List-a-Roo

So I really want to get back to regular blogging. I need to go on a Facebook diet. Its just so fun, but a total time suck. I thought maybe another one of these list things would stoke the blogging fire a bit. Hopefuly get me rolling. I found this one on Nitty Gritty and really liked it. So here goes...

1. What is your current obsession? It should come as no surprise that crafty stuff is high on my list. But not just paper, now you can add sewing to that(sorta). Oh and I have totally become obsessed with doing fun things to my daughters' hair thanks to this blog. LOVE IT.

2. What are you wearing today? my second favorite pair of jeans, and a brown thermal shirt. Its only 11 degrees out there today! Its a miracle I took my scarf off.

3. What’s for dinner? I think is Pioneer Woman's Chicken spaghetti. SO GOOD.

4. What’s the last thing you bought? A really cute necklace I bought on Saturday before I went to a concert with my besties. And then its exploded on the head of the woman sitting in front of me. She was nice enough to hand me the pieces. Oh, and then I returned it and got my $ back yesterday:)

5. What are you listening to right now?

Sponge Bob, and the kids are not even in the room.

If you could have a house totally paid for, fully furnished anywhere in the world, where would you like it to be? Here is when you find out how boring I am. I would always choose to stay in West Michigan. Although, I would be quite happy to live ON Lake Michigan, so Montague, Whitehall, or Grand Haven lakefront would make me pretty happy.

7. What is one thing you want to change about yourself? To avoid a shallow comment, I will say I could stand to have a little more drive. Some sticktoitive-ness. I get excited about something, and never follow thru. I make myself crazy.

8. If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go? Hmmm. An hour? Today, I need to be on a beach.

9. Which language do you want to learn? I could learn Spanish. Then I could understand what all the customers on Sundays at the mall are saying.

10. What’s your favorite quote? I am going to go with one of the ones on my sidebar.

11. Would you cook for me? yep. Shocking I am sure, I am a really good cook. I dont give myself too many complements, but I can cook. Not that I do things that are really extraordinary. I have to feed 3 kids and a picky husband. But what I do make, is really good.

12. What is the right way to avoid people who purposefully hurt you? good grief, when someone finds a way to do this easily, please let me in on it. I am sick of avoiding a handful of people who have hurt me. I am not a forgive and forget type. I wish I was! Life is too short to waste it worrying about them! So I guess my answer is to ignore. Thats all I got.

13. What are you afraid of the most? Losing anyone I love. Of course, I will eventually lose another loved one. So I need to just drop this fear and live my life. Enjoy the now and the people in it. And I really am afraid of spiders.

14. Who do you want to meet right now? Ummm...Jack Johnson? Just because I wanna here him sing live.

15. What is your favorite color? Red. Always and forever. I still think I may have a red house someday. But if you look in my closet, you are going to say black. Its easy to wear and looks great with the blond.

16. Give us 3 styling tips that work for you. This is funny. I am all about other peoples tips. You would think I would have picked up something by now. OK- dont wash your hair every day. It always looks better on day 2. Or 3. Expensive tweezers are worth every penny. Find a good self tanner and invest time in applying it right(experience talking,here) and burts bees makes the best blemish roll-on thingy. Oh wow, thats 4!!

17. What is your dream job? Everyone is going to think I am going to say art related, but nope. I would love to have an ice cream shop or candy store/boutique or upscale bakery/resturant. This is a dream I know. In this economy? Yeah, right.

18. What’s your favorite magazine? Right now, I love Family Fun, Martha Stewart Living, and Somerset Studios(any of their publications) I only get subs to Family Fun and Redbook.

19. If you had $100 now, what would you spend it on? Undergarments. You asked!

20. What do you consider a fashion faux pas? Skinny Jeans and leggings. Both only look decent on girls under 10. Seriously. I work at the mall and people watch all day. Dont wear them. Even size 2 looks better in bootcut.

21. Who, according to you, is the most over-rated writer? Any celeb who writes an autobiography. Yuck. Especially if they are under 40.

22. What brings a smile on your face instantly? my family being weird. they rarely disappoint.

23. What is one word that you say a lot? "the" ???

24. What kind of haircut do you prefer? Oh boy. I try new things, but always go back to the shoulder length or longer shaggy mop. Its what my hair wants to do.

25. What are you going to do after this? Go pick up Summer from Spanish. and cook.

26. What do you do when you are feeling low or terribly depressed? Take it out on everyone else. Or go shopping. Just being honest. Not proud of it. But I am pretty quick to snap out of it.

27. What makes you go wild? Too many cocktails;)

28. What are your favorite movies? Oh Brother Where art Thou? and pretty much anything with Ben Stiller or Adam Sandler. and The Princess Bride.

29. What inspires you? crafty and decorating blogs, a clean quite house. Anything new.

30. What do your friends call you most commonly? Jennie. Most of my friends are from childhood. Jennie just stuck.

31. Would you prefer coffee or tea? I like both very much. But I NEED coffee.

32. Which other blogs do you love visiting? This is for another post. I have my list on the sidebar, but my favorites is jam packed with awesome blogs. I'll share soon.

33. What is your favorite dessert/sweet? Always changing. I love good cheesecake with cherries. Any kind of fruit crisp. Chocolate covered strawberries. Ice cream(Chubby Hubby is so goooood) Oh and Brooklyn Bagels makes these almond cookies dipped in chocolate...but dont ever try them. Seriously, they are mine.

****did I say that I didnt know what word I use a lot? I am thinking "seriously" is a contender.

34. How many tabs are turned on in your browser right now? I usually have 2 because I listen to my blog playlist while I am on the computer.

35. When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was the first thing you thought? That I wished the flatiron job I did on my hair yesterday had stayed better.

36. What is your favorite season? I love them all(even winter has its good stuff!) but I have the most good times in the Summer.

37. What is one wish that you really want to see come true? That I don't screw up my kids too badly. That they grow up happy, marry well, work hard, and enjoy life.

38. What breaks your heart? When anyone I care about is messed with. I get all "mama bear" and want to take care of business. And those ASPCA commercials.

39. What's one thing you really want to do in life? I am kind of a homebody, so travel is not a big deal to me. I think that when the kids grow up, I would like to help out at the animal shelters or maybe do some pet fostering or rehabilitation. And have a really big garden and koi pond.

So if you are feeling game, please play along and post your list too!! I would love to see how you answer these:)

The most beautiful four eyes I've ever seen.

I prayed my children would not get my horrible eyesight. Jason and his 2 siblings all have perfect vision into their 30s.

Rachael and I are practically blind.

Seriously.



But Summer failed an eye test at school. So we took her in and although its not bad now, her sight will continue to get worse over the next, oh, 10 years or so. Just like me. And Rachael. And our Mom. And pretty much everyone in our family.



Poor kid never had a chance.

But she's just so cute. And she loves the glasses!

And now she looks about 14.

Please dont say that she looks like me. In the 3rd grade I was so weird and akward looking. Nothing like this sweet beauty!!(no, I will not post my 3rd grade pic. Are you crazy?)

Teagen McCutie Pants

Would you believe me if I told you that Teagen is very difficult to photograph? "Tea, act like you are a supermodel..."

"...or maybe not."

"ummmmm...OhhhKaaay"

So after all those shenanigans, here is the girl we all know and love!

As sweet as she looks?

Ummm, sure. We'll go with that.

His Eternal Naughtiness

But whats not to love? This is a face of pure happiness!

And the hat. A steal from Little Miss Matched. Freaking adorable. I am certain that its the last year I can convince him cute stuff is cool. He'll eventually see his reflection and know the truth.
Oh boy...I'm losing him...
But he gave me one more! That head! Its just so,so,so, so ROUND! You cannot resist touching it. You can't. Everyone always puts their hands on his head. Its awesome!

That is one delicious face.

Holiday Recap

The month of December was a true whirlwind. Personally, I was disappointed this year, just because there was so much we missed. My silly little job turned into a very demanding and late night job. Not leaving the time or energy to do much else. And when I was home, Jason was hunting. So, not ideal, but still lovely and memorable.





If I recall, Cookie Day was our first family event of the season. We drove to Mason and met with family to do our traditional sugar cookies. Its a great low key get together, and the only time I get to see my Mom's side of the family in the winter. I cannot lie, I cant find the pics from that day. Hmmmm...





The next weekend, Santa(!) was visiting our Credit Union. This house full of believers had to go visit! And I am happy to announce that no one was afraid! This is a first for us!



The next weekend, we had Christmas with Bob and Joan. I had to work a very long and busy day before we visited, so I was basically worthless. But the kids loved being with their cousins and making a snowman craft with Grandma.





Up next were class parties: Summer's was first...

It s funny how much they tone down parties as the kids get older. They barely had any treats, and did some movement(dancing) and drew on placemats. Summer's teacher is wonderful and sweet. It was a fun peek into her school day.


The next day was Teagen's party. Such a difference! The kids were so adorable and it was nonstop action the entire class! I love that Mrs. C always includes Grady. He even got do do the gift exchange.

Look at this handsome little guy-

(shirt by Rachael. What I dont have a photo of is Jason's matching shirt. CUTE!)

ringing bells. It looks like Teagen does not approve of Grady's technique.

All the different Holiday stations.

And then Mrs. C took the class caroling to some other classrooms. Grady stayed with Daddy in the classroom and I helped set up plates for the little feast, and wouldnt ya guess who shows up....

SANTA!!!!! Grady squealed and ran to him for a big hug. I thought he would be scared, but nope. Asked for robots and batman. He totally enjoyed his private meeting with the BIG GUY before the class walked back in.

Relaxing from the excitement.

Teagen can never remember what she wants to ask Santa for. Usually she say "a barbie". And thats what he brought her;)

Great time. I was so ready for the kids to be out of school. I really like doing projects and had made way more promises than I could keep. But we did do these...

Martha Stewart puppets! These crafts are fantastic because they already have the adhesive on them. No mess!

We did some baking, and some ornament making. On Christmas Eve we visited with Cindy's family. It was an icy drive to and from Montague. So we got home pretty late and put out cookies for Santa. Jason and I still had some serious work to do and we needed to watch A Christmas Story. Its tradition!

We told the kids we would get up at 8 am. at 7 they asked if we would get up. We said 8! So they played in the girls room for an hour and then we got up. It was so funny to listen to them giggle and be silly with excitement. I really was not with it as far as taking a lot of pics, but here are a few...

Teagen got her Rebecca doll...

Love the PJ's? Thanks Aunt Rae!

Not sure what Santa was thinking on this one...its hidden at this point!

Rachael and I decided to exchange hand made gifts only this year. I knew I would make her a papercut, but I needed another idea. So this is what she got. I was so worried, because it either something you this is SO COOL or it just looks like junk. Jason was really worried when I was putting it together. but the finished product is very fun.

Made from book pages! And its huge! I think she liked it.

Christmas day was spent at my Dad's. Nice and relaxing. Especially when there is no work the next day!

Rachael and Gary came over for New Years Eve. The kids played, Rachael tried to teach me to sew and we played a game .

The next day we got into the snow...

And built Muskegon's LARGEST snowman. He is crazy-big. He should make the newspaper:)

Happy 2010! Here's to better blogging!!