Jansen's Birthday Party

Jansen has been very excited to turn 7. He waited patiently while Natalie celebrated her birthday and had her party...and his turn finally came. My kids are pretty indecisive and unrealistic when it comes to choosing party themes, so I basically suggested/persuaded Jansen to have a "science" party. 

He chose an Oreo Brownie Trifle for his party dessert. The leftovers are sitting in the fridge tempting me each time I open the door. Problem is, it's even better a day or two later.

We started the party by making bracelets with beads that turn color in the sun. As they put the beads on, I told them a change would take place when we went outside in the sun. They made guesses about what would happen to the clear beads.

Here is the crew. It makes me a little sad to think that in maybe a year or so Jansen probably won't want girls at his party. For now, they are some of his favorite friends. 

We did a few activities here at the table like make instant snow, grow "marbles" in water, and experiment with waterproof sand. Those little condiment cups were AWESOME. I used probably 80 of them for different things during the party. 

Great friends sporting their safety glasses.

Dr. Nye wowed the kids with "elephant toothpaste." 

And with slime...

We even set a dollar bill on fire, but it didn't burn! :) I only trusted my husband enough to use a one dollar bill on this one. We talked for a little while beforehand about NEVER using matches or lighters by yourself at home. Just had to include that bit for any of the parents of children who came to the party who may read this. 

This one is called "magic milk paint."

We sat down for a little while and built structures using toothpicks and marshmallows.

Somebody was having just as much fun as the kids.

We headed outside after that for the Mentos geyser!

It was awesome.

We finished up with trifle and opening presents. This picture reminds me that I need to ask Jansen what he wished for. Or does that make it not come true?

Emmy slept through all the partying, but I took her for a few rides on the party decorations to make up for it.

I have a love/hate relationship with parties. They are a lot of work, but this one was really fun and definitely worth it. If anyone wants info or details about the experiments just let me know in the comments and I'll get the links, etc to you.

Labor Day

It escapes me what we did most of Labor Day. I do know Jansen was born on Labor Day 7 years ago. And I do know that we went up to Mt. Charleston in the afternoon. A few friends joined us and we had a picnic dinner. This is a picture of us driving towards cooler weather.

It was fairly crowded, but we didn't have a problem finding a parking spot or a place to sit and eat. At home we had to dig through our clothes and find some pants and long sleeves to wear. It certainly wasn't cold up there though. It felt awesome. Jansen and his buddy Weston spent most of their time wearing Proton Packs and fighting off ghosts.

We had a great time talking with friends and enjoying the cool air. I'm glad we got it into gear and planned this last minute outing.

I Can Still Smell Her

With all the kids' birthdays so close together, my mom decided to come down for a visit to celebrate. It worked out really nice because Nate was gone part of the weekend hiking Mt. Whitney. Hooray for not being alone with the kids all day on a Saturday! We just loved having her here...I mean, she's the type of grandma that will wear a Strawberry Shortcake accessory in her hair. And it was probably her idea.

The kids were introduced to the game Barrel of Monkeys. Gosh, Natalie has a long way to go in terms of being a good sport. Full on fits on the floor if things didn't go her way.

We ran errands together and went to the park. I'm thinking of putting this one in Emmy's modeling portfolio. I mean, the girl is looking good in that playground tunnel.

Jansen asked me to take a picture of him to show why he was "born for the monkey bars." 

The guest bedroom still smells like my mom (in a good way), so I miss her every time I go in there. Thankfully, I know she'll be back before too long!

Natalie Girl, Birthday Girl

Natalie is officially 5. Her birthday was August 29th. She really wanted to open presents before school, so we woke up before the birds and did a quick job of it. I did a little candy trail to her presents. 

As I looked through the photos of Natalie opening her presents, every one of them had one of my bras hanging in the picture. Luckily I found one I could crop and things were still appropriate for all ages.

She loves this stuffed German Shepherd we gave her. Even though she is my own flesh and blood, I am grossed out by her tongue-in-the-gap thing.

I love this picture from my phone. Her playful brown eyes and sprinkle of freckles really stand out. That night we had chocolate chip pancakes for dinner as per her request. 

We had a little party for her a few days before her actual birthday. She wanted an M&M cake and this one popped up on Pinterest. 

She chose Hello Kitty invitations, but the party was really all about making and creating things. She didn't realize until a few days before the party that it wasn't Hello Kitty themed. Oops. 

Like I said, we just made a lot of things...Shrinky Dinks, bracelets, paper towel butterflies, perler bead designs, etc. 

I thought Jansen might want to hang out upstairs and play on the computer or something. I was very wrong. He wanted to be right in the middle of the party, and Natalie was totally ok with that.

Cake time! She chose mint chocolate chip ice cream to go along with the chocolate cake.

She had a lot of fun with her presents that afternoon.

Here is a page from her scrapbook she worked on.

A few things about Natalie...

-She loves fruit. She eats a couple bananas a day along with a few other types of fruit. 

-She loves to snack as well. She is always wanting a little something to eat.

-She still likes me to rock her before bed. All this really entails is her sitting on my lap for a minute in her rocking chair. She also needs 12 kisses on the forehead before bed. 

-She sleeps with a sound machine on and a weird pink night light. I don't know how she does it. It's like a party going on in her room all night.

-Littlest Pet Shops continue to her favorite toy. She plays with them everyday and makes up "stories."

-She loves to go on bike rides, especially with dad.

-She loves the show Strawberry Shortcake right now. She also loves Wild Kratts and Diego. She loves computer time.

-She can read a little, and loves to sit and look through books.

-She only likes kindergarten ok, but doesn't complain a lot. I like that about her. She does what needs to be done.

-She is a busy little girl, always collecting, coloring, or cutting something up.

-She always wants to say the prayer at dinner or bedtime. I think this is because she can control the length of it. :)

Love you Natalie girl!

2nd Grade and Kindergarten

Jansen and Natalie have both been very excited to start school. Nothing but happy anticipation the last couple weeks. As Jansen was going to bed last night the emotions finally hit him though. He was sad that he wouldn't be with me all day, and that he couldn't have Annie's shells and cheese for lunch like we often do. There were some tears, but he finally fell asleep feeling okay about things.

Natalie woke up on her own about 6:15, and I had to wake Jansen up around 6:30. Last year we took our sweet time getting ready, eating breakfast, watching a cartoon, but this year it was all business. I didn't feel too hurried or stressed thankfully.

Here's Natalie in her first day glory, albeit with some legging issues:

Jansen was happier than he appears, but a little more reserved than usual.

A convincing thumbs up? 

After dropping Jansen off I took Natalie to kindergarten. I didn't cry or get emotional at all. That may have to do with the fact that she is done by 9:55. We still have the whole day to be together.

Natalie had a good day, but I think she was a little overwhelmed by all the rules. That first week of school is all about training the kids, so I think she will enjoy things much more as the weeks go on. I asked her if she liked her teacher and she said, "Yeah...but she's not the best." I have been impressed by her teacher so far, and I think it will be a great year.

Jansen bounded in the door after school today and said, "Mom, 2nd grade is great!" I was so happy. I can hardly believe he is in 2nd grade. That is the grade that I taught for a year, and I was pregnant with Jansen the last half of the year. To look at where we are now just boggles my mind.

Last "Summer" Post and a Great Sunday

Well, school starts tomorrow, so I guess this is a last summer post.

Emmy continues to be a pretty poor eater at the table, so she misses out on dessert a lot. That means I have to tell the kids to go eat in the laundry room so she won't see them.

I said poor eater AT the table. If it's on the floor, she does much better.

Just a cute picture I took last week as we were walking into church. 

A few trips to splash parks lately...MY DO IT she tells me as she drags the cooler across the playground.

We had some rain. You never think to take pictures of your neighborhood, but when I come across ones from my past I am so glad to have them. Jansen actually took this one.

And oh my! This 4 year old lost a tooth last week! It was loose, so we knew it would fall out soon. 

I felt the Spirit strongly several times at church today. Nate was working an ER shift, so I had the kids by myself.  Not the circumstances that allow me to get much from sacrament meeting usually. A piano solo of Nearer My God to Thee was especially touching though. It's amazing the things a song can allow you to feel...that you can know without a doubt that your Savior lives.

The most memorable part of my Sunday was in Relief Society. A woman that was baptized about 16 months ago shared her incredible story. Before joining the church she had really been struggling...feeling that something was missing in her soul. She had fasted many days and prayed and prayed. One morning at about 3 am she pleaded with God that she needed help and needed to feel peace. She said she felt Him tell her that  there was another book that was missing from her life. Upon hearing this she said, "No. No, no, no. I am not going to be a Mormon. I am a black woman, I am not going to be a Mormon." We all had a good laugh. She continued her story by saying that she told God that if that is what He wanted she needed something TANGIBLE and she needed to really know. 

The next day she went to work tired and a little angry. She found out when she got there she needed to train a new nurse and that just worsened her mood. She went about the day and trained the new employee. At the end of the work day, they were out in the parking lot together getting ready to leave when this new nurse grabbed her wrist and looked her in the eyes and said, "I have no idea why I am doing this, but God wants you to know YES. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints." They both burst into tears and hugged and cried. So much so that security came over to check on them...just a funny little side note. This amazing woman did some reading and studying and research and was baptized. I felt the Spirit so much as she spoke.  I do believe the Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ.

ING

LOVING: Nate having some 2-12 shifts. I know, I know, still a pretty crappy schedule, but it means I can go running in the morning. And I can go to the grocery store by myself sometime other than at night. And he gets hours with the kids instead of one hour or minutes. Oh and I also love my immersion blender.

READING: Just finished The Greatest Quest. It's about four college students who set out on a quest to find God and His only true church. I'm actually using a lot of the scriptures mentioned in the book to direct my scripture study now.

WATCHING: SO SO SO embarrassed to admit this one. BUT we just got Netflix and I've been alone at night all week...I've been watching just a little bit of Animal Hoarders. Sometimes a lot bit.

ANTICIPATING: Fall. Aren't we all? I'm excited to have highs in the 90s instead of 100s!

LISTENING TO: I like a guy named Lee DeWyze right now. Jansen loves the song Home by Phillip Phillips so that's been on a lot lately as well.

PLANNING: Oh this is easy. Birthday parties. Jansen and Natalie. So glad we only do these every other year.

WORKING ON: My drive to do this always comes in waves, but I have been "decorating" and "creating." Using three separate pieces I put this mirror together:

WISHING: Surprisingly, this one is making me think the hardest. Is that good? That a million things don't come to mind when I ask myself what I'm wishing for? I guess I'm wishing I didn't worry so much. Had a small freak out session last night when Nate was a little late getting home from scout camp. Faith not fear, faith not fear, Jessica!

Oh and Jansen blogged again. Such a funny kid. http://jansensblog.blogspot.com/

Checking on Natalie's Heart

When we lived in Ohio our pediatrician heard something irregular when listening to Natalie's heart during a visit. He referred us to a cardiologist, and we were told Natalie had an ASD, or atrial septal defect. It's basically a small hole in the heart, but with many children the defect closes on its own. To make a long story short, the other day we took Natalie to Children's Heart Center here in Las Vegas to check up on things.

She was SO good. I knew she would be. She is very well behaved in these types of situations. I actually really enjoyed having some one on one time with her. 

Good news! No sign of any ASD. No need for any follow up at all. It must have closed on its own.

I think for Natalie the hardest part of the whole afternoon was choosing a treat after the appointment. Just TOO MANY CHOICES. She went with good old M&Ms...they have always been her favorite.

Up Close and Personal

Of Natalie

They are usually pretty good about asking to use the camera. But not perfect. I think these were taken without mom knowing. 

Of Jansen

He reminds me of a Dr. Seuss character or something similar, but I can't quite put my finger on it.

Of Emmy

Not quite as up close and personal, but I had to include one of her.

Of the fish...who has lived so much longer than any of us expected it to.