Jenna 4.5

Jenna is 4 and a half years old today! 40 and 15/16 inches tall and 37.6 pounds of sweet fun! She's gained almost 2 inches and exactly 2.6 pounds in the past six months.

She just colored this picture today - her best yet as far as staying in the lines. She is very interested in writing and knows how to write most of the uppercase alphabet. She eats just about anything and loves broccoli. She's been dry all night since Oct. 26th, so now we can say she's totally potty trained. Finally. She continues to be musically talented and just learned to sing in a round.

A week or so before Thanksgiving, Jenna asked me, "Mommy, is Santa Claus real?" I asked her, "What do you think?" She said, "I want him to be real."

We had fortune cookies recently and one of her "messages" as she calls them said, "You discover treasures where others see nothing unusual." This is a very fitting description of Jenna in her zest for life, the joy she still finds in bringing me rocks and pine cones, and her ability to play creatively all by herself.

Here's a video of her playing that I took today when she didn't know I was filming. I had asked her to play quietly because Kellen was asleep. (See video 2981 in "Jenna 4 yrs old video" folder.)

Another example of her creativity. With these seemingly ordinary blocks, she made "The Air Force Academy."

And last, but definitely not least, some funny stories that I don't want to forget. Somehow, they all have a potty theme. So, enjoy a little potty humor today.

Jenna: "I need some help in here!" (bathroom, sitting on the toilet)
Me: "What do you need?"
Jenna: "I think there's a beetle crawling on my back!"

Background for this story: Jenna's cousin says, "Winnie the Poop" instead of Winne the Pooh. And we've been teaching Jenna about being careful in using God's name. Jenna: "Mommy, you know my cousin says, 'Winnie the . . . ' Well, I'm not even going to say it because it's not careful with God's name."

A couple weeks ago, Jenna called from the bathroom for her Daddy to wipe her bottom. But, he was getting ready to leave for a musical performance so I offered my expertise instead. She said, "I really want Daddy to come here because, my poop looks like a saxophone!" I stifled a laugh and said that Daddy was busy getting ready. She said, "I'll draw him a picture then." But, she didn't know how to draw a saxophone and neither did I. So, she went up and asked, "Daddy, can you draw a saxophone for me?" He drew a really great one, so proud that his daughter wanted a picture of a saxophone. When he came downstairs, I asked him if she told him WHY she wanted a picture of a saxophone. So, he asked, "Jenna, why did you want a picture of a saxophone?" She said, "Because my poop looked like a saxophone and you didn't get to see it!" What a laugh we had!!

So, Kevin asked her if he could share the story with his students and took the picture with him to the musical. He taped it up right behind his head in the pit and told the story of how his daughter wanted him to draw a picture of a saxophone. Insert lots of "awww, how cute"s. Then he hit them with the reason!

Thanksgiving, Early Christmas, Early Birthdays

We spent the Thanksgiving holiday with the Keathleys in Kansas. Wednesday was a really nice day, so my Mom took Kevin, Jenna, Kellen, and I to a children's garden. It was really neat.

Matt and Leslie arrived late Wednesday night and ran in a Turkey Trot Thursday morning. We had a delicious Thanksgiving meal for lunch and the desserts for dinner!

Friday morning, we decorated the tree. Jenna was excited that she could climb up the step-stool!

I think we did a pretty good job! After the tree was decorated, we had our gift exchange. Thank you to everyone for the great gifts! The remote control cars from Katie were a big hit with everyone! Jenna was nice to share. (See video 2911 in Christmas '11 folder.)

I love how she chases after them!

Friday night, we went to the botanical garden's light display.

And Santa was there! I've been trying to get Jenna to tell me what she wants for Christmas. Every time, I get "I don't know." Santa got it out of her, "A rocking horse," she said. Hmmm.

Saturday, we moved on to early birthday celebrations.

Mom - Dec. 1st, Kellen - Dec. 3rd.

It was great to see Janet and Rachel and meet Brooklyn for the first time. Kellen and Brooklyn use the same kind of pacifier. He thought he'd try to share! Jenna commented, "I think the babies are falling in love." She doesn't quite understand the cousin thing.

Cute kiddos!

Out of all the great gifts, the baby monitor is most fascinating!

What a cute birthday boy!

He dug right in without hesitation!

Jenna was glad to help with the cake! (See videos 2964 & 2968 in Kellen's 1st bday folder.)

Happy early birthday Mom and Kellen!

What's new

Tooth number four (top left central incisor) made its debut on Wednesday, November 9th. Sure makes a goofy smile that I absolutely LOVE!

Friday, November 11th - Peek a boo! I was changing his diaper and he pulled his onesie up over his face and then dropped it down and smiled. Then he did it again when I said, "Where's Kellen?" Here's Jenna trying to get him to perform, not the best, but you get the picture: (See "Peek a boo" video.)

Fun

These guys had fun playing together this past week. And the grown-ups sure had a good time, too! Thanks Jenni and Kelly!

LPHS Football 2011

There were only 4 home football games this year, so we're done for the year (unless they make the playoffs). Kellen and I went to two games (missing for my Girls reunion and the stomach bug). Jenna made it to all four. All these pictures are of the first game Kellen and I attended. At the second game, we were so bundled up we'd be unrecognizable in pictures!

Turns out, Kellen's favorite pep band tune is "Land of 1,000 Dances." Even when he was a wee babe and went to his first basketball game, he would groove to this tune! Enjoy: (See "Land of 1,000 Dances" video.)

Jenna and her football game buddy/cousin. Papa always treats them to popcorn!

The silly pose.

Jenna showing how to cover your heart for the National Anthem.

Jenna singing along to the National Anthem. She knows the whole tune and a lot of the words.

Kellen thought he was at an SFA game ("Axe 'em Jacks!"). Love this picture of my guys!

Eleven Months Old

It snowed yesterday, so we thought it would be fun to take his picture outside with the snow today. He wasn't amused. But, we got this great pouty face shot that I've been wanting to capture anyway. Love that pouty face boy!

Ahh, this is better!

Eleven months old today! 21.4 pounds and 28.5 wiggly inches. So, no significant physical growth since last month but he's made up for it in other accomplishments. He's tried broccoli and mandarin oranges (lulus as we call them, thanks to Jenna). He's probably tried some other new foods that I just haven't written down. So far, he really loves everything except avocado. He's really into feeding himself, so if he starts refusing his food, sometimes we can give him his own spoon and he'll start accepting bites again. He's still cruising all around and getting into everything. He'll even occasionally let go and stand on his own, if he's holding a toy in each hand. He's getting faster at heading toward and up the stairs so the baby gate is a constant nuisance, I mean safety feature. He can roll a ball (Oct. 22), clap his hands (Oct 29), and stick his tongue out like a giraffe (Oct 29). He can say "Dada" for Daddy (Oct. 26), "bu" for book (Oct 28), and "Deeda" for Jenna or Sister, I think (Nov. 2). Over the past few days, he's started sitting still and being interested in books instead of grabbing them, turning the pages too quickly, and eating them. His favorites are: That's Not My Dragon, Jesus Is With Me, Little Lady Bug, the Elmo puppet book, and his new baby Sesame Street friends book. I'm hoping that in next month's post I can write that he's been sleeping through the night since he was eleven months old.

Turns out I did take some videos of Kellen's accomplishments last week. Here's how he kind of rolls the ball (this was a few hours pre-stomach bug). (See video 2818.)

And, here's the giraffe, taken post stomach bug: (See "Giraffe" video.)

Last, but not least, if you look really close, you can see his new "fang," his upper left lateral incisor. Arrival date, Tuesday, Oct. 25th. The upper right "fang" should be here any day now, although I've been thinking that since September. We thought that these would come in before the bottom teeth.

And last, but not least, Kellen's first snow angel after yesterday's snow. Jenna made a snow angel on the right, too. Then she walked all around and through.