Sing, sing a song

Princess has gotten pretty amusing lately. Her new favorite thing to do is thumb through the Children's Songbook our church uses and make up songs based on the pictures she sees.

Today the songs have been:

"Whenever I get a blessing,..."

"If Jesus doesn't come, he will die"

"Jedi will get baptized when he gets older"

And my favorite(to the tune of Momma's gonna buy you a mockingbird) "If that flower pot won't grow"

You can listen (via cell phone, it's quiet so turn up the speakers)

Here is the translation:

Flower pot doesn't grow
If that flower pot don't grow away
The flower pot will go outside - in the winter
We'll be fun at the flower pot
If that flower pot then bees won't come
If that flower pot won't turn the bees

Quote of the day

We were talking about Charlotte's Web.

Princess: "Mom!! B-Y-U spells PIG"!

Works for me Wednesday - Accidental Genius

We are water snobs.

Well, it's not intentional. We live in a town with...less than desirable taste to the water.

When we visit family, usually weekly, we fill up jugs and bottles to drink all week.

At a family reunion this past weekend my in-laws (who live in a different town) had a big cooler of ice and water. My brother in law refilled it toward the end of the gathering, so it was still full when it was time to go. Rather than just have them lug it back home we offered to take this huge container of "good" water home to drink.

Little did I know that it would be pure heaven to have that water at our fingertips for all these many days. The ice literally lasted through last night (Tuesday), and the water is still fairly cold today. Why didn't we think of this sooner?! Without ever having a water dispenser in the fridge door to be spoiled with, even the kids are loving the convenience!

For more WFMW tips, visit Rocks in My Dryer.

I.....Jen


I AM ...a researcher by nature. I have researched so many topics to death its insane. If I want to find something out, believe me, I DO.

I WANT... a nice, big house. I know, just a wish.

I HAVE ... more blessings than I can count. I'm absolutely never justified in my complaining.

I WISH I COULD ... draw, play the piano, talk to people easily, plan things without getting overly stressed.

I HATE ... not knowing what my kids are doing every minute while they are in school.

I FEAR ... not having this pregnancy be successful. I have never lost a baby, so sometimes I wonder, "when is it my turn"?

I HEAR .... the radio in the kitchen and the clicky keyboard sounds as I type. I love this keyboard.

I SEARCH ... for better/more efficient ways to do everything.

I DON'T THINK ... that I'll ever eat a tomato on a burger on purpose.

I REGRET ... that I was a screw-off in college.

I LOVE ... my family.

I ACHE FOR ... couples that are struggling to become parents.

I ALWAYS CRY ... yes. I always cry.

I AM NOT ... A great housekeeper.

I DANCE ... never. Although every once in a while the kids talk me into bopping to a radio song.

I SING ... often. One of the best parts of church, too.

I NEVER ... want to have to work outside the home.

I RARELY ... skip my daily scripture time. Very rejuvenating for me.

I CRY WHEN I WATCH ... people suffer.

I AM NOT ALWAYS ... understanding and patient with my kids.

I HATE THAT ... I will never have all my pictures scrapbooked.

I'M CONFUSED ABOUT ... why I get so moody. I can change so quickly and I don't like it.

I NEED ... to feel validated and appreciated and needed.

I SHOULD ... be cleaning. Every time I am on the 'puter I should be cleaning.

Olympic Medal Ceremony theme music

I have been so intrigued by this song. I finally found out what it was!! If anyone knows where I can get the audio file, let me know. I want it on my ipod.

It's called Jasmine Flower, or Molihua in Chinese.

Can you hear that?

Too quiet.



How is it possible that for two months there has been chaos, fighting, tattling, swimming, playing, and noise...and now there is just the two of us.


Potter and Daddy left very early...7:00 am for their school adventure together. I can't believe how old he looked when he put the uniform on.



I hope he can make friends quickly. He should; he's outgoing enough. He didn't seem overly nervous. More excited I suppose. I can't wait for his call at 3:30 to tell me how everything went. He will get an hour of homework time every day while he waits for Dad to be ready to go. So yes, my 10 year old will be gone every day from 7-5. Yikes!

17 weeks

Pop.

Yeah, last week I could, you know, wear my own clothes.

This week, not so much.

I haven't gained any weight yet, but I swear I wasn't this uncomfortable at 17 weeks before. Sleeping is already hurting my hips, as I toss from side to side all night. Waistbands are driving me nuts. This will be a long 5 months.

Hubby brought out the good ole 'ternity bin for me.

Unfortunately it's still over 90 degrees and all my stuff is winter. I have winter babies. I took inventory: 5 long sleeve shirts, 3 short sleeve shirts (one is stained and one is torn) and two pants. Yep, and one of those is separating along the whole belly panel thing.

Not pretty, ladies and gentleman.

On ebay last night I grabbed a pair of jeans and two shirts. Will that last me? Let's hope. I forget how fun it is to have two outfits and washing them every other day! Yahoo!!

Note to MSNBC

Dear media mogul,

When posting huge pictures and headlines of big olympic medal rounds, please note that those of us without cable in the states don't see those results till primetime, or approximately 12 hours later.

Upon log-in, please don't blast me with the outcome before I am ready to see it. And especially, don't make me further incensed by providing a "hide results" button 4 inches to the right of the headline. Um, in order for that to have the desired effect, wouldn't it need to be a "show results" button???

Much appreciated,
Jen (loyal olympics fan)

Some confusions addressed

I thought I should clear up a few muddied thoughts for my fellow acquaintances. I'm so not as cool as you think I am.


1. I've been asked about Mr. Oldest Child going off to a fancy pants school.

Not so much. Truth be told, after two lousy years at the school up the street he is behind in a couple subjects and I am really concerned. Daddy teaches at a charter school (self proclaimed "academically rigorous")so he will be tagging along with him this year. In fact, I don't even know if he can keep up with it all. But I do know that their teaching is more tailored to the students and he can only benefit from the rigid structure. If it doesn't work this year, we will see what's next. I only hope to turn things positive in the two years before Jr High.

It's free, there's just usually a waiting list that we can bypass for being employed there. Capiche?

2. Quiche for dinner tonight.

Once my friend Kristy's mouth dropped open when I said I was making it. Her hubby didn't believe regular people actually made/ate it. All I can say is LOL. I make it every time I don't know what else to make. I nearly always have the ingredients, so there you go. (But now when I make it I can only think of that conversation!)



I actually made this last night. Well, for one, because I was up late again watching the olympics and why not, right? And for two, because it heats up the house to make it at dinner time. And thirdly because it tastes better the next day.

To make it, throw a frozen pie crust in a pie dish. Put half a bag of frozen chopped broccoli in the bottom. Add about half a chopped onion. Sprinkle over some ham pieces. Add about 1-2 cups of shredded swiss to the mound. Mix together 6-8 eggs and a splash of milk. Pour over the whole pie plate. Bake it till golden - I start at 400 for about 10 min, then turn down to 350 for half an hour-ish.

Yum.

3. To the cute young family at the Copper Mines on Saturday

As my family finished up our visit and I ushered the kiddos toward the bathroom building so we could go, I passed a young mom who said to her hubby "Oh, I forgot the camera". I made sure kids were safely with Strider and turned back to them to offer a pic, delivered via email later. She was very grateful and ran to her car to write her addy down.

Today I get a reply from her gushing about all the blessings I will recieve for my kindness. She went on and on. I will admit it was one of those feel-good things to do, but I'm no hero. It took me 10 seconds to take the picture and about 30 seconds to upload and email. Just one of those things where I felt the response was out of porportion to the deed. I'm glad she liked it though.


We have done the same things for others before, like on our Great Salt Lake anniversary cruise when another anniversary couple forgot their camera. Don't people just do nice things? I guess it was no biggie for me.

I just wanted to put everything in the proper light here, folks. :)

Back to school

Sniff.

The middle two kids are back to class today.

Jedi, now 1st grade, has been on my mind ALL day. Is he okay? Did he understand how to get lunch? Isn't 7 hours too long for a six year old? Will he be able to find his brother to walk home?

How embarrassing would it be for your psycho mom to run in checking on you? I wonder.

I'm not too worried about Bugs. He's in 3rd this year and other than seeming more grown up, not a whole lot different there. BUT...

There are a lot of changes for us this year. One now in school all day, one headed to a charter school with uniforms everyday, one starting preschool. It's too much for a mom, I tell ya. I was weepy this morning.

So many schedules. Routines all of a sudden.

The summer felt so short.

Why the Olympics are just plain cool

1. Togo's First medal winner

2. Nastia Liukin , plus her tears on the medal stand

3. Bela Karolyi and his passion for gymnastics

4. Shawn Johnson and her grace in taking silver

5. Mark Spitz, on watching his record for medals in swimming likely go to Michael Phelps:

“You know, you judge a person’s character by the company you keep, and I’m glad I’m keeping company with Michael Phelps. I’ll be happy to stand aside and let him carry the torch. He’s just one great athlete, and it’s very exciting to watch him.”

6. Beach volleyball stars Walsh & May fighting off 5 match points to keep their 105 game winning streak alive. I could watch them play all day long. Love it.

Meet the princess

I am the princess of this house.

I'm three. I'm cute and I know it.

I love to borrow mommy's camera and take pictures.

I'm very good at it; in fact I can go back and scroll through the ones I've taken to review them, too.





And sometimes to be silly I give my brother the camera to take a picture of me.


My mom can't believe I will be heading to preschool in a couple weeks. I am excited, but i think she might cry.

Card Swap

I love love love the monthly card swap we have. It's a great creative outlet for me. Here is what we did this month. I have really been slacking on my ideas... I vow to have a great one to share next month!




Anyone want to share great websites for card ideas and projects? I like the Stampin' Up site, but I'm not a stamper, so I have to modify their ideas a lot. Where do you go for inspiration?

We walked in the door after being at the park...

Me: "Go see if the Olympics are on..."

-30 seconds later-

Potter: "Uh, yeah, it's like swimming soccer or something"


Women's Water Polo: USA 12 China 11

Monday Meanderings

What a gorgeous morning. Not as hot, a little overcast, just fresh, quiet and Ahhhhh.

I love Mondays.

A few thoughts.

1. We had our auxiliary women's retreat this weekend for our church and the different organizations we have. There were women there who work with young children, youth, and other women. We are each asked to serve in various areas but feel so much unity when we are together.



2. The guest speaker was Julie de Azevedo. She was wonderful and spoke on "Preventing Emotional Burnout". It was information every woman should hear! We learned how to have balance in our lives and not take on too many commitments. She taught us how to enrich ourselves so we have more to give to our family and to God. Very valuable and I will remember it for a long time.

3. Got home and realized how much I had missed my kids! I love them so much. School starts soon and I'm not ready. :(

4. Hubby served me so much this weekend. He just kept doing all these things...some I asked him to do and others just because. I am still awestruck when I look at him and can't believe the indcredible person I was blessed with.

5. Been trying my new Scentsy waxes and love them. Yummy house.


6. Baby brother Matt leaves for college this week. How is that possible? Go Cyclones! (He is mentioned in the 5th paragraph)

7. I really, really need to go grocery shopping. No milk, no bread and so on.

8. I really love the Olympics. SO much. Anybody else think the underwater cameras are the most ingenious thing?! And get real...no matter how many times I see that amazing Men's 4x100 M Relay finish, it won't be enough (fast forward to 5:00 min). Take that, France-y pants.

Quiet Moments

There are so many times as a mom when you feel like you are not doing anything worthwhile. Or that you are trying so hard to raise good kids and they are just monsters anyway. Or you wonder when they will do something good and kind on their own without prodding.

Forgive the dark picture, but I had to zoom in from far away so they wouldn't notice me and stop what they were doing.

I found my youngest and oldest together on the couch. No, I didn't ask him to read to her.

Once in a while, folks, parenthood is worth it!

Done with #4

754 pages.

28 hours.

Total satisfaction.

I was so happy with how this series ended up. I think she masterfully brought everything together at the end. In my opinion this one overwhelmingly outshines the first three. If you have read it, I would love to hear your comments!

Apricot Jam

Hungry yet?


Not too bad for my first time...

I found apricots yesterday for .50 per pound, so I thought I would give it a go.

I learned a lot.

First batch was a little overcooked. It tasted great while hot but gelled way too much. I think I will use it in recipes like this:
Apricot Chicken

I basically used this recipe:
Apricot Jam ..but 30 minutes is TOO LONG. The second batch was cooked for 20 minutes and so far seems to be perfect.

I made a smaller batch the first time, about 6 cups apricots, and got 3 pints. Next batch I used 8 cups apricots and got 4.5 pints. Bonus: every jar sealed perfectly.

You can all probably ignore that information. I just wanted to document what I did so I can refer to it in the future.

I don't know many things in this world more satisfying than canning. It's one of the few jobs I do that's not undone in 10 mintues!!

Getting started

I'm ready to start! I read the last 250 pages or so of book three (Eclipse) yesterday to prepare me for Breaking Dawn. It had been a while so I needed a refresher. I will begin today. Well, in and out of jam making...

Single no more

He's coming home!!! After six full days away he is on his way back from WoodBadge camp in the Uintah mountains. In our entire married life I have not gone 6 days without speaking to him. That has been the hardest part, for sure.

Tonight my kids will have a daddy to tuck them in!

Favorite movie: Few Good Men
Favorite ice cream: Blue Bunny Lemon Berry Pound Cake
Favorite drink: currently water
Favorite veggie: corn or broccoli
Favorite fruit: peach
Favorite color: blue
I drive: Plym Voyager
Favorite book in the Bible: Luke
Favorite author: anybody that writes good books
Favorite actor/actress: Matt Damon, Ben Stiller
Favorite TV channel: if I had cable - TLC
Favorite News channel: KSL
Hobby: reading, learning new things, blogging, crafty stuff
Pet: cat
Collection: nothing, thank goodness
Favorite article of clothing: capris
Want to travel to: Pacific Northwest
Issues: people who seek attention, make excuses
Temperament: even, hands-off, sometimes impatient
Enjoy the most: spending time with my fam, not having to be anywhere, kisses from kiddos
Wish I was: kinder and more energetic
Glad I'm not: famous
Favorite color lipstick: pinks
Favorite makeup: ha! anything cheap
Best beauty advice: wash face
Personality: introspective, homebody
Best trait: sense of humor, seeking to do my best at most things
Favorite activity: laughing, snuggling with hubs, Sunday dinners
Occupation: kid raiser, hubby feeder
Favorite bedtime preparation activity: reading, watching some tv
Like bling: no
Favorite stores: Target, Roberts, Kohls
Dislike: Wal-Mart, typos
Favorite job ever: medical assistant at a family practice, nursing assistant in a care center
Worst job ever: I've never done something I hated
When I grow up: I want to still have a strong marriage and family unity
Would like to: learn to sew
Fingernails/toenails: painted
Best hair product: non-aerosol spray
Current hair color: regular brown
Demographic: suburban mom
Favorite room in the house: living room
Have too many: shoes, books, toys
Last book read: The Seamstress
Favorite Broadway musical: never been
Tendency to be: boring, maybe?
Irritants: no Sonic Drive-in within 20 minutes of me
Greatest accomplishment: 3 natural births
Favorite lotion: Bath & Body Works anything
Favorite scent: fruity scents, clean babies
Favorite flower: tulips, yellow or white roses
Favorite season: Fall

This is so lame!! If anyone else is lacking is subject matter feel free to copy.