Did you know Kinleigh...........

How I love seeing you grow?  The things you learn are so fun for the whole family! Your newest things are many!  Last week you perfected the Yes and No head shake, and can use them at the appropriate times!  It can be challenging pointing to countless things until we get the Yes headshake but it's sure nice to know we can eventually figure out what you want!  You have also perfected High Five and Knuckles.  So cute to see my little lady doing these things.  This weekend you also started saying Love You and Thank You.  Do they sound like the correct words? Not so much LOL But we all know what you're saying!  And even when we don't know what you're saying you always get your point across well with your infamous AAAAGGGGHHHHH To get whatever it is you want!  You won't say Up no matter how I try to get you to say it... Instead you stand with your arms above your head and wait until someone picks you up. With all of your siblings, Mommy and Daddy, Aunt Lindsay Sydney and Taylor someone is BOUND to do just as you want and pick you up. How can we not pick you up when you're so sweet? You love to lay your head on shoulders and be held while someone rubs your back.  You are the cherry on top that makes our family complete!

Back to work I went today after having all last week off thanks to sick Kinleigh and sick Kaeden.  I needed to go to work today and was greeted with the craziest thing! When I sat at my desk there was a sticky note with a message to call a client of mine.  I called him up and said "This is Jennifer with H&R Block returning your phone call". He says "Oh yea. I don't want to sound weird, but I've seen you around downtown a few times and I was wondering, are you married?" WHAT???? LOL I almost fell off my chair and am sure I was blushing! I answered while laughing a little bit "ummm pretty much Yea".  LOL LOL I totally got hit on today! I'm 30 almost 31, overweight, never wear makeup and I have 3 kids and I got hit on! What an ego boost. I told Steven to watch out cause his woman is HOT!

Complete Weirdness!

So I ended up having today off due to Kinleigh being sick. I was starting to feel a little guilty for being home because her fever seems gone and her poo is not water anymore so I felt like I should have been at work.  She has been really clingy and has been napping for over 3 hours though so maybe she's still not 100%. However I guess everything really happens for a reason...... and here is why I say that today!........ This morning Kaeden woke up saying his tummy didn't feel good and he was dizzy and couldn't go to school. About 5min after missing the bus he was crying to me that he wanted to go to school. I asked why... He tells me "I wanna learn that's why!" LOL  So I told him to go get dressed and I'd take him to school when I took Kai to school.  I think he realized that if he played hookie today he'd miss church and kidzone tonight and couldn't let that happen because Heather and Bryce were going to go for the first time and he was very excited about it!  Unfortunately it seems he was NOT playing hookie this morning and was just trying to be tough so he did not miss out on kidzone and the school called and he had to be picked up around 11:30am due to throwing up at school. Poor Guy!!!  It's amazing how my kids have a "look" in their eyes and you can just see the sickness on their faces.  I thought he might not be faking it this morning and after signing him in tardy at the office this morning I told him if he was still feeling icky around lunchtime to call and i'd come pick him up (his lunch matches up with the time I have to pick Kai up from preschool so I knew I'd be in town either way at that time.) Being that I never heard from him at 11 I guessed he was doing fine and was trying to play hookie this morning after all.  Nope............ Poor lil man.  So in the long run it's a very good thing I did NOT go to work today and was scheduled off the rest of the week so this little bug can run through everyone around here without causing chaos at work! :p I am starting to feel a little couped up though and am hoping that tomorrow we have sunshine and healthy kids!!

Other weird happenings today............. This morning started out overcast... Then we got snow as i was taking the boys to school.  Then the snow covered the ground barely... then the snow melted off the ground but was still falling from the sky.  Then I swore I smelled rain but it was snow.... As I went to pick Kai up from school it was snowing and SUNNY?  This afternoon the snow went away and it was blue skies and sunny.  So was it spring? winter? what in the world was going on out there today???

I got myself a photography blog up and running :)  It will be the place for me to document my photography journey and hopefully see major improvement in my picture taking skills ;)

3 day weekend turned all week off

Dang it. After a great weekend my daughter had to get sick again! When will spring be here and these virus's be gone?????????

Sat night we had our night out on the town. Pre-party at our place with Jager and Red bull for me. Vodka and red bull for Lindsay and Misty and Tequila and beer for Steven and Bill. Had our first ever hired babysitters and it went nice and smooth! Two girls 14yrs old and 9 kids in the house. My bestie got hit on which was awesome..... grabbed her ass twice and kissed her cheek 3 times. I think the quotes of the night were "he grabbed my ass twice and kissed me on the cheek 3 times!" and "I'll take the picture, I'm a freaking photographer!" ;) Heather ended up staying sober.... weird! But was nice to have a DD to get us home as it was quite cold that night! Was quite awesome picking up Steven and Bill 1/2 way up our hill and cramming them into the car LOL Unfortunately around 4am Kinleigh waterfall puked on me. Thought maybe she ate too much junk with the babysitters as she was fine most of the day Sunday. Some adults were not as fine LOL I think Heather and I are the only ones who didn't wake up drunk Sunday morning! However I had 2 puke rally's in the bathroom at the bar and another 2 when we got home so that probably helped me to be not so bad Sunday morning. ;) Puke rallies can be a good thing it seems! Then Sunday afternoon Kinleigh puked again and we checked and she had a small fever... So called into my boss and had today off due to sickie baby girl. Low grade fever most of today and tonight it's spiking up over 102. Then this afternoon the FOULEST most nasty stuff started coming out of her..... guess it wasn't something she ate :( We had about 3 weeks of healthy baby (except for an ear infection) which is a record for her since her birthday Oct 28th. I was really shooting for a month or two ...... I'm so glad that peak is over at work and she didn't do this while we were real busy!

I'm pretty disappointed in myself the last 2 weeks. I've slacked and not gone to the gym in 2 weeks and my eating has been downright naughty :( Must get back on the bandwagon this week!!! I think I can i think I can.....................................

Been doing lots of reading and am learning new things for photography every day. Now to put those things to use while i'm behind the camera! Was hoping to go out for a photo shoot with Heather and the boys today after work but Kinleigh kinda messed those plans up. Sometime soon we will go get some practice in. We need to think of a great place to shoot some pics in Ephrata or the close surrounding areas.............

All weekend the boys have been pretty well behaved which has been nice! Unfortunately tonight Kaeden is back in his whiney stage. I hope he's not getting sick too~!!! Not sure what it is about 8yr old boys and their serious dislike of showers but I am completely ready for him to be over it already! I hope the attitude doesn't stick around too long since tomorrow night is his blue and gold banquet for Cub Scouts and he'd be real disappointed if he had to miss it and go to bed early! I'm bummed that Kinleigh is sick as it means one of us will not be able to go tomorrow night. Steven loves Cub Scouts but wants me to go instead of him so I can take pics. I say he should go and take the camera and just get whatever shots he can get!

I really love him!

I'm talking about Steven. He's so supportive and loving. I am beyond blessed and lucky to have him in my life. I really want to get into Photography. I Love taking photos and pictures and want to turn it into a business. He has been standing behind me 100% and last night told me "I'm kinda excited for you... No i'm really excited for you. It's so good to see you so happy and excited about something you are passionate about." When I had someone mention lens/camera issues Steven even supported me purchasing a $1000 camera! He wants his Harley so bad, yet here he is supporting me and willing to put his wants aside with a smile and help me out. I'm not going for the new camera yet. I'm still learning so much that it's silly to invest in the high end equipment in my opinion... Maybe someday down the road! I am putting lots of time and effort into becoming something worth sharing and selling to others and hope that it all works out!

My morning was spent snapping some pics of Lady K outside to work on my focus and exposure. some of them worked, some of them did not. Practice practice practice. She had some crazy hair but beautiful smiles.

Kai has been surprisingly pleasant this week and I love that~!!!!

Kaeden has also done well at getting up and out the door to the bus this week. His attitude is a little better. He still seems to have some preteen female PMS but hopefully that will continue to improve LOL I might treat the kids to some McDonalds Ice Cream after our PTO meeting this afternoon thanks to their attitude improvements this week! Or maybe not... Steven just mentioned dollar menu ice cream after dinner so that might be what happens instead. Guess we shall wait and see!

Super stoked for this weekend! Bill and Misty are coming to town tonight. Kai sure cracked me up yesterday.... When I said Misty and Bill were coming he asked me..."which one is Bill Mom? The small one with the black and blue jet ski or the big one?" LOL I said the big one. He said "Oh YEAH I LIKE HIM!!!!" He also informed me Bill is a good wrestler... Not sure where that came from?

Last weekend our family loaded up in the minivan and headed to Hermiston to hang with my brother and his family. It was great getting out of town and taking the girls and just relaxing with Jared and family. We got to meet the newest addition Paxtin and man he's sure adorable! I think my boys held him more then anyone else! Peightin and Kinleigh had a bit of rivalry going on. Kinleigh's used to being top princess as is Peightin so it was interesting but entertaining ;) I had my first "photo shoot" With Paxtin and a couple of shots of Kinleigh and Peightin. Not perfect but only room to grow and improve right? Gramma Vicki took my 4 older kiddos and I to the movies to see Never Say Never with Justin Bieber. Turned out to be a great movie! We all enjoyed it :)

Nothing but excited to go out with Steven and my besties tomorrow night!!!!! Babysitter should be at our house around 8pm and then we're off for the night. Closing down the town... on our feet LOL Should be a blast!

Here are a few shots from my photo shoot and a few other misc pics.

2011 will be gone before I blink!

Had a nice weekend. Unfortunately Kinleigh ended up spiking a fever yesterday after a nap of 103.5 so instead of heading to Sam's 4th birthday party we got to head to the walk in clinic and get her checked out. Looks like she's got herself a good ear infection going in the left ear. I'm actually relieved it's just an ear infection and not some other nasty virus! Just found out that the babysitter had a little girl with RSV there and she thinks her girls might have it now. I am praying Kinleigh does NOT catch that crud again! No more ambulance trips for us please ;) So looks like tomorrow the kiddos will be hanging with Heather. Hopefully Chelsea will know more what's going on after tomorrow so I don't miss any work this week! We're still pretty busy at work and I love it :)

This week will be busy but I like being busy. I felt kinda lost Fri night with no plans or nothing that had to be done! Got my haircut Fri afternoon. Got my grocery shopping done (and grabbed a couple extras I found on clearance for gifts throughout the year) Hit the gym and ran for 2 miles straight this afternoon! I was super stoked to accomplish that. Now to stay away from the yummy junk food in our house that Steven paid too much money for at the bake sale silent auction at Grant Talent show on Thurs night :p Bunco is Wednesday HOORAY! I am so excited that we started a bunco group here in E Town. It's a much needed ladies night :D

Excited to head to Hermiston this weekend and meet my new nephew Paxtin! I have warned Uncle Jared and Aunt Tammy that I will be stealing baby Paxtin for the weekend and taking lots of pics~! It's been so long since we stayed with Jared and Tammy so I'm really excited for a great weekend. Then the next weekend we have Misty and Bill coming down from Seattle and are planning a night out on the E Town. Babysitter and all! I can't say that Steven and I have ever hired a babysitter and gone out with friends to the bar in all of our years together and Kaeden is 8yrs old! I might regret it on Sunday, but as of now I am excited and ready!

Welcome to 2011!

Bring on the new year~!

We rang in the new year with our friends Christina, Tim and their kiddos. It was a good time. The last time we all hung out on New Years was the night they conceived their first baby ... Kaity is now 6 ;) LOL It's been awhile!

I started working Jan 4th. It's finally starting to pick up at work and the last few days have been super busy! Gotta love it when it's so busy that my hours just fly by. I really love doing taxes.... I suppose someday I may go back to school and get myself an accounting degree. I wonder if that's just wishful thinking or if it'll really happen?

Life has been busy busy with work, PTO and extra activities! I started going back to the gym. I have a new mini goal. I want to lose 15lbs. My goal weight is 145. I have never hit my goal weight of 135 so I figured if I raise it 10lbs it's more realistic? This means that back to the gym I have gone........ Those first couple weeks were TOUGH! I had to alternate 1min running (4.5mph) to 1min walking (3.5mph). Yesterday I did 12min straight of jogging/running at 5mph :D Was super excited. Got myself a whole mile without taking a break. It felt so good to accomplish that. Now I need to stop that nighttime snacking and the lbs might come off a little easier. Me and the cereal boxes have nightly battles :p

I am super excited to get Kaeden's haircut tomorrow! It hasn't been cut since right before Thanksgiving, and let me tell you it looks like he's wearing a helmet on his head! or plastic fake hair lol When HE is asking for a haircut we know it's outta control! I have an appt scheduled for Friday but we'll see if I get to go to it or not... Gotta find someone to watch the kiddos.

Kailer had an eye appt today. He's doing well. I got thumbs up from the eye dr. He said that at this age the best I can do for Kai is to make him wear his glasses all the time and to continue with the patching. It will all come together and help make that left eye stronger and he'll thank me as he grows older. He's starting to fight me less and less on wearing the patch every day. Dr says it's due to the fact that his left eye is getting stronger so it's not so frustrating for him to have to use that eye. That was nice to hear!

Kinleigh has had nothing but bad luck with her health since her birthday :p Last week she decided to get a runny nose, cough and spike a nice fever on Wed Thurs and Friday. She seemed to get better as the weekend went on and I think we're back on the road to health once again. Unfortunately she shared the cold with her Mommy. Now Mommy is up to her eyeballs in snot and sniffles. Today it seems to be letting up a bit so hopefully it'll all be gone soon! She has learned a new word. MINE. She loves to grab anything she can, pull it into her chest and say MINE. She also says mine if she wants something like her sippy cup or a banana or whatever I am trying to eat. It's her new universal word. Mine and Hi are her 2 most spoken words. She's got Momma and Dad down pretty well. Can't get her to say "up" to save my life but she's a pro at holding her arms at you to be picked up. If you ignore her and don't pick her up she'll just move onto the next person and stand around with her arms up. This will continue until she finds someone who gives in and picks her up, even if it's her 5yr old brother Kai ;) Spoiled lil lady! She has also discovered the OutSide! We had a few days of 40-50 degree weather and SUNSHINE and she finally got the freedom to run around the yard. She was in heaven! It was great to watch her toddle around and discover the world around her. Gramma Vicki was up 2 weekends ago when it was nice and the kids all had a great time playing outside with her on the trampoline :) Unfortunately the warmth did not last and this week has been C*O*L*D!

Lots coming up with PTO and grant school this month. Tomorrow night we have the talent show to go to, next week is the reptile man. Lots to keep busy with but lots to do together as a family which is always nice :)

Wed nights we have been going to church and I am really enjoying it. It feels good and the kids like it. Hoping someday Steven will want to join us more. I feel like I am coming back to God and it's nice. I have to say I think Collin is a huge part of this. The little man was standing with one foot in death's door 2mo ago. The Dr's gave him next to a 0% chance of surviving. He had 6 major organs failing including his heart and lungs. The thought of him seeing Christmas 2010 seemed like an unthinkable idea............ yet here he is. God showed up and showed off and Collin is HOME! He's in therapy to learn many things again, but he's here, he's alive, his personality is shining through. He's learning. He's a miracle. He's an answered prayer.

Today our family grew by 2 feet :) Welcoming to the world my new nephew Paxtin Lee Zumwalt. 7lb8oz 19". Born at 10:21am. I can't wait to meet him and hold him and snuggle him and PHOTOGRAPH him ;) Watch out Jared and Tammy, when Auntie Jen comes to town you will have to hand over the baby !!! I need a newborn fix. Don't need another baby myself though. I am finally realizing that that ACHE for a newborn is going away. I LOVE newborns. I want to hold them and snuggle them. I do not however want to raise more kids. That's a good feeling. Especially considering I have no choice and Steven would chop his own balls off before allowing me another child LOL Our family is coming together so nicely and it makes me smile. We're not perfect but we are happy! We struggle and don't do everything right but we are trying!

I finally ordered my blog book. I received it yesterday and it's so cool! Jan 05 through Dec 2010 I now have in print and it looks amazing. I will never regret spending that $70 and look forward to blogging more the next few years. It will become my diary and hopefully someday my kids or my family can look back and enjoy seeing it written down, seeing pics, and hearing my inner thoughts.

Onto some pics for the last month.............