Ketchup is Life

We went to my family's beach house a couple weekend ago and had a FABULOUS time! We went with Jason's family - mom, dad, aunts, uncle & cousin.

So on our way out of town, Jason was driving his dad's car and I had his mom with me and the kids in our car. Jason called my cell as we were leaving our house and explained that his dad forgot his wallet so we had to go back to their house. So relayed the message to my passengers and it started the following conversation:

Jenalyn: Mom, does everyone have wallets?
Me: Well, most adults have wallets. We use them to hold our money, credit cards, drivers license, and other important things.

A little time passed and then:

Jenalyn: Mom, does everyone have money?
Me: Well, everyone needs money. We need money to buy our food, pay for our home, buy clothes, and other things. So, we need money to live.
Corbin: And ketchup too, huh mommy? We need ketchup to live too!

I think he takes after Uncle Rendy *LOL* The boy loves his ketchup!

Here are a couple more pictures from our weekend:

Twi-i-i-i-light (the movie)

(left to right: Cari, Rachel, Cheryl, Jennie)

I got to see Twilight with my sisters! That was the best part of the whole movie...being with my sisters! We were like 14-year old giddy girls. Giggling, squealing, and swooning over Edward. Rachel got us all free tickets thru her work. THANKS again Rachey! I made us matching t-shirts *sigh* some turned out better than others.

The movie was just O.K. but a night out with my sistas was unbeatable! I wish I lived closer so we could have sister movie nights all the time! I lub you girls!

I hope someday I can give Jenalyn a sister. I can't imagine life without mine!

The Survivor.

When we got up this morning we kept hearing strange noises coming from the fireplace. We have a wood stove with a chimney pipe that attaches to the wall. It sounded like a small animal was caught inside the pipe just above the flume (which was closed, thank goodness!).

After some discussion we decided the poor animal would likely die slowly of starvation and end up stinking up the house, so we decided the best thing to do would be to light a fire and get it over with quickly. While I was lighting the fire (I'm the fire master in the house) I kept picturing a poor sweet little birdie and I almost couldn't do it! To make it easier for me, Jason said, "What if it's a bat! Or a rabid vampiric rat!!! *yikes* So the fire got lit and we closed the door and opened the flume.

After about 10 minutes I couldn't see the glowing from the fire anymore so I figured my fire had gone out (it's my first fire this season...gimme a break!). Not even thinking, I walked over and opened the door to the fireplace and, sure enough it was completely black inside! Charred, half-burned pieces of wood...and then...AHHHHH...a little black bird flew out at me! OH MY GOSH! I SCREAMED so loud!

I wish we had gotten it on video because it definitely would have won us $100,000 on AFV! Jason and I both leaped into action...actually our first instincts were to flee the room and close the door *LOL* leaving poor, defenseless little Corbin in the living room with the crazy-scared bird! Finally we both got our bearings and opened the front door and tried chasing it out. When it perched on our mantel with all of our family pictures a light bulb went off and I realized I should be snapping pictures for my blog *HAHA* but I was too slow! By the time I got to my camera the bird had flown the coop!

Jason, the germ-a-phobe that he is, ran around the room with the Lysol spray, spraying every surface the bird touched *LOL*

Good thing it wasn't a rabid vampiric rat!

(P.S. I didn't take that picture, found it online for reference.)

Daddy-Daughter Time

When Jason was young he was big-time into Lego's. I think, ever since I was pregnant with Jenalyn, he was anxious to play Lego's with his kid. In fact, the year I was pregnant with her, he got a HUGE Lego set for his birthday from his parents *lol* He made a cool ship that year that is still in tact. It is truly a work of art.

For Jenalyn's 5th birthday he bought her a little airplane kit for the two of them to put together. Jenalyn enjoyed it so much, Jason decided to get a bigger one. They put it together this afternoon while Corbin and I took a nap (I had a horrendous headache ALL day today!).

It was fun to listen to them interact while they worked together to get it done. Jason is such a great dad! He mostly just read the instructions. He helped her find the pieces and then let her put it together.

Jenalyn was so proud of their work. She "flew" the airplane all round the house afterward.

Mom...according to Jenalyn.

Here's a fun little kids' questionnaire I've seen floating around. I couldn't get any good answers from Corbin, so I just asked Jenalyn. She complained the WHOLE time and said it wasn't a fun game. But I decided it was my turn to have a little fun :)

1. What is something mom always says to you?
"Jenalyn, I always love you!"

2. What makes mom happy?
Lubs (loves) and flowers

3. What makes mom sad?
Hurting (Corbin is constantly beating me up - he's a tough kid!)

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
When you're silly!

5. What was your mom like as a child?
Shy (We've talked about this. I'm always so proud of how friendly she is!)

6. How old is your mom?
I don't know! Are you six?

7. How tall is your mom?
You're long!

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
Wash dishes and play with me! (Wash dishes...really?)

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
Take care of stuff at home.

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
Cooking on t.v. (Okay, I had to give her examples of what it means to be famous and this is what she picked from my examples...but it probably was the most appropriate.)

11. What is your mom really good at?
You're good at taking care of me and Corbin and the kitty too.

12. What is your mom not very good at?
Coloring...you are good at coloring pictures but you're not good at coloring pens. (I assume she's talking about drawing - that's dad's forte! He's great at drawing!)

13. What does your mom do for her job?
You work on your computer and talk.

14. What is your mom's favorite food?
Peanut butter and jelly (no, it is not.)

15. What makes you proud of your mom?
When you say, "Jenalyn would you like to watch a movie?" and I say, "Yeah!"

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
A Mom! (Oh, c'mon, couldn't I be someone glamorous or exotic like Jasmin?)

17. What do you and your mom do together?
Crafts!

18. How are you and your mom the same?
We're both girls!

19. How are you and your mom different?
Jesus makes us different! (Well, I guess she's right!)

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
Because Jesus wants us to love each other! ...is that a good answer? *LOL* (I think that because I'm her Primary teacher, she was trying to give me "Primary"-type answers at this point.)

Anyhow, so that was fun :) Thanks to Jenalyn for humoring me and hanging in there! I love ma'girl!

Chopsticks and Fortunes

I recently had to increase my hours at work because of an enormous increase in foreclosures! My boss assures me it's a temporary change, but who knows when the economy will look up. *shrugs* So now I work full days on Tuesday and Thursdays (still off at 11:00 M-W-F *woo*). I can't believe how soft I've become. Working 8 hours kicks my butt! It doesn't help when the house is a disaster when I walk in the door. So I got home, vacuumed and picked up the living room, unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher and wiped down the counters...NO WAY was I going to make dinner tonight too! (yes, I know I'm a whimp.)

So we splurged tonight and went to P.F. Chang's for dinner. I think I earned it! And it was delicious. Definitely a worthy splurge.

Jenalyn used chopsticks as much as she could - she only used her spoon for the rice. I was very impressed.
Fortunes:

Jenalyn: "Others find your charm irresistible" How very appropriate for my sweet bug.
Corbin: "Your dearest wish will come true" It totally did, too. We got our dessert like 2 minutes later!*
Jason: Nothing. Jason's cookie was devoid of fortune. Not even a blank strip of paper! I guess he has to make his own fortune.
Mine: "You will soon find someone who supports your cause." I guess I better decide what my cause is so I know when I find that person.

*Oh, let me tell you about this dessert! We ordered banana spring rolls with pineapple/coconut ice cream. YUM! It had caramel drizzled over the top. HEAVEN on a plate!