Over and done...

So, the pageants are finally over (and done) and I am SOOOO glad! Ashton's pageant was last night, and she was beautiful! She tried to turn that to her advantage and lobby for the right to wear make up now, but I wasn't buying it. :) I was very proud of her-she looked great, and she carried herself beautifully. It was a CRAZY long pageant, and we didn't get home till after 11!!! After 2 horrible experiences I told the girls we will NEVER do this again. I just thought I hated pageants before! I think pageants are superficial and usually biased to a particular 'type' of girl and I never wanted them to be in them to begin with. I hope they are as over it as I am. With all the dress dilemmas-both girls had MAJOR dress alteration issues-the seamstress RUINED Ashton's dress, and it really looked bad!(check out the full length pic-notice the crooked bodice and HORRIBLE hem!)-and catty contestants and MEAN moms, I feel thoroughly justified in my disgust. Anyway, now that I've had the chance to vent I feel better. Thanks for listening...or reading along...or whatever. :)
TTFN

Jen

Yesterday's pic was...

Sydney! :) I finally got all our pics off the desktop onto my laptop, and it's so hard to decide which pics to put on here! The pic of me and Paul is from my cousin's wedding in Jan 08, and I was about 5 months PG with Emmie. It was a good pic though, so I used it!

~Wordless Wednesday~

Anyone know who this is...?

Clean up, clean up, everybody, everywhere...

Oh, wait a minute...it's just ME that's cleaning up so much. Since Syd got sick Saturday night, I can't tell you how many times I've cleaned up vomit!! Syd's better, but Jacob's sick now! It's a vicious cycle around here, and I'm praying no one else gets it, but anyone with more than one child knows how things usually go all the way around before they stop!!

I was disappointed to not be able to participate in Not Me! Monday yesterday.

I had a migraine all day, (Paul sent me to bed at 9 cause I was crashed on the couch) and even though I sat at my computer several times, and even started my post, I couldn't sit or concentrate long enough to make a cohesive entry. So here are a few things I wouldn't have written if I had not felt better;

I did not spend most of the weekend cleaning up messes better left undescribed.

I did not (just like MckMama didn't) take a pregnancy test last week because I have not only had one period since BEFORE Emmie was born. (In Jan. One of the many perks to breastfeeding! I have not missed it!) I was not mildly disappointed when it was negative.

I have not been completely unable to get my diet back on track, and have not been eating like a HOG-which did not add to the suspicion that I might be PG!

I did not enter one of MckMama's contest, and am not waiting impatiently for her to announce the winner!

Ok, that's enough of that. I wanted to point out that I added a link to Kayleigh's blog. I read it today and found out that they are in dire financial trouble right now, even so far as to be losing their house! They have friends who are creating a blog where we can go donate and be entered to win cool prizes, but the blog won't be up till March 3rd, so visit the blog andkeep checking back.

On the lighter side, I let the girls make cookies today, by themselves! They did a great job. I only helped with the mixer, and monitored the rest. And speaking of mixers, we got an awesome one!! I've been wanting a Kitchenaid for forever, but we've never been willing to fork over the $250-$300 cost for one. I was SOOOO excited the other day when Paul found one on clearance at Sears for $99!!!!! Just because it's cobalt blue-like I even CARE what color it is! It's great, and we've used it several times already. I took pics of Paul using it to make pancakes with this weekend.

YUMMMMMY!!!!!!

Speaking of Paul and cooking, he cooked almost every meal this weekend, and I got a nap Saturday and Sunday! It was very nice! I think this post is long enough now, so...

TTFN!

Jen

Some pics!! Finally!!

YAY, ME!! I finally got my pics posted, and I realized that I was doing it right all along! What a dork I am. I will post a pic of Paul and myself soon.
After spending most of the day in Mobile with all 5, by myself, (in formal dress shops, no less) I came home and Paul watched the kids so I could take a nap...SOOO nice!! We didn't find a dress, but we had a backup plan. She is going to settle for one we found the other day. It's not her favorite color, but it's the style she wanted. She wanted blue, yellow, or orange, and this one's lavender, but it will be fine. I'm so over pageants! We don't even really agree with them on principle, but both girls really wanted to this year, and we decided to let them try it. I hope they get it out of their systems!!! It's an awful lot of money down the drain. Anyway, Paul and I are about to watch Eagle Eye with my brother and sister-in-law. Hope it's good!
TTFN!
Jen

Caution...site under construction!

Sorry for the mess...I am having a little trouble getting everything organized on my blog! It's been really frustrating, so please bear with me. Hopefully I will have everything fixed soon.
Jen

Noah's word of the day...
'Pun-pah pah-peets = Spongebob Squarepants!!

(Non-stop) Conversation with a 2 year old...

~Conversing with Noah~

Ok, so Noah has been jabbering since he was about 4 months old. By the time he turned 1, we realized that he had his own little language going on, and no one but him understood most of it. There were a few things that were consistant enough to understand, like baba for Mama, and dada for...passy! LOL. He always called Paul Daddy, and it was really the only thing he said clearly! Lately, though, his language has quickly come into sharp focus, and most things he says are perfectly understandable (many things still aren't, and I have to be paying more attention to what he's looking at or pointing to to catch what he means!) However proud we are of this wonderful milestone, it comes with a minor downside...now that he knows we understand him, he NEVER STOPS TALKING!! I'm not kidding-NEVER! On top of that, every sentence ends with the word Mama! Here is an example of a conversation we have almost every morning after dropping my oldest girls off at school;

Noah: Whea Ashna(Ashton) go, Mama?

Me: Ashton went to school, Noah.

Noah: Ashna go stool, Mama?

Me: Yes, Noah. Ashton went to school.

Noah: Whea Ninny(Sydney) go, Mama?

Me: Sydney went to school, Noah.

Noah: Ninny go stool, Mama?

Me: Yes, honey. Sydney went to school.

Noah: Wash moobie (watch movie) Mama?

Me: Yes, we can watch a movie when we get to Jacob and Steven's school.

Noah: Moobie-Dayta-Teewen-stool, (movie Jacob Steven school) Mama? (I don't know why he has to run these together, but he gets the crucial words across)

Me: (sigh) Yes, Noah. Movie and Jacob and Steven's school.

There is actually more...and it happens almost everyday! I suppose the ritual is comforting to him, or something like that. It's really funny, and really sweet. All of us love to think of words to get him to try to say. Our favorite is "Oh, fwayfways!!" which is "Oh, gracious! There are days, I must admit, when I beg him to say Daddy at the end of all his sentences, but it never happens. And in a little funny note, his new favorite thing to do is strip down and run around naked! Very cute in the bday suit!!
Emmie fell hard today for the first time since beginning to pull up. She actually hit the corner of the table in the living room, but she is fine. The worst part about her pulling up is when she wakes up at 2:30am and decides to pull up, because I then have to come rescue her-she can get up, but not back down. It would be funnier if I weren't so tired from it!! I am still very amazed at how quickly she is progressing!

Funny kid quote of the day:
Paul and I were discussing the dry beans we were planning to cook, and the ham hocks we were going to put in them. From across the room, Ash yelled, "GROSS!" We both turned to see what was gross and she said, "Why would you put pig lugies in the beans?!"

Wordless Wednesday

Just to clarify, I DO realize that I have more children than this, my older two have just become camera shy lately!!

Not Me! Monday!

Not Me! Monday!

Ok, here's my first Not Me! Monday-and idea I stole from Kelli at http://the-wilson-world.blogspot.com/, she it turn borrowed the idea from MckMama over at http://www.mycharmingkids.net/.

I am NOT completely frustrated that for some reason I am unable to upload a pic to this post! I have not done this successfully in the past, (as you can see) and am at a loss as to why it's not working now.

I did not receive some very beautiful tulips from Paul for Valentine's day, because they are not my favorite. I also didn't receive a pretty little pink and white striped box with all things pink inside. He did not go from store to store to buy me lots of sweet things all with a pink theme. I do not have the sweetest, most romantic hubby in the world!

All of that did NOT make me feel rotten for buying him a dinky little Starbucks gift set from WALMART. I would never be so cheap, or thoughtless! (he really did love it, though-it had his favorite flavor coffee and his favorite cookies in it!)

I did not have a wonderfully romantic dinner with Paul on Saturday night. We did not double date with Konnie and Isaac, did not have a great time, and mostly, did NOT defile the honor of a classic Disney film by making it an ongoing dirty joke!!! LOLOLOL-not us, right Konnie?NEVER!! (And I will NEVER watch that particular film without snickering again!!)

We did not go see 'He's Just Not That Into You' afterward, and we did not really enjoy it. We also did not make gagging noises when all the women in the theater 'AWW!!ed at the gooey parts.

I did not fall off my 'healthy eating and workout' plan while Paul was on seatrials, and I have not had difficulty getting back on it since he's been home. I am not ready to start eating right, and walking with my girlfriends again.

I didn't think I would have this much to write, and I didn't enjoy writing it!

Jennifer

Wordless Wednesday

(one minute too late!)

Back to life as usual

Paul's home again, so things are slowly returning to normal. The week was fine until Saturday and then I thought I'd lose my mind! Sydney was in the EC pageant Saturday night, and her dress was being altered. I got the call Saturday morning that I thought would be telling me to come pick it up, but instead I was told that the dress couldn't be fixed!! So, we went into 'when the going gets tough...etc,' mode. Konnie had 3 different pageant dresses here for her to try on by 11:00-I was blown away by how quickly she pulled things together for me. Thanks, Konnie! Unfortunantly none of those fit, so we ran to Amelia's and after trying about 15 different dresses on, we finally found one. Things worked out fine, and Paul actually made it in time to see the pageant! Mary did her hair and makeup, and she looked beautiful!

Single mom time again...

Watching Paul get ready to leave makes me so sad...even though he's only going to be gone 2 (maybe3) days. I'm a bit conflicted-dealing with the emptiness without him, and the stress of suddenly being a single mom for a few days-it weighs heavy. It may sound silly to those whose husbands are frequently gone, but mine is NOT! We've been 'pnj' for almost half my life now, and we are pretty inseperable. Other than that, it's been a wierd week, unusually stressful, we have Sydney's pageant this weekend, and there's the possiblity that Paul might not be home for it, and all the kids have runny/stuffy noses and some are starting to complain of a sore throat. (that was a GREAT runon sentence!) And it's going to be COLD!! ARG!! What a time for him to be gone! I may just keep everyone in the next few days!! :) JK. I'm sorry-I'm whining. I am excited about the pageant, and Syd is too. Mary is going to fix her hair for her, and put a little makeup on her, and she is just giddy. This weekend was good for the most part-we ate out with Konnie and Isaac a few times. That was fun...we haven't done that in a while. Saturday I learned what it means when people way that teenagers are embarassed by their parents. Ashton showed her behind-so to speak-and really upset me. Paul was just joking with her around her friends, and she totally lost it. I've never been quite so frustrated, or hurt, by her. I'm getting over it, but she never apologized, and that makes it hard. She and Paul talked it out, and things are good with them, but she and I haven't talked about it yet, and I find myself unintentionally being sharp with her over things that wouldn't normally bother me. Anyway, I guess I need to bring it up and clear the air. I'm praying for grace and understanding through her teen years-if this weekend were any indication, I'm gonna need it!!
Jen