Star Student Of The Week!!

What do we have here??

Each week in her class Mrs. W chooses a Star Student Of the Week.  The first one was all the way back in September. Being chosen was something C took very seriously and anxiously awaited her turn.   Mrs. W picked a few "Stars" at the beginning of the year. But then she started picking ones that needed an encouragement.  Each week C would come home and tell me she was not picked. But I had a surprise when I picked her up a week ago!  Look who's turn it finally was!!

She was so excited!!  The next week would be "her" week. She got to bring a book from home, a show and tell item and have Jeremy and I visit the classroom.  

Headed to school on the first day of her week!

Jeremy and I went and visited on Friday. C got to show us all around her room.  She was so proud.

Each week Mrs. W draws the Star Student and then the Star gets to color it with some friends. I think Mrs. W did a great job with her version of C! C will get to take it home next week and I am sure it will go up in her bedroom.

We are so proud of C. She is such a smart, polite girl at school. We are happy that she was finally recognized for being a Star!

Running, Sleet & Soccer

After an almost 2 year hiatus from running I ran a 5K. I started running again back in December.  Then in January my friend Janine and I signed up for a 5K. Janine had never run more than 1 mile. She was always a swimmer and lifter. But never a runner.  Running with Janine was so much fun.  

Since mid-December I have logged 43 miles of running.  For our race I had 2 goals. I wanted to run the whole thing and I wanted to do it in under 33 minutes. I accomplished both. My time was even 32.23!  Janine ran the whole way too and finished in under 33 mins as well.

On Wednesday the temperature dropped and it got very cold. Some areas as little as 1 hour away were getting snow!

I sent C to dance in this get up.  She doesn't get to wear her rain gear much so we have to take advantage of it!

After bath and dinner, C and Daddy went outside to watch the sleet fall.  This is just a peek of what was covering our backyard!

So after the disastrous 2 weeks of cheer leading, we switched C to soccer. She has loved it. Her favorite is playing goalie. They give out medals each week. This week it was for determination.

I tried to get an action shot. Yes the ball did go into the goal.

Her team.  All the kids are 4-6 yrs old.  Some of them are VERY good. Out last game is next week. And everyone will get a trophy.  She is sure looking forward to that!

Valentines Fun

We had a fun Valentines Day this year.  Not only was it V-day but it was Spring picture day at school. Maybe it's just me but I don't associate February with Spring!

Lots of the girls were in cute Spring dresses but I kept C in her pink/red.

Her class did not have a V-day party. Instead they had an ice cream party.  B/c I am one of the class moms I got to help.  All the kids were so excited to make sundaes.

After their ice cream they got to exchange Valentines. My girl patiently waiting until all the kids had their bags.

It was so cute to watch them be so excited.  All the kids were so sweet and polite and saying thank you to each other.

After school she came home to find a few love gifts. Even Jake got something.

He loved his bone!

C and I have a inside joke about frogs/toads. So when I saw this frog balloon, I knew I had to get it for her.

C's bounty. A heart bowl for popcorn, a Hello Kitty purse, some stickers and a cake pop we made.

Later in the day C helped me decorate chocolate covered strawberries for Daddy.  I was also able to find Jeremy Combos which he loves. But they hard to find now.

Making strawberries sure was yummy!

Cookies Are Here

Girl Scouts cookies have arrived!! We picked up our many boxes yesterday.  C's goal was to sell 25 boxes. She bypassed that and sold 61 boxes!! A huge thank you to Sparky/Pops, Grandad, Aunt Jennifer and Peter D's family who each bought $20 worth to donate to the 2 charities her troop supports!!  That means that she got to donate 20 boxes.  Pretty cool!

Our first stop on the way home was to get her tube changed on her bike.  The bike shop said they could do it if I left her bike. But when I offered them a box of girl scout cookies they said they could do it now!  Who can blame them?!

Next we stopped by a friends house to deliver her box.

Not sure how any one buys only 1 box??  They weren't there so we left it on their mat.

Next we loaded up her bike and delivered to some friends in the neighborhood.  She loved doing this.  She had to tell everyone we passed that she was delivering girl scout cookies.

I won't tell you how many boxes we bought.  But if you need some cookies come ask me. We have plenty to share. A big thank you to everyone who supported Chandler and her troop.  

This is Winter

So this is winter in Arizona.  I still can not get over that it is the heart of winter and we are wearing capri leggings and short sleeves. When we head to school in the morning it is usually brisk and cool.  With temperatures ranging from low 40's -- to low 50's.  

However by the time we get out of school, we have shed our sweaters and are ready to play outside. The temps are usually in the 60's and sunny. One afternoon this week it was especially warm. Probably in the high 70's.  We decided to meet some friends from school at the park.  Apparently the whole school had the same idea.  

Happy girl in the sand.

C watching her friend Addy scale the monkey bars. C is so frustrated that she is still too short to reach across them.

Just too show how many moms were hanging at the park.  And this was only a view of part of the park.

We had so much fun and stayed for 2 glorious hours!

And this was the next day.  Still warm enough for body parts to be exposed and not freeze.

 We have enjoyed everything about living in Arizona. The people are great, there are lots of outdoor areas to explore, we love our neighborhood and having a pool. But we especially LOVE the weather.  Both Jeremy and I grew up in Florida. So you would think we would be use to this. But there is something about the warm weather with no humidity.  We hope this is the last stop for the Johnson family.  

Catch Up In Pictures

It seems like I have been behind on this blog for months now.  I thought when C started school I would have more time but it doesn't feel that way.  Just a cute one of my girl last week. She had gotten so hot she hiked up her leggings above her knees.  I am loving our first Arizona winter!!

We spent some time working on puzzles over the weekend.  Of course if C is around Jake is never too far away.  

We helped celebrate Janine's and Amber's birthday on Friday night.  They share a birthday and hosted a joint party.  It was lots of fun. Amber's husband even tracked down a cake from the TLC show Cake Boss.

Jeremy teasing Amber that she is older than him.  The other guy is Janine's hubby.

The birthday girls doing a shot with Jeremy's homemade Limoncello he brought over.

C had a great time too. She was happy that some of her friends were at the party too.

We brought over our bowling game and the girls had fun with it. Janine's daughter Anna is on the left there. Anna and her friends were great with entertaining the little girls. 

Me and Janine.  We are running partners and are doing our first 5K in less than 2 weeks.

All the ladies. 

I am doing my "cheerleader" stance in this picture.  I see girls all over Facebook pose like this and was trying to be funny. But I actually think it is an awesome picture of us. I bought the hat the night before and got so many compliments on it.  You can get one for yourself too at TJ Maxx baby!

On Superbowl Sunday C was entertaining us with her dancing.  She put her outfit together herself.  She  even got a last minute invite to a Super Bowl play date and wore it over there. I am sure she was rocking it.

Like I said, I am getting back into running. I figured if I was going to do all this exercise I needed to reward myself on the front end. I bought me some new, cute pink running shoes.  I got some new cool running pants and tops. I think I run faster and better when I actually look the part. At least that is what I tell myself.  My 5K is on Feb. 16th. The last race i ran was over 2 years ago.  I am excited.