Is She an Angel?

(Picture taken by yours truly on Friday, April 24 at Mt. Pisgah. Artsy filters thanks to Photobucket)

Yesterday morning Corbin woke up sick. He complained about his right ear hurting so I put a little cotton ball with rubbing alcohol in it and got him some Tylenol Meltaways. Soon after I put the meltaway on his tongue - like before it was even melted - he was complaining that his stomach hurt. I asked if he "had yuckies" (that's Zolli-code for are you gonna yak?) and he nodded his head. So I snatched him up off the couch and he threw up on the carpet *poor monkey-boy* so I whisked him into the bathroom to finish up and wash his hands. When I came out of the bathroom Jenalyn was just finishing cleaning up the carpet. CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT? She grabbed the Lysol wipes and was cleaning up her brother's "yuckies". *awe* I was so proud of her. Could she honestly get any sweeter? She amazes me every day with her sweetness.

She easily could have fled from the room shreiking at the nastiness! But she didn't. My sweet girl.

Wonderful Weekend

We had such a great day last Saturday. I can't not blog about it! We have done so many fun things this year and I'm doing a terrible job of documenting it. So I'll start here and press forward - maybe do some back-posts when I feel motivated.

So first thing Saturday morning we made breakfast. Jenalyn was very specific! She said she wanted pancakes with strawberries (we'd had some in the fridge since Sunday and it was driving her nuts) and blueberries - we had frozen blueberries so I dumped them into a pot with syrup and warmed it up together. Mmm...blueberry-infused warm maple syrup. Lucky for us, we also had some whipped cream on hand. We all pitched in and cooked breakfast together. Jason warmed up some left-over Easter ham for protein. It was so pretty that I snapped a picture. I love food.
After breakfast I got so much done! Vacuumed, swept, mopped, scrubbed the tub, toilet & sink, bathed the kids.

Jenalyn had a birthday party in the afternoon. It was at BOUNCE. Wow. What a fun place! She had so much fun. I got a couple cute videos. Can't help but share.

I love this video because I like the way her braids bounce when she's jumping on the trampoline. Then her bestest friend walks in and they greet each other with a *BIGhug* She just LOVES Madison! She broke down in tears the other day when we saw her mom at the store and Jenalyn learned that Madison is going to a different school for Kindergarten next year *sobs* it was heartbreaking!


Here she is flapping her arms like a birdie and and basking in the lime-light and making her classmates laugh. She loves making people laugh.


After the party we came home and got some rest and then Jason and I had a little date. It was darned near the best date of my life. We left the kids with a sitter and stopped by a RedBox for a movie, Quizno's for some grub, and headed down to Cottage Grove and out to Dorena Lake. It was such a beautiful night. We took a little walk around the lake and enjoyed the peace and quiet. I love the water. It is so serene.
Then after the sun set we put down the seats in the back of the van and snuggled up with blankets and watched Yes Man right there in the parking lot at the lake! It was so much fun.

Before we left for our date I told our babysitter what our plans were and she said, "That sounds like something teenagers would do. But that's cool, I guess it's fun to go back." *LOL* At first her comment made me feel really old, but she was right. I totally felt like a carefree teenager the whole night! After the movie ended we drove up to the dam and star-gazed. It was such a clear beautiful night. So picture-perfect. I was born a romantic and it reminded me of when I was younger and we would be out camping and I'd find a quiet spot, gaze up at the stars and dream of my prince-charming. And now here he was, standing right there with me. Awe sweet. It was just one of those wouldn't-rather-be-anywhere-but-here-type of moments.

The next morning I woke up with no voice and a sore throat *hmph* I was sick for three days! I'm not blaming the date or the lake, I felt the scratchy throat coming on Saturday, but I was having too much fun to slow down so it hit me like a ton of bricks the next morning.

Stray Cat

I'm posting this mostly to get that big pickle down further on the page. Jason says he's tired of looking at it. (*YAY* my hubby reads my blog!)

So we've had this scrawny black cat hanging around our house lately. I was outside with the kids today and Jenalyn was doting on it like it was the coolest thing to ever enter her life. I think she likes him so much because she can carry him around like a little rag doll (she can't hardly lift our big fat kitty). Corbin was unpredictable and crazy with him. Totally freaked me out. I don't know what this cat's kid-tolerance-level is.

Anyhow, Jenalyn made the comment. "I wish I had a cat just like this one." Hmm...I'm glad our Sultan wasn't in ear-shot. That would have killed him to hear her say that.

Later I was telling Jason about her comment and he said, "Did you tell her we DO have a cat just like that? In fact our cat is twice the cat he is!"

He's quite literally right. The stray is seriously skin & bones and our cat is certainly a well-fed indoor cat!

So now for a question. What would you do? Jason called the cat shelter and it costs $45 to drop off a cat. That's a LOT of money for a cat that isn't even our's! But the poor thing is seriously wasting away - and I'm not just saying that because it's such a stark contrast to our obese feline! The poor thing is so thin.

The alternative: Feed him? Because you know what happens when you feed a stray cat! They never leave!

What should we do?

(p.s. if you're wondering what those things on Jenalyn's wrists are, I cut the cuffs of a pair of her P.J.s a couple days ago because they were too tight but now she wears them around every where. She says they are "stylie")

Miss Know It All

Okay, so Jenalyn doesn't exactly look like that
<------------ but she has been a real smarty-pants lately. After just about every sentence I finish, she says, "What does ________ mean?" She asks it about big words, small words, slang words that don't mean anything, it's a little flustering actually. But I try to patiently answer all of her questions. I don't want her to ever think she can't ask questions. So the other day, after a million questions already, she asked me "What does fun mean?" *uhhh* Jenalyn, you know what 'fun' means! She said, "Well I just want to know everything."

She retains most of it too. It amazes me when she spouts off something to Corbin that I previously explained to her. Makes me proud *grins*

Corbin has been a real sweetie this weekend too. I always tell him, "You're my favorite little boy in the whole wide world!" Well, this weekend he started telling me, "You're the mommy in the best wide world." Yah, the words are out of order, but I know what he means. He loves me :)

Vocab-ala-Jenalyn

Pickelish: (adj) pik-el-ish
A word describing an object that has an odor which resembles a pickle.

We went out to dinner tonight and my sandwich came with a pickle spear. I offered it to Jenalyn. She doesn't normally like dill pickles - but she could eat grandma's homemade sweet pickles by the handful so I was interested to see if she would take it. She accepted it, and then sniffed it and said: "Mmm...it smells pickelish!"

She didn't finish the pickle. She took one, teensy-weensy bite and set it back down. I guess she'll stick with grandma's sweet pickles. Who wouldn't?

MILESTONE!

Jenalyn has her first loose tooth! I thought she was too young for that! She called me at work yesterday to tell me the big news! I'm so excited for her! I keep asking her to show me her "wiggle tooth." We both giggle every time.

I have to admit, I didn't fully believe it until I saw it with my own eyes. Partly because she's so young, and partly because we saw our friends this weekend and Aimee was showing off her loose tooth! But, lo and behold, IT'S LOOSE! No mistake about that!

(If you click on the picture above, it's the top right bucky tooth that's loose. The picture was taken in a tee pee at the a museum in Price, Utah. I'll be blogging about that later.)