Part of our village

I think it was Hillary Clinton, during her Husband's term as president made the statement "it takes a village to raise a child". And while I highly doubt that was Hillary's independent thought,it still resonates with me. It truly does take alot of people and alot of love and support of a family to raise a child.
This past year our family has been involved in the ECEAP program in our local school district. ECEAP is a preschool program much like the long ago program called Headstart. I went to Headstart as a 3 & 4 year old girl. I remember the building I attended it in and the people that taught me and some of the fun events we did. It was a good experience and one that a lifetime later, I still remember and remember fondly. When I signed the kids up for ECEAP I was hoping very much that my kids would have a great experience as well. I am so very pleased that they got the same great experience in this preschool, that I had 30 years ago in my preschool.
From the Social worker who placed Kaleb & Future & Jasmyn in their classes and supported our family, to the teachers in those classes to the parents of the other preschoolers in the class, we had the most awesome experience this year. Becky was our social worker, Casey, Melissa, Carol were Jasmyn & Future's teachers and Teacher Rozell, Marion and Julie were Kaleb's teachers. We also had some awesome Moms that volunteered in the classroom with me. Caitlyn's Mom and also Keira and Dayja's Mom were such a great influence on the kids and the classroom in general.
I can not say enough good things or even find the words to express how much I appreciate these wonderful women. Here are just a few pictures of my favorite preschool teachers....

This is Becky & Karen. Becky is in the black & white top, Karen in the solid black top. Becky is our social worker. Karen and Becky share an office, so I have been privileged to get to know Karen while interacting with Becky.

The blond waving to us is Casey. She is the head teacher in Jasmyn & Future's class. The blond next to her is Carole who is a teacher in J & F's room as well. And the older lady on the left is the class "Grandma" Barb. And the little girl's face on the bottom right corner is Dayja, one of Jasmyn's friends from school.
This is LaVonda and Karen (again). LaVonda is Dayja & Keira's Mom. LaVonda and I have spent alot of time in the girls classroom together volunteering.
Becky, Karen and Melissa. Melissa is the one on the right. She is a teacher in F & J's class. Melissa has a close bond with Mason. They got to know each other when I would bring him into the classroom with me to volunteer. Mason just loves Melissa. The feeling is very mutual!
And here is Becky taking Mason down the big slide. Mason just loves Becky and of course the slide too!

I feel very blessed to have these lovely ladies as part of the village that loves and supports my children.

Jump & Bounce Field Trip!

Future and Jasmyn's preschool class took an end of the year field trip to Jump and Bounce. It is a building full of bounce houses, obstacle courses, and a giant slide. It was so much fun! I can't wait to go back and do it again. The kids had a blast!

Kaleb went with us as well since we knew he would love it and the rest of our family went as well. Here is Kaleb sliding down the big slide.

Here is Mason climbing out of the "boxing"ring.
Inside the jump castle Mason is throwing a ball.
Mason and Amelia (a special friend from Jasmyn's preschool class) in the crawl through in the obstacle course.
Future and his classmate Paul sliding down together.
Jasmyn Sliding down
Future sliding head first!
Mason and Mom and Jasmyn sliding down!
Jasmyn and her 2 best friends from school, Josie and Kailey
Tim & Mason sliding.
We had a lot of fun at this event. It was really fun and something we will make sure to do again! They do birthday parties and other events. They also have "open jumps" during the week. To check out more about this place go to: jumpandbounce.com

Past weekend

The kids had another first this week. Their very first sleep over!!! Our friends Sierra, Keagan and ROwan slept over. Well their Mom slept over as well, I mean Rowan is only 11months old. THey had a lot of fun playing together the whole weekend and then sleeping over on Sunday night. Here are a few pictures!

Kaleb hanging in the tree!

Keagan & Mason playing trucks under the tree.
Mason & Rowan playing on the bed.
The sleepover! Left to right: Keagan, Sierra, Jasmyn, Mason & Kaleb.
Side view of the kids "nest" for their sleepover. The 4 older kids did sleep in this nest all night. Rowan and Mason slept with their Moms!

Fun was had by all!

Keagan & Sierra. They are so sweet together.

First Haircuts

After Jasmyn's self haircut, I needed to find someone to cut her hair and even it up. Because she has naturally curly hair I wanted to take her to someone who knew how to care for curls. My friend Sarah has curly hair and only trusts our old high school friend Kristi to cut or color her naturally curly hair. I called Kristi as soon as I could after discovering Jasmyn's hair and made an appointment! So here are a few pictures documenting Jasmyn's 1st Haircut and style! Jasmyn did great. She just sat there on the chair with a half pouty lip and waited for Kristi to be done. She even allowed Kristie to blow her hair dry and style it!
I guess if it has to be a short hair cut at least she looks cute in it!

Here is a picture of her the next day after I styled it. She looks cute. I wish her hair was still long, but she still looks like a cute little girl and she still has her curls! For about 2 months now Tim has been bugging me to cut Mason's hair. It was getting a bit long in the back and covering his ears. I was hesitant because I did not want to just buzz cut it like I do Kaleb's. Kaleb's hair is much thicker and darker, so even with a fresh buzz cut he still looks like a healthy little boy. I was honestly afraid that if I just buzzed Mason's hair that he would look bald or like a child receiving cancer treatments. LOL!

After Kristi and Jasmyn did so well getting Jasmyn's hair cut, Tim & I figured we should at least give Mason a try. I wasn't gonna force him to do it, but I figured we could at least try. Much to our delight he sat very still in my lap and did not cry at all! Even Kristi was impressed! Here are a few pictures of Mason and I getting his 1st hair cut!

He even got brave enough to stand and let her do the back! Such a Big Boy!

Handsome boy!

Mason

If there is one thing I could say about Mason it is that he is All Boy! He likes to play in the dirt, get dirty, explore his world with hands on enthusiasm, and he's also a bit of a Momma's boy! I blame the latter on my breastfeeding him for 19 months! LOL! He loves to go for rides in Daddy's truck and go to Home Depot with Dad. He is usually the first to give Dad a hug when he walks through the door after being gone for 5 or more days at a time. Mason also has a close relationship with his Grandma Mary.

He is talking up a storm although you still have to have a "Degree" in Mason-ese to fully understand him. He adds new words to his vocabulary everyday. But his favorite words are still: Momma, Dad, No, Yeah, Want that, and MINE! And as with all our kids we teach them, "please" and "thank you" long before they understand the importance of such words. He will say his version of Thank you and then beam the biggest smile at you! The smile gets his point across even if the words are not quite clear yet.

Here are a few pictures of our little man being: All Boy!

This is at Future's B-day Party and he has traces of Chocolate from the M&Ms he snatched from the pinata treat bowl!

This is one taken after he was done playing outside. Yup all that brown is DIRT! He seems quite pleased with himself!

Here is his partner in crime, Jasmyn. But notice how clean she looks compared to him?!?!? I think she helps get him dirty! The cup in his hand is also full of dirt!

I swear we bathe him every other day whether he needs it or not!

Update from Dr Appt

My Dr Appointment was today. After a yucky pelvic exam and a short (less that 5 minutes) the dr said that for the first 6 months after weaning that a women's cycle can be crazy. She said that this is "normal" to have imbalances in the estrogen & progesterone levels after weaning. All my girl parts look fine. She did not want to draw any blood work at this point, despite my suggestions to do so. All she really wanted to do is induce a period. In order to do that she needs to make sure I am not pregnant. She did a pregnant test today and it was negative. She wants me to come back in 2 weeks and take another pregnancy test. In the 2 weeks we can only have protected sex to make sure conception is not possible (oh Joy, condoms! ) then after the neg pregnancy test in 2 weeks she will give a prescription of progesterone to take for 5 days. After the 5 days my body goes through the progesterone withdrawal I should start a period. (I will probably also get a migraine from the same progesterone withdrawal). The Dr. thinks that by just having a period that my cycle should "reset" and I should probably ovulate the next cycle. Who knows if that will actually work.

That is the plan anyway. We shall see what happens. I also have an appt with my Endocrinologist the first week of June. I think he will most likely do the blood draws I need. I will keep you all posted.

Jasmyn & Scissors

Oh. My. Goodness. I just pushed "publish" on my last post about Jasmyn. I put the kids into the tub and gave them a bath. After their bath I usually comb out Jasmyn's hair. I am combing her hair and to my complete HORROR I see that some is missing. The conversation goes like this:

Me: Jasmyn did you cut your hair?
J: No.
Me: Jasmyn some of your hair is missing. Are you SURE you didn't cut your hair?
J: No. I didn't Mom.
Me: Jasmyn how did this hair come off?
J: Yes Mom I cut it.
Me: Why did you cut it?
J: I didn't know WHAT I was doing.
Me: Where is your hair?
J: Downstairs.
Me: Show me.

So we go down stairs and she has shoved the cut off locks in between the cushions of the couch downstairs. Here is what I found:

Thankfully her hair was pulled up in the front so she couldn't cut bangs for herself. But she cut the length off in the back. Here are some pictures.




The picture below shows that in one area the pieces of hair are only about 3-4 inches long. The rest of her hair is almost down to her waist when you pulled the curl out of it.

I feel absolutely sick about this. And it is partially my fault. I was napping with Mason while Tim was downstairs trying to work on his man room. She and Kaleb were in the rec room supposed to be watching a movie on Daddy's TV and she found a pair of scissors on the desk. The rec room is not a room they usually have access to without Adult supervision. But Tim was putting mud on some new drywall, and I was sleeping, so they had semi- unsupervised access. Tim was in the next room, but I guess hair cutting is quiet work! LOL!

She also cut Kaleb's sock and a pair of Kaleb's pants. Grrrrrrr.

So I guess that Jasmyn & I will have to get to the salon tomorrow to have it evened out. I am so sad.

Jasmyn

Isn't she beautiful? Isn't she lovely? Yeah, I think so too! She has the most gorgeous eyes and smile and cheeks and button nose and beautiful curly hair! Not to mention she has a sweet personality that is the perfect blend between confidence and shyness. Defiant and obedient. Silly and serious! I love her so much!!!!

Her hair has been a source of struggle for me. I have not had curly hair other than perms in my whole life. And those of you with curly hair know that caring for curls is very different than caring for straight hair. But through trial and error I have found that one thing is the best weapon in her arsenal..... WATER. I seriously just spray her hair with a water, maybe a splash of detangler, comb it out, throw a pony tail holder in it and scrunch the rest. Perfect curls every time. And when it rains or is humid, her hair looks it's best. *sigh* I wish mine was that easy. LOL!

The only thing that does cause problems is that her hair sometimes gets frizzy. But I am guessing some mousse or gel would cut that problem out completely. Anyone with curly hair have some tips that makes hair not frizzy but also NOT crunchy or wet looking? But her hair is gorgeous, right?!!!?!?!?!?!? I am only a bit biased.

Jasmyn also LOVES to play dress-up. She has a variety of dress up clothes from Ballet Tu Tus to Long Princess dresses. She always find interesting combinations to put together. Here are a few pictures of some of her outfits! I personally love the bunny ears, with the tutu and the animal print leggings! It kinda reminds me of something Dyani or Brook would wear at the same age.

Future also loves to play dress up. He especially likes to help Jasmyn pick out her clothes! He often helps her dress up as a "princess" so he can "marry her". Very cute! So here is Jasmyn as a Bride and her Outfit coordinator, Future.

Step 2 To a healthy family!!!!

I have done the grocery shopping! And I spent the majority of my time on the outer rows. (think about that.... most grocery stores keep the dairy, meats, and produce on the outside rows against the walls). I did have to delve into the rows for Pasta, cereal, baking goods, and some condiments (ya after last night I am surprised I needed any too, but Miss Jasmyn is the RANCH QUEEN). So my cart was mostly fruits, veggies, dairy, eggs, and meats. Meats with just "chicken" or "beef" in the ingredient list! LOL!

Menus planned for dinners this week:

BBQ Chicken legs (minus the skin), green salad, potatoes and onions grilled, watermelon

Beef & Chicken kabobs with Onion, mushroom, bell peppers, pineapple

Spaghetti sauce with whole wheat noodles, green salad and french bread

Taco salad with Gr. beef, Kidney beans, Salad, Cheese, olives, tomatoes, avocado, sour cream, and salsa

Hamburgers grilled with all the fixings, fruit salad, baked beans, raw veggies.

I am sure we will have left overs on one or more of those days. So that will get us through the week.

Surprisingly I am pretty proud of myself!

What is Step 3? hummmmm......................Getting everyone on a better sleep schedule and in their own bed!

Mason recently started climbing out of his crib. So he is now in a toddler bed. The down side of course is that he can get out of the toddler bed and move around. He can even open doors now. So it has been a bit of a struggle to get him to take nap or go to bed at night. Last night he fell asleep in his bed to only wake up and then he wouldn't go back to sleep in his bed. He ended up in bed with me at 2am and slept through the night. This is NOT a habit I want to form since he was sleeping so well in his crib.

And as with any transition from baby to toddler hood comes a period of separation anxiety with Mason. As he gets more freedom he needs more stability from me.

We don't really have a good plan as far as Mason's sleeping goes. With Jasmyn & Kaleb they moved from co-sleeping with me into a full size bed co-sleeping together. It has just been in the last year that they have slept in separate twin beds. Neither of them ever slept in the crib at all. So this is all very new to have a child climb out of a crib. I am a bit unprepared. Any suggestions?

We are marching forward to a healthier Jen and a healthier family.

Step one to a healthy me....

Yes I have completed step 1. You may ask, what is step 1? Well that takes a confession and then an answer.

The confession: For the past month we have been battling sick bugs, hives, puking an the lot. Our appetites have been a bit off. Some nights I could not bear the thought of actually cooking, so we have lived off Mac N Cheese, chicken nuggets, microwavable corn dogs, PB & J and fast food. Occasionally when Tim was home or one of us made it to the store we would stock up on Milk, eggs, Go-gurts, Bananas, strawberries, grapes, and oranges. The kids would eat those things for snacks. But this way of eating is not good. This must end! LOL!

So the first step was to rid my Fridge of left over fast food, moldy left overs, and clean up the spills the kids made in getting snacks for themselves when I was too sick to get off the couch! I did it! Tonight I emptied the entire fridge, washed each shelf drawer and the inside walls of the fridge. Threw away anything questionable and did an inventory on what we still had in there that was edible after a month. It isn't much. LOL! I was surprised to find 2 bottles of wine, and 3 (yes, three, trace, 3) bricks of motzeralla cheese and pretty much everythying else was condiments! But....

STEP ONE IS COMPLETE!!!!!!

Now on to step 2... grocery shopping for fresh fruits, veggies and meats that do not have pig or chicken lips in the ingredients!