Pink Frog Dress

I made this dress for Jayden and she wanted her pics taken while wearing it. As I'm rather proud of the work I've done on it and I think she looks absolutely FAB-U-LOUS I willingly oblidged.





I don't really know why, but I like this picture. Jason would be able to say lots of fancy camera terms, but to me, it's just visually appealing and it's not even like she has a big grin. Of coarse, Jayden really isn't a big grin kind of kind. She's always been a bit more on the serious side. She's either serious or goofy it seems.



Thankfully our yard out front provides a decent backdrop for photos, it doesn't require a special trip to the park or anything like that.





I like profile shots like this. I think it allows you to see some other aspects of the personality of the person than what you usually get from a direct on shot.



Jayden loves to make faces at the camera, the way that I do too. It's like it's own magnetism of some sort. We see a camera and we either try hard to ignore it or we pull a face.





I have the fabric cut out for another dress of the same pattern. That one is much different in color. It's got a classic blue rose theme going. I'm hoping I'll get to it soon, but I was thinking of making something cute for Abbey first.



Prayers and blessings everyone, I hope that you have a wonderful day. As a side note, all photos are property of JD Rhodes Photography. Please don't take them without permission. That violates some serious laws, not to mention that is just mean.

From a Crying Diva

"What did I do wrong?"
"You are crying and blubbering and carrying on over tied strings on your dress. It's ridiculous and you need to stop. Is it really that important?"
"Mmmmhmmmmm" (wah wah cry blubber)
"Will the world stop turning because your strings are tied?"
"Mmmmmhmmmm" (wah wah cry blubber whine blubber tear tear)
"Really? The WORLD WILL STOP TURNING?"
"yeaaaaahhhhhuuuuussssssss" (wah cry blubber whine cry tear tear blubber sniff sniff)
"Uh yeah"

Conversations with Jayden

Tonight, I was sitting at the computer, playing away on Pogo, Canasta as it were, and Jayden was talking at me, and me, being an A1 Mommy was half assed listening. Here is an excerpt or two or three from our conversation.

"Why did the cookie go to the doctor?"
"I don't know, why?"
"Because he was feeling crumby"
"OK. Was that a joke?"
"No, that was the answer, it really was!"

"When I get to be a grown up I'm going to buy Fruit Punch just like that." I was pouring a glass of fruit punch.
"Um, OK"
"And I'm going to get some money"
"Where are you going to get some money from?"
"From my husband."
"Huh"
"Well, maybe not. Maybe I'll go to the store and buy some stuff and then people will give me the money back."
"You have to have a job in order to make money"
"Oh, then I'm going to work at the zoo."


Jayden was standing there, just chattering away, and I ask my usual question.
"Jayden, do you ever stop talking?"
"When you tell me to I do"
"What about on your own? Can you stop talking on your own?"
"Nope. If I were a robot you could shut me up with a remote, but I'm NOT! Isn't that silly, me being a robot?!"
"Yep."
"I'm not a robot though. I'm a human being. Though some times animals says "beans" instead of "beings" and that's funny too. Like that movie with Toto and the bean."
"You mean Frodo and the bean? Like Veggie Tales?"
"Yeah that one...." and that's where I blocked her out.

The point of all of this is stop and listen to what the kids are saying some times, even when they are just blah blah blahing your ear off. You may get some interesting and funny conversations out of it. By the way, I didn't realize Jayden actually KNEW that humans were human BEINGS. That's pretty cool. Prayers and blessings everyone. Have a great week.

What an Unusual Day

Wednesday was an odd day for me. It wasn't really any different than any other day, it just felt really odd.

I missed the bottom step of our basement stairs and fell and sprained my ankle. Jason was standing down there and he said it was a very scary thing to watch. It's pretty badly sprained, so much so that I got the crutches out today. Wrapping it isn't helping, so I'm not doing that. Thankfully, I can get away with using just the one crutch like a cane. Something to just help support me as I walk. I have a love hate relationship with my ankles after all. They love to hate me!

Jason got a job! He'll be working part time 3rd shift at a local gas station. When he interviewed for the job last week I asked him if he wanted to take a part time job like that or if he wanted to wait for his old job to call him back. He said he had no security with his old job anymore. He had been there for 3 years, and he wasn't advancing at all. Pretty soon he'd end up hitting the pay increase ceiling. He wanted to take the other job. He'll be able to keep part of his unemployment. Which is good for us. It also seems that my ex's pay or unemployment or whatever it is is FINALLY being garnished, so that is also a huge help to us.

The saga continues in trying to get Jayden diagnosed with ADD. She has to have an EEG done to make sure she isn't having seizures, and a blood draw to check for other things. MF Jenn is going to fill out the sheet that would normally be filled out by a teacher so we can get an outside 3rd opinion. She's putting together a really basic 30 minute lesson for her. I have a feeling, that 30 minutes is going to stretch in to at least an hour or more. Jayden continues to stall and fight and argue and all out avoid doing anything that really requires concentration and thinking. She'll start giving silly answers, when in fact I KNOW she knows them. Her teacher last year just kept telling me "she doesn't know the stuff" when she does know the stuff. That really disappointed me about the school district.

Jason was kind of having a fit about the kids being homeschooled. He couldn't see them learning so much, and admittedly him being home all the time AND the holidays threw us off a bit. We are getting back in the groove thankfully. I'm also continuously reminding Jason of the behaviors the kids would pick up if they were in school all the time. Homeschooling is definately the right choice for our family.

Izzy will be going to preschool next year however. He'll be able to have speech therapy for 5 days a week, and be immersed in a concentrated learning environment like that. He really needs something more because his speech is still severely delayed. He understands what we are saying, however he has serious issues when it comes to communicating back to us. We have taught him many signs, however he really doesn't use them unless prompted. There is very little spontaneous communication coming from Izzy.

I'm working on becoming more organized. Well at least cleaning up the clutter. According to my therapy goals, I should be doing a 1/2 hour every day. So far, I've done that once this week. Change takes time, but it also takes effort. Effort sucks by the way. It requires so much, well effort! Anyway, instead of bitching I should just do, and I'm working on it.

That's all for now. I realize my poor little blog has been somewhat neglected lately. I'll be trying to post more regularly, at least 3 times a week. The writing helps me refocus on what needs to be done.

Oh, I'm 11 weeks and 1 day pregnant now. It's finally begun to sink in that this may actually work, it's either that or I'm seriously psychosematic! I have my firt appointment with a midwife next tuesday and next friday I have a blood draw and ultra sound.

Prayers and blessings everyone, I hope you all have wonderful weekends!

Let's Talk InLaws and Thankful Thursday

Yes, it's Thursday once again here in the Serial Household. The Heathen Horde has caused destruction and chaos as far as the eye can see. Why oh Why is there an IRON on my living room floor? Why oh Why does my darling precocious ever so naughty 2 year old boucing baby boy PERSIST in taking my puzzles OUT of their bags? Why oh Why does my cute adorable ever so drama inclined girly princess 6 year old CONTINUE with the SCREACHING FROM HELL? Why oh Why does my ingenious smart video game obessed never forgets a thing 9 year old so hell bent on terrorizing his younger siblings? As you can see, life continues as it always does around here.

This week I'm thankful I slept, at least a little bit.

I'm thankful Jason's job got their contract. It means that he will soon, most likely, have overtime as it is a VERY LARGE order they must fill in a VERY SHORT period of time (that's my understanding at least) and it's just in time for the holidays too!

I'm thankful I have an awesome landlord who understands that we really WANT to stay here and is willing to work out something with us to show him that. He gets paid, we get to stay, all is GOOD.

Now, let's talk about In-Laws.

How do you feel about them? See, I wouldn't say that I love mine. Not in the way that I love my mom. I care about them, sure. They are a part of the man I love so dearly. I don't call his folks Mom and Dad however. It just seems ODD to me. I have a mom, 2 of them in fact, well technically 3 I guess. I have 2 dads too.

The kids call Jason's folks Grandma and Grandpa. His sister and brother in law are Aunt Audra and Uncle Donnie. However, to me, they are Marian, Dave, Audra, and Donnie. Jason's grandpa IS Grandpan, and Uncle Don (not to be confused with Donnie mind you) IS Uncle Don. I'm not sure WHY this is. Jason also calls my parents by their first names. Vicki, Sue (my step mom, who I also call Sue), and Linda (my ex mother in law that I got in the divorce, I call her Ma), Jim and Jim (my dad and step dad are both named Jim, I know, it's odd).

Now, us referring to the parents of our spouse by their first name doesn't indicate that we care for them less than if we called them Mom and Dad. I never planned on referring to them that way, and I never expected Jason to either. We get cards from them signed "Mom and Dad" and that's great.

Maybe we do it this way because we were together for so long BEFORE we married that it became habit? I think that is only a bit of it. Homer and I were together quite a while before we were married. In fact we were together longer BEFORE we married than AFTER. I always called his mom Ma.

When Jason and I started dating, we had NO intentions of it being a long term together forever sitting our old asses in our rocking chairs on the front porch kind of thing. It was a time of NOW and in the moment. Sex and fun and being friends and hanging out. That is what it was about. Nothing more. Then we fell in love. Oh good lord did we ever.

We both can pinpoint when we knew we loved the other. It took us another few weeks before we said anything. Would you like to know those moments? Of coarse you do, you are just as nosey about that kind of thing as I am about others, isn't that why you read the blogs of everyone chronicalling their lives?

For me. I was living with my brother and sister in law at the time. Their old roommate had bailed. I got the roommate's room, and stepped in where he had slacked off. At that point, it was just me and Jayden living there. James was with Homer in Chicago. Katy was living about 20 min away with Jenn and Chris. Vyky was with her dad about 1/2 hour away, in the opposite direction of Katy. Have I ever mentioned Vyky before? Maybe in passing? Well, this post isn't about her. When her birthday comes up, November 19, I'll do that post to her that day. It'll be the only lucid thing I will do that day. However, I digress.

We were without a phone while it was switched over from the old roommate to Christina. It took about 2 weeks. We didn't have any internet at the time either. This was the very end of August of 2002. Christina had just given birth to my nephew a couple of weeks before. Jason and I had met online, and that is how we primarily talked to one another. It was MUCH cheaper than calling long distance. He lived an hour south of me with his folks.

I had sent him an email, using the library computer, asking him to come up on a certain weekend. I didn't have the chance to go to the library to check my email before the scheduled day. I was working at Toys R Us at the time. It was a pretty good job. It was time for me to get out, and there he was. Standing at the end of the aisle, just watching me work (I was putting away misplaced and returned items). I looked up and I just grinned. I went up to him and gave him the BIGGEST hug. I wanted to kiss him, but I was at work, so I refrained. It felt so good, so happy, so RIGHT, seeing him there, looking at me. I hadn't seen him for a couple of weeks, and just looking at him made me realize what I was missing.

Jason has told me that he realized he loved me when we had a HUGE fight. This was around August as well, I think. Possibly the end of July. He went home, the hour long drive, because he had to work. The whole way home he was crying. He told me that it hurt him SO much to think that he wouldn't see me any more. He honestly felt that we were through, and he just wasn't ready for that, he just didn't want that. I talked to him later that night online (or possibly the next day) and we worked it out. He didn't tell me until much later how hurt he was thinking those thoughts. How affected he was.

When I first got up the nerve to tell Jason that I loved him I said "I think I love you" and without a moment's hesitation he said "That's good because I KNOW I love you". I almost bolted right then. I didn't, and to this day I am so thankful of that. So today, like every day, I'm thankful that instead of following my gut reaction, I just lay there, in Jason's arms, after he told me he loved me that very first time. It got easier to hear, and easier to say, but that first time was so VERY scary for me. I'm also thankful he waited for me. I know now he really wanted to say it long before then, but he waited until I made the first step, he figured I'd handle it better that way. That hubster of mine is a rather smart man.

Prayers and blessings everyone. I hope that you all have a wonderful Halloween or New Year's or All Saint's Day or whatever it is that you celebrate this next weekend. Enjoy the weather and the candy and the fun.

Mommy, Just Read the Freekin' Book

"How doth the little crocodile
Improve his shining tail,
And pour the waters of the Nile
On every golden scale!

"How cheerfully he seems to grin,
How neatly he spreads his claws,
And welcomes little fishes in,
With gently smiling jaws!"

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

The version that we are reading is illustrated by S. Michelle Wiggins. I don't know if it's abridged or not. I'm assuming so considering it IS a child's book, but I could be wrong. We've made it to "A Caucus-Race and a Long Tale" which is the 3rd chapter in this version. Now, please let me know if I'm wrong, but where is the Jabberwockie poem? Is that in "Wonderland" or is that in "Through the Looking Glass"?

The title of this post? That is what Jayden said to me, word for word, when I started laughing at the above poem. That poem is one of my fav's of all time. It's absolutely HILARIOUS to me!

To try to espouse the values of reading, and the learning of how, I am currently reading "Alice" to Jayden on a nightly basis. We get through a chapter or two and then it's time to quit. I'm hoping that she understands that by learning to read, she can read all kinds of great books like "Alice". Knowing my daughter, however, she'll just think she can have ME read to her all of those great books.

Jayden frustrates me to no end. She is a smart smart girl. She just doesn't have the drive, the desire to learn. It's not in her. She fights it tooth and nail. I don't know how to light that fire in her. I'm at a loss. I keep pushing her to do the work. She is able, she just doesn't want to. So she stalls and cries and fusses and stalls some more. It was her strategy at "regular" school and why her teacher thought she didn't know nearly what she does.

James is a different story. While he doesn't like the work, he will do it, and does really well doing it on his own. I do need to start working with both of them in more hands on kind of way. Doing other subjects and projects and that kind thing with them. I've been slacking in that area, relying pretty heavily on their workbooks. While I am going to keep using them, I want to start branching out. I'd like to have them learn at least the names of all 50 states by the summer, with James possibly knowing the capitals as well, along with finding them on a map. I also need to start figuring out science stuff.

Prayers and blessings everyone. Enjoy your reading, and sharing the joy of it with others. Kiss your librarian, or at least make sure to tell them a big thank you!