something new...

you would think that after being married for what seems like forever (is that a good thing or bad thing that it seems that long? i think a good thing), you would think that we know all there is to know about each other. that there is nothing new under the sun...well not so boys and girls.

our running joke is that we learn one new thing about each other each month. and so far that is pretty right on.

the first time it happened we were at carl's jr and i got some fry sauce for me and Andy (this was before kelsey anne and ellyn) and steve asked where his was? i told him he didn't like fry sauce so i didn't get him any. he said that he did. and i asked for how long? and he said for always! well, what do you know? that was our first new thing of the month. it seems that he comes from a long line of fry sauce likers (snyder's call it gunk, if that is how you spell it.)

this is how we keep things new, fresh in our marriage. learning about fry sauce and such.

oh, for those of you who are not from utah and don't know what fry sauce is, it is just ketchup and mayo. simple and good.

oh mom cat

how can i do my Bible study with THIS in my way? why is it that cats want to be right in the middle of everything?

baking fun

while in dickson i got to see my dad in all his baking glory. and boy does that man bake. one of the many things that i loved was his french bread. it was the best! and it seemed super easy. so for one night i decided we needed to have french bread with dinner. now i knew that it needed 40 minutes to rise after it had mixed in the bread maker and it was to cook for 22 minutes. i thought i had it all calculated just right so it would come out just in time for dinner. what could be better than fresh french bread? well, i forgot to factor in the mixing time...one hour and nineteen minutes!!! that put my timing off just a little. well, it will be ok i thought. we can just have it as an after dinner snack. one other thing i forgot to factor in was our power going out. yikes! as we were eating a storm blew in and the power went out. not a big deal i thought. then i remembered the bread was in the oven. steve said i should just leave the door shut and wait. the power did come back on not too much later. i then turned the oven back on and started to cook. it had stayed pretty hot in there so i was very hopeful. and would you believe it turned out great. perfect i thought. but if you ask ellyn she will tell you that great papa's (my dad), his bread is still much better. thank you for your support ell.

fun with kitty

i think kelsey likes mom cat. but not too sure mom cat feels the same way.

sew much fun

For Christmas this year I received a sewing machine from my in-laws. I had been thinking I wanted one for a while and what do you know? Santa came through! I had learned to sew when I was really little. My mom did a lot of sewing and I learned some from her, but that was many moons ago. And this machine is very different from my mom's one. It does all kinds of crazy stitches. It even does button holes. We had our very first lesson on my new machine. I learned how to do all kinds of fun things. Now I am looking for my first project. I have a few in mind. I am going to keep it simple and see how it goes.





My first project! I did a bunch of different kinds of stitches. The kids think I should frame it, I just might. My mom would be so proud.


Thanks Kathy for teaching and picking up where my mom has left off. I love you mom!

journaling fun

this great book "wreck this journal" was given to andy by a dear friend of my mom's. it is good to have a son that likes to journal as much as my mom and i do. i do have some issues with this book. the point of the book is to let the kids explore their creative sides, to color outside the lines. i want andy to take care of this book. but that is not the idea. for example one page says you have to take it into the shower?!?! you have to draw different size lines, put something sticky on a page (gum, what else), one page andy had to rip out, put it in his pants pocket and then let it go through the was, then tape it back in the book. this book was written just for him i think.

pizza fun

saturday night is now officially pizza night!

i tried my hand at making my own pizza dough,

and guess what?

it worked

it was super easy

it was a success!

i had a veggie pizza.

the kids had pepperoni.

steve had a meat-lovers one.

oh mom cat

not too sure about this cat of ours. the other day i caught her licking steve's work boots.

mmmm, maybe she needs food?

or a therapist.

School Helper

what a cute little helper. with that smile it makes even math seem not as hard.

eeewww

one of the many fun things we do in our homeschool group is the annual dissection! this was the year of the frog. usually andy gets into the cutting and poking of the dead animal, but not this year. it was all i could do to get him to pretend to cut into if for a "blog moment" photo. ellyn was having nothing to do with the yucky frog either. so, it was me and the frog. it was kind of cool, still pretty icky. our good friend mike b. really got into the whole frog thing. we had to keep running over and seeing what was going on at his table. he and his kids were having a blast. we are looking forward to next year, well i am any way.

traveling fun

this trip to tennessee was my first time flying with an infant. i was a little nervous, not too sure what to expect. i didn't want to be "that lady with the baby" on the plane. you know the one, the baby that never stops crying and makes a one hour flight seem like two weeks? well kelsey did great! she slept most flights and then was very happy (like always) when she was awake. when we were leaving nashville our gate was by the play area. yep, a play area in an airport. it was so cool. i think the idea is to wear the kids out so they sleep on the planes, but it could have the opposite effect, get them all wound up.

while mom's away...

the boys will play...

steve and andy went to get hot wings and

yummy desserts.

photos by steve

fingers!

kelsey loves her fingers!

"tiny"

on our trip we got to meet the newest member of the Jacobson house hold. "tiny", is not so tiny orange kitty that my dad had adopted. he showed up on the back deck and was hungry, so of course my dad took pity on him and let him move in with the other kitties. sadie and katey were not as thrilled as my dad was. tiny started out very tiny, he could fit in the palm of my dad's hand. needless to say he has grown a bit. he is now 36 inches long and weighs a whopping 20 pounds. he is not fat like katey (mom's black cat) he is sold cat. and a lot of fun too. he loved hanging out with us and he let the kids play with him.

as most people who are owned by cats know, you can't tell a cat where to go or not to go. tiny likes the top of the bookshelf and the baby seat. he also likes the top of the scratching post and on top of dad's desk. do you see a pattern here?



he was also a good sport and let kelsey pet him.

one month

It has been just about a month since my mom passed away. She died in her sleep on January 4th, surrounded by the things she loved. Her cats, books and my dad.

As we were going through the house we kept finding one of her other favorite things; pens, markers and highlighters. There was a cup in the kitchen, the living room, her office, in her night stand and in the bathroom.