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.