Do You Do Lent?

Oh… apparently you’re supposed to give up something you love.

By Shane Johnson

I suppose the correct way to phrase that is to ask if you practice or more appropriately observe Lent. And if you really want to get PC about it, you probably wouldn't ask at all in effort to keep religion out of it. But yes, I do practice... observe... 'do' Lent. I have for many years. Some more successful than others. (what can I say, I lack self control at times)

But this year, I have taken the practice more seriously than I have in the past. I will be giving up - drum roll please - Eating out for lunch and sodas.

That's actually a pretty big sacrifice for me. With my crazy job, lunch out and 5 o'clock are the only things I look forward to. So now I'll have to find more creative ways to spend that hour. Today for instance, I went to the gym - I know - shock! But I'm finally putting that new membership to work for me. Who knows this could be the start of something wonderful.

Do you observe Lent? What have you given up?

Kissing Llamas

For Cousin Caed's 3rd birthday we celebrated by visiting a local farm with all kinds of wild life, and that didn't even including the children we brought along with us! It was really great. There were llamas, emu, sheep, goats, roasters, pups, and more.

Come Out With Your Hands Up

Officer Aiden has completely taken over the house. These days you get a ticket and the cuffs for about every offense imaginable to a 5 year old.

The cool thing about this costume is that it comes with all the fixins' - that's southern for the whole shabang - cap, coat, walkie talkie, cuffs, tickets, and a whistle.

Even comes with it's own voice - Aiden has this teenage awkward deep voice that he dons with the uniform.

Many thanks to the lovely Adrianna for this incredible birthday gift!

Finally, Those 5th Bday Pics

Words To Live By

So, the other night I was up just a little later than normal watching TV, which is a little out of the normal. What's better than late night Sex and the City reruns? ... I don't know either. And during my late night entertainment, it occurred to me that Carrie Bradshaw is pure guiness. Inspired by her words to live by, I've included some favorites below.

PS. I was going to bore you with commentary, but it got too deep and Carrie Bradshaw didn't seem so fun anymore. So here we are girls, grab your pens, you'll wanna write these down. And btw, this is my fav CB hair style. Figured you needed to know that.

I don't believe in email. I'm an old-fashion girl. I prefer calling and hanging up.

When a relationship dies do we ever really give up the ghost or are we forever haunted by the spirits of relationships past.

Do we need distance to get close?

Can you make a mistake and miss your fate?

Some people are settling down, some people are settling and some people refuse to settle for anything less than butterflies.

To be in a couple, do you have to put your single self on a shelf?

If two people have only one thought between them, something is very wrong.

Can you really forgive if you can't forget?

Today I had a thought. What if I... what if I had never met you?

Maybe our mistakes are what make our fate.

When it comes to life and love, why do we believe our worst reviews?

Maybe you can't change a man, but once in a blue moon, you can change a woman.

Thanks for the ride, Prince Charming.

What's your favorite SATC quote?

Happy Birthday Cousin Caed!

The Big 3! Happy Birthday!

Aiden is so happy that you are getting older so that you guys can play together. I remember how disappointed he was the day you were born because you didn't come out exactly his size, with a car in hand, ready to play. You've grown up so fast.

Hope you had a wonderful birthday and we look forward to celebrating with you this weekend!

With Love,

Jamie, Jenny, & your loving cousin Aiden

Blogging has been slow lately...

Seems like I go through stages with blogging - some days I could blog all day long about a zillion different things of relative significance. Then other days I could think of a zillion things to blog about but nothing of importance at the time. Guess that is the way of the blog.

But it's a busy time of year for us with birthdays and Valentines. Aiden's birthday was a success, all in all. He was a little upset and confused as to why no one came to visit him on his actual birthday. I suppose by then he had forgotten about the slew of people that were here the Saturday before. But Jamie and I played hookie and were able to spend the day with him, doing all of his favorite things. So that's what counts, right? I know your dying to know what his favorite things include, aren't you? Umm, that would be lunch at Sam's... Club that is. Can't beat the dog deal for $1.70. Followed by a little shopping for the perfect PlayStation game, followed by a little PlayStation, dinner at Chic-Fil-A, and did I mention a little PlayStation. Gotta love the PlayStation, right? ...I'd trade it for a clothes hanger some to most days. But it does entertain boys big and small. I have pictures of the birthday too, well a few. Will post ASAP.

Valentine's is always low key around here. Being that Jamie is in the restaurant business, you can imagine how insane that is on Valentines, or the whole weekend for that matter. In fact, I believe the only time we've ever spend this holiday together is when I happened to work there.

But don't fear, we always find a way to make up the lost time. The thing to remember is that it doesn't really matter if you spend the actual holiday together. The day is not that important. It's the idea that you remember to take time to celebrate your partner. Theoretically, we should do that every day right? That's what I do... theoretically...

Five Years Have Past

I can hardly believe that it's been five years since Aiden came into our lives. Some days if feels as though I have only blinked and others it feels like a life. I think how much our lives have changed in the past year. How much we have endured. How much our love has grown. It makes me sad that I will never hold Aiden the same as I did then, but my bond with him is so significantly stronger now that I would never trade it for anything.

So, to you my little doodle, Happy 5th Birthday!
With all my heart and all my love, Mom

The Big 5

Yesterday we celebrated Aiden's 5th birthday with family and lots of friends. He had an absolute ball. We went with a costume themed party this year since he has a fondness for superheroes and can be seen wearing any one of about five costumes in public (usually at the grocery or farmers market). So, this gave him another reason to wear them out in public for a while.

So many thanks to everyone that could make it. It really made his day special. I've attached a few pictures thanks to my sister (I didn't have a moments rest to think about photos). Would love to post more so that you could enjoy all the great costumes, but in respect to the parents I won't post without their consent. Here's a few for you all -

Cousin Caedmon, previous known as Thomas the Train

Cousin Savannah - she's the world's cutest ladybug


And the birthday boy

Catching Up

Yep, I've been MIA for the last several days... okay, nearly two weeks already. Sorry. I have a good excuse though. Aiden's birthday which required more cleaning, planning, organizing, and did I mention cleaning that I thought it would have. Note to self, birthdays at home don't equal small especially if you invite half the preschool world.

There's been a lot going on so give me a second to recap!

The Back Bone is Connected to the Hip Bone

Poor Miss Katie! We hope you feel better soon.

We are keeping you guys in our prayers every day. We love you all!

Groundhog Day: It's Not a National Holiday?

I may be mistaken but I think Jamie enjoys Groundhog Day even more than Christmas itself. He would watch the movie over and over again in honor of February 2nd. Well, in fact, he does. So this is for you.



And by the way, I'm about like this every morning. Man, I hate an alarm clock. Let me sleep!

I actually shouldn't joke about the national holiday bit... In just one week, both the babysitter and a client did not believe me when I told them that Valentine's Day was not considered a national holiday... hmmm... might need to look into a smarter new babysitter...

Just another sign

As if you didn’t need another sign that I’m getting old, here’s another one for ya’.

Yesterday I sent Jamie to the wash pub with $16 in quarters to clean some comforters in the jumbo washers - because yes, I’m too cheap to have them dry cleaned and will take the risk. See, for most of us that doesn’t sound too weird at all, right?

Wrong. Apparently laundry mats no longer take quarters! I know. Weird. I spent many a college night scrounging around for enough quarters to clean a load of laundry.

FYI: You have to have a prepaid card now in order to use any of the machines. And no, it doesn’t take quarters either. What will eventually be the fate of the quarter then?

+ = nothing!