Halloween Dress Rehersal

Jenalyn the Fairy and Corbin the Ninja.

Jason was adamant this year that he get to pick Corbin's costume. He put his foot down and insisted it was his turn to pick a costume *lol* I think both costumes came together pretty nicely! Jenalyn got that cute fairy skirt from cousin Cassie for her birthday. (THANKyouCASSIE!)

We went to Borders Spooktacular Kids' Party today. It was fun to have another occasion to wear Halloween costumes - makes it seem more worth the money we spent on them :)

We met my friend and her son at the bookstore. The kids had a great time - I think they had the most fun after we left the party and got cookies and let them play outside. They could be as loud and crazy as they wanted...and they were!

I love this picture. Jason is a sword enthusiast so he does "sword practice" with the kids every now and then with their plastic swords. It was fun to see Corbin "sword fighting" fearlessly with a bigger kid :)
Austen and Corbin both dressed up as Ninjas. Austen is so good with Corbin. They had a great time together!

Two-Dollar Tuesday at tha zoooooo...

We went to the Zoo this last Tuesday to take advantage of their $2-Tuesday deal. We try to go every year around Jenalyn's birthday. We had a FABULOUS time this year. The weather was perfect and the animals were lively, for the most part. Jason's Aunt Nancy met us there (didn't get any pictures with her tho *hmph*). The kids did great - even Corbin who missed his nap. We brought the stroller but didn't use it. The kids were just too excited to sit in a stroller!

I promised my mama tons of pictures, so here they go:

M'kay, this Sea Lion was truly the coolest! He was doing laps around the windows. Corbin was in awe of him. I think it was probably his favorite part of the whole day!

Jenalyn was so fun that day! The way she would pose for pictures cracked me up! She's such a fun girl. Even if I wasn't her mom, I'd totally want to be friends with her! She just has a great personality!
That last picture of Corbin was cute. He was looking at the Black Bears. One of the big bears kept walking right by the glass where Corbin was standing. They were nose-to-nose! Thank heaven for that thick plate of glass!

Alrighty, this polar bear deserved his own light - the hi-light of Jason's day, I think. Well, the polar bears are his favorite anyway, but this was hilarious! We were all standing there gazing at these huge, amazing creatures! There was quite a crowd. Well, this big bear sauntered up, backed up to the window and proceded to "drop logs" right there in everyone's face! OH MY! *lol* I could hear Jason laughing over everyone else. I guess now we know how he feels about being in captivity! (If you click on the picture you can see Jason's reflection in the glass).
Finally, after we left the zoo we stopped by the temple. My kids don't get to see the temple often enough so we wanted to take advantage of our time in Portland. Well, Corbin passed out in his car seat within 2 minutes on the road so he and Jason stayed in the car. It was fun to walk around the grounds singing I Love to See The Temple with my little girlfriend! Of course I took pictures!

Bosses Day

Just a little shout-out to my awesome boss, Nancy. This picture was taken last year at my 10th anniversary cake reception (not an especially flattering picture, I know). Last year (10/20) was my tenth anniversary with the firm and this year (9/7) is my tenth anniversary working with this lovely lady! Interesting little tid-bit, 9/29 of that same year (Nancy's birthday) was my first date with Jason! That's right - Nancy and I have been together longer than me and Jason.

She raised me from a pup! The first attorney I ever worked for. I've worked for other attorneys in addition to Nancy over the years, but she has been my constant!

I have her to thank for my part-time schedule. Family is as important to her as it is to me. I don't believe I could work for a more understanding person as far as the demands of being a mom are concerned.

LOVE YOU NANC! Thanks for everything!

'nuther Birthday Celebration...

Jenalyn is a lucky-ducky girl! She had yet another birthday celebration yesterday! Jason's aunts, Nancy and Dale came to town and brought Gramma Jan with them. We had pizza, cupcakes, ice cream sandwiches and lots and lots of presents! SO MUCH FUN!

Jenalyn got lots of wonderful gifts. Including another wham-o of a gift...dun dun dun...a PRINCESS PLAY HUT! She was [and still is] soooo excited about it! She was asking everyone for a playhouse! (Kinda embarrassing, actually! I need to teach that girl some manners!)

The thing is HUGE! The four of us sat in it last night for our night-time routine. Yes, that's two adults and two children! The kids can stand straight up in it.

She loves it so much! We let her sleep in it last night - she didn't fall asleep until about 10:30...way toooo excited!


BTW - totally off topic! My hubby is the spider-slayer! While typing up this post, our office was invaded by a HUGE, UGLY spider! Yeah, he's dead now! I'm not going to say he does it with much finesse, we argued back and forth for at least two whole minutes over whose turn it was to do the deed! *lol* but in the end, my hero came thru.

Two Sundays Ago...

I've been meaning to blog about this for two weeks now! So I'm just going to get it done before another Sunday hits me!

I was released as the Beehive Advisor *gasp* I KNOW! I was heartbroken! I love those girls so much! We had a group hug and shed some tears together. When they announced it in Sacrament Meeting I made eye contact with one of my faves who was sitting across the room and she traced her finger down her face like a tear and I mouthed back, "I KNOW!"

But I certainly did my time. I taught that class for 4 years and 9 months! My oldest Beehive graduated from High School in June - that means every young woman in our ward right now was once my Beehive *sniffle*

While I was really sad to be leaving my girls, I was excited for my new calling. I'm now Jenalyn's Primary teacher *woohoo* CTR5. I have 4 new little girls to teach (all of them were at Jenalyn's birthday party!). Tomorrow will be my first real class with them.

Also, two Sundays ago, we decided to have a no-TV day - I know, that's something we should always do. But we're not always good about it. I think it's going to be a new house rule! It was such a nice day! The kids played together so well. And, while Jason and I were in the kitchen making dinner, we peaked in on the kids and found this:


Jenalyn was "reading" a Curious George book to Corbin. Then she would have him put the book back and get a new one. It was really very sweet.

After dinner they had a little fun with daddy. *sigh* it was just a good day! Every Sunday should be like that!

My movie soundtrack

Tagged by my sis, Bethy-sue - this was so much fun!

So, here's how it works:
1. Open your music library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, Etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press Play
4. For every question, Type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button

My opening Credits: Enjoy the Ride - Sugarland

Waking Up: Upside Down - Jack Johnson (*lol*)

First Day At School: Take me as I Am - Sugarland

Falling In Love: Clumsy Card House - Blue October (that's kinda funny, if you've heard the song)

Breaking Up: All American Girl - Carrie Underwood

Prom: Weaknesses - Blue October

Life's Ok: Talk of the Town - Jack Johnson

Mental Breakdown: Hope - Jack Johnson (lol again!)

Driving: Life is a Highway - Rascal Flatts (I'm seriously NOT breaking the rules! NO JOKE!)

Flashback: Would you Go With me - John Turner

Getting Back Together: Heaven or Las Vegas - Cocteau Twins

Wedding Scene: Balance Beam - Blue October

Birth of Child: Everlasting Friend - Blue October

Final Battle: Bubbly - Colbie Caillat (definitely NOT battle scene music!)

Death Scene: Angel - Jack Johnson (I'm NOT making this up! Honestly!)

Funeral Song: Come in Closer - Blue October (that's a little creepy, huh?)

End Credits: Better Together - Jack Johnson

I think it's pretty fun to see how it turns out so if you think it is too you should do it!!!

The Birthday Party

We had Jenalyn's birthday party last night. We had a really hard time narrowing down the guest list. Our house is so small so we could only invite a few friends. But I think everyone had a good time. We had a "Pretend Slumber Party." We asked everyone to come in their P.J.s and bring their favorite stuffed animal. We did slumber party activities...then sent them all home to sleep in their own beds *hahaha*

I'm liking bullets right now, so here is what we did, in bulleted list form:

• We built a fort in the living room.
• We made "Teddy Totes" for their stuffed animals.
• We ate pizza.
• We ate popcorn and watched a short little show: 64 Zoo Lane.
• The kids played hide 'n seek - this was an impromptu activity - not something I planned. The kids organized it themselves *lol* lots of squeals and giggles.
  
• We ate cake and ice cream.
• Opened presents *woot*

Now for the pictures...

The girls in the fort:
Singing "Happy Birthday" - Jenalyn basked in the attention:
I found this awesome cake idea on FamilyFun! It was SO easy to make - and I think it turned out pretty great. The hardest part was mixing a purple color for the beadspread *pfft* it totally looks gray! Oh well. The original idea was to let the kids each decorate their own face for the cake, but we had 7 girls and only 5 kids fit on the cake - so the adults did the faces while the kids watched their little show.
All the girls eating their cake - in planning this party, I never considered where everyone would sit - we only have four chairs! *lol* they didn't seem to mind sitting on the kitchen floor!And the "icing on the cake" Jenalyn got a WALL-E toy!
Ohmigoodness...ohmigoodness! My BFF Venessa made this little girl's wishes and dreams come true! Ever since we saw the movie Jenalyn has been wishing on every star and praying night and day that Wall-E would come to our house! FINALLY, Wall-E has returned to earth from the Axiom *lol* (we told her it takes a long time because space is very far away). Anyhow, this picture cracks me up. Look at that face! And the box is a blur - she was SO excited! We've had a couple altercations amongst the siblings in the last 24 hours over this toy. Corbin loves Wall-E almost as much as Jenalyn does! I think we need to get EVE now so they can each play with one.

Jenalyn is FIVE!

Jenalyn turned 5 years old on Wednesday! (oh my gosh! I have a FIVE YEAR OLD!!!) *deep breath* I think she had a pretty great day. Here are some highlights:

I let Jenalyn pick her birthday breakfast - she picked cereal straws. I woke up early that morning so I wouldn't be too rushed to eat breakfast with the family. I decorated the table special for her the night before. She loved it! Here she is slurping milk thru her straw:
She got to take snacks for preschool - they discourage cupcakes and I always try not to take anything too sugary (I swear I'm not a sugar nazi - look what she had for breakfast!!) so we got popcorn (Jenalyn's absolute favorite!), grapes and juice. I fixed her hair special for school too!
I was *soproud* how it turned out! (I got the idea off a blog - I'd link to it, but I have so many bookmarked, I can't remember which one I saw it on.) Anyhow, they made her a special birthday crown at preschool:
For dinner we went to Putters - a GREAT pizza place. It has a big indoor playground! We let the kids play like crazy while Jason and I ate our salads. When the pizza came, they weren't played-out yet, so we let them keep going until the pizza cooled down. There was only one other family in the playground/eating area so it was relaxing to just let the kids go nuts and not worry about it.

Here is Jenalyn chatting it up with Aunt Jennie on mama's iPhone while we were ordering the pizza:
The kids on one of the slides - my new favorite picture! It makes me giggle.
So my Jena-Bug is now considered a "kid" - she's not a baby, not a toddler, a KID! I have a big kid! Bah - she'll always be my baby girl! I love you so much, Jenalyn! Here are some of my favorite things about my baby girl:

• She seems to know when I need a hug or just an "I love you".
• She's very polite. She says "excuse me" "please" and "thank you" ...most of the time.
• She's great at sharing. It's not uncommon for her to break her snack in half and offer it to someone.
• She's [usually] really good at cleaning up when asked to. She is great at doing our chores and making her bed.
  
• She loves to help! Whether I am cooking, doing laundry, vacuuming, cleaning the bathroom, unloading the dishwasher - anything! She always offers to help.
• She makes the loveliest music! No matter what she is doing, she's either humming or singing. It is very pleasant to listen to!
• She has an appreciation for all things beautiful. i.e. flowers, ribbons, kittens, jewelry, sunsets or pretty dresses.
• She is very social - not at all shy like I was. She'll talk to anyone!
• She likes to play with her brother.
• She's always good for a snuggle!
• It is SO easy to make her laugh! And her giggle lights up my whole world!
  

I am so incredibly grateful and blessed to have her in my life and in our family. I truly believe she is one of Heavenly Father's finest!

I LOVE YOU, SUGAR BUG!

Good Girl

I always drill Jenalyn about what she did at preschool, who she played with, what kind of story they read, what they had for snacks, etc. I just like to hear about her day :)

Here is how it went yesterday.

Me: How was preschool today, Jenalyn?

Jenalyn: It was good.

Me: What did you have for snacks today?

Jenalyn: Crackers and juice - but I didn't have any juice. Sally got me some water.
(Sally is her teacher who she named her dolly for.)

Me: You got water and everyone else got juice? Why is that?

Jenalyn: I told Sally that juice is too sugary and it would make me wild. I didn't want to be too wild for preschool.

LOL! Her teachers must think we are sugar-nazis now! ...which we're NOT, by the way. I mean, yeah, we try not to give the kids too much sugar, but we're not nuts about it.

(p.s. this picture was taken at in June - so it's not recent - but it's one of my favorites! I love that sweet smile, that long beautiful, slightly curled hair, the loving, motherly way she's holding Sally-girl. *sigh* She's so beautiful to me!)

Where'd He Go?

Last night around 10:00 Jenalyn called for me because she needed to use the bathroom. When I went in their bedroom I couldn't see Corbin anywhere! Do you know how scary that is? I'm sure my heart stopped. He wasn't in his bed, he wasn't in Jenalyn's bed, he wasn't in the rocking chair...it was dark and I couldn't find him anywhere! After freaking out a little (or maybe slightly more than a little) I found him snuggled into the small space behind the rocking chair. *sigh*

It didn't look like he had fallen off his bed because he was laying on his pillow all wrapped up in his blankie. He was fast asleep. When I moved him back to his bed he barely stirred.

Of course I got pictures for the blog! *lol*When I put him down for a nap this afternoon he asked if he could sleep on the floor. Crazy kid! I'm sure his bed is more comfortable than the hardwood floors!

End of Summer...bummer

I can't believe summer is over already! We had a pretty great one this year! We did a lot of fun things. But it's getting colder now and the Oregon rain is inevitable! My toes are cold and the spiders are finding their way into the house *yikes* But I love digging out my comfy sweaters. I'm going to miss the warm sunny days. But I love fall in Eugene! It's so beautiful when the leaves start changing and falling. It's gorgeous!

Date Night!

We went to the cheapie theater tonight and watched Iron Man. This was Jason's third time seeing the movie and my first. It was a pretty good movie. Mostly I just liked being able to snuggle my hubs during the movie. We usually have two kids sitting between us.

I can't remember the last time we went to a movie just the two of us. It has been way too long. We really need to do this more often.

Thanks to Heidi & Chris for watching our kids!

Thanks to Jason for a wonderful evening out. I love you!

Kicked in the Nose

Not really kicked ...KIX actually. Corbin stuck a piece of Kix cereal UP his nose...and it got stuck! He is his father's boy! Jason has a history of sticking Legos up his nose.

When Jason called to tell me about it I could hear Corbin crying in the background. It was driving him absolutely NUTS! Poor kid!

Jason, with the use of a flashlight and tweezers, attempted to retrieve the cereal. he got bits and pieces of it, but he couldn't get it all.

I asked him to call the pediatrician (I was at work when it all went down). I begged him to not make light of it. Try to be serious on the phone (he was cracking jokes all over the place when we talked: It's nuthin' to get all soggy about!). He called me back and said, "I was serious - but they were laughing!" He said the receptionist suggested that we just add milk. *lol*

So the nurse suggested that we bring him in so they can be sure to get it all out. If there was any debris left in there it could get infected. So we set an appt for 3:00 in the afternoon - that was the soonest they could get us in. Good thing it wasn't an emergency, huh? Well, by 3:00 the cereal was gone. The Dr. did a very thorough search of both nostrils and found nothing *lol* We're guessing it got soggy and slid down the back of his throat *ack*yuck*ewww*

He was such a good little patient though. He layed across my lap with his arms folded while the doctor shoved her otoscope up his nose. I think he found it amusing.

He was later caught trying to stick Jenalyn's bead bracelet up his nose. *sigh* Heaven help him!

CHORES

I found this really cute idea on Lets Explore and decided it was easy enough for even me! So I whipped up a chore can for my little family. I used an empty can from our food storage and scrapbook paper I had on hand. *SO EASY* and it cost me NOTHING! I used the chore ideas from the above website and adapted them to fit my family/house.

I just made it last night so I haven't had a chance to use it with the kids yet. But I have a feeling Jenalyn will be very excited about it! Not sure how Corbin will react.

I have wanted to implement daily chores for a while now. I think Jenalyn is old enough for that level of responsibility and I want my kids to know how to work, and most of all I want them to know that keeping the house clean is not just mom's responsibility.


UPDATE (5:30 p.m.):
It was a HIT! Jenalyn did three chore cards! She kept asking for more! Corbin did one, but he helped Jenalyn with one of her's too. Jenalyn got: tidy bathroom - wipe down counter and sink; clean off refrigerator; and tidy shoes under the bench. Corbin got: dust the living room.

When Jenalyn was finishing up with the bench chore she took some things to her room to put them away and she didn't come out for a while. I asked what she was doing and she said, "I'm making my bed!" *heehee* She didn't even pick that chore card! I guess she was just in the groove.

So anyway, YAY for chores! Yay for little kids who enjoy helping clean the house. And Yay for the lady at Lets Explore.

First day of school (Pre-K)

Today was Jenalyn's first day back to school. She's in Pre-K this year. They meet three times a week for two hours this year. I explained to her that they will probably be doing more learning and more "big-kid" stuff this year. I think that made her feel so grown up. She was so excited! It was fun to see her walk into her classroom and throw her arms around her favorite teacher, Sally! She picked this flower (er...morning glory) especially for Sally.