Decking the Halls

Photos of our home decorated for the winter holidays.

Dear Blog...

Oh, how I have neglected you over the past few months. I think of you often, debating in my head throughout the day what I should type on you to share with others as the day winds to a close. But, after a long day of thinking and brainstorming, cleaning and caring for children, learning and having fun, I have found it hard to sit and type as I used to. Dare I say my evenings have recently been spent reading, playing board games with the children, baking, watching movies with my husband, and yes, I am ashamed to say, even playing a video game or two.

I will try harder to include you in my daily routine. I truly enjoy sharing stories about my day, about life, and about how to make the world just a little bit better. I will do better. I promise. Thank you for being here, patiently waiting for my return. Again, I am sorry for neglecting you.

Your-trying-to-be-faithful-author,

Jaynelle

Getting Caught Up

Much has happened since the last time I posted. One of my sisters gave me a kick in the behind to get me blogging again. It can be hard to get back into the blogging routine once I'm away from it for a few days.

I'm sorry if the next few posts are a bit out dated. Got to get everyone caught up to speed.

Still Alive

I'm still alive and kicking (in case anyone was wondering). I've been staying busy out in the garden, rearranging bedrooms, proof reading political science papers, and running the kids all over town.

I have a lot on my mind to blog about...I hope to get back in the groove tomorrow.

Until then, hope you all are doing well.

When Superman is Broken

You fix him.

My superman has been broken with (another) hernia for the past few months and was partially fixed yesterday. He’ll have another surgery next week to fix the other side.

He is (and I am) excited for him to be on the road to recovery, though it will be about seven weeks or so before he’ll be able to lift more than ten pounds.

He (hopefully) has more adventure races in the near future and needs to recover so he can get back out there. He’s hoping to drag me along on one too. We’ll see how that goes!

Feel better, Superman. I love you.

My Selfish Weekend

I have had a selfish weekend and I don't really feel too bad about it. I don't ever take much time for myself. Every now and again I'll steal a few minutes to relax in the tub, or maybe every few months I'll attend a Mom's Night Out. But this weekend was different.

What did I do, you ask?

I READ A BOOK!

Yes, a whole book. And not a little wimpy book, but a big whopper of a book.

Justin and I watched the trailer for the movie that will be coming out and I really wanted to read the book before seeing the movie. Luckily, there wasn't a long wait at the library and it came in on Wednesday while we were there for Lego Club.

So what is the book, you ask?

Angels & Demons by Dan Brown. It was fabulous...all 569 pages of it. Dan Brown is also the author of The Da Vinci Code. I would highly recommend both books to any and everyone.

I started reading it Friday while Justin was on duty (which gave me the whole night after the kids went to sleep to read and read and read). I think I may have slightly neglected the kids on Friday...I did feed them and got them into their beds, but between lunch after our co-op Friday and dinner (which was just leftovers), they basically played nicely together both inside and out(I'm so glad that they get along so well). Saturday was much of the same. I did make a big breakfast for everyone, but got right back to reading while Justin slept after his night on duty and again the kids played. I did take a break to have a nice Date Night with Justin to celebrate our upcoming anniversary, but went right back to reading while he and Jake watched a Civil Rights movie from the History Channel that we got from Netflix and fell asleep on the couch. I finished early this morning, slept a little, got moving today and cleaned the garage. I guess I wasn't completely selfish this weekend...though I did clean the garage so I could get my van back in the garage.

I won't go into my thoughts on the book here. I think it is a book that one would need to read and interpret for themselves, much like The Da Vinci Code. I'm sure it will resonate differently for everyone.

I don't do it often, but having a selfish weekend felt pretty good...almost regenerating. Maybe I'll have another selfish weekend soon....possibly to till and plant my garden. I'm not sure that it counts as selfish, but either way I can't wait.

The Holiday Letter – Informative or Impersonal

My project for this weekend is to work on our holiday cards.

I have been sending out holiday cards to family and friends since Justin and I got married just about ten years ago. At the beginning, I didn’t have many cards to address and send out. Each one had its own personal touch with a small individualized note for the recipient to savor, knowing just how much we cared.

Things are a little different now. We now send out approximately 75 holiday cards to family and friends near and far. The military lifestyle ensures that we get a new address and some additional friends every few years. Because of that, I have gone from sending ten personalized cards, to sending 75 cards with a single spaced, 9 pt. font, form letter stuffed inside a card with a winter landscape on the front.

I have mixed feelings about the evolution of my holiday card giving. Everyone loves a personalized message from the sender. It’s always nice to read “Dear Justin and Jaynelle, Our family missed your annual Memorial Day at the Miller’s party…” I am a realist, though, and know that not everyone has time to write out 75 personalized messages, me included.

To be honest, it’s the thought that counts, right?. A simple card with just a signature lets me know that the sender was thinking of me this holiday season. A few simple lines written inside might even step it up a notch. I do have to say, though, I am equally delighted to get “informational” form letters from friends and family during the holiday season. They give me a small glimpse into the sender’s year, all on a single sheet of paper (I have had to shorten my letter a bit over the years. No one appreciates a two page, front and back, 1.5 spaced holiday letter with .5” margins, even if it is action packed…so I’ve been told). A simple form letter gets me caught up quickly and in the “know” on what is going on in the lives of family and friends whom we might not see or hear from on a regular basis.

As usual, this year's holiday letter will be filled to the brim. I’m sure I will have to weed out the “not so exciting” parts so as not to run over my one-page limit. I’ll ask each family member what information they want included about themselves, giving everyone their own paragraph. I have always included a family photo in our cards. I guess it's because I'm a visual person and like receiving photos myself. In more recent years, I have started to include the kids’ “school” photos in the holiday letters (they each have their portrait taken near their birthday in place of actual school photos). I’ve found it makes it easier for me to remember who I’ve sent photos to if I send them all at the same time.

So what do you think?

If you have a minute, please fill out the polls in the upper right of your screen. I'm interested to see what people think.

I'm Back

Well, at least I hope so. Things are starting to slow down around here, so I should be able to get back down to business of blogging.


Chief Initiation is now over, (congratulations all you new Chiefs!) so Justin will be resuming his usual, albeit rotating, schedule.

I am glad that we get to participate in Chief Initiation each year. We chose to join the Navy together (the same week we decided to get married), so I look at this as "our" career. Although I am just a CPO spouse, I enjoy the initiation process and watching as the Selectees grow during the induction process. Unfortunately, this year Justin just happened to be on "eves," so he was burning the candle at both ends...getting home in the middle of the night and leaving again before the sun came up...all to be there and support his SLUG (Selectee Learning Under Guidance).

We spent a fortune on this year's Selectees too! It seemed like there was some sort of fundraiser just about every day of the week. We said from the beginning that we were going to have to put aside money every month for Chief Initiation each year. It is worth it, though. The process helps to make the Selectees into the Chiefs you see today. Thank you seasoned Chiefs for all your hard work!


We have now been back at our "school" routine for about a month and have ironed out most of the kinks. The kids are getting their work done each day, despite the many activities we now find ourselves participating in....M=park day; Tu=PE; 1st W=Roots&Shoots, 3rd W (tentatively)=Lego Club; Th=park day; F=field trips and group activities. We are busy, but not yet over-burdened.

Chores have slipped a bit, so I might look into a new method for dividing up chores and accounting for allowance. Right now we change chores daily, but I'm thinking about changing it so we switch chores weekly instead. I'll keep you updated.


The house is quiet, so I better hit the rack (see, I really am a proud Navy wife...I even speak the lingo).

Hope to see you back here tomorrow...wish me luck!

Sleep Takes Priority

This has been a very busy week...actually, it has been a very busy month and it is only the 10th!

I have lots to blog about, but exhaustion has finally taken hold of me.

I'm hoping for some down time at the end of the week to get caught up on my blogging. It really is a form of relaxation for me, and something I look forward to.

But not tonight. I'm off to bed to try to get caught up on some much needed sleep.

Here is my nightly "Good Night" routine to send you off.

Jensen - "Good night...[in his loud whisper voice] you say sleep tight, Mom."
Me - "Sleep tight."
Jensen - "Don't let beg bugs bite...[again in loud whisper voice] MOM, say sleep tight!"
Me - [Fake snoring sounds]

Thank You HP Dude

Today was a great day for me. I finally have my laptop back to almost normal. I've been having trouble with it disconnecting from our wireless network for no apparent reason. That problem was supposedly fixed last month when I sent it in to HP, but it came back with the same problem.

Late last week, I decided it was time to update my anti-virus protection and attempted to uninstall my current program (ahem...Norton...ahem). Somehow during the uninstall process I (according to the Norton/Symantic technical people) made a mistake and messed up some of my Windows files. Well guess what, when you mess up some of your Windows files, many of your Windows functions don't work (can you believe it). Well, after trying all sorts of things and reading all sorts of online posts about similar problems and trying to use the restore function on the computer and calling Dad to fix it for me, I surrendered and called HP.

Well, the telephone HP man was less than helpful. I guess that I don't qualify for help in restoring my laptop if my warrenty has expired and it would only cost me $99 to get phone support for the next year. Now that is just phone support, not any type of support for hardware or sofware...that would cost me another $100-$150! He highly encouraged me to get the $229 package so that they could fix the laptop for me if we couldn't fix the problem over the phone. I played the helpless wife (I don't do it often) and said that I had to ask my husband before I spent that kind of money. The phone HP man wasn't pleased, but told me that if I wanted I could use the tech support offered online free of charge. FREE! Now that's my kind of price!

Today, the online HP tech guy was very helpful. He pointed me in the right direction, helping me to help myself. I love when that happens. I now know how to restore my PC to its factory settings, seemingly fixing all the booboos I (apparently) gave it over the past week or so. And, ironically enough, I have not been dropped from my wireless network for the past hour or so (knock on wood). I nearly cried when Windows XP started without any error messages this afternoon. Now all I have to do is reload my Office software. Luckily when I used the restore function, it saved all of my files (although I backed them up just in case).

I'm glad online HP dude taught me how to fish, rather than just give me the fish. It is so much more empowering to learn how to do something, rather than just being given the answer. Thank you HP dude!

When Chin Meets Tile

When a toddler’s chin hits ceramic tile…you get stitches…three of them to be exact.

Yesterday Jensen was climbing on a chair in the kitchen, and Jake, being the responsible big brother that he is, decided to help him down. Well, when he placed him ever so gently on the floor, Jensen’s socked feet slipped out from under him and the rest is history.

Believe it or not, we were in and out of the ER in less than two hours. I know, I was amazed too! It was one of our fastest ER visits yet. This Naval hospital has a fairly small ER, but very fast service (well, at least the two times we’ve been there thus far in the past two months).

The Dr. decided against Dermabond, figuring that Jensen, being the two year old that he is, would probably rub it, bump it, or otherwise damage the glue, making stitches our only other option. We wrapped him up like a burrito (which is what we do after bath time each night…not sure if he’ll ever want to be a burrito again), held him tight, and got over and done with it as quickly as possible.

Had he known some four letter words I’m sure they would have been flying. Instead, the poor female nurse that was helping hold his jaw shut took the brunt of his “meanie-head” calling. He’s a strong little booger and kept yelling at the male attendants to “let his arms go.” I know he wasn’t in any pain, but instead I’m sure he was just scared. I did my best to talk to him, but he just didn’t want to hear anything I had to say.

As soon as we unwrapped him from his burrito-ness he was fine. He sniffled a few times, said the doctor (generalizing for everyone who assisted) was mean, and then moved on. He got a bunch of stickers and a popsicle for his trouble, and was kind enough to thank everyone at the nurses’ station as we walked out the door.

Lucky for us we get to go back next week to have the stitches removed. I’m sure he’ll love that hospital adventure almost as much as the first.

No More Diapers

I believe I can officially declare that we are done with diapers!

Jensen has been accident free for two full weeks, both during the day and at night. He decided about three weeks ago that he wasn’t going to wear a diaper to bed. I was nervous, but thought, “And so it begins.” The next day he had a bazillion accidents and I thought we were in for a long haul. But the following day he had two accidents, and then the day after he had one. I was surprised at the lack of effort I had to put into potty training this child. He didn’t even use a toddler potty. He wanted nothing to do with that thing. I had one of those that turn into a stool, so you guessed it, it is now a stool.

Each of my kids has been so different to potty train…

Jake showed some interest in potty training when he was about 18 months old. I knew we were getting ready to move, and didn’t want to have to be potty training as we were driving the entire length of the country, so I didn’t push the issue and he quickly moved on…seemingly never to have that desire again. I say never because he never really showed much interest in potty training after that. He had a diaper and that was fine with him. When he was two and a half, I started the “Let’s use the potty now” request with little luck. He just wasn’t interested. “Aren’t all children potty trained by now? Isn’t my child too old to be in diapers?” I would ask myself. I battled with him for several months until he was completely #1 potty trained, but #2 was another story. As much as I hate reward systems, stickers worked for getting him #1 potty trained. I hate to say it, but I had to use bribery to achieve #2. We promised Jake that if he would go #2 on the potty, then we would buy him a light saber…you know, Star Wars. He was just about to turn three, Justin was getting ready to go on deployment, and I was pregnant. We had to try something. Guess what…it worked! Unfortunately he had to do his big deed on a Sunday evening, at just about closing time. We ran all over town looking for a store that was open and had light sabers. Finally, Justin ran into a K. B. Toy Store (not the cheapest place, I know) just as they were locking up and asked if he could just get a light saber for his son. They agreed and he grabbed the first one he saw. Which one did he grab, you ask? None other than Count Douku’s saber…the cool red one with the bent handle. How much was it, you ask? A whopping $30!! He loved that light saber (which just recently died) and he was potty trained from then on.

I wasn’t pleased with the potty training method I used with Jake and vowed not to force potty train again.

Jolie’s story is a bit better and a bit shorter. She woke up one day when she was 26 months old and said that she wasn’t going to wear diapers again…and she didn’t. The end. She grabbed a sticker when she wanted to, but didn’t NEED the stickers like Jake did. She just wanted to go on the potty and she did. I don’t remember any real accidents, day or night. She had her mind made up, and there you go.

Jensen showed some interest before we moved (at about 26 months) and I thought, “Woo hoo, another easy one.” Well…after a few days the novelty wore off, and there was absolutely no interest. I ran to the stickers (believe it or not, they were the same ones I used with the other two). I started to tell him that he’d get a sticker if he went potty, but stopped myself. My mom always says that the kids won’t go to college in diapers, and she’s right. I put the stickers away, and waited for him to make the first move. He asked to go several times before we moved, but nothing much came of it. Three weeks ago, something happened and he decided he was ready…and so was I.

So, I won’t have to buy any more diapers (have you seen how much they cost!). I have stopped carrying around a diaper bag (I still keep a change of clothes for all of us in the van just in case). I will still feel bad that we didn’t use cloth, but hopefully I can persuade my kids to use them (maybe I’ll even front the bill if I can).

If potty training has taught me anything, it reinforced that…
All children are different.
They each work on their own timetable.
Forcing children to do something will not help them to learn how to do it; forcing them may actually discourage them from doing it.
Relax and let nature take its course.

Guess what, they won’t go to college in diapers.

The FURminator

I saw an advertisement for the FURminator while at a pet store in Virginia and thought it would be a great brush for our domestic, medium-haired cat, DC. I’ve hadn’t yet found a pet brush that would really help with her shedding, especially prevalent during the summer months.

We got DC when we were stationed in Washington, on a night before Justin left for a work-up on the ship. I couldn’t come up with a name for her, so Justin came up with DC, short for Dog Chow, which went nicely with our then 120 lb. Great Pyrenees. Can you tell that he isn’t a cat person? Yet, when he came back six weeks later, he was her new best friend. Silly cat. She is now nearly seven years old and 17 ½ lbs! She's a big girl, and has a lot of fur.

The FURminator isn't cheap, but it has worked wonders for her and for us. She doesn’t like to be brushed, so I have to brush her in small spurts, but WOW does it do a great job. The FURminator works by helping to remove the pet’s loose undercoat, using a sort of razor-toothed comb to remove the hair. The brush has helped to keep her cool and has helped to decrease (not eliminate) her shedding on the furniture. I got mine at the Navy Exchange (NEX), but several large pet stores carry the wonder-brush.

Day One is a Success

I would say about two-thirds of our stuff is now packed. Our house is a maze of boxes, stacked nearly to the ceiling. The kids are having a blast weaving in between them, hiding behind them, and playing with toys on top of them.

Jake and Jolie acted as moving assistants today. Jake was tasked early with helping to pack up his toys. Justin was a big fan of this request. Believe it or not, the older two spent the entire day chatting the ear off of the nice woman helping to pack up their toys. Jensen spent the majority of the day requesting "hold you." He is going through a clingy stage, and having strangers in the house didn't help his cause much at all.

The kids' bathroom is stuffed full of everything I deem too precious to allow the movers to pack...the filing boxes, photos, jewelry, instruments, coin collections, medications and undergarments. That's right. I'm not a big fan of having other people mess with my skivvies, thank you very much. We'll load all of those items into the vehicles Thursday before heading to our hotel.

I am looking forward to completing the moving process. We haven't been eating very well since getting back from our house-hunting trip. Knowing that we would be leaving, we stopped stocking up at the commissary and instead were trying to finish up what we had. I think we learned our lesson and look forward to getting settled and finding the closest farmers market and getting our garden started.

Tonight, we are sleeping in sleeping bags scattered throughout the house. Justin is concerned that the slick sleeping bags will slip off the bed, so he has positioned himself on the "little" couch. Jensen is asleep on the "big" couch. Jake is on his floor, enjoying having his own room for one night. Jolie decided to take up camp in the office, one of the only rooms without boxes. I think I'll go ahead and grab a sleeping bag and tempt fate with the slick bag and see if I can avoid slipping off the bed.

Vegetable Politics

Though I am not a lover of politics, my husband is. To him, political season is like football season to most. Each debate is savored, each political analysis relished. It is no surprise, then, that my children have picked up on some of the political dialog going on in our house during this time of the year.

Yesterday, during our Saturday “down time,” the kids were running around the house saying silly phrases and one of them said Celery Clinton. Well, this opened up a flood of ideas. Could each of the possible presidential nominees have a veggie-related name?

Over dinner tonight, we were able to come up with names for the other possible nominees…while rolling on the floor laughing, of course.

Celery Clinton
Broccoli Obama
John McBean
Ralph Tater

The kids then spent the rest of the night running around the house, taking turns being Celery Clinton and Broccoli Obama, John McBean and Ralph Tater. They don’t know much about politics as of yet, but we hope that by exposing them to different schools of thought and differing opinions that they will be better citizens someday because of it.

Hot Chocolate

We got this forwarded email from a friend the other day. I liked it so much I thought I would share. Really makes one think...


Hot chocolate...

A group of graduates, well-established in their careers, were talking at a reunion and decided to go visit their old university professor, now retired.

During their visit, the conversation turned to complaints about stress in their work and lives.

Offering his guests hot chocolate, the professor went into the kitchen and returned with a large pot of hot chocolate and an assortment of cups - porcelain, glass, crystal, some plain-looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the hot chocolate.

When they all had a cup of hot chocolate in hand, the professor said, "Notice that all the nice-looking, expensive cups were taken, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. The cup that you're drinking from adds nothing to the quality of the hot chocolate. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was hot chocolate, not the cup; but you consciously went for the best cups... And then you began eyeing one another's cups.

"Now consider this: Life is the hot chocolate - your job, money, and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life. The cup you have neither defines nor changes the quality of life you have. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the hot chocolate God has provided us. God makes the hot chocolate, man chooses the cups. The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything that they have."

Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. And enjoy your hot chocolate...