Venily- Open House!!

Venily got to meet her teacher and see her room today for 4K!!!  She got to drop off all of her supplies, put her extra clothes, gym shoes, and art shirt into her cubby and find out where her mailbox is and where she gets to hang her coat and backpack!!!!  It was kind of crazy in the room with lots of parents and kids running around, but Venily did get a chance to talk to her teacher.  We also found out that there is another little girl who lives 3 houses down from us who is ALSO in Venily's same afternoon 4K class.  How fricken cool!!  The parents said they're not sure if she'll be riding the bus home or not, but if she does, that would be awesome! :)  I am sooooo very excited for Venily to start school!!!! 2 more days!!!!!

Ahhh, and the kids even switch for "specials".  Here is her schedule:
Monday- Library and Art class
Tuesday- Gym class (and fyi, Ms. Meiden retired last year thank goodness, haha)
Wednesday- Computers
Friday- Music class


Venily is so excited that she gets to go to all of these "extra" classes! :)

Haven is 23 months old!!!

Only 1 more month she turns 2!!!  How on earth did this happen?!

I have been slacking a lot on writing anything lately.  I have a few cute little conversations from the last couple of weeks, but nothing else.  I'm hoping to have a big post for when she turns 2!!!

Haven- (after waking up one morning) "Mommy, can I please watch some Dora?"

Me- "No sweetie, not right now."

Haven- (huge smile) "Pretty please?"

(how can I say no to that?!)

(after telling her that we were going to her grandma's house for a little bit in the morning)

Haven: "We are going to Grandma's house?!  Yay!  Can we eat Grandma's zucchini bread?  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Grandma's zucchini bread!" (all while dancing around b/c she is so excited)

LOL!

(as we were driving and a school bus drove past)

Haven: "Mommy, where is that school bus going next?"

(she is so thoughtful and observant it scares me sometimes, lol!)

(after pooping on the potty)

Haven: "Mommy, can I ask you if I can get down now?" 

haha

(She comes up to me, showing me her bunny)

Haven:  "This is my bunny.  There is a hole in it!" (it's a puppet, so a hole to put your hand in)

Me:  "Oh, that's your bunny?"

Haven:  "It's a RABBIT actually!"

Me:  "Oh, it's your RABBIT!!" (lol)

Haven:  "Uh huh, we have work to do." (and she leaves the room)

:)


I could seriously write a hundred funny things she says each day b/c it never stops!  She is so hilarious!! :)  Gosh I love her and don't want her to grow up any more!!!!!

Business Endeavor!

Well, my husband and friends finally talked me into making a business out of drawing pencil portraits of people.  We shall see how it goes.  Up until a month ago, I didn't even know that there was a market for that sort of thing!!  Here is my facebook business profile page and I'm currently working on a website as well.

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/pages/Pictures-to-Pencil/254677244556724

I just did a portrait of the daughter of a friend of mine and she absolutely loved it.  I was shocked b/c the whole time I was drawing it I kept thinking that there was no way she was going to like it.  Not only that, but after she posted it on her facebook, I had 4 people contact me saying they wanted pictures done and that they'd pay me for them!  I have very low self-esteem about my drawing abilities, so this is going to be hard on me.  I LOVE drawing so this would be a great spare time project to make some money, but there is always a point in each one of my drawings where my anxiety level spikes really high that I'm not going to be able to "get it right".  And I am HORRIBLE about negative criticism so it is going to be really hard for me not to lock myself in a room and cry for a week straight when someone tells me they don't like a drawing I did, haha!  Oh well, maybe it will be good for me?!

On a more positive note, I have always wanted to be good at something useful.  I have always envied people who have a talent for things that they enjoy doing.  Photography, baking, sports, music etc.  Maybe I have found my "something."

Venily and Haven videos! ♥

Haven singing "Yahnkee Doodle".  This has been stuck in her head for days.  This is my newest video I watch when I'm feeling sad, lol! :) (Haven- 22 months)

Venily singing (3.5 years old).  She sings ALL THE TIME too, haha!

Both of the girls slide jumping!  This is a daily occurrence in our house.  They HAVE to jump off of anything and everything.  So far, no emergency room trips yet from this, lol, but give it time!... (Venily- 3.5 years, Haven- 22m_

Crazy Venily at dinner time.  It's no wonder I am tired all of the time!  Oh, and I don't know why she was messing up her rhyming words so badly, usually she does pretty good, haha!  (Venily- 3.5 years old)

and my little Haven while Venily was in timeout!  Could NOT love this girl any more than I already do! :)  (22 months)

Birth Control/ Arthritis

So, I haven't been on any real birth control since I got married, just over 5 years ago.  Jason has been bothering me and bothering me about it (and threatening to get a vasectomy) so after 3 different appointment attempts, I finally got in today.  The only thing I've used in the past is the pill and then the mini pill for a total of 5 years.  Both of which I hated.  So I am trying the Nuvaring now.  AND, my doctor ordered it so that I don't have to have my period at all, which I'm pretty psyched about (I didn't know that was an option)!!!  Hopefully I like it.  I can't see myself ever going back to something I have to remember daily and I don't want anything even semi-permanent, so I'm hoping this works out for me (with no crazy hormonal side-effects!)!


I also got medication for my arthritis.  I am PRAYING that this works b/c I can hardly function some days.  I was just realizing the other day how many daily tasks I have altered in some way so that it won't hurt as bad and it was pretty sad to think about.  I've had this since I was in high school, but never thought that I had any kind of real condition, I just thought I had "weak wrists".  I used to tie stuff around my wrists really tight to "hold them together" and lessen the pain.  Duh, I should have known something was wrong, but I have always hated doctors and avoid them at all costs unless I'm basically dieing!  I guess ignoring the problem definitely hasn't made it go away so hopefully medicine will!

Venily's newest class- Beach Volleyball!!!

Venily just finished her newest class on Friday- beach volleyball!  She had sooooo much fun and it has been her best class yet.  She wasn't shy for even a second, lol!  Each class that she's taken through this program just keeps getting better and better... so far she's taken:


Soccer (HORRIBLE... couldn't get her to do a single thing!)
Baseball (Bad, but she did participate in a few activities, but then would completely close down again on others)
Dance (Good- was shy the 1st day and wouldn't do things with the group, had to be right by me, but after that she warmed up really quick and did awesome the rest of the classes)
Gymnastics- Very good!  Only had one "off" morning one time that lasted for like 10 mintues.
Beach Volleyball- AMAZING!!!


I was really surprised at how much she learned as well at her beach volleyball class!  There were only 7 kids in the class and 3 teachers, lol.  She learned how to bump (elephant), set (moose), spike (alligator), and how to serve!  And how to say "mine!" whenever she hits the ball.  (FYI- Venily was the LOUDEST child to shout "MINE!" each time and I could hear her completely across the room, lol!)  And it was too fricken cute to watch too!  ♥  She loved her class and she loved her teachers.  I was kind of hoping there would be some male teachers this time, just to see how she'd behave then, but they were all female again (the last 3 classes have been).


She really did amazing.  I am so proud of her!  She really got into it (the other kids- not so much, lol!).  She took everything her teacher's told her very seriously and even wanted to practice all the time while we were home! ♥  And I am so very happy to say that she appears to be a well-liked kid.  Other kids just gravitate towards her.  She is friendly and loves making new friends.  You don't know how happy this makes me!!!!  

Oh, and super cute-  Venily showed up to class one day decked out in tattoos (11 to be exact, including 1 on her face, lol!).  She was so proud of them and loved all the attention she got.  The next class period one of the other kids had a bunch of tattoos on too!  How fricken cute?!  She is a trend setter too! :)

Conversations with a 22 month old!

 Some of Haven's most recent hilarious conversations!  She is just the funniest child!!!

Me:  "Haven, come here!"

Haven:  "No!"

Me:  "Are you being naughty?"

Haven:  "No, I'm not being naughty.  I'm just being a goofball!"

(she says this ALL the time now)

(Haven came out of the bathroom with her underwear on backwards.)

Me:  "Haven, turn your underwear around!!"

(takes them off, and spins around in a circle with them in her hands)

Haven:  "I turned them around in a circle!"

 (I laughed so hard, haha!)

Me: (after she pooped in the toilet)  "I am so proud of you!" (I say this almost every time, lol)

Haven:  "Yeah, everyone is so proud of me!"

School Registration!!!!

We just registered Venily all up for 4K today!!!!!  Venily was so excited to see her new school and where her new class will be.  Everyone we spoke to was SOOOO nice, Venily can't wait to go to school!!  She almost started crying when we had to leave b/c she wanted to stay at her new school, lol! :)

We found out today that she will be in the afternoon class.  I was really hoping that she'd be in the morning class, but one of my mom's friends (that I've known since I was a baby and who is one of the nicest people in the entire world) is a helper in that class, so that's reason enough for me not to try to get her into the morning class!  That means that I will have to drive her to school each day at around 12:00 (with Haven and Kylee) and she'll be done with school at 3:20pm and ride the bus home (last year I know our stop was the last one and Allison got dropped off at our house around 3:50pm).  Being in the afternoon class means that we are stopping napping as of today... yikes!  Hopefully she will get into the swing of this new schedule by the time school comes around.  I can't really make her bedtime any earlier so HOPEFULLY she learns to start sleeping in a little (lol, yeah, like that's going to happen....)

We've had all our school supplies for a few weeks now (including a princess backpack, of course!), lol, but I still need to get her some gym shoes and an art shirt! :)  We bought her a ton of milk tickets today... I'm so excited for her to start school!!!!  Open house is August 30th where she'll get to meet her teacher and see her classroom and then she starts school on September 1st! :)

She already got her picture taken today for the yearbook.  Is it weird that I'm about to cry from writing that, lol?  (and as I type this she is telling Jake Kotrba (one of her favorite people) all about today and registration and how she's going to find the nicest girl in the class and become friends with her, lol!!)  Anyway, she took an awesome pic with the cutest smile ever, but the woman was new and didn't take it right so she had to do it again and it didn't come out quite so well.  Lol, but it's still cute.

Side story:  There was a man helping the woman learn the machine to take pictures.  He was talking to someone else and said "What is her name?" ... "Wow, that is beautiful"  and then someone else asked me how to pronounce it and she's like "Oh, that's different." and he's like "No, that's the most gorgeous name I've ever heard!"  :) (I happen to agree! ♥)

The countdown is on for school to start!!!!!!  28 DAYS!!!

July Resolution Review!

Resolution #1- Read 100 books this year.  So far I've read:

January- 11 books

February- 5 books

March- 10 books

April- 8 books

May- 11 books

June- 9 books

July- 5 books

 TOTAL: _59_ books (should have 58 1/3 read at this point!)

Status:  Doing okay.  I couldn't get a lot of reading done this month b/c we've been busy, I've been drawing some instead of reading, I finished my favorite series I've been reading, and I had a yard sale that took up a lot of work for about a week.


This month I read the last 2 books in the Anita Blake series (#19 and #20) and then read the 1st one that I had never read, lol.  I also read the author's book on all of her short stories.  I read Potty Training your Baby- A Practical Guide for Easier Toilet Training as well.  All stuff I already knew, but good to read anyway.  I started Uglies by Scott Westerfeld too.  I have a bunch of new books from the library too so I'm hoping to find another series that I love b/c I'm really sad my other one came to an end.

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Resolution #2- Work out at least 30 minutes 2x per week.

STATUS:  Thinking about crossing this one off my list soon, lol!

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Resolution #3- I WILL donate blood this year.

STATUS:  Completed 2/17.  Will work on scheduling my next time this next month!

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Resolution #4- Get boudoir pictures taken of myself.

STATUS:  Still waiting.  I've promised myself I WILL get it done though! ;)

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Resolution #5- Drink more water

STATUS:  Doing pretty good.

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RESOLUTION #6: Plan out a summer home-schooling curriculum for Venily and stick to it!

STATUS: Got a bunch of cool books from the library on different things to do with paints, bubbles, etc.  It's not what I was envisioning, but it'll be fun this last month before school starts.  Seriously, Venily starts 4K on September 1st!!!!!!  AHHHHH!!!!! 5x a week! (half days).  I also start watching Kylee again that same day (Haven's little friend who is only 1 month younger than her) so I need to find some fun things for the little girls to do!

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RESOLUTION #7:  Paint a picture of my girls to hang up in my house.  (This is something that I've wanted to do for a very long time and I know will be very time demanding, but it's something I really want to do!)

STATUS:  Completed the following:

• Got my canvas and paints! two 11x14 canvases and two 16 x 20 canvases.  I was totally geeking out in Hobby Lobby all by myself -I'm NEVER by myself!! (though not nearly as bad as when I was geeking out right before we saw Harry Potter, lol.  Jason was beyond embarrassed in me and kept loudly saying "Get a hold of yourself, Jennifer, you're a grown woman!" while anyone within hearing distance laughed! :) )
• I had every intention of doing a painting right away, picked out my pics and got them ordered and delivered, but chickened out and wanted to a pencil drawing first.  So I did the following:
  
  Haven:

 

 Venily:

I am pretty happy with how they turned out, though I could still spend probably an hour on each one fixing things here and there.  I have a couple more drawings lined up for other people.  And Jason is trying to talk me into doing this online for people.  He was all set up to order me a domain name and start on my website, but I'm still reluctant.

I'm still hoping to do some paintings soon as well, but I can't believe it's been so long since I did any sort of drawing or painting (not since high school).  I forgot how much I actually enjoy it!