1 step forward, 2 steps back! (long)

No home improvement project is straightforward and easy around her I swear!! I prepared all week to get ready to texture the guest bathroom and we thought it would be pretty easy since we had already done two rooms before. On Sat, Jensen went to Mimi's to spend the night so we could work. I had taped off the tub, window sink, etc we took out the toilet (not real fun and it stained my hands blue ick) and was getting ready to finish masking off the floor when I moved the coil looking pipe that goes from the wall to the toilet and it snapped in half ACK! Well that had to be fixed before we could do any texturing because you have to cut the drywall out and cut the pipe and put a new one on. Jeff went to shut off the water to the house under the sink and it shut off mostly but there was still a trickle of cold water draining out so he couldn't get the pipe hot enough to get it off. That's a big problem if you can't shut off the main water to your house! So then he went out to the man hole by the curb to shut off the water that way but it still had water coming out. I have no idea how any of that stuff works so I was just sort of standing around while he tried to fix it. There was a reason for Jeff having to continue to make it more complicated but I just can't tell you it all. Anyway, I had plans to have a girls night with some of my friends but it was time to get ready and I had no running water. I felt like I should stay and help but there was nothing I could do so Jeff told me to go. I would have showered at my neighbors house but they were't home so I cleaned up as much as I could then went to meet my friends. When I got home around 10:30 Jeff had the toilet pipe fixed but was under the sink trying to get it fixed. He worked on it all the next day and evening too and had gone to Home Depot about 7 times and spend well over $200!!! By Sun night he had rebuild the whole main shut off pipe under the sink but it was still leaking a little. He had enough and told me to call the plumber. I called Monday morning and when I told him what I needed he told me that you should NEVER EVER mess with your main shut off valve.....uh oh! He came out and told me about a million times in the 2hrs he was workin on it that this was a big no no and he was shocked that Jeff would attemp to do what he did when no plumber would ever mess with that!! He said Jeff did a decent job for not being a plumber but that he should have NEVER touched it. He got the leak fixed then it started leaking from two other spots....holy crap! His only other option after that was to cut a hole in the livingroom wall so he could reach the back side of the pipe. As he was cutting a 1 foot by 1 foot hole in my livingroom wall (OH MAN!) I am ready to pull my hair out because I know that means more fixing, texturing and painting in that room now. He finally got it fixed and the charged $184 so this turned into an expensive project! So that was my bad day today, I hope a year from now I'm in my new house and I can look back and laugh because right now it sucks!

Here's a picture of the mess.....

OK so if you read all of that you are probably really bored but thanks for letting me vent!

Happy 4th Birthday Girls!

Our nieces Jenna and Jillian turned 4 on December 2nd. They couldn't wait for their swim party at the YMCA. On that same day two of our friends were having birthday parties too. Jamie and Jerry needed to get ready for the party so, I picked up the girls and took them and Jensen to Chuck E. Cheese for our good friend Jailey's 3rd birthday. I was kind of nervous going there with 3 kids by myself but they were fine and had a great time. We had to leave a few minutes early so we could get to the girls' party at the Y. Jenna and Jillian's party was really fun and the kids loved playing at the indoor waterpark.

Birthday Girls Jenna and Jillian-their cakes were soo cute

Jensen enjoying his icing-he never eats the cake part plus a sucker in the other hand

Jenna and her bag of rocks

Grandma teased the girls that if they didn't tell her what they wanted for their birthday they were going to get rocks or worms. Well, when they opened a bag Jenna had a pile of rocks and Jillian had gummy worms. Surprisingly they were really excited when the opened them. I'll have to remember that for next year, maybe I'll get them dirt LOL!

Jillian and her bag of worms

Jillian making a fishy face for me

After going to Chuck E. Cheese and swimming, Jensen was worn out and fell asleep on the way to the 3rd party at Gymboree. Why he had a bucket on his head, I do not know but it was hilarious!

Jenna, Jillian, Jensen and their friend Kyan in the boat

The kids had sooo much fun at Gymboree and who can complain about birthday cake 3 times in one day! I just knew I was crazy for trying to fit in 3 parties but I'm glad we went because it was a great fun. Plus I got to hang out with some of my friends too. Here's Steph, Jamie and me

YAY for a Shower and No Poopy Pants!!

I was thrilled this week to take a shower in my master bathroom YIPPEE!! It's only been 3 years, 4 months and 1 week but whose counting!! I even took video of the miraculous event! We still haven't found a glass door but the more I talked to people including a real estate agent, the more I realized it might be good with just a shower curtain. I went and bought one just to see and I actually like it a lot. It really adds color to the room and its a heckuva lot cheaper! Jeff doesn't like it because he worries it will make it look like a cheap apartment. I decided if he wants a shower door so badly then he can find one that fits but until then I will use my shower happily! Downside though, I really hate picking out the accessories to go in there like a toilet paper roll etc. grrrrr! I don't know what looks good and I'm so afraid of buying the wrong thing!!

The stupid shower floor and curb that gave us such a hard time

But Jeff is awesome and it drains properly so far, go Jeffy!

Oh but having 2 toilets in the house is great especially since Jensen is doing soooo much better using the potty. Knock on wood... I haven't had to clean out poopy undies in about a month now YIPPEE! He likes the new potty and won't use the other one. I however, have not gotten used to it and still go to the other one out of habit.

Next up---texturing/painting the front bath then the huge kitchen/dining/laundry/hall tile project eeeek!

So much to be Thankful for!

Seems like Thanksgiving came and went very fast but we had a great one. We went out to Yukon that morning to have lunch with the Jones side of Jeff's family. We had some great food and really enjoyed seeing everyone. We got to go swimming which most people don't do on Thanksgiving but Jeff's Aunt Janet and Uncle Terry have an indoor swimming pool so me and the 3 kids swam. Jensen and the girls jumped into the water all by themselves so many times we just knew they would sleep well that night.

We also celebrated the 3 kids' birthdays with the family since they are two weeks apart. Its funny because for those 2 weeks they are the same age. The kids had a lot of fun opening presents and Jeff's aunt and uncle always give a savings bond which is very nice of them.

Jensen hiding behind his birthday money

After that we went to my mom's house to have dinner with her and Carrie. We ate even more yummy food and checked out the adds for Black Friday. We also had to do our annual Turkey Boy picture.....

Turkey Boy

2008
Our little blessing was born just before Thanksgiving 2005 and that year he was smaller than our turkey by about 5lbs. so we took his picture with it. Well, I thought it would be a fun tradition to do it every year to see how much he has grown. I laugh when I think about him at 18 rolling his eyes at me while standing by the bird!!

2007

2006

2005

Happy 3rd Birthday Jensen Drew!

Wheww its been a while since I've posted becuase its been crazy around here with Jensen's birthday and everything. I think he had a great birthday and I can't believe he's 3 already! On his actual birthday, 11/20 Jensen went to school then since Jeff was off work we both went to pick him up then drove out to POPS to get drinks. He told people he was going there for his birthday, silly kid, so we went out there really quick then went to Incredible Pizza. We had a blast and Jensen got to do the bowling and mini golf for the first time and loved it. He also rode the go-carts with Daddy and got 400 tickets playing games. He was excited to cash them in on a light up semi truck that was probably worth a dollar ha ha.

He actually made a hole in one his very first shot!!

Sat was his birthday party and since we are lion members at the zoo we get a free zoomobile. I thought that would be a perfect activity for his party so I set it up to come to the Moore Library. We did a whole zoo animal theme and birthday cake. The zoo person read the kids a story then let them pet a hedgehog. They enjoyed it but I was disappointed because I really expected them to bring several different exotic animals. I later found out there was a mix up and they were supposed to send more animals. The kids had fun though so that's all that matters. We also did two pull string pinatas where you don't have them hit it. The kids just pull strings and one opens a trap door for the candy to fall out. We had a good turnout and he got plenty of big boy toys.

Birthday Cake from Johnnies bakery

The kids did very well listening to a story about "Stickers" the hedgehog

Jensen was wacky though and wouldn't blow out his candles!! He sat there for a long time just being shy. Some of the other kids tried to help him and he put his hands up to the candles to block them. At first I thought great, he just wants to play with fire! It was funny but a little awkward becuase what do you do when the kid won't blow out the candles? Finally I helped him and he blew a little bit to help.

No guys you can't blow out my candles!!

Trolley Ride

I am always looking for new and interesting things to do and have been wanting to take Jensen to ride the Edmond Trolley "the Edy" for a long time. We had a beautiful 70 degree day one Thursday so after I picked Jensen up from school we met some friends and went for a ride. Since we had never done anything like this, we had to prepare a lot before hand and figure out what route we wanted to take etc. I was very anxious about catching it at the right time and didn't know what to expect. We drove to a trolley stop and got on with a group of rude teenagers. Then the driver was a seriously crotchity rude old man. I think the kids enjoyed the ride though and we got off near UCO and walked to a nearby park. The plan was to stay about an hour then get back on the trolley. Well, Mr Jensen had a nasty fall and gashed open his chin pretty good. I felt helpless all of sudden because I didn't have anything with me or my car to take him home. Luckily Jen had some wipes and a bandaid but I was really afraid it would need stitches because it looked awful. We decided to take the earlier trolley so we hurried to the trolley stop and it was already there so we almost missed it. Jensen was quiet and still all the way back so I know he must have been in pain. I was so thankful Jeff was home when I got there because he looked at it and decided he didn't need to go to the Dr. Despite the injury it was fun and an interesting experience!

Jennifer with her kids Paden and Josie
Mommy and Jensen

Jensen and Paden enjoying the ride

Jensen liked being free to sit in many different seats

Family Portraits

Tammy Hall did our family portraits again this year along with Jensen's 3rd birthday pics. The worst part for me about family pictures is picking out what we are going to wear. I am ok at dressing myself and Jensen is pretty easy because he looks cute in most things. Jeff is harder (he'd wear a t-shirt and jean shorts if I let him pick) then trying to coordinate us all to look good together makes my head spin!! Not sure if I did so well this year but hey, that's what black and white pictures are for he he. During the session, it was like pulling teeth in the beginning to get Jensen to cooperate and when we went outside we had to use some creative trickery. For instance we told him to look for frogs (there weren't any) and find the rock in the leaves. Tammy is good though, she stays relaxed and just follows what he wants to do. We got some pretty good shots so I was happy. Plus, none of them have Jeff sticking his tongue out yay! So here they are.....