4 years with Jenna

Jenna....she's our baby! Although it's safer not to call her that. It took awhile for Jenna to join our family. We decided to be surprised and not find out if she was a boy or a girl. I was leaning towards boy though. Kendall was FURIOUS when he found out he had a new sister, but he took one look at her and his heart melted. Jenna was only 15 days early, so I felt like I went overdue. I woke up one morning and thought I was in labor, but since I had a doctor's appointment 2 hours later, I just waited to go in until then. I decided, since she was our last baby, I wanted to do it naturally. I was in labor for just over 6 hours, but it only really hurt for about 10 minutes. She was my biggest baby, at 6 lbs. 9 ozs. and 20 inches.Jenna had colic for the first little while. From about 5-6 pm until 11 pm, she would scream and scream and act like she was in so much pain. After that wore off, she was a pretty mellow baby.She can be the sweetest ("Mom, I have a surprise for you--a back scratch!") girl and the moodiest. She used to put people in "jail" if she was mad at them or didn't like something. Her hair didn't start curling until she was a year old and the front didn't start until she was over 2. She has this wild, curly hair and sometimes the personality to match. She can be feisty, but then a minute later, very sweet and cuddly. She HATES princesses and girly things and LOVES animals!! She's been a ton of fun!

7 years with Jarren

I had forgotten that I did this with Kristen, so I'll have to back up and do Jarren and Jenna. :)

Jarren....when I found out I was expecting with him, I was really happy, but then I had a scare and I thought I was miscarrying. I didn't, thank goodness, but I did have a strong feeling that he was a very special boy. I wasn't surprised at all when we found out he really was a boy. I had a doctor appointment 4 weeks before my due date. This appointment was the day after Memorial Day and I had been having contractions off and on all that weekend (which was nothing new, but there were a ton more than usual). I was having them 4 minutes apart the whole 30 minute drive to the doctor. I walked in and told him that and he said he wanted to listen to the heartbeat before he checked to see if anything was going on. I went to lay back on the table, so he could listen to the heartbeat, and my water broke. I didn't have my bag; I didn't have Jon; I wasn't prepared yet! I was soooo worried that he wouldn't be ready to be born yet, but after a 6 hour labor, he was just fine--5 lbs. 11 ozs. 19 inches. He came home from the hospital after a day and a half!Jarren's always been a busy boy--he started rolling a 4 weeks old; he was walking by 11 months; he didn't crawl much, because he would roll and roll and roll to where ever he wanted to be. He's never had much interest in typical learning--he loves to be read to, but not to read. He doesn't like to write. He loves tumbling, bike riding, video games, dressing up, and Legos! He's always been a crazy, goofy kid with bright, sparkling blue eyes and a huge smile and laugh (dimple included).I now know why he's so special--this ADD has been a huge challenge for all of us, but he's a strong enough spirit to deal with it. I love you, Jarren!!

Jarren's 7th Birthday

Jarren turned 7 years old today!! I went to Young Women last night and found out that we had a Youth Conference meeting right after--that was unexpected--for me, at least. I came home a little early to get the kids to bed, but couldn't, so I had to take them back over with me (Jon and Kendall are in North Carolina for the week). So...they didn't get to bed until 10:30 pm and I didn't get the cake baked until then! Jarren wanted a Fossil Stallord cake (a bad guy off of Zelda).
I couldn't find any patterns online, so I had to freehand it. He's such a funny kid--he decided that since it's his birthday, he can do WHATEVER he wants to do. He decided to wake the girls up at 8:30 so he could open gifts. We did the typical clue-in-the-balloon scavenger hunt for him. Then he decided that he doesn't have to do homework or reading today, since it's HIS day. I wanted to take the kids to see Shrek or How To Train A Dragon, but he did NOT want to go. Kristen suggested Classic Skating, so off we went. Ugh. We just went last week, so it wasn't as much fun for the kids today. But we still spent 3 hours there. He wanted his cake for breakfast, but I said we were going to spread things out a little--we'll do cake after his special dinner of spaghetti tonight. He didn't get many things this year--every thing was too much money. He got the new Super Mario Galaxy 2 game, some coins, a new shirt, some mini recess's peanut butter cups (about 5), a Viking ship Lego set, a Links costume (from Zelda), and some money from grandmas. Jenna was sooooooooo mad! She kept crying and crying, saying that she wanted her other birthday to come. Poor girl--it's so hard to understand that she can't have a birthday every time someone else does. :)

WHAT?!

Today is May 24, 2010. Right??? So....why did we wake up to this?This picture was taken about an hour ago and it's STILL snowing!! The trees are all weighted down--I hope none of them break. And....do I dare plant the garden later this week?? I've been putting it off, aside from peas and lettuce, because it's been so cool this spring. They say to wait until after Mothers' Day---maybe this year I should make it after Fathers' Day, just to be safe.

1234

Kristen's Jazz dance this year is to the song "1234." It's kind of a fun dance. I love the costumes--they're purple! Her end-of-the-year recital is in 2 more weeks and then we're done with dance.....kind of. She'll have summer camps and technique classes.

Sweet Dreams

Kristen's ballet number this year is Sweet Dreams. There are only 8 girls and they are amazing little ballerinas! They took 3rd place at the last competition but have placed 1st at all the others (they were against older girls this last time around). It's kind of sad that this dance year is ending, but she's already looking forward to next year.

Aladdin

This year, Kristen's dance school put on the production number Aladdin. Kristen is a flying/magic carpet in the dance (she's the 2nd one from the front). They have so much fun and do such a good job!! Tomorrow is the last competition for the year. Aladdin has taken 1st place and/or high point for all of the competitions but one this year. Way to go girls (and Taite)!!

Kristen's Vision

Kristen failed her eye test in Kindergarten and 1st grade, so I took her in to see an eye doctor. He tested her and told me she just couldn't read. I think she failed it again in 2nd grade, but then I never received any more notes. So....I didn't think much of it until I took her in for her 10 year checkup and they said that she needed to be seen by an eye doctor. The closest one that my insurance covers is that one guy, but we went there again and....Kristen's vision was worse than we thought. 20/60 in her left eye and 20/80 in her right. So she picked out some cute glasses and now she can see!!! She is so amazed at what she can see now!! And I feel like mom of the year--she's probably needed them for years and I failed to recognize that. The dr said that her prescription has changed since last time, which it will as she grows and gets older. Does that mean she should have had them 3 1/2 years ago??? She's so worried that she looks like a dork, but I think she looks really cute.

It Finally Happened.....

I have been waiting for this to happen for years, and it finally did. Last night, Jenna grabbed some scissors, hid in a corner, and cut her hair!!! Kendall noticed and when he took the cut locks to Jon, Jon asked her what she did and she said, "I cut the ghost's hair!" Hmmm....kind of funny....this "ghost" just happened to have the same color of curls as Jenna.... (We found a few more locks this morning--more hair that I thought). She told me she just wanted a hair cut. I told her that we need to have the hair cutting lady do it, NOT her! Fortunately it's in a fairly good place--right in front and not too high. It definitely could have been much worse! She missed a curl though, if she was trying to get the long bangs look. Jarren cut his bangs, trying to look like Anakin Skywalker a few years ago, but for a boy, it's a little easier because if you have to shave them, you have to shave them and it's no big deal. But for her??? Yikes! This could have been really bad and I'm soooo glad it's not!

Happy 4th Birthday Jenna!

Jenna turned 4 on May 1. I can't believe how big she is!! All she wanted for her birthday were animals--of various shapes and sizes. She got a couple of packs of "fuzzies." They were the ocean in my pocket animals. She also got some stuffed birds, Care Bears, a butterfly net, and some webkinz. SHE wanted to wrap her own presents (we wouldn't let her); SHE wanted to hide the presents for the balloon/clue game (we let her do that); SHE wanted to find the presents too, which was pretty easy, since she knew where they all were. She wanted a Wish Bear (Care Bear) cake and wanted to help with that. Two of her cousins happened to be here visiting on Saturday and it was fun to spend some time with them. Jenna decided that she wants a birthday every day so she can get every present in the world! Silly girl...