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.

Yeah for Local Farms!

We went to Thistledown Farm today because I heard a commercial on the radio Friday morning that talked about fresh peach pie and I haven't been able to get it out of my head!

We actually had time to let the kids play and enjoy the farm when we went this time. Usually we get there right before closing time so we have to hurry.

Glad I had my bloggin' camera handy! (Yes, I took that picture of the windmill - I felt pretty artsy about that!)

They have the perfect place for photos! It's a little foot-bridge-type thingy that is surrounded by overgrown bushes and flowers. PERFECT!

I wish someone else had been there to take a picture of all of us - this would be a great setting for a framable family photo!
Ooooh the goats! I had a hard time pulling the kids away from them! I think the goats thought we were going to feed them. Corbin tried giving them some sticks and twigs...but apparently they don't like that stuff *shrugs*So, for lack of better things to blog about (it's been boring around here since my family left), there you have our day at the farm (actually it was more like our hour at the farm, but that has no ring to it!)

No More Curls

Jena-bug got her very first haircut while Gramma-Nee was here. Her hair was so long and pretty...but it was fine and curly at the ends so it was constantly tangled! But my worst fear was realized! I had put it off for so long because I was afraid of losing her pretty curls...and they are gone now *whimper* BUT, her hair is so much easier to brush thru. She doesn't yell at me nearly as much! ...and that's a good thing!

Getting a good-night kiss from grandpa:
She was such a good little customer! She was actually very excited for this! She has been asking for a hair cut for a while now. She has seen the rest of us get hair cuts and she was wondering when it would be her turn.

It was definitely harder on me than it was on her! After the first couple snips I gasped and nearly cried! Then she saw the look on my face and got really worried so I quickly regained my composure for her sake!I'm just so mad at myself for not getting good before and after pictures! It just sickens me! These will have to do:
Her hair looks shorter when it's dry. Maybe I'll take a picture tomorrow. It's bone straight - just like mine now! But it looks much cleaner and neater now. I can still do pretty hair-do's with it! I love my bug's hair! Sometimes I go into a trance just brushing it! It has so many different, beautiful colors!

THANK YOU MOM - for giving Jenalyn her first haircut :) we love you!

Singing Talent

Yeah - I'm not talking about me. I'm a horrible singer! I'm talking about my kids! I got a couple video clips of my sweeties singing over the past couple days that were totally blog-worthy!

We went to Carl's Jr. for lunch the other day and got the kids chicken stars...Corbin immediately started in with "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." I made him sing it a second time so I could get it on video - just to share with you all *wink*


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Uncle Greg and Aunt Cheryl bought Jenalyn new princess dress-up clothes while they were here last week. We were lucky enough to be graced by a performance after she got it all on. Here is Jenalyn performing "I Wish" from the CareBears Big Wish Movie.

It's a long song (I was impressed that she remembered the words so well) I had to cut out the beginning of the video because it was too big to upload here. But the cutest part is the end anyway! I love her facial expressions.



So we're pretty much ready for the American Idol auditions, am I right?

Family Visit

Okie doke - it's been too long since my last post! Sorry 'bout that! I've received adequate "heck" from my mom & sisters! I'll try to do better.

I promised my sister Jennie that I would keep her updated with picture EVERY DAY - well, I'm a failure! This is my first update for her! Please forgive me Jen! I'll sum it up for ya now. I haven't been great about taking pictures *gasp* I know!

So most of my family got here last Friday night (8/15). We all had dinner on Grandma's back deck. Nuthin's better than Gramma's lasagna on Gramma's deck in the summer! Who cares if it was near 100 degrees outside that day *pfft* It's pretty sad when you're wishing it would rain on your picnic! *lol*

Jenalyn loves her cousins so much! Jason is an only child so the kids' only cousins are on my side...and they ALL live in Utah! So whenever we get together that little girl is in HEAVEN!

Here is a pic of my mom and the cousins laying on the grass just after sunset picking out shapes in the clouds and watching the stars come out (no, they're not posing for this picture - they barely acknowledged me and my camera. This is totally candid!):

The next day some of the guys went golfing, Jason and Uncle Mark took all the younger boys to Big City Gamin' (btw: Jason made that website - I'm so proud of my hubs!) and us girls went grocery shopping to get ready for our trip to the coast. Here's Jenalyn and cousin Leslye at Taco Bell before we hit the grocery store:

That night we went to Papa's Pizza for dinner. The kids had a great time in the play ground - even tho it was hot enough to be a sauna! *ugh* It was seriously unbearable! I don't think kids feel temperature when they're playing! We couldn't keep them out of that sweltering room! I don't understand it. Here's Corbin and Leslye on the lil' merry-go-round - I just love Leslye's cheeser grin, don't you?

So after church on Sunday we drove out to the coast to stay at Grandma's beach house. Ahhh...we had a wonderful time despite the torrential rains and the thunder storms!

Here's a picture of Jenalyn and Leslye on Grampa Jerry's lap during our little night-time routine:

On Tuesday we drove down the coastline and met up with Jerald & Rendy's families at a the Cape Perpetua campground/picnic area for lunch. It was breathtaking! It was so beautiful! So green and lush. I love this State! Here are my lovies on the awesome looking bridge! I couldn't get them to look at me. The creek down below was much more interesting!

I asked Colton & Mason (Rachel's boys) if I could take a picture of them on the bridge. This is what I got when I asked them to smile! Have you ever seen more forced smiles:
Okay, Jenalyn trumps their fake smile here:
Yeah - they were all excited to leave this place and get to the beach already!

Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Greg shocked us all by showing up Monday afternoon! They said they weren't coming *HA* They changed their minds at the last minute and didn't tell anyone but dad & Jason. Here's everyone's favorite aunt & uncle with all the kiddos after breakfast Tuesday morning.
Holy COW - this post is getting long. I'm almost done, I promise!

This morning Jenalyn was excited and lucky (lol) to get to hold Cheryl's baby Boston. She was so sweet and tender with him. She also got a tubby bath with him in the jacuzzi tub last night - but those pictures are on Cheryl's camera. I'll hafta get back to ya with those *wink*
Okay, there's the recap. Again, sorry it was so long. More updates to come. We still have two more days. Wish we had more! I haven't gotten enough yet!

"I don't fink so"

Corbin's most common phrase these days, "I don't fink so, mommy!" We never went thru the common phase where they say "NO" to everything! I thought I got lucky this time. I can't decide if this is worse than that. It was cute at first...but now it's darned near maddening!

Please pick up your toys. "I don't fink so!"

Are you going to be a nice boy? "I don't fink so!"

Take another bite of your dinner. "I don't fink so!"

Oh, and you know how you never realize how often you say something until your kid repeats it? Tonight Jenalyn was asking him to play with her and he said, "I can't do it right now Jen-nin!" *ugh* I'd been feeling like I was putting the kids off too much for housework lately! Then when Corbin said this it was like all the times I'd said it thru the last couple weeks pummeled me! I guess I better schedule in some serious play time with the kids tomorrow, huh?

Weekend BBQs & Tattoos

Ahhh...good friends! We were remembering back to the last time we got a good picture of the four of us...it hasn't been since Venessa & Rick's wedding almost 8.5 years ago!

We've had such a fun weekend! Saturday we went to my firm picnic. It was so much fun. My little family won FOUR door prizes! FOUR! That's right, each member of my family is a winner! It got a little embarrassing by the third time we won! But of course we didn't turn down the prizes! Three gift cards to Cold Stone and one to Red Robin. Yeehaw!

They also had a temporary tattoo artist there. She did airbrush tattoos :) We each gone one. Corbin got a "di-mee-saur":
Jenalyn got Good Luck Care Bear:

Jason got barbed wire around his big beefy bicep:

And here's me! *lol* I'm well known in the office as the goodie-two-shoes. Here I am hiding my bad girl tat underneath my hair!

They had some fun activities for the kids. Jenalyn blew some gigantic bubbles and also painted pictures of Wall-E and EVE.

Corbin gave us all a scare when he turned up missing for a whole 15 minutes - felt more like 5 hours! I was terrified, running horrible scenarios thru my head! In the end, Venessa found him at the far end of the park doing laps around a tree. *whew* I gave him the what-for thru my tears and he was so sweet. He seemed so concerned that I was worried and sad. Hopefully he'll remember that and never wander off again! Honestly - I took my eyes off him for ONE minute!

Some other things we did this weekend:

• Swimming at the toddler pool Thursday afternoon.
  
• Dinner with the Hesses Thursday night.
• Dinner with the Jeskeys Friday night.
• BBQ with our "friendship group" from church at the Bevans' house Saturday night after the firm picnic.

I think my kids had more fun this weekend than they've had in a loooong time! So many other kids to play with! Corbin was so disappointed after church when I said we were going home. And tonight after dinner Jenalyn said, "Lets go to someones house!" She is such a social bug. I need to plan some play dates for this week!

I love our friends. We are so blessed with good people in our lives!

NINE years ago...

...I got hitched to that guy on the left (*gasp* look how much hair he had)! Thursday, July 22, 1999 in the Portland Oregon LDS Temple. It was a beautiful, sunny day.

This morning we watched our wedding video with the kids. It was fun to point out the people they know - people who look totally different today than they did NINE years ago *lol*

We went to the temple last Friday. It was fun to be there so close to our anniversary. I get so sentimental remembering it all. I know it sounds cliche, but it truly was one of the best days of my life!

We didn't do much in the way of celebration today. We did have a nice day though. Jason and I cooked dinner together - I love cooking with him! We had stir-fried pork and lemon pudding cake with blueberries for dessert. It was delicious! (if you don't subscribe to the Kraft Food & Family magazine, you should! They're great! Plus, it's a free subscription!)

WAIT - this wasn't a plug for Kraft, this is an anniversary post!

So, Jason surprised me with a beautiful rose this afternoon. We had a wonderful day hanging out. We both took today off so we spent the whole day together!

Here's to another year of wedded bliss *cheers*

Twilight T-Shirts

So I got this idea in my head for a t-shirt for the Breaking Dawn release party (eeeee...just 11 days!!!). So I spent all night designing it and my dear sweet hubby helped me set up an account with CafePress.com. I gasped a little at the total price after shipping. I want to ensure you that I didn't mark them up AT ALL. I will not get any money from any sales. But I wanted to share my design with my friends :) feel free to order one if you wanna!

Check it out!

I'm going to Wal-Mart tomorrow to see how much it would cost to make my own. I'll let ya'll know if it's significantly cheaper.

Do you think I'm nuts? Okay, maybe I am. Who cares!!!

Here's another little image I created. I fell in love with the hands image - of course because of the Twilight cover - so I thought I'd share that too. I didn't use it on the t-shirt because I wasn't sure how well the hands would transfer to a shirt.

I hope this saying hasn't already been copywrited by someone else *lol*

Memory Lane

Ah heck - everyone else is doing it!

Here are the rules:

1. Add a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

Sick Kids

My kids have been sick all week *sosad* It all started Tuesday with high fevers...Corbin was first and then Jenalyn just a few hours later. Jenalyn's temp got as high as 103.8 *yikes*

Doesn't this picture just make you want to cry? Look at that sad little face! I took his shirt off because his fever was so high and it was a hot hot day :( He carried that slice a bread around for about an hour taking small nibbles here and there.

After the fever Jenalyn started complaining about a sore throat so I peaked inside and she had bright red spots on the roof of her mouth and on her throat. Corbin wouldn't let me look in his mouth (stubborn 2-year old *pfft*) but I could tell his hurt too. They both mumbled and grumbled about eating and drinking.

So we took them to the pediatrician today and she diagnosed Hand, Foot & Mouth Disease. *blegh* My poor uncomfortable, miserable babies! They actually both seem to be doing better now. But the last few days have been hard. At least they're on the up-swing!

At 4:12 p.m. today...

...I finished Eclipse - the third book in the Twilight series. Just two weeks after starting the first book. I'm dealing with some major separation anxieties. I seriously don't know what to do with myself. These books took over my life for the past two weeks! I can't wait for August 2nd! I need the next few weeks to fly by! What I need is a good distraction so I don't get too impatient!

In other news, we had a fabulous 4th! I'll be blogging about that later - with a zillion-or-so pictures, of course! I was so snap-happy yesterday! I haven't uploaded my pics yet, but I think I got some really good ones!

Welp, going to watch a movie with the hubs. Have a good night.

Pool, Big Boy Bed and a Castle

The Pool:

Last Tuesday we spent our first afternoon of the summer at the little wading pool at the park. I took the kids, just me - I usually try to get a friend to go with me, but I wanted to get some reading done while the kids played. But alas, I forgot to bring my sunglasses and my eyes couldn't stare at a white page with he sun blaring on it for too long *headache* so I took pictures and just enjoyed the sun instead. It was a beautiful day and the kids had a GREAT time!

Big Boy Bed:

In other news: We have officially moved Corbin into his big-boy bed. If you remember a couple months ago we talked about moving him because he was climbing out of the crib, but we found his escape route and eliminated it *bwahaha* But his crib was starting to wear down so we took the leap.
He loves his new bed - although bedtime has definitely become more of a challenge. But there are days (like today) when he surprises me and there is no struggle at nap time - perhaps because Jenalyn isn't there to play with him.

The Castle:

On Saturday Jason's family from Colorado was in town. We had a picnic at the park. It was excruciatingly HOT - but we still had a GREAT time! As always, they spoiled my children :) This time with water guns, a badmitten set, bouncy balls and sweet little Furr Real pets. And if that wasn't enough...dun dun dun dun: the Zolli Castle! WOW! Jason and I set it up while the kids were in bed last night so they would wake up to it this morning:

And here it is after the kids moved in. Notice the guards placed on the towers and the two chairs that served as thrones for the king & queen :)

Jenalyn tied this blanket around Corbin's neck while prouncing him the King *lol*

Ah - this seriously is the coolest castle! As you can see, you can color it too. When I got home from work Jenalyn had a blanket draped over the top and it was the coolest fort (I wish I fit inside *pout*)! They literally played in it ALL day long! I only wish our house was bigger! It's only a matter of time before Jason gets tired of the clutter and and turns into a big ogre and tears down the walls. We need a play room!

My Lazy day.

I was such a sloth today! Thanks to Jaime, I started the Twilight series *wow* Okay, I know I'm one of the last people on earth to become obsessed with these books, but I'm usually a very casual reader! It takes a lot for a book to really grab me! I started this book Friday night about 11 p.m. and I'm on page 376 already! That is so not like me! I'm neither a fast reader nor a committed reader. I usually read on my 15 minute breaks at work and...well...other than that, only when I'm really bored! It's not uncommon for me to take up to 6 months to finish a book! But I've been glued to this book all weekend! Only managing to pry myself away for absolute necessities like feeding my family, using the bathroom and sleeping! *lol* I'm exaggerating of course! I did do other things this weekend: we had dinner with friends both Friday and Saturday night, I went to a baby shower, went to church and we took the kids to the park.

Enough about me, lets talk about the kids!

I don't know if they are getting cuter (if that's even possible) or if I'm just emotional and feeling especially gushy over every little thing lately, but they amaze me! So here are a couple pictures I took over the weekend. Just simple things that made me smile.

Today while I was slothing on the couch with my nose in that book Jenalyn wanted me to play with her so I slyly suggested that we play library *heehee* so she brought out some books, set them up, and even made a sign. She explained that the sign says, "Don't be loud!" "Be Quiet!" and "Don't rip the books!" ...and after daddy came and decided to do a little teasing, it also said, "No stealing books!" *lol*

Corbin LOVES his blankie! He can't sleep without it. It will be interesting this summer to see how he does in the yucky, sticky heat with his blankie wrapped around his head and shoulders (like he normally sleeps)! I don't normally let him drag it around the house because it just kinda grosses me out to have blankets drug over the dirty floor and then snuggled...but today...like I said before, I'm a little mushy...I got him up from his nap and he wouldn't let got of it! He kept saying, "blankie come too!" *lol* so I let him drag it around the house! He's my little Linus! He has always loved his blankie! Here's some pictures from today:
I love that he's holding his sippy cup without dropping the blanket! When I handed it to him I was wondering if he would choose his beloved milk over his beloved blankie! I guess not!

This is a picture I took a couple days ago during his nap:
Seriously - how cute is that? Oh my gosh!

A couple more things that made me melt this weekend: We had dinner with our friends, Keith & Marlo on Saturday night. After dinner we decided to go for a walk to the park. Soon after we set out, Keith let out a deep, heavy sigh. Corbin looked up to him and, so clearly and so grown up, said, "Are you tired?" Okay...maybe you had to be there! But it just sounded so attentive and concerned for a 2-year-old *awe* it was just so sweet!

Yesterday we were having scrambled eggs for lunch after church. Jason sneezed and in the midst of Corbin shoveling food into his mouth - using both hands and NO FORK - he mumbled, "Bless you, Daddy!"

Okay, I think I just confirmed for everyone that I'm just being emotional and extra gushy over my kids lately. Those were extremely simple things that made my heart melt. But it amazes me how caring and loving my Corbin is! I hope he never grows out of that!