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.

Project 365 Week 5

A week behind already!! Aaaaggghhh!

26/365



27/365

Freshly manicured toes. Getting ready for my girls' weekend away. Sharing a hotel room means your toes must look pretty.

28/365

Poor guy. We had to resort to the nebulizer this week. He doesn't like to do it, but it really does help when the coughing gets bad. He also had to miss p.e. and recess this week...might as well put a knife through his heart.

29/365

That's a lot of kitties. Poor Jensen finally sucumbed to the bug that's been going around. I got a call from the nurse this morning at about 9:40 that she had a fever and needed to come home. Unfortunately, tonight was also the kindergarten Dance with Dads and she had to miss it. Hopefully all these kitties provided a little comfort.

30/365

I'm not in many of the pictures here I realized, so I thought on the days like today, when I need some filler, I'll take a photo of myself...

31/365

Girls' weekend to Canton! First time at Trade Days and what an experience! It's huge, confusing, out in the middle of nowhere, but we still managed to fill the back of the Suburban!

32/365

Super Bowl Sunday! Got back in town just in time to head to a party to watch the game. Only stayed until halftime--it was a school night--but I still managed to win the second quarter in the pool and left with $60 in my pocket!

Project 365 Week 4

19/365

A much anticipated order from Barnes and Noble arrived today courtesy of gift cards recieved for Christmas. Can you guess which books belong to which kid? Today was Martin Luther King day and no school. We went bowling with some friends...Kellers and Harpers. A fun day but looking forward to school tomorrow!

20/365

Inauguration day. Wow. Only time will tell how he will be as president, but I'm happy that I witnessed this day. From TV Guide to the Wall Street Journal, we've got the story covered!

21/365

One sick kid, one kid trying hard to be sick so he can miss school (doesn't he look pathetic?), and one kid whose birthday is this week so there's no way she's getting sick!

22/365

The pinewood derby weigh-in is tonight. It looks pretty sleek and fast doesn't it??

23/365

Pinewood Derby night and the third time's the charm! Jackson's car made it to the finals. Out of about 50 cars racing, 16 made it to the finals. It must have been all that skin super glued to the car that made the difference. :-)

24/365

Happy 6th Birthday, Jensen! Today was her actual birthday and her party as well. 20+ kids at a pottery painting party at the Mudpie. Too much fun!

25/365

Jensen is starting to read to us at bedtime now. It's so great to see her reading skills growing by leaps and bounds.

Project 365 Week 3

My goal is to get these posted every Monday. I even put it on my calendar! Didn't quite happen this week but I blame that on MLK. Hopefully next week will be on time. In the meantime, enjoy the little snippets of our life last week.

12/365

Taking a look at the full moon through the cool new telescope the kids got for Christmas from Uncle Tom and Aunt Cindi.

13/365

This pile represents 3 years of change collecting (by Jim), one industrial strength digital coin sorter received as a Christmas present from the kids so they wouldn't have to roll the change, two hours of actual change sorting, and, voila! $600 dollars in the bank!

14/365

Almost done.

15/365

A bathtime photo and the countdown begins...

16/365

Jackson has decided to give lacrosse a try.
$275 for the registration fee.
$170 for the equiptment...so far.
3 hours of practice every Saturday.
I hope he likes it.

17/365

Coach Drew giving the boys a piece of his mind. They suffered their first defeat. It came on the last play of the game. Definitely a bummer.

18/365

It might not look like much now, but come Friday it'll be a lean, mean Pinewood Derby running machine.

Project 365 - Week 2

5/365

Monday was the day we left Michigan to return to Houston. We always get a final picture of Jean with the kids right before we leave.

6/365

It was back to school today after two weeks off. Everyone was tired since our flight didn't get in until about 9:00 the night before. Jordan brought home a boat load of homework.

7/365

Practicing the violin should be a daily occurrence. She tries, but doesn't get to it every day.

8/365

Finally getting around to taking down all the Christmas stuff!

9/365

Friday, Jim and Jensen left for her first Adventure Princesses campout at Camp Cullen. Jordan and I had a get-together to go to at Kim Harper's. Barb and Ellie Hyler were visiting from Chicago so Kim got all the moms and daughters together at her house. Jordan has known these girls since she was three! They are now 11 and looking so grown up. In the picture are Jordan, Sydney, Ellie, Haley and Sophie. Jackson got to spend the night at Matthew Wemyss' with Ethan Harper so he was happy.

10/365

Saturday night all the moms and daughters came to our house for make-your-own pizzas. I had meant to get a photo of all 5 moms to go with the photo of the girls, but totally forgot. I had taken a picture of the full moon earlier in the evening so I guess that will have to be my photo for this day.

11/365

Since Jim and Jensen were still on their campout, Jordan and Jackson both wanted to sleep in the bed with me. We were all so tired after two nights being up late with friends. It was great to sleep in and not have to go anywere!

Project 365

Starting with January 1st, I embarked on a year-long scrapbook project where I plan to take a photo a day, write a little bit about it, and stick it in a photo sleeve in an album. The goal is at the end of the year, I'll have a pretty good representation of our day-to-day lives around here.

Once per week I'm going to aim to post the photos and notes for the week. I'm sure I'll get behind, skip weeks altogther, etc. but hopefully it'll all add up to something pretty cool in the end.

Here's week 1

1/365

On January 1st we were in Michigan having just arrived 2 days before. It snowed the night before and Jim was out early clearing off the driveway. This is his once yearly ritual. He puts on his dad's old hunting jacket, his mom's gloves, and his not-made-for-snow boots and gets to work.

2/365

January 2nd was the Fuja family holiday gathering. There 20 of us for dinner! My sister was also in town from North Carolina and came to the Fuja's as well. It was great to spend a couple of days with her.

3/365

On January 3rd, Jordan and I met my sister and some extended family (Loralee Johnson, her daughters Christa and Michelle and grand-daughter, Hunter) for lunch at Somerset Collection mall. I was bummed that I had not brought my camera. It was great to see all of them for the first time in several years. On the way out, Jordan and I bought a couple of these yummy gourmet carmel apples. I took a picture of them once we got back to Jean's.

4/365

The snow softened up enough to make snowmen! This one looks much better than the puny, little one we were able to make in Kingwood.

Since this was just a partial week, that's it for this post. Here's to a great 365!

December '08 part 2

December 18

Jensen and I were invited to a Mother/Daughter cookie exchange. I was struck by how lady-like she looked sitting there eating her snack. It didn't last long before she was up and running wild with the other girls.

December 19


This was the last day of school before winter break and it was class party day. Jordan had a half day at Riverwood so she came up to Shadow Forest with me. She spent a little time at Jensen's party then roamed the school with other Shadow Forest alums...saying hi to former teachers and generally basking in the glory of being middle schoolers.

December 21



The treat for today in the kids' advent calendar was to go ice skating in The Woodlands. They all did awesome! Jensen looks like she's about to fall in the photo but she really did an amazing job! I was impressed with how gung ho and fearless she was although I shouldn't have been. She approached ice skating just like she does roller skating in the drive way...all caution to the wind!

December 22


The kids and I were invited to another cookie exchange at Heather's. It was a blast as usual. I brought those peppermint cookies. Very cute, but very labor intensive. Probably won't make those again. Came home with enough cookies to give to several neighbors plus mail carrier.

December 24

Not sure why I took this picture. Jordan got these converse tennis shoes as an early Christmas present. They arrived a day or so before and she couldn't wait to wear them!

We had a nice, quiet Christmas eve. We had make-your-own pizzas for dinner for the second year in a row and tried to get everyone to bed early. Jim and I made it to bed around midnight only to be woken up at 5:45 a.m. ...

December 25






Merry Christmas!

December 26

Date Night # ? I'm not sure of the number but it's close to 25. We went to Vic & Anthony's steak house downtown. Also celebrated anniversary #18. Delicious meal and a fun night! A great end to a memorable Year of 25 Dates.

December 28

Scrapbook room nearing completion.

December 29

Getting packed up for our trip to Michigan tomorrow.

December 30


Jackson and I enjoying our seats in first class.

December 31
No pictures today but we had a nice new year's eve in Durand with Jean and the kids. Jackson and Jordan made it up 'til past midnight. Jensen tried but fell asleep around 11:00. Shhh...don't tell her. Happy New Year!