Friday, June 29, 2012

Four Fabulous Years

My peanut turns FOUR tomorrow and will be leaving for college this fall.  Whaaaaaa!  OK, so she is not really leaving for college just yet, but I know that the next fourteen years will go just as fast as the first four.  I have officially been a mother for four, fabulous years now, and I would not trade them for anything.  I am sure I have said this before and will most likely say it again; I feel very blessed to have been chosen to be this amazing, little girl's mother.










One day old


Happy Fourth Birthday Jentry Bug! May God bless you with many, many more.
Love, Your Mama

Monday, June 25, 2012

Swimming Success?

Jentry participated in swimming lessons at the Sutton pool last week.  This was actually her third experience with swimming lessons.  She took two different classes at the YMCA, when we lived in Lincoln.  The go around was quite a different experience.  The classes where scheduled to be held Monday through Friday, 11:30 to 12:00.  I signed her up thinking I would just take an early lunch that week and it wouldn't take me long to shuttle her around the little town of Sutton.  Miss Wendy was even nice enough to have her suited up and ready to go at 11:15.  The daycare kids usually eat at 11:30, however Miss Wendy said that she would set aside a plate of food for Jentry.  This way she could eat after she was done swimming.  Miss Wendy is such a thoughtful person!

Monday everything went as planned.  Jentry was ready to go when I picked her up and we made it to the pool with plenty of time to sign in and find a place to sit and wait.  When the instructors were ready, they asked all of the kids to line up and for the parents to exit the pool.  Little Miss Independent had no problem saying goodbye to her mom and confidently lined up with the other, much taller, kids.  Jentry was assigned to a group with two male instructors.  I really didn't think much of this until I started observing that Jentry was not participating at all.  She looked nervous and wouldn't do any of the tasks they were asking her to perform.  This is not like Jentry at all!  I have nothing against male swimming instructors, trust me, however I was kind of wishing that Jentry had been assigned to one of the female instructors.  I really think a female would have encouraged her more to participate instead of just letting her get away with her shy/nervous girl act.  At the end of lessons they let each child go down the big slides.  The slides are Jentry's favorite thing to do at the pool and she has been down them countless times all by herself.  Not this day!  She continued on with her act and said no to the slides.  On the way to the car, I asked her why she had acted so silly.  Her response was, "Well, I was hungry mom." 

Tuesday I was hoping for a better outcome.  I had given Jentry a pep talk or two and Miss Wendy even gave her a snack so that she wouldn't have any excuses.  When we arrived, I knew something was strange because all of the kids were already in the pool.  Apparently, they had moved the time up to 11:00 without calling to notify me.  Jentry got there in time to go down the slides.  This time she actually went.

Wednesday was somewhat overcast, but the temperature was still 80 degrees.  There was no threat of rain until late afternoon, however I received a call around 10:00 that classes had been cancelled.  Really!

Just when I was doubting my $15 investment, Thursday we finally had a good swimming experience.  Jentry was assigned to a different, smaller group and really did well.  She was excited and could not wait to go back on Friday.

Friday Jentry somehow passed Level 1 B.  I am not exactly sure what that means, but she had a blast and can't wait for next year. 


Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Bedtime Blues

Jentry has been having a tough time going to bed lately.  I have tried many different tactics, but so far none of of them seem to really solve our bedtime issues.  I even tried bringing out the star system again, however it has almost been a month now and only three stars appear on the paper.  Three nights out of the last thirty have been fairly miserable, which just makes me want to cry.  I am completely at a loss and don't even know what to try at this point.  Every night it is the same routine.  Our bedtime procedure goes splendidly until Jentry finds the one, meaningless thing that she is going to get stuck on.  After that, forget anything you have ever read in any parenting book. 

Last night Jentry got upset, because I wasn't laying Snuggie down right.  I have to admit that I was complete void of patience at that point and might have handled Snuggie a bit rough.  She then burst into a full-blown meltdown.  "You hurt Snuggie!"  At that point, I simply said good night and walked away.  This meant that I didn't sing songs or tuck her in like usual.  After thirty or so minutes of Jentry standing outside our bedroom door crying and repeating "Mama can I tell you something?" over and over and over again, I gave in.  I opened the door held her hand and quietly walked her back to her room.  I was hoping this might calm her down enough that she would at least get back in her bed.  This is when she said to me. "Mom, if you would just apologize to Snuggie for hurting him, then you can sing me songs."  AHHHHHHHHH!

This is only a phase.  Repeat it with me...This is only a phase.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Life Celebrations

We spent last weekend celebrating life in many different fashions.  Nathan's Grandma (Norma) McKenzie passed away on June 5, 2012.  I never had the opportunity to meet her, however her family spoke of her with such loving words I am certain she was a remarkable woman.  The funeral was set for Saturday morning, so Friday we traveled to Lincoln and had supper with the McKenzie Clan (pun intended).  It was great fun to meet everyone.  Geographically, John's family is very spread out so everyone enjoyed the time together.  That night we got to stay at John and Jan's condo in Lincoln.  I love staying at condo because it always feels like a mini vaca.  Jentry loves staying at the condo, because she gets to ride on the elevator. 


Saturday, Nathan and I celebrated Grandma Mackey's astounding life of great faith while Jentry got to spend the entire day with her cousins celebrating their youth.  It was quite interesting to hear Jentry's comments after I explained to her that Nathan's grandma had passed.  "I can't wait till I'm an old lady and I can go to Heaven too."  Oh, if we could only keep our childlike faith!


Saturday evening, Nathan and I traveled to the Arbor Day Farms in Nebraska City to celebrate a marriage of Nathan's long time friend, Mike Terryberry to a beautiful, free-spirited, bride name Aunnie.  We had a wonderful time and danced the night away with friends.


“ The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate." ~ Oprah Winfrey

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

The Front Porch

Life has been rather crazy, busy lately.  We spent memorial weekend celebrating Nathan's ten-year class reunion, which was great fun.  We also helped some friends butcher 250 chickens that Sunday.  I certainly can't think of any other way I would have rather spent my holiday weekend. (Enter sarcasm symbol here.)  In retrospect, it did give us something productive to do, I got a chance to brush up on my chicken anatomy and Jentry had a blast playing with the other kiddos. 

On Monday, Jentry headed to Orleans to stay with Grandma and Papa Bose for a few days.  I had to travel to Norfolk, VA and Raleigh, NC for some client meetings.  According to Papa, Jentry was an absolute angel the entire time and even put herself down for a nap one day.  What?  Of course she did!  Never mind the fact that I have not been able to get her to nap for the last two years!  Ugh.  I guess I am glad she was good because it increases the chances of them wanting to take her again. 

Friday Jentry went to spend time with her dad and I planed a very productive weekend for Nathan and myself.  We spent the entire day, Saturday, shopping in Grand Island.  I think I stretched Nathan to the limit and set a new record for him in consecutive hours spent shopping, however we accomplished a lot.  I even ordered new office furniture.  My office has been somewhat make-shift since I moved and while I was out east, Nathan surprised me by priming the walls so that we could be one step closer to paint. Yeah!  Here is what my office looks like today.  It doesn't look like much now, but I hopeful that I can take some stunning "after" pictures very soon.




Monday night we finally found some time to sit and relax on the front porch.  Literally.  I would have never pictured myself as a front porch kinda of girl, but now that I am slightly older and actually have a front porch to sit on, I long for our time of nothingness on the front porch.  We have gotten into a not so healthy habit of drinking chocolate malts on the really hot days.  I have very vivid memories of my dad making me chocolate malts as a child.  Maybe it was because they were super yummy or maybe it was just so bizarre to see my dad making anything in the kitchen, I am really not sure.  Either way, I still crave dad's malts and want to pass that wonderful memory along to my family.

 My lovely blender pusher