Christmas 2008

We had a great Christmas and it was extra fun this year because Jensen finally knows what Santa is. Christmas Eve we made Gingerbread men and that was fun because Jensen has really enjoyed reading the story about him every night before bed. On one of them, he decided he needed a hiney so he turned him over and put a piece of candy on his rear. I thought that was funny. That night we met at Jeff's parents house to exchange gifts with them and his brother's family. We ate dinner then opened presents. Jensen opened one gift and just wanted to play so I opened most of them for him. This kids had fun playing with their new toys then we came home to put milk and cookies out for Santa. Of course Jensen insisted the one with the hiney was for Santa!

Christmas morning Jensen woke up at his normal 7am and I don't think he realized Santa had come. He went to the living room and saw that his bowling he wanted was under the tree so he was happy. I wanted to get his reaction on video but I was too slow. Just like the night before he just wanted to play with that and not open any more. Jeff made us a great breakfast with eggs, toast, bacon so that was a special treat since he cooks way better than I do. At around 9am my dad and Sharon came over to spend the rest of the morning with us. They got Jensen a toy rifle that make shooting sounds and he is crazy about it. It makes me a little nervous because I worry about gun safety but from everything I've heard its a natural thing for boys and you just have to teach them what's ok. He really loves the marble run Santa brought him too.

Tree with the Santa goodies under it

Playing with his bowling game Silly Pins

Jensen playing dead in a shoot out with Grandpa

Sharon, Jensen and my dad

Sharon picked out a bunch of cute outfits for Jensen complete with matching shoes. One was a nice outfit with a vest, tie and dress shoes. He wore it for Christmas that day and looked very sharp.

Jeff was a sweetie and got me a pair of shoes I wanted and a nice makeup case with makeup from Victoria's Secret. I got him a Wii golf game, an alarm clock that wakes you up slowly with light and the Weird Al show on DVD.

At around 1pm we went to my mom's house to have Christmas with her and Carrie. Momma made a fabulous meal with all the good stuff. She got me a huge mirror that I love. She said she didn't like it so chances are I would ha ha!

Jensen and Mimi

This is what he looked like after lunch. He didn't get too much on his new outfit though so that was good.


After spending some time with them we went out to Yukon to be with Jeff's dad's family. A few years back, we started drawing names to exchange gifts so that is fun. We had some great food there too. The kids always have a blast playing and looking at the huge salt water tank. They even got to see some turtle eggs and one had just hatched out.

Watching the fishies with Grandpa

Jensen has a weird smile because he did not want to be there but Grandma bribed him with candy so he was just humoring her

Wanted: baby brother or sister for Jensen...soon please

Most people know by now but in case you hadn't heard Jeff and I have been trying for another baby for 11 cycles now with no luck. We didn't tell anyone at first (not even my mom or Jamie can you believe I was able to do that!) because we wanted it to be a surpise when it happened and didn't want the pressure of everyone knowing. Well, after about 6 months of that I was going crazy so we started telling people. It helped a lot to talk about it finally.

Last summer, I learned from tracking my cycles and reading online that I have what's called luteal phase defect (LPD) which is basically not enough days between ovulation and the end of the cycle. Trust me, I know more about all this conception stuff than I ever wanted to know! I guess its a pretty easy fix in most cases with the standard treatment being the fertility med Clomid. We were a little nervous at first about it because it can have an increased chance of multiples but its small and we decided 2 would be better than none. I just really don't want a litter!

So after 4 cycles on clomid and 1 with clomid plus two other meds, we saw no real change in my cycles. My Dr informed me yesterday that she is sending us to a fertility specialist which I am extremely unhappy about. The only good thing is that my Dr has not been very good about communicating with me about his stuff so maybe now I will get the proper treatment now.

Its not fair and has been an emotional rollercoaster every single month but I have tried to keep in mind that for me everything happens for a reason and it will happen when its supposed to. Its frustrating though and hard not to worry about it since my body is not doing what its supposed to. With Jensen, we tried for 6 months and that was frustrating but I was at a job I hated and 2 weeks after I started my new job I found out I was pregnant. I keep thinking that maybe it hasn't happened because we are supposed to finish this home improvement stuff first and be closer to having a newer, bigger house. It just goes to show that you can make all the plans in the world but things don't always happen when you want them to!

Thanks for your support and keep your fingers crossed for us that it won't be much longer.

Looking like Christmas

The Christmas season sure came quick and it seems like it left quick too. The week before, Jensen had his first Christmas program at school so that was neat. I didn't expect him to do much especially since in the car on the way there he said "mommy I'm never, never singing!" We had to drop him off at his classroom then go to the auditorium and it broke my heart when he cried for me not to leave. I guess he got over it though because when his class got up on stage he was fine. They sang 2 songs (he did not sing or smile) and tapped sticks during one. Of course my kid and his friend Blake had to be stopped when they were drumming on the stage. It was a cute little show. It a little hard to see but Jensen is 3rd from the right.

We were finally able to texture and paint the bathroom and it turned out great. It was hard cleaning up though because our outside waterhose was frozen solid. Jeff had to add a tile to the floor under the toilet so we are waiting for that to have a toilet again. Whew doing this stuff and trying to get ready for Christmas is the pits but hey as long at its progress I'm happy.

We were excited my Dad and Sharon got to come down from Pennsylvannia for Christmas. They have not been able to visit in a year since they are in school. Me, Jensen and my sister Carrie surprised them at the airport but Jensen was more interested in the luggage belt. They came over on Monday and we went out to eat BBQ at Steve's Rib (best ribs ever!). Jensen and my dad had so much fun chasing and wrestling. I don't know who was more worn out!

Jensen really misses his Grandpa "Maywee"

Jensen and "Honey Sharon"- my dad calls her honey so he thinks that's her name

Out to eat- Kristi, Jensen, Jeff, Sharon, Jerry, Carrie

Stay tuned for more Christmas pictures

I've been tagged- things that make me happy

I've been tagged by my awesome friend (and MOMS Club Prez woot!) Shannon.

List six things that make you happy. Pass the award along to six more bloggers. Do not give the typical answers and go for the less obvious, as you all know that family, friends, God, etc would be on the list :)


1. Crossing stuff off my never-ending to do list make me not just happy but giddy!

2. Pictures of all kinds and scrapbooking makes me happy especially when I get a lot of cute pages done

3. I'll second Shannon on this one- a clean house makes me feel so happy especially since it doesn't happen often around here.

4. When Jensen is well behaved it make me happy to know I'm not completely failing as a mother!

5. Mentoring my former students and making a difference in their lives

6. Dancing to fun music with my girlfriends

I could list a lot more stuff but it says only 6. Now I'm tagging Jessica, Diane, Allison, Jonelle, Karen, and Margaret. Can't wait to read what you ladies write!

Fall/Winter happenings

Here are some random pictures. This first one is Jensen's school picture. It looks odd and I laugh when I see it because it was still very warm and I love that shirt so I wanted him to wear it before it got cold. Well, silly me forgot it was picture day! His smile is great and he looks so cute but the summer shirt with fall background is weird. I guess it shows he lives in Oklahoma weather!

I tried to rake some of the leaves out of my flower bed and Jensen had fun playing in them. It was windy though and most of them either blew away or they like to gather in my entryway and get in my house.Jensen throwing the leaves

We always try to put up our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving but this year we had to buy a new tree first. I wanted to find one on "black friday" but didn't feel like fighting the crowds. We went to a million stores and couldn't find what we wanted. Finally I I ended up getting a "slim" one at Garden Ridge for $50. It was fun letting Jensen help put the ornaments on and he felt cool putting the star on top.

We went to see Santa at Northpark Mall last week. I talked it up big beforehand and had great hopes that Jensen would sit on his lap alone. Jeff got off work early that day and went with us so I thought that would help. No such luck, he was excited to see him but didn't want to talk to him or sit on his lap. So, it was either no picture or take it with Mommy in there too again this year. I really like the Santa at this mall and its never too busy. Jensen did tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas but he told us he wants "bowling" and a "gun shooter phang" which I think means a Nerf gun. I'm so not ready for Christmas this year but hopefully I will get all my shopping done.

Oh by the way, I had the scariest thing happen yesterday. It was super cold and a little icy and Jensen and I were on our way to lunch when I started to fish-tail then we slid off the road!! I did ok when we started to slide, I just steered into it then I kept going back and forth until finally I spun around and skidded into the grass. I didn't know what else I should have done but Jeff and mom my both told me I should have put it in neutral. I got extremely lucky though because no one was coming the other way and I stopped before hitting a fence. My friend was driving behind me so I'm glad I didn't hit her either. I was so freaked out my heart was pounding and Jensen asked me on the way home if we were going to crash again. That could have been really disastrous so we are very lucky I didn't hit anything.

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