It's been awhile

Wow, I know I haven't been here in awhile. Things have been a little nuts lately. Jenna is doing super duper in third grade, Julia is loving first grade, especially since her cousin Nicky is in the same class. Jayda started preschool this year with some little tears and that was it. She is definitely ready to learn! Jackson and Jillian are walking everywhere and getting into everything, Jillian is super fast and like to climb onto anything she possibly can.
Jayson took a new job teaching Animal Science and coaching the livestock team at Modesto Jr College. A place we both called home for a couple years. He is loving it and I have been trying to run the business the best I can from home. He is gone a lot, but I am so happy he found the perfect job. Luckily we are not doing any extra curricular activities this semester because i have no idea how we would ever make it!
Funny moments today, Jackson started making truck noises with his cars and Julia asked if we could go to the Licorice store( Liquor Store). Hilarious.
Oh yeah and I am also training for a marathon, November 9Th. We are up to 18 miles this weekend. I cant wait till its over, I love the fitness part but the early morning runs are killing me now.. Promise to write more soon and keep everyone updated. :)

You have new Picture Mail!

You have new Picture Mail!

The longest Field Trip Ever! We had a great day in Yosemite! The weather was perfect, the kids were well behaved. We were headed home, everything was great, till our bus broke down before we were even out of the park!!We had to wait for another bus to come back from Clovis to pick us up. Get this 40 second graders and 20 parents with NO cell phone service. They told us that they wouldnt be able to get us for a few hours. We took all the kids to Wawona Hotel for some 5 star chicken tenders!! White linen table cloths, people on the patio having a romantic evening and our crew comes traveling up the stairs to this fancy restaurant!!. The kids were actually really good. Everyone had been up since 5am so they were super tired. We made it home at 10oclock to many frantic parents that let their childeren go on their first field trip without them. It was fun, the whole experience. Thank God for Mr. Osterberg for keeping us all calm and getting us fed. Oh ya i forgot.. i made Jenna a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch but i didnt have enough bread to make one for myself so i packed a bunch of snacks. On the bus ride on the way up there Serafina who was in our group told Jenna she had an extra sandwich and that Jenna could have it.. So when lunch time came, jenna handed me the PB&J and i gobbled it up fast. Then Serafina told Jenna she forgot and accidently ate both of her sandwiches!!! Ahh!! Mr. Osterberg had extra sandwiches for Loser parents that forgot to pack lunches!!!! What a good mom I am!!

You have new Picture Mail!

Letters to Julia from her friends

This is Cal - haha. she's gonna kill me for this later..

Cheerios for Jillian

I just got off the phone paying bills. I gave Jillian some cheerios to keep her quiet while I talked. Jayda gave her a few more. UGH!

Julia's Caterpillars

Julia has been waiting forever for her caterpillars to get here. Monday they finally arrived. She was out of town with Jayson for the day. I called her to tell her they were here. She couldnt wait to see them. Here is day one.




We had to put them up after day one because she wanted to take them EVERYWHERE. She took them to school the day after she got them. We didnt even look at them yesterday. Today i took them down and they've grown 3x their size. They kinda scared me..


Day 5....











Day 6.....



Day 10. They were all in their cocoons by day 7. We moved them to the Butterfly Pavilion on Day 8. Now were just waiting. 04/24/08

Jayda's 3rd Birthday

Good thing we have a big family!! A trip to the toystore for gifts, the dollar store for decorations, and the grocery store for a cake and a party was born! Jayda had fun. Her babysitter had a party for her too at her house. Jayda had a fun day!

jackson laughing

this was a while ago, but havent put it on the blog yet...

Hawaii shirts

Papa Donuts!

My dad drops off donuts EVERY Sunday morning for the girls on the front porch. We hardly ever see him because he gets here so early. This works out so good for Jayson and I since we, more him than me, like to sleep in on sundays. I dont know how Jayda knows it sunday, but she is usually the first one awake, and I can hear her opening the squeaky front door to check for donuts. Sometimes they're not there yet, so she says out loud, "No Donuts." and then closes the door. I can hear all of this from my bedroom. When they are there, we hear, "Yay". This has been going on for a few years now, I think. Julia used to be the one checking and we were amazed at how she knew it was Sunday too. Its probably because Mommy is still in bed. Recently Ive been doing long runs on Sunday mornings so I leave before the donuts get here. Jack and Jill got their first donuts a couple weeks ago, but the other kids didnt realize that the donut holes were for the babies, so they ate all but 2 of them, Today they got all their donut holes. 5 for Jackson and 2 for Jillian.

Brocks Birthday

If you have ever spent time with Jayda, you have heard about Brock! Its all she talks about around here. Sometimes she calls him her boyfriend, but we correct her and tell her its her best friend and she says, "Noooooooooo, he's my boyfriend!". Yesterday Jayda and I went to his house for his 3rd Birthday Party. When we got there he had a Transformers mask on and Spidey gloves. They pretty much stayed on the party. She had lots of fun in the bounce house and on the play set.

Funny story... I started taking Jayda to the babysitter when she was 9mos old. This is where Brock and her became best of friends. Brock's mom met Jayda and told her," oh, there was a Jayda in my hospital room when Brock was born." Well Brock was 9mos old and we quickly put it together that Kara and I were in the same room at Clovis Community. I remember she didnt have a name for Brock yet and she was thinking about naming him Landon. I also remember that i have never seen anyone get dressed packed and ready to go so fast after delivering a baby in my life. She was ready to get out of there. That is the story of Brock and Jayda. Hopefully they'll be friends forever.:)

Her birthday is next.....stay tuned

SuperHawk Jenna

Jenna recieved the SuperHawk Award on Friday for passing PE testing. Jayda, the twins and I went to watch her. She got a backpack that says Superhawk on it. She also brought home her report card Thursday. All A's!!!!! Yea! We are super proud. We told her that if she get all A's at the end of the year we would take her to Pennysylvania in the Fall for a Hog Show. Its incentive for her and for us for her to get good grades. Go Jenna! We love you and are very proud of you!

The Kids Artwork.

So I have decided that I cannot possibly keep every piece of artwork that the kids bring home. Instead I have chosen to take a picture of it and post it to my Web Album. Brillaint, I now. Too Bad someone else gave me the idea. A clutter free life is my goal.

Julias art work

Jennas artwork

Parenting

When I was pregnant with Jenna someone once told me, just remember what you felt like when you were a kid. That was probably the best parenting advice ever. The other good tip I got from Jayson just the other night. Ive really been on the girls to pick up after themselves lately and i was frustrated by the end of the day and sick of my own voice from repeating myself. I told Jayson,"I hate that nothing gets done around here unless I am on thier a** about it." He said, "Welcome to Parenting." Aaahhhhh! Light Bulb! This is how it is suppose to be. Duh. Okay, I'm doing alright then. Haha.

Dear Ice Cream Man,

You and I have a committed relationship. I will always buy ice cream from you because I can remember as a child hearing your music in neighborhood, and rushing frantically to find my parents to see if i could get one. The music is getting louder and louder and that means that you are getting closer and closer. Oh the the stress that you caused me. How am I going to find a parent, get the money and be outside in time as you drive by! I finally find one of my parents only to hear them say, no, you don't need it or I don't have any money(which was a lie, I mean who doesnt have a quarter! Come on!)And then the the disappointment and heartache that had to be endured as I watched you pass by our house and torture of listening to that music get quieter and quieter until you were gone forever! Its not like you came by everyday. Well maybe you did, but I only saw you once every couple weeks. I believe that if I was home at the exact same time that you chose to drive your truck by my house, it was fate. Well sometimes our fate connected, but the bad memories are what i remember most. So you know, I turned out okay without your yummy treats, maybe i didnt them, but that wasn't the point. It was fate, I tell you. God wanted me to have an ice cream. That is why is sent you to MY neighborhood! Anyways, I now have 5 kids and promise to buy something from you as you pass by, but please do not come by everday!!!! I will be listening for you...........





This Is Miss Jayda with Nadine and Jenna today. After buying Jayda her ice cream I turned around and saw them staring at me with puppy dog faces, so i turned around and said, "Okay, 2 more!" Im such a sucker. They live next door. They don't speak English but they do like Ice Cream!!!

Princess Jayda

It all started this morning when i was begging Miss Jayda to at least put some panties on because she was running around all morning naked. She said she wanted to wear tights. So we found some tights, then i went looking for a dress. I found one of Jenna's dresses from a wedding she was in when she was two. then i started putting on my makeup and she asked if she could have some make-up. We put blush, lipstick and glittery eye shadow on. We found a tiara and a wand and the princess was born. I thought this was a good opportunity to take some pictures, since the poor child has absolutely no pictures up in the house. i dont think i even bought the ones from the hospital. Poor middle child. i know i will hear about this forever from her as an adult. We took some good pics and had a fun day. The dress came off when it got too dirty and naked Jayda was back. She got a time-out for running outside naked for the third time!

update

Jillian started crawling this weekend and Jackson has not interest in even rolling over. Just goes to show girls are smarter than boys!!!They've both had the sniffles and a cough for almost a week now. Jayson says I need to stop taking them to the gym. That leaves my workout hours to early morning. Uh-oh. I'll manage. My Parents bought us the Chipmunk movie and that has been playing for about 4 days now non stop! Im going to start screaming ALVIN in my sleep! Nothin alse is really goin g on here. Oh Jenna's softball game.... She has sixteen girls on her team so we were disappointed that she only got one at-bat and she struck out:( bummer. The game was an hour and a half. We did win though.Ill put some pictures up...

the swing and the hammock

Awana Grand Prix

The girls and Jayson made derby cars this past weekend for Awana Grand Prix. Too bad we didnt get started till Friday night. They all stayed up really late sanding and painting their cars, except Jayda and I, we fell asleep. Jayda woke up Saturday Morning and found her unfinished block of wood. I told her to go wake up daddy, who was sleeping in the bunk bed with Julia. The races started in less than two hours. They quickly painted the block of wood yellow and made a School Bus! haha. We showed up at the church with our cars to check in. After a little while at the pit stop where we added weights to make the cars heavier and some drilling to make the cars lighter we were ready to start the races. We hung oout there all morning. None of our cars won. We even had a race with all 3 scarborough girls and we still didnt win! Needless to say Jayson is all fired up for next year. He only loses once....

Jack and Jill Again

Guilty

yes i am guilty. Guilty of Blog Neglect. That past couple months have been crazy. I have so many pictures on my camera that I realized I have not been updating The Blog. Jenna started softball a few weeks ago and has her first game Thursday night! I will take pictures and update the blog as quickly as possible.....

Jack and Jill pics

Pork Spectacular

NJSA Turlock

Oceanside

Valentine Parties

Valentine Parties 08

Jenna's Birthday

We spent yesterday at Cal Skate for Jenna's Birthday. Julia and Jayda were out of town with Jayson and my parents kept the twins so It was just me and Jenna and her friends and their moms and her cousins. We had a great time. She didnt have to share any of my attention. Afterwards we went to Me'n'Eds for Pizza and cake. Then she spent the night with Olivia and came home a little while ago. The twins went to bed early and I had a peaceful night and afternoon.

Jackson

He reached for me today for the first time. He's been sick for over a week now. He is finally smiling and laughing again. He had completely lost his personality while he was sick. He has been pretty spoiled. Sleeping in our bed, getting his back rubbed till he falls asleep, And if that doesnt work he likes to have his feet rubbed. He's such a little cuddler. I love the way he puts his head down on my chest. I love the way he looks at me and knows I am his mom. He is just starting to figure that out. Like, "This is the lady that takes care of me. I like her." I just love him.

so its been awhile...

We took the girls out of school for a week and went to palm Desert for the Jayson's little sisters County fair. I put the girls on independent study for a week! Never again. It was so much work. The noises and moaning they made every time i asked them to sit down and do some schoolwork, My God! Ill just call in sick next time. We were successful at the Fair. Jayson's little sister Nicole got Grand Champion Market Hog. We won last year also but this was extra special because we actually bred this Hog. So Seven Showpigs( Thats the name of out Hog Farm:))had their first Champion out of its herd! Big Success! It has Jayson all fired up about being a Hog Farmer, his true dream (Im not joking either!)
Unfortunately while we were there everyone got sick. It started with Jillian having Pink eye and passing it on to every other kid in the family. Then they were coughing. Jackson had it really bad. So we came home a little earlier than planned but it was okay because Jayson had to catch up on a lot of work. Let me tell you, traveling with 5 kids feels a lot like moving. We moved out of our house, int o a hotel in Paso Robles, Out of the hotel, into the guest house at Jayson's dad's house and back out and into our house again. I still havent completely unpacked. I dont feel like going anywhere for a while.
Jackson was still feeling yucky when we got home. Finally i took him to Urgent Care on Saturday. He had bronchulidis, an ear infection, pink eye, excema, and a fever of 101. Poor little guy:( Thankfully we got in really fast. There was a ton of people there but they let us go in right away because he was coughing so hard. He looked so miserable he was coughing and itching and had green guck coming out of his eyes. The dr gave us some antibiotics and an inhaler. He's doing mush better, but he's still not happy.
So the girls are back in school, thank god! I forgot to mention that it was raining when we got back to Fresno so we were stuck in the house for 5 days with all 5 kids! I sent Jayda to the babysitter twice already this week and i am sending her tomorrow again. The norm is once a week. We need some time apart! hehe

Today was a beautiful day. Went to lunch with my mom and then i took Jayda to the park. She was in heaven! The plan today was clean my house. So glad i didnt, cuz thats the plan everyday. I will always have housework. Then we picked up the big girls and cousin Nicky at School and went back to the park to play for another hour and a half. WE came home, did homework and now they are gone to awana for the night. Jayda is staying the night at my parents, its very quiet in the house at the moment. Sooo nice. thats why i have time to write.oh wait, i hear a baby waking up, gotta go.

Flowers from our yard!

You have new Picture Mail!

Happy Chinese New Year

chinese new year

Hannah Montana Movie

Took the girls to see the Hannah Montana Concert in 3D Movie today. We went to the live concert back in November. I dont think the girls will ever forget it. Okay maybe Jayda will. The movie was pretty cool. The 3D effect made it seem like we were in the front row. The girls looked super cute in their humongous glasses. They were excited to be there and we had a good time:)

Cooking Tips

#1 When steaming vegetables on the stove it is always a good idea to put water in the pot.
#2 If you smell something burning you should get up immediately instead of waiting for a file to download on the computer.
#3 Although Ginger and Cinnamon may look the same in the spice cabinet, they do not, however taste the same on your Oatmeal

Bow Chicka Wow Wow!

I have to share this story before I forget. Jenna came home from school one day this year sing the tune, Bow chicka Wow Wow. Not only was she singing it but she also had her hands behind her head and she was shaking her hips. I asked her where she heard it and she said at school, everybody sings it. What?! I immediatley told her not to sing that and she, of course asked, why not? I just said that I cant tell you why just dont say it. A couple days go by and I hear Julia and Jayda singing the same thing along with the dance moves and all. Ugh! Jayson thinks its hillarious and i think its totally inappropriate. Jenna then tells me that it's from the Chipmkunk Movie. Oh my god! Ok, thats funny. As long as its from the Chipmunk movie. Hehe.Papa ended up taking all the girls to see the movie very soon after that. Bow Chicka Wow Wow!!!!!!!

Julia celebrated her 100th day of school today at Kindergarten.

Oh Kruse Jackpot 2/2/2008

This weekend the whole family went to our first of many hog shows that the girls participated in. The whole gang was on the road Saturday, pigs and all, by 7am. Jayson and I were quite impressed with our organizational skills. Its amazing what we can accomplish when we actually plan something. The girls did great. Jenna is a natural in the show ring, Im sure she will be an excellent showman in the near future. She manuevered her Duroc gilt(Daisy) through the ring with ease. We she left the ring she shook the judge's hand and said thank you with a big smile. Yep, she's pretty amazing. We were a little nervous about Julia in the ring but she did great. She showed her york barrow, Chad.(Pretty funny name for a pig. Don't know where she came up with it. WE dont even know any Chads. Hehe.)She was very calm. She's pretty shy so it was easier for her to concentrate on her pig and not the judge. Once Jayson told her to move her hog to the middle where the judge was, she did just fine. Pretty impressive for a five year old, except Jayson didnt groom her properly before she went in the ring. She had her shirt untucked and one pant leg tucked in her boot. Oh well. We are very excited for our next show, which is this weekend at Fresno State.

The girls 1st Jackpot

halloween 2007

Awana night

awana

I love you!

I love you

weekend with kinderbear

I ripped my pants!!

Jenna was sitting on the fence waiting to clean her pig pen, jumped off and ripped her pants. The funny thing is that she's been told not to sit up there by her dad many times because she always scratches her arm or leg or something. Hehe, now she ripped her pants. The sad thing is that these were her favorite pants. :( she cried at first and then ended up laughing at herself shortly after.

Adventures with Kinder-bear

Julia brought home Kinderbear this weekend from Kindergarten. Along with KB came a journal to document where and what KB did. So kinderbear went to Red Robin Friday night, then traveled to Palm Desert for the weekend. Before leaving town we went to Caruthers School farm to drop of some pigs. We visited newborn lambs that were born that day. We got into Palm Desert really late Saturday night and slept in sun morning. Sunday Kinderbear traveled to papa Gary's ranch to clean pig pens. Mama Joy made some yummy chili and we dusted a couple bottles of wine. Yum! I havent had carbs in 3 weeks! I think i blew it. Kinderbear slept in again monday morning because there was no school. we traveld to papa gary's ranch again to pick up a pig that Jenna is going to show at couple livestock jackpots. At 3 oclock we were finally on the road again headed home. We got home after 11, carried the kids to bed. Were going to have to print pictures with kinderbear later for the journal. Im working at Clovis East today. Oh my goodness it was hard to get up this morning!!!

MY DAY

Today at school I learned about Grandma Moses. Then I drew a piceure called landscape. Idid lots of tests. And also finsed 2 wordseaches. I had free play that is a hour and half. We wached 2 movies. Now we are going to Red Robin.

The End

BY

Jenna

Jackson the Screamer

Jackson is finally asleep. I could not get him to chill out today to save my life. The girls are almost home from school and i have so much work to do still. But id thought id blog before it got too late. Jayson just called, we are going to Red Robin for dinner and leaving for Palm Desert tomorrow after I go to Ashley's baby shower. We'll be back sun and hopefully we are going to the snow on mon! we'll see. It will be our first big trip in our new car that fits all of us. The twins are almost 6 mo old and we just got a car that fits all of us.

You have new Picture Mail!

Jillian

Easter 07

Easter 2007

Grizzly Game

Grizzly Game

Spring Break 2007

Jack and Jill

Jackson in the car

My first blog

Okay, here we go. My first blog. My friend Stacey started one and said how it would be nice to journal her life with her family so they could read it later on and I thought how cool. So we'll just start with today. Jenna is 7, Julia is 5, Jayda is 2 and Jackson and Jillian are 5 months old. The day started off with Miss Jayda waking me up to tell that she was hungry and wanted cereal. So I pull out the Life cereal and start to pour it. She tells me Noooo, I want the other cereal, which was also Life cereal but had a different picture of a kid on the front. I didnt open up the other box and she threw a little fit. She ended up eating what was left of Julia cereal after all. I helped out in Jenna's classroom with Mrs. Hamamjian today. After that Jayson and I took Jackson and Jillian to the doctor. Jackson has had a rash for a couple weeks and Jillian is a little congested. Jayson went to work and the twins and I went to visit Andrea to get our( ok mY) eyebrows waxed. Then we rushed to back to Cedarwood to pick up Jenna and take her to her first orthodontist appt. She doesnt need braces yet but the dr. wants to see her in about 6 mo. After the appt we rushed again back to Cedarwood to pick up Miss Julia. Then we rushed to the gym so mommy could make it to her spin class. Picture this, its raining, me with two babies in a double stroller running, with two more kids in tow, through the parking lot. I have to get there super early to get a bike. I saw a friend at the gym who said i deserved an award. Haha! I love it! After spin we picked up Jayda at Becky's house and met daddy at pizza and hung out for while as a big ol family. Now were home the big girls and the babies are down for the night and I just realized that Julia's homework is not done. We will be waking up early to get that done. Ugh! She's going to love that. Jayda is still awake watching Ugly Betty.