right after church. So today is the first school day during the fun week but officially the 2nd day. Today's theme is Red, White, and Blue Jeans- Showing American pride with your red, white, and blue colors. "Catholic Schools Week 2011 clebrates the fact that Catholic schools are an added value for the nation." The activity for the day is a morning prayer service will be held at 9:30 in the gym for grades k-8 to kickoff Catholic School's Week.

On the way to school us girls enjoyed singing different songs about love and America. Clarissa sang a beautiful song about God being in her life. Kimberly made up as song about Jesus her best friend and how beautiful America is. Here is a picture of both Clarissa and Kimberly showing their red, white, and blue pride.

-Fun Note-

Clarissa and I where looking for a perfect shirt to wear for Red, White, and Blue day. Clarissa was happy that I went threw the summer clothes last night and found the shirt she decorated for the 4th of July last year. I think its great that we had it a little big last year and so she could get a little bit more wear out of it. Kimberly made one too but picked this shirt to wear today.

Broomball- 2011

On Saturday January 29th our church families young adults got together to play a fun game of broomball. Now I'm not one to brag but last year I was the only girl to have scored a goal and I had 3 assists as well. I was never big into sports growing up and so to be good at this was an awesome feeling for me. So we had been bouncing the idea of going back and forth since we had heard about it and after Clarissa's 2nd soccer game Quentin felt it would be fun to go and we also where all going out to ihop after. I was sad because I wouldn't be playing this year. Since a few weeks back I hurt my ankle and yes it still hurts and is still healing we didn't want to hurt myself more. The girls came with us to enjoy watching and to keep me company while we watched Quentin play. He did so much better than last year.

But before the young adults hit the ice the girls wanted to try it out. They have never been ice skating and broomball is a tennis shoes on ice that has been skated on. You use sticks and a ball to try to get goals. So its similar to hockey. The girls loved getting out on the ice.

After 2 hours of either watching or playing broomball we all went out to ihop for some PANCAKES! On the kids menu there was a cute outline for a story and both girls thought it would be fun to fill in the blanks. I'm going to put both girl's stories below and have the words that the girls used in bold. I thought it was cute to see what they came up with. The fill in the blanks had different things like your name, a friends name, the color of your shoes, a silly sound, and several other things. They had so much fun with this one that we have decided we want to do more! So here are the girl's SPACE ADVENTURE stories:

Clarissa 5 years old

Moon Rock collectors Clarissa and Kaydin sat in their pink and white rocket ship waiting for takeoff. Three...two...one Wobble noise and they zoomed into outer space. Clare pulled out a tube of space apples and ate away with happy grin. "Next stop: the galaxy of Remi faces! Suddenly, Kaydin noticed a green object with a big brown spot in the middle off in the distance. "look, there's Planet Wobble! The tam landed on its soft surface, and made friends with HOT PINK aliens for the rest of the day. The End

Kimberly 3 years old

Moon Rock collectors Kimberly and Tinkerbell sat in their Purple rocket ship waiting for takeoff. Three...two...one hoink and they zoomed into outer space. Kimberly pulled out a tube of space Macaroni & cheese and ate away with happy grin. "Next stop: the galaxy of Strawberry Shortcake Rolling Over! Suddenly, Tinkerbell noticed a green object with a big Light Brown spot in the middle off in the distance. "look, there's Planet Brew! The team landed on its ruff surface, and made friends with bright orange aliens for the rest of the day. The End

1-your name

2-friends name

3-shoe color

4-funny noise

5-your name

6- favorite food

7-emotion

8-pet's name

9-silly object

10-friends name

11-funny sound

12-texture

13-crazy color

All Tied Up

Clarissa got off the bus and hung out with Quentin outside while he shoveled. I was excited to hear about her day and after they made THREE snow castles they came inside and she started to show us everything in her bag. With a big grin she said "look what I have!" and sure enough today she got her Shoe Tying Award. She has been tying her shoe for a little while now but she just now was given her award. We are all VERY proud of her!

Falling Head Over Heals

So this morning is a typical Thursday morning nothing to exciting and so that means its recycle day. Like always I put any last minute things in the bin and then take it out to the curb. Well today I guess I wanted to make things interesting because while coming down my stairs I missed my last step and came crashing down (with the bin in my hands) and fell on my ankle. I realized how bad I hurt it when I tried to stand up. I did manage to get the bin to the curb and back inside without taking to long because I still had to get the girls ready for the day. I got inside and the first thing I was asked by both girls was "Mom, what happened? Mommy are you ok?" I told them that I fell and hurt myself. Kimberly and Clarissa cleared the table and wiped down all the crumbs and drank all their milk. Clarissa then got her ice pack from the freezer and put it on my ankle. She even grabbed a towel since she knew that it was cold.

Clarissa even held the ice pack in place so that it didn't fall. She was being taken to school bye her Papa Ray (my dad) so she didn't get to hold it for to long. Before leaving she said that she would pray for me. I told her thank you and hugged her good bye.

Kimberly and I enjoyed reading some of our favorite books. I must say that after a painful start to the day I'm so happy to have two of the best helpers I could ask for. They really made me forget that I even hurt my ankle.

Kicking It UP

We got a news letter from school back in November about Saint Patricks Indoor Soccer Tournament. Clarissa love's playing soccer with the neighbor kids and has told us that she loves playing soccer. So we decided to give it a try. Today was her first practice and she struggled a little bit but after a pep talk from her coach she did better. We are excited to see her in her first game Saturday January 29th. I think the best part was that she never gave up.

Kimberly also had an exciting night. She attended the after noon story hour at our local library. We attend the morning story hours when they are held and we do as many of the afternoon ones as possible. This one was about the stars and she had a great time. After she was done at story hour she joined Daddy and Clarissa at soccer and after the game she was out with the big kids running and kicking the soccer ball.

When God Closes a Door...

About year ago the Perry Community of Christ church after almost being here for 100years we made the decision to close after numbers where going down and it was becoming difficult with the few members we had. At the last church service we all had a hard time when it was time to vote to close the doors. We also had a chance to vote on where the money from the sale went. We voted on some of the money to stay with the YA ministry, some to go across seas, and some to the local program Every Day God Experiences aka E.D.G.E. Clarissa has been a member since she was in Pre School and we find its a great program for youth.

The process was long with getting the church sold and when we finally got an offer from another church we were happy to see that it was going to still be used as a church and not be torn down. We then got word that the check was ready to be presented to the E.D.G.E group and we talked to the people in charge and they said we could present the check on Wednesday January 5th, 2011. My parents sent out letters to all the members of our church those who lived far away and close by. We wanted as many of us to be there as possible.

The day came and I was so happy to give them the check. Well actually it was decided that the a very special person would be presenting the check. I came up with the idea to give to the E.D.G.E program with her in mind. After Quentin spoke to the group about what we where doing we then had Clarissa go up and give Cory the check. When he later opened it after pictures where taken his reaction was so much more than we had expected. He then explained that the money we gave will be enough to fund the program for awhile. Everything they do is for free and when you look at the big picture it all adds up.

Clarissa giving Cory their check

Several of the E.D.G.E members and

our church members who came.

It was also in the paper :)

So like the title says When God Closes a Door....

He opens SEVERAL window.

A Fun Afternoon

After most of the snow melted we have had two sad girls asking when it was going to snow again. I told them that Winter was no where close to being over and more snow would be here sooner than later, and today was that day. When the weather forecast said that it was going to snow and we where going to be getting up to 11inch's I had a feeling school might be canceled. I didn't want to tell Clarissa because she was more excited about school today than most days because her class won the Box Top Pizza Party and it was taking place today. Clarissa's name was listed as one of the MVP's of the collecting and bringing in box tops. So when she had school I was so happy for her but close to 10:00am it started snowing and coming down fast. School was let out at 1:30pm and I was happy to know that Clarissa's pizza party wasn't canceled.

Clarissa got home and we worked on letters. Just this last weekend Clarissa also mastered the art of tying her shoes the "hard" way. She's very excited because in school you get a special prize when you learn how to tie your shoe properly and without help. She's been sounding out words better and can read several of our I can read books. So we enjoyed reading and writing while rest time took place.

Quentin got home later than normal because of the roads but when he got home he decided to shovel more. I say more because I shoveled snow for about a half hour (1:00-1:30). I knew the girls wanted to play outside so I got them all bundled up and asked Quentin if he wanted to stay out with them or I could go out with them. He said that he was already bundled up so he would just stay out. I enjoyed getting a few pictures of the girls enjoying the first snow of 2011.

The girls could hardly stop playing for a picture of them together

but I'm so glad they "found time" while playing to let me take one.

Clarissa was "hiking" up the snow hills that where made while

shoveling the snow.

At church we have a children's focus moment and it was our families turn to do it. The theme was Come to Me and we where talking about the symbolism of the water and baptism. Quentin asked the kids what fun things you can do in water... The kids came up with LOTS of great answers and after a kid mentioned that you can swim in the water Kimberly raised her hand and said "Daddy we can swim in snow too!" And so the above picture is Kimberly proving her point that she can swim in the snow.

Happy New Year 2011

For the last two years Clarissa has stayed up till midnight and so this year I didn't think we would handle it any differently and if Kimberly wanted to stay up then she was more than welcome. My parents called me and asked that if we wanted to come over after dinner then we would have a little New Years Eve party. The girls and I got excited but Quentin already made plans to go play cards with his friends so it was just me and the girls going to my parents house. But also visiting were my brother, sister in law, and niece. I was so excited to see them because the last time we had all been together was at Easter. The roads where quite icy but we got to my parents house with no problems. Me and my family know how to have a good time. We weere drinking sparkling cyder (juice) and they had crackers, meat, and cheese for snacks. My niece was also able to open gifts from my parents and the four of us. She loved all her gifts but much like Kimberly the magnified glass was one of her favorites.

My mom and 3 of the grand children.

I love my Niece

My brother playing Dr. With his daughter and nieces.

He was the patient with a sore neck.

Me and my sister in law Celebrating New Years an hour early.

The girls stayed up till 11:30pm Kimberly fell asleep on the couch and Clarissa was starting to so we got packed up and got home. They went right to sleep and were fast asleep. I'm looking forward to the new year and new adventures. We already took down our Christmas tree and now we are getting things "organized" and back to normal.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

From the The House of Painters

Also this is a link to Quentin's new blog that he started this year. He's had one here on blogger for 2 years and then this year (2011) he decided to start blogging threw another site. So here is his first post of the year and I'm VERY proud of it and him.

http://www.offthecrossbarblog.com/2010-year-in-review/