Sharing My Jennarocity

I can't believe my daughter's hair is long enough for me to braid it. It stayed pretty good throughout the day, too!   We had dinner at Dairy Queen, so Avery got some ice cream with her kid's meal. Um, she liked it.   I don't usually show videos on here, just because it's always hard to get them to upload. But, I've found a great new way to get pictures on here, and it's Picasa Web Albums! So in love with how easy it is! She starts talking about 2 minutes in! Enjoy!      

I don't know why I've never talked about this on my blog. I've told myself that I am going to start writing more from the heart, about myself, instead of just always showing pictures, although I am sure that's why a few of you visit this blog, at all. So, I am sorry if you don't enjoy all the writing! For those of you who don't know me, I have psoriasis. I have had it on the back of my scalp for as long as I can remember. Psoriasis runs in my family, and all of us who suffer from it have it on different areas of our body. Mine has only been on my scalp and has never spread, although the patch has gotten larger as I've been pregnant and gotten older. If you don't know what psoriasis is, psoriasis is a non-contagious auto-immune skin condition which causes the skin to consistantly make new skin cells, resulting in a buildup of itchy, flaky scales. Learn more about it here . Imagine when you cut yourself. When that happens, your skin begins to r...

On Babycenter today, one of the bloggers posed the questions What did you give up for your children ? after reading an article about the Oscar nominated movies this season. It made me really think about that and I thought I would write a response on my own blog, and perhaps pose the question to those 3 of you who read it.   Let's put aside the notion that anything you gave up for your kids are "small sacrifices compared to the greater blessings you received instead." Of course, I love being a mother and wouldn't give it up for the world. But sure, there are things I gave up after I had her. Now, alot of these things I am about to list would have probably gone by the way side anyway, as I got older, but that is neither here nor there.   1. I have given up my sick days.   Very rarely do my sick days or personal time off days ever go to me. I was actually thinking this morning about the last day I took off, JUST to spend the whole day doing what I wanted to ...

A few weeks ago, Jordan's school had a "marketplace" in which all of the kids were to come up with a product, and make enough to sell them. Parents spent actual money, then went to school one evening and bought the kids' products with the fake money. (Like, $1 real dollar equaled $100 fake ones.)   I am not sure if they had to dress up or if Jordan just wanted to, but he really got into this.     He made pencil toppers, pretty cool, huh?   Jordan is really into anything dealing with computers, especially powerpoints, which he will do just for fun. They also made a video project, in which they talked about the early settlers to America and had to make a commercial for it, which he loved. He is showing alot of interests these days, and I really hope we can continue to encourage his interests!  

Potty training has been an overwhelming success at our house. It's taken some adjustments, not only from Avery, but from me and Jason as well.   Potty training was just, well, an overwhelming thought to me for the past two years. Of all of the things I wasn't looking forward to doing, this was it. And mainly, it was because I had no idea what I was doing or what plan I had "going in."   Much like anything with kids, every kid is completely different and every parent is different and so every milestone, in which you must transition a kid from one thing to another is going to be different. For us, the biggest milestones we've hit so far have been weaning from breastfeeding, getting rid of the pacifier, and sleeping through the night. All of those things feel like they worked themselves out, but I don't really know why that is. I guess it's because I've just gone with the flow and not held on when a stage was passing, so I wasn't resistent to...

I know we've spent alot of time in the media and on Facebook the last few weeks about gun violence and the shooting at Sandy Hook. But what happened last week was no less horrendous and terrible.     **Graphic image alert below**   About 1 mile from my house, this little boy, his mother and his two year old sister (who was in a stroller) were crossing the street, in a crosswalk, at a light, with a crosswalk sign lit. They had the right of way and the light from the other direction had been red for a bout 14 seconds, which if you know anything about crosswalks, that's about as long as they say "walk" before the flashing hand pops up and says "Don't walk!" This happened about 7:30 at night, so it was dark, and this little boy got a few steps ahead of his mother, which we all know can happen with six year olds, and right then, a man in a black hatchback ran the red light and hit this little boy. The police think the little boy was on the hood o...

Sophia is in Girl Scouts and before Christmas, her troop got together with a Boy Scout troop and they went to a nearby nursing home to sing carols. We got to take her, since it was our weekend.   As a kid, you just really never, ever appreciate how much older adults love to be around you. We told Jordan and Sophia to go around and shake hands with people and introduce themselves. We spoke to several people who lived there, most of whom were in their 90's, and they just had permanent smiles on their faces the whole time. They told me stories of their lives. I met a deacon of a church (who LOVED Avery, by the way) who told me of his days in his church choir and how him and his siblings sang and recorded gospel music back in the 50's. I also met a woman who was a teacher in Chicago for decades but moved down here to be closer to her son. When I asked them the secret to a long life, they both told me the same thing: "Being around children!"      It is...

Avery got up onto the couch one day and wanted Jason to cover up all of her and her babies.   She is very concerned about her babies. To her left is her baby Colbi. Colbi is her very bestest friend and goes almost everywhere with her.   She is such a good mommy and wanted everyone to be included and have their covers!  

The Grand Prairie Arts Council had "Suessical the Musical" at the Uptown Theater in December. On opening night, they had all tickets really cheap, so Jason took the kids to go see it!     The kids really loved it and they got to stay out really late, which they REALLY loved!     I think what they loved the absolute most is that they got to spend time with just their dad, which they love to do! Who can blame them, he is AWFUL fun!   They came back so excited, telling me all of the great things in the show! What a great experience!  

  My niece is six months old! Where did the time go, I just do not know.   Just for grins, I thought I would put up a pic of Avery when she was six months, too.   Two cuties, if I do say so myself!!!   Happy half-birthday, Colbi!    

For Christmas, Avery and I made my mom's famous sugar cookies.   I have never wished for my daughter to be bigger to do something like this with me, but I am glad she's at a stage where she can.     She made four different shapes!   Aren't those piggy tails with big ole bows to die for?   Yay! Such a great memory!    

I was talking to a friend of mine the other night about the friendships that you know will always be in your life. There are many friendships over the course of your life that come and go. While they might serve a purpose at one time, they aren't meant to last. (Much like relationships, you know?) Then, there are some friendships that you keep, that no matter what happens, you know they will always be there.   When you become a mom, especially to a girl, I think those friendships take on a whole new meaning. At least, they have to me. First and foremost, I have never been one of those people who keep people around that I don't like or that suck the goodness out of my life. In my opinion, a life long friendship is alot like a marriage, in that it's never 50/50. Sometimes it's one person giving more than another, but in the end, it evens out. I've never been the type to keep a friendship going where I feel like I am the one giving all the time and never receiving...

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord; He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword; His truth is marching on. Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! His truth is marching on.   I have seen Him in the watch fires of a hundred circling camps They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps; I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps; His day is marching on. Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! His day is marching on.   I have read a fiery Gospel writ in burnished rows of steel; “As ye deal with My contemners, so with you My grace shall deal”; Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with His heel, Since God is marching on. Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Since God is marching on.   He has soun...

Ok, honestly, connecting with my step-kids hasn't always been easy. I try to find ways for us to spend time together that are enjoyable for both of us, but it's not always simple to do.   So, I was surprised when Jordan suggested last Thursday that we make dinner out of his Usbourne travel book that his Aunt Faith gave him for Christmas. He said we could go shopping and cook everything from scratch! He came over Friday and made me a shopping list before I even came home from work, so I knew he was serious!   Ok, so, this dinner was pretty costly and I had to go grocery shopping again to replace some items we needed for the week, AND it totally ruined my diet that day, but he was so excited about doing this with me, that those were all wonderful sacrifices to see him have fun.   He made the cupcakes 100% by himself, with me only helping when it involved the oven.     He even wore this apron, that was made specially for him by a friend of o...

Well, my daughter has crossed two more milestones off her list in the last two weeks or so.   Potty training is going stupendously. She has had a dry pull-up for the last three days (not at night yet) and she goes potty now almost every time we put her on it. It's like this weekend, it just clicked. Except now, almost every time she "goes," she says "I want M&Ms in my mouth!" Judge all you want. It works.   We have been talking about getting her in a big kid bed for a while, but I wanted to keep her "confined" to a crib as long as I could. We borrowed a gate from my sister in law to go across her bathroom opening, but it wasn't long enough, and I just haven't gone shopping to find one that is. Within the last month, we've noticed that Avery is too long to fit in the pack n plays anymore, so I know that if she is ever going to spend the night at her Gigi's again, she is going to have to start sleeping in a big kid bed. Since...

There are a few things I want to do for the house this year that wouldn't be pricey but would help with some updates. (Lots of these pictures are from pre-move in). You see these entry-way lights? They need replacing. I wish I had a better picture of this bathroom... Above the mirror is a light fixture. The painting people really did a not great job on the details of this house. In fact, there was more than one thing that they didn't tape and just spray-painted right over, and this light fixture was one of them. It's supposed to be brass, but they took the globes off and just painted over it, then lost the globes. So it's just a cream colored light fixture with light bulbs showing. I want to replace that, frame the mirror with crown molding, replace the hardware, and get some new accessories. I can't seem to figure out what I want to do to decorate this fireplace... It's hard to decorate lava rock and I don't just want an enormous wreath t...