More of the Jenna pics from today

Photo 31

Random things - Jan/Feb

• I used to love this time of year when I was teaching because it mean the school year was now on the downward spiral and spring was just around the corner.
• I've saved 66.72 this month with coupons - It's not a whole lot, but all I stuff I needed and I honestly haven't been shopping this much this month.
• JM has call 4 times in Feb. Once a week. It's going to be awful. He only had it twice in Jan. I hate their unpredicatble schedule of call.
• I'm looking forward to Feb - I'm hoping by the middle to end, it'll be warm enough to take Jenna to the beach. Fingers crossed!
• This time last year, I was also counting down until we moved here and school was done, now I'm counting down til we move again. I know it'll be here sooner than I think.
• Also, Happy Birthday to Jayme!!! Today is also Vanessa's (JM's sis) birthday as well.

photo 30

Jenna and I went for a walk today and I looked down and saw this dreen dot of paint on my shoe. See it? It's funny how one little thing like this can trigger so many memories but it did. See, that green paint is from when I painted with my kindergarten kids last year. I don't remember if it was a structured painting activity or it was from them making a mess during centers, but whatever it was, it makes me miss last year. I miss sweet Heather and her hugs, Justice's happiness, and Lilli the princess. And of course I miss you - Whit. And it makes me wonder how I always got crap on me and Whitney managed to stay so clean and look so well put together throughout the whole day. And then I remember again, how grateful I am to be able to not have to teach and be able to stay at home with Jenna. And yep, I got all of this, from just looking at a dot of green paint.

WFMW - Chacha!

I actually heard about this from someone else and just tried it out last week.

Have a question about anything? :)

Text it to CHACHA and they will reply back to you with the answer.

It doesn't cost - It's just part of your normal texting plan.

It's really neat. Try it!

photo 29

This is my very quick pic of the day. :)

It is absolutely a beautiful day here. It's back in the upper 70's. It has been cold here (and when I mean cold, I mean between upper 40's to 50's.) The weather here is the thing I will probably miss the most.

The blog giveaways!

The blog giveaways over at http://www.blogger.com/www.bloggygiveaways.com is getting close to 700 participating blogs! I don't even know if I'll be able to have time to enter everything I want!

If you haven't been over there, you should! You don't even have to have a blog or host a giveaway, just an email address. There are tons of people giving away awesome stuff like Target and Starbucks gift cards and a lot of other neat stuff! I feel like my book idea is a big flop, but oh well...there will be a next time! :)

Photo 28

Just thought this was a silly looking photo of Jenna today. It seems to be so hard to get a really good shot of her. She does actually look at the camera and stay still, I think it just must be me. This daily photo thing is becoming a lot harder than I thought and some days I feel like giving up - and today would be one of those days. :)

My very own giveaway!

I'm so excited! I love bloggygiveaways.com and I also enjoy giving things to other people, so I decided to play this time around.

My very good friend, Cindy, gave me this book last time she came to visit and so I've decided to pass it along to someone else. I figure it can be the traveling book. (hahahhaa....)

So, here's how to play -

• Leave me a comment and just let me know what state you are in. (I'm just curious.) :)
• Winner will be picked by a random number generator
• I will only ship to the U.S. and of course I pay for shipping.
• Winner will be chosen on Feb. 1st
• You don't have to have a blog - just a valid email address.
• Winners must respond to my email by the following Monday or I'll have to pick someone else.

I think that's it! Let the giveaways begin!!!!

photo 27

John Michael dancing for me.

Photo 26

As I was in the backyard with the doggies today, I saw this. I haven't seen these in quite some time - I'm not sure if we had these in the last place we lived. Anyway, they immediately make me think of Nanny. When I was little, we would go outside and blow them out together. Just something else I can't wait to do with Jenna. :)

Photo 25

I know you're wondering what the heck this is. It's fabric.

I was browsing through Heather Bailey's site when I suddently became inspired to sew. (Are you laughing yet? Because if you know me, I've always been horrible at sewing.) Anyway, actually Cindy once told me about her site, and then I just re-discovered it.

I would like to try and make some cute burp cloths. We'll see... I'll probably give up or get frustrated or something will go wrong like it always has. I haven't scrapbooked in so long and I'm thinking, maybe I need a new creative outlet, so I might try this. By posting here, I guess I'm holding myself accountable for at least trying now, right? :)

This fabric is from when Whitney and I took Mollie's (our secretary) quilting class. I never even finished that darn thing and I think Whitney and I just stopped going at one point. It was me, and Whit, and Jayme. It was fun just for the social aspect I guess. :)

engagement pics

Just in case you haven't seen these... These are some of my favorite pictures of all time. These are what pictures are about. :)

Photo 24

***I know this isn't the best photo, but today is more about the memory than the technical photo. :) ****

5 years ago today we got engaged!

I went to see him at college because he told me he was doing his senior research project again as an example to his other classmates. (He had already done his during the fall semester. I thought it was kind of weird that he was doing it over again but of course I went. Well, it started out as normal but then he said something about that topic was boring and he switched to the powerpoint screen of the "top 10 reasons Allison should marry me." It was very sweet, unique, romantic, funny - all of the things that JM is! We have it on videotaped and the yearbook photographer was there so we even had in his yearbook on a whole page! He only told the person who was videotaping - his other best friends were there and it was a complete surprise! Anyway, I can’t believe it’s been 5 years and we’ve been together for 7.5!! We have so much more to look forward to and I really do love him more and more every day. :)

Jenna's 10 weeks!

Jenna's 10 week Jenna Bear picture!

At 10 weeks, here are the latest happenings in Jenna's world:

• she likes to suck on her hand. (This is cute now, but I hope she doesn't always do this.)
• starting to smile a lot more. (Her smiles really make my day.)
• trying to babble some. (also cute, and I wonder if she'll be a talker like JM or more on the shy side like me?)
• almost 11 lbs, and almost starting to outgrow her 0-3 clothes (I'm ready to put her in her new cute 3-6 stuff.)

That's about all I can think of for now. She is growing so fast and really getting cuter and cuter every day. I feel so lucky to have her. :)

Photo 23

I finished this book today. I thought it was just ok. :) I've enjoyed her other books more than this one.

I love to read. I wish I could read more actually. I love going in Target and browsing the new books on the shelf and touching their pretty covers. (Yes, I like pretty books.)

I can't wait until Jenna gets old enough for her to start enjoying books. (Well, I really hope she does.) I want to take her to the library and the book stores and read to her every day!

WFMW: Ebay!

As most of yall probably know, I love ebay. I love buying and selling. I was talking to Sarah about selling and she said I should post some of my tips. Now, I'm definitely not the queen bee of ebay, but I have been successful and very surprised at how much some of my things have sold for. So here goes... and if you have any more tips, feel free to comment.

1.Thrift stores - Don't be afraid of them. They usually have a lot of hidden gems inside. But you also have to be patient and willing to take your time to look around. Some stores even offer discount days or run some type of specials.

2. Research before you sell - this is simple. Whatever you want to sell, just type it in the search button and see how they are going. You can also look up completed listings in the advanced search to see how it's already done.

3. Compare- along with researching, compare auctions that have the same/similar items. What makes one better than the other? Is it pictures? Description? Shipping?

4. Pictures- Try to take your pictures on a neutral background like a black or white poster board, blanket, etc... No one really likes seeing things on yucky carpet. Your item should be the focus, not whatever else is in the background.

5. Shipping - always use delivery confirmation! And if you have a scale or plan to sell a lot, buy a scale! You can ship at home through paypal and it will save you time and money. It saves you money because delivery confirm is cheaper through paypal and included everytime, and of course it saves the hassle of having to go to the post office.

6. Packaging - Make sure your item is nicely packaged. Think about you getting it in the mail. For clothing, I place the item in a ziploc baggy with a little thank you note inside of a polymailer. Also, you can buy shipping supplies cheaper through ebay instead of a office supply store.

Alrighty, I definitely feel like I am probably leaving something out. If you think of something else, let me know! Or have any questions, I can try to answer them! :)

Jenna today!

I had to get some pics of Jenna in her too cute Mini Boden outfit before she outgrows it - which she is getting close to!

I thought these pictures were so cute, so I had to share them! :)

photo 22

Sophie

My mom said I should take a picture of Sophie. I promise I haven't been trying to leave her out, it's just that she is incredibly difficult to take a picture of. I think she is scared of the camera and usually her ears are down making her look like a rat. I can't actually believe I got a shot of her with her ears up!

But this is our sweet Sophie. We got her around this time in January of 2004. I had just moved to Tulsa and really wanted a dog. I remember it being a weekend and JM really needed to study yet he was trying to drive me to go look at dogs and we got lost. Of course it was worth it in the end, because we came home with this sweetest puppy ever.

She is still sweet, but most days she seems very sad lately. She really loves JM and gets sad on days when he isn't around much. And it took her a couple of months to warm up to Max, but I think she finally accepts him and thinks of him as someone she has to watch over. She is still in the warming up phase to Jenna, but we know she'll come around to her as well.

Sophie loves to be cuddled and for belly to be rubbed. She loves to be dressed when its cold. She loves her dingo bones and burying herself in a blanket or under the pillow. She also really likes to lay by my head or sit on the top of the cushion so that she's behind my neck.

Anyway, I love Sophie and always will. She was our very first baby and will always be special for that. :)

Double Tagged!

Actually Whitney sent me this last week maybe, and I just got tagged on Amber's blog - so maybe I should do it huh? Sorry, Whit - if you're reading this, I know I can be an email slacker. :)

Four jobs I've had:
1. elementary teacher
2. Gap
3. babysitter
4. mommy & me teacher (almost forgot this one!)

Four places I lived:
1. Pine Bluff, AR (thankfully not anymore!)
2. Tulsa, OK
3. Jonesboro, AR
4. Corpus Christi, TX

Four movies I've watched over and over:
I don't really watch movies over and over... Sorry!

Four shows I watch:
1. Grey's Anatomy
2. Desperate Housewives
3. Private Practice
4. American Idol


Four places I've been:
1. Florida
2. Maryland
3. D.C.
4. Tennessee

Four people who e-mail me regularly:
1. Cindy
2. Sarah
And the rest of yall, need to email me more! I'll promise to write back!

Four favorite things to eat:
1. Italian food
2. Mexican food
3. sugar cookies with icing on top
4. root beer floats

Four places I'd rather be:
1. anywhere on a trip with JM
Sadly, thats all I can think of - I can't say beach because I have one down the street!

Four things I look forward to this new year:
1. moving to a new place with better shopping!
2. watching Jenna grow
3. spending more time with my mom after we move
4. Our new niece or nephew! (JM's sis)

Four people to tag:
1. Sarah
2. Cindy
3. Ashley
4. Mandy

Photo 21

Jenna's duckies

My baby shower had a duck theme, so I kept all of the little rubber duckies that were used as table decor. She has a total of 13 rubber duckies in her bathtub right now. Well, her bathtub right now is the sink, but one day she'll be splashing around in the tub with the duckies. I especially like the cute ducks that Target has that tell you if the water is too hot. Know what I'm talking about? I'll think we have to get more of those.

Gosh, it's kind of ironic that I have a fear of ducks, but yet, love these so much, huh?

more pics

JM really liked this pic of Jenna and he thought I should blog it too. I also really liked the one I took of Max today, so I thought I might as well post these too. Max is so photogenic - I've got to start trying to get some of Sophie! And Jenna is starting to smile more now too! :)

Photo #20

I really love Jenna's little feet. When she is eating, I love to rub them and she usually flickers her toes towards me, so I think she really enjoys it. :)

Photo field trip pics!

Photo #19

John Michael and I went walking down the street today. (Of course, we strolled Jenna too!) We stopped at the Catholic church and took some pics. This is what we call our photo field trip - when we go somewhere to take pics together. :)

It's a small world after all..

We went out to eat at Chili's tonight with another couple and guess who is sitting behind us - the UCA basketball team. Isn't that crazy? :)

Photo #18

It's a cold and rainy day here. Probably one of the worst weather days since we've lived here. I think the high is in the upper 40's, but that's very cold to everyone that lives here. I guess that's what I get for saying how much I missed the cold. I'm not sure now I'm going to be able to handle the cold winter all the time in KC, but I'm sure that it'll still be better than here! :)

Photo #17

He's my mischevious Max. If he's not near me, I constantly wonder what he's up to. I don't trust him alone. He's constantly in stuff he shouldn't be. He is so far the opposite of my sweet Sophie.

But I love him so much. And with a face like this, how can you not?

Which one?

I have one measly gymbuck to spend. (Gymboree) And as we all know, gymbucks must be spent or sold. :) And well, I'd rather just spend it because she'll need 6-12 anyway. At first I fell in love with the tulip one, but now I'm thinking the turtle one is much cuter. Which one do you think?

Photo 16

Jenna got her 2 mos shots today. :(

And, I'm curious. I know it's controversial and I don't want to start anything bad. I'm just wondering what yall do regarding shots. So, If you want to comment and tell me, I would love to hear what you think. If not, that's totally ok too. :)

WFMW: Easy Crock pot recipes

So, I think by now, yall know how much I like cooking to be easy! We tried out these 2 recipes last week and they were really good. I have some others that we still haven't tried out, but I won't post those until I taste test them first! :)

The corn is soooooooo good. I will definitely be making lots more of this one.

Cheesy Corn

• 3 16oz pkgs frozen corn
• 8 oz cream cheese, cubed
• 1/4 cup butter, cubed
• 3 tbsp water
• 3 tbsp milk
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 6 slices American cheese, (tear the pieces)

Combine all ingredients in slow cooker. Mix well. Cover. Cook on low 4 hours or until heated through and cheese is all the way melted.

Sloppy Chicken

• 28 oz can boneless chicken (I used chicken breasts.)
• 10 3/4 oz can cream of chicken soup
• 1 stack butter crackers, crushed
• 15 oz can chicken broth
• 10 3/4 oz can cream of mushroom soup

Combine all indegredients in slow cooker. Cover. Cook on low 5-6 hours, stirring occasionally.

Photo #15

Jenna's 2 months today!

I took tons of photos today and I think this is the best one I got. I know exactly how I want it to come out in my head, but then picture doesn't turn out the same. It's very frustrating.

Anyway, I even dressed Jenna so cute - if you can't tell by the picture. She is wearing photo-shoot type clothes too! And, I love the bow! You better believe that she will be wearing the big fru-fru bows...once she grows some hair!

Random facts about me

1. I love the internet more than any normal person should.
2. I taught for 3 years, but teaching was never really my passion.
3. I've never thought I was "great" at anything, just average at a whole bunch of stuff.
4. My middle name rhymes with Jenna's middle name (Leigh - Marie.) :)
5. I'm doing what I've always dreamed of - being a stay at home mommy.
6. I don't eat salads, but I do enjoy the occasional lettuce wrap.
7. I pick my toenails, sometimes to the point, of tearing the whole nail off. disgusting, I know...
8. I'm very liberal in my beliefs.
9. I've never broken a bone in my body.
10. I love polka dots.

Photo #14

My Christmas present came today!

I know this is kind of a weird photo, but I wanted to take it myself, otherwise it wouldn't count for my daily photo thingy.

Anyway, I wanted a mommy necklace for Christmas - It says Jenna Marie on the little circle. I found a cute site - http://www.heartonyourwrist.com/ so I told JM thats what I wanted. Well, they must have been popular because it wasn't scheduled to arrive until January - today! So, I got it today and I love it! It's so me! :)

Photo #13

All of my babies! :)

Ashley asked what kind of camera I have - well this pic was taken with the regular point and shoot - but I also have a Nikon D50. Actually, it was JM's first and then he really fell hard into photography and upgraded to the D200. So, He let me "have" his old one since I became interested too. SLR's are really hard to use. I'm still trying to figure things out and I'm hoping by the end of the year, I'll be a little better than I am now. I would love to be able to be the one that gets to take cute pics of Jenna too!

Today..

Today is Sunday -but our weekend together ended last night. JM is on call. Have I told you how much I hate call days? Not only call days, but then post call days as well. So basically, things will return back to normal on Tuesday around here. ugh, ugh, ugh... Anyway, I know he hates call a million gazillion more times than I do, so I shouldn't be the one to complain.

So, I am going to just try and keep busy around here - which really isn't too hard now, with a baby. But, besides taking care of Jenna, I plan on watching The Nanny Diaries, working on some ebay stuff, organizing my coupons and cleaning the kitchen. See what a glamourous life I lead? But, I wouldn't trade it for anything. :)

Oh and of course, my photo for the day. I haven't thought of it yet. I'll be back later. :)

Photo #12

JM playing guitar.

Photo #11

I got a little lazy with my photo taking today so I decided to just copy off of Sarah. :)

I went to the Old Navy sale -which if you haven't been you should go - everything is 50% off their clearance price (wait, maybe it was 75%?)

Anyway, everything except the cashmere sweater I got for either 2 or 3 dollars! I saw those cashmere sweaters when they first came out and loved them so I had to get it! The sweater is the only thing I got for me. Nothing else fit. :( But, I got Jenna some fabulous pj's that I'm excited about - (no more snaps or buckle pjs here, remember) and I picked up a pair of pants that I liked for my mom. I would have gotten JM some things but he is so picky so maybe we can go back and it'll be a great excuse to look around again! :)

Jenna's 8 weeks!

Jenna's 8 weeks today! Time is flying by!

Not much new to report -

*starting to gain better control of her neck/head.

*starting to try to smile

*loves to be cuddled, sometimes she has to be cuddled before going to sleep

*absolutely loves her nighttime baths now

*stays awake longer during the day now

Photo #10

I have this little book of quotes on my scrapbook table. I love it. I'll probably have to post more of these, because there are so many other quotes in here I like to. This one says, "Find a life that's enjoyable. Live it." Do what makes you happy. :)

Photo #9

These are all of my FREE huggies wipes/products from Target. After realizing that I could get overage with the .97 travel wipes, I got as many as I could! Overage is when the coupon exceeds the cost of the product.

I got:

1 hard case

8 soft packs

9 travel wipes

3 clean team mitts

1 flushable clean team wipes

And yes, I'm serious when I say they were all FREE! I know I didn't do as well as Sarah, but I still think these will last awhile! :)

ETA: I just got back from Target and got 8 more travel sized wipes. With $4 overage, I got free dog food as well! I love Target!

WFMW: Baby questions!

Yay! I haven't done this in a while and today is backwards day - meaning I ask a question and people leave me comments!

So, I have a couple of baby questions I've been wondering about.

For those of you that don't know me, I'm Allison - a brand new mommy to Jenna who will be 8 weeks tomorrow.

I'm wondering when I can fully expect her to start sleeping through the night. Right now, she has only been waking up one time which I think is still pretty good, but I'm ready for a full 8 hours! Any tips on how to get them to sleep through the night and what age can I expect this?

Also, when should I start giving her the rice cereal?

Thanks so much! :)