What did you do with this beautiful day?

This morning we were up and out of the house pretty early for a Saturday. Steven met up with his running club downtown. I jumped into the shower, while Jamie attacked the box of legos. Aubrey was able to sleep in until about 8:00. We made it out the door by 8:30, I dropped off Jamie at the coffee shop where Steven ends his run. Apparently, the boys had a triple chocolate trifecta! What you say? Yup, that would be a chocalote muffin, with hot chocolate, and...and...and chocolate gelato! The boys were out of control, while us gals were working for a greater cause!

This morning Aubrey and I, met up with our brownie troop at Loaves and Fishes, this is the area food pantry. We thought we were stocking shelves, but even better...we made sandwiches! These girls made "100" sandwiches, and stuffed the lunch bags in less than an hour. We were amazed, these girls are truly amazing, and for such a great cause. They learned so much today.

As you can see, they still snuck in a little fun while they worked...they said it was the "Eiffel Tower", however I think that they took this from "Angry Birds"!

After our work was done, we head out to play...well sorta! Aubrey had her soccer skills class today. We have mentioned it before, but you know me, I brought the camera.

This is a hour long class, it is a great little workout.

Now for your science lesson of the day.
You see last week our sweet neighbor Kelly requested for Steven to bring her some Petri Dishes, for a science project that she was going to do with washing her hands.
Steven thought that it was a great idea, and decided to bring some home for Aubrey too.
This is what they did. Steven and Aubrey formed a hypothesis, of what they thought would grow the quickest. I even heard him explaining how important it was to have a "Control" when doing a project...my thought was it is all was best to be in "Control"when doing a project! I even caught Aubrey telling another friend the other day that her "Hypothesis" was not accurate...really! I said, really Aubrey, she said "what...her prediction is completely wrong"! So, back to your education on satiation...I hope your stomach can handle this!

So these are the Petri Dishes...and this is the Bonic Eye. Aubrey got this for Christmas a few years ago, and every now and then we drag it out. Today, we took at closer look at some nasty stuff. Always...Always...always wash your hands!

You may even began to wash your cats paws...

So, Aubrey imprinted all three cats paws to see what would grow. Along with her hands, washed and unwashed. We even did Jamie's unwashed. Aubrey also licked the petri dish. Not much grew on that one. But, Sage had a lot on his because he was outside...so my "HYPOTHESIS" is that the cats need wash their paws when they come in from outside!

After looking at these lovely images the kids began looking at other things.
Steven pulled up his jeans on the screen. Just look at those fibers!

This is Aubrey's boo-boo on her ankle. Yes...this is yuck!

And this image...is Jamie's foot!

So, as you can tell...a completely boring day in the Gray house!

Carrots, Bikes, Tacos, and Dance

Remember those carrots? Remember that Steven and Aubrey planted them last Spring? Remember they rediscovered them last Sunday? Remember that you can wash them? Remember what they are good for?

We did...
Beef Stew Baby!

And it is good! O' yeah!

A funny this week, Jamie helped me set the table for dinner. He picked his and Aubrey's utensils, and then picked some out for Steven and I. I remember hearing him say that daddy needed a grown up fork and foon...aka spoon. He really has a had time with a "SP"...fiderman (spiderman), fot (spot), and it just goes on. Anyway, once I got to the table I noticed that he had set the table with the serving pieces. Yes, Steven did eat with his ginormous spoon. Me on the other hand, I did not even try.

The weather this week was really nice for the most part. I basically ran home after work, gathering the pollies from their schools. As soon as I could shed my work clothes we were back out the door with our bikes. I have had a blast getting back into my schedule. I was back at the gym three times this week, can I get a heck 'ya! Woot, woot.

I am so excited about the use these shoes have gotten this week. I made it to Zumba on Saturday, ran with the renegades on Sunday, gym on Monday, gym on Wednesday, gym on Thursday, and Just Dance Wii tonight! I am so glad to have them sitting on the stairs right now!

Now...Steven's kicks have a bit of an accessory to them! This is typical of our house at night, we are trying to set the table, empty the dishwasher, and get dinner on the table. There are always little distractions such as Jamie pulling this stunt or Aubrey practicing her cartwheels. But, we some how we make it to table.

Which brings me back to tonight! On the way home tonight, we told Jamie we had a secret and we wanted to share it with him. The secret was tonight is taco night. Which the pollies love. So, all the way home we played this game, screaming "TACO" and saying shhhh. Once we made it home, we had a blast listening to Hispanic music on Pandora as we cooked and fixed the table, and yes we danced in the kitchen...all four of us! I mean, how could you not?! Here are a few pics from the table...

Then after dinner, we needed to burn off those extra calories...with Just Dance, I believe Aubrey is still dancing in her dreams, she does so well at this!

It was not long before we had to break for a treat, tonight dessert was chocolate cherries (frozen), and then back on the dance floor!

I had to post this last pic, I love this picture of Aubrey laughing!

Growing, and Gaining by Grace "2012"

2012- And not just "Another"...but even better... "A New" year. I am making my first post for the year, since my last post took me a few weeks to get together, with all of that time, I was able to gather my thoughts for the first post for 2012.

I heard something yesterday that truly spoke to my heart...from my Zumba instructor, Terry G. ! She is so motivating. She said, don't come to Zumba to lose this year, come to gain. She said it is a new year, and think about what you want to get from this class, and don't think about what you want to take away. That struck me to my pinkie toes! Here I have been thinking about my new year, not really wanting to loose or adjust anything, but what truly I wanted to gain for the new year. I had not quite put it into perspective, like Terry. But, she help me to think about not trying to achieve my goals, but to sit back and let them come to me as I go through the year. I guess I try so hard to play puppet master and set goals and work so hard to achieve them in a year. Along with pleasing others. So, her motivating opener for the class, stuck with me, and I had to share it with Steven.

We are a very faith driven family. We love God and the Grace that he provides. We do our jobs, as part of our mission work. I believe that my job at the desk where I work provides comfort to the women that our doctors see. There are some sad situations, joyful blessing and great friendships that I have experienced sitting at my desk. I feel that God placed me there for a reason. Steven's job! I truly believe that he has a gift. The work that he has been doing is amazing, and the families of the children that he is doing this for, mean so much to him. With that being said, this year is going present some amazing adventures for us. We hope that this year will blossom into some graceful things from God. But, we both feel that we want to gain from the year and not take away anything. This morning during communion, we went to the Altar, we both wanted to lay out our worries, controls, and truly leave this new year into God's hands. As I was praying, God's quietly reminded me...as I am giving up the control, to stop thinking so much about mine and Steven's year, but to look at the Aubrey and Jamie's year too! To sit back and watch what they will gain in the new year. WOW...God, you are right, I was so thinking about Steven and I, that I needed to give more focus on the Pollies. Needless to say, I did go "All-God-like"on you, but this is who we are! We don't always talk about our faith, we are a bit more private with our prayers, but this is something that we feel strongly about.

2012, you are here, now do your thang!

Here are few pics, we have taken this month...

Jamie had a bestie come and visit...Caiden, for a Friday night brew-ha-ha!

Sweet Maiya...too!

Our Brownie...selling cookies again this year.

She says they are $4 a box, and they should be in near Valentine's.

Digging in carrots...

and my sweet super boy!

I think that we are going to enjoy this year!