Sharing My Jennarocity

I recently read an article on Babycenter entitled " Please Stop Buying Toys For My Kid ."   I have no idea why, but the title just put me off.   This is such a first world problem. In fact, most all of our problems in this country are first world problems and it aggravates me.   This author goes on to basically complain that she doesn't have space for all of the toys people buy her child...once again, first world problem. I get it, ok. We are all surrounded by Toys R Us, Walmarts, Targets, etc, and it's easy to go overboard with toys for their birthdays and Christmas. I get it, it's hard to organize them. You feel like they are overwhelming your life. But I don't know - to sit there and complain that your child has too many toys is just insulting to me. There are kids in this world who will never have a toy bought for them for Christmas or their birthday and you are sitting there complaining that people are buying your child too many, like it'

Well, the kids had their first day of school Monday!!     They came back to our house with a full report on their day. Sophia met some new friends, has the same teacher Jordan had in 3rd grade, had extended recess (OMG!) and loves her math. It's going to be a good year!!   We were informed that even though Sophia had started soccer this year, she was begging her mom to let her out of it. We all talked to her and got the same consensus, that maybe it wasn't soccer so much she didn't like but maybe circumstances like switching to a new coach and the heat of practicing. She mentioned that she wanted to do tumbling (she'd done gymnastics before and quit because she didn't like the balance beam), so maybe next year. It's hard to know when to make a kid continue on doing an activity or to just let them quit. I am glad her mom made her stick with it, though.     Jordan came back with a moment by moment telling of his first day in middle schoo

Avery got her haircut by the best hairdresser in the business, her aunt Brooke!!     Before:   After!!     Brooke and Dave asked if she could come spend the night last night, so we had a good date night. We went to go pick her up this morning and got to see my niece officially taking steps on her own!! I couldn't believe it. She is so big these days!!!   This is my last week before I have my surgery next Tuesday. Prayers are appreciated, it's elective surgery but I am a little bit worried about recovery. I am so blessed to be able to have a job that allows me ample time to relax and recoup, so keep me in mind this week!!!

This last week has been a trying time for our family. We had something happen that was a little surprising - nothing horrible or upsetting to our lives - just something that was, well, for lack of a better phrase, "Completely unfair."   My dad always told me, when I would complain of something being unfair, he would say, "The fair only comes once a year and it's in September." It was just his way of saying "Life isn't fair, kid. Better get used to it." I used to hate, hate, hate that phrase. It made me feel like he didn't care about my feelings, like he wasn't on my side. But now, I am glad I learned that lesson because man, life isn't fair sometimes. It can be blatently, ridiculously, incredibly UN fair.   Last week was one of those weeks. Jason and I have had to deal with a number of things in our almost 5 years together that really weren't fair. Times when we would have to turn the other cheek or just deal with it, no m

Last night I got to go to a Bible study at church and we talked about living out our lives according to God's word and how we go about doing that. We talked about testing our faith and living an examined life so that we may always be striving to be more like Jesus. I knew I wanted to write a post about that today, a post about how to make choices in your life according to God's will for you. My morning devotional had this verse and God was speaking directly about this very topic...   “So we keep on praying for you, asking our God to enable you to live a life worthy of his call. May he give you the power to accomplish all the good things your faith prompts you to do.” II Thessalonians 1:11 (NLT)   Wow. That's a great verse about living a life in Jesus' call, isn't it?   The New Testament has beautiful, inspirational verses in it, doesn't it? I mean, FULL of them. But our Bible isn't just meant to inspire us. It's meant to teach us and guide u

Well, we just got back from the beach. I am tired. Jason is tired. Avery wasn't tired (once we got home). The dogs were very happy to see us!!   Avery was the cutest two year old on the beach!!     It was such a pretty beach!     Although, I wasn't thrilled to get stung my a jellyfish all over my legs.   The drives down there and back were long. 12 hours on both trips. But, everything worked out OK and we got where we were going without any major incidences, like blowouts or accidents.     Always a favorite of mine is sitting on a patio drinking coffee, even if the beach is hot and so is coffee.     The beach was so much fun, especially for the girls. Colbi loved the sand so much that she ate a little bit.     We ate at two really great restaurants while we were down there. This place was called Lulu's and it is owned by Jimmy Buffet's sister. It was an open air seafood restaurant right next to

  In our house, we probably watch more Netflix than anything else. I love it mainly for the TV shows and Jason loves it for action movies. I will also add several chick flicks from time to time. Jordan watches Merlin and other older-kid movies, Sophia watches She-Ra and Littlest Pet Shop , and Avery watches Sesame Street and Super Why .   Without a doubt, the kids watch Netflix more than either Jason or I do, so in our recommended sections, or all of the other streaming videos, they mostly end up being stuff for kids. It gets very aggravating because most of the time, I will end up having to search for stuff I want to watch (I know, first-world problems), or end up floating through a sea of little kids movies, The Avengers cartoons, or all four of the Mission: Impossible movies and any and all movies or TV shows kind of like it.   Beginning this month, for the same monthly price of $7.99, they are now adding profiles onto Netflix to allow each member of the family to