A Better Day

Are we having fun yet??

Easter Crafts at the Zoo

Ready...set...go


Today was a much better day.

We went to the Dakota Zoo's Easter Egg hunt. It was just great to get out and do something. The kids behaved so great. I was very proud of them. I had no melt-downs, I didn't need to give any spankings, and the kids actually got along good too.

A Loooooooooooooooong Day

Disclaimer: This is a post of complaints from me.

Ugh. I can't believe that as I type this its not even 5pm.

All three kids woke up right at 7am. They aren't usually like that. My sister Holly thinks maybe some big noise woke them up. Whatever it was, we all got up. I looked out the window and the weather predictions were right, we were getting lots of sleet/freezing rain stuff.

As much as I wanted to go somewhere, I figured it would be awful. Getting the kids in and out of the car in that weather let alone driving in the weather. So we stayed home.

The only saving grace was the package from MawMaw for Silas's birthday. (the second one) Judi, you were so worried that it was late, I am so glad it was. At least that was some fresh entertainment. Although Luke was very interested in it too and that drove Silas nuts.

The mess is out of control. The laundry (clean) is begging to be folded, but that's not possible with all the extra helpers. I did muster up enough self-control to unload and load the dishwasher.

Hattie spilled her apple sauce at lunch. She fell off the couch and hurt her elbow (I saw her kissing it herself, that was cute). Luke is constipated and I saw something blue in his poop. Obviously something he picked up off the floor and ate, b/c I don't feed blue food in our house. Silas had a meltdown when he thought about how he hasn't seen his dad and won't for several more days. He doesn't really get the difference b/tw one or two days or more. You know, the whole time concept doesn't make sense yet.

A few good things happened today:
-I got to read my devotional thing
-Everyone, including me, had a good afternoon rest
-We had power all day (in Uganda we always lost power and that is a real life sucker in itself)


We are looking forward to the Dakota Zoo's Easter Egg Hunt tomorrow. I already called and asked if it was going to be canceled. The lady said no, not unless its a blizzard. And the weather isn't calling for a blizzard. Yay. Something fun to do tomorrow.

I guess I'll go fix supper. Then baths. Then bed time. Whew. The end is in sight.

The Bone of Terror

Silas got a birthday present from MawMaw today. IT was a little set of dinosaurs and cavemen. I have no idea where he comes up with some of the stuff he says, but I over-heard him telling Hattie about the "bone of terror" and the "bone of goodness". LOL. She just listens to him as if what he is saying is going to change her life.

Hattie is becoming extremely emotional and verbal at the same time. I don't know how many times a day you can hear her say, "I mad at you" or "I angwi" or "I so excited". She's so helpful now that I have too much help. Like when today she gave Lukey a bite of her ham and cheese quesadilla and said, "I feed Lukey. It so nice a me".

Luke is becoming the resident pig. I don't know if I can keep Cheerios in stock in the pantry the way he shoves them in his mouth. Kix, tortilla pieces (plain, w/o ham), rice cereal, bananas, baby food, stuff on the floor...I don't know how to keep him full, poor guy. He's surrounded by non-eaters.

But Silas and Hattie have been eating well...today, anyway. We (Silas, Hattie and I) ate 2 apples, one orange, one quesadilla, one chicken breast, dry cereal, salad...who am I kidding. My kids don't eat much. But today was better than most days.

Jody's gone until Monday. We already miss him, but today was a good day. I hope tonight is a good night.

The Circus

Silas had his spring show today. It was great. The theme was the Circus (appropriate for the current theme at the Jennings home). His class showed their tricks in the pool and in the gym. Silas is NOT the most coordinated kid in the class...in fact, he quite the opposite. But where he lacks in athletic skills, he makes up for with personality. He jumped off the mat and spread his arms out wide and sang to the top of his lungs "Tada"...and the crowded roared. He loved it. Such the little performer, just like his daddy. He sang beautifully too, just like his Daddy. It was great. I've got a movie clip I want to post, so check back tomorrow, I have to see if Jody can figure it out because I can't.

The above pic is of the kids in their new camo hats from DeeDee and Pa. They were so proud, can't you tell??

So far, the survey on whether or not to cut Silas's hair is leaning on the no (maybe a trim) side. Have you voted??

Haircuts

So I'd like to run a survey. Based on 2 of the pictures of Silas in the previous post, do you think that Silas needs a haircut?? I go back and forth. I kind of like it long. But then sometimes it doesn't look good. I don't know.

I know how my mother-in-law is going to vote -- no way. Never cut anyones hair. (am I right?)
I'm pretty sure my mom would say to cut it. She thinks everyone always needs a change.

What is your vote??

Happy Birthday Silas.

Silas had a great birthday. The costume party was so fun. Jim and Lisa gave him the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle costume that he ended up wearing the whole time. It was great. Hard to believe my baby is 4 yrs old. I'm glad we are done celebrating birthdays for several months.

Gone Fishing

Jody, Ryan and Ben made this silent film to go along with Jody's sermon this Sunday. It is SO funny. Jody's facial expressions make me laugh, Ben is the funniest human fish and Ryan did such a good job putting it all together.

Jody posted it on his blog too. I thought it was worthy of another link. Watch it HERE.

Snow-Goose Fajitas

People here hunt a lot. They keep their freezers full of game. Jody has only gone pheasant hunting since we've lived here...but he certainly plans on going more often and for different game.

One day, our friends Scott and Stacy gave us some Snow-Goose Fajitas. It was little strips of the meat frozen in a marinade. I cooked them tonight and it was delicious.

I'm surprised at myself for saying it, honestly. I'm the girl who would pray that my dad would NOT shoot anything on his hunts. (I was pretty successful with those prayer for a while too). I just couldn't stand the thought of killing the poor animals. But now my thoughts have changed a little.

Do you know that a lot of grocery stores where we buy meat inject water in the meat to make it look like theres more? DO you remember that 20/20 type special on Food Lion, where the butcher dpt was mixing old expired meat with the newer stuff? (How can I forget??? I remember sitting in my 10th grade health class about to throw up. ) Plus living overseas for the last few years and eating or trying to eat that meat...I almost became a vegetarian.

Now, my thoughts on game/fowl/etc is that its much healthier for my family. My kids think its pretty fun to eat Snow Goose some exotic animal. (it did take some explaining to Silas that I was not saying we were having SNOW BOOTS for supper). I need all the help I can get to get food into my kids, they are so darn picky these days. Plus, hunting is very economic.

I'm not ready to go out and shoot something myself. Although my friend, Lisa, kills her limit of deer (one) ever year and stocks her freezer up. But I'm about to send Jody off to bring home some more Snow Goose fajita mix.

LOL

This is SO FUNNY. I mean, I was laughing so hard, Lukey looked up at me like, what's up with you mama?

Mom my Ride

This thing is so true, if you could have seen my van last week you would have thought they had "mommed my ride". It clean right now...kind of.

Happy 56th Birthday Pa

Its my dad's 56th birthday today. (of course by the time most of you read this, it will be the day after his birthday, he's probably in bed already too). What really cool is 2 days ago, on St Patrick's day, was his 35th spiritual birthday. Isn't that awesome?

I love my dad. My kids and my nephew Elijah call him Pa.

Pa is so great. He's funny. He loves to talk to the kids on the phone. He'll say, "Grrrrrrrrrrrrr, I'm gonna gitcha gitcha gitch...". My kids really think he may get them and they laugh. They love for Pa to sing songs to them and tell them how much he misses them. He's a good grandpa. We are going to have SO much fun getting to play with him in May.

He's a great dad. He still thinks we (his 3 girls) have it all together. He always tells me that he's proud of me and that I'm a great mom and that he loves me more than anyone else. (We always argue over this one...I tell him Jody is up on the list now, its been almost 7 years since we got married, and its kind of 2 different kinds of love...he doesn't agree).

I know he loves Jody. (and Holly's husband Steven). But, he says he just has to pretend to NOT like them. The other day, I said, Dad, can't you just pretend to believe he is a good guy. My dad said...Uh?? Ok. Tell him that I think his best character trait is that he picked you and somehow convinced you to marry him. He married way above himself.

Ha. Only a dad could say that. Because that is NOT true. Jody puts up with me and my attitude issues all the time.

Besides, I think that if I ever "got rid" of Jody (which I WILL NEVER) my parents would choose him. Jody's much easier to get along with...believe me and not Pa on this one.

Happy Birthday Dad. I love you and miss you so much. You are the best dad.

New Pics

Big Blue Eyes

Hiking with Daddy

Mohawk Madness

Luke is getting SO big, sitting so strong.

Clean and ready for bed

Headless Cinderella

Today we took a family road trip to Fargo/Moorehead. Its not close, but we needed to take our car to the Kia dealership over there, and I didn't want to be stuck at home with kids who have been cooped up all week b/c of sickness without a car, so we joined Jody. I'm sure he was thrilled about that.

While waiting on our van, we hung out at the mall. I'm sure Jody was thrilled about that too. Hattie's fever returned in full force. So I went to Walgreens with Hattie and Luke to get ibuprofen, while Jody stayed to watch Silas play in Dinosaur land. While at Walgreens, I found this little Cinderella figurine for $1. Hattie just loves Cin'rella, so I got it for her. We went to a couple more stores. In one of the stores, she dropped Cinderella. I picked her up and noticed the head was missing.

Under normal circumstances, Hattie would have cried buckets and howled at the moon, but in her delirious fevered state, I don't know that she even noticed. I busted out laughing and handed her the Cinderella body. She looked at it and then just held it like nothing was wrong. I'll glue her head on tomorrow.

I 've got to get to bed. Its been a long day. Wiping noses all day, trying to get the STUPID DVD player to play a whole movie. (that is a whole other blog, I'll have to tell you all about the STUPID thing I HATE with a passion...after today, it is no longer in our car, I'm so mad at it) The last several nights have not been good ones. (picture this from last night, Jody -- Feverish Hattie-- Me, making the shape of an H in our bed last night. ) Hopefully I'm going to be able to scrapbook with my friend Stacy tomorrow, if everyone remains feverless tonight.

Mr Luke

We have a friend here in Bismarck named Luke. He has been in the hospital this week with kidney stones. So I offered to make dinner for Luke and his wife Barb tonight. As I was getting it all ready, Hattie (who has been very sick today) was peppering me with questions. What you doing mom? What dat for? I have some?

I answered her. When I told her I was cooking for Mr Luke, she smiled. Then a few minutes later, as our little Luke crawled into the kitchen, she said, Mi'er Yuke, mama make you dinner.

I tried to tell her the difference between the 2 Lukes, but the rest of the night she kept calling our little Luke, Mi'er Luke. It was funny.

Reasons to be thankful today

1. All my laundry has been washed, dryed and FOLDED. Now, I just have to put them away.
2. Silas is feeling so much better, looks like school tomorrow.
3. My husband did the dishes 2 nights in a row. Wow, what a blessing.
4. Tortilla pizzas, a quick, easy, tasty supper, that my picky kids actually eat.
5. One on one time with Hattie at swimming lessons.
6. Silas telling me he loves me to the pot 'o gold and back.
7. 3 great kids and one AWESOME husband.
8. Free Starbucks tomorrow. Its true, thanks Jen for the heads up.
   

Aunt Joy

Pray for my sister Joy this week. She's at a group home in Tennessee, checkin it out. She called and said she missed me. I know she likes it there, but I know she's missing home...to say she's missing me, IN NORTH DAKOTA. Ha. But I miss her so much. I can't wait till she visits us.

Silas was very sick today. High fever, at one point 104.3. He's been so pitiful. He couldn't go to school and he cried. We won't be going to MOPS tomorrow either. Poor baby.

Ryan is baking a cheese cake here. Actually its his second attempt. He's going for the perfect one. Its been baking a while, but not browning. He's getting advice from all over the room. I can't help, I've never made a cheese cake. But if this one is no good, I guess he'll let me sample it too. Ha. I LOVE cheese cake. Mom, remember the pumpkin cheese cake you made me for my 18th birthday? Yum...

The Little Guppy

Hattie started her swimming lessons tonight. She is SO brave. We had a great time. She was the smallest little peanut in the class, but she had the MOST go get em'. It was so cute. She had to have the "pu-url" noodle. She didn't want the bubble floaty thing. She said, I don't nee it. Her favorite thing was ring around the rosie where you go under at the end.

On a totally different note. Here what I read today that really encouraged me. Colossians 3:12-13 "Put on then...compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other..."

Being a mom, I want to teach my kids godly character by first modeling it and second teaching them the actual words from the bible. Man, isn't that something to work at??

One more turn...24 was GREAT tonight, wasn't it?? Oh my gosh. The ex-presidents wife just STABBED her ex-husband. What???

Sour Puss Face

Jody thinks I'm mean, but I think what I'm about to tell you is FUNNY.

Babies get to a grabby stage. They want food, paper, whatever they can get to and of course it goes straight in the mouth. Well, when my kids start getting this way, I hand them a lemon slice. I just LOVE the sour puss face. I die laughing. Let me tell you it is hysterical. I did this with Silas and Hattie, so why would I skip Luke's turn??

But he let me down.

He was like a stoic Norwegian.

He didn't even blink.

He had NO sour puss face.

In a way thats almost funnier.

This actually happened while we were in Albuquerque at a restaurant. Luke was being grabby and I handed him a lemon. Today we went out to eat with some friends after church. Lori was holding Luke and before she could stop him, Luke reached out and grabbed the lemon out of her drink and popped it into his mouth. Everyone was amazed because he never made "the face".

Jody's Blog

I'm so excited. Jody is starting a blog. He hasn't entered anything yet, I have the computer. I told him he should call it "Bald in Bismarck". But no. I guess he wants it a little more reputable. So its just Jody Jennings. Check it tomorrow, I know he'll blog tonight. I'm so proud.

Celebration at Space Aliens

Jody made it home. Yay. We are so happy. Luke kept grabbing Jody's face. Hattie couldn't stop kissing him. And Silas said several times, Dad, I missed you so much.

His luggage didn't make it. It's still not here. Of course the kids are sad, b/c there are presents in the luggage. Oh well.

So for supper we went to Space Aliens. Its like a Chucky Cheese. Only not with just Pizza and not that many games. Actually the games are pretty lame, Jody says. But the food is great. Ribs, stone oven pizza, loaded baked potatoes...its great.

Just wanted to share our happy reunion.

Poor Jody

It's unbelievable. Jody got to the airport in plenty of time. So he got on the earlier flight. But after they boarded, they deboarded b/c one of the engines wouldn't start. I think they boarded one or 2 more times before the passengers decided to try and get on Jody's original flight. Of course that one was full at that point. (It ended up that the later flight had engine problems too). Jody got a new route, thru DENVER. He's still not home. I think he'll arrive sometime after 9pm. I'm not sure, I hope he calls when he lands in Denver.

I'm planning on putting the kids to bed and giving my across the hall neighbor, Megan, the baby monitor to listen out while I go and pick Jody up. I don't know, I may bring Luke with me.

But we did have a good day. We went to the Library for story time. I love it. I mean it is cheesy as all get out, but the kids love it. Then the rest of the day we are all singing this annoying...bye bye baby one baby two baby three, bye bye bye bye...ugh.

My super friend Lisa came over with her girls. She's such a great friend. She vacuumed my living room, picked up toys, and more. She's always so willing to help her frazzled unorganized mother of 3 crazy monster kids friend.

Oh, I also drove to our new house with Lisa. (Lisa is OBSESSED with moving and houses and stuff like that). We went in the house where the dry wall crew was there. I am getting so excited, its starting to to look really good.

So, the kids are so disappointed that daddy isn't home yet, but I told them they can just call "DADDY" when they wake up in the morning. LOL.

The Light at the End of the Week

Yay. I am so excited. Jody is coming home tomorrow afternoon. We are all excited. I think he's going to bring me a chick-fil-a too. Oh my gosh, I cannot wait.

But he had a great visit with him family in Georgia. Silas was so jealous that his dad got to be with HIS cousins. Jody also caused problems for his sister, Jerre, when he had Colson (Jerre's youngest) convinced that he could come up for Silas's Costume Bithday Party. I WISH, Colson.

But over all, this week of single-parenthood hasn't been TOO awful. I've made it. Even though we suffered a bloody nose, falling off the bed, a bloody lip, and short nights we survived. I didn't go crazy or hurt a child. Thank you Lord.

We are expecting "spring-like" weather beginning Thursday. That's going to be awesome.

I made a chicken pot pie for supper tonight. I always make too much. But it was good and it makes good leftovers.

Snacker

I just finished one of my ALL time favorite snacks(#1 on my list). Here's a "Few of My Favorite Things..." (hum the song...)

1. Dark chocolate. The darker the better.
2. Cheese-its - need I say more??
3. Milkshakes. Totally inherited this from my mom who got it honest from her dad.
4. Brownies. The box kind is just about as good as any homemade variety.
5. Oreo's. I wish you could just buy the cookie's w/o the cream. But my kids love that I share my cream.

Now, you tell me, what's some of your favorites. "I simply remember my favorite things and then I don't feel...so bad". Not that I'm feeling bad, I just love to think about dark chocolate...

Great Friends

After a rough Friday and a pretty rough night, I have to say, I've had a wonderful Saturday.

The snow drift at my garage was unreal. I thought we were stuck in AGAIN. But thanks to my friends, Scott and Stacy, we were FREED. The snow plow came as Scott was trying to get us out. Then we sledding with Scott, Stacy and their kids Gage and Emma. After that, we were invited to lunch at their house. I don't know if they understood how much I need to time away from our prison, I mean house. And how much the adult conversation helped with my mental sanity. Plus, Stacy's a huge scrapbooker, and she has re-inspired me to get back into it.

Then my friend Lisa offered to sit with the kids during naptime while I ran to the grocery store and wherever. That was GREAT.

I feel refreshed and ready to face the rest of the weekend.

I'm so thankful for great friends. Now...I have like 5 loads of laundry to fold, Lisa folded one for me, that sweetheart.

Snowy Day

Silas, Hattie, Luke and our neighbor Tommy. Don't ask me why they were shirtless, I don't know.

Day #3

Honestly, I have no idea why all these strange things keep happening to me.

I got up in plenty of time to get Silas and Luke to the Dr for check ups. When my neighbor, Megan, came to the door saying she wasn't going to work b/c of the blizzard, I was thinking she was just being a wimp.

I went out to shovel at my garage. As I was almost blown away, I realized it was going to take me all morning to shovel my way out the garage. So we stayed in. It was a LONG LONG LONG day.

Hattie gave Silas a bloody nose. I've never seen such a bloody nose. I mean, it was bleeding. The only thing I could think of was tampons. I remember Jody telling someone in Joyful Sound (a group we sang with in college) to stick a tampon in her nosebleed. So, I did that to Silas. Thankfully he didn't ask me what I had just stuck up his nose. It was very funny. And finally the bleeding stopped.

Hattie has had diarrhea several times today and Luke has been very fussy. Very unlike him, I don't know what his deal is. I'd like it if a tooth just popped thru and we could get this over with.

Bed time could NOT come soon enough.

My friend Lisa Hamilton volunteered to come over tomorrow. I told her I don't know if I can get out to go anywhere, but I'd love the company no matter what.

Shew...only 5 more days until Jody comes home.

Blizzard. We had a real blizzard today.

Pressing on

Well, my day started off kind of like yesterday.

I finally got us all in the car in time for Silas to be ON TIME, and as I was leaving our parking lot, I was like, something looks funny. Oh, I forgot my glasses. Dummy. I'm not blind, like my sister or sister-in-law, so I kept on going. Besides, with all the snow on the ground, you have to drive slow anyway.

I was helping Silas change from his snowboots to his tennis shoes, when I realized I made him put on MY socks this morning. WHoops.

But the rest of the day was routine. Hattie's really showing off her sin nature. Man. She is stubborn. She had at least 4 fits today.

My mom forwarded me this link from the Baptist Press, its from the commissioning service in Albuquerque. Of all people, JOdy and I got a pic in there. Don't ask me how that happened. I didn't even know someone was taking pictures.