Winning idea

Carter and his friend Colton were offered the opportunity to participate in the Regional Invent Iowa competition this year. Of course they jumped on the chance to work together and put their heads together to come up with their invention of the iJacket. 

The iJacket is apparently what everyone needs.  It has a special pocket on the inside of a coat that holds a small set of speakers and another clear pocket for your iPod or iPhone with an opening to connect to the speakers. That way you can rock out with your friends and keep your hands free!

They had a ton of fun putting the idea together, creating the prototype, as well as designing a survey to give to all of the 5th grade classes at their school.  The surveys helped determine whether there would be a market for the iJacket and a price that others would be willing to pay for it. 

During the competition, the boys had to present to two sets of judges and explain the entire process they went through and defend the need for their specific invention.  

They must have been impressive as they walked away with medals for their invention and an invitation to participate in the state competition.  

The smiles on their faces were well worth the time and energy put into this.

Tough Cookie

Sometimes things have to look worse before they can get better.  This boy of mine is one tough cookie who's been experiencing the colors of the rainbow on his face!

Day 1 - quite puffy with a mama worried about a concussion

Day 2  - eye swollen shut and a few colors showing up

Day 3 - hey he can see  

Day 4 - adding some new colors in and not as thrilled with my daily picture taking of his war wound   

Day 5 - making progress  

Day 7 - oops...I missed a day but it looks like he'll recover and be back to normal by the end of this week!  

He's definitely our tough cookie...and is insisting I bake him some cookies today.  I guess that little face is worth it!

May I recommend

sticking your nose in a book or two?  You may remember that my delightful hubby refers to these as my nerd manuals.  He was even so gracious as to get me a lovely nerd shirt for my birthday which he's refused to let me wear outside of the house.  

I sense he may be poking fun at me.  It's a good thing I turned mature and can handle it now!

Anyhoo...I just finished two amazing reads that I wanted to pass on to you.  The first is The Racketeer by John Grisham.  Fast-paced, intriguing, and filled with twists and turns that keep you guessing will keep you turning the pages one right after another.  I might be a little embarrassed to tell you that I finished it in three settings (each of those that I should have been doing something a bit more productive around the house).  Oh well...one must keep the brain nice and juicy by using it on a regular basis!

Defending Jacob by William Landay is my book club's selection for this month.  This book club likes to make me stretch out of my reading comfort zone (murder, the law, and mystery), but this selection was spot on and packed with everything I love.  Jacob is a teenage boy accused of murdering a classmate.  Jacob's father is the district attorney who must take a leave of absence due to the conflict of interest.  Is Jacob innocent?  Does a father's love for his son allow him to see the truth?  It's a quick read with an ending you won't see coming.

Homework Helper

I had a fun little visitor tonight while his brother had basketball practice.  This cutie patootie had some homework that he needed to do. 

 

Needless to say he found Carter to be a much more exciting teacher than Aunt Lisa. He sure knows how to break my heart.  I think he rather enjoys it too!

It was so cute watching the two of them work together.  I absolutely love the hand on Braden’s head in concentration while he’s soaking up what Carter is telling him!  

Champions

Congratulations to the 5th grade Ames Little Cyclones!  They came away as champions of the Lincoln Rails Tournament in Des Moines this weekend. It was a crazy run of intense basketball in which the boys triumphed over several worthy opponents. They should be very proud of their teamwork and determination. 

Unfortunately, Carter looks pretty battered and bruised after this weekend.  He hurt his wrist on Friday playing basketball at recess.  A trip to the dr. for some xrays let us know it was only sprained, which was a good thing.  The dr. put a splint on and it didn't seem to slow Carter down during the tourney.   

The one thing that did slow him down was an opponent during the championship game.  Carter was rolling on a pick and roll and smacked heads with another player.  Both boys went down on the floor, and it wasn't long before I was summoned by coach. This was my first "you need to come mom" signal in the stands from a coach and my heart nearly stopped.  Thankfully it looked worse than it was.  A broken blood vessel above the eye and a pounding headache would round out Carter's injuries for the week.  

I'm pretty sure Carter would tell you it was all worth it to have that medal hanging around his neck!   

Acts of kindness v.3

Act of kindness 9

Aaron and I spent a good chunk of time going through the boys outdoor winter clothing (coats, snow pants, hats, gloves, boots).  The original plan was simply to take it to Goodwill until it dawned on me that there are so many kids in our school system who are in need of these items.  So, I arranged to take them to Carter's elementary school and gave them to the counselor to pass on to kids in need.  She was definitely appreciative of the two full garbage bags full of items that are needed by so many with the snow and cold weather in full swing.

Act of kindness 10

There is a co-worker of mine who has been having a really rough go of it for quite awhile.  She's doing her best to keep her chin up every day, but it isn't always easy.  It's been hard watching her struggle and many prayers have been said on her behalf.  I purchased Ann Voskamp's book One Thousand Gifts with her in mind.  It's a terrific book to help you realize that God blesses us on a daily basis if we simply open our eyes and hearts to what's around us.   

I didn't want her to necessarily know it was from me so I had Carter do the writing on the card and envelope for me. (I'm pretty sure she doesn't even know I have a blog, so I'm thinking my secret is safe! ~ If not, oh well!) I couldn't seem to manage to sneak it into her room without getting busted by her or a student who would rat me out, so I resorted to putting it in her mailbox one night when everyone else had left the building.  I sure hope it brought a smile to her face and put a spring in her step to know that someone was thinking of her.

10 down...30 to go

Acts of kindness v.2

Acts of kindness 7-8

Many weekends we gladly suffer from bleacher butt to watch our children participate in a multitude of activities.  Right now, it’s Carter we are watching shoot, defend, and rebound his way through basketball tournaments.  However, the days can get a little bit long depending on how many games there are and how much time in between games you have in which to pass the time. 

I have noticed that several little brothers and sisters are brought along for these all day tournaments which can be trying.  Because of this, I created 2 little goodie bags to be left in different places in the facility as random acts of kindness.  Austin was so sweet as to make the first drop and left it up to me to do the last one!  I think he's a bit smoother than me as I'm pretty sure I was busted by a scowling lady for "leaving something behind" :)  Hopefully a smile came to her face after she realized what I left behind!  Next time I probably need to leave the "sneaking" to the kids!

Spoiled Rotten

Yep.  That’s me.  40 and spoiled. 

From my parents… 

Big, beautiful and PURPLE!  My fave!

 From my hubby…

40 fragrant roses in shades of pink!  Oh my!

I love flowers ~ they make me happy ~ especially when they were both a magnificent surprise on my special day!  

Acts of kindness v.1

Since illness hit our house over the past weekend, it gave me some downtime to begin putting together some acts of kindness in honor of my 40^th birthday.  I have been blessed with more than I could ever really want or need, and it warms my heart to do something for someone else by putting these acts of kindness together. 

Acts of kindness 1-6:

My thoughts never stray too far from the students at the middle school.  Unfortunately, middle school is a rough time for many kids which simply breaks my heart.  I know far too many who are struggling with issues at home, with peers, with health, or a multitude of other things.  With the help of the boys, I designed 6 acts of kindness to be doled out by our amazing counselors (2 per grade level). They know all too well the students who are going through struggles, and for the life of me, I would never be able to simply choose 6.  I am leaving it up to each of the counselors to identify the students and keep things anonymous.  These acts of kindness are in their hands now and they can decide the best way to get it into the appropriate students' hands.

   sweet tart gummies, bouncy balls, gum, pencils and silly straws

On that note, check out what three amazing Iowa City High students are doing to spread the kindness in their school.  LOVE THIS!  

Teen uses Twitter to compliment peers

After reading about cyber bullying, Jeremiah Anthony, 17, a junior at Iowa City West High School, has taken to social media to tweet daily compliments to his classmates in an effort to build them up. NBC’s Kevin Tibbles reports. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/50395735#5

A heart of gratitude

grat·i·tude

Noun – the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness

As I embark on my 40^th year of life (YES…Happy Birthday to me! I’ve blessedly reached a new milestone.) I am focused on having a heart of gratitude each and every day. Unlike my stewing and fretting over turning 30, I’m embracing the bits of wisdom and self-acceptance that seem to be coming with 40 glorious years of life.  I have so much to be thankful for and want to make sure that my head and my heart are well aware of the daily blessings that are granted to me.

To kick off my yearlong focus on developing a strong heart of gratitude, I plan to do 40 acts of kindness (some random, some very purposeful) within the next 40 days in honor of my 40^th birthday.  I’d sure love to have any of my friends, family and readers join in my birthday celebration and share with me via text or email any acts of kindness (random or purposeful) you choose to do.  This world needs more smiles.  Let’s do what we can to help put those smiles on people’s faces and put some happiness in their hearts.

“This is the day which the LORD has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it.”     Psalm 118:24  

Smile today

Quack! Quack!

This one’s for my sweet cousins in Oregon!  

We're cheering loud here at our place tonight!  I'm really not sure about the crazy one in the middle...

Back to life

Back to reality

It’s goodbye to vacation and hello to the working world again.  I really shouldn’t complain since we snuck an extra two days of vacation in due to snow days. However, that alarm of mine was NOT a welcome visitor this morning ~ especially because it made me crawl of out my new cozy king size bed!

Kissed by the Sun

There’s something about sitting on the beach and digging your toes into the sand in the middle of winter that is simply revitalizing to the soul.  Ace and I had the pleasure of spending 6 glorious days in Puerto Morelos, just south of Cancun, at the Now Jade.

The resort was beautiful with a great beach that gave us several days of sun and laughs while playing in the waves or lounging by the pool. Our group expanded to 10 for this trip, which made for some really good times. The five men were simply hilarious together and provided quite the entertainment, especially when playing in or near the water.  Whether it was acrobatics, the word of the day, or their wave jumping skills, there was never a dull moment.

While the days were filled with sand, sun and fun, the evenings were filled with great food and different forms of entertainment.  Even when the entertainment left a bit to be desired, hmmm...the Retro Show...we easily found ways to entertain ourselves.

Unfortunately, I believe there was something in the food, as delicious as it was, that made several of us EXTREMELY ill.  Stu, Steve, and I went down for the count on night two of the trip and had a long and arduous recovery process ahead of us.  Thankfully, the sun and sand were good for the spirits, even though the food was not so good for the stomach.  Unfortunately, by the end of the trip Robert had been inflicted also.

Thankfully we were feeling okay enough to make a quick day trip to Playa del Carmen for a little shopping excursion. We all deemed Laura the boss and master bargainer with the locals.  She did a great job arranging our transportation, getting us some free vanilla out of a little glitch, and got us some terrific deals. Ace learned he needs to take a lesson or two from her on her bargaining skills! 

On our last full day at the resort, Ace and the rest of the group (minus Robert and I) decided to take a bike ride into the fishing village of Puerto Morelos to explore and do a quick shopping stint before heading back to the resort.  They had a great time on their one speed bikes wearing their construction type vests so no one ran them over!

Our beach vacation made for a great ending to 2012. Ace and I had a terrific time, met some great new people and are refreshed and ready to start 2013.  We've been kissed by the sun and couldn't be happier!