My Little Gift from God

Happy Friday Friends! It has been a busy but great week. I am grateful for the beautiful weather we've been having. I've been able to be outside almost everyday this week with the kids. While outside, I've noticed a new friend hanging around our house.This amazing cardinal has been joining us everyday while we play.He flies from tree to tree making his presence known. He is VERY loud. The kids and I can pick out his song now and we start looking for him.

I love cardinals. I love their vibrant red bodies and their black masked faces. I also love them because they were one of Naun's( my maternal grandmother) favorite. I can remember spotting them from her window when I was little. She talked about them as if they were some sort of mystical treasure that you rarely see. "Look a here! A cardinal! Shhhh! Move slow or we'll scare it away!" I always feel so special when I spot one, like it is a little gift from God and a wink from my grandmother in heaven. 

This guy isn't scared away by much. He perched himself very close to us while the kids were playing in my driveway. He just sat there and watching, almost intrigued. Yesterday, he was REALLY loud. I don't know what he was yelling about, but we actually hollered for him to quiet down. I felt guilty doing that because this is so cool to have him hanging around. But... it was REALLY loud. He did not, comply. He's a spunky fellow!

We can learn from this little guy!

Let your vibrant colors shine. Don't be afraid to show yourself to the world. Speak up and let people know who you are! YOU ARE A PRECIOUS GIFT FROM GOD!

May you find some spunk to help you get through your Friday!

Love,
Jessica

WHAT DAY IS IT?????? IT"S GAME DAY!!!!

My heart is racing a little this morning. I have butterflies in my stomach. I feel like the day is crawling. I went to bed early last night to make sure I got lots of sleep. The appropriate clothes were set out for the morning. I'm ready!!!!!! You're probably wondering what's going on. Is it a job interview? Am I pregnant? Am I performing????? NO PEOPLE !!!! IT"S GAME DAY!!!!!!! The NCAA tournament is here and MY TEAM the University of Richmond Spiders are headed to the dance!!! WE are so excited. YES, I said WE. Ruby woke up this morning asking for her Spider shirt. THAT A GIRL!

While my husband is an over the top Virginia Tech Hokie fan, I was BORN to love the Spiders. Literally! My father went to UR and played basketball. He was inducted into the hall of fame a few years ago. My sister went to school there too. I didn't, but it doesn't matter because being a Spider is in my blood. I actually went to one of UR's rival schools because the music department there was good and it was much cheaper than UR. HOWEVER, I NEVER cheered for them in basketball. I even went to a game with my classmates and refused to cheer for them. It was almost nauseating for me to even be there. My heart and soul remained true to the Spiders.

My Mom and Dad have successfully raised  three Spider fanatical kids, and we in turn are spreading the love to our children. We always have a great time at the games. I'm sure there are more pictures, but here are just a few with Bells and Ruby.

Here is our SPIDERS Entering the court. I know there are almost NO people in the stands. That's because it was during one of our blizzards. BUT... WE WERE THERE!  WE almost died trying, but we got there.



Here are Ruby and Bells getting into the spirit of things!

There are three granddaughters who are just as thrilled as these two are. We are all a bit crazy, but it's fun!

Here we go Spiders! Here we go! Here we go Spiders! Here we go!

GOOOOOOOOOOOOO SPIDERS!!!!

Happy St. Patrick's day!

Happy St Patrick's Day Everyone! I hope you are wearing green. I am! I was trying to think of how I wanted to tackle this awesome day with my kiddies. St. Patrick's Day is a bit confusing to Ruby in particular. She has an Uncle Patrick so, she thinks it is his birthday. I thought instead of going the St. Patrick route, I would focus on leprechauns and the letter L and the color green.

Sidebar here!I did some research and learned that there is NO correlation between leprechauns and St. Patrick. The reason we always put those two things together is because us crazy American folks decided to jump in on the St. Patrick celebration and just threw in everything Irish  we knew about. Ha Ha Ha! And so, we celebrate St. Patrick, the man who banished snakes from Ireland (I know there is more to it, but I'm too lazy to tell you the rest when I know you can Google it just as well as I can!) by getting dressed up like tiny little people who hoard their pots of gold, and drink green beer! Who am I to stop a party? 

Here is how we celebrated St. Patrick's day at our house! Sorry kids. No green beer for you!

Here is my awesome bulletin board.

L is for leprechaun!!!Here are the leprechauns the kids made. The kids did really well. The ears were a little tricky for everyone. Bell's leprechaun looks a little like sloth from Goonies with his crooked eyes.

We worked on these hats too. They had to match the shapes up. K did an excellent job on this. He got all of the shapes facing the right way!  The kids had a blast with this and it was a fabulous review. 

It was an absolutely beautiful day outside. We played and soaked it in and looked for green things. Luckily there are a lot of green things outside! Here are Bells and Ruby relaxing after a long day of playing.

Ruby's confusion over St. Patrick's Day. Like I mentioned before she has an Uncle Patrick, so it make sense that she would be confused. The other kids just joined the band wagon.

Here is more of the confusion.

Happy St. Patrick's  Day!Oh and Uncle Patrick... I guess you get to have an extra green beer tonight since EVIDENTLY it's your honorary birthday!