Lincoln Log Fun

Jenna is getting to be quite the builder with Lincoln Logs. She loves playing with them, and really impresses us with what she builds. Here's a few shots of a recent creation.

A Visit to the Doctor

Jenna woke up a few Saturdays ago, not acting like herself and feeling warm. We called the doctor because we didn't want her to be sick all weekend. Once she found out where she was going, she said she was feeling better, but we knew she was just trying to get out of going. : ) We took her to the weekend office where a female doctor was there instead of her usual male doctor. It was amazing how calm she was through the entire visit; she didn't cry at all. After the doctor left the room, I asked her if she liked the girl doctor better than her other doctor. She said, "I like girl doctors not boy doctors," so we'll be working on switching to her.

They ordered a strep test and a flu test (one in the mouth and one in the nose), so she wasn't thrilled at all with the nurse. Thankfully, both were negative, so the virus just ran it's course for a week or so and she was better. After the trauma of the test, I asked the nurse if they had a sucker, and they offered a popsicle; I never remember getting a popsicle when I went to the doctor! She survived the visit, may have found a new doctor in the process, and enjoyed a blue raspberry popsicle too!

Winter in Tennessee

If I remember right, for the first 2 weeks of January, Knoxville didn't get above freezing. We had snow/ice on January 7-8, and our driveway didn't melt until Saturday, January 16! It was very cold, which we're definitely not used to here! Here's a picture of the entrance of our subdivision (where last year I'd rear-ended someone in the ice because it was so bad)!

Jenna didn't want to get out in the snow (what little we had) because it was too cold--smart girl! Hopefully, later this year, we'll have a good snow where Jenna can enjoy playing in it. Today, we're just getting rain, rain, rain.

Yikes!

It's going to be a long 10 weeks! Here's how I looked at 38 weeks with Jenna.
Here's how I look now at 29 weeks!Yikes!

And the baby's name is...

We've decided on the baby's name and wanted to share it with you. Of course, when we see him, if the name doesn't fit, we could always change it, but this is what we're going with for now. We can't wait to meet him in just a few months!

My Favorite Jenna Quotes

Jenna has been saying 3 things lately that I think are so cute:

1) "I so love you!" - The so inserted in the sentence just makes it so sweet and emphatic.

2) "I was missing you!" - This is another one that tugs at the heart!

3) "You may pick." - I've been giving her choices for some time now to give her the opportunity to learn to make her own decisions. She's just started with this, which to me is an early sign of preferring others.

She's really growing up and will make such a great big sister!

Pretty Dresses from the Grandmothers

Both of Jenna's grandmothers have recently given her dresses, so I thought I'd post how cute she looked in them. She loves to wear dresses and even likes wearing tights...we'll see how long that lasts!

Here's the dress from Randy's mom--she made it!

Here's the dress from my mom & dad; Jenna enjoyed being a princess in it!

Christmas Baking

Jenna and I started Christmas baking last week with a new recipe for cookies. My favorite kind of Hershey Kisses are the Candy Cane type which, thankfully, are only available during the Christmas season!

If you also like these type of kisses, I recommend you try this recipe for Candy Cane Blossoms.

Jenna was responsible for unwrapping all of the
Hershey Kisses and for rolling the cookies in the sugar
before baking. She did a great job!

Another job of Jenna's was to put the Hershey Kisses
on the cookies after they were finished baking.

As you can see, ours turned out very similar
to the picture on the Hershey's Website!
Jenna even added some creativity by mixing red and green
colors. She was so proud of these cookies!

While celebrating Christmas in Atlanta this weekend, Jenna helped Mimi do some more Christmas baking. Mimi found this adorable apron and was so excited to share it with her. Of course, Jenna wasn't interested in wearing it. We finally got her to put it on for a few minutes so we could get some pictures.

Does she look cute or what?

Mimi and Jenna with their aprons on

Do you think Jenna was getting aggravated
with all the pictures???

She was ready to start baking again!

Christmas is coming quickly, so hopefully we'll still have time to do more baking. If not, we can always resume in January!

Jenna's 3rd Birthday - Celebration #4

Jenna's 4th celebration was a first for us--a birthday party with her friends. We invited 9 friends from school and church, and 5 were able to come, which ended up being plenty! She was so excited about having her friends at her house! To add to the excitement, we woke up to snow falling on the Saturday morning of the party, which was just beautiful.


We spent the morning getting ready, though, so she wasn't able to play out in it...maybe she will next time.

Daddy led a round of the Hokey Pokey, to start the party. The kids seemed to love it!

I found a picture of a Hello Kitty cake online, so I replicated it. It was delicious...chocolate cake with chocolate and vanilla icings! Yum!


I had plenty of assistance while helping Jenna to open her presents!

The house quickly turned into a playground with running, shouting, etc. A tornado whipped through the living room, but somehow we missed seeing it!

It lasted 1.5 hours on the dot; the kids were starting to get restless at that point. I did manage to get a picture of Jenna with her school friends (the one from church had already left). Aren't they all so cute?

Here's one of just the girls...

Jenna's wondering, "Where did all my friends go?"

So, at the end of the day, I asked Jenna what her favorite part of her birthday party was, and she said:
Yep. The M&Ms! I have a feeling next year's celebration(s) will be a little more simple, if this is what stood out in her memory!

Jenna's 3rd Birthday - Celebration #3

The 3rd celebration for Jenna's birthday was a special meal at home, candles and singing, and giving gifts. We kept it low-key since she'd had so many other celebrations.

Her choice of dinner was just like any typical kid: hot dogs (turkey kielbasa), macaroni and cheese, and green beans (I added this to give some nutritional value):

One of my good friends from work found these candles that spelled out JENNA. How cute is that? Jenna loved them and was so excited to see another opportunity to blow out candles! Notice how the jelly bean colors happened to perfectly coordinate with the letters!



Jenna had picked out a Hello Kitty theme for her birthday invitations, so when I saw this plate, cup, bowl and water bottle set, I knew she'd love it. I think her expression is so cute!

Her big present was a piano keyboard. This is the next day, and it's the first thing she wanted to do when she got home from school. Hopefully, we'll be able to start her with piano lessons soon.

Jenna's 3rd Birthday - Celebration #2

For Jenna's second celebration, Randy and I went to her school to be there while she shared her homemade cupcakes with her classmates. She loves her friends, and we enjoyed watching them all interact!
It turns out, it was another little girl's birthday the next day, so each child was given 2 cupcakes and some goldfish to counter-balance the sugar. They all really got into the cupcakes...or should I say icing?
Randy was quite the hit of the party. Here you see him with a few kids one minute, then surrounded by them the next!


Luckily, they had their weekly Gym Bugs class afterward which gave them a chance to run off some energy...and that they did!

Jenna's 3rd Birthday - Celebration #1

Jenna's first celebration was while we were in Atlanta. She was so excited as we brought her "cake" out--really it was iced Ghirardelli brownies made by Auntie Mary Ann. Yum, yum!


Jenna added a few sprinkles to it to give it the finishing touch:

She was getting really excited in this picture!

She received many wonderful presents, but I love this picture of her, her great-grandfather, and the guitar he bought for her!