Pictures and A Movie

Things continue to be crazy town at work, so I leave you with some pictures and movies of the kidlets to entertain and make us happy.









The boys were helping Darryl make a stand for the water barrel and running away every time he would use the saw.

Till Tomorrow, or maybe next week when things settle down a bit.

Jenn

Spirit

I am a lucky lady. I have the advantages of working part time so I have a good balance in my life. I get to spend 4 days a week with the kids and 3 days at work. I feel like most of the time I'm a good mom. I love to play with the kids and do fun things with them. I like to teach them things and watch them learn and laugh. But I also think I'm pretty good at my job. Although I don't do it full time I have been doing it long enough that I thought I was respected and proud of what I do and what the students accomplish when they are done. But last week someone told me I was horrible at my job. Someone who I work with all the time. Luckily it's not my boss and I have a similar relationship with a lot of other people and they think I'm pretty good at it. But it has hurt my spirit. It has made me question myself and what I do. And it's hard to know what direction to go now. Is it something to deal with head on or should we let sleeping dogs lie and wait it out till the new school year. It's just hard to know where to go from here. It's hard to get up and go to work when your spirit has been crushed. It's hard to try and rebuild relationships when it doesn't seem worth it. It's hard to spend 3 of my days wondering if I am good at my job.

Till Tomorrow

Jenn

Appendicitis

When I was about 12 or 13 I had appendicitis. I was reminded of this earlier this week when I heard a talk about CT scans. Now the best practice to diagnosis appendicitis is to have a CT scan. Whereas 20 years ago when I had appendicitis the doctor push on my abdomen and said "does this hurt?" and then pushed on it again "does this hurt a lot?". The speaker was making fun of the way it use to be done, and everyone laughed, but it's true. That's why I got my appendix out. It hurt a lot.

Till Tomorrow

Jenn

Earth Day

Happy Earth Day Everyone! As anyone who knows me or has been reading for a while I'm quite passionate about doing good things for the earth. We recycle, grow our own vegetables, Darryl has started taking public transit to work, we use CFL light bulbs and I try to be very conscious that the decscions we make are usually good for the earth. So here is a list of the stuff we did to celebrate Earth Day:

• Took my bike and trailer to the local grocery store
• Brought our own bags to put food in
• Planted carrot seeds in the garden (more seeds to be planted later)
• Bought free run eggs
• Nathan is wearing reused clothes from Lucas and one of our friends
• Rather then buying cookies we made our own. Cuts down on "unknowns" in food and also the refining and shipping of the cookies

Not huge gigantic things, but all the little things help. What about you did you do anything for earth day?

Jenn

Spring has Sprung

I can tell by all the green coming up in the garden, the sandals coming out of the closet and all of the rabbits around! There are usually a couple of jack rabbits around in the neighboor hood, but there are SO many of them around. This became an issue for us this morning, when letting Emma out to pee she must have seen a rabbit and chased after it. She was gone when it was time to take the kids, so I had to take the kids and go back and look for her. When I got back home she still wasn't on the front step. I headed out back to look for her and by the pond close to our house. I call her name about 3 or 4 times and then walked back to the house, and there she was sitting on the front step.






What a dog! It's great that she always comes back home. She is so smart, but sometimes too smart for her own good.....

Till Tomorrow

Jenn

Lucas and Mommy's Date Afternoon

Yesterday Lucas and I spent the afternoon together. It was so much fun. With Lucas growing up I find we don't spend as much time together. He plays with friends alot or him and Darryl play video games or do I spy books. So it was a really treat to spend time with him. It makes me realize what a great kid I have. Not only do I love him, I really really like him too. He has been using action words as descriptive words lately. Like yesterday we got in the car after the mall and he says "it's screaming hot in here". We talked about the weather and school and Lesley's and bike riding and toys. I was nice to have a date afternoon, just the two of us.

I love you Lucas.

Till Tomorrow

Jenn

What a smart cookie!

Tonight Lucas, Nathan and I were playing Lucas's favorite game of late "juice factory". Lucas brought me a drink which had soap in it. It was suppose to be a strawberry shortcake drink. I played along and pretend to drink it. Then dump it out and then gave him back the cup. Nathan says "mine, mine". So Lucas runs back into the other room and make Nathan one. A couple of moments later he comes back in with a cup for Nathan. He gives it to Nathan and Nathan starts to drink it. "Stop" I say "It's yucky it has soap". "No" says Lucas, "I didn't put any soap in his. The soap is the alcohol". "What do you mean?" I asked. " I only put soap in yours because the soap is alcohol and Nathan can't have alcohol."

What a smart cookie that Lucas is!

Till Tomorrow

Jenn

One Happy Family

Things are looking up around here. Darryl is employed again, which means that blogging will become a little more consistent. It will also mean I'll have a little more balance in my life again. Although I'm glad my "work crazy" life, it does make me appreciate work part time even more.




I am one lucky lady..

Till Tomorrow

Jenn

Love and Marriage

I mistakenly thought today was the wedding anniversary of two people I really admire. While thinking about them today I had this great post in my head about what a good representation of marriage should be, then I found out nope I had missed their anniversary it was 2 weeks ago. That's why this is not a post on the importance of remembering people's special dates, but on a marriage I look up to.

Some people seem to go through really big obstacles. Sometimes it's when you are young, or a teenager and sometimes it's when you are older. I think the time it would be the most challenging is when you are first married. It's a time when you are trying to blend your two lives and your two families. I remember it being a really fun time for Darryl and I, but also hard to learn each others quirks and getting over the things that drove each other crazy. But when you are faced with some of life's biggest challenges and when your dreams are taken away from you. I think it would be easy to walk away. But neither of them did. They stuck with it.

So in chatting with this couple about marriage here is what they think the key is:

We've always said that although everyone thinks love is the most important thing in a marriage, we disagree. We think you have to really LIKE each other, enjoy each others company immensely and be great friends FIRST...then if you also love each other, you'll probably stand the test of time.

There is an idea out there that marriage is always love and happy and roses. But as everyone in a marriage knows that is not the case. There are hard times. And most of us have average hard times. Darryl and I get upset over expectations or how our time is spent or seeing differently on an issue. But when it's life and death I can imagine it would be overwhelming. Of course sometimes there are times when it is better to leave, like if there is abuse. But usually most of the time I think people find something more appealing they are not getting from their own marriage and rather then putting the time into what they have they put it into what they think they can have.

So yeah, I think these people are admirable and I try to emulate them in my own marriage. Rather then focusing on the negative they put the time and the positive attitude into their own marriage. I think sometimes the hard choice can be to stay and I respect it when people do, through sickness and health.

Till Tomorrow

Jenn

Nathan's 2nd Birthday Weekend of Fun

This weekend we had a fun time celebrating Nathan's 2nd birthday. We went to the zoo and then had a party for him. He was a happy guy the whole time. I think he takes after his mother to a certain degree and like to be the center of attention.



Here he is showing us how old he is. He hasn't really got the 2 fingers on one hand thing down, but he can do one finger on each hand. =)


Here we are in the dinosaur section of the zoo. Nathan kept his hands over his ears as the dinosaurs growl at you.



There are my two favorite boys on a rock at the zoo.


Staying in the dinosaur theme here is Nathan's cake. It's suppose to be a t-rex. It is a bunch of individual cupcakes that I iced together to make a big dinosaur.


Nathan really liked the cake.

Last but not least opening presents. His favorite was a Toy Story gun he got from Grandma and Pop, but he has been enjoying all of the presents today.





Till Tomorrow

Jenn

Nathan's Monthly Newsletter

Dear Nathan,

Today you turn 2 years old. It feels like time has flown by. I can remember all the details about when you were born. Tonight while going to bed I let you play for a bit and I just watched you enjoy yourself. It was interesting to watch you entertain yourself.

There are still things that keep you baby-ish. My favorite is your cute baby run. You are also still in the no fear stage. You are super friendly. Will smile and wave at anyone, strangers or people you know


Although you are trying more words, your speech is still not great. We are still waiting to see a speech pathologist to help us. There are things I know you understand even though you can't say the words yet. You get the concept of counting even though you can't say the words. You will point like you are counting and say "unh, unh, unh" You also really enjoy singing even though you can't say the words.



Still love love love you Pop. You talk about him all the time. Every night I ask what you are going to dream about and it's either "at" which means cat or "Pop". Never Mom or Dad or ball or bear. When you see him you give him great big hugs and love to spend time with him.




In general you are very easy going. You are usually happy when I get you up in the mornings and unless you are hungy you are happy most of the day. You go down well for naps and most of the time well at night. You may cry a little for me, but really you are a pretty happy guy.





Eat pretty much anything. Unlike your brother who is starting to get more picky with foods you will still eat anything. For your birthday we are having avacado's and ham and pineapple. Two of your favorite foods.

Nathan this is such a great time in our lives. I love being your mom and a enjoying every moment of your childhood.

love mommy