Halloween Party and Trick-or-Treating

Rick and I are EFY counselors -- we have to use those shirts for something, right?  Janelle changed from Dalmatian to Nerd at the last minute after spilling her entire bowl of soup down her costume.  Jase put together a weak attempt as a Hobo.  Janika wore her Dorothy costume again, minus the red ruby slippers that were now too small.  Jaiden was a woodland fairy, Josh was a pirate, Jenna was a tiger, and Jared...who knows?   I pretty much leave the older kids on their own for costumes.  We have at least six huge tubs filled with costumes since the kids love to play dress up so much (I would say just the younger kids but Jani and her friends have been known to pull them out every once in awhile too).  But even with all of the available costumes, half the kids just throw some make-shift costume together with whatever they happen to find in their closet.

Janelle, Jaiden, and Josh went to a party at the girls' dance studio this afternoon.  Then we all went to the ward Halloween party and trunk-or-treat.  Then I took all of the kids trick-or-treating.  I was going to bring Jenna too but apparently she was satisfied with her stash of candy and she stayed home with Daddy.  Janika helped me bring the kids trick-or-treating and then went to a party with her friends.

I am glad Halloween is over.  We don't really get into the whole spooky, gory holiday like some do.  This morning we were watching home videos as the kids got ready for church.  It was Christmas time with the childrens' eyes lit up with excitement.  Lights twinkled and Christmas music filled the air.  As we watched the video Janelle sighed, "I just love Christmas!  It is just so -- Holy!  Everyone is happy and smiling and laughing and being nice to one another."  I found myself a little nostalgic watching the Christmas video as well.  I reminded her that we should be that way all year round but yes, Janelle, I love Christmas too.

Halloween Parade

 Josh and Jenna getting ready to watch the school parade (this pirate doesn't seem too excited).

 There's Janelle -- the cute little Dalmatian...

... and Jaiden, the woodland fairy. Jared hid when I tried to take his picture so he isn't here.

 Josh, Jenna and I got to help with Jaiden's party after the parade.  But we were too busy heading up Halloween Bingo to get many pictures.

Janika's Fine Arts Concert

I went to Janika's Middle School Fine Art's Concert.  Janika performed with her social dance class doing the tango and with her theatre class doing the skeleton dance!

Getting Ready...

We were driving in the car and Josh looked around at the Halloween decorations and said, "Some people are getting ready for Halloween....and some people are getting ready for Christmas....and some people are getting ready for....Cowboy Day!"

Cowboy Day??

Decorating Pumpkins

We went to a ward party tonight decorating pumpkins...

Wednesday Nights

After school and homework, I brought Janelle to dance and Jaiden to a friend's birthday party. They were going to Jump-in-Jax and it was all she could talk about for days. Janelle came home from dance, gobbled up some dinner, and then went to her first Achievement Days. It had been so many years since we had someone in Achievement Days that I had forgotten all about it until we got a cute little invitation in the mail welcoming her. So now Wednesdays will consist of Math Counts for Jase, Rehearsal for Janika, Dance for the girls, Young Mens for Jase, Young Womens for Janika, Class for Rick, and Achievement Days for Janelle. At least I was able to squeeze in a quick but yummy sit down meal of Chicken Enchiladas to our evening. We also had a cool lightening storm tonight!

Orange Race Tracks

I have such fond memories from the orange race tracks we had growing up that I scoured the Internet looking for a set to give to our children for Christmas a few years back. It took awhile to find but we were eventually successful.

My brothers used to make these huge elaborate tracks that went through the house and down the stairs. There were loops and jumps and we would race match box cars and marbles.

Today our track mostly sits in it's bag, unused, in the basement. But every once in awhile we pull it out and the kids will spend hours and even days racing marbles and cars. Sometimes we have several neighborhood kids over to join in the fun. Today the track kept Jenna and Josh entertained even though they couldn't reach very high to race the marbles. Anything that keeps them entertained and happy (without fighting) for more than 15 minutes at a time deserves an A+ in my book!

Pumpkins and Book Reports

Here is the pumpkin from Jared's pack meeting tonight. All of the kids got to help decorate it and had a great time.

I was at class and so I had to miss it. Then I went shopping for two friend birthday parties coming up this week.

Tonight Jase stayed up until 11:00 finishing his book report on "The Bone Magician." Jared stayed up with him to help him color it. The middle part with the coffin is a puzzle and each piece is intricately designed and colored on the back. I didn't get a picture of that part but it looked really neat. I recall book reports from my day being just that -- a report on a book. But our kids have book reports that include puzzles, a book in a can, putting together a giant newspaper about the book, making a wanted poster and so on. I have mixed feelings about them because my boys tend to stress over them (and procrastinate until the last minute) and they always seem to need help on them. Janika never asked for any help on hers and so I wasn't hit with the lists of complicated detailed directions until the boys came along. Fun, fun.

Flu Shots, Christmas Shopping, and FHE

I scheduled all of my kids for flu shots today this morning. Then I ended up with an appointment of my own and so I asked Rick if he would take them. I knew he wouldn't be thrilled about that since he has had negative feelings about flu shots ever since the entire Sunburst Singers (his college group at USU) got sick after getting the flu shot. But that was 20 years ago when they used the live virus. I hear that story every year when the subject of flu shots comes up. And I usually don't bother with the shots for our family. But last year all of us got really sick with the flu and our kids ended up missing about a week of school because of it. I can still see them laying all over the couches feverish and miserable. So this year I thought that at least some protection would be better than nothing. 

My appointment this morning ended early and I was right by the hospital and so I called Rick and told him I was coming over to meet them. I wanted to take Janika Christmas shopping when they were finished. It was a good thing I came over. Rick was getting frustrated because they were out of the shots and only had the mist. He was ranting and raving about how the shots were out and the mist was a live virus and now everyone was going to get sick and he didn't know if our Insurance Company covered this anyway and what about Janelle and Jared who were already coughing -- sick kids couldn't get the shot could they? Then as if to emphasize Rick's point, Jared gave a couple of fake coughs.

I told him that I would take over here and he could leave with the two youngest (who had their shots last week) to go get the car fixed. I called the Insurance company and they cover the mist. My pediatrician assured me that they were fine to get the mist (unless they have asthma which they don't) in spite of having a little cold and that it wouldn't make them sick. Janika volunteered first and then they each volunteered in order of age. They did just fine and luckily no one panicked when Jared faked a little coughing and pretended to pass out on the floor. Really, he probably shouldn't do that in a doctor's office. What a nut. 

I met Rick and passed off all of the kids and then had some mother/daughter bonding time with Janika (shopping and lunch)! We went to Bath and Body Works and Jani had to spray every empty inch of skin on both our arms and keep sniffing to see which perfume she wanted to buy. She walked away with three different kinds. We hit several stores in the Mall and then went to several more after that. We were gone a long time but had fun. She got most of her stuff for Christmas and Birthday and I was able to get a lot of Christmas shopping done for the other kids as well. We came home to dinner on the table compliments of Chef Rick. I feel satisfied that I was able to get a big chunk of the shopping done in one day -- yeah!!

Tonight Jaiden did the lesson on modesty. She did a great job telling a story about modesty from the Friend magazine. Jaiden is only six, but will sometimes come out in costumes or dresses that are tank top in style and I have to have her go put on a shirt underneath. Just yesterday she was wanted to go put on a swimsuit because she said she was hot (in the middle of October). So it was a good lesson for her to give. Jani and Janelle are always strict when it comes to dressing modestly. Janelle will insist on wearing a shirt underneath anything that dips down a little in front even when it isn't necessary. I am glad she is so strict though. It is has been a nice Fall Break. Back to busy school days tomorrow...

Needs and Wants

Last night we were around the table talking:

Jase: "I really need a Picman game and a memory card for my birthday or Christmas."
Rick: "Well, there is a difference between "needs" and "wants." So what do you really "need" for Christmas?"
Me: "Well, Jase actually doesn't really need anything -- It's okay for him to get a few things he just wants.
Jase: "I know that there are some things you just need -- like a color laser printer -- but there are some things you want too...

A color laser printer?? Janika and I just bust out laughing. Janika said, "I thought he was going to say something like "socks and underwear" but "a color laser printer?""

Jase was totally serious when he said that, but perhaps he was also reminding Rick of his own personal need for that color laser printer he got for Christmas last year. Ha Ha!

Staheli Farm

My friend, Mari Purdy, invited us to go to Staheli Farm today with their home-school group. Since our kids were out of school for UEA I thought it sounded like a great idea. I hadn't been there in years and it has changed a lot. All of our kids came (except for Janika who was doing baptisms for the dead with the Young Women). We went on the corn maze (which is difficult for direction-impaired people like me, especially since I had to carry Jenna along) but eventually my boys got me out.

Then the kids played at all of the activity stations. They went down the corn slide and played in the corn (like a big sand box except with corn kernels instead of sand). They tried the cannon shooter and the swings (they loved the rope swing). Josh's favorite was the rubber ducky races. Jenna is our animal lover and so she enjoyed petting all of the animals. We brought a picnic lunch along and probably would have stayed longer except we had to get Jared back for a birthday party.

Speaking of birthday parties. I brought all of the kids to go see "Toy Story 3" this afternoon to celebrate Janelle's birthday. She also invited two of her friends -- Genevieve and Layla Purdy. They three of them looked so cute together, I wish I had remembered to take a picture. Janika and I were the only ones who actually cried at the end of the movie when Andy reminisced about all of his toys as he lovingly gave them away to the little neighbor girl so that they would continue to be loved and played with. Man we are babies!

After cake and ice-cream the kids all played night games next door with the other neighborhood kids. What a fun day!! Now tomorrow I guess we need to catch up on all of the house work!!

Happy Birthday Janelle!

Janelle opened her presents this morning. She got markers, crayons, paints, a sketch pad, a book, lots of googly bandz (modeled by Jared below -- I guess these are the newest rage), a gum-ball machine, two teddy bears, and two packages of socks. She was very excited and appreciative of all of her gifts. She kept saying, "Thank you Mommy for buying me these presents!"

Janelle brought cookies to her class and came home from school with a big packet filled with birthday cards from all of the students. She had fun reading them all to us. Tonight we had cake and ice-cream (notice Jenna with puffed cheeks trying to blow out the candles too!) and then had a movie party in the basement, watching the new "Karate Kid." It was good (but a little painful to watch with all of that violent fighting -- OUCH!!)

Tomorrow the celebrations continue. We are going to the Staheli Farm and then Janelle is inviting two of her friends to join us at the Theatre to go see "Toy Story 3."

Here is a little bit about Janelle. Janelle is energetic and fun. She has always been very curious and asks the most random questions. She is so bright. She is an excellent reader and I have to sometimes tell her to put her book away so that she can get her jobs done. She does well in all of her school subjects and is also good at art. She loves to make creative art projects. She has a beautiful singing voice and has just started piano lessons and dance lessons. Janelle has a very sensitive heart. She will come up and give me or Dad a hug for no reason and say, "I love you!" She is very gracious and always remembers to say "thank you." Janelle is so funny when she watches movies because she will get so involved with the characters that she will shout out things like, "Oh no!" or she will ask a lot of questions, "Why is she doing that?" "Where are they going?" We always have to tell her to just be quiet and watch the movie.

Janelle is such a sweetheart. She is SO excited to be baptized in three weeks! We are so grateful that Janelle is part of our family -- We love you, Janelle!

The Birds and the Bees

Many years ago Rick and I were listening to one of Richard and Linda Eyre's parenting tapes while we were traveling in the car. One of the ideas they gave in this particular book was to talk to your child about the facts of life when he or she is 8 years old. They talked about having mini-discussions with your child from age three on which lead up to "the big talk" at age 8. They said that with each of their children they would have a special dinner with mom and dad and explain to their child how they were going to talk to them about something wonderful and incredibly important. We really liked the idea and have implemented it with all of our children. Apparently the Eyres even have a script you can follow but it has been years since we have read/listened to their book and so we haven't followed that but have just explained things in simple terms using a spiritual perspective.

I know I have had people say, "I can't imagine teaching my 8 year old about the facts of life -- he or she seems so young still." But we agree with the Eyres that it is better for them to learn true facts from parents in a loving environment with a spiritual perspective than to learn from the world's perspective on television or other ways.

Well, since Janelle is turning 8 years old, Rick and I planned for her special dinner. She is one of our most curious and inquisitive children and whenever she has brought up certain questions at home one of the older kids have said something to the effect, "don't worry, you will find out when you are eight!" Janelle is a little chatter box. In fact, she talked so much on the way to the restaurant that I wondered if we would even be able to get a word in. All the way to the restaurant we learned all of the details of her "Heads Up, Seven Up" game in school that day and how she got to be "leader of the day" and show her class five of her favorite items that she brought in a special bag.

We waited for a booth that offered privacy and told her all about the wonderful bodies that Heavenly Father has blessed us with. To find out what she already knew, we asked her about how a mommy and daddy get a baby. She launched right in with a matter-of-fact explanation about how there are cells from a mommy and cells from a daddy and those cells come together to make a baby. Then the baby grows and grows inside the mommy's tummy until it is time to be born. Then the mommy receives certain signals from the baby and knows that it is the right time for the baby to be born. We asked her how she knew all that and she said, "from a book!" Janelle is an avid reader and we do have a few childrens' books on the subject around the house and so I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Of course we had to fill in the missing details but surprisingly enough she was as calm as could be. When we asked her if she had heard of the word "sex" she said, "No, but I have heard of the word "Saxaphone!"

We are pretty open about various topics in our household and so the kids already know a lot about puberty and the changes boys and girls go through well before the official school talk in the fifth grade. Janelle had lots of questions on the way home -- all spiritually related. "How were we born in heaven? Why did Satan want to force us to be good? Why did some people follow Satan instead of Heavenly Father?" So we had a nice, interesting talk all the way home.

Now that Janelle is 8 she thinks she gets to stay up late every night with the big kids. We did tell her that she gets to stay up and read scriptures with the three oldest now. Unfortunately we have to split up family reading time with the older kids and younger kids because the younger kids have no attention span and are loud and make reading pretty much impossible. So they get their separate reading time which usually includes the "Friend" magazine or a scripture story while the older kids get more grown up discussions. Well, Janelle is officially a "big kid" now -- in some ways at least. She will be baptized, she gets her own brand new BIG set of scriptures from her Grandma, she gets to stay up a little later, and she gets to fast on Fast Sundays (I don't know how excited she will be about fasting...) So many exciting things for our little girl to look forward to! We love you Janelle!

Attitude of Gratitude

Last night I attended a very nice fireside with my husband. I don't get to do that very often but he directs the Institute Choir and they were performing at the Young Adult Fireside at the Institute. Elder Wheeler from the Seventy gave a touching message of the Atonement of the Savior. His talk was also sprinkled with personality and humor. The choir sounded very nice singing one of my favorite songs, "Fount of Every Blessing." We came home but I wasn't feeling too well and opted to go to bed a little early. I woke up this morning feeling a little grumpy, brought on by a killer sore throat and chest congestion. After finally having a reprieve from weeks of allergy symptoms, now I was sick? Grumble, grumble. Then I stumbled to the scale to find I had gained a pound since yesterday. How can that be? How hard can it be to lose a measly ten pounds? I did a quick mental review of yesterday's meals -- Protein, fruit shake for breakfast, bowl of home-made chicken soup after church....we splurged with steak for dinner but I only had a small 4 oz piece and some green beans. Okay, I had some of my favorite Breyers peanut butter cup ice cream for dessert but only a little bit in a bowl hardly bigger than a medicine cup -- certainly not enough to warrant a pound of weight gain. Grumble, grumble. I walked into the kitchen to find a sink filled with dirty dishes left over from yesterday (more grumbles) and several bowls with a thin layer of dried up chocolate ice-cream still left out on the counters. Sigh. Feeling sorry for myself I decided that I definitely needed to listen to President Monson's General Conference talk on Gratitude while I did my kick-boxing workout. Thankfully, it did the trick -- just like going back to oil lamps did for the family in his story. I am so abundantly blessed! That little bit of extra fat that I whine about exemplifies the fact that we have plenty to eat. Besides the necessities, we also have yummy treats -- like peanut butter cup ice-cream! We are blessed with a big, beautiful, warm (or in this season, cool) home and even though it often easily slips into disarray, it is because of the wonderful blessing of seven healthy rambunctious running about. We live in a beautiful area -- in a free country. We have the knowledge of the gospel and loads of friends and wonderful extended family support. We have electricity (and Internet connection)! We can see, hear, run, laugh, play, and pray. Sometimes I guess I just need to turn the lights out, and the oil lamp on, to remember just how bright my life really is. It is not always as easy as it should be, which is why I am also eternally grateful for repentance. I am grateful for the chance to be able to drop into a soft warm bed at night and equally grateful for a brand new day each morning. With each day comes another chance to spend time with the ones I love -- a new chance to smile and laugh. A new chance to have an "Attitude of Gratitude!"

10-10-10 and Tenlee Jo

I borrowed these pictures from our niece's blog. Our nephew, Jake, and his wife Mikalyn, just had a baby girl today. Today's date is 10-10-10 and she was born in the 10th hour. So her name "Tenlee" definitely fits! We probably won't get to meet Tenlee Jo until Christmas. We still haven't seen my little brother and his wife's baby, Aniston! So we are doubly excited for Christmas to see all of these sweet new babies!

Deaf Branch Fall Lunch

I went shopping at Garage Sales this morning and got a lot of great finds -- some of which I am going to save for Christmas. We just re-financed to a 15 year loan on our house, which I am thrilled about! But it will make things a little tight financially. We figure it will be worth it though. So if that means filling in part of our Christmas with garage sale items (in great condition of course) then I am all for it!

So today was our Deaf Branch Fall Potluck. We had an enjoyable lunch with lots of good food.

Today was a busy day. Rick bought this HUGE box of chicken which then had to be cut and portioned to put in the freezer. So today was spent cutting up raw chicken while listening to Karen Kingbury's book on CD, "Shades of Blue," which left me crying the whole time. Her books will do that to you. Other books I have enjoyed from her (and of course bawled through) were "Even Now," "Oceans Apart," and "Ever After."

The missionaries came over for another sign language lesson. Janika was filling the air with the aroma of homemade chicken soup and so we also fed them before they left. Rick attended the temple and Janika and I cut up more chicken, bathed children, and put them to bed -- early!!

Weekly Events

This is just some day to day tidbits -- nothing really important but just little things I like to refer back to. Now that I am blogging, I don't really do my day to day journal entries like I used to. For about a year I did both the blog and the daily journal but it just got to be too hard to keep up with both and so I dropped the "everyday" journal but still try to include some of those simple everyday events in my blog so that I can have it for future reference. Plus if I bury this with last week's entries then hopefully no one will read it anyway.

Anyway, I was glad that our kids were able to walk with a neighbor mom for "Walk to School Day" today since I had an appointment this morning. I didn't know if the weather would clear up long enough but it did. Tonight for Scouts, Jase got to go to the Spectrum where they make our local newspaper. He said it was really neat and told me all about it when he got home. His school did cancel (or postpone) his fieldtrip to Zion's National Park Thursday though because of the weather so that was a little disappointing.

Friday afternoon I went and got my hair done. I had been procrastinating it for a long time. The gal who did my hair said that it would be better to come in at just one inch re-growth, two inches max because it would be cheaper and not take so long. So maybe I am not saving any money by waiting extra time in between appointments. Anyway, it took 3 1/2 hours! And after all that time I was disappointed with the results. I have gone to this place for years and usually like it but not today. I guess they were out of the hair color and so she used bleach instead (I didn't learn this until it was all done). So the bleach looked sort of white instead of blonde and that mixed with my brown (since I usually have two colors done put in -- one of my natural hair color and one blonde) gave my hair sort of a grayish tint. This has happened a couple of times before but not for many years. I wondered if I should go back in the next day to see if they could do anything about it but decided to wait a few days and then decided that it didn't look too bad. I will probably just wait until next month and then get some more blonde highlights put in.

Lightning

Josh went to play-group this morning and then we had the play-group girls over to our house for a couple of hours. Jared went to a scout activity after school to the Art Museum which he really enjoyed. I dropped Janelle off to her piano lessons and picked her up because of the rain. She started lessons about a month ago and is doing really well.

Janika came home early from her play rehearsal at the High School. She told us that two high school students were struck by lightening right outside the school and so they closed everything up and sent everyone home. The lightening strike made national news. Apparently the two teenagers stood under a tree to get out of the rain when the strike happened. The entire volleyball team saw it happen. Janika was there but was thankfully inside for her rehearsal. The teenagers were both knocked to the ground and were unconscious with smoke coming off of them. One of the teachers immediately started CPR until help arrived.

Much of the student body fasted and wore their Sunday best the next day. It has now been a week and the boys are still in serious and critical condition in a hospital in Las Vegas. Such a sad thing. We are continuing to pray for them.

Here are some little tidbits I learned about lightning today. I already knew to stay away from trees and other tall objects but I didn't know some of these other hints. If you can't get inside then a car is usually safer than being outside as long as you aren't touching any metal. If there is no shelter in sight then stay in a clearing away from any trees and crouch down on the balls of your feet making yourself as small a target as possible. Keep your hands off the ground. Don't lie down since that makes you a bigger target. Pray! Also, don't take a shower in a rain storm. Take lightning seriously!

72 Hour Kits

This is what we did for FHE tonight. We thought it would be a nice tradition every conference to update our 72 hours kits. Six months from now we can pull them out and the kids can eat the treats during conference. Then we can replace the food and water. We still have a ways to go before they are as complete as they need to be but at least it is a start.

We have had rain and thunderstorms on and off this past weekend. Tonight's rumble of thunder provided a perfect ambiance for our quest for preparedness. The kids had a lot of questions about emergencies and why we needed to have 72 hour kits. The discussion caused a bit of worry in our sensitive 7 year old and we had to assure her that everything was fine, but we needed to be prepared in case anything ever happened. We still have lots to do to become more prepared for emergencies but it is nice to have this little piece done!

Jenna's Two Year Check

I brought Jenna in for her two year check up and Josh came along for the ride. We had to make a dash from the car since it had started to rain by the time we arrived. Jenna and Josh love looking at the huge aquarium filled with unique colorful fish that sits in the waiting room. Jenna looked so cute and big standing up on the scale and next to the wall to be measured. She is still little -- just 24 pounds and 32.12" -- 12th percentile for weight and 11th percentile for height. She was a perfect angel until they poked her with the needles. It was all downhill from there.

Usually she recovers fairly quickly from the shots but this time she had a hard time. She got three including the flu shot. She cried all the way home and her leg seemed to really hurt when I lifted her on to my hip. We came home and I cuddled with her in front of signing time with a hot pad on her leg. Later that night she woke in the middle of the night crying and was incredibly hot. I kept her home from her play group the next day. Her fever came and went over the next few days and then Josh came down with the same thing on Friday. Weird! I wondered if it was from the flu shot but it doesn't seem like it would show up five days later (for Josh).

Happy Birthday Jenna!

My baby is TWO years old today!! I gave her several cute little dresses for her birthday. The kids gave her...um.... random items from their toy box. Hey, it worked so well last year, we thought we would try it another year. I simply said, "go through your toys and choose something you can give to Jenna for her birthday!" They were SO excited and started choosing out gifts and putting them into gift bags. All morning the kids kept asking, "When can Jenna open her presents?" Finally in between conference sessions we gave them the "go ahead." Josh gave her his toy alien, a penny, and a rubber band. Jaiden gave her some stuffed animals and a nightgown. Janelle gave her a bracelet and a popper. Later on we had cake and ice-cream. The elders and our other kids ate most of her birthday cake while she was napping (see post below). But we saved her a piece and as soon as the candles were lit she immediately started blowing! She knows just what to do after watching all of the other birthdays in this house -- she even sang the birthday song! Since it is her birthday I think it is a good time to write a little update about Jenna. Besides, I will need this for her history in a couple of months. Jenna is such a delight! She talks really well and will repeat about anything you tell her. Only she doesn't say "Yes." Instead she says "Hi" with a little lilt at the end making it sound a bit like a question. Sometimes we will tell her to say "yes" and she will say with perfect clarity, "yes!" but then we ask her, "would you like some milk?" and she says, "hiye!" "Do you want your blankie?" "Hiye!" Do want to go outside? "Hiye!" Jenna LOVES signing time. When we first introduced the "Signing Time" DVD's we referred to it as "baby" since the DVD's start out with a baby giggling. The name stuck and now several times a day Jenna will say, "I want baby!" which means she wants to watch "Signing Time." And I usually give in and then feel guilty about it since I know babies are not really supposed to watch TV. She can sing along with the songs and do all of the signs. Jenna also loves to play "peek-a-boo" and "roll your hands." She loves to have stories read to her and will point out all of the things in the book by name. She loves to be tickled. If I tickle her back or arm or leg and then stop she will pick up my arm and put it back in the tickling position and say "tickle arm!" We took the crib down a couple of months ago and put up her toddler bed. She usually sleeps in her toddler bed but will sometimes sneak into bed with her sisters who share her room. I now shut her door at night because when I left it open a few times I would wake up in the middle of the night to find her standing by my bed with her blankie attempting to climb in with me. I couldn't believe a one year old could navigate her way to me in the dark in the middle of the night! She has a hard time going to bed at night and so I find myself giving her a bottle to help her fall asleep (another one of those guilty things because I know I need to ditch it completely -- especially now that she is two). Jenna loves to dance to music. She also LOVES to play with her big brothers and sisters. As soon as they are home from school she is with them -- playing with the toads, jumping on the tramp, dancing in the basement, playing hide-n-seek, and playing house. Jenna loves to be outside. Jenna also loves to play at friend's houses. I can't believe she is old enough to do that! Jenna loves shoes. She will find Janika's high heels and put them on and walk around in them. She looks so adorable! Jenna also loves phones and will pick one up and start chattering away. Jenna likes to be big. She can climb up a regular bar stool all by herself. We had to take down her little hook-on high chair months ago because she refused to sit on it. She likes to unload the dishwasher (even when the dishes are not clean). She likes to help put clothes in the dryer and absolutely beams at the praise I give her. She loves bracelets and necklaces and she loves to have her nails painted. She is ALL girl (except for the fact she likes to carry around the toads). Jenna also loves hats and is constantly walking around with a hat on her head. Jenna like to look at the pictures of our family. She points to each one and says each name..."Daddy...Mommy...Jaka...Jase...Jawed...Nelle...Jaiden...Josh...Nenna!" (I especially love the "Nenna!") We love our little baby girl. She gets in to everything and I have to change her clothes several times a day, but soon these hectic toddler years will all be a thing of the past. Until then we will hang on to that big smile -- with holes where teeth will soon be -- and keep on tickling her just to hear that sweet little giggle! Happy Birthday Jennalee, we love you!