Monday, May 26, 2008
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Long time, no post
The day before Mother's Day we went to the local Farmer's Market to pick up some veggies for dinner that night (grilled vegetables and tofu mixed with bow tie pasta-yum). We also picked up some peaches that the kids wanted to eat right away. What a mess, but they were so good.
I'm not sure about that face that I'm making but Allie sure loved that peach.
Jack ate the peach so fast. We couldn't find the seed so we just thought that he had dropped it on the ground. I even stuck my finger in his mouth to check if it was in there.
After the peach was gone we saw him sucking on something. It was the seed. I guess he must have been hiding it in is cheek like a little chipmunk.
I've been taking the kids to the park pretty much every morning lately. It really helps the day to go better. Our favorite park which happens to be really close by has this dolphin that shoots water out of it. The kids love to play in the water and then go play on the play scape or in the sand.
Last summer the dolphin never worked so we figured it was just old and broken. We were really surprised earlier in the month when Allie pushed the button and water came out.
Allie threw something at her brother and this is me putting her in a time out. If you look very closely you can see that she is screaming and kicking. Gotta love toddlerhood.
This is Jack at the top of the play scape climbing out. He's learning from his sister to be very brave.
I just thought this was a cute close up of Jack
Here is Daddy racing down the slide with Jack in the background.
I'm not sure about that face that I'm making but Allie sure loved that peach.
Jack ate the peach so fast. We couldn't find the seed so we just thought that he had dropped it on the ground. I even stuck my finger in his mouth to check if it was in there.
After the peach was gone we saw him sucking on something. It was the seed. I guess he must have been hiding it in is cheek like a little chipmunk.
I've been taking the kids to the park pretty much every morning lately. It really helps the day to go better. Our favorite park which happens to be really close by has this dolphin that shoots water out of it. The kids love to play in the water and then go play on the play scape or in the sand.
Last summer the dolphin never worked so we figured it was just old and broken. We were really surprised earlier in the month when Allie pushed the button and water came out.
Allie threw something at her brother and this is me putting her in a time out. If you look very closely you can see that she is screaming and kicking. Gotta love toddlerhood.
This is Jack at the top of the play scape climbing out. He's learning from his sister to be very brave.
I just thought this was a cute close up of Jack
Here is Daddy racing down the slide with Jack in the background.So, my latest cooking adventure (other than experimenting with new vegetarian recipes) is bread baking. I've always been afraid of making yeast products because they take so long to make and if they don't turn out well then you've wasted a whole day in the process. We had a church activity that a friend of mine named Kristen taught. She showed us how to make a basic refrigerator roll recipe. I told her that I really wanted to learn to bake whole wheat bread so that I didn't have to buy the stuff at the store with high fructose corn syrup in it or spend a fortune buying it at Whole Foods or Central Market. She offered to come over and show me how to make bread using this recipe she has from a 1950's Betty Crocker Cook Book. It came out really great while she was there (of course). A couple of days later I tried it on my own and it didn't go so well. I tried again a couple of days after that and low and behold it turned out terrific (or at least I think so). Now I'm baking 4 loaves every week and a half and then freezing it to use throughout the coming week. It's so nice not to have to buy bread from the store with 50 ingredients in it. Plus it's always such a sense of accomplishment to make lunch every day for the kids on my own bread.
Grandma brought these two chairs with her for the kids. Of course they fought over them the whole time and almost killed themselves pushing each other over in them on the tile floors inside. So, now they are officially outdoor chairs. They still fight over them, but at least it's outside on the grass. Every morning when they go out into the backyard, they each pick their chair and then just sit in it for a few minutes before pulling it all around the yard and putting it on the trampoline.
These are some cute pictures with Grandma before she left to go back to Dallas.
Jack and Grandma
Allie and Grandma
Adam's mom recently came to visit us for a couple of days. we had a really good time with her. I wish we had taken more pictures, but it's hard to get the kids to sit still. We didn't do much on this visit. It was nice and relaxing.
Grandma brought these two chairs with her for the kids. Of course they fought over them the whole time and almost killed themselves pushing each other over in them on the tile floors inside. So, now they are officially outdoor chairs. They still fight over them, but at least it's outside on the grass. Every morning when they go out into the backyard, they each pick their chair and then just sit in it for a few minutes before pulling it all around the yard and putting it on the trampoline.
These are some cute pictures with Grandma before she left to go back to Dallas.
Jack and Grandma
Allie and GrandmaSaturday, March 8, 2008
Holding Hands
We took a trip to the Austin Zoo last week when Auntie K was here visiting from Tennessee. I decided to try and get a picture of the kids holding hands. Here is what I got.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Larger than average
The other day, Jack had his 15-month checkup and Allie her 3 year check-up with the pediatrician. As with most visits, the children are weighed and measured and rated according to some ranking chart that somehow includes ranges of
Jack has always been a larger child than his playmates of the same age, so we were expecting the results to be approaching the 100% marker. Over the past year, Allie, on the other hand, while at one time was larger in all measures compared to her counterparts, has slipped back to just “average,” or around the 50% range for all measure.
Well, here is the latest report, with percentiles in parentheses:
Jack (age 15 months)
- Weight: 25.8 lbs (70%)
- Height: 32.5 inches (85%)
- Head Circumference: 50 cm (greater than 97%)
Allie (age 3 years)
- Weight: 34 lbs (80%)
- Height: 40 inches (97%)
- (no head circumference at this age, although her blood pressure is normal)
So the verdict is that our children really are supposedly larger in some respects than other children their age. What does that mean? In my opinion, not much. I would, however, like to find a way to shrink Jack’s head. It’s huge! We have trouble fitting some of his t-shirts over his head.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Music for the ears
I know we haven't updated in a while and that I should post something informational rather than self-serving, but I thought I would post a link to my free MySpace.com music account.
If you have some time, drop on by and listen to the 5 or so songs that I have posted. I am in the long process of getting some songs together to put out a real album for download and purchase. At the rate I'm going, however, I'll be in my 40s before that happens.
If you have some time, drop on by and listen to the 5 or so songs that I have posted. I am in the long process of getting some songs together to put out a real album for download and purchase. At the rate I'm going, however, I'll be in my 40s before that happens.
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Who is that girl?
I was straightening my hair one morning and Allie came into the bathroom and asked me to do hers. So, I just did her bangs, but when I was done she wanted me to keep going. I was totally surprised because I had tried to do her bangs once before and she reached up and
grabbed the iron and burnt herself. She let me do all of it and for the first time she had a head full of straight hair instead of curls and waves mixed with frizz. We couldn't believe how different she looked.
Allie had her end of semester preschool party that day at Gymboree and was able to show of her new hair for the day
Earlier in the day Allie had a friend over and they both wanted pig tails in their hair
Allie and Jack on the rocking horse at Gymboree
Jack had a blast playing with the big kids
Jack doing the hard work pushing Allie
Jack on the trampoline
grabbed the iron and burnt herself. She let me do all of it and for the first time she had a head full of straight hair instead of curls and waves mixed with frizz. We couldn't believe how different she looked.
Allie had her end of semester preschool party that day at Gymboree and was able to show of her new hair for the day
Earlier in the day Allie had a friend over and they both wanted pig tails in their hair
Allie and Jack on the rocking horse at Gymboree
Jack had a blast playing with the big kids
Jack doing the hard work pushing Allie
Jack on the trampolineSunday, December 16, 2007
A new church calling for Jen!
I finally have a new calling. As most everybody I have ever talked to knows, I have been teaching primary for almost 5 years now and I am completely burnt out. About two weeks ago I was called to be the new Activity Day Leader. I love it. We had our first activity this past week and it was so much fun. All of the girls are really great. There were about 11 of them (I think it is usually about 12-15 that come). It was a 2 hour activity rather than the usual 1 hour, since the next scheduled activity falls on Christmas. We obviously won’t be having that one so we had an extra long Christmas Extravaganza. I was a little nervous because I had less than a week to plan it after I was called. We made Christmas cookies, Christmas tree ornaments, an advent chain, wrote thank you notes to the old Activity day leader, had popcorn and eggnog, and read Christmas stories. Wow! We got a lot done in 2 hours. Anyway, I’m just really excited to have such a fantastic new calling. Oh, and added bonus, after January (I’m still filling in as a Primary teacher) I’ll be able to go to Sunday School and Relief Society or just help Adam wander the halls with Jack.
October-Jack's birthday party in San Angelo
On Sunday, before my Aunt and Uncle had to leave, we had a birthday party for Jack. He loved his cake as you can tell from the pictures. Thankfully he got a lot of really cute clothes, since he is growing out of all of his old ones so quickly. He’s only 13 months-old and he’s wearing 18 month clothes. He’s a big boy.
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