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!

Rock OUT!

Oh my goodness - Jenalyn SHOCKED me tonight! We went to Best Buy (...yes, I was dragged there, kicking and screaming, by my husband! That is NOT my favorite store because he will spend hours there. Painful.)

So anyway, I was wondering around with the kids trying to keep them entertained while Jason spoke to some random sales associate about the latest and greatest laptop. We came upon their t.v. displays. They have one set up to showcase their surround sound equipment. It looks like a little living room with laminate flooring *lol* well, Jenalyn begged me to stop and she jumped down from the cart and ran out into the middle of this little living room set and started ROCKING OUT! WHOA! Where did she learn to play air guitar (ehem...Mason, maybe?) I seriously had no idea there was a rocker under that sweet facade. I have no idea where she learned all that. I stood their with my jaw on the floor until I realized...ohmigosh...I have my camera in my purse! SWEET! I captured the moment for you all to see :)

Egg. Nog.

Yumm. Oh! (Made you crave it, didn't I?)

Ever since I first noticed eggnog in the stores this season, I've had it conveniently stocked in my fridge! I love that stuff!

I buy the low fat kind. Did you know, low fat eggnog has the same amount of fat as 1% milk? And I can't even tell the difference. Plus, it helps me avoid that guilty feeling when I drink 3+ glasses in one day (Don't judge me. I'm drinking my milk!) My favorite is to fill my cup 1/2 way with eggnog and then dilute it with milk. It thins it out a little so it isn't so thick and rich...so I can drink MORE :)

So far I have:

• Added it to hot cocoa
• Poured it over my cereal (sugar overload! I don't recommend that first thing in the a.m.!)
  
• Used it in place of milk for french toast (again - sugar overload...but definitely worth it!)
• Took it to preschool for snack time - okay, I didn't personally get to enjoy that, but I was told the kids LOVED it and that was almost as satisfying!
  

I would like to:

• Turn it into homemade ice cream
• Make warm custard out of it.
  
• Stir it in with my pancake mix
• Have it in a beautiful crystal cup topped with a serious helping of whipped cream and a dash of nutmeg...like the picture shown above.
  

Speaking of seasonal treats. Have you heard of the new Pumpkin Spice Hershey Kisses? Apparently they are only available at Target...er...every Target but my Target! I've been looking for them for WEEKS! I want to try this recipe but I can't find the stinkin' kisses anywhere! I bought candy corn kisses - but I'm not excited about them! Mama loves pumpkin! (okay, I love me some candy corn too...but the kisses didn't do anything for me.)

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!