Jensen's Birthday Week Recap

I think all in all Jensen had a good 5th birthday...the celebrating lasted 3 days so I hope she had a good time. Her actual birthday was a Thursday and we started a tradition a few years ago that we let the kids pick somewhere to have dinner on the night of their birthday. All week leading up to Thursday she had said she was going to pick Chik-fil-A. Fine. On Thursday morning she suddenly changed her mind and said she wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese. Ugh. I actually thought Chuck E. Cheese might not be open for dinner during the week. After all, I'd only ever been there a few times for lunch during the week or for parties on the weekend. I mean who goes to Chuck E. Cheese for dinner? Well, apparently quite a few people. The place was just as packed and loud as ever. There was even a birthday party going on. At least our local Chuck E. Cheese was recently remodeled so it was a tad cleaner than it used to be.



After dinner we came home for cake and family gifts.



One thing Jensen has been asking for for a while now is to get her ears pierced. I've been all for it but it took us a while to convince Jim that 5 wasn't too young for earrings. He finally relented and I took Jensen in to get her ears pierced on Saturday. She was such a trooper! She did not shed one tear. Her eyes welled up when it was over but no tears spilled out. Luckily we went to a place where they pierce both ears at the same time so it was over very quickly. She picked out a cute pair of pink CZs on 14k gold posts. She looked so adorable with them!




Everything went just a little too smoothly so I should have known something would happen. That night Jim and I were out and the kids were with a babysitter. We got a call from the sitter that one of Jensen's earrings had fallen out and she didn't want the sitter to try to put it back in. We were downtown in the middle of a play and couldn't get back home right then. Once we got home I tried to put the earring back in while Jensen was asleep but the hole had already started to close up and I couldn't get it through the back. I took her back to the store the next day, but they said we'd have to wait a week or two for the ear to completely heal closed and then have it pierced again. Poor Jensen. I don't know if she'll be quite as brave the next time now that she knows what to expect.

And, finally, on Sunday we had her birthday bash. We had it at The Little Gym where Jensen is taking gymnastics and dance classes. There were almost 20 kids there running around like crazy and having a good time. You can view all the pictures here if you're so inclined. Here's a few highlights.

Thank You Nintendo!

The kids got a Wii earlier in the year, May, for doing so great in school last year. For Christmas they got several new games that they were dying for...mainly Guitar Hero. On Christmas day our Wii decided it didn't want to play Guitar Hero, or any other games, and died. Jackson just about died along with it. We sent it off to Nintendo for repair and it finally came back home today! Jackson could not get that thing hooked up and the game inserted fast enough. Luckily he's been practicing on all the neighbor kids' Wiis since Christmas. And as the machine said, Jackson, "You Rock!"




Long hair? Check. No shirt? Check. Skinny arms? Check. Rock star? Check.

Happy Birthday Jenny 'Rie

FIVE!! You are turning 5 today! I just can't believe it. In honor of this momentous occasion here are five things I love about you.

1. I love how eager you are to be able to do things. You taught yourself to roller skate and you practiced and practiced until you were able to do it. You really go at it with no fear and lots of determination. You make me cringe every time you take off down the driveway, but each time you fall you just get back up and keep on going. You want to be able to skateboard and ride your bike without training wheels next.

2. I love the way you say some words. compuga = computer; cause = pause (as in "Can you cause the movie?"); wis = with. I think these words are so cute that I never correct you. You'll figure that out on your own soon enough.

3. I love that you enjoy spending so much time coloring, drawing, painting and all things crafty!

4. I love how you run down the hall to greet me when I pick you up after school. This always just makes my day!

5. I love your smile and your sassy attitude. You learned to snap your fingers recently and you do an awesome "Oh no you didn't." It makes me smile every time.

In short, I love you, little one and can't wait to see what the year of being 5 brings you.

Love,
Mom

From Christmas to Today: Part 1

That posting everyday in December business really took a lot out of me. And I didn't even make it through the whole month. But I made it to Christmas, which was really the point anyway.

Since Christmas, we've actually done quite a bit so here's the round-up of what's been going on since then.

On December 28th, I had to take Jordan to the orthopedic doctor to look at her foot. She was playing tackle football with kids on the street, with no shoes on, and someone stepped on her foot. This actually happened on Dec. 23rd. Her foot turned pretty black and blue, but we figured it would go back to normal after a couple of days. By the day after Christmas her whole foot was bruised and it was still pretty painful so I made an appointment to take her in but couldn't get her in until Friday. It turns out she had three hairline factures. Her first broken bone(s). They gave her a boot to wear instead of a cast, which is great because she can take it off for showers etc. They said it would take about 4-6 weeks to heal. When we got home, Jim wanted to know if the doctor asked why we waited so long to bring her in. I was definitely feeling a little like a bad parent at that moment!



We took her in for a follow-up after about three weeks and the doc said to wear the boot for two more weeks and come back in. It hasn't really slowed her down much except in gymnastics where she really can't do much of anything except her conditioning. She's only been going to the gym for about an hour each time instead of the usual two hours.

On December 29th, which was mine and Jim's 17th anniversary, we left for a week in Michigan. We had a great visit and the kids got to see tons of snow which they loved and I don't mind if it's only for one week per year! The picture that is in the header of my blog was taken in Jim's mom's backyard. Beautiful.

We had our Christmas get-together with Jim's family on the 30th which was a great time. All but one niece was there...about 18 people in all. My niece, Kaity, gave me an awesome gift. My whole blog up to that point printed out in a book...with photos and everything! She had it done at blurb.com. It's so awesome and I'm going to do this every year with my blog. Thank you Kaity!!

During the rest of our visit we got together with two of Jim’s friends and their families and all went bowling; saw my mother…she’s apparently going to be moving to Phoenix at the end of February. None of us left in Michigan and she’s ready for warmer weather I guess; I took Jordan and my niece Kaity to Somerset Mall one day for a girls’ day of shopping; we took the kids to see National Treasure 2 one evening; we spent a nice New year’s eve with Jean and Jim’s brother Tom’s family. We all played games and watched the ball drop then Jean made us go to bed at 12:05 so she could get some sleep! Jim and I even got out for one night alone and went to dinner and a movie. We saw Juno which was okay as far as the writing and acting went but I was a little disturbed by the story…a 16 year old girl gets pregnant and everything goes so easily and smoothly for her. Wouldn’t want my teenage daughter to see that movie. Our flights to and from Detroit were uneventful which is always good and we even got 2 first class upgrades on the way home. I put a few photos from the trip below and you can see the rest of the pictures here.





This brings us up to about January 6th. :-)

Daily December: Day Twenty Five

Christmas Day and I didn't take one picture!! I've read so many people say, "I actually liked that I didn't take any photos and just lived in the moment." Not me. I really don't like the fact that I don't have any photos from the day. I feel something is missing. I think the reason I didn't take any is because I was just so out of it. The kids woke up at 5:30. A.M. After Jim and I had just gone to bed a mear 4 hours earlier. When Jackson came into our room and woke us up I was in a very deep sleep...the kind where you don't just jump out of bed. I was in a fog the whole morning.

From what I can remember (without photographic evidence) the kids seemed to enjoy all their gifts from Santa--especially their Nintendo DSs and the basketball goal out in the driveway. Jensen's favorite was her new American Girl doll and the enormous doll house she got.

I got some great things as well. Jim took the kids out one day to pick out charms for my pandora charm bracelet. Jordan picked out a present, Jackson picked out a Christmas tree, and Jensen picked out a bible! They also all picked out some new things for my Christmas village. Jackson picked out the biggest, tallest building there is...the Flatiron building.



And the girls picked out some items that belong to the dockside scene...a lobster stand and a dock worker. They reminded me of Boston which is where we lived when I started my village collection.

Thanks to the early start, we were finished opening gifts, finished with breakfast and on our way to church by about 11:00. After church, we spent the rest of the day laying around and getting ready for dinner. We had cornish hens for our holiday meal along with the requisite mashed potatoes and green beans.

The next couple of days will be spent cleaning up the chaos and getting ready for our trip to Michigan.

I have really enjoyed documenting each day on the road to Christmas. I didn't get every post published on the correct day, however it made me take note of things and to get out my camera more than I would have. Next year, I just have to remember to get that camera ready for Christmas morning!

Daily December: Day Twenty Four

Christmas Eve!! We spent part of the day finishing up our cookies for Santa. We had baked them a day or so ago but still had the decorating to do.





The kids' advent treat for the day was to open one special gift. I had always given them pjs on Christmas eve and they usually got an ornament in their stocking. This year, I put the pjs and the ornament together and gave each child a Christmas book. I realized that after the fire we no longer had very many Christmas-themed books so I think I'll do this for the next few years. Before you know it we'll have a nice library of Christmas books that the kids can take with them along with their ornaments.



After opening the gifts and putting on the pjs we had make-your-own pizzas for dinner. It was a fun, easy dinner and the pizzas turned out pretty good.




After dinner we watched the movie A Christmas Story and about 9:30 it was off to bed for the kids to wait for Santa.

Daily December: Day Twenty Three

Last night amidst all the girly gift exchanging, Jackson lost a tooth. I wasn't sure if the tooth fairy was working this close to Christmas, but apparently she was. She left Jackson $3.00 and he has this beautiful new smile.

Daily December: Day Twenty Two

Yesterday, the kids' advent calendar treat was to drive around and look at Christmas lights. We picked Jordan up from her gymnastics team party at 7:00 and headed to a neighborhood in Atascocita that Heather had told us had good light displays. She did not steer us wrong. We saw some awesome displays and had a great time.

We then headed over to Heather and Brent's to see them and the kids one last time before the holidays and exchange gifts. They gave us this beautiful James Avery Christmas Dove ornament.



Heather told me that the dove represents peace and that that is what she wishes for our family. I'm so blessed to have her for a friend.

Tonight, I got together with two other good friends, Jennifer and Nancy, to exchange gifts. We had cocktails, laughs, and presents. It doesn't get much better than that. I can't tell you how lucky I feel to have so many people in my life that mean so much to me.

Daily December: Day Twenty One

Friday. The last day of school for Jackson and Jordan before a two week + break. The day Jackson has been waiting for for weeks. Here at last. :-)

Jensen and I went to the kids' class parties at Shadow Forest. So much fun.

Daily December: Day Twenty

Today is Jensen's last day of school before the winter break (and hence, my last shopping day).

I put together an album for each of her two teachers using this great template I downloaded from Jessica Sprague.




It really was pretty easy to do and turned out to be a gift that the teachers really enjoyed. I gave each kid in the class one page for each teacher. All they had to do was stick a picture of themselves on and handwrite their names directly on the page. There were two questions on the page that I asked the parents to ask the kids then write their answers word-for-word on the page. The questions were "I hope Mrs. Snyder gets _________________ for Christmas" and "Mrs. Snyder is a good teacher because _____________________." There were a lot of cute answers. Lots of wishes for the teachers to get bikes, puppies, etc. One girl hopes the teacher gets a new car! Jensen thinks Mrs. Snyder is a good teacher because "she lets us do crafts." That's my girl!

Once I got all the pages back from the kids I put a few simple embellishments on each page, created a title page, then stuck them in an album. Simple.

Daily December: Day Nineteen

I picked up the cookie plates the kids made at the Mudpie last week. They turned out cute!

On a sad note, Jim is in Michigan today attending the funeral of his best childhood friend, Ron Defever's, mother. Louise and her husband Roger were like second parents to Jim growing up. She passed away over the weekend from a heart attack after battling cancer. She died at home in Roger's arms. Louise and Roger emigrated here from Belgium and built a beautiful farm in Durand. I have taken many pictures of their barn over the years. It's just such a picturesque building. Our kids always say that one of the highlights of any trip to Michigan is a visit to the Defever farm. They love seeing all the animals and playing in the hay loft of the barn. And Louise always had a sweet treat for them afterwards. She had a great smile and laugh. She was a very fun, happy, unique person and our visits to the farm won't be the same without her.

Daily December: Day Eighteen

One week to go....can you say "panic?"

Daily December: Day Seventeen

These are my favorite new decorations that I added this year. I've been looking at these stockings for two Christmases now and finally decided this year to go ahead and buy them. I love them!

Daily December: Day Sixteen

The kids' advent calendar treat for today was a Gingerbread House kit. We had never built a gingerbread house before, mainly because I always thought it would be too hard, too messy, etc. I have really been depriving my kids all these years because it really wasn't that bad and they had a great time doing it. I built the house for them earlier in the day and then set them loose, along with some of the neighbor kids, for the decorating.




Jensen had actually fallen asleep on the couch that day and missed the main part of the decorating (she was soooo tired after her sleepover at Cameron's during our party). But the other kids made sure to save some of the frosting and candies for her to use after she woke up.



It turned out really cute. But they keep asking me when they can eat it.

Daily December: Days Fourteen and Fifteen

Friday was spent mostly cleaning and getting ready for our Holiday Wine Tasting party that we held on Saturday.



Once we decided to go to Michigan over New Year's and realized we weren't going to be here for parties with neighbors and friends, we decided to host one so we could get together with everyone at least once during the holidays.

My friend Nancy had hosted a party like this a few years ago and everyone had a great time so we decided to do it again. Ten couples attended and each couple had to bring one bottle of wine under $12 and one bottle over $15 in their assigned category (i.e. Merlot, Zinfandel, etc.). I made score cards for each person and throughout the evening we tasted wines and scored them 1-10.



At the end of the night Jim tallied the scores to determine the best bottle under $12, best bottle overall, and worst bottle. We even had prizes for the winners.



In case you're looking for a bottle of wine to serve with your holiday meals the winners are pictured above. The best bottle under $12 was the Castle Rock Pinot Noir. At our local store it was $11.82 but I just found it at World Market for $12.99 (still not a bad price). The best bottle overall was the Cline Ancient Vines Zinfandel. It was around $16 at our local store but was on sale at World Market for $14.99. The bottle voted the worst was the Buena Vista Chardonnay and it was just so bad that I actually think maybe the wine had turned somehow. I actually think I might try this one again just to see if it's really that bad.

Each couple also brought an appetizer so we had tons of great food! We were all trading recipes the next week.

My friend Heather took all the fantastic pictures. I'm always so grateful that she totes her camera everywhere!



Can't wait to do this again!

Daily December: Day Thirteen

Today was Jackson's 3rd grade musical performance at school--A Penguin Christmas.


That's alot of elves, reindeer, and penguins!

Meet Penguin #9.

Daily December: Day Twelve

Daily posting is hard. Even for the venerable Ali Edwards, who I stole this idea of Daily December from. If she can't even keep up with it, and it's basically her job, then I don't feel so bad. So, on to day twelve...

Wednesday, December 12th was baking day at Heather's with Brandy and our helper Megan. We made tons of cookies which we packaged up in tins to give out. This was my first year doing this with these girls, but it's definitely a must do from here on out. I just need to re-vamp the recipes that I pick for this project. They need to be easy, easy, easy. And no breaking blenders next year!








After school got out, we went to the Mudpie for storytime/pottery painting. The project was a "cookies for Santa" plate. We don't have one of those so I really wanted the kids to do this project. Jackson complained about having to go, but ended up working very diligently on his plate. Jensen and Jordan also did a great job. Jordan even opted to skip gymnastics to go to the Mudpie...a rare event. The plates are ready and I'm going to pick them up tomorrow.