Week 13

82/365

We all missed Bella while we were on spring break. She missed Jim.

83/365
This is a disaster waiting to happen.

84/365

The Airplane Sandwich Story
Jackson, for as long as I have known him, has hated sandwiches. It's not such a big deal when they are young and at home, you can always make them whatever they want. It does become a problem when they are school age...what do they take for lunch if they don't like sandwiches? For several years, every day, Jackson has taken a Lunchable for lunch. Works for me...it's very easy to prepare his lunch every day. Until one day out of the blue, he says he can't stand Lunchables any more, can't stomach eating another one. I don't blame him, but there's still the problem of what he's going to take for lunch so I say, "if you don't want a lunchable and don't like sandwiches, what are you going to take for lunch?" He says, "I like sandwiches." I say, "Really? What kind of sandwiches do you like?" He says, "the kind they serve on airplanes." "Seriously? The sandwiches made with stale rolls, one see-through, wafer thin slice of ham and one wilted piece of lettuce? THAT'S the kind of sandwich you like? Fine." Hence, the Airplane Sandwich was born. Mind you, my Airplane Sandwiches are made with fresh rolls, two, sometimes three, slices of ham, and crisp lettuce, but it's the best facsimile I could come up with.

85/365

This is Jensen telling me the story of the Little Red Hen who makes the bread and asks all her friends to help. None of them want to help make the bread but they all want to help eat it. Too cute!

86/365

Jensen has a penchant for lining up her toys. I walked into the playroom today and found all these Barbies (Dang, we've got a lot of Barbies!) lined up in rows on the floor. Weird.

87/365

This was a day I was dreading. Jordan and I had an event to go to (the NCL Chapter Tea...more about that next week) where appropriate dress was required. And by "appropriate" I mean something other than basketball shorts and oversized t-shirts. So, we had scheduled a shopping day. Hard to say who was dreading it more...me or her. Well, from my perspective anyway, it turned out to be not so bad. Jordan found an outfit appropriate for the tea along with several more things along the way that weren't basketball shorts or oversized t-shirts. And I got to go shopping with my daughter!

88/365

I take a lot of pictures of food...sorry about that. This is Irish Eggs Benedict. I don't remember where we first had this...it was long ago, way before kids, when we actually went out for leisurely brunches. If Jim were here right now I'd ask him and I'm sure he'd remember the restaurant. Me, I don't remember. We loved it so much, we make it at home whenever we're craving a hearty, filling Sunday morning breakfast. The recipe: english muffins, corned beef hash (yum!), poached eggs, hollandaise sauce. Mmmmmm.

Week 12

Am I caught up yet? Nope, not yet, but still working on it. This was spring break week and while we weren't gone the whole week, I decided to highlight my seven favorite photos from the trip.

75/365

Jim was so happy that he got to cross something off his bucket list!

76/365

Jordan bought this hat as one of her souvenirs of the trip. I love how great she looks in this photo.

77/365

It was love at first site between Jensen and the horses at the ranch. She has big plans to return someday and purchase this one.

78/365

This was our last trail ride of the trip. That's Jensen on the biggest horse (Big 'Un) right behind the trail boss; then Jackson is behind her on Peanut; and that's Jordan at the end right in front of me taking the picture.

79/365

After the dude ranch, we went to New Braunfels and visited the Wildlife Safari Ranch, a place where you drive your car through and there are all kinds of animals that come right up to the car windows so you can pet and feed them. This was my favorite thing of the trip...when have you gotten to pet a zebra??

80/365

This was Jackson's favorite thing of the trip...ziplining at the Natural Bridge Caverns

81/365

A family photo in the caverns. You can tell it was humid down there by how flat my hair is and how big Jackson's hair is.

Really great trip!

Week 11

68/365
I'm missing a picture for Monday...

69/365
Don't really have a photo for Tuesday either, so I'll stick this shot of myself in..


70/365


71/365

Kindergarten field trip day...off to the Houston Rodeo and Livestock show. The weather was cold and rainy but Jensen was in heaven with all the animals around.

72/365

It's been so cold and rainy this week we actually lit the fireplace...a rare ocurrence in March.

73/365


Busy packing for our spring break trip...

74/365

Project 365 Week 10

61/365

Pick a card, any card...ever since the cub scout banquet where we had a magician for the entertainment, Jackson has been teaching himself card tricks off the internet. Some of them are actually pretty good.

62/365

This is the sunset we saw at the end of our street tonight.

63/365

Look what came home from school today. Another sign that the school year will be over soon.

64/365

The second violin mishap of the year. Thank goodness for that insurance on the rental instruments!

65/365

A little hot tub relaxation...one of Jim's favorite things to do on a cool evening.

66/365

Adventure Princesses campout at Brazos Bend State Park. They were allowed to bring a guest so Jensen brought Jordan.

67/365

Another lax game and it's still going good.

Project 365 Week 9

Packing up today for our dude ranch spring break adventure starting tomorrow. Should have lots of interesting photos when i return. Until then...

54/365

Evidence of an obsession.

55/365

This is what 500 orchestra students looks like. Jordan played in the Zone Concert tonight. Orchestras from Riverwood Middle School, Creekwood Middle School and Kingwood High School performed together. Each orchestra performed 2 pieces separately and then a grand finale piece all together. This year the finale was the Toureadour song from the opera Carmen.

56/365

This was a total mistake. I was walking by the side door and saw some birds in my neighbor's yard gathering stuff and flying up to a tree so they could build a nest. I thought that would be a cool picture...to get a shot of a bird carrying something in it's beak...a "sign of spring" kind of photo. I grabbed my camera and went outside as quitely as I could. Of course, the birds heard me and scattered. I stood there for a while waiting for them to resume their work, but I lost patience before they came back. I saw a cardinal sitting in the tree and snapped this shot. Unfortunately, the settings on my camera were all wrong and this is what I ended up with. Good thing I never got the shot I wanted becuase it wouldn't have turned out and I would have been mad. Instead, even though this shot was a total mistake, I still thought it was cool.

57/365

Everything's better with bacon.

58/365


59/365

Photo #1 - "Hey, look at that open wound gushing blood!"
Photo #2 - "Dude. That looks like it really hurts. I wonder what we should do?"
Photo #3 - "Let's all put on surgical gloves and wrap it in toilet paper. That should do the trick."

I don't think they took 1st place in the First Aid competition.

60/365


The girls and I got to spend some crafty time together.

Project 365 Week 8

47/365

The text on the photo tells the tale. Really disturbing and just sad.

48/365

My valentine roses still looking good several days later...

49/365

Here's my little basil plant I mentioned last week. Isn't it cute?

50/365

This is Jordan's after school snack almost every day--a mozzarella and pepperoni panini--otherwise known as a "pizza sandwich." A little more hearty than Jensen's ice cream cone...mainly due to the fact that after consuming this sandwich, Jordan does three hours of rigorous gymnastics training...

51/365
No photo for Friday. I looked at my calendar for this day and one of the things I did was have lunch with Heather. I remember we went to New York Pizzeria and sat outside in the sunshine with beautiful Miss Megan. I should have taken a picture...

52/365

Jordan's first orchestra solo & ensemble competiton. Everyone in the beginning orchestra at Riverwood scored a "1" for both their solo and ensemble pieces. That's the first time that's happened in 4 years. Here are some comments the judge made on her score sheet:

Tone: "Very clean start; nice straight bow path; good job with pitch; make sure violin is in tune."

Technique: "Nice work with articulation; make dolce smoother."

Musicianship: "get instrument a little higher -- parallel to floor."

"Keep up the hard work!"

I was very impressed with the detailed comments the judge gave her...especially since he had to sit and listen to beginning orchestra students... play the same piece... all day long.

53/365

Today was our Cub Scout pack's annual Blue and Gold Banquet. Jim's den was in charge of planning the whole thing--catering, decorations, entertainment, etc.--for 200 people. It was a lot of work, but turned out great. The entertainment was a magician (a local high school student) who did an awesome job keeping the boys enthralled and entertained. Glad it's over...

Project 365 Week 7

40/365

Chocolate ice cream cone after school. Every day.

41/365

A 100 on a spelling test?? That is a rare (actually, never before achieved) accomplishment. He was so proud. And so were we.

42/365

Bella.

43/365

Our printer has been dying a slow death for the past several months. It finally gave up the ghost the other day so we got a new one. Seems a shame since it was only 3 years old, but Jean says that's how long those kind of things seem to last these days so...I'm happy though becuase it's wireless so I can finally print from my laptop in the kitchen.

44/365

Valentine class parties at school today. Those are the valentine's Jensen gave to her class mates. They needed a mirror to read who it was from...cracks me up. Jensen and her buddy Samantha being sassy. Jackson and his cronies playing a game at their class party.

45/365

End of the flag football season. We had two games this last day and then had our team party. We had a fun parent/child football game...I even played for a few possessions and then claimed I had to be the "team photographer." :-)

46/365

The photo says it all. That's the story of Jackson's life.

Project 365 Week 6

Still behind but trying to get caught up...

33/365

Notice any resemblance? This is the portrait of Jim Jensen did to hang up at the Kindergarten Dance with Dads. They weren't able to go to the dance since Jensen was sick, but she brought it home from school today. The hairline is pretty accurate. Not sure about the blue ears though...

34/365

I bought this basil today at the grocery story. I thought it was cool that it had a root ball that was in water. I actually was able to use it for about a week before it croaked. I'm growing my own basil but I started it from seed and it's taking FOREVER to grow. Maybe by the summer I'll be able to plant it outside and have fresh basil whenever I want.

35/365

I volunteered in the workroom at Shadow Forest today. Mainly what I do in there is copy things for teachers...sometimes I sharpen pencils, or die cut things...all very mentally taxing things but I think it does help the teachers out. As I was leaving at the end of my shift I walked through the library and there were Jensen and Jackson! Jensen's class was having their regular weekly library time and Jackson was sitting out his recess time due to his asthma flare up. They weren't actually sitting like this...I made them pose, in case you were wondering.

36/365

A meal that I created years ago...pasta with tomatoes, kalamata olives and feta cheese. Some nights, like tonight, we add sauteed shrimp. These are staples that I almost always have on hand in the pantry and freezer so it's something I can make when I have no other plans...or when what I planned goes wrong...like tonight when I opened the package of pork tenderloin that I was planning to cook and it smelled really bad. Yuck.

37/365

The end of a long week...

38/365


Good thing she rested up last night because tonight is the Adventure Princesses Father/Daughter Dinner Dance. She got to get all dressed up and go out with Jim. I even made an appointment to get her hair done. She smiled ear-to-ear the entire time the girl was working on her hair.

39/365

Lacrosse is going well so far. Had their first scrimmage this week.

Not even one picture of Jordan this week. I guess that's not too weird since we really don't see her all that much.