The Chronicles of NJJ

Baby Animal Birthday Party

Your #1 Fan — Sat, 19 May 2012 15:54:21 +0000

A local farm was having a baby animal birthday party that sounded too cute to pass up.

Novalie was greeted by a sweet little lamb when we got to the farm. It came right over to her and they had a conversation. She claims to understand any animal language. Her and the lamb bonded.

We were promised baby piglets, but they were “kid” pigs, not babies. I was disappointed, baby piglets are the cutest! For the record, I still want a pig farm.

We went on a hayride, ate birthday cake, played some carnival type games, ewwed and awwed over the cute animals (the baby goats made us laugh)and….waited over an hour for Novalie to ride a horse for 2 minutes.

Seems worth it now to see this beautiful, big smile.

Thunder, the stuffed goat, got to come to the farm with us too. I love that Novalie still brings a stuffed animal friend with us wherever we go. It is pretty sweet.

Happy Birthday Baby Animals!

Fun with Mud!

Your #1 Fan — Fri, 18 May 2012 22:44:58 +0000

Novalie and her friend, Cameron, started out on her slip n’slide. The dirt next to the grass quickly flooded with the overflow of water from the slip n’slide. Before I knew it, I looked out the window and they were covered in mud. They decided playing in the big mud bath was much more fun than the slip n’slide. They were laughing and hiding eggs in the mud for each other to find, so I let them be. Mud is good for your skin anyway.

Just getting started. They were covered head to toe when they were done.

They had the best time! Well, that is until I had to spray them with freezing cold water to clean the mud off.

These two silly girls did this two days in a row after school. I am sure her mother was thrilled with me. (maybe that is why she hasn’t been able to play since? ) If you need a good mud bath, you now know where to come!

School Events

Your #1 Fan — Fri, 18 May 2012 22:18:51 +0000

Novalie’s class at school filled up their big jar full of marbles due to good behavior. As a result, their teacher let the students decide what their reward should be. The students that wanted to, presented an idea and then the class voted. Novalie’s idea of wearing jammies, bringing stuffed animals, pillows and blankets and watching a movie WON the most votes. She was mighty happy about that.

All ready for school with Dino (he was the lucky stuffed animal she chose out of her thousands…I kid, out of her hundreds). She stuck with the dinosaur theme and took her dinosaur fleece blanket and pillow with her dinosaur pillow case. I didn’t have any trouble getting her out of bed this morning! She even woke up before me and she was the first one in line at school (never happens). She was excited and just as excited when it was over because it was that much fun.

Novalie decided to participate in her school’s Fun Run they put on to raise money for new computers at the school. I swear I just donated money for that same thing last month, but whatever. (this school sucks money out of me at every turn)

It was rather cute and she got a real (as she tells everyone) medal. I got teary eyed as she crossed the finish line…yes, I am lame. It was just a K….geesh, wonder how much I will cry when she finishes the Boston marathon. Anything Novalie does that makes her proud of herself is going to make me cry. Every single time. Even running a kids K.

Warming up on her scooter.

And she’s off.

Two of her friends with their medals!

All the 3rd graders got to go on a field trip to the planetarium. It was their only field trip all year and I woke up sick. (I had bronchitis, but since every mother on earth went on this field trip, I wasn’t going to let Novalie down. I didn’t cough on ~~too many~~ any kids). I usually love this kind of thing. But, this day it was hot and loud on a 30 minute bus ride. The day dragged on and on. I was SICK. But, hey, Novalie can’t ever say I missed her 3rd grade field trip. (and I faked it the whole day, so Novalie thought it was the time of my life).

Novalie and her friend, Mackenzie. They are on Mars.

9 more days of school. It is chuck full of events. Which I volunteered for. Why do I do that?

Happy almost summer vacation!

My Little Sunshine

Your #1 Fan — Mon, 07 May 2012 18:42:26 +0000

Very Important Person

Your #1 Fan — Mon, 07 May 2012 18:35:03 +0000

Novalie patiently waited for her turn to be the V.I.P. for the week at school. She couldn’t narrow down her pictures to a few, so we covered a poster board front AND back with pictures of her life. During her presentation to the class, she talked about every single picture on the poster. I tried hard not to cry listening to her talk about her life and the people in her life. She has had a good, blessed life so far and I couldn’t be prouder of her! She is such an amazing daughter. Full of life and energy and passion.

Her display at school. She brought some of her favorite things to share.

What she wrote on her poster as some of her favorites:

Favorite color: pink & blue

Favorite food: mac & cheese

Favorite animals: polar bears & dolphins

Favorite Activities: art, scooter, bike, roller skates, swim & play

Favorite sports: tennis, basketball, volleyball & swimming

I like to sing a lot, I have a guinea pig, I like dogs, I love my friends, I love stuffed animals, I like to ride things (picture of scooter, bike and roller skates), I like animals, I like farms, I like car trips, I like packing in U-hauls, I like my 3DS, I like baby animals, I like toys, I like super heroes, I love my family and my life!

I am so blessed that this girl gets to be my V.I.P. very single day!

Creative Happenings

Your #1 Fan — Mon, 07 May 2012 17:08:07 +0000

Sometimes Novalie goes off and busies herself with something and we just leave her be to do her thing. She doesn’t like to be alone, so when she goes off and does something on her own we encourage it and give her tons of praise. She did this one afternoon and came announced she made a fair and asked if we would like to come. We were all over it!

Come to the fair!

One of the games she came up with. Where the bouncy ball lands is how many tickets you get.

Kevin trying his luck at the teacup game.

There were 7 or 8 games set up. We went around and played them all. Each game we won tickets and Novalie had prizes for us too. She was very proud of herself for creating a fair and we loved it! It was super cute! She is so amazing!

Novalie’s school had a read-a-thon that we participated in. It was an hour of reading and listening to a storyteller.

Novalie reading next to her friend. We were happy to support the school with reading.

We had a couple of very warm days. I got Novalie a slip n’slide that she got a couple days use out of before the cooler spring weather returned. She would start off with one friend over and pretty soon, 3, 4, 5 neighborhood kids would end up in our backyard.

Another day, Novalie disappeared into her room again to work on a project. I had no idea what she was making. She came out with a long paper chain. Just because.

That is just a few things that have been going on around here. :)

Protected: Easter 2012

Your #1 Fan — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 18:12:30 +0000

Protected: Spring Break Part Three

Your #1 Fan — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 18:56:46 +0000

Spring Break Part Two

Your #1 Fan — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 19:13:53 +0000

One of our favorite things to do when we go to the tri-cities is take walks around the Columbia River. This time we brought Novalie’s scooter with us and she loved riding her scooter on the docks.

Taking a break to play on the rings.

Skipping rocks and playing in the water. We came home with a pocket full of rocks which made me happy that Novalie still likes to collect rocks from the river.

Me and my baby girl sharing a moment.

♥♥♥♥

Novalie really, really, really likes playing Apples to Apples. We played almost every night with Janell and even got Kevin to play. Our last night there, Novalie wanted to have an Apples to Apples party, so we all sat around the kitchen table and played for a couple of hours. It was fun!

Novalie fell in LOVE with Jack the cat. They were pals for the week.

Novalie wanted to dye eggs with Grandma. She had a good time and decorated them with glitter glue and paints. They turned out cute, fun and creative like Novalie.

One day we went down to the river for a walk and it was too windy and cold. We thought maybe flying a kite would be fun. By the time we bought one and got home, the wind died down. Novalie lost interest pretty fast because the kite wouldn’t stay in the air for very long.

There is always the park! :)

Novalie got to work out in the yard with Grandpa which is one of her favorite things to do. They dug up last year’s onions and carrots that were left over. Kevin and I were able to go out to the movies while Novalie got to go with Grandma and Grandpa to get a ginormous yogurt with infinity toppings. I asked her how come she got so much and she said, “Because you weren’t there to boss me around, Mom!” Funny girl. After she saw how much she wasted, she understood why I “boss her” and only allow so much yogurt and two toppings. But what fun would it be to get yogurt with Grandma and Grandpa if you can’t get whatever you want! We love going to the tri-cities. It is always relaxing and fun.

Spring Break Part One

Your #1 Fan — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 18:50:42 +0000

For Novalie’s spring break, we went to Washington to visit Kevin’s family. We had a great time and packed a lot in to one week. Because I have a lot of pictures, I am going to write about our spring break in a few different posts. Novalie had many different activities to keep her busy during the 10 hour car ride. She got a few new things from Grandma and I got her some car trip treats and new activities. She was perfect during the road trip. She even said she loves road trips. Pretty impressive for a girl who doesn’t like to hold still. Her favorites were the window markers, writing stories, her 3D coloring tablet and her 3D DS. We listened to General Conference when we could get reception. It was a good, uneventful car trip.

Her present she got to open in the car. It had a bunch of stickers, window markers, new markers and treats.

A cute picture she drew on her 3D coloring tablet.

Sunday we enjoyed a day full of General Conference and lunch with the Jolley clan. Novalie and her cousins played a game of Apples to Apples, played outside for awhile and enjoyed a little bit of cousin time.

Monday, Novalie and I went to see friends. I wish we could have seen all of our friends, but there is only so many hours in the day. Sorry if we missed you, we will try to see you in the summer. We first went to Brande’s and Liz came over with her kids for lunch and a visit. It was so good and fun to see them. It felt like we had never left and yet it felt like it had been forever since I saw them too. It was great to just let the kids play and chat like we used to do every Tuesday.

Liz, me and Brande. Miss these ladies!

Novalie and Sonora.

Putting on a concert. Novalie loved to be behind that microphone.

All the kids. I love them all so much!

We then spent the afternoon with my dear friend Sarah and her kids. They are the first good friends we met when we moved to the Palouse in 2005. We have been through a lot together, gone on a lot of summer adventures together and I just miss our chats while our kids play (and fight ).

Sarah and me. :)

Novalie, Bella and Anna.

It was such a fun day and made me miss living there so much more. I love my friends and I miss them. Novalie misses her friends too, so this day was a real treat for us!