My Wife, the Joo

This post is actually not written by Jenni, but by her husband, Kenny! Jenn is at a book club meeting tonight, and I thought I'd try out this whole blogging thing, I've never done it before. I didn't ask for her permission, I just thought I'd try it out on her blog (I hope she doesn't mind).

Well, I just want to take a brief moment and let the world (of bloggers) know how much I love my wife. Every day, I anxiously look forward to getting home from work so that I can spend time with my wife. Coming home to her is the highlight of my day, and it always makes me happy. Even on days when Daniel has been a grump and maybe Jenn isn't in the best of moods, I'm still happy to be home with her to help her out. And in those cases, she always gets in a much better mood shortly after I get home.

Last week we spoiled each other since it was my Spring Break from work. It was really hard for me to go back to work this Monday, not because I don't like my job, but because I just loved being around my wife all day every day. I told Jenn that some day I'll work from home just doing wood working out of our garage, and Jenn can sell products online for me. I of course don't think that will actually ever happen, but it's a fun thought. I'll be happy if I can simply make things good enough for our home.

Speaking of which, I did successfully make a shelf for our entertainment room. We had one bare wall in the room that needed something to fill the void. I figured a single shelf that I could mount on the wall would be a simple first task to help me become more familiar with all of my new toys. Indeed it was. I learned a lot while making it, and I think that for my next project, I will probably make a very similar (but smaller) shelf for our very bare powder room. When I built the shelf, I didn't have anything in particular in mind that I wanted to display on it. So, until we come up with anything better to display, it proudly holds the 8 generations of Nintendo GameBoys. I'm sure that Jenn could do a better job of taking these pictures, but I thought I'd give it a shot.

Good times, bad times

Good times- we have a new friend in the ward, Becky. She has a little boy Avery, exactly one month older than Daniel (seen here clutching my leg). I love this little man.

Avery had an early 1st birthday party we were invited to. It was a costume party, but Kenny and I were lame and didn't dress up. I threw together a last minute "costume" for Daniel- Super Mario:

He had fun with Avery (a cowboy):

And got his first real sugar, in cupcake form (see blue frosting):

And enjoyed playing with Daddy and with Avery's fun toys:


All in all, we had an AWESOME spring break. Lots of fun.

Bad times- this is a perfect representation of my day today:


My baby has decided that baby food is old news and he wants to feed himself. I still can't relinquish the control and let him feed himself anything remotely messy, and unfortunately graham crackers and cheerios hardly make full meals. So he won't sleep because he's too hungry, and he won't eat because he's too tired:

Today was a hard day. It may be because I got spoiled by Kenny being home over spring break last week and I miss him fiercely (I am sooo dependent on my wonderful husband)

The V-Day Flight!

So, it finally happened, after FOUR reschedules due to bad weather. For those who don't the know, I bought Kenny a plane trip/ "flight instruction" back in February for Valentine's day.
First, Kenny got to learn how to inspect the plane:


Then we got in and all set up with our nifty headsets:


When we took off, we were facing south, which was cool because we could see our house (it's kind of behind the third clump of trees on the right side of the main road you see):

We went up over Lake Conroe, which was BEAUTIFUL, lots of boats out enjoying the clear weather, lots of green forests celebrating spring:

Kenny got to "fly" the plane, but only when we were going straight and absolutely no effort was required in any way- he got to rest his hand on the steering wheel:). Still had a great time.

And as always, I just love looking out the window at all the houses and being jealous of everyone's pools:


It was a lot of fun. Definitely worth the wait, I think the anticipation was half the fun.

Nature Day

First, I found an armadillo. A few months back I thought I saw him hiding in the bushes by our house, but figured I was making it up (just like anytime I see a gully or pond I'm sure I see alligators). So imagine my delight when I looked out our window and saw a little armadillo just outside our fence. This is the only pic I got of him, and he's all out of focus (but the leaves are crisp and clear, ha). I had to stand on a ladder to see over our fence: Hes the blur dead center:

We named him maximilian. Honestly, I was so giddy about finally seeing an armadillo, and the thought still makes me smile.

A few days ago we went to the park and ended up seeing all sorts of wildlife:
geese, who let us get very close. I think they scared me more than I scared them

Turtles all over the place

A crane (and more turtles in the center)

And Kenny's favorite, a squirrel

And my favorite, a wild Danielbaby

PS, note how HUGELY FAT my son's feet are? This is why he doesn't wear shoes. NO SHOES FIT.

And last but not least, this is a nutria:

Creepy little beaver rat. He let us get quite close, though.

Next on my blog: the valentine's day flight that almost wasn't (which was awesome)

New Toys

Kenny has been saving his pennies and working saturdays to save up for woodworking tools. With a generous grant from his parents, he finally got enough for a table saw:

and a bunch of wood and finished his first project- a work bench:

Which Daniel was very happy about:

Check out his dancey dance moves:


More pics at our smugmug gallery

Catch-up

Whew, it's been quite a week. Some highlights:
-Kenny's sister Jeannette, her husband Jeff, and their adorable daughter Laura came to visit for the weekend. We played cranium, one of my favorite board games.
- For the first time ever, I lost at a game of Cranium, but it was a close game (sudden death overtime). Jeannette made a wonderful partner.
-I'm happy to announce Kenny and I discovered we trust each other well enough to play Cranium with just the two of us and promise to try our hardest at guessing for the other person when necessary.
-We all went to NASA together on Saturday for the first time (for us). It was miserable and cold but we had a good time. Definitely a necessity for someone living in Houston.
-Kenny finished the last step to being a permanent, certified Texas teacher (taking a test that could best be described as "beyond lame").
-We just weeded and put down mulch in our front yard, and also put down edging to keep the "grass" from taking over (if you've ever seen Texas "grass" you'd understand why I have it in quotes.)
-This week is Kenny's spring break. It's been delightful. I can't wait til summer.
-I have found a wonderful french bakery/restaurant we went to yesterday for breakfast. I had crepes and Kenny tried Quiche Lorraine for the first time (he liked it, the weirdo).
-We got a new vacuum. It's spiffy.
-Kenny made more delicious Peanut Butter cookies last night, and more pizza today. I'm spoiled rotten.
-I spoke in church two weeks ago. I have a half-written post about it, but in case I never get around to posting it: My talk had two halves. One was on my long road to finally feeling like a part of relief society (and it's NOT because I like fake flowers and bread machines). See, "love" is the thing that connects us all, even if we don't fit the "mold" of a Relief Society stay-at-home-mommy. The latter half was on how sometimes love means ACCEPTING service as well as giving it; sometimes the most loving thing you can do is let someone help you when you are vulnerable. I'll still try to post it if I can sometime. It was the first time ever that I spoke at church with no regrets on how it went- I actually think it went rather well if I do say so myself.

Oh, on a fun note: two sundays ago was the day we were supposed to reset our clock for Daylight Savings. We were going to go a half hour early (8 am) so I could prepare my talk. We managed to drive to church ("oh, that's weird, all these other churchs seem awfully busy for 8 am"), park in the parking lot ("why are there so many cars in the parking lot?"), walk down the hall ("these halls are empty for 30 minutes before church starts"), overhear someone speaking ("is someone practicing their talk before church starts? that's weird") and walk into the sacrament room before realizing we were 30 minutes LATE rather than 30 minutes EARLY. I made it just in time to get on the stand and speak.

New tricks

Daniel has really taken off the last few weeks. He can climb the stairs, crawls like a pro, zooms with his walker, and is all around just growing up.
Here's a video mishmash of his new tricks:

Oh, and some other new tricks I could do without:

The problem with Big Love

So I've had received at least 6 "calls to arms" from fellow mormons outraged over Big Love including mormon temple ceremonies in an upcoming episode. (for the non-member readers of my blog, mormons hold their temple ceremonies very sacred and personal. It's not that they have to be kept as some shameful secret; rather, we try to treat them with respect and reverence).
I'm not blaming anyone who is upset or trying to do something about the problem- it's a perfectly understandable response. We have every right to be outraged and disgusted. Unfortunately, I think it is completely counterproductive to let it get to you or to try to publicly denounce the show.
I promise that nothing we do will make the problem better- it will only draw more attention to the series and boost their ratings. If HBO were concerned about offending mormons, that series wouldn't exist to begin with.

This bit of commentary from LDS Newsroom sums things up nicely.
Such things say much more about the insensitivities of writers, producers and TV executives than they say about Latter-day Saints. If the Church allowed critics and opponents to choose the ground on which its battles are fought, it would risk being distracted from the focus and mission it has pursued successfully for nearly 180 years...
As Elder M. Russell Ballard and Elder Robert D. Hales of the Council of the Twelve Apostles have both said recently, when expressing themselves in the public arena, Latter-day Saints should conduct themselves with dignity and thoughtfulness.

Take a hint from the church's official response- oh wait, there hasn't been an official response. Like most times when the media mocks mormonism, the church's official response is to ignore it, turn the other cheek, and concentrate on things that ARE in our control, like service and missionary work.:

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as an institution does not call for boycotts. Such a step would simply generate the kind of controversy that the media loves and in the end would increase audiences for the series...
As someone recently said, “This isn’t 1830, and there aren’t just six of us anymore.” In other words, with a global membership of thirteen and a half million there is no need to feel defensive when the Church is moving forward so rapidly. The Church’s strength is in its faithful members in 170-plus countries, and there is no evidence that extreme misrepresentations in the media that appeal only to a narrow audience have any long-term negative effect on the Church.
If we're going to respond to the situation at all, it should be calmly and probably not publicly. We should set a good example of Christ-like behavior. We can use this as an opportunity to bring up with friends what the mormon church is really about, and NOT as one more way to show how mormons are just angry victims of moral outrage. I'd absolutely hate it if all the world knew about Mormons is the less-than-calm-and-reasonable way many responded to persecution following prop 8 and this new Big Love incident.

Lucky Jobs

First, the very happy news: sounds like Kenny has a new place to work next year! A more local high school in our school district emailed him tuesday, set up an interview wednesday and all but hired him Thursday. They pay would be slightly less, but his commute would go from 45 minutes to 13 minutes, and hopefully the insurance benefits will be better so we can have maternity coverage for whenever we decide to give Daniel a sibling.
But the happiest news is he can get away from his current department. Kenny teaches in a Title 1 school currently- something like 97% minority. But they're good kids, that's not the problem. The problem is the school district admin and his own little math department have some stupid and just plain toxic people in them. His daily department meeting is draining his soul away a day at a time.
So anyways, the interview went very well, the lady was VERY impressed, and told Kenny she will make it official as soon as the opening becomes official (two math teachers are retiring but haven't made their retirement official yet). WOOHOO!
On top of that, a lady in the ward (who I barely know) overheard me chatting with someone about how I have some free time on my hands these days and offered me a job as a respite care worker for her 18-year-old autistic son right there on the spot. It won't have a lot of money, and it won't be often, but a little extra money goes a long way. I can bring Daniel with me, and apparently the autistic kid just sits on a couch and reads books anyways.
The same lady heard that I'm into photography and asked me to take some pics for her. After explaining that I'm really not a photographer and am just a beginner, I took some free pictures of her that I think turned out rather well. They are to go on the back cover of a book she is publishing, so now I can say I'm a published photographer:).

So yeah, things are looking quite shiny for us right now. Yippee!

3 hours

In the 3 hours between one nap and the next, here is what we got into.
First, the diaper change. This is how it always ends up these days, now that he knows how to role over during the split second it takes me to get his diaper ready (warning, baby bum):

If I give him just a second more, he stands up and plays with the light switch. How do you put a diaper on THIS:

Next, nothing is safe. The kiddy gates that once worked so well, he's learned how to get around. The DVDs are the first to go:

So I put him in the guest room which has NOTHING he can get into, right? He finds the "backdrop" (read: black sheet) I used for a photoshoot I did for a friend in the ward. He starts crying and flailing until I save him, at which point he crawls right back:

Next we discover he can now not only pull himself to standing on the toilet, he can reach the toilet paper:


And at last, I can stop worrying about what he will get into next:

Sneaky little smile.
3 very LONG hours.
PS. I'm not a derelict parent who only looks in on her kid from time to time to see what photos she can make of it, I promise. Usually I run interference nonstop all day but today decided to show what happens when I turn my attention away for a second.