Astronaut Training

Jenelle is back in Occupational Therapy. We noticed that Jenelle hates any activities that involve the vestibular system (that is your inner ear). She did a lot of crying this summer when she should have been having fun.



Some activities include:
riding a bike
tubing down a river
swimming
summersaults
anything involving heights
kiddie rides at the amusement park

So we are doing a program called astronaut training. It involves A LOT of spinning. Jenelle sits on the office chair and I spin her. She can spin forever without getting dizzy. You're supposed to get dizzy. I get dizzy just watching her. Anyway, her vestibular system seems to be sleeping. We hope all this spinning will get it working normally. We are spinning every day of Christmas break! Let's hope all this work will make the summer a little less scary and a lot more fun.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas! We went to church on Christmas Eve. Jenelle sat with us for the first time and she got to hold her own candle during the candlelight part. She woke up Christmas morning very excited. Santa brought her too many things. She got a grown-up scooter: it has two wheels instead of three. She got a keyboard. She got new underwear and pants. She got a magic set and shrinky dinks. She got a new Wii game and some other little things. She also got a new bean bag chair for her room. We thought she could read on it, but so far the Webkinz have enjoyed it more than Jenelle.

On Christmas day Grandma-ma, Jim, Chris, her dad and Zack came over for dinner. We had the usual turkey dinner and all the fixings. The kids had a great time playing together. Grandma-ma polished off a bottle of chocolate-mint Bailey's Irish Creme. We'll be sure to get another bottle for next year. Curt polished off quite a bit of wine himself. Grandma-ma can handle her liquor better than Curt can.

We finished off the night by playing dominoes. Jenelle and I were a little sick this year for Christmas. We hope to be better by New Year's.

Super Powers

Jenelle goes to a great Christian school. They are teaching the kids that God has a flight plan for everyone and that He gives each kid special gifts. Jenelle has adopted her own interpretation of what a gift is. Caleb's special gift at school is being able to burp the alphabet. We've been discussing Jenelle's special gifts and she will tell you that she has a lot of them. One of her "gifts" is being able to spin for a LONG time without getting dizzy. I call it her "super power". I think my super power is being able to get out stains in the laundry. Curt's super power is being able to fix things. Hmmm... I don't think these are the gift that the school had in mind, but at least Jenelle is thinking that God has made her special.

Mouse in the House

The past few days I've seen something out of the corner of my eye while watching tv. I'd turn to look and would see nothing. Yesterday I turned fast enough and saw a mouse scurrying across the floor. Gross! We've had a couple big snows and the mice have taken up residence indoors. Curt and I continue watching tv while hearing the little guy rustle around the pantry area. I was all disturbed by the mouse, but Curt wasn't fazed. He says, "I grew up with mice in the house. It doesn't bother me." I appreciate Curt's laid back attitude, but when it comes to mice, I'm uptight.

So I bought poison the next day. There was a couple looking at the same stuff. I assured them that the mice go outside to die. "I've been using this poison for years and have never had a mice die in the house", I said. Until now that is.

Curt and I strategically place the poison all around. That night I can hear the critter eating the poison. The next day Jenelle says, "There's a bug in here and I think it's still alive!!!" That "bug" was a mouse sitting on the white couch relaxing while the poison was causing massive hemorrhage inside his little body.

Curt caught the mouse in a container. If you look at the picture, the mouse is in the bottom left hand corner of the box.

A few days later, Curt went into the basement to get something from the freezer. It smelled bad down there! A mouse had died in the basement. The stench was horrible! I swear I could smell it the rest of the day. Anyway, we haven't seen or smelled any more mice, but it's snowing again today. More critters may be coming inside seeking a little warmth.

Snaggle tooth

Jenelle's mouth is always in a state of movement. She had one tooth we called the snaggle tooth. If you look closely at the picture, you can see it sticking out. The adult tooth was coming in and it pushed the baby tooth straight up and out.

Everyday this tooth stuck out a little more. One day after school we had a play date with Eme. The tooth was in that gross dangly stage. Jenelle kept moving it all around. Teeth pulling is one area where I receive a failing grade in motherhood. I just can't pull teeth. I get the heebie jeebies and all grossed out. Luckily, my friend Jen was at the park with us. She reached in and pulled that tooth out. No problem for her.

Jenelle was so cute. She left a note for the tooth fairy that said, "What is your name?" The fairy wrote her back. Flossy is her name and she appreciates all the nice cavity free teeth Jenelle is leaving her.

Happy Halloween.

Jenelle had a fun Halloween. She went trick-or-treating the day before with Zack. The kids went trick-or-treating at Chris' work. They had crafts and games for the kids. Jenelle had a great time and brought home tons of candy.

Yesterday we went around the neighborhood. It was a beautiful night and for once it wasn't cold. We went around a few blocks and then we ran into the Three Musketeers, Eme, Ava and Isabelle. So we went door to door with them for a while.

We had to stop home once to empty her bucket. It was getting so heavy. At the end of the night, Jenelle sorted all her candy. I think she likes that part the best. Well, maybe she likes the candy the best. She has been asking for pieces all day today. The Switch Witch is coming tonight. Jenelle picked out some candy she wants to keep. The rest goes to the Switch Witch (aka Curt). The witch will take the gobs and gobs of candy and switch it for a toy. Jenelle has been wanting this Mermaid bath toy for a long time. I was saving it for Christmas, but that's ok. I really don't want all that candy around the house. We have enough for a couple of weeks and soon we'll be occupied with Thanksgiving. Ahhh! I can't believe it's November already.

Let it snow, let is snow, let it snow.

We got a huge snowstorm this week. I think we got about 24 inches. Jenelle thought it was great. Curt even thought it was great. I thought it was a bit much.

They canceled two days of school. The first day Zack came over. We attempted to make caramel apples, but Jenelle burned and the caramel burned. The kids were stirring the caramel and Jenelle's spoon fell in. She reached in to grab it and got hot caramel on her thumb. The scream was deafening, but she is fine. The caramel burned while I was trying to calm Jenelle down and tend the wound. We got two apples out of what was left. The apples were delicious!

The kids played out in the snow for a long time. Then we went across the street to go sledding. Last year I bought some good snow boots. A very good investment. My feet weren't wet and freezing.

Thursday was another day spent at home. We played the Wii and did more sledding. Jenelle and I ventured out in the snow on Friday. I just joined 24 Hour Fitness and I had a free personal trainer session. So we went to the health club. Jenelle loves the kid's club there. Then we drove to the library which was closed! I couldn't believe it. I'm glad our days stuck inside are done.

Papa's Visit

My dad came to visit over the weekend. Jenelle's loves her Papa. He came bearing gifts. He bought Jenelle a Wii. That night we set it up. We all played bowling. Papa beat us all. Several times! We were amazed at his bowling abilities. We also played tennis which was a lot harder to figure out. I think we'll have lots of fun with the Wii this winter. Thanks Papa! We enjoyed Papa's vist and we miss him already.

What month is it?

It snowed this morning. Jenelle ran into our room at 7:00am and screamed "IT'S SNOWING OUTSIDE!" Her enthusiasm was met with two groans.

Later that morning Jenelle said, "I can almost smell the Christmas tree." Someone really likes Christmas in this house. I'm worried that this early snow is a sign of a cold snowy winter to come. I hope not.

Cute but smelly

We took Jenelle to the orthopedic doctor and he said she needs to wear a cast for 3 weeks. Jenelle chose the color pink, of course. Since this photo was taken, all her classmates have signed her cast. I'm carrying around a Sharpie in my purse because someone new wants to sign it all the time. Jenelle is so cute. She knows where every signature is. If you ask, "where is so and so?", she'll point right to it.

We have 9 more days until the cast comes off. I can't wait. For one, the thing is getting smelly and gross. For two, she keeps hitting me and it's painful. Jenelle and I were playing the other day and she accidentally hit my in the jaw with the cast. It hurt so bad! We weren't rough housing or anything. She just has a brick for an arm now. Curt got hit the other day, too.

Jenelle doesn't seem to be bothered by it. It doesn't itch and she doesn't complain so that's good. I think she has been enjoying the extra attention and help she gets from her classmates.

Musketeer Training

Tuesday night was Awana night. I called Jenelle to dinner. Curt and I hear a big THUD from the living room. Not an unusual sound in our house. Jenelle jumped off the back of the couch in the living room. She comes into the kitchen crying and holding her wrist. The Gilliland side seems to be prone to wrist injuries so I put a pack of frozen pees on her wrist. Well, the crying continues to go on and on. Again, that is not so unusual in our house. After 20 minutes, the crying continues and the wrist looks a little swollen. So Curt and I pack things up for the emergency room.

I must say that Jenelle was extremely brave. Once we got to the hospital she didn't shed a single tear. She was moving that wrist around for the doctors and for the x-ray. She has a buckle fracture in the left wrist. The bone compressed in the fall and instead of being straight, it now has a little bump to it. She is in a very bulky temporary cast with a sling. We'll go to the ortho on Friday where she'll probably get a cast (in hot pink, of course) for a few weeks.

Jenelle got the new Barbie and The Three Musketeers movie for her birthday. She has wanted to watch it every day. Barbie and her friends are Musketeers in training and they do all kinds of cool moves in the video. Jenelle has jumped off the back of the couch a zillion times (apparently), but I think last night she might have been trying out a new Musketeer move. Who knows?

When we were leaving the ER Jenelle says to me, "I'm so lucky. Now I don't have to ride my bike." Then she says, "I can still go bowling." I don't know where the bowling thing came from. But I guess she really doesn't like learning to ride without training wheels. She even mentioned it again this morning about how lucky she was. I guess that's finding the silver lining in all this.

Seeing Jenelle in her sling brought flashbacks to when she had a broken arm as a baby. I thought I'd post the picture for you to see. Hopefully, this will be our last injury for a long time.

Happy 7th Birthday

Jenelle had her 7th Birthday party last weekend. We had a Webkinz party. For those of you who don't know what Webkinz are; they are stuffed animals that you can take online. The online Webkinz world is really fun. The kids take care of their pets up there; feed them, bathe them, buy them clothes, etc. There are lots of games. Jenelle LOVES her Webkinz. So that was our party theme.

We invited all her girlfriends from school. We had eleven girls at the party. It was a little crazy, but fun. We played Webkinz games and had a wheel of wow. The kids went on a gem hunt and made jewel studded collars for their pets. The kids had a great time. Jenelle got lots of fun presents.

Jenelle said that she wished every day could be her birthday. I can't believe she is seven! Everyday she seems a little more grown up. But then there are those days when she acts like she's three.

Jenelle is already planning next year's party. She will spend lots of time talking and organizing for her next party in the coming year. That's my little party planner.

Camping in Estes

We did our last camping this weekend. It was our worst camping trip of the summer. The weather was so disappointing. It rained a lot. We spent a lot of time in the camper playing games. We didn't build one fire.

We arrived Friday night and had dinner. It was very windy so we didn't make a fire. We got up on Saturday and went in to Rocky Mountain National Park. It is near impossible to get a parking spot at Bear Lake, but we got one! We did a long hike to Nymph Lake, Dream Lake and then Emerald Lake. It was very beautiful. I think Jenelle's favorite part of the hike was all the chipmunks. We had trail mix with us so she would feed the "chippies" some peanuts. There is a sign before you enter the park that says "Don't feed the animals". Now I know why. Those chipmunks are a little too friendly. They were getting on our shoes. I was leaning over and one climbed on my back. It scared me too death! Those little guys are getting a little too tame. After the hike, we had a picnic lunch in the park and then headed back to our campsite. It rained and rained so we decided to go out for dinner.

Sunday we got up and went fishing. We didn't catch anything, but we had fun hanging out near the water. Jenelle and Curt made a rock castle. Soon it started to rain. So we headed back to camp and played some games. Finally it stopped raining. Jenelle and I went to play at the very wet park. She gave that up and found a nice rock pile to climb on. Curt and I packed up camp. As we were driving out of the campground it started to rain AGAIN.

We plan on going back next year. Hopefully, we'll have better weather.

New Bike

I bought Jenelle a new bike at Goodwill last week. She was getting way too small for her other bike. She was also way too dependent on those training wheels. We raised her training wheels earlier this summer thinking that she would learn to balance. Jenelle wasn't too happy about that. She compensated by just leaning over to the right and rode on the one training wheel. Big mistake on our part! Yesterday we took Jenelle out on her new bike and she was leaning over the whole time. Jenelle did a fair amount of moaning, groaning and crying. Curt and I are going to try to get her on that bike every day. Pray for us! Wish us luck. I don't think this is going to be easy.

First Day of School - First grade

Today was Jenelle's first day of school. She is a first grader now. The summer seemed short. I don't think we're ready to start school. I know I'm not ready for the 8am start time. Jenelle was up early enough this morning, but she is my slow-mo girl. It just seems to take a long time to eat and a long time to get ready. I'm going to have to get super organized this year if we're going to get out the door on time.

Jenelle seemed fairly excited for school. She seemed most excited for recess again. I'm sure it will be a great year of learning and fun.

11th Anniversary in Pagosa Springs

Curt and I celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary by going to Pagosa Springs. We have never been there before and we wanted to check it out. It was a 5 hour drive, but it went by fast. Probably because I read a book the whole time.

We had the best time in Pagosa. We went on some beautiful hikes. There are a lot of waterfalls in the area. We did a hike every day. We spent an afternoon at the hot springs. Jenelle who likes everything lukewarm (her food, her bath) did really well there. She sat in some of the cooler pools and played around while Curt and I soaked in the hotter pools. We did a lot of fishing. Curt caught 3 trout that he cooked up on the grill for us. Yum! We attempted to go tubing, but the water on the San Juan was too low.

The campground was really nice. They had a lot of hummingbird feeders around. Jenelle and I loved watching them every day. We stayed in a camper cabin that was very reasonable priced. On our last night we discovered where they were hiding all the good restaurants (on the other side of town). We had a delicious dinner at a local brewery. We ate outside surrounded by aspen trees.

We plan on going back next year.

Triathlon

Well I did it. I finished my first triathlon. It was so fun. It wasn't so fun getting up at 4:15am, but the morning went by really fast. I carpooled with Chris and Anne. We found a place to put our bikes and then we checked out the course. It was easier than I thought it would be. The swim wasn't bad, but I kept getting bumped by other women. It threw me off quite a bit. The bike ride was really pleasant. A zillion people passed me, though. They all had fast road bikes. I was using my mountain bike. The run was tough. It starts out uphill for a long time. I don't enjoy running so I didn't train much for it. I was happy with my time of 2 hours 23 seconds. My friends and I were all happy with our accomplishment. I'm going to sign up again next year.

RMNP

Tubing fun.

You know how we went tubing in Steamboat and had a bad experience. Well, Jenelle has been saying how she doesn't want to go to Steamboat anymore. Curt and I thought it would be fun to go tubing down the Platte right here close to home. Jenelle was in tears about it. So as parents do we give in to those tears or do we make her face her fears head on and have a miserable time? Of course, we go tubing. The Platte is really low and slow right now so we thought it would be a good opportunity to get her back in the tube.

We start heading down the river and she is super nervous. She was pointing out every potential obstacle along the way. "ROCK!", she'd shout. It was driving me crazy so I started asking her about school.

"Who do you want for a teacher next year?"
"Mrs. Jennings."
"Why do you want Mrs. Jennings?"
"Because she is the duty teacher. Did you know you can't have school without a duty teacher?"
"I didn't know that. What does the duty teacher do?"
"She watches to see if any kids get owies on the playground."

Then we had a super long discussion about school supplies. Jenelle finally relaxed and enjoyed the ride. At the end she said she had a fun time. I still don't think she is going to want to go tubing in Steamboat, though.

Camping at Steamboat

We went up to Steamboat for the 4th of July this year. We shared our pop-up with Chris and Zack. Another family we knew stayed at the next camp site. Steamboat Campground is really nice. It's right on the river. All the kids had a fun time fishing. Curt was great with the kids. He taught Ben and Isaac how to fish and he untangled a lot of fish hooks.

We saw the Steamboat parade. It was hot, but the kids enjoyed it. After that we went for a short hike to fish creek falls. It was beautiful. The kids had fun playing near the water. We also hit the farmer's market. We bought the yummiest garlic bread. Too bad the raccoons got to it.

We went tubing, too. The water was a little high and a little fast. Jenelle was saying, "We're going to die", the whole time. Let's just say tubing was not her favorite part of the trip. On our last tubing trip we hit a big rock and got a hole in our tube. Jenelle and I were slowly sinking down the river. Jenelle hitched a ride with dad and I went down the river scraping the bottom. I got a few large bruises. I'm hoping the conditions will be a bit better later this July.

We went for a bike ride. We stopped and had lunch along the way. We discovered the best smoothie shop. We also saw the best fireworks show. Usually we watch fireworks at Clement park and they last for 10-15 minutes. The Steamboat fireworks lasted 25 minutes and they were huge. They lit up the whole mountain side. It was a really good show. We also saw a cattle drive. The cowboys on horseback lead steer down main street. It was so fun. The cows were making cow sounds and they were going all over the place. It was a unique experience that the kids really enjoyed.

We had a great time. I'm planning on doing Steamboat next July 4th!

Weekend fun

We went for a great hike this weekend. Apparently, we are having the second wettest June since 1872 or something. You can tell because the hikes are beautiful. We've done Reynold's Park a lot, but this year it was a brand new hike. There were tons of wildflowers that were never there before. We even saw flowers on the cactus. I guess that's what a lot of rain will get you. Oh yeah; It will also get you tons of mosquitoes.



On Sunday we went for our usual bike ride through Waterton Canyon. Waterton is a Big Horn sheep habitat. We always see sheep there. On Sunday, we saw a momma bear and her two baby cubs. It was the coolest thing! I didn't have my camera, but Chris got a very grainy picture with her cell phone. You can see the momma in this picture. We stayed and watched the bears for a long time. Those little cubs were so cute. I think it's great that Jenelle is getting to experience this kind of stuff.

Summer fun - week 4

Jenelle went off to camp this past week. She went to Camp Id Ra Ha Je up in Bailey, CO. It was a short 3 day camp for 1st graders. She bunked with 3 other friends from school. She had a great time. I asked what was her favorite part and she said "everything". They got to go on a hike, a hayride, swimming, crafts and horseback riding. Jenelle opted to skip the horse part. Maybe next year. She especially enjoyed sleeping on the top bunk. She asked if she could have bunk beds at home.

So while Jenelle was camping, Curt and I went to Glenwood Springs for a couple of days. I think we had more fun than Jenelle did. We went on a great hike to hanging lake and saw beautiful waterfalls all along the way. We spent the afternoon at the Hot Springs pool. The next day we went on a rafting trip. We are planning on sending Jenelle to the week long camp next summer and doing another mini-vacation ourselves.

Summer survival - week 3

I am so thankful for vacation Bible school. Jenelle went again this week. She absolutely loved it! She was disappointed when the week was over. She was also asking if she was signed up for any more VBS's. The church ended the week with a party on Friday night. They had a bouncy house and free food. What more could you ask for?

We made it to the pool for the first time this week. We went with Angie and her boys to their neighborhood pool. Other kids are so great for Jenelle. Issac and Ben were jumping off the side into the pool. Jenelle has never done that before. She was always too afraid. Those boys had her jumping off the side! Then Ben suggested that they run and jump. Jenelle ran and slipped. Oh my! I keep band-aids in my car for just these occasions. This was a 5 band-aid emergency. I even had to use the big daddy band-aid (the 2" by 2" square). She got quite a few owies. It was a little traumatic. It was even more traumatic the next day when I had to rip those band-aids off and replace them with new ones. She is well on the road to recovery now.

We babysat for our friend's dog this week. Kaylee is very cute, but a little yippy. We had lots of fun with her. Jenelle really enjoyed her and is asking when she can get a dog of her own. I'm not quite open to getting a dog yet, but we're available for pet sitting!

Happy Father's day to the best dad ever!

We've been celebrating Father's day week for about a week now. Curt has gotten little gifts from us. Nothing major. Curt worked way too hard today. It was dumpster day in our neighborhood. If you paid the association dues (all of $25) you get to use the dumpster. I told Curt about the dumpster day a month ago. Well this morning over a cup of coffee he decided to take advantage of it. He spent a couple hours chopping down the most obnoxious bush in our yard. It was one of those juniper bushes that grows like a weed and is super ugly. He filled the truck and I drove it to the dumpster. We made several trips. We also trimmed a few other bushes in the yard. After that we went for a bike ride. We're all a little tired today. Jenelle goes to camp tomorrow and Curt and I are going to Glenwood Springs. He has a long weekend to recooperate.

Curt is the best dad ever! We love you!

Wildflower Hike

I picked up some Colorado wildflower, butterfly and bird guides this week. I thought it would make our hikes more interesting. We did a beautiful hike at O'Fallen Park. The place was covered with flowers. It was so fun to stop, look at a flower and then identify it from our handbook. We saw larkspur, golden banner, columbine, blue bell and wild rose to name a few. We also identified a lot of bushes and different kinds of pine trees. Jenelle loves to collect pine cones. Now we know what tree they came from. It is really hard to identify butterflies. They won't sit still! Curt actually caught one, but it got away before we could figure out what it was.

Summer survival - Week 2

We had another week of crappy weather here. Just tons of rain and cool temperatures. I feel like the summer if flying by, but it's been too yucky to do anything. This week Jenelle had VBS. She had lots of fun. They played games and made crafts every day. She learned about letting her light shine for Jesus. We had a few park play dates. I'm trying to get Jenelle more comfortable riding her bike. There is a great park nearby that has a cement trail around the playground. Jenelle would ride around a few times and then play. We went there twice this week. Once we had to leave early due to rain. She had a play date with Emmeri one day and Lindsay one day. On Friday we actually made it to the pool. The picture is of Jenelle and Lindsay rolling down a hill. Why do kids like to get dizzy so much?

Jenelle continues with her tennis lessons. She has a killer backhand shot. She is working on her forehand. Coach Matt says its all about the timing. Jenelle has a little crush on Matt. She made a present for him. I've got to get to Jenelle out to the courts to practice. Hopefully the weather will be better this week.

Jam Update

The raspberry jam was soooo good! The jar is almost empty. We are having lots of toast. The consistency was great and you couldn't tell that it had half the sugar. I made strawberry jam, too. I'm done now. I've gotten my jam making out of my system.

Summer survival - Week 1

Summer has started. I have lots of fun things planned to keep us busy. Tennis lessons started this week. Jenelle has Coach Matt again. She made him the cutest card with a bunch of hearts on it. Maybe it will get her a little extra attention on the courts.

She had a few play dates this week. We went to an awesome park. It was a little bit of a drive, but worth it. They had water fountains, a rock climbing wall, three separate park play areas including a sand box. We spent the whole day there. I can't wait to go back again.

Jenelle asks me everyday, "What are we doing today?" I've got to keep that girl busy! Next week we have a VBS and a few more play dates planned. If the weather ever warms up enough we'll go to the pool.

We did a few fun things this week. The rec district here has free summer concerts. Curt and I met a few friends there. The kids ran around the ENTIRE time while the adults listened to music. It was fun to chit chat and drink a little wine. On Friday, my neighbor Jen had an outdoor movie night at her house. The kids watched a movie indoors and the adults watched one outside. It was so fun. I hope she has another movie night soon! Jenelle is napping right now. All this summer fun makes her tired. She didn't go to bed last night until 11pm. She has never been up that late before. We also went on a grueling bike ride this morning.

We bike a lot at Waterton Canyon. You ride up a canyon! It's very pretty, but it's always windy. Sometimes the wind blows you up the canyon and sometimes you have to fight the wind the whole way up. Today the wind was not in our favor. I feel like napping myself! So more summer fun stories from the Gilliland's another time.

Suzie Homemaker

My friend Jen and I are trying to cut out High Fructose Corn Syrup out of our family's diets. The stuff is so bad for you. I'd rather have regular old sugar. I buy natural jams/jellies and syrup. We already don't eat a lot of processed foods that have HFCS. So I feel like we're doing pretty good. I'm just looking for ways to eat healthier without breaking the bank. The pure maple syrup isn't cheap and I don't have any maple trees, but I can make my own jelly. Jen was telling me how easy it was. So I went out and bought some canning jars and pectin. All the great fruits are in season now so I started making strawberry jam. It turned out quite yummy. Next I made grape jelly. Again, quite yummy. The only problem was the recipes called for huge amounts of sugar. The strawberry recipe called for 7 cups worth. I have now discovered low sugar pectin. I can make the same stuff with less sugar.

I was at the store today and they had raspberries on sale. I bought a bunch and made raspberry jam this afternoon. It's so easy. It didn't take long at all and I only used 3 cups of sugar. I will let you know how it tastes. I'm thinking of giving my sugary strawberry jam away and making myself some new stuff with less sugar. Anybody want a jar of jam?

Kindergarten Graduation

Jenelle graduated from Kindergarten on Wednesday. The ceremony was so cute. The kids were all dressed in daddy's white shirts. They had caps and tassels. They sang songs and then each kid got their certificate. One of the special things that Front Range does is they assign a Godly character trait to each child. It's the trait that the child showed most throughout the year. Jenelle got "Joyfulness - being happy inside and out".

We celebrated with a special dinner. Jenelle asked for salmon and ice cream. It was yummy. The next night Jenelle was asking for ice cream again. She said, "I did just graduate." It was so funny the way she said it. Like she was milking the occasion for all it was worth. I guess she wants a "graduation week".

So my summer has officially started. I'm using my VBS summer survival skills again. I plan on signing Jenelle up for three, possibly four vacation Bible schools. I guess I'm getting known for my survival plan because people are requesting emails from me with my summer VBS list.

Bouncing Around

After months of looking on Craigslist we finally got our trampoline. For free even. It's a 14 inch tramp. The thing is huge. I think we are going to have a fun summer jumping in the backyard. Jenelle likes to bounce. The tramp also doubles as a stage. So she should have fun singing and dancing up there. She has also made a fort/home underneath the trampoline. I think we'll get our moneys worth.

Happy Mother's Day

Mother's Day week is over. Curt tends to be lame on Mother's day. This is by his own admission! His excuse is that we usually go on vacation right around Mother's day so he doesn't have time to shop. Curt is a last minute shopper kind of guy.

I did wake up to flowers this morning, though. He went to the store while I was still sleeping. I thought that was very sweet of him.

We went out to lunch with my mom on Mother's Day. It was a rainy day here so we didn't do much else. I hope all you mom's out there had a great Mother's day.

We are back from Mexico

It's back to real life and I'm not liking it! I'm going through Mexico withdrawal. Where is the beach? Where is the ocean? Where are the meals that I don't have to prepare?

Anyway... more info on the rest of our trip. We had a fun last day. We got up early and went to the pool. We had a lot of fun playing in the water. Jenelle likes to play swim teacher. She is a horribly mean teacher. If you don't do what she says, she dunks you.

We had to fill out a health assessment form at the airport. Have you coughed in the last 7 days, etc. They also took our temperature. We must have passed because they let us on the plane. The return flight home took forever. You could smell a lot of disinfectant in the air. A lot of people also wore masks. It's Wednesday now and I think we're in the clear. No one here has a temperature.

We had a wonderful trip. Lots of good memories.

¡More Mexico fun!

Jenelle won the coloring contest! (Every kid won.) She got a beautiful sparkly trophy. She was so proud of it. She took it to dinner. When the waitress wanted to take a look at it, Jenelle grabbed it out of her hands. I think she thought the woman was going to take it. She even took the trophy to bed.

She went to the kid´s club today. She made a sparkly pirate hat. She played a look for the pirate game at the pool. We picked her up for lunch and then we played in the pool. She went back to the club for the pirate scavenger hunt.

Curt and I went snorkeling twice this morning. Once on the calm side of the bay and once on the rough. We saw lots of fish. Some I had never seen before. One had a mermaid looking tale and huge lips. It was so weird looking. There were beautiful purple plants. I followed one huge school of blue fish again. This time they led me right into the shallow rocks. The waves started pummeling me. Ouch. Curt came to my rescue and dragged me back out on the raft.

I did get some cuts on the bottom of my feet. They are hurting, but I´ll live. I´ve consumed quite a few piña coladas so no big deal.

This will be my last post until we get home. Adiós

¿What will we do today?

I like this Spanish keyboard. You can type the upside down question mark. And do tildes over the n´s. La niña es muy bien.

The winds have really picked up. I couldn´t snorkel yesterday because the ocean was too choppy. We took the floats out and had fun in the big waves. One wave took Curt down. It took his swimsuit down, too. You gotta be careful out there.

Jenelle went to the kid´s club in the afternoon. She had fun playing games and making crafts. She will be going there this afternoon for a coloring contest. We are always doing coloring contests at home so she should really enjoy that. Tomorrow is a whole pirate day theme. It´s fun for her and it gives us a break. Jenelle has been my little shadow this whole trip. She is shy, I guess. She hides behind me at the smoothie bar. She won´t talk to anyone either. We discovered the breakfast smoothie bar. Today we had a smoothie with guava in it. Yum. Yesterday, we had smoothie with beets. Weird, yes, but very pretty.

We went out on the pier this morning and fed the fish. It was a swarm. There were tons. A few seagulls were hovering around. We fed them, too.

I gotta get back to the room. We need to slather down with suntan lotion.

Hasta luego.

Bienvenido a Mexico

Welcome to Mexico. We arrived on Friday. Our airplane was only half full. The line for immigration at the airport was a ghost town. There was one cockroach in the line, though. They took our temperature before they let us out of the airport. They put this thing on our forehead and in one second they had our temperature. It was in Celsius so who could read it?

The resort is a little more empty and it seems a little less festive. That could be due to the recession. There isn´t as much entertainment. I´m missing the ocean aerobics and the afternoon dance lessons. A few of the food people are wearing masks. There doesn´t seem to be much fear and frenzy here about the flu.

I went snorkeling yesterday. I saw a school of about 50 blue fish. They were beautiful! I saw an enormous fish with bright yellow eyes. I´ll be snorkeling again when I´m done posting. We´re going to see if Jenelle wants to wear her snorkel mask and give it a try.

Jenelle and Curt built a big sand castle yesterday. Roberto, from Canada, played with Jenelle on the beach. Jenelle was so tired after lunch. She took a nap on the beach.

We are safe and healthy and having a blast. I´ll try to post again in a day or two.

Adios

Merry Maid

I was doing some cleaning around the house today. I cleaned the fish tank. It was looking really green. Those poor fish. I thought I'd clean the bathroom while I was in there. Jenelle noticed me cleaning the toilet. I must have made it look like a lot of fun because she asked it she could clean. What mom will ever say no to that question? Jenelle spent about 10 minutes swirling the brush around the toilet. I don't think the toilet has ever been so clean.

Just a side note on toilets... EVERY single time Jenelle goes to the bathroom for a poop, she plugs the toilet. I'm not joking. Ten minutes ago she was in the bathroom. The toilet won't flush now. I just bought another plunger at Walmart so I'd have one on both levels of the house. Someday Jenelle will kill me for putting stuff like this on the blog, but I think it's funny. It won't be long before she can read the blog for herself so enjoy these funny/embarrassing stories now while I'm still able post them.

Garden Guy

Curt has been working hard at getting our garden started. He did something new this year. He planted lettuce outside in winter. He planted romaine, spinach, swiss chard and mesclun. I've been buying the bulk lettuce at Sam's Club. It's way too much lettuce for us to eat in a week. It ends up going bad and we throw some of it away. It is so fun to go outside and pick lettuce for a salad. He also had some nice tomato plants started. I'm already collecting some good recipes that use tomatoes.

So I've been hunting for salad recipes. I was scanning the Food Channel and saw that Simply Delicioso was making a mango salad. I taped the show and made the salad last night. It was so yummy. Eileen, you might want to try this. The salad dressing ingredients sound weird, but the peanut butter and lime tasted great together. The cilantro was so good in the salad. I didn't have any radish, but I'll try that next time.

Here is the recipe.

Mango Jicama and Radish Salad with Peanut Dressing
recipe courtesy: Ingrid Hoffmann

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons smooth peanut butter
• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice (about 2 limes)
• 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil
• Salt
• 8 large radishes, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced crosswise
• 6 cups mixed baby greens, washed and dried
• 1 large or 2 small mangoes, peeled, fruit cut off the seed and cubed
• 2 cups peeled and cubed jicama (cut into about 1/2-inch cubes)
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves

Directions

In a medium bowl, whisk the peanut butter and lime juice until smooth. Add the brown sugar, vegetable oil and some salt and whisk until combined. Add enough water to thin the sauce and give it a dressing-like consistency, about 2 to 3 tablespoons.

Place the radishes, greens, mangoes, jicama and cilantro in a large bowl and toss together.

Drizzle with the dressing, toss using tongs to coat and serve.

Bowling Babe

We took Jenelle bowling for the first time on Saturday. We went to Mr. Biggs. That place was a mad house. It was VERY loud and Jenelle was cringing the whole time we were there. It was a 45 minute wait for a bowling lane so we left. Being the coupon girl that I am, I found a coupon for AMF Lanes. We went over there. Most lanes were full, but it didn't have that chaotic feel. It wasn't too loud and Jenelle had no problem.



The bowling alley was very kid friendly. They had 6 pound bowling balls and bumpers for the alleys. Those bumpers saved me from getting a few gutter balls. We tried several styles of bowling. The granny throw. Put your fingers in the holes and regular bowl. Ramp bowling. I think we were most successful with the granny throw. Jenelle scored a respectable 85 on her first game and a 72 on her second game.


We all had a lot of fun and we plan on going again. It will be a fun rainy day activity for us.