Sharing My Jennarocity

We spent Christmas Eve and Day at my parents house with my whole family there. We had such a nice time! We had lots and lots and lots (and lots) of great food and goodies. One of the memories that stands out in my mind of Christmas as a kid was food. My mom was a teacher and always baked, so we always had wonderful treats in ample amounts available to us both days. And my mom and dad never said "NO!" to whatever we wanted to eat. I try and carry on the same tradition, until my 3 year old has eaten about 45 Kisses, 23 cookies, and 4 pounds of sugar. Then, I say no. :-) Oh, and my daughter swallowed a penny on Christmas Eve. We are hoping it makes its reemergence sometime today.     My mom's mantle was so pretty this year! Her entire house was pretty this year, who am I kidding???   I know this picture is sideways, but this was my childhood stocking. The woman who made this when I was little misspelled my name and this is the stocking I had until adulthoo...

We drove down to San Antonio this past weekend to celebrate Christmas with Jason's family. It's always an adventure being down there with 7 kids (not down there, really, just anywhere!) but it was fun. There is never a shortage of stuff for the kids to do, considering they are so busy playing. I don't think one kid said, "we're bored!"     We played a game of Indiana ball? Not sure if that's the real name. But it was fun. I think Robert and Jason just made it up - but it was a nice way to spend an hour or two!!   We opened presents...   And wee went to the cowboy church where Scotty is on staff. I do love the music at this church.   Trying to get a picture with 7 kids looking at you is nearly impossible!!   AND we got the ultimate selfie. 12 people all at once! Good job Scotty!       We had such a nice time and were so glad to spend time with family we don't see often!!  

I try hard not to allow stuff to get to me, not to allow myself to feel defeated. But today, today it was hard. I am not writing for encouraging words or for hope my words help someone else. I am writing for myself, just to write.   Today, I felt like I had failed so many people in my life. Not because of any one thing, just because. I feel like my attempts at making people happy are feeble and misplaced. I feel like I have tried to do everything and ended up doing nothing. I feel like I said yes to things I wanted to say no to and no to things I wanted to say yes to. I feel like I offended others, either with my words are actions. I feel like I've failed my kids with my bad attitude. In general, I just feel like a failure.   I don't always have it all figured out. I don't always do things the best way or even a good way. I don't always say the right thing, ask the right thing, have the right opinion, have the right attitude, do the right thing, or expect the r...

What's amazing to me is that just in a 24 hour period, we've gone from hearing the article, sharing the article in all social media, Phil gets banned, and articles and blog posts have been written and rewritten, and people are already fed up with hearing about it. I am not sure if our forefathers would be proud of this free and instanteous exchange of information, but man, it's amazing how fast it is.   I thought I would write some thoughts about this because as with most things, I see it a little differently than most people do. I generally like to argue the other point a lot and sometimes, it gets me in trouble. I really feel like this is a good opportunity to look at things from a different, more logical perspective than one stemming from emotion. Emotion can get you into trouble pretty fast.   Before I will continue, let me say this. The one thing I know about Christians, and I am one, is that they are going to look at this situation as an "att...

I am not really sure if she is just tired of taking pictures or if she just likes to be silly, but lately Avery loves to make faces at the camera. Case in point, recently, when I tried to get her to take pictures with me.   Take One     Take Two   Take Three   Take Four   And if you are wondering, no, I didn't get her to smile normally.   Even Jordan was a little silly...   But he came around. And this might be one of my most favorite pictures of them.      

Words can't even begin to describe how cool it is to watch a little child perform in front of an audience, even if it's not yours. But when it IS yours, it is just amazing!! I can't believe Avery is old enough to even be in a program at all - just amazing.   Well, my daughter is truly a ham and so this performance could have gone one of two ways - she could have been scared and not participated as soon as she saw all of those eyes staring at her, OR, she could have eaten up the experience like melting ice cream.   After watching, it was obviously the latter.   She began waving, no just at us, but everyone, as she was walking in front of the church to her seat, as if to say, "Thank you for coming to watch ME sing!!" This was before they even got on stage to sing. On stage, she smiled and waved. She did motions, not always on time, but she did them. It was the sweetest thing I've ever seen. (Maybe she'll grow up and get married on a stage in a t...

Jason and I have had one recurring argument for our almost four years of marriage, and it's probably the only one we ever have regularly. When I married him, I knew he was a fun loving dad and a fun loving guy. Let's be honest here - most of our husbands, who are good dads, are fun loving guys, right? They are all pretty much 13 year olds at heart (with certain things), no matter how old they get. Don't get me wrong, this is a great quality of his because he will play and roughhouse and I really don't like to, he is always in a good mood when I have, um, fluctuations. I can't fault him for a lot of things, but this is one thing that always seems to put a hitch in my giddy-up.   WHY AM I ALWAYS THE BAD GUY??   They call me the fun-ruiner in my house. Seriously. That's my nickname. Not only am I a mother, but I am also a stepmother, responsible for another woman's children. So, I am not just cautious, I am super cautious of anything that could prove t...

To start off our Christmas tour, I thought I would share this one picture of my husband dressed up for Avery's birthday party. Unfortunately, this look didn't last long, the moustache wouldn't stick very well. I am just glad I have documented evidence that Nacho Libre came to her birthday party.     And now for the Christmas tour!! I usually don't believe in decorating before Thanksgiving, but I did this year. We were out of town for Thanksgiving, which meant I wouldn't be able to decorate until the 1st of December, and honestly, that's just not enough time. So I decorated early!!   This grouping of 3 trees is in our den, our large family area that has our fireplace and tall, 18 foot ceilings. I was going to buy a very tall tree this year, but just couldn't seem to part with $600. :-)     This wreath was one of Cindy Tamplins, she made the angels. It goes well on our fireplace. The only thing this fireplace is missing is a mantle; it...