Jordan turns 12!

He is so handsome!

Jordan was the cutest, sweetest toddler in the world!

I know I shouldn't take a picture of him praying, but I couldn't help it!

My sweet boy is turning 12!!!! I truly can't believe it, that means I am getting older too, ugh. From the beginning, he was the best baby. He was also such a good toddler, he wasn't the toy grabber or biter, althought he did cut a hole in the side of our couch and shoved toys inside.
Jordan-speak:
He said that the grass was too "knife-y" to lay on
He said that ice cream was "lick-ety"
When Kennedy got shots, and I had him in the room (he was 2 1/2) he cried "my baby!"
When Kennedy broke a glass ornament, he ran up to me and said "baby broke the dingbell!"
As Shayne was eating a brownie (he was 3), he asked "is that poop?"
Jordan was a sunbeam and needed to say the opening prayer in sharing time. So he walked to the front, and got down on his knees to pray.

I got this email last month from his teacher...

Hi,
Thank you both for having an awesome son. He is respectful,
hardworking, and always willing to help.

Keep it up Jordan.
Thanks so much,
Fred Nelson

I am very proud of him. He is kind and helpful, and loves to help me when I babysit baby's for friends. He is funny, and I love that he is at the age now where we can joke around, and I can embarass him a little.

Happy Birthday Jordan! You are a true blessing!

Renaissance (Not)Fair

Lately, I have heard advertisements for the Renaissance Fair up in Phoenix. We, however, will NOT be going to this festival of weirdo's...let me tell you why.
We took the kids back when Jordan was 3 and Kennedy was 1, to the Phoenix Renaissance Fair. It had been years since I had been, seemed like a great idea.
Well, spring in Arizona can be freezing, or it can be freakin hot. It was hot that year. It is not a great thing to see people eating on giant turkey legs in the hot sun. Not to mention, the beer is flowing, so insert mildly buzzed to flat out drunk people. Oh yeah, and Kennedy puked on me so imagine me covered in that for the rest of the afternoon.
I don't get why people love the faire soooo much! Its like they live for it. No where else is wearing a flower wreath on your head okay, so no, I don't want to buy a $20 flower wreath. I DONT believe in mystical faires, or jesters. I don't want to buy $300 swords or medieval fighting garb. WHat do people do with this crap?
And no, using "thee" and "thy" doen't do it for me. I am not fair, nor a maiden. (but maybe sometimes a wench :)
And then theres the cleveage, EVERYWHERE!! Not okay anywhere else, but at the fair, bring 'em on out, its for the sake of authenticity!
These are the same people that live in cyber-worlds and love Doom, and Dungeons and Dragons.
Am I right or wrong?

A day in the week..

One might think that sitting in the La-Z-Boy and doing homework would be SWEET(yes, we truly have a la-z-boy, I gave up the Pottery Barn dream years ago), but its not! My special little spot in the house has turned into my 9 to 5, and I am desperately fighting weight gain through Ritz cracker and string cheese consumption ( you know how that works, overeating the 'healthy' snacks mindlessly).

I am trying really hard to re-evaluate what is acceptable, since school really needs to be a priority. Its hard to walk through a messy room to go read (a lot of reading, man!) or do homeowork. I am combating total disaster though Costco surface wipes, keeping the laundry fairy up to date, and at least keeping the kitchen 'decent'.
Decent has got to be good enough, right now.

The van needs some attention, its the go-to spot for scriptures and church stuff. (but how can you have meaningful scripture study if they are in the car, huh, huh???) Drew commented that it smelled like burp the other day, awesome!

I can say that it has helped that the kids are helping a little more, and are a dream when it comes to school...although, their homework definitely adds to my afternoon workload. It doesn't help that they don't believe me when I give them answers...

My visiting teacher and friend, Gina H, made our family dinner, just to help out. That is an awesome gift to any busy mom, and the best kind of Valentine, so we shall have yummy enchiladas tonight. Charity is truly a blessing.

I am still making excersice a priority, whether its riding my bike for 45 min or even just a 25 min run, if thats all the time I have, its gotta be good enough. Andrea W treated me to a couple excercise videos at her house, so hard! But good to have a friend huffing and puffing with me.

I changed Shayne's desktop picture to this....

Subtle, I know.