The Hennequant Family

My favorite dish: Chicken Enchiladas

2012-01-04T18:54:00.000-08:00

I always choose Chicken Enchiladas no matter what Mexican Restaurant we visit.

Red sauce, white cream sauce, broth sauce, Salsa Verde... It doesn't matter how they are prepared I almost always LOVE them!

Here are mine! Justin and the kids love my creamy white enchiladas, I think I like my red sauce better... At least today I do! I'll post the white sauce later this week!

My Red sauce Chicken Enchiladas

1/2 medium onion diced

2-3 cloves of garlic (yum!)

saute the above in 1-2 Tbs of butter of medium heat, add 2 chicken bullion cubes and 1 1/2 cups of water. Let simmer

in a small bowl mix together

8 ozs tomato sauce

1 1/2 Tbs of chili powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp dried and crushed oregano leaves

1 tsp ground cumin powder

Add the above mixture to the pot simmering on the stove and let simmer on low for about 5 - 10 minutes to let the flavors blend.

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts that are falling apart from cooking to long in the crock pot. The best way to cook them for Mexican dishes. Sometimes I add garlic or onions or let it cook in chicken broth instead of water. That all depends on my mood that day!

Then I set up my "building" station. lightly grease a 9-13 baking dish.

have a plate in front of you with the sauce mixture on one side and the dish on the other. In front of those within my reach I have cheese (whatever I have on hand that goes with Mexican), at least a dozen yellow corn tortillas and my shredded chicken.

Then one at a time I drop the tortillas into the pot and pull it out with tongs, drop it on the plate and line with chicken and cheese, roll up and place seem side down in the baking dish.

I pull the sauce pot off for about 5 minutes before I start putting them together so I don't burn my fingers trying to catch the tortillas if they fall apart from the sauce.

Once the dish is full I ladle on a few spoonfuls of the sauce on top of the enchiladas and top with a bit more cheese. Bake at 350* for 15-20 minutes or until cheese is bubbly.

Homemade Candy Buttons

2012-01-04T18:50:00.001-08:00

One of my favorite candies as a kid was candy buttons! I found an awesome recipe over at Sandy Toes and Popsicle! Here are the pictures from us making them!

Goodbye 2011!

2011-12-31T19:08:00.000-08:00

Goodbye 2011, we are so glad that you are almost over! You were not very nice this year!

I couldn't bring myself to send Christmas cards or letters this year. It was such a stressful year for our family. Even typing up this blog post is hard.

January - Jayden was working on 1st grade work through Georgia Cyber Academy and doing great. Julianna turned 4! My sister Josie came to visit for a week with her adorable princess Marcella! We ended the end of the month with Julianna becoming extremely ill.

February- Yeah, I would rather not talk about it!

March - Finally checked Julianna out of the hospital and started her on the road to recovery! Jayden turned 6 and had a party at the house, dinosaur themed of course!

April - Enjoyed a few museums and worked on getting Julianna as healthy as we could. Not much happened.

May - Justin and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary! We also started the process of looking at wheel chairs for Julianna. Jayden finished off his Kindergarten school year with 1/2 of 1st grade complete!

June - Julianna attended a few days of ballet camp and seemed to have fun when she was feeling well. Jayden had a blast at Vacation Bible School where they had bounce houses, petting zoos and more. Julianna also attended a few days when she was feeling well.

July - Another hard month! Finally felt that Julianna was feeling well enough to take the 2 day drive to go see my Grandfather who wasn't doing well and losing a battle to cancer. He passed 2 days before we got there. The day we arrived we ended up rushing Julianna to the hospital and stayed in the ICU for a week with Pneumonia again. Juli was out for about 3 days that we got to visit with family in the area when my sister Zena's father-in-law passed suddenly. Wow, can we get a break yet? Thankfully when we got to Pittsburgh Justin flew up to drive us back home to Atlanta. We ended the visit with my mom coming up for a week!

August - Jayden's schooling started back up and his teacher assessed him showing he was above 1st grade. He loves reading and does so well with his school work! We ended the month by inviting a new member to our family! We adopted a 9 week old puppy! Her name is Tiana and she is a Boxer, Staffordshire mix. We are all in love with this bundle of energy!

September - Jayden started back up with Timothy Ministries School. Every Friday he takes Chemistry, Spanish, Animal Science and PE. He loved everything but Science. In the spring he plans to take Chemistry and PE only which were his favorite classes! Julianna was very disappointed that she couldn't attend. Since shes been so sick this past year we have to be careful of germs.

October - Enjoyed some great puppet shows at the center for puppetry arts. The kids had a blast trick or treating. Jayden was a dragon/dinosaur and Julianna was a puppy!

November - Another low key month, played at the park, visited some museums saw some puppet shows.

December - Jayden completed 1st grade and started his 2nd grade work! He is doing so great with school. Julianna is also spending some time at the table with us now working on some stuff in preperation of next year when she starts Kindergarten! Wow, time flies! I took my first trip ever without Julianna who will be 5 next month!!! Justin goes to Vegas every year for work so since the hotel was already taken care of for him and he had enough miles to get me a ticket I took a much needed mommy break! I enjoyed 3 nights of good food, long baths, sleeping through the night and adult time!!! I even read 3 books while I was away! I love my kids and we involve them in practically everything we do so this was amazing for me to get away. It's hard to get away with Julianna's medical issues. We were very lucky that Justin's mom was able to come and stay with the kids for me. Kids had a great Christmas this year! Got some great gifts and fun crafts and science kits this year too. With Julianna's medical issues we spent quite a bit of time at home so fun stuff to keep everyone happy is a must!

Well that's our year! We enjoyed visiting family and friends and all those that came to visit us. The kids had tons of fun visiting museums and puppet shows this past year. I hope we get to do lots of the same in 2012.

Welcome 2012, you better be amazing because i can't handle another 2011!

Homemade marshmallows!

2011-12-30T21:36:00.001-08:00

These were so easy to make! The kids loved eating them too. I dusted them with powdered sugar instead of corn starch. Here is the link to make your own!

http://www.marthastewart.com/334710/marshmallow-snowflakes

Christmas Videos!

2011-12-30T20:53:00.000-08:00

Julianna opening an easy bake oven mix!

Christmas gift from Aunt Josie, Uncle Marc and cousin Marcella.

Julianna's gift from Aunt Zena, Uncle Matt, cousin Luke and cousin Miranda.

the video I took of Jayden opening their gift didn't turn out. But I will post some pictures of him doing the science experiments as we do them!

Soda Geyser

2011-12-30T20:45:00.000-08:00

Turn your volume down before watching it! I didn't realize how good the mic on my new phone is!

Jayden got a soda and mentos geyser kit for Christmas! Lots of fun but it only lasted 5 seconds! I was surprised by how high it shot up. Jayden said he wants to get a bunch of them and have them all set up for his birthday party in March. He said each kid should get to pull a pin all at the same time. Sounds messy to me!

Christmas Day 2011!

2011-12-28T08:08:00.000-08:00

We had a great Christmas this year! I tried hard to keep the gifts to a minimum and both kids were very happy with what they got, not one item was tossed aside this year nor was there anything that they wished they had gotten. Justin also picked out a family game as he usually does and got Wits and Wages family game. Lots of fun, Juli did better than Jayden did!

My attempt at getting a picture of the three of them Christmas morning.
Tiana got a pile of toys too. She loves to tear stuff apart! Here she is with her favorite toy!
Julianna gave Jayden homemade angry bird rocks for Christmas! He thought they were very cool. From us Jayden got battleship game, pokemon walkie talkies, an e-reader, charger kit for his DS, a pile of books, pj's and and some stocking stuffers.
Jayden gave Julianna homemade puffy paints for Christmas. She has painted a few pictures already. From us Julianna got littlest pet shop characters, food kits for her easy bake oven, a princess kitchen set that makes noise, dora domino's, a pile of books, pjs and stocking stuffers.
She is so small that she fits anywhere! I scored this awesome princess kitchen set at a consignment sale for only $12! It looks brand new and I didn't have to put it together!

Popcorn Rocks

2011-12-27T15:34:00.000-08:00

Popcorn rocks were neat to watch but took a few weeks to grow. We got a bag of these special rocks at a Science/History museum. It took about 3 weeks in a bowl of vinegar to grow "popcorn". It was neat to watch the rocks fizz and bubble the first few days. The package said that the popcorn would harden with time but it was to soft after sitting for almost 5 weeks for the kids to keep.

Julianna spoils the dog!

2011-12-26T19:56:00.001-08:00

There is so much love between Julianna and our puppy, Tiana. Julianna spoils her and has started feeding her by hand! There were a few days that the dog wouldn't even eat out of her bowl and would instead wait for Julianna to feed her! Whenever the dog is resting Juli feels the need to cuddle up to her. We have a very hyper dog, but thankfully she is very loving and has definitely settled into being part of the family.

Bath bombs/fizz tablets

2011-12-21T07:42:00.000-08:00

I found a simple recipe for fizzing bath soaps. I plan to put them in the kids stockings, they love LUSH bath bombs but they cost $7 a piece (per bath)!!!! These don't fizz as nicely but the kids will still have fun with them.

1/4 cup of finely crushed Epsom salt mixed with 1 cup of baking soda mixed together well, then spray with 1 tsp lemon juice, 1/4 cup water and any scent you like till it looks like damp sand that will stick together. A scent is not required, I added a little bit of vanilla. Then I let them dry over night. I had to let the molds dry for 2 days and still most of them fell apart. The cookie cutter ones turned out best.

I need to search for some other soaps and bath fizz products for the kids.

Angry bird rocks

2011-12-20T05:41:00.000-08:00

Thanks to the Brassy Apple, I found a neat way to make an angry birds game for Jayden.

Julianna helped pick out all the supplies and painted the rocks, I finished off with extra coats of paint and their faces. Today she will wrap them for him. Still need to find a sling shot for them....

Julianna will be giving it to Jayden for Christmas.

It was surprisingly easy to make!

Homemade Rock Candy

2011-12-18T16:04:00.000-08:00

Julianna and I mixed up some rock candy syrup this week. There is always some type of experiment or creation sitting on our kitchen counters!

It's 2-3 parts sugar to 1 part water. So 5 cups of water to 10-15 cups of sugar!
Julianna dipped the sticks in water and then rolled them in sugar which is supposed to be a starter for the rocks to form easier around the stick. I mixed the water and sugar in a pot on the stove just till completely dissolved. It was just about to boil but didn't. I let it cool for 10-15 minutes on the counter before pouring into the jars. Then Julianna put her favorite colors into the jars and mixed them in. Afterward we secured the sticks in the center of the jars with clothes pins.

I really hope that they turn out! It should take about a week to grow the rocks.

I'll let you know how it goes! Wish us luck.

My Grandfathers wallet

2011-12-10T14:19:00.001-08:00

This year has been long and exhausting. So much has happened, most of it wasn't so good.

In July the kids and I drove up to Pennsylvania to visit my Grandparents. My Grandfather was losing to melanoma (skin cancer) and it didn't seem like their was much time left to see him. With Julianna's medical problems though it was tough to get up there. Our plan was to drive up on Saturday, July 9th with a stop half way which would get me to Pennsylvania on the evening of the 10th. Things were not good from the start. My Grandfather, Frank Jareski passed on Friday, July 8th, right before we left. I still feel bad that I didn't get there in time for one last hug and I love you!

Saturday night at the hotel Jayden spiked a fever, then when we got to my sister Zena's house Julianna was struggling to breathe. She ended up in ICU that night and stayed for the week. Poor Jayden was thrown into a family that he barely knew, but thankfully loved him. So my 6 year old son went to his first funereal to say good bye to a Grandpa with a family that he only met a handful of times but at least it was one that I spoke of regularly. While Jayden was with my sister and her family they stayed at our Grandparents house in North Jersey for the funereal. My Grandparents lived in that house all of my life so it is full of memories for me! To keep Jayden busy his older cousin Luke had him search for treasures. Some of the things that Jayden came home with seemed silly but as I cleaned his room last night I was flooded with emotions. Jayden took one of my Grandpa's old wallets that had pictures of me and my sisters from when we were little and the best part is that it still smells like him! I couldn't help holding it to my nose and thinking of all the wonderful times that I had with him. I really had amazing Grandparents.

As things settle down after the holidays I think I would like to make some type of memory book for each amazing and wonderful person that has been taken from our lives. I hope that my children will someday love these memories that I share with them as much as I loved creating them. Not a day passes that I don't think of the loved ones that are no longer here with us. I am thankful to have pieces in my home that make me think of many of them regularly.

If anyone has any great suggestions on making a nice book with memories and thoughts of my father, father-in-law, Grandfathers, Grandmothers... I'd love to hear them!

For the Love of DOGS!

2011-11-26T19:09:00.000-08:00

We spent some time dog sitting this fall. Woody was an older dog and took a beating from my kids that loved crawling on him and chasing him around. Julianna kicks the dogs out of their kennels and climbs in her self to play. ;) The kids now think that we need another dog! We are hoping that we just survive the holidays with this puppy!

Found a local butcher shop!

2011-11-19T20:00:00.000-08:00

I've been looking around for something locally and haven't had much luck. I saw an advertisement in a local magazine and gave this place a try.

I only got ground beef to start and it was very good quality! They e-mail coupons out regularly with deals. I took advantage of one, $15 for 5 pounds of lean ground beef. It was 90%+ and less than half of the price that I pay at whole foods! I was impressed with the store and plan to start buying more of our meat here! Check it out if you get a chance, they also have a deli and have a small area to eat lunch. When I was there on a Saturday they were cooking all kinds of yummy meats outside! They are on Highway 92 between Trickum and Sandy Plains Roads.

Love at 6?

2011-11-16T19:04:00.000-08:00

Jayden is completely head over heals for the girl next door. Shes in 4th grade and is very sweet. Jayden will stand at the foot of the driveway and call to her from 2 houses away and beg to see her every chance that he gets. He's informed us that they are going to get married some day.

So recently we've been talking about marriage in our home because Jayden insists that he is going to marry the neighbor girl. When he mentioned this the first time I told him that we don't always marry the first person that we fall in love with and that she may decide to go to a different college than him. Jayden started crying hysterically and telling me that I don't know what I am talking about and that he is going to marry her when they grow up. The only benefit of all this love talk is that she is a smart girl and enjoys school, so now I remind him that he has to do his best with his school work if he wants her to marry him! It's helped a bit!

I never even thought about love or marriage till I was beyond 5th grade! Any one else dealing with a love struck child at such a young age?

Yummy Caramel Apple dip

2011-11-04T14:20:00.000-07:00

I found a tasty recipe for homemade caramel dip. We had too many apples in the house and I am hoping this will help them disappear quickly!

1 can sweetened condensed milk

2 cups of packed light brown sugar

3/4 cup light corn syrup

1 stick of butter

pinch of salt

Throw everything in a pot, bring to boil and stir frequently so everything mixes well and it doesn't burn. Serve! It makes a large batch so I put the leftovers in the fridge. Not sure how well it will reheat but I will let you know tomorrow!

Rudolph at the Center for Puppetry Arts! 11/2/11

2011-11-02T19:48:00.000-07:00

The kids had a blast today watching another amazing performance at the Center for Puppetry Arts. Every show we've seen their has been fantastic. The kids had fun making a Rudolph shadow puppet afterward and got to play with them on a screen too. The girls in the picture with Juli behind the screen are all 4 years old, just spaced over 3 months. Also Julianna has been happy to use her new chair finally! It's been easier on both of us so far. We haven't gotten as many stares or questions about her appearance lately but then she's only been in it a few times. It's hard to decide exactly what to say to people when they comment on her appearance. I've really been trying to encourage her to speak loud and clear so people don't brush off as younger than she really is! St her to he informed me today that I need to let her make her chair move on her own instead of me using the handle to steer her. I guess we will have to find somewhere to practice. Our house is carpeted and full of steps anyway. We might have to visit the mall early one morning when it's not to busy to practice! I'll update more on her caringbridge page about her chair as soon as I have some free time that I'm not using for sleeping!

Trick or Treat!

2011-11-02T19:38:00.000-07:00

The kids had a blast at our annual HOA's Halloween festival. They played games, ate some yummy food, went on a hayride, roasted marshmallows and then did some trunk or treating. The kids also went to a few houses on Halloween night. Juli enjoyed pretending to be a dog and Jayden was happy to be a dinosaur/dragon this year. It's getting harder to find the cute costumes for him in bigger sizes, He's officially hit the 4 foot mark! Not long before he's towering over me. Sad to see him growing up so fast! Glad he has such an amazing imagination still.

Puppy update! 10/18/11

2011-11-02T19:30:00.000-07:00

This puppy just keeps growing! She has more than tripled her weight and we expect her to do that again over the winter months! We all love her even though she drives us crazy! As you can see in the picture with Julianna laying down, the Tiana likes to chew on everything! Especially wood, including the base boards throughout the house. We have the tummy troubles under control for now and she seems house broken with the exception of new visitors that love on her, then her bladder doesn't work so well! Hopefully the change in her food will make her tummy troubles disappear completely but we won't know for sure till we take her off of her meds.

Homemade Bath paints

2011-10-16T08:41:00.000-07:00

I love finding awesome ideas on Pinterest! Today I made bath paint for the kids. It was so quick and easy, plus it used ingredients I already had in the house! I found the recipe on Meet the Dubiens blog.

4 tablespoons of corn starch

1 cup of clear bubble bath, kids body wash or shampoo. (I used Suave sensitive shampoo since it was what I had on hand)

food coloring

containers to store them in

After I had the colors made I used a Styrofoam (water proof) egg carton to give them each. This way we didn't use all of it at once and each got their own set of paints.

I only made one batch and divided it into 3 different containers the first time before adding the food coloring. The kids enjoyed it so much that I plan to make full cups of each color as soon as I get to the store to buy more soap!

Centennial Olympic Park and Imagine It Children's Museum 10/05/11

2011-10-08T19:41:00.000-07:00

Met some friends downtown for a fun afternoon with the kids. We had lunch at CNN, walked through Centennial Olympic Park and then spent a few hours at Imagine It Children's Museum. The kids enjoyed the new exhibit about old fairy tales. The girls, Sydney, Aereal and Julianna (all 4 years old!) rode in Cinderellas Carriage, Jayden had fun hammering in the nails in the Shoemakers and the Elves area, Juli played in the castle from Beauty and the Beast, Jayden was surprised when he sat in the kings chair from Anasi and the Talking Melon and so many more cool fairy tales to explore.

Jayden's favorite area is the still the balls and Juli still loves the grocery cart and kitchen though!

Zoo Atlanta 10/04/11

2011-10-08T19:23:00.000-07:00

Zoo Atlanta partnered with Cobb County libraries to offer a sweet deal! By taking out a short video on the history of the zoo they gave us a family 4 pass for free! It's over $50 just for the kids and I to go to the zoo these days, so it was a pretty great savings! It was perfect timing since the weather has started to cool and there were a number of babies born this summer. Juli was very excited to see the new tiger cubs, even though they were very hard to see. Her second favorite animal was the zebras, she wants everything zebra print now! Jayden loves all the animals especially the elephants and the naked mole rats. I think the kids love using their map skills more than anything when they visit the zoo!

One of the panda's was very active and kept throwing a bowling ball around, hanging upside down and running at the glass. Lots of fun to watch! If you look carefully at the kangaroo picture you can see the two baby legs sticking out of the mommy's pouch. She peeked out a few times too.

Old Man and the Monkey and Other Chinese Tales 9/28/11

2011-09-30T19:32:00.000-07:00

We visited the Center for Puppetry Arts this week for another great performance called Old Man and the Monkeys and other Chinese Tales. They love making puppets after the show and this week they made monkeys! Juli loves gluing buttons on him and Jayden preferred drawing everything on his. We attended with our good friends Ana and her daughter Sydney.

North Georgia State Fair 9/28/11

2011-09-30T19:20:00.000-07:00

We went to the fair last weekend. They really need to head to Pennsylvania and visit some fairs! They are so small down here and no one knows what pierogies are!!!! One of the few things I miss from the north is the Bloomsburg Fair. Sadly they suffered major damage caused by all the flooding. The kids enjoyed the merry-go-round, cotton candy and some italian ice. We were there only a couple of hours and pretty much saw it all

The puppy is growing fast! 9/21/11

2011-09-30T19:13:00.000-07:00

The puppy, Tiana is 13 weeks and growing fast! She's doubled her size since she joined our family. She definetly is fitting in well and we all love her, even if she's not house broken completely! Juli shared her love of bubbles with the dog this week.

Catch Air in Marietta 9/15/11

2011-09-30T18:51:00.000-07:00

Our new favorite indoor play place Catch Air just opened a few weeks ago and the kids love it for the awesome equipment that they have and I love it because the whole time we were there an employee was cleaning the equipment! We avoid indoor play places because of all the germs that are on the equipment. At least one employee was cleaning the whole time that we were there, even up inside the play structures! I figured since this was a new play place and all the equipment was new that we would be able to visit before the place became infested with germs, I didn't expect the staff cleaning the way that they did. Life has been stressful with all the "no's" we've been saying to the kids. It's not easy avoiding fun places for us! We hope to visit again before cold and flu season is in full swing! Hopefully we will have an amazingly healthy winter so we can visit in the spring! Yes, I dream big when it comes to health!

They have a 3 story play structure, bounce houses, various pieces of equipment throughout, a merry-go-round that the kids propel themselves, a 5 and under area that has some really cool stuff and even musical equipment!

We met some of the kids friends and they all had so much fun. One of the girls was celebrating her 5th birthday which made the day even more fun!

It was a busy week!

2011-09-10T20:51:00.000-07:00

Here is an update on the kids!

Jayden -He's doing so great with school! First grade spends a lot of time on the Greeks which is one of his favorite topics. Right now he's learning all about light and we made a sundial this week to see how it worked. His teacher assesed his reading last week and he's a grade level ahead! He's finally getting into reading and started reading to Juli more. On Fridays he participates in a program called Timothy Ministries. He takes Chemistry, Spanish, Animal Science and PE. He has so much fun at this program!

Julianna - This girl is a handful! She loves to keep us on our toes. We just never know what she is going to say or do next. I had planned on working on numbers with her this year but she can count well beyond 25 so I started working on addition with her. Once again she surprised me by creating her own problems and showing me addition and subtraction problems with everything she plays with. She's mastered the letter sounds and is working on putting them together. Sight words are not working for her, Jayden had a hard time with sight words at that age too. She's got plenty of time though and we are really only working on what she is interested in. She's very dissapointed that she doesn't get to go to school this year. We are trying to protect her from all the germs as much as we can. Our goal is to stay out of the hospital this year! She started music class again yesterday and absolutely loved it! The music class does such a great job. We will be participating in that for the month of September.

Our family - Still working on the puppy peeing outside of the house! She's getting better though. The kids adore her and love playing with her. We have lots of fun outings planned over the next few weeks and then we will only participate in a few activities towards the end of October through December. Museums, zoos etc, anywhere that I can stand next to Julianna and keep other children away from her! From mid December through mid March we most likely won't leave the house much! No grocery store carts especially! We were wanting to take her to Disney for her birthday but Justin and I decided it would be to risky touching all of the rides and staying with my mother in an adult community. The chances of getting sick are just to risky. We will wait till either the end of March for Jayden's birthday or go in May for our 10 year wedding anniverary and my birthday! We can always celebrate her birthday later with the Dinosaurs at T-Rex Cafe like she wants to.

Milestones we don't talk about

2011-09-10T20:41:00.000-07:00

Both my children have a blankie that they've been attached to since birth. Jayden was about 5 when he stopped carrying it around with himevery morning when he was trying to wake up, and up until a month ago he would still take it out of bed to use as a cape, a parachute, a net or anything else he could pretend it was to him! Julianna gets out of bed every morning with her blankie wrapped around her and keeps it for awhile in the morning, she picks it up again in the afternoon for some quiet time and then makes sure its with her at bed, until this week that is. She came down the steps the last 4 days without it and didn't look for it till she crawled in bed at the end of the day. :( This may be because the puppy has been trying to steal it from her but I can't believe how grown up the kids are getting! Time flies by so fast so go hug your babies! No matter how old they are, they are changing and growing (not always vertically or in ways that we want them to grow!) everyday.

Our new puppy Tiana!

2011-09-02T18:15:00.000-07:00

We got a puppy this week. We all fell in love with this girl. The kids have renamed her Tiana after The Princess and the Frog movie. She is so much fun and so loving toward us. Shes 9 weeks old and a mix of breeds. The ones we know includes Boxer and Staffordshire bull terrier. I had my hopes on a golden or a lab but look at this puppies eyes and say no to her! She's already spoiled in our house.

Family visited

2011-09-02T18:07:00.000-07:00

We were all so happy that my sister and her husband Will were able to stop down for a quick visit before they continued onto Florida. Both the kids loved spending some time with the animals. Juli wouldn't leave Tigger the cat alone. Shes old and tired but was fine with all the pets and kisses Juli wanted to give her! Hope we get down to Florida this winter to visit and spend some fun time with them and my mom. Maybe Brook will even come down for a visit! I can't help sharing the last picture of Jayden being silly in the bathtub. ;)

Our final decision on a puppy!

2011-08-27T18:14:00.000-07:00

Spent some time at Our Pal's Place playing with the puppies today! After talking with the trainer we decided to go with a puppy named Jayden. Her name will obviously need to be changed! No idea to what yet. She will be coming home on Monday and we are all very excited. Today we did some shopping for a collar, bowls, toys, food.....

The puppies were much more energetic today! We definitely have a lot of work ahead of us training this puppy!

I'll post more pictures when she joins us on Monday!

Hanes Comfort from toe to toe.

2011-08-26T13:06:00.000-07:00

I wear many hats! Mom, travel agent, tastefully simple consultant, medical planner, teacher... the list is endless! One thing I enjoy is testing new products for companies! Some are in the planning stages and I just receive an unmarked bottle that just says shampoo but then others are for marketing purposes that I get to talk about!

Right now I am wearing the new Hanes comfort from toe to toe socks. They are comfy and fit well on my small feet. I'm involved with BZZ Agent and they sent me some coupons as well as 3 different pairs from the Hanes line to try out and Buzz about! So if you are in need of socks check out Hanes Comfort toe to toe. ;)

Heyward is wanted!

2011-08-23T19:15:00.000-07:00

Heard from OPP today and they are reviewing our application! The Trainer is going to spend some time with the puppies tomorrow to see if they are ready to leave mom and be seperated from each other. They also have a vet check on Monday. There's been lots of interest in him but we are the only ones to actually apply for him. If all goes well we could have our home visit this week/weekend and have a new family member by this time next week! We will hear from them tomorrow about whether he will be ours or not. Then we get to go shopping for puppy supplies!

Town and Country Vet Clinic (Another look at pets)

2011-08-23T12:25:00.000-07:00

So the kids and I tried to explore dogs at a different pet adoption location. I had no idea how different these places could be from each other. The place today had a lot of dogs up for adoption but the center was not as loving as Our Pal's Place! They had no yard for the dogs to play or run or even to be walked to go to the bathroom. From what I gathered these dogs will stay in their cages for majority of their stay! :( 2 dogs stood out to us, a high energy black lab and a sweet red dachshund. Both were under 2 years old, their stories are unknown other than that they were picked up at a county shelter where they were about to be euthanized. These dogs would have to be retrained to go outside to the bathroom and be crated for at least awhile till they got used to our home. We will continue to look for now!

We are officially looking for a new member for our family!

2011-08-21T13:38:00.000-07:00

Took the kids to Our Pal's Place in Marietta. These puppies are about 8 weeks old and were severely dehydrated when OPP (Our Pal's Place) found them in a county animal shelter. The mom is very well behaved and mild mannered. The puppies are paper trained and adorable. The kids fell in love with the black dog named Heyward. We just started to look and our original plan was to get a lab or retriever of some kind since they are usually so great with kids and the breeds that most service dogs happen to be. The kids won't stop talking about the puppies though! This is a great pet adoption facility and the prices seem to be lower than what we've seen at other locations. Check out some of the other dogs that need homes! Right now we are having a hard time trying to decide if we should peruse the pup the kids picked today or wait a little longer... The kids and I have visited a few pet stores to play but have no intentions of buying a dog from a pet store. At this time the kids just want a dog. http://ourpalsplace.org/opp_dog_detail_ext.asp?Id=533&notes=min&wishlist=min&sStatus=Adoptable&Animal_Type=Dog
Heyward is male
Primary Breed: Boxer Mix
Secondary Breed: Staffordshire Bull Terrier

Consignment Sales

2011-08-18T12:00:00.000-07:00

I LOVE All 4 Kids consignment sale! This weekend is their falll/winter sale.

Tonight I get to shop the pre-sale since I am selling and volunteering. I sell and buy almost all of the kids clothes and toys here. There is always an amazing selection at great prices!

Besides filling their closest with clothing I hope to get a few Christmas gifts for them this year! Both kids want kid tough cameras. Jayden is obsessed with Pokemon and Julianna always plays with grocery carts and kitchens when she sees one, so maybe I will see those things at a good price! Wish me luck!

Hope to see some you there at the pre-sale, for those that sell/volunteer. If not come visit me on Saturday! I will be working checkout when many things are half price!

MT. PARAN NORTH CHURCH OF GOD

400 Sellers!

1700 Allgood Road, Marietta, GA 30062

Fri., August 19th, 9:30(or 8:30)*-7:00pm

(umbrella strollers only before noon)

Sat., August 20th, 9:00-1:00

(many items 1/2 off on Sat.)

Julianna and her love of dogs!

2011-08-16T18:20:00.000-07:00

Julianna wants a dog so badly but we don't want to get just any dog! We really wanted a therapy or service dog for her. Most are labs or goldens. We've applied for one and were told that she will be about 9 years old by the time that we see a dog! That's 4 years from now!!! She talks about it constantly, pretending that she has a dog and even pretends that she is one some times! The other day she was playing with all of her puppies and asked me make them all kiss her. Another night I went in to put her mask on and found her asleep with a photo card of Casper, a Canine Assistance dog that we see at the hospital. When I asked her about it in the morning she said that she couldn't

take her eyes off of him! I am currently looking at other options but they are all very expensive.

I also applied for extreme makeover for our family. The kids love watching the show and Juli told me she wants to build and tear down houses just like they do on the show when she grows up. I'm worried the kids are too excited about it, I'm sure they get millions of applications a day! Both the kids keep talking about all the things they want to do to their rooms! It's very cute.

For now we will visit the dogs that come to the hospital and visit animal shelters. Hopefully things will come together soon and we will be a family 5, with the 5th member having 4 legs! ;)

Back to school!

2011-08-15T07:10:00.000-07:00

Today is the first day of school for our county and our school Georgia Cyber Academy (officially!).

Jayden is half way through first grade and doing well. He loves history! Especially learning about the Greeks. We are looking forward to a great year. He should be starting 2nd grade after Christmas if we have no major illnesses causing us to take an extended break. I was hoping that Jayden would start swim lessons this week but we are still on the wait list. He will be taking classes through a program called Timothy Ministries. It will be one day a week in addition to his regular classes that we do from home. Chemistry, Animal Science, Spanish and PE! He loves going to this program.

Julianna was supposed to start a pre school program through Timothy Ministries this year but we've been advised by her doctors to not send her. Her immune system has a really hard time fighting off something as simple as a sniffle. She's been doing her own "school work" when Jayden does his and is doing well. We've filled out the paperwork for Cobb County School Distrust to get Juli an IEP (individualized education plan) so she is ready to be enrolled in GCA for next year. I am hoping to start some speech therapy for her soon. Ever since she was sick in February with that tube (life support) in her throat for 3 weeks it really messed up her vocal cords and she is having a hard time pronouncing some letters that were easy to say before. She may qualify for an in home teacher due to her immune system though. Juli will be doing a session in September at the Music Class, one of her favorite things to do! She's on the list for canine assistance but they won't move her to the active wait list till she is 7! Then it can take up to 2 years to get a dog! We've also applied for Extreme Makeover! It would be so amazing for them to come to our home and make things easier for Julianna! Her wheel chair should also be in soon!

We plan to have some fun outings throughout September before cold and flu season gets into full swing and forces us to stay home and protect ourselves from all the germs out there! We will do a few outings just to stay sane when the weather gets cold but will be very cautious and it won't involve settings where children get in her face! I'm tempted to put a sign on our front door to remind people how dangerous their "little" cold could be to Juli! Maybe something to put on her wheelchair too for when we are out might be a wise idea.

Another trip to the Center for Puppetry Arts!

2011-08-12T09:08:00.000-07:00

We absolutely LOVE the Center for Puppetry Arts! They put on the best shows. The kids loved seeing Martha Speaks and this was the dog puppet that we made after the show. The kids were excited to bring my mom with to enjoy the show since they are always talking about it.

We plan to go to see the Ugly Duckling next week! Can't wait to see the puppet we make then!

Our trip home!

2011-08-12T07:47:00.000-07:00

No trip to Pennsylvania is complete without a stop at Sarris Candies! We all love the ice cream shop and Justin LOVES the chocolate hard cap! I couldn't resist posting this adorable picture of the kids sleeping in a hotel somewhere in West Virginia! I can't remember where we stopped, the drive through that state takes forever!!! They were both so wound up when we got to the hotel that night they couldn't settle down and slept in nice and late the next morning.

Visit to Pittsburgh!

2011-08-12T07:23:00.000-07:00

Since I was supposed to visit Pittsburgh for a few days before driving home Justin flew up to be with us and make the drive home! He was so worried about all of us since Julianna got sick. While in Pittsburgh we were able to visit Justin's family including his Grandfather and Uncle Mark! The kids were happy to visit Grandma and loved spending time with their cousins. I can't wait till Hailey's old enough to come visit us! She is so much fun. We took the kids to the children's museum and had so much fun. The kids favorite area is the art room. They also had a Dora exhibit which they all enjoyed. Jayden and Hailey took turns dropping parachutes to each other while Juli explored some of the vehicles they had to check out. We spent the last night at the house and Juli even talked Grandma into cutting some of her flowers for her to have! :) There were a lot of tears when it was time to say good bye!

Visiting Central Pennsylvania

2011-08-12T06:21:00.000-07:00

What a trip! Seriously, it's hard to describe all of the insanity that we dealt with! Juli had a mild cough on the drive up and we thought all would be fine with lots of breathing treatments and even a visit to the pulmonary doctor before we left town! We left Georgia Saturday morning and drove half way only for Jayden to spike a fever in the middle of the night while staying at a hotel in Virginia. Ran to the pharmacy at 1am with both kids and thankfully got it under control. Got to Zena's house Sunday night and Juli was struggling to breathe! Packed our hospital stuff said good bye to Jayden and Zena's family and she took us to the hospital. We were admitted to the ICU and spent 8 days in the hospital there. During that time Zena and her family took Jayden in for me! Thank you! Since I had to stay with Juli I missed my Grandfathers funereal. Thankfully we were at least able to visit with my Grandmother before leaving town. We did not take Julianna in though, I was to nervous to take her into a nursing home with all the germs! The last day that we were there I took Luke and Miranda to Perkins where we met Josie and our Aunt Barbara. We got to celebrate Miranda's 10th birthday while there! Afterward I was supposed to take the kids over to Dot and Roland Beavers house to meet Zena but on our way over we got the disturbing call that Roland was ill and not to come by the house. My heart goes out to all of the Beavers! They went through a very stressful week before they had to say goodbye to Roland.

Our beautiful ballerina

2011-06-30T18:35:00.000-07:00

Julianna missed half the year of ballet class when she was sick so she wasn't able to be in the recital, not to mention it was the beginning of May and she still wasn't walking great at that time. Her teacher did send home the recital costume so we got some pictures of Juli wearing it. We enjoyed going to see her friends dance at the recital!

Jayden's 1st lemonade stand

2011-06-30T18:32:00.000-07:00

So the neighbors had a garage sale a few weeks ago and Jayden's been asking to have a lemonade stand for months! He made a few dollars selling cupcakes, lemonade and sweet tea. Both kids enjoyed setting up and serving people. the kids used their earnings for a new toy from the museum gift shop.

Carrolton Farms

2011-04-24T15:56:00.000-07:00

We went to Carrolton Farms for homeschool day and Juli fell in love with the farm cats! They were very nice and loving towards her too. All she talked about on the way home is how she now wants a cat and a dog!

Sheep Shearing day at the Atlanta History Center

2011-04-24T15:50:00.000-07:00

Every spring just Jayden and I visit the Atlanta History Center. We went on sheep shearing day and had a blast! We got to watch them shear sheep, got some wool and washed it, made old fashion toys and more. The AHC really did a great job this year! My favorite pictures are of Jayden and his poses in the Olympic room.

Home owners association egg hunt!

2011-04-24T15:49:00.000-07:00

Jayden's first hockey game

2011-04-24T15:46:00.000-07:00

We took Jayden to his first hockey game to see the Penguins beat the Thrashers! I think his favorite part was the cotton candy!

Jayden's new hair cut

2011-04-24T15:42:00.000-07:00

His hair has gotten rather long and with the weather getting warmer he decided it was finally time to cut it! Enjoy the before and after pictures!

Jayden's 6th birthday

2011-04-24T15:39:00.000-07:00

Time goes by so fast! Jayden turned 6 last month. We wanted to have a big party for him somewhere but he insisted on having it at home. Once again the theme was dinosaurs! He picked a cookie cake and helped decorate it. He had a blast with his friends hunting for dinosaur eggs and playing with them.

Ants! 3/17/11

2011-03-27T09:29:00.000-07:00

One of Jayden's birthday gifts was an ant farm! It has been lots of fun. They dig through gel instead of sand so you can see them all the time.

Safety Town in Roswell, GA 3/16/11

2011-03-27T09:21:00.000-07:00

We visited a Safety Town with Jayden's class this month. The kids had fun and learned a lot too. I hope that this is the only time I ever seen Jayden in the back of a police car. The Officer said that he'd never seen anyone so happy to get in the back of his car before! They talked with a fire man too. The had fun driving bikes around the town and learning the rules for stop, yield and the traffic light.

Fernbank History Museums new Children's Exhibit 3/10/11

2011-03-27T09:19:00.000-07:00

The Fernbank History Museum opened up a new children's exhibit. The kids love it!

A trip to the Aquarium while Aunt Josie visited 1/25/11

2011-03-27T09:05:00.000-07:00

Josie came to visit the last week in January and we took all the kids to the Aquarium. This is one of Juli's favorite places! She loves the penguins the most.

Happy 4th Birthday Julianna!

2011-03-27T08:54:00.000-07:00

Julianna turned 4 on January 20th! Life got a little hectic that weekend so I am just now working on updating! She had a play date with her friends at the house. She asked for a cookie cake with a picture of a cupcake on it. Her favorite book is Pinkalicious and she loves pink cupcakes! the pictures of the 3 girls sitting opening presents are all the same age!

Snow storm in Atlanta 2011!

2011-01-10T19:43:00.000-08:00

The kids had a blast in the snow today! We've never seen more than an inch in our area and last night more than 5 inches fell on our house! Juli was not happy that her dirt was covered with snow but she still had fun playing in it. Jayden loved sledding and having snow fights. This was Juli's first snow, ever!

Happy New Year 2011

2011-01-10T19:36:00.000-08:00

The kids had a blast with Juli's BFF Sydney being as loud as they could to celebrate the New Year. Hope we have as much fun in 2011 as we did in 2010.

Science in our house

2011-01-10T19:08:00.000-08:00

Everyday is an adventure with Jayden and Julianna. Jayden's final Kindergarten Science unit is about outer space so he attempted to create his own solar system. Then we did a little bit of geography by attempting to create our own world map. Not sure what Juli was creating, but it talked. ;)

An amazing year in review!

2011-01-01T09:25:00.000-08:00

We really had a great year and I know it will be hard for 2011 to match the awesomeness of 2010 but I sure hope that it passes it in greatness!

January - We spent the New Year in Orlando with Rich, Linda and Josiah enjoying food, family and good fun! Also got to visit with my mom for a few days. Julianna turned 3 on the 20th and had a fun birthday party at Southern Prep, an indoor play gym. We also took her to her favorite place the Children's Museum

February - My niece Brook came to stay for a few weeks! Jayden's favorite part was playing in the snow with her. We took the kids to the Big Apple Circus. Julianna attended The music class program and loved it!

March - Jayden turned 5 and had a dinosaur themed birthday party! His favorite part was the piñata and the cookie cake that he got to decorate by himself with dinosaurs. We also took him to his favorite place, the Fernbank History Museum.

April - Julianna and I flew to New Jersey to help celebrate the expected arrival of Marcella with family and friends. We also visited a pediatric orthopedic specialist at CHOP for a second opinion on our options for her spine. Basically the ortho visit was a bust! Over the phone the doctors personal assistant/nurse told us that the doctor we were going to see had said yes to every question that we asked but when we saw the doctor in his office he said he'd never done half the things that I re asked him directly! Anyway long story short our surgery options are limited for Juli due to multiple issues with her spine.

May - Justin and I celebrated our 8th Wedding Anniversary! Time really does fly. I was happy to turn 30 this year too! 30 has been good to me so far. We took the kids to their first baseball game with Justin's work. It was hot and difficult for Juli, Jayden thought it was okay. He liked all the food and the kids area best! Then after the game we had to drop Justin off at the airport for a business trip. :( Thankfully he doesn't travel too often, just enough for us to miss him! Julianna had her first spinal related surgery in May. Her spinal cord was tethered and it's supposed to be free floating at the bottom. It was a rough week in the hospital but it was worth it! Her curvature is not as severe as it was before the surgery and she seems to be able to move a little better.

June - Summer has finally arrived! Jayden LOVES vacation bible school at First Baptist Church of Woodstock. He talked it up so much that Juli begged to go, but she was to young. After talking to the director she said they needed a volunteer to help in the younger kid rooms for the parents that volunteered in all the other rooms so Juli got to attend the last day and seemed to enjoy it. There attendance numbers are through the roof at FBCW! Of course the kids favorite parts are the bounce houses and the petting zoo. Next year I will be volunteering the whole week so Julianna can attend just like her big brother. Jayden will be in the big kid building though and not the preschool building anymore!

July - We spent the 4th of July close to home and were surprised at what awesome fireworks our home owners association has! They had all kinds of activities for us to enjoy through out the day and ended the night laid out on the lawn and watched as they put off fireworks over our lake. We were home within 5 mins of the display ending! We spent most of August enjoying swimming, playing at the parks and visiting museums.

August - What a great summer filled with FUN! Both the kids got much better with swimming. Jayden went from hugging the steps of the pool to jumping into the deep end and Juli went from complete hysterics at using any type of flotation device to wearing floaties and jumping in too! In Georgia school starts in mid August! Jayden started Kindergarten! He is in the Georgia Cyber Academy which is a public school that is home based! He's held up to Georgia standards (including state testing), has a teacher assigned to him, and awesome field trips.

September - VACATION time!!! We took the kids to a nice long week of Disney World! It was truly a magical vacation. Everyone of us had an amazing and memorable visit. It is so moving to see your children experience Disney World. The characters were all amazing and so great with both the kids. Jayden's favorite characters were Mickey, Mary Poppins and Princess Tiana with her Prince Naven! His favorite ride was Dinosaur! Julianna's favorite characters were all the Princesses, Minnie, Pluto and of course Princess Tiana with her Prince Naven. Her favorite rides were the carousel and the tea cups! Of course we did NOT let hers spin due to her neck and spinal issues, but she still loved it. The Princess and the Frog characters were truly their favorites and I have tons of pictures of them talking and getting hugs from them. We were also thankful that my mom got to spend some time with us in Disney, I know she enjoyed watching the kids experience Disney. At the end of September Justin had a business trip to Pittsburgh so he took Jayden with so he could see his family. This is the first time that Jayden has been away from me that long! He had an amazing time with everyone especially his cousin Hailey! He can't wait to meet her in Disney World next year!

October - trick-or-treat! Jayden was a dragon and Juli created her own costume with wings and a tutu... She said she was a butterfly! Our calendar was insane this month with Juli's ballet classes, Jayden's phys ed classes and more field trips than we could handle! Justin and I enjoyed a date to the Atlanta History Center to see the Lincoln exhibit.

November - We spent Thanksgiving with the Hennequant's in Stockbridge. Enjoyed watching Juli in ballet, Jayden loves his gym class and is doing well with all of his school lessons. We had some fun fieldtrips including a trip to one of our favorite places the Center for Puppetry Arts to see Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. They always put on such wonderful performances.

December - While Justin was in Vegas for a business trip (yeah, a business trip to Vegas! LOL right!!) my mom came to visit! The kids had a blast visiting and I'm thankful that she was here because Juli ended up with a visit to the emergency room with pneumonia! Thankfully it was mild and they caught it early and we didn't have to stay there. She is doing great now. Jayden had a gingerbread contest/party with school and won an ornament. The kids really enjoyed Christmas this year and got some great gifts to play with. Jayden has done really well with his school work so far with the GCA program. He finished Kindergarten math this month and will finish all other subjects within the first half of January. He is in the ALP (advanced learners program), Sharp learners and will officially be a first grader in all subjects by February 1st! Juli loves learning just as much as Jayden does and with the right equipment to help her be able to see things I am sure she will accelerate at the same speed as her brother. The best news of all this month was when we visited Juli's orthopedic surgeon. It seems that shes grown a little bit in the chest cavity and that it's helped open things up! This is great news! Her bones are also ossifying nicely and instead of looking at surgery in the near future it looks like we may have a few years before they have to go in and correct the spine! There are so many reasons that it is great to wait: she will be older and understand more, be stronger, heal better and be able to grow some since post surgery she won't be able to do so nicely!!

We really had a great 2010 and I hope that 2011 can be even better!

Christmas Day 2010

2010-12-26T11:51:00.000-08:00

We had a quiet Christmas at home this year. The kids loved all of their gifts! Justin and I went very minimal this year and yet there was still tons under the tree from Grandmas, Aunts and Uncles! Aunt Heather sent so much candy that we will be mailing the dental bills to her from now on! Heather and Will also sent some really cool Polish pottery including a tea set that Juli loves serving with. ;) Jayden is in love with his dinosaurs from them! Grandma Hennequant sent the kids Zhu Zhu pets in addition to the build a bear gift cards that they used before Christmas and that seems to be Jayden's favorite gift! Juli had a gift card from Aunt Josie and Uncle Marc and bought a new leapster game about dogs which is her favorite at the moment as well as the new board games that we got the kids. I think I am going minimal with gifts for our kids from now on! It was calmer, less to assemble and then clean up afterward besides the fact that they have way to many toys already!!! The favorite gift from the Beavers was the remote control car! Juli loves her new dress too!

Build a Bear workshop 12/23/10

2010-12-26T07:40:00.000-08:00

Justin's mom sent the kids build a bear gift certificates so we gave them to the kids and took them before Christmas. Juli made Clarice the reindeer and Jayden made a "Jedi" kitty! They had fun and it was really a cute experience.

Decorating Gingerbread houses 12/28/10

2010-12-26T06:56:00.000-08:00

Aunt Heather and Uncle Will sent the kids a really cool gingerbread house! Jayden decorated it and entered it into the gingerbread contest at school. A teacher went around to each child and they were supposed to say their name, grade, city/state and what they liked best about their house. I recorded it onto my phone and I haven't figured out how to upload the video yet! He was very cute and told everyone he was in 1st grade! He is starting a few 1st grade subjects after the new year and has decided that he is now a 1st grader! He won an ornament for our tree. The kids had more fun eating the decorations rather than putting them on their houses. Jayden also helped me roll out cookies this year.

Center for Puppetry Arts 11/16/10 Rudolph

2010-12-22T19:59:00.000-08:00

One of our most favorite places to go is the Center for Puppetry Arts! They do an amazing job with every show that they perform. These are of the kids making puppets after a performance of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. We try to attend a performance every other month. They also have a museum with a number of puppets by Jim Henson as well as a 7 foot Big Bird! ;) The kids had fun making their own Rudolphs accompanied by their friends. Alanah, Aidan, Sydney, Luke and Aereal, we are lucky to have such good friends to join us on many of our outings. We saw Charlotte's Web this past October and it was definitely my favorite! I am very thankful to be able to be so active in my children's life. There is nothing more moving thana large audience of children and hearing them all gasp at the same times as the fireworks went off signaling the fair in the show! The kids are looking forward to the Body Detective next month and then Theres a Dinosaur in my Closet in February.

Tellus Science Museum 11/7/2010

2010-12-22T19:52:00.000-08:00

The kids LOVE digging for dinosaurs. Jayden has gotten his sister loving everything dinosaurs too. The Tellus Science museum has a nice big area where the kids can dig for dinosaur bones and pan for gems. The kids love the gems and fossils that they get to take home with them.

Imagine It Children's Museum in Atlanta 10/6/2010

2010-12-22T19:38:00.000-08:00

The current exhibit at the Children's Museum is Music across the Nation. The kids had fun trying all different kinds of instruments. My kids LOVE music but it wasn't as interesting to them as I had expected it to be. They enjoyed the other parts of the museum more. Hopefully the next visiting exhibit will be more interesting to them! There love the grocery stuff, the painting wall and the moon sand area best.

Jayden made a short movie 9/22/2010

2010-12-22T19:26:00.000-08:00

Jayden loves dinosaurs and everything that has to do with Science and movie making. When he grows up he wants to be a movie maker and a commentary! he enjoys watching commentaries! this is his first time creating a movie. ;) The ball on the bucket is an earth quake and the dinosaurs are fighting right before the earth quake explodes.

Juli at dance class 9/30/2010

2010-12-22T19:10:00.000-08:00

This is just a quick clip of Juli at dance class! She loves dancing but has struggled with some parts of it. She can't handle other kids touching her and FINALLY has started to tell kids to stop instead of freaking out and crying. Juli also struggles when things that she is comfortable with change. We tried to do a makeup class in another room a month ago and she totally panicked! The following class was back in the regular room with her regular teacher and it's taken her a month to finally get comfortable with going in and dancing again. Anyway enjoy!

Misc pictures from Disney that we got using our PhotoPass

2010-09-22T06:04:00.000-07:00

Day 8 in Disney World - Hollywood Studios - The last day!

2010-09-13T05:24:00.000-07:00

We started today off with breakfast at 1900 Park Fare in the Grand Floridian. The Mad Hatter sat next to Jayden and tried to have a cup of tea with him and then Mary Poppins came and talked to Jayden afterward! Juli has definitely gotten more comfortable with the characters. After a breakfast of Mickey Mouse Waffles we headed to Hollywood Studios to do a few more things before heading to my moms for the night. My mom took the kids to see Beauty and the Beast earlier in the week while Justin and I went on the Tower of Terror so today we took the the kids to see it again and I am glad that we did! They do such an amazing job with their shows. The only complaint was that is was so hot out! After the show Jayden and I went on the Tower of Terror together. I can't believe he suggested he try it out! He was scared by the drops but enjoyed it. After meeting up with Justin and Juli we all headed back into the Animation building to see who else we could get autographs from. Juli got brave and visited with Frozone and Mr. Incredible. Then we headed over to Pixar lane and got in line to see Woody. They had some cool props to get pictures with while waiting in line! Jayden strapped himself to rocket and Justin tried to get the claw to pick Jayden. They also got autographs from a Green Army man. Before lunch the kids played in the Honey I shrunk the Kids movie set one last time. At this point everyone was hot, tired, cranky and ready to go. Shockingly Jayden fell asleep on the way to my moms house and Juli stayed awake.... That's it, there isin't anymore!

What an amazing week it has been for our family! After the last 3 years we have been through so many ups and downs with Julianna medically that we are so happy to be able to finally relax knowing we have a long break for the medical world. Disney was a wonderful way to celebrate how lucky we really are! Since spinal surgery in May she has done awesome and hopefully won't have another surgery like that for at least a few years! We did learn that we will never be stroller/wheel chair free on big trips like this, though it did have it's perks to needing her stroller! So I am sad to say here are the pictures from the last day in Magical Disney World! I look forward to going back in a few years and doing it all over again! But for now I will start planning a cruise for next year! :) We need a calmer less packed week!

Feel free to comment on any of the posts or ask any questions! I will post a few more random pics from my moms camera today too as well as any links for videos of the kids!

Day 7 in Disney World - 2nd day in the Magic Kingdom

2010-09-12T18:27:00.000-07:00

So the first time we tried the Magic Kingdom it started to pour just before dinner and it was still pouring after dinner and we ended up leaving. :( Today the weather was on our side and we got to do it all and some things twice! We started down main street and got some yummy breakfast from the bakery. The muffins were huge! Then we headed straight for Adventure Land where we rode the Magic Carpets of Aladdin, pirates of the Caribbean, The tiki room and the Jungle Cruise. Then we went over to Frontierland and Liberty Square to enjoy the Country Bear Jamboree, the Hall of Presidents and a few other things. Jayden was excited to see Teddy Roosevelt in it because he remembers him from the movie Night at the Museum! The kids were excited to finally meet Princess Tiana and Prince Naven from Princess and the Frog! They were so great with the kids! After lunch in Tomorrow land Jayden and Justin went off to ride some rides that were not suitable for Juli so her and I headed to toon town to see if there were any Princesses to meet! We were sooo lucky again with lines! There were 2 lines and the one for Princesses said 15minutes the other was for the Fairies and said 25 minutes. Turns out the Princesses was about 5 and the Fairies was over an hour wait! They were doing semi private meetings with each family! They took us back alone to a room to meet Cinderella, Belle, and Aurua! Juli walked right up to Cinderella and she got on the floor with Juli and talked to her for awhile about her Prince Charming, next Juli walked right past Belle and when I asked her about why she didn't stop she said that Belle already signed her book! lol So, she walked right to Aurua who also sat on the floor with her and talked about tea parties. They were all so great talking with Julianna and the cast members kept asking me how old she was! After that we met back up with the boys and played in Tomorrow land for awhile. The kids loved the Space Ranger Spin. Once we had done everything in the park that we wanted to do we headed back to Fantasyland to ride some of their favorites all over again. We rode the Carousel this time which Julianna loved. Jayden was excited that he was able to pull the sword out of the stone that is in front of the carousel! Finally we headed back down Main Street to find a seat for the Firework and the Parade. Justin picked a perfect spot while I got all of us some ice cream. When we asked Jayden if he was enjoying his ice cream he said "it's like a dream come true". So after more than an hour of waiting the Fireworks finally started and the kids loved it, Jayden thought it was neat how Tinkerbell flew out of the Castle! So when the fireworks were over we had about another 1/2 hour to go till the Parade would start and the kids were so tired and restless at this point. But once it started and the street went dark and music started to play it was all worth it! Juli loves anything with lights and music because of her vision and Jayden loved that some of the characters in the parade were from some of his favorite movies like Pete's Dragon! They also liked the bugs that zig-zagged down the street. Juli fell asleep before we even got out of the park and Jayden went right to sleep without so much as a word. It was a truly magical day, but very exhausting for all of us!

Day 6 in Disney World - 2nd day in Epcot

2010-09-11T21:13:00.001-07:00

Another fun day in Epcot. The kids enjoyed playing in the innoventions buildings. pictured is Juli playing with the emergency items shelf while Jayden looked at houses as a Tornado took the roof off! At the bottom is a picture of both of them playing a pig savings game. It was their favorite. We had lunch at Le Celliar in Canada and it was soooo good! I recommend the filet mignon, it was delicious! For dessert Justin had a chocolate moose and I had a campfire s'more. They were both good. When we walked through the World Showcase the kids stopped at each pavilion and added a cutout shape to their masks. Juli spent some time talking to Mulan and got a kiss from her too. We also got to see Aladdin and Jasmine in the World Showcase.

Day 5 in Disney World - Animal Kingdom / Chef Mickey's

2010-09-11T20:30:00.000-07:00

Today we spent the day in the Animal Kingdom. We made sure to go and see Finding Nemo the musical and the Lion King show today since we were only planning one day in this park. Both are great! When we rode on Kilaminjaro Safari's a baby giraffe kept following our truck, it was so cute. Jayden insisted on leading the way with his map, he loves looking at maps and studying them. We were able to meet some more characthers for pictures and autographs today. Jayden surprised us by LOVING the Dinosaur ride. It gets really dark at times and dinosaurs jump out at you and roar. We finished our day in Animal Kingdom in the tree of life watching a Bug's Life Show. It's neat to look at all the animals carved into the tree on our way into the show. As soon as we left the park we headed over to the Contemporary for dinner at Chef Mickey's. Juli is finally calming with all the characters. If she really doesn't like them she will refuse to look at them! Her favorites so far are the Princesses, Minnie Mouse and Pluto. Jayden says his favorite so far is Mickey and Goofy. At Chef Mickey's the kids got to see, dance with and get autographs from Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Pluto. Our favorite place to see the star characters but not our favorite place for dinner! Dessert is delicious though! the little mickey things are chocolate moose on an oreo cookie with dark chocolate circles for his ears. After dinner exhaustion was taking over and we headed to the hotel to relax. The kids were sad to see Grandma (my mom) head home but were glad we would get to see her again before we left Florida.

Day 4 in Disney World - Magic Kingdom

2010-09-08T06:14:00.000-07:00

Pictures are all posted backward according to our day. :) So all the way at the bottom is a picture of Jayden starting the day with a time out in his ears! It was perfect timing when we walked in the gates to see the BlockParty with all the chaacters on floats and dancing around. Then we headed right for Fantasyland and had no wait more than 10 mins, most we walked right on! The kids enjoyed Mickey's Philarmagic, Dumbo, Snow White's Scary Adventure. When we went on the tea cups Jayden and Justin rode in one cup so they could spin and we took Juli in another but she kept trying to make it spin! The kids had fun on Peter Pan's flight and Snow White's Scary Adventure. After Fantasyland we headed to see Mickey and Minnie's houses followed by some fun in the water at Donald's Boat. When we were done there we hopped a train to Frontierland to ride Splash Mountain with Jayden, which he liked. But it was not good that we were in the front row because we got SOAKED, everyone that was getting off the ride was dry, until we rode. Then of course it started to rain..... Not a light rain either. Thankfully we had dinner reservations and headed over to the Crystal Palace to eat with Pooh and Friends. At this point the kids were not to interested in pictures and just wanted to eat!! Since the rain hadn't let up at all we did some shopping on the way down Main Street and headed back to the hotel for a relaxing night! First time we were in the room before 10. :)

Day 3 in Disney World - Hollywood Studios

2010-09-07T18:51:00.000-07:00

Definetly our favorite park so far! The pictures are loading randomly, so bare with me! We started off the day watching the playhouse disney show so the kids could see some of their favorite characters. Then we saw the Little Mermaid show which Juli absolutely LOVED! The kids got to meet lots of characters in the Animation area. Jayden refused to get his picture with Lotso, because he is mean in the movie! He did get to talk to Mary Poppins which is one of his favorites! The autograph books are quickly filling up! We enjoyed lunch with some of our favorite playhouse Disney characters. Since my mom was with to watch the kids we got to go on the Tower of Terror which was fun with the exception of the people in front of us that wouldn't stop screaming from the second they buckled their seatbelts! I still have a headache from them. We all enjoyed Toy Story Mania before hanging out at the Block Party where the kids got to play and dance in the street with Characters and cast members. We enjoyed dinner at Pizza Planet! Definitely don't suggest playing any of the games though! They are way pricey and they eat your quarters and no one in pizza planet can help you! The pizza was good though. Muppet 3D was fun to watch and the kids enjoyed running around Honey I shrunk the kids playarea. The night ended with a purchase of a chaser for each child. Jayden choose R2D2 (which makes an annoying noise!) and Julianna picked Minnie Mouse. She had 3 different ones on the counter and she stared at them for a few moments before choosing. I wish I would have taken a picture of that! The kids did an awesome job sitting for over an hour while we waited for Fantasmic to start. We all agreed afterward that it was worth every minute of waiting! The kids loved every second of it. I wish there was a way to record every second of them because it truly is amazing to experience Disney as an Adult but while watching your own children experience all of it!

Day 2 in Disney World - Typhoon Lagoon

2010-09-07T18:34:00.000-07:00

What a blast at the water park today! I have no pictures due to all the water though. :( Kids had fun in the water play area and both enjoyed the lazy river. Since my mom was with Justin and I, were able to enjoy all of the water slides! The new Crush and Gusher was loads of fun but not very nice if your butt falls into the tube! There are treads in the tubes to make the rafts go up hill at times!

Then after getting back to the hotel from the water park Justin and I got ready to go out for the night alone while my mom watched the kids! Thanks mom!!! We went Big River Brewing Company where Justin enjoyed a sampler. Afterward we headed over to the Magic Kingdom to ride a few rides that the kids wouldn't be able to when we went later in the week. Space Mountain was my favorite! By 9:30 we were EXHAUSTED and headed back to the hotel for bed.

Day1 in Disney World - EPCOT

2010-09-06T19:40:00.001-07:00

We started our first day, Friday in Epcot. The kids had lots of fun in the innoventions buildings with all the hands on stuff. Jayden and Juli each got to have a pig and went through different games trying to save up money and fill their pigs. We had mickey mouse ice cream sandwiches for snack, which all of us enjoyed! Later on we headed towards the world showcase but Juli was passed out in my arms by the time we walked into the restaurant for dinner and was woken up by Belle rubbing her silk glove against her cheek while saying "wake up Princess Julianna so you can have your picture taken with me, Belle"! Her eyes got so wide when she opened them and saw Belle standing there! She was unsure of all the characters getting in her face but liked seeing the Princesses. I was excited to see my favorite Princess Aurora from Sleeping Beauty (less I was excited, even though I am 30!). Jayden was disappointed that Princess Tiana from the Princess and the Frog was not there. Hopefully we will see her later in the week somewhere. While we were dining we also got to meet with Snow White, Jasmine and Cinderella! The food was outstanding and it's the quietest restaurant with characters that we've dined at so far, I highly recommend it! The kids had lots of fun touring Epcot and riding the attractions.

Jayden's favorite attraction was test track and Juli's was the Nemo and Crush area. Justin and I both enjoyed Soarin. We waited no more than 15 minutes in any line with the exception of Soarin which was more like 40mins.

Awesome sister and brother-in-law!

2010-09-06T19:30:00.000-07:00

We arrived at Coronado Springs on Friday to find these awesome baskets in our room from Aunt Heather and Uncle Will! There were snacks, autograph books, pens, cameras, Ears with their names! plus more stuff. The kids were very excited and began filling up their autograph books the first day when we had dinner in Epcot with the Princesses in Norway.

Children's Museum in Atlanta Imagine It

2010-09-01T08:12:00.000-07:00

We went to the Children's Museum last week and met up with some friends for a fun day! Jayden's best buddy Luke was there and the 2 had a blast and participated in all kinds of activities that they did with the kids. Juli's favorite areas are the kitchen and the sand area. She loves so many parts of the museum but those are her favorites. Jayden, bounces from one thing to the next!
Now a plug about how awesome halfoffdepot.com is! If you haven't checked out the site you need to! We get tickets and restaurant certificates for 1/2 off all the time! We bought tickets for the museum off of 1/2 off depot and paid under $20, my girlfriend bought her tickets directly through the museum and her bill was over $40! We are a very active family and this site has saved us tons of money! We went to the melting pot with a $50 certificate on Justin's birthday that we only paid $25 for!

Babyland General Hospital (cabbage patch)

2010-08-18T18:41:00.000-07:00

We visited babyland general hospital to see where the cabbage patch babies are born! Julianna was given a cabbage patch by Grandma H. when she was born and it has rarely left her side in the last 3 years! It was neat to see all the merchandise, there was a small museum to look at also. Afterwards we enjoyed a picnic with other students that are enrolled in Georgia Cyber Academy.

Our little dancer!

2010-08-12T18:11:00.000-07:00

Julianna had her first ballet class today. I am so proud of our little dancer! She is always clingy to me and today she shocked me by telling the teacher her name and walking right into the class! She did very well and only got tired twice. She got upset once when they were doing a train and the kids were putting their hands on each others shoulders. She usually freaks when strangers touch her because they are usually poking her or patting/rubbing her like shes a baby. Other than that she did awesome!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVjPDnY5Pf8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6hig-7rkWI

Fernbank History Center

2010-08-12T17:56:00.000-07:00

We've been members of the Fernbank History Museum the past 2 years and love visiting! This summer they have fun activities every day! On this past visit the kids played Bingo, tic-tac-toe, played with rocks, dug up dinosaur bones.... The list is always like this when we visit. They have great programs for kids. Last month Jayden won tickets to the IMAX for guessing the correct number of bugs in a jar at their Bug Out Festival. We are waiting to use them for a visit that Justin can join us.

My smart little girl

2010-07-13T16:19:00.000-07:00

My daughter is so smart! I don't know how many times I can say it but she always finds new ways to show it. It's hard not to brag especially since my daughter is legally blind, has mild to moderate hearing loss and her body is the size of a 1 year old among many other issues that she has! Jayden is enrolled in the K12 program through Georgia Cyber Academy. Since we have all the materials for the upcoming school year we started some of it so he wouldn't be behind when we take off a few weeks in September for vacation. Plus I like the idea of year round school. Julianna wants to do everything that her brother does. Today she was practicing writing her name! She wrote every letter on her own except for the U. I held her hand with the U, she tried multiple times on her own but it was to difficult for her. Thanks for listening to me brag! :) Feel free to leave comments anytime.

Chick-fil-a cow day and Noah's Ark Rehab 7/9/10

2010-07-10T17:50:00.000-07:00

We started the day at Chick-fil-a for dress like a cow day and got free food!
Then we headed down to Locust Grove to visit Noah's Ark a rehabilitation center for animals and people with Jayden's school (GCA). They had a great selection of animals to see and the kids had a blast. The girl next to Jayden is Julianna's friend Sydney.

Swimming at the pool 7/5/10

2010-07-10T17:18:00.000-07:00

Jayden is doing so great in pool! Just a few weeks ago he didn't even want to get in the deep side and now we can't keep him on the low end of the pool! We've been swimming about 4 times a week this summer and plan to do so till they close it up.

Happy 4th of July Weekend!

2010-07-04T19:47:00.000-07:00

What a busy weekend! Saturday we started the morning off at Marietta Square for the parade which was not very impressive. Most of what we saw was political campaigning, miss GA/Kennesaw/Marietta and govt vehicles. Then we walked through the festival after the kids were bored by the parade. Jayden got a cool Gecko mask on a stick. Then we headed over to Stevie B's for lunch so we could check out their new soda machine with over 100 choices! We ended Saturday in Woodstock for fireworks. Today we started the morning with the kids riding their decorated bikes from the elementary school to the club house followed by a community
lunch, games and swimming! We ended Sunday with an amazing display of fireworks provided by our home owners association. We sat right under the fireworks that seemed to be better than the Woodstock fireworks and it took us less than 5 minutes to get home! The kids did great with such a busy weekend. Jayden surprised me today by jumping into the 3 1/2 foot deep area of the pool and was trying his best to swim! I hope my nervous boy keeps trying to improve his swimming skills.

Farmers Market Basket

2010-06-30T20:04:00.000-07:00

I found this great program that fills a large tub up every week with produce for only $15. Then I found out they have a will work for food program! So every Thursday we now hang out with other kids for 2 hours while their parents help sort baskets. When it's all done I walk out with my basket for free! Free food to a work at home mom on a budget is a beautiful thing, and I worked for it!
So this week my basket included: cabbage, lettuce, red potatoes, tomatoes, green onions, grapes, apples, bananas, blueberries, carrots, cucumbers and broccoli. Now to go plan some meals for the week so we don't waste any of the produce!

Life is busy!

2010-06-30T08:01:00.000-07:00

I've been really busy with work lately, which is a good thing since we want to take the kids to Disney World this fall before Juli's spinal surgeries take over our life!

We seem to be swimming every other day! We joined our HOA this year so we could enjoy the pool. Jayden is finally to the point that he is excited to go to the pool. He's not a big fan of learning new things, especially when it has any risk of something going wrong, like his face getting wet! Juli LOVES the water and just needs to build up some strength in her arms and legs. They just aren't strong enough to keep her head above the water, not sure if they ever will be eiher.

Jayden has been attending VBS this week and absolutely loves it! They have bounce houses, petting zoos and loads of crafts. Juli is very upset that she can't stay and have fun so I signed up to volunteer on Friday so she can stay and enjoy everything.

Jayden was accepted into Georgia Cyber Academy and his boxes arrived today. I am very excited about home school, he on the other hand has more important things to do! I hope things go well this school year for the both of us. Juli is more into it than he is. After looking through his books tonight I am sure that most of the year will be review from what he already knows. This program also takes LOTS of field trips. We have 3 adventures for the month of July already planned out with school.

Julianna, Julianna, Julianna.... WOW. She is a girly girl! She knows how to whine better than anyone and she can talk more than I can! Imagine that. She loves to learn new things and build on what she already knows. I have a feeling she will be on the same level educationally as her brother soon! She had surgery on her spine last month to un tether it at the base. It was attached to some fatty tissue and it is supposed to be free floating. It was rough but she bounces back fast. She even seems to hold her head a bit straighter. The doctor said he'd love to take the credit for that but it's rare for that to happen. we will be seeing the orthopedic surgeon in the next few weeks to discuss her next surgery and see how long we can wait to go forward with what ever comes next.

I am going to try harder to update this more often! Life seems to fly by and if I want a quiet minute to myself it has to be when everyone in the house is sound asleep, including Justin! So, here I sit at 11pm trying to fill our family and friends in on our lives while my brain is turning to mush from exhaustion! Lots more has happened in our lives in the past few months I just can't find the time to blog about it.

To sum it all up, LIFE IS GOOD!
We are healthy and happy! What more could we ask for? Good night! Another busy day is making it's way into my life as I type.

Park hopping day!

2010-05-08T18:18:00.000-07:00

So, when I was younger we had this awesome neighbor that would pack as many kids as she could into her van and off we would go! She used to tell us that the car decided where we were going and would take us to multiple parks in one day! So after a very long, busy and frustrating 2010 I realized this would be a great time to escape the world with the kids. We packed a lunch and got to visit 4 parks. I expected my kids to fall asleep on the way home because we played so long in the hot sun but they were wide a wake and begging for more! Mary Keller was such an awesome neighborhood mom to have I am so grateful for all the times she has been there for me and my family. So thanks Mary for so many great memories! Here are a few pictures of our fun day!

Watching my children play today :)

2010-04-19T13:22:00.000-07:00

My children are walking through the yard on safari searching for birds. Jayden has a book about birds in your backyard and they have crackers to give the birds so they can get close enough to identify them and add it to the list that they've seen. There adventure has taken a turn to a stray cat now that has found it's way into our yard and is following them around. They would like to feed him and keep him......... Someday, but we are not ready for a pet just yet.

Atlanta History Museum

2010-04-05T10:52:00.000-07:00

Saturday Jayden and I spent the day together. The Atlanta History Center was free for face book fans Saturday so that made the day better for me! The weather was beautiful so we were able to explore the gardens as well as the Tullie Smith farm and the Swan house. Jayden loves to play in the Olympic Game room and explore the civil war exhibit.

March 24th park day!

2010-03-25T19:19:00.000-07:00

The weather was gorgeous on Jayden's birthday and after a long morning at a doctors appointment for Juli (you can see the update on her page www.caringbridge.org/visit/hennequant ) we picked up lunch and headed to the park. Jayden chose his favorite Wendy's and we enjoyed our lunch outside at Kidztock. The kids played for a few hours and wen we got home there was a package on the porch from Grandma Jareski with a big dinosaur in it and has been carrying it everywhere we go since. The clothes he is wearing is from Grandma Hennequant and she also sent him money to buy a dinosaur but he decided to save it for vacation in the fall. He takes after Daddy when it comes to money! I am no good at saving and would have been browsing the toy isle as soon as I got it! lol After all the fun he enjoyed some video games (a special treat lately) while Juli and I took a walk. She walked almost a 1/2 mile to the park down the street from us! I was amazed her little legs made it all the way, of course I had to carry her home.... Justin has been hard at work on the back yard lately. He is slowly chopping away at the brush trying to give us more space to enjoy. We plan to get a number of pine trees cut again soon. I hate getting rid of trees for so many reasons but we are at risk of them falling on ours or other homes.

Happy Birthday Jayden!

2010-03-24T19:07:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I have a 5 year old! Where did my baby go? I was telling him this afternoon what I was doing exactly 5 years ago and he told me not to tell anyone that story! He's embarrassed by me already. We had a great day after we finished with Juli's doctors appointment we picked up some lunch at Wendy's and then hit the park for a few hours. The weather was great. Afterward we played dinosaurs while watching a dinosaur movie. He chose dinner, peanut butter and jelly and then enjoyed some yummy brownies before bed. It was a good day. I tried to get a picture of him at the playground but the boy moves WAY to fast! I'll have to check and see if any of them come out before I start uploading.

Jayden's 5th birthday party

2010-03-20T18:15:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from Jayden's birthday party! We had a great day and the weather was beautiful. The kids loved the pinata and the egg hunt the most. Jayden was very excited about his gifts especially the dinosaur ones! Jayden decided on a cookie cake and decorated it himself with dinosaurs and other animals that lived with them.

Children's Museum while cousin Brook visited

2010-03-14T19:40:00.000-07:00

Jayden being silly a few weekends ago.
His favorite museum in Atlanta is the Fernbank History Museum, we usually go at least once a month. We also went to the Children's Museum while Brook was here to check out Cyber Chase. One of our least favorite traveling exhibits so far!

Happy 3rd birthday Julianna!

2010-02-10T17:24:00.000-08:00

We had Julianna's birthday party had her favorite play place, Southern Prep. She got to play with the parachute, ride the bee and jump, jump jump!

On the day of her birthday she asked for cookies and ice cream.

Orlando Science Center and the Gainsville Natural History Museum

2010-01-16T21:04:00.000-08:00

Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville at CityWalk

2010-01-16T20:45:00.000-08:00

Enjoying Margaritaville with Justin's Brother and family. Jayden has a habit of the mouth running so Justin stopped him to talk for a second. He kept talking even though his mouth was covered!

Orlando over New Years

2010-01-16T20:27:00.000-08:00

Jayden enjoying the T-rex cafe with my mom. Juli loving the sun in Orlando. It even hit 80 one day while we were there. The following week the temps were freezing!

All of us enjoying dinner at the T-rex cafe.

The kids opening their gifts at Grandma's house and the things they got from Aunt Heather, Uncle Will and cousin Brook. I think Jayden's face shows how excited he was! Juli loves her gifts too. They even fight over the instruments.

Christmas 2009

2010-01-16T20:13:00.000-08:00

Us trying to take a picture of the 4 of us by ourselves. Yeah that was difficult. Not one had all 4 of us looking at the camera. Juli wouldn't start singing and Jayden was to busy playing. :)

The kids opening their gifts Christmas morning. Julianna loves her doll house and then opening up some gifts for her baby doll that she carries everywhere. I was able to find a lady online to make clothes for her. Jayden got a dinosaur playset. His favorite item was a pack of dinosaur fact cards. You can never know to much about dinosaurs!