boy, this is bad...

okay, several of you have asked me to put up a picture of what my new hair cut looks like. And guys...I do want to...and I will...but to be totally honest with you..I haven't actually dried and fixed it since SUNDAY! Augh! We have been swimming every day and I've just been going to bed every night with a wet head and then going swimming again the next day. So anyway..I promise to post a pic of what it looks like from the front, side and back as soon as I get time to cutesey up again! hee hee

The title-less post....(sorry, can't think of anything)

Hmmm.....what to blog???? hmmmm......
Wow guys...it seems like forever since I've really posted and yet I can't thing of any real interesting thing to say. I can think of gobs of totally insignificant things...but nothing noteworthy. I guess since I have the time...I'll just ramble.
We are going out of town this weekend! We are going to our hometown to visit family and friends and I am SO looking forward to it. It's been a long time coming and we really need some time together--just the 4 of us, as a family. After our visit there (Fri, Sat & Sun) we are going to stop half way on the way home and go to a big water park all day Monday and then go out for dinner and get a hotel and then go to a really cool museum place the next day. Just me and hubby and the kids. As excited as I am about this...you'd think we were going to Disneyland or something...but it's just gonna be nice to get outta here for a bit. Plus, the kids have been counting down the days till we get to see all our family. This time will be a special treat because we will be staying with Matt's mom. She got married recently and they just bought a new house, so we will have somewhere to stay instead of having to pay a fortune for a hotel. (that's why we are staying 3 nights). It'll be nice too, to have that much time there and not feel quite so rushed all the time to try to get SO much visiting in. Usually we have so many people to try to see that we just run here and there all day and then fall into our beds at night exhausted.
Anyway, not much else has been going on around here. Last night, Tuesday, the Amos family came over and ate and swim with us. It was such a nice night. The weather was PERFECT, the water in the pool was PERFECT and the food was delicious! The kids played great together which gave us adults a chance to visit. Ahhh....just wish we could do that more often!

Our church is offering Spanish classes from Sept 12-Dec. 12th so I have decided to take them. They are on Wednesday nights so the kids will just go to their classes. Our neighbors are spanish and don't speak English very clearly so it will be nice to finally be able to talk to them a little. Besides, I never took any kind of foreign language in H.S. and now I wish I had. So many people speak spanish these days, it's almost a necessity. And if for nothing else, now when I have a garage sale, I will be able to figure out what they are jibber-jabbering about to each other while they rummage through all my stuff! ha ha

Our church is also looking for people to participate in the Christmas program this year. They are putting together some sort of hip-hop lyrical dance. I signed up to be in it. Of course, I totally plan to chicken out after the first practice if it looks too hard....but at least I thought I'd give it a shot. I am, by NO means, an experienced dancer. The ONLY thing I know is what I have learned in Zumba at the gym...but I have figured out that once you get past being so self-concious...dancing really isnt that horribly hard. Plus its a great work out and SO much fun. Anyway, I'll let ya'll know how that turns out.

Well, I think that's about it for now. I think I'll spend the next few minutes before I zonk out catching up on all of your blogs! I love you all and goodnight!

Are you a Big Loser?

It's that time of year again....the one where I will be GLUED to the TV screen to watch my FAVORITE show EVER! If you guys don't watch this show...you should. It is the most encouraging, inspiring show. ESPECIALLY if you have ever needed to or tried to lose weight!

They are doing a catch-up show on Tue. Sept 4th at 9/8 c to show if the people on past shows have kept the weight off.

Then on Tue. Sept 11th, the new season kicks off at 7pm. I'm sure I'll be talking about this plenty in the weeks to come...so you might as well watch so you'll know what I'm talking about! ha ha

Nu Du

The ever changing hairstlyes of Jen. This time I went super-funky. Maybe even more funky than the hot pink highlights I got last month. I got what Matt calls a "duck butt" hair cut...where it is super short and stacked in the back and then angles down on the sides to longer. I also got a pretty dark color as the base color and then went with big, fat, chunky blonde and red highlights on top. Maybe this is part of the mid-life crisis thing that people go through..I don't know. For some odd reason, I feel the need to express my youthfulness through my hairstyles lately. It's like I am determined to prove that I am NOT GETTING OLD! Ha Ha!

My big girl! I can't believe she'll be 7 in just 4 short months!

We went to Amos's house last night for Logan's birthday party and this is the look she gave me when I pointed the camera at her. Pretty cute, I think!

Little Rabbit's Loose Tooth

Hey, I looked on Amazon.com and found the book I was looking for---and for only a penny (+3.99 s/h). This is really a cute book for those of you who have kids that are at the tooth-losing age.

There's a window in my mouth!

Last night while I was at Ladies Bunco at our church, Brooklyn lost a tooth! It's been a long while since she's lost any so this was a pretty big deal. We'd been trying to get her to let us pull it out for a few days now...but I guess last night she got brave and let her daddy do it. When I was a little girl one of my favorite books EVER was called "Little Bunny's Loose Tooth" and it talked about when you lose a tooth, you get a window in your mouth! I think I might have to search e-bay and see if I can't find that book!!!

Welcome to the Danger Zone...

just an FYI: If you are considering suicide or death...just come stay with us for a bit. We seem to have a knack for killing everything. First it was our fish, then it was the kitty cat and now the crazy chicken. I feel guilty for even THINKING this...but I sure hope our old dog Sam isn't next. He's the last living thing we have...(and that includes my garden and all my plants). This hot summer sun is sucking the life out of everything. Too bad God couldn't dole out all that rain we had and all this sun we're getting in little doses each day instead in months at a time.
Anyway, no more Elmo, the chicken. He's been gone since Saturday.

Ouch!!! That hurts...

Saturday, Matt and I took a break from all the seriousness and busyness of the week and took the kids to the movies to see Daddy Day Camp. It was VERY cute and your kids will love it. There was one part where the "bad" guys pants get pulled off and he walks around in his yellow and red star undies for a minute...(and that kind of surprised me---since you could sort of see the "bulge" in that spot) but other than that...it was really clean and fun and had a great story. Anyway, as usual, we loaded up our purses (Brooklyn and I) with snacks from home. I had a baggie of animal crackers, a baggie of cheese-its, 2 oatmeal cookies, a package of peanut butter crackers, 2 capri suns and a can of soda. (Man, that sounds like a lot when I type it all out! ha ha) Anyway, when we got out of the car, I noticed Brooklyns little purse was bulging a bit so I started to say "make sure your purse is closed so noone sees what's in it" but then I caught myself....WHOA....was I just fixing to tell my daughter to SNEAK food into the movies...that we were doing something WRONG---together...????
Uh-hum....that got my attention. Nevertheless...we proceeded---paying for our tickets but not for our food....Of course, as we walked in I see this HUGE sign that says "Absolultely NO outside food or drinks allowed!" I'm sure it's always been there but that day it seemed to be lit up in NEON lights and I was thanking my lucky stars that Brooklyn can't read yet!
So anyway...this was on my mind....
Now, fast forward to Sunday School the next day. The lesson is about guarding our families..and part of it talked about being an example. Our teacher went on to give examples that even what WE do is an example to our kids...not just what we let them do. For instance, maybe we don't them listen to certain music or watch certain movies...but WE do it. That's not good. Sure enough....you know what came to my mind. Ugh...
I didn't want to think about it.
I mean, come on. It's hard enough to afford to take our whole family to the movies as it is...but then to buy snacks there is just downright OUTRAGEOUS. It costs 3 times as much for snacks and drinks there as it does for the actual movie ticket.
So now I am battling within myself about what the right thing to do is.
I want to hear yall's opinions. Am I teaching my daughter it is okay to sin by doing this? What if I don't have her put anything in her purse...but I just do it? Ugh..I think I know the answer even though I don't want to admit it...but anyway...tell me what you guys think about this...

Which is better?

okay, I know the answer to this question is "both" but ....
if you had to over hear your kids' friends saying something about you would you rather hear?

"your mom is So Hot!"
or
"your mom is So Fun!"

Ha ha...but I was actually thinking about this today. It seems like the moms of the kids in Brooklyn's school can be categorized into 2 general categories:
1. The ones who are into themselves...looking good, working out, dressing trendy and like things nice and neat and organized
OR
2. The ones who are NOT into doing anything for themselves...dress like they're 50 and are overweight...BUT...who are all about games, crafts, getting dirty and laughing a lot.
I thought....hmmmm...I wonder which one I'd be. I concluded that I am probably more in the 1st group...even though I seriously doubt I'll ever overhear any of my kids friends saying that "I'm so hot" but....I am certainly not having nearly as much fun (with my kids) as I should be. I spend so much time either at the gym or getting "ready" a day. It seems like a lot of the really "Fun" moms I know don't ever go to the gym or dress up or even put on make up or do their hair...but...they really make things fun for their kids and don't mind a mess if it means they had a good time.
The question is...how do you find that balance and be "both"???

Warning: This post is rated "R" for some crude sexual humor and moderate nudity...

Hey guys! While I was at the pharmacy the other day waiting on Brooklyn's prescription to get filled, I browsed through the greeting cards. I happened upon this one and my eyes about bugged out of my head. Then I started giggling and decided I had to get it. I am sending it in my hubby's lunchbox tomorrow with his lunch...but I took a pic of it so I could share it with all of you too! Ha Ha Ha...

God knows what He's doing...even when you don't realize it!

I am such a bad girl. I should be working....really, really SHOULD be working....but I just got a comment from my buddy Logzie about something and it made me want to tell ya'll about it...so just real quick...

Saturday night my mom and dad offered to babysit for me and Matt so we could go out. We were excited since it's been a while since we've had any time to ourselves. I had a "full plate" of work waiting on me at home...but I needed this time with my hubby...so I decided the work could wait and we left. We started out our evening with dinner at Pei Wei (SO YUM!) After that we were going to run by the Bass Pro Shop real quick so Matt could get some arrows for his bow. Okay no biggie, I thought. I wandered around the store for a while looking at whatever interested me (which isn't too much since that's not exactly my kind of store). After about half a hour I checked with Matt and he was still busy. The guy helping him had decided to help him adjust his draw length, which is somewhat of a complicated process and it was taking longer than he'd thought. I decided to go to the Starbucks there inside the BPS and get something non-coffee to drink (since I HATE the taste or smell of coffee) and I ended up with a strawberry frappachino. It was okay but not worth the $4 I paid for it...but anyway....I sat down on the couch by the front door of the store and waited....and waited and waited. Finally I decided to run out to the car and see if I had anything out there to read. Sure enough, I had put my copy of "The Confident Woman" in there and it was still there. I grabbed it and headed back in to the couch. For the next HOUR AND A HALF, I sat and read that book. At first I was pretty ticked off since I felt like my date night with hubby was being completley wasted (I even text messaged Matt and said "Do you realize how much work I could have gotten done tonight!!!!"...but then after a while, I realized that this was actually probably God's way of slowing me down for a little while and giving me some much-needed wisdom and refreshing. I ended up getting a pen out of my purse and underlining half of the book. It was SO SO SO good. The whole way home I talked Matt's ear off about what I had read and how pertinant it was to our lives. I told him that I think everyone needs to read that book---even men. It's got so much awesome wisdom in it. Anyway, I just thought it was pretty neat that what could have been a really sucky night...ended up being a refresher from my Father! Thanks Lord for knowing what's best for me ---even when it doesn't seem that way to the natural eye!

Addicted...

Well, it's taken 3 years and a lot of nagging...but my hubby has finally gotten on the fitness train. Not that he's ever been the teensiest bit lazy or fat...he gets PLENTY of exercise at work...but since I've been going to the gym for the past 3 years...I've been trying to talk him into joining me. Of course...he waited until our membership ran out (in June) to decide he wanted to start going! ha ha..Men! Anyway, we re-joined and he's been going strong ever since. Now not only is he addicted to the working out..but he has also gotten serious about eating better and getting plenty of protein and vitamins and stuff. Just look at the pile of stuff that sits on our kitchen counter all the time now (and that's not even all of it!)

On my end of things, I have started a couple of new exercise classes. I am now doing step aerobics, power pump (lifting), stability ball, kickboxing, Zumba (latin dance aerobics) and Abs. If my week goes well and I don't have anything unusual, I go 6 times a week. Matt and I have been going on Saturday's now for about a month and we LOVE it. It gives us some structure to our Saturday's and it's something for us to do together. Sunday after church we went to a sporting store so I could get a few new things. I needed some boxing gloves for my kickboxing class and I also got another sports bra and some shorts. Fun, Fun! I would have LOVED to get a new treadmill while we were there...but that'll have to wait. I realized that probably the reason I don't use my treadmill very often is because it is SO old and SO loud that you can't watch TV while you do it or even do it while anyone else is in the house because it is miserably loud. It was given to me by my wonderful brother who had it for a long time and bought it used before I got it. It's certainly been a BLESSING but I think it's time to "bless" someone else with it and get me a new one. The one I am looking at is $399 and has a built-in fan. Maybe for Christmas......!?!!

Anyhow...just thought I'd take a break from working and do a post.

Love ya'll!

And the doctor said...

We just got home from the doctor and she said Brooklyn is having a localized allergic reaction to the bee sting...that is why the big red spot and heat. She said to just give her Benadryl and put a cold compress on it. As for the rest of her....she has a bad sore throat (probably strep although they didn't want to do a swab since she was feeling so miserable). She was actually shaking during the exam because she was so cold and feeling so miserable. I went by Micky-D's on the way home and got the kids a happy meal and then stopped at the video store and rented Unaccompanied Minors for her to watch this afternoon while I work. The doc said that she should be fine to go to school tomorrow since she'll have had 3 doses of antibiotic by then. She doesn't think she is going to feel up to it...but we'll see. She was actually pretty bummed out to have to miss school today...so that's a good sign!
Anyway, just wanted to let you know what we found out.

Brooklyn on her first day of school. She wasn't feeling too good (nerves getting the best of her) but she ended up having a GREAT day! (you can see our old dog, Sam, sitting at the door waiting to go out. He LOVES to ride in the car to take the kids to school! ha ha)

Matt's dad's 50th birthday was Friday so we all went out to eat and then bowling. The kids had a BLAST and have been begging to go back ever since! We had baked him a cake that day but we didn't get home from the bowling ally till about 9:30 so we just did candles and tasted the cake that night.

My sweet hubby put up a basketball goal. He attached it to the pole using a moveable thingy so we can put it low for the kids or high for us. Isn't this so cute? It's about 5 feet tall and the perfect height for the kids to make baskets. Grant makes almost every shot!

At least I have a cute mousepad to look at while I am stuck here!

This is where I am living this week....

My poor little girl. She is so miserable.

quick update on this crazy week...

Well, as I had expected...the work load this week is INSANE! I have NO idea how my friend (who I am covering for this week) does all this work and manages to have a husband and kids and home. She even has another 2 doctors that she works for that I am not even doing!!!
Anyway, I have been pretty much sitting at my computer non-stop since Saturday other than getting up to eat, sleep or use the bathroom. At LEAST I am making good money out of this whole thing.
In other news....Brooklyn got stung by a wasp or a bee on Monday while we were out in the pool. It was her first time to be stung and in her normal DRAMATIC way...she screamed and cried for EVER! I did feel sorry for her...I've been stung before and I know it hurts...but Come On! HOWEVER....now that it has been a day and a half since the sting, I feel bad for being that way. Her arm has a dark red/purple circle on it bigger than the size of a golf ball and it is extremely HOT to the touch and she has been running a fever of about 102 ever since. She has chills and hasn't gotten off the couch hardly at all. We are taking her to the doctor this morning to find out what is going on. I don't think it is an allergic reaction to the bee sting because that is supposed to happen immediately following the sting and her "reaction" started about 12 hours afterwards. Who knows...the fever may not even be related to the sting...but I am still concerned about her arm and why it looks like that this long after. Anyway, I will update again later today and let you all know what we found out! Thanks for all your prayers and well wishes for me this week!
And lastly...Grant started school yesterday. He in the 3-year-old Preschool class at the First Baptist Church here. He did just fine and seems to be loving it. Thank God for that because I am so overwhelmed this week already...it would have been really hard for me to deal with taking him to school if he was crying and having a hard time.
Okay, well...it's back to work for now...
Bye! Love you all!!

Gone for Good/Here to Stay

I am SO sad to say this...but it has now been about 2 weeks since we have seen our precious little kitty, Sugar. I am making the final decision now that she's not coming back. We are going to quit looking and hoping for her return and settle it within our hearts that she's gone for good. I had NO idea how attached I had gotten to her! Never did I think when we got that little kitten that I would fall in love with her like I did but she was just not like most cats. She was super cuddly (which I know a lot of cats are) but what really set her apart was that she would actually SWIM with us! Yes you read that correctly. Cats are supposed to HATE water...but not this one. She would actually climb up the ladder herself and wait for us to pick her up and put her in the water with us! Then after a while we'd put her in the water and let her swim over to the ladder and get out all by herself. We kept her outside at ALL times (that was the agreement with daddy---if we got to have her...she had to stay outside) and even though I hate to say it...a cyote probably got her during the night or something. She was only about 2 1/2 months old...so still very small to try to protect herself out in the country at night.
Okay...and now...on the flip side of things....
Elmo, our chicken, appears to be Here to Stay. As you all probably remember....it just appeared here in our yard one day and actually scared us all at first because she kept getting in the garage and stuff. Well, we ended up learning her "story" which was that a family with small kids had bought her as a baby chick at Easter this year and kept her all this time in a little swimming pool out in their back yard. Finally, though, they'd decided she was just too big and had asked our neighbors if they could drop her off at their house since they have chickens and roosters. They said yes and that is what happened. However, this chicken has never been around other chickens and certainly not roosters...and she wanted none of that. She was used to being around little kids and even being let into the house at times! So...she fled from their house over to our house and that is where she has chosen to stay. We have tried and tried and TRIED to run her off....but to no avail. The other night Sam, our very old and practially crippled dog, was chasing her as usual....but this time actually got ahold of her. He had cornered her in our front porch and after the whole episode...we TOTALLY thought he had killed her. She was bent in half (at the neck) and wasn't moving and he came prouncing out of there with feathers stuck all around his mouth looking mighty proud. And at that moment, we all realized that we had come to kind of like having Elmo around (as he/she has been so thoughtfully named by Grant). So then Brooklyn started to cry because she thought the chicken was dead and then the kids started trying to beat poor old Sam up. I defended him though since actually we had been encouraging him to chase the chicken thinking he'd never catch her and it was good exercise for him...so it really wasn't his fault. Anyway....after playing dead for a few minutes...our chicken came back to life and has been perfectly fine (minus a mouthful of feathers) ever since.
It wasn't a real great trade...the soft, cuddly kitten for a crazy chicken...but it wasn't like we had a choice.
Anyway, just thought I'd share that with ya'll.

Look out First Grade, here she comes!!!

Brooklyn FINALLY found a backpack she liked (we've been looking for months) and I took it and had her name embroidered on it. In all, I spent about $23 on this backpack so she will be using it for a while. The backpack was originally $26.50 but I had a coupon and got it for $15. Then the embroidery cost $8. Pretty cute, I think and she's glad to have something unique that noone else will have.

Our Morning Routine

(by the way) it happens to be 7:32 right now and my little girl just did the first step all by herself for the first time! Hooray!

Our After School Routine

Bedtime Routine

Happy Birthday Mom!

August 2nd was my mom's 57th birthday. She wanted banana pudding for her "cake" so we put candles in it and sang to her. The kids loved it!

Time Out

Hey ya'll! Just wanted to let you know that you probably won't be seeing anything from me on here for a little while. August is here in full swing and I am overwhelmed with additional responsibilities for the next week or two. Besides the fact that school is starting TODAY!...I am also doing transcription work for 3 extra doctors for the next week and a half while one of my friends goes on vacation. That means that instead of 1-2 hours of typing a day...I am looking at more like 8-10 hours of typing a DAY! I am already behind by 3 days worth of dictations....so I am certainly not going to have any free time any time soon. As a matter of fact...I shouldn't even be taking the time to be posting THIS...but...I was up till midnight working last night and then back up at 5:15 am this morning working and I just needed a little break. What better than to talk to you guys...my best buddies!
Anyhow...I am bummed that I won't get to blog since Brooklyn is starting school and I already have lots of things to talk about...like her WONDERFUL teacher! (hooray--we got the one we wanted!) but the bad thing is none of her friends from last year are in her class this year. She's pretty nervous about today. I am not feeling too great myself. I don't know if it's all the extra work that is stressing me out or knowing that she is nervous but whatever it is..I can't get these butterflys out of my stomach. This will be the first time she'll be away from me ALL day. Pre-K and Kindergarten were just for 2 hours. She is taking her lunch today since they are having cheeseburgers for lunch and she doesn't like them. (I know....only my kid!) She's got her clothes all picked out and ready and we spent about an hour last night preparing some charts for her so she'll know what to expect at 1)Morning time 2) After school and 3) At bedtime. I will take a pic so you guys can see what we did. I hope this helps to keep us on schedule and organized. In about 23 minutes, her alarm will go off for the very first time and I am willing myself to stay out of there and see if she can do what she is supposed to do all by herself. I would love to go "take care of everything" for her...but I have to let her grow up AND I do need her to be more independent especially during this extra-busy period I am in.
Okay, well...there I went rambling away when this was only supposed to be a quick little paragraph! Ya'll pray for me when you think of it because between school starting, all this work, and all the regular cooking and cleaning ...I am sure gonna need it. On Monday, Aug 20th, all this will be over and hopefully life will return back to 'normal.'
I love you guys!!

Oh Dear Lord!!!

Just now as I was driving home from church, I turned on the TV in our van. It was on Fox News. I hardly ever watch the news because it's always depressing, but what I heard tonight just makes me nauseous and heart-broken. Police in Noble, Oklahoma were shooting at a snake when they accidently shot and killed a 5 year old little boy who was out with his Grandpa fishing. His grandpa, who was sobbing "I wish it would've been me" said that the police were across the pond from them and were shooting at a snake hanging from an old metal building. The grandpa said as soon as he heard the first shot, the hair on the back of his neck stood up and he hollered to try and get whoever was shooting's attention, but nevertheless, they fired again and this time the grandpa said he looked over and his 5-year-old grandson was laying face down with blood gushing from his head. He ran him to the house but it was too late.
Doesn't that make you want to just puke?
I can't help but imagine my sweet baby boy and finding him like that. How does anyone deal with that?
Right now, as I type this my fingers are shaky and all I want to do is hold both of my kids in my arms and NEVER let go. I know that is not realistic though so I just have to find peace in the fact that God is always holding them in His arms--and He's much more qualified to keep them safe than I am.
I wish that made me feel better right now...but at the moment, I am given over to these overwhelmingly sad emotions of how those parents and grandparents must feel right now.
Let's all keep them in our prayers.

golb

that is blog spelled backwards, in case you were wondering. Who knows WHY I am telling you that...I just thought of it. ;O)
So anyway, I am just writing to say that I really want to chat with you guys...but I have been too busy lately. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get some time~!
Have a great weekend! Love you All!