Give Me a Moment to Vent!

After the fashion of my friend Debbie's most recent post, I am going to have myself a little rantin, and ravin moment! I HATE THE PARK!! What is it about the caliber of poeple who go to the park? (If I put it that way, what does that say about me??!) What is the deal with the world's most rude and naughty kids and the most aloof parents hanging out at the park?! I have to hover over every move my children make just to assure myself they aren't being attacked for being sweet and polite! Come on people - Would it be too much trouble to wipe your kids nose? Would it be too much to ask to have your kid MOVE when there is a huge line behind him on the slide? Is it too hard to change your kids shirt if there is big slobbery stain on it? Is it too much to ask of you to scold your child after trying to bite my child's finger off??!!! (true story!) Is it too much to ask to teach children respect?! Where is the common sense?
(huff and puff and simmer down...)

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!!

Blue and I have been married nine years today!! (Thats a really long time in my book!) Much can happen in NINE years! Here is a brief overview of what has happened for us:

• 12 Vehicles (counting 2 motorcycles)
• 7 addresses/residencies
• 2 states (lived in)
• 11 jobs (ranging from Staples Clerk to Diaper Changer Extraordinaire)
• 5 Pieces of Hand-me-down furniture left (counting 2 appliances)
• 7 Surgeries (including 2 C-Sections)
• 3 fabulous kids (one from another mother...)
• 8 months of living together (without housemates, live-ins or children)
• 7 housemates, or live-ins (not all at one time!)
• 1 dog
• 37 Rock Concerts (probably more than 37, because I haven't kept perfect track of all the times we have seen RCPM)
• 18 seasons of "Survivor"
• 7 official summer vacations (thats a guesstimate)
• 3 trips to the emergency room
• 6 favorite TV shows cancelled
• 3 wedding rings (I got a ring with a ROCK on our 5 year anniversary!)
• 1 Promise of Forever
• Countless Good Times, and memories
• Years of more to come!

Heres to Number 9ine!! You're still the one I adore!

First Day of Pre K!!

Dax did so awesome on his first day of PreSchool (today)! He is going to love it, (and I'm not going to lie, I am going to love it too!)

On pondering his starting of preschool I had myself a deep thought...for the next 16 years (at least), my life will now be governed by school schedules!

The JOY of learning!

Six Days of the Happiest Place on Earth!

We had so much fun on our trip to Disneyland/California Adventure! That's not to say we didn't have our hard moments, (six days going all day long can take its toll) but after having been home not quite a week and already missing it, means it must have been a success.
Pictured above is our entire group! Happiest Jenkins family on earth!!


Schmoopy!!!


She knows how cute she is!


Men of the Mohawk.
(all our guys shaved their hair into mohawks for the trip...secret weapon? Elmers Glue!)


Mama is happy. All her babies have Mouse Ears!


Blayke and Daxon in the entrance of California Adventure.

I am so lucky to be a part of this wonderful family. I love that family vacation is so important to the Jenkins. We had so much fun!

JOYous!

Close the Door Behind You!

ZAYLA is quickly becoming a little force to be reckoned with! I left her upstairs this morning to play with Daxon while I went to tackle a bit of my disgusting kitchen. Every so often I could hear their cute little voices jabbering to one another...but after a while I realized Daxon was jabbering to himself and Zayla was grunting (which makes up about 80% of her communications skills.) The grunt I was hearing was "stuck" grunt. So I went upstairs in search of her, and sure enough Daxon had no clue where she was. I found her in the bathroom. Now, a few weeks ago, I realized she can climb onto the toilet, and from there up on the bathroom sink. I often find her standing on top of the toilet in my bathroom with the tub of Vaseline in her hands and smearing it all over her face. Well, apparantly she just learned that she can turn on the water faucet from standing on the toilet (the hazards of having a TINY bathroom!) Today I found her standing on the toilet as if it were an island. She was soaked from the neck down. The counter was flooded, water running down the sides, flooding the cabinet underneath the sink, an entire roll of toilet paper was soggy, the floor was a huge puddle, with the bathmat serving as a sponge being the only reason it wasn't running in the hall. Zayla had her toothbrush in her mouth and couldn't get down because she would have drowned in all the water!

So I have decided to close the bathroom doors always!

Luckily she doesn't know yet, how to open them!

What a JOY!

FUN IN THE SUN...

Happy Children...cooling off in the water....so thankful their mommies brought them all the way to the Gateway Mall for a fun outing--LET ME TELL YOU HOW IT REALLY WENT!!!

Melly and I thought it would be fun to take the kids on an excursion to the Gateway and play in the water fountains. Our kids love the water, and it was the first rain-free day in weeks! Turns out everyone else in the city had the same idea. Immediately Zayla started crying because she stepped on to hot cement with bare feet (poor baby!), Deklin and Zay wouldn't let go of our hands or get wet. Zayla cried if I put her down, Daxon was initially having fun until he had a head-on collision with another kid, got a black eye, and a bloody nose. His sobs did not stop after that. He cried if he got wet (water did get shot up his nose at one point), if he got cold, or hot, or had to pee (Dax and I did have to go on a bathroom hunt - we ended up scooting through Barnes and Noble him dripping and no shirt to make it just in time!) Deklin and Zayla eventually warmed up to the water (kind of) but it was so slippery that Zay could hardly move without falling. She resorted to a very slow bear-crawl it was quite hilarious! Zayla was most happy when sitting in Dek's stroller playing with the buckles. After much whining and a few soggy snacks, (and have I mentioned Melly forgot Deklin's shoes?!) we decided to call it a day.
As we were walking back to our cars, I was trying to decide if the outing was even worth it. And I am here to tell you, it was! I think somewhere between the first bathroom run and the final squirt of water, my kids had fun. And just because its not going to be the "storybook" version of a fun outing, doesn't mean the chaos isn't worth it!





Part elation, mostly hysterics...


Deklin after just getting soaked!


enJOYing life!

Mommy Bloopers

So today I had the back door open because of the beautiful weather. Its nice and cool, a little rainy, with some nice thunder rolling in the distance (much to the chagrin of my poor dog!) Well, the door has been open most of the morning. And over the course of this morning I have noticed Zayla playing near the door, swinging it open, almost closed, open again. I have been on the phone a lot, cleaning things up, the usual. I have fed Zayla lunch, the Hubband stopped in real quick for something and held Zayla for a minute, he left, I then got Zayla down for a nap. With a one track mind I headed downstairs to start to clean up the kitchen (among everything else!) I walked down the short flight of stairs to my family room. At the bottom of the stairs I see three dark lumps on the carpet. Without my glasses on I had to lean closer to see what it was...and the only thing I came up with, was that some time over the course of the morning, Zayla had walked out into the backyard, picked up DOG POOP and lovingly brought it inside!!! Aaaahhh! I started thinking of what she has touched, eaten, stuck in her mouth, and all I could do was laugh! I need more of me around to keep on top of everything!!

Oh, the JOY!!!