Double Digits

Jenna has lived her first decade of life.  Because our family has such a rich history of awesome birthday cakes I thought I would take a picture of our latest stunner.

Jenna isn't a fan of birthday cake (the apple doesn't fall far from the tree) so this was the obligatory birthday party cake for her friends.

Since this is the year of birthday parties at our house (we have friend parties every other year), Jenna started things out by taking a few friends to the trampoline park in town.  They had a great time. Jameson even got in on a little of the action.

 

I don't know what it is about Jenna's birthday parties, but every time she has one there is a blizzard on the day of the party. This year it snowed all day long and by the time the party started we had gotten another foot of snow.  Adam had to shovel the walkway to the door.  You can't tell from the picture, but it was still snowing and continued to snow well into the night.

Enough snow already!!

By the time this picture was taken Adam had been out in the snow for over 24 hours.  He arrived home from a scout campout about an hour before the party started. Camping in the snow-- that just sounds like fun, doesn't it?

When Jenna was born in Georgia it was already starting to warm up and felt like spring.  Around these parts her birthday definitely falls in the dead of winter.  How did we end up with 3 winter birthdays and only 1 summer birthday??  I said this to Jenna yesterday and she said that if we moved to southern Brazil we would have 3 summer birthdays and only 1 winter birthday. Very true, Jenna, I hadn't thought of that.  See how smart you get when you turn 10?

Every year Jenna has a boy at school who has a major crush on her.  There was one particular boy who liked her from 1st Grade thru 3rd grade and would give her little gifts on her birthday. This year she has a new boy who really likes her and everyone in the entire grade knows about it. He isn't exactly nonchalant.  One day she came home with a little stuffed heart shaped thing and said, "Brenden gave this to me. He said he had an extra one at home."

 

An extra one? Really? I don't think so.

 

On Valentines Day Jenna came home with 3 plush roses in a vase. 

 



Everyone in the class was talking about it.  Adam and I just looked at each other and thought, "Wow, this kid is bold."

Well, for Jenna's birthday he pulled out all the stops.  He handed her a large wrapped gift at school, but she didn't open it until she got home.  She pulled it out of her bag upon arriving home and unwrapped it.

A deluxe art kit with acrylic paints, 3 extra canvases and a king size Kit Kat bar. Whoa! I have no words.  She insists he is not her boyfriend, but I'm sure she doesn't mind all of the attention.  Last year another boy gave her a ring for her birthday. What is it about Jenna that makes boys want to give her gifts? We aren't worried about it yet, but maybe we should be. . .

We all need a pep talk

If you need a pep talk check out this link.  You won't be sorry.

Snapshot

I decided to document an hour in the life of Jameson. One morning this week I carried my camera with me for about an hour after the older kids left for school.  Here he is, ready to go.

"Another day with just you and me. Let's get this party started!"

 

Um, is there a reason you aren't holding me right now??

I got in the shower and he showed me his latest trick--it's the "turn the hot water in the tub on all the way so only a trickle of water comes out in Mom's shower" trick. It's a super funny trick.

 

 It was so funny he couldn't stop smiling the entire time I was in the shower.

I made up for it though when I chased him down to change his diaper and clothes.  He really loves getting his diaper changed, almost as much as he loves getting dressed.  He loves it so much that I have to put my leg over him to pin him down.  That is his favorite part.

Once the diaper is changed the real wrestling match begins.  I must say I've become quite the wrestler in my old age.  I practice several times a day and guess what? I always win.

 

 

Now that he is ready for the day he can get down to business. The business of making a mess, that is.  One of his favorite places is the upstairs landing.  He likes to look over the edge and throw things down.

 

 

 

 Last week the water spray bottle I use to do the girls' hair was our first casualty.  It was broken beyond repair.  At this point in the day I decided to get ready and blow dry my wet hair.

Seriously, Mom, why aren't you holding me??
 

Since I wouldn't pick him up he had to find something else to do, like pull out all of the towels from the drawer.

Pick up our bathroom scale and drop it a few times.

 

 

And turn on the tub faucet as many times as he can. If I turn it off, he turns in back on. I turn it off again and he'll turn it back on again (you can see where this is going).  I would ban him from the bathroom altogether, but unfortunately he has to be monitored at all times.

 

Mom, are you done with your hair yet??

We set up an old little TV/DVD in the corner of our bedroom so he could watch Baby Einstein while I showered and got ready for the day.  As you can see, it works really well.  He watches it for about 2 seconds and then messes with the channel buttons until the volume goes up really loud and it goes to a static channel. Then he leaves.  This is what I would call a "less effective" way to get a few extra minutes in my day.

 

Jameson has been here.

 

He is so fun and is always happy.  He is also very busy.  My house isn't as clean as it used to be and I don't get nearly as much done.  Did I mention that my house isn't as clean as it used to be?  I try to remind myself that it isn't all me, but it still drives me crazy.  We are looking forward to the time we will be able to spend some time outside again.  The house will probably thank us.

34 Degrees and Balmy

When it hits 34 degrees like it did yesterday and you feel like you can shed your coat because it's soooooo nice you know it has been a harsh winter.  We have gotten a lot of snow.  Last Monday I went and took a few pictures of the kids with the snow pile in front of our house.  Living in a cul-de-sac has its perks when you're a kid and one of them is that the snowplows pile up the snow from the entire circle into a huge pile. No child labor required. What kid wouldn't love having a 15 foot pile of snow in front of their house to make caves, slide down and play on?

 

 

On top of the pile

Snow going up to the tree branches

Snow so deep in the front yard Korinne is standing half way up the light pole

In the middle of the yard the snow was up to Britton's waist

My sister lives in Texas and blogged about how her daughter's school brought in 8,000 lbs of shaved ice so the kids could have an opportunity to play in real snow. Wow. Wish I could have sent a little of our excess snow this year to people who would really appreciate it. With a month of sub zero temperatures it started to feel like Alaska or Canada and I realized that there are a lot of people that regularly experience these kinds of winters. Glad to know that the groundhog has predicted an early spring this year. :-)