The most sad girl in the world...

Chandler was SO excited about taking cupcakes to school tomorrow to celebrate her birthday... the big number 6!! The plan was for me to bring cupcakes and our lunch to school tomorrow at 10:30 to have a little birthday party with her school friends... because heaven knows I can't afford to take all 20 of them bowling!

I got a call tonight from my neighbor (and wonderful friend) Becky... she was going to keep Riley tomorrow so I could actually enjoy lunch... not chase Riley around the cafeteria... I could hear the dread in Becky's voice...

B: Hey Jen. I just a call about school being closed tomorrow.

J: WHAT!?!?! WHY!?!?!

B: Something about the rain.

UGH! Only here would they close school on my child's birthday because it rained TODAY!

Now, it did rain a WHOLE LOT, but come on! Canceling school!?!?

So I broke the news to Chandler...

J: Hey Chan? I need to tell you something and it's not very good news.
C: Ok.
J: There's not going to be an school tomorrow.
C: WHAT! (tears already in her eyes)
J: Yeah. It rained so hard today that they canceled school.
C: BUT (sob) NOW I (sob) WON'T GET TO WEAR (sob) THE BIRTHDAY (sob) CROWN! (sob)
J: I'll call Mrs. _______ tomorrow and ask her if you can wear it on Thursday.
C: But she'll say NO because Thursday is NOT my birthday! January 7 is!
J: I'm sure she will understand.
C: It's just not fair.
J: I know Chan. You're right it's not fair.

**Her teacher knew we were planning to bring cupcakes and have lunch together so I'm sure she will be very understanding about the whole birthday crown situation.

6/365

Something else on my to do list...

Actually it's more like something else on my list of things to STOP doing.

I will not be the only one in this family taking pictures this year!

I'm NEVER in any pictures... it's my goal to BE in more pictures... not TAKING more pictures.

So, technically I didn't take today's Project 365 photo, but it's a picture that represents our days lately:

5/365

No. I'm not practicing to be one of Charlie's Angels. I'm actually doing one of the yoga poses on our Wii Fit... notice that Brandon is not letting my attempt at exercise bother his football game! :)

Brandon and I have been faithfully using the Wii Fit program in an attempt to be more active. Yes, we know that the Wii is not a substitute for getting out and actually doing physical activities as a family, but it's a good motivator on the yucky, cold, rainy nights... like tonight!

This is not the most flattering picture, but I have to loosen up and realize that if I want to be in pictures I can't be too picky about them! :)
Ugh... that's gonna be tough!

1st Monday Mumblings of 2009

1. Tomorrow Chandler goes back to school. I have mixed feelings about it. I've enjoyed having her around over the Christmas break and she and Riley have been getting along really well the last few days. Riley will miss her while she's off at school... and probably be bored to death with me!

2. Chandler will be 6 on Wednesday. She's excited about taking cupcakes to her class.

3. We are taking her bowling for her birthday. She is excited!

4. Over the past week Riley has ended up in our bed several nights. She just starts SCREAMING out after being asleep for several hours. I think it's her ears again... *sigh*

5. Last night she slept across me... yes, across... her head and neck were draped over my neck. Not comfortable for either of us. Brandon tried to help me out by moving her once... actually it was probably more because she had her feet in his face... but she ended up right back where she started!

6. She probably didn't get the best night's sleep, but I'm sure it was better than the sleep that Brandon and I got!

7. Since starting this list I have been interrupted 6 times...

1st it was Riley:
R: "Bebe? Bebe?"
J: "Looking for your baby?"
R: "Uh huh."
J: "Let's find the baby."

Then she came back...
R: "Bebe nigh nigh."
J: "Does the baby need a blanky to go night night?"
R: "Uh huh."
J: "Let's go find the blanket."

Then she came back...
R: "Bebe! Bebe!" Pointing her the baby's mouth
J: "Does the baby need a bottle?"
R: "Uh huh."
J: "Let's go find the baby's bottle."

We found 2 baby bottles!

Then it was Chandler:
C: "I need a baby."
J: "You know where they are."
C: "I want the one just like Riley's" (thanks to Aunt Amanda we have TWIN babies! it saves us a lot of fights!)
J: "You had it yesterday. Where did you put it?"
C: "Oh yeah! Thanks mom!"

Then she came back...

C: "Riley won't share a baby bottle with me."
J: "Did you ask her?"
C: "Yes. She won't."
J: "Let's go ask again."

Riley is sitting happily on the sofa watching cartoons and feeding her baby from TWO bottles!

J: "Riley? Can Chandler's baby have a bottle?
R: Silence
J: "Riley? Chandler's baby is hungry. Can she have a bottle?"
R: Silence
J: "Riley? I think Chandler's baby is crying. Can Chandler have a bottle to feed the baby?"
R: "Bebe cry?"
J: "Yeah. Can she have a bottle."
R: "No."
C: "MOM!"
J: "Hey Chan. Why don't you feed your baby cereal?" (She was having frosted mini wheats for breakfast)
C: "She doesn't like them. I think she's allergic!"

*sigh*

8. I downloaded a new ring tone on my phone. Super Massive Black Hole by Muse... more commonly known as "the song during the baseball scene in Twilight!"

9. Now I'm just waiting for someone to call me so I can hear it...

10. Maybe the nice guys from Lowe's will be the 1st to call me! :) That will be 2 reasons to smile... my cool new ringtone and a new front door!!

Haaaaaappy Monday!

A Belated Christmas from the South!

I know it's already January 4th, but when I saw this video I KNEW I had to post it!

My mom's family gets together at Christmas each year...
When we sit down to eat it is tradition to sing "The 12 Days of Christmas".
My grandmother has a set of "12 Days Glasses".
If you are fortunate enough (or unfortunate enough... depending on how you look at it) to get one... you get to sing that day of Christmas.

We (Brandon, myself and the girls) were not able to be there this year... we were celebrating Christmas morning with Brandon's parents.

I was so excited to see that Erin (my sister) had made a video this year and her husband, Joel, posted it on youtube!

In case you are curious...
My dad sings the 1st day of Christmas
My sister, Erin, sings the 7th day
Her husband, Joel, sings day 11
My mom sings day 12

I would tell you who everyone is, but you probably don't really care that much... just know that they are all aunts, uncles, and cousins on my mom's side of the family. :)

And yes, you may recognize Brett... the cousin who wants a post all about himself... standing with (more like trying to get away from) my sister as she sings.

So, here it is...
A merry belated Christmas from the southern United States... more specifically, Georgia!!
**Enjoy the accents!!

Projects. Projects. Everywhere!

Today's installment of Project Chandler:

Can you tell what it is? If you are a mom, I'm sure it's obvious!
It's a yellow play-doh Christmas tree!

What does this picture say to me?
1. Focus is not important to a 5 year old with a camera...
2. The closer you are to your subject, the better
3. I will NEVER have a nice kitchen table... well maybe after Riley moves out. :)


Tonight, Riley climbed up into Brandon's lap (while he was attempting to watch football... ha ha!) and gave him a book to read to her...

"Once Upon a Time"

It's a story of a princess who meets a magical friend who grants her 3 wishes...
I bet as a boy or a teenager, Brandon never thought he would be reading princess stories! :)

4/365

This is today's Project 365 picture because...
1. I adore the silly face Riley is making!
2. Her toes are TOO CUTE!
3. It reminds me of how cuddly Riley can be, but only when she wants to cuddle!

Because Kristy tagged me. :)

1. name: jennifer
2. birthday: january 14
3. wear silver or gold: silver (or white gold)
4. favorite restaurant: olive garden or panera... depends on the mood
5. favorite junk food: currently it's turtle pie... be on the lookout for a post about it!
6. favorite candybar: mr. goodbar
7. favorite candy: peanut butter m&ms and twizzlers
8. favorite store: target
9. favorite online store: target.com (lol)
10. do you collect anything: junk and dust! trying to quit both of those!
11. favorite movie: i can't pick one, but i really do love period films. pride & prejudice is one of my favs
12. favorite book: duh! twilight series. i also love john grisham novels, janet evanovich's stephanie plum series, and james patterson's "sam's letters to jennifer"
13. something you could never get enough of: scrapbook supplies... although my scrapbook table may argue with me!
14. favorite band: currently, i'm into jason mraz, maroon 5 and the twilight sound track
15. favorite indulgence: cute new stuff for my house
16. something you never buy yourself but want: ooooo... a nikon D90... i just can't spend that kind of money on a camera right now... or ever probably!
17. favorite color: oddly enough... since i'm not a girly girl, but i've gotta say pink... it may change tomorrow. :)
18. something you are wishing for right now: a nikon D90, a clean house, a completely remodeled bathroom!
19. favorite symbol: huh? a heart... i don't know. :P
20. who are you tagging: amy beth, mummy mct, my sister (she better do it!), sarah, and anyone else who wants to play along! :)

Check out Kristy's answers too!

A New Year, A New Door...

We have needed a new front door since.... oh, before we bought this house! Today, 3 years after buying our home, we went shopping for one.
The nice guys from Lowe's should be calling me sometime in the next 2 business days to schedule a time to come out and measure our space. :)

I'm declaring this the year of serious home improvement.... maybe?

So, today's picture is typical of our family... especially on the weekends:

3/365

Chandler and Riley (still in their PJs) attacking their dad. :)

Sorry this post is so short...
I went to Walmart tonight. When I got home their was a Mexican lady sitting on my sofa and a strange kid playing in our playroom. :)
Apparently, she backed her car into the neighbor's yard and got stuck.... that actually happens a lot. I wish I was keeping track of the number of times... I'd say at least 5 times since we've lived here.

Anyway... that caused the girls to get into bed late and that started a chain reaction...

It's almost 11pm and Brandon is waiting for me to finish this post so we can watch a movie. :)

Kristy finds all the good stuff!

I steal things from Kristy all the time. :) Here's another one!

Hee hee!

So far so good!

Yep, it's only day 2 of my Project 365, but I'm proud of myself for just remembering to carry my camera in the diaper bag today! :)

Brandon had to go back to work this morning... boo!

The girls and I took it easy.
We slept in a bit... the girls slept in a bit more than I did... that may be a first in our family!!
We were just lazy.
I did some laundry.
The girls watched cartoons.
Riley played with the Hotwheels racetrack we bought them for Christmas.

About noon we started getting ready for the day because...

We had a DATE!

Melanie met us at the movie theatre with Daphne, Micah, Gabe and Myles!
If Riley had been sitting in her own seat (instead of crawling all over my lap) we would have taken up an entire row of seats!

We saw Bolt. I know it has been out for a while, but we had not gotten around to seeing it yet.
It was HYSTERICAL!

If you haven't seen it, you should. Rhino, the hamster made me laugh over and over again! Although, I think Melanie laughed harder and louder than anyone else in the theatre!

I wanted to get a picture of all of us in the lobby after the movie, but it just didn't happen.

However, on the way to the theatre, I passed my camera to Chandler and asked her to take a picture of me...

So begins, PROJECT CHANDLER

I've realized that there are SO many things to learn from seeing life from a child's perspective.

Such as:
I need to pay more attention to what my hair looks like from the BACK!
and
I look incredibly tense when I drive... I don't feel tense, but I look it!

There will be more installments in this project... be on the lookout! :)

And picture #2 in my Project 365:

2/365

This picture says SO much about Riley and who she is right now.

1. She is FOCUSED!
2. She is determined!
3. She is a connoisseur of movies.
4. She loves CARS! Not just the movie, but actual cars... hence the Hotwheel racetrack.

A New Year... A lot to do!

So, it's 2009.

Time to get serious about all of the things I need to get done!

My list of 30 Things to do before I'm 30.... Gotta get started on that.... Pronto!

I'm also going to try this Project 365 that several people have mentioned... I don't know all of the "rules", but my goal is to take a picture each day that tells you a little bit about our day.

Here's today's photo:1/365

We took Chandler (and Riley) to the bowling alley. It was a 1st for her. She was surprised when she realized where we were.
She's been enjoying the Wii bowling game so much that we decided to try it out for real.

All in all she had a good time. She was frustrated that she couldn't get a strike, but she did manage to get 1 spare in each game that we played.

Well, I better get back to cleaning my kitchen! It might be a new year, but some things never change!