My Rapunzel

"Mom, when am I going to have long hair?" 

I get this question almost every other day and it is usually followed by "Some people think I'm a boy."  Jentry is absolutely obsessed with long hair.  She wants to have long hair like all of her friends and all of the princesses.  Unfortunately, with her genetic disorder, Ectodermal Dysplasia, she will most likely never have long hair.  One of the symptoms is thin, sparse hair, however it varies in each individual case.

I usually respond to her question with "Whenever God wants you to have long hair."  I know that my answer will only satisfy her for so long.  I know that teasing will take place and tears will be shed, but I also have faith that my little girl, with her HUGE personality, will embrace her differences and learn to love her short, funky hair.

Lately, she has been putting blankets on her head and "betending" to have long hair.  Last night she went for the really big blanket!  When seeing her I said, "Oh Jentry, you look beautiful!"  To which she very seriously replied, "I'm not Jentry, I'm Rapunzel."

She is and always will be my beautiful princess no matter what length her hair.

Is It Weird? Volume III

Is it weird that my four-year-old daughter....

Has to put on deodorant every morning?

Has sausage with syrup for breakfast everyday?

Does not like potatoes?

Has to rinse her mouth exactly four times when she brushes her teeth?

Uses her favorite word, "Booty" every chance she gets?

Doesn't like any of her clothes because she doesn't think they make her look like a mom?

Is obsessed with police men, cops and jail?

Gets mad when I don't wake her up early in the morning?

Loves to perform on stage (i.e. the fireplace hearth)?

Thinks we need more people at the dinner table because there is an extra chair?

Asks if God is the boss of her mom?

Has to give her mom a hug and a kiss every time she leaves her anywhere?  (Mom loves this!)

Thinks we need a garage so that birds will stop pooping on our car?

Only uses her favorite orange plate on "stay home days" (i.e. Saturday and Sunday)?

Sings the same song every time she takes a bath...."Dub dub dub, duba duba dub"?

Continuously puts her feet in Nathan's face and says, "Smell my feet."?

Has a checklist of all the things she will need on the wedding day?  Dress, check; shoes, check; eye shadow, check; lipstick, check; headband, check; flowers, check; ring, check.

Asks if someone her size can come play at her house almost every day?

Thinks that she can't be a princess for Halloween because she doesn't have long hair?

Can not wait until she can ride the bus to school?

Loves to go for a run with her mom in her "running shoes"? 

Wants her mom to sing her a song she has never heard before every night at bedtime?

Looks like she ready for sixth grade in her preschool picture?

OK, so maybe her mother is the only one who thinks she looks much too grown up.

Panty Painting

Wednesday, Jentry came home from daycare and said, "Mom, I want to paint."  Not wanting to be the mother that hinders her child's artistic desires because of the possibility of a mess, I said, "Sure!"  However, I did make her take off her clothes.

Jentry takes her art very seriously.

OK, so not really.

Well, Hello Kitty!

Yard Before and After

I first began talking about landscaping our yard this past spring.  Our yard needed a major overhaul.  The lady that lived here before had planted all kinds of plants, but unfortunately she had really let things get overgrown and out of hand.  I have been told by numerous people that you couldn't even see the house from the street.  I can't even imagine!  Nathan had done lots of clearing out and cleaning up when he moved in, however it was still not a place that you would want to spend much time. 

John and Jan took me to All Around Landscaping just south of Fairmont, Nebraska.  I was very impressed with the selection and had heard nothing but great things about their work.  I gave the owner, Ben, my name and number and asked him to come give us some ideas.  At this point, I really didn't think we would do anything at all.  I just wanted to think about the possibilities of "someday" and what that might actually cost. 

Ben arrived three weeks later and after hearing his ideas, I was sold.  I had to have this amazing yard!  Then he gave me a ball park figure of the cost and I was certain my dreams of green grass would be quickly mowed down, when I shared the amount with Nathan.  Much to my surprise, Nathan said let's go ahead and have them draw us a design.  I was more than ecstatic and could not wait to see the plans on paper. The plan was beautiful and lured us both into saying... yes to the grass? 

After much anticipation, I finally received the call on August 15th.  They were coming, they were really coming! Our dirty, weedy, uninviting yard would , in just three days time, look absolutely amazing.  It was so fun to watch the transformation.  It would have taken Nathan and I months to accomplish all they did in such a short amount of time.  I felt like I was on the show Yard Crashers, and I was lovin' every minute of it!  Neighbors said they didn't even recognize the place.  Unfortunately, one neighbor told Nathan that he was very upset, now his wife has all kinds of plans for him to spruce up their yard.  Ha!

Before

After

Before

After (Can you find the cute blonde?)

Before

 After

Before

After

I could not be happier with our new outdoor space.  It turned out better than I had even imaged it could ever be. 

Labor Day Weekend

We had a very busy yet fun Labor Day Weekend.  Saturday we traveled to Lincoln and stayed at John and Jan's condo.  Nathan went to the Husker football game while Jentry and I hit the shopping stores.  By the time we arrived, Jentry had already mapped out our meals in the city.  "I want Runza for lunch, Old McDonalds for supper and then Fazoli's on Sunday."  I suppose I will take responsibility for her ridiculous eating requests.  Thank goodness there isn't any fast food in Sutton! 

Jentry and I had a great mother/daughter day shopping, eating and just being together.  We have not had much time just the two of us lately.  After four big stores, I had her completely worn out so we stopped at my dear friend Abby's house to relax.  Jentry took a nice, long nap on the couch while Abby and I got caught up on all the exciting things going on in our lives. 

For her amazing behavior, Jentry got to pick out one thing to buy at Walmart and she chose fake nails.  They reminded me of something you would see on Toddler's and Tiaras!  After she finished her kids meal, I helped her put them on.  To say that she loved them would be a drastic understatement.  She flaunted them around all evening.  I warned her that they may not stay on through the night, however the first thing I heard Sunday morning was, "Mom, my nails are still on!"  She loved them until she realized how difficult it was to do anything with them on and then begged me to take them off mid morning.  It was bitter sweet.  Oh the things girls do to be pretty!

Sunday we traveled back home to get our work done so that we could spend Labor Day resting and playing.  I had been promising Jentry a night of camping all summer.  Since we never had a good weekend to go the lake, I decided to rough it with her in the back yard.  Nathan was nice enough to go get his tent and camping supplies rounded up.  Jentry was soooo stoked she could hardly stand it!  It was such great fun to watch her excitement that even Nathan got into the camping mood too.  The two of them even had the tent set up before I even realized they were in the back yard.

We had blankets, pillows, flashlights, water, books, and of course Snuggie.  We headed out to sleep around nine and it was still rather hot and sticky outside.  Jentry didn't seem to mind until it was time to sit still and try to actually sleep.  "I'm all hot and sweaty." There was a brief moment where she wanted to go back inside, however I distracted her with one more book and she soon fell asleep.  I tossed and turned for a while and at 1:00 am Nathan finally wimped out and went inside.  I was finally able to fall asleep and Jentry slept until 7:00 am.  I don't think we will be attempting camping again until next year...maybe two more years. 

Monday morning we enjoyed egg-in-a-holes for breakfast, per Nathan's request.  Then we bummed around in our jammies and watch Dr. Seuss' The Lorax.  For lunch Jentry wanted a sandwich on triangle bread, which I finally determined, after a near meltdown, was just a regular ham sandwich cut in half diagonally.  Next we headed to Fox Hollow for a round of golf.  After golf, Jan invited us to their house for supper and Jentry got to go for a four-wheeler ride and watch the humming birds on the back deck.  I have to admit they are quite amazing, little creatures. 

By the time we arrived home at eight, we were all exhausted.  Jentry fell asleep watching The Lorax for the second time while Nathan, so very kindly, let me watch The Lucky One.  It is a romance movie based on the Nicholas Sparks book, however I think he even liked it more than he will admit.  I can not think of a better ending to an amazing weekend!

Kitchen Built-Ins Before and After

This is what the north wall in my kitchen looked like when Nathan and his friend Craig started destructing in March of 2011.  It was a scary day.  Had I known at that time how long it would take to fix it,  I might have passed out.

 

Finally after months and months of waiting, the wall looks like this! 

I had some ideas and Nathan, being a much better artist than I, helped me put my ideas together on paper.  Nathan's friend Blake made our vision come to life and handcrafted the shelves and this is the result.  The wall was useless and a waste of space, so we decided to make it functional.

I even added some lower hooks so that Jentry can hang up her own coat.

As you can see, we truly needed a place for all of our stuff!  No longer is my kitchen counter a place to pile hats, gloves, coats, bags, shoes, etc.  I absolutely love it!  It was (almost) worth the incredibly, long wait.



Preschool

Today was a big day for this mama.  I took my baby girl to her first day of Preschool.  I really didn't know if I was going to be able to take her myself, as I have been tearing up every time someone has mentioned it this past week.  I even contemplated having Nathan take her so that I wouldn't completely fall apart in front of Jentry and everyone else at the school.  Somehow, I managed to put on my mom jeans this morning and tough it out. 

Jentry actually went to bed at a decent time last night, so she was raring to go early.  We shared a pop tart, some OJ and some laughs.  I was going to be one of those overachieving mothers and get up at 5:00 AM to make her an entire breakfast from scratch, but Jentry said, "No mom no.  I just want a pop tart." OK Jentry, whatever you want. :)

Next she went to put on her outfit that we spent an hour selecting yesterday and when the pants were half way on she said, " I don't want to wear this mom."   Ugh!  Thankfully, we were ahead of schedule so we had plenty of time to make another wardrobe choice.  Next we took a few pictures on the front porch.  A landscaping company is working on our yard this morning, so Jentry was a little embarrassed by everyone watching her, however I managed to get a few good pics. 

Next we got in the car and headed north, up the hill, to the big school.  Jentry's preschool is located in the elementary building so there were tons of other kids, moms, cars, buses and bikes to navigate through.  Never mind the fact that I had no idea where I was going. Luckily, Nathan had given me a little bit of direction or I would have ended up at the doors to the high school and I am totally not ready for that yet! 

I was doing fairly well until we were walking up the sidewalk and I started to tear up.  I was so worried that Jentry was going to see me cry, so I made her stand in front of the sign for a photo op and a brief minute to get a hold of myself.  Thankfully, Jentry was doing great and was still really excited.  If she had been scared or crying, I would have had no choice but to swoop her up and run for the car.  Ok, so maybe not but the thought would have definitely crossed my mind.

We found the BEEs room and Ms. Peterson showed Jentry where she could hang her jacket.  I was so proud of my little girl.  She gave me a hug and a kiss, and then another hug and a kiss and the one more hug and kiss and said, "Goodbye Mom."

I told myself that I could cry once I got back to the car, but instead I distracted myself by posting Jentry's pictures on FaceBook.  Thank goodness for modern technology or I would have had to reapply my mascara for the day. 

Nathan called to check on me and I told him that so far the first day of preschool has been a great success.  Now, if I can just remember to pick her up at 11:30 everyday?!?!