January shenanigans and part of Feb, too!

January started off with a bang! The first Sunday Mike made his first full communion with the Catholic Church. He's been attending classes since October and will continue attending classes through Easter, but due to a few different factors he was able to "fast track" as he calls it and become Catholic before the Easter season. 

Mom and dad came up to help us celebrate this occasion. The night before we had them play some Wii games with the kids and it was pretty funny!! I don't have any pics of the cere the next day or the brunch we hosted afterwards, but it was defin a very special time and cause for celebration. 

Stella all dressed up for her JA Biztown interviews at school (more on that below). And she's not wearing lipstick, the carpool stopped for a treat that day on the way home and she got a red slush is so her lips are stained. I wasn't organized enough to get a pic of her before school. 

Porter working hard on his All About Me poster. He got to give a little presentation to his class a few weeks ago. 

On MLK day the kids were off school so we made plans to meet with friends at the Science Center because it was free admission that day. Pretty much all of the metro area had the same idea! The place was packed! 

After a quick lunch we met up with a few other families from my moms group for roller skating!

P's teacher sent me this pic of him giving his All About Me presentation. Parents aren't allowed to attend, which is totally cool with me! 

Stella wrapping up 1st season of bball. 

Part of her team. They had a great 1st season!

So back to JA Biztown. This is a program offered to schools in Iowa, not sure how many schools and how far they come from, but at our school kids starts its of JA Biztown in Kindergarten. It's pretty much learning about how a community works, taxes, etc. Each year expands from the year before. 5th grade is the final year and this field trip is a BIG deal! By now they've learned how to balance a checkbook, budget a paycheck, etc. This field trip was amazing. I had to go to a 2 hour training just to volunteer. The kids get "interviewed" for "jobs" they will hold at JA Biztown. Kids from the class can also run for mayor and District Attorney have to give speeches. Some kids made YouTube videos and whatnot. The kids from the class then vote for their favorite candidate. Stella wanted nothing to do with that bc she did not want to give a speech in front of the entire class. A few days after the "interviews" the kids find out what their job will be at Biztown. 

Stella ended up as CEO of the farm store. She was very excited about being CEO bc she earned more $$ as a CEO and therefore could buy more junk at Biztown. What she didn't know was that she had to give a speech in front of her entire grade the day of the field trip, but she did a great job! 

Stella and the CFO, sales manager and store manager of the Farm Store 

The entire 5th grade. 

Cold weather  = lots of board games for this family. Rex always seems to find his way into the game cabinet. More often than not we forget he's in there and close the doors on him until we hear him pawing the doors. 

Two Saturday's ago ended up as a mom/son day and dad/daughter day. 

Here is the highlights of P and I's day. 

He was my workout buddy. When I take the kids they like trying out all the different equipment. 

Out of order but he had a bball game that evening. 

Lunch at CFA after a good workout. 

After his bball game we met with with friends to watch the Iowa Energy game while the dads and daughters were at the dance. My friend had free ticket for the game through her work and we got to sit in the suites. So fun!

So the dad/daughter day started off in good ole Ames soaking up some Hilton Magic! Stella did an ISU women's bball clinic. She really liked it! Mike was also very impressed with the clinic and the ISU women's bball clinic staff. 

They stayed for part of the ISU girls bball game vs Oklahoma, but had to leave early to get back here for her bball practice. Mike helps coach, so they didn't feel they could miss practice. 

After practice it was straight to get ready for the daddy daughter dance. The theme was Dancing through the Decades. So you could go as any decade. Stella chose 90's Grunge and I told her no one would know what decade she was from. Afterwards she told me people kept asking why she was a farmer. LOLOLOL!!!! That cracks me up!

A friend sent me these pics she was there as a volunteer photographer snapping pics of the girls. 

I attended my 1st Caucus! Loved it! Packed house and I ran into quite a few neighbors and school friends. Will definitely do this again. I tried to get the kids come with me (Mike wasn't home), but they kept saying no. I saw quite a few of their friends. Packed house!

Last week was Catholic schools week and the kids had an early out so we had Eric over while Lucy hosted Berlins bday party. Warming up on a cold winters day with some FroYo. Haha!

Lunching with Stella and her homies. Porter never wants to lunch me me. That's cool! It was clash day for Catholic schools week. 

Last week was the annual school auction. Stole this from FB. Me and some of my SFA peeps. I also chopped my hair a couple weeks ago. It was a really fun auction and we are so grateful that nana and papa came up to watch our kids that night. 

Most of our auction purchases are "experiences" such as class parties, out of uniform pass, duct tape principle to the wall, etc. We did end up getting Porter's class gift this year (each grade is divided into 3 sections and each section of each grade makes a gift to auction off). This year P's class gift was a fire pit and each child painted a tile to surround the pit. I've been wanting a fire pit for a while so this was perfect!