{tonight}

Im totaly bummed. I had the cutest darn shots of my boys snuggled on the coach watching some talking dog movie on disney & wel-p I sort-a deleted the wrong folder from my desktop. Maybe they will recreate it again for me...not likely...but a girl can dream.
Rod has nights this weekend so Rod is enjoying the last of 2011 in the ICU. The kids & I went ahead & did our 2012 wishes without the man of the house. We strung them to balloons & sent them up. The big boys surprised me. Britt said he wishes to be helpful at school with his friends. T said he wished to be a friend to someone who did not have any. We waited for the last sunset of 2011 & went out to release our balloons & wishes. 1 for each of us.














& we also wish you a happy happy new year!

(yup its new years eve & im blogging. thats what I do when the hubs is gone

& my boys got too sleepy to stay up with me. Buts that A-OK with me..

I get to look at cute little faces while posting.)

{2011 highlights}

We found out we were moving to Texas for residency...
Rod graduated & we survived medical school....
T graduated from Kindergarten & had to say goodbye

to the friends he spent the last 3 1/2 years with...

we had to say goodbye to our dear friends who became our family for 4 years...
we moved to a new house in Texas & have really enjoyed it here....

Presley turned one....

Maddox started to get help with his speach & has gone frum humming to scentences....
Britt started Pre-school...

We then found out that Rod got the Annestesia spot & will be staying in this great city.

Its been a busy & big year for us.

I am grateful for the many blessings given in 2011.

Heres to another year...

{Presley}

Did you know Presley's nick name is "Diddy"?
she is always singing & dancing. our own "Diddy"

I have had many friends loose their own baby girls in the last 3 months. Brings me back to reality. Our children are so deeply precious. My heart aches for mother's who face a loss so great that part of their hearts can no longer linger in this life. But I have a testimony that families are eternal. forever. I am grateful for our Heavenly Fathers beautiful plan! I am grateful that my children are & always will be mine!

{somethings cahnge, others stay the same}

My mom took me out for luch on my birthday. while we were away from the house the Rod & my Dad made a cake & frosting from scratch. pretty impresive. after the song was song & the candles blown out maddox decided it was time to dig in. & so, he did.


I am 30 now. I am okay with that. Things do not feel diffrent then they did when I was 29. Im not suddenly feeling old.
Actually, I still feel stuck at 21. I still worry about the same things & fixate too much, I still think about the things I did last year & even 9 years ago. So many things seem the same. I still have horrible habits I wish I could break. Of course many things have changed too. I feel a greater sense of purpose. I am a mom. I know who I am & am comfortable with my inner self. I am not perfect, but I am not awful either. I am me. I know where I want to be in the future & in some ways I know exactly where I am headed. I have big dreams & hopes & havent decided to give up on those because of where I am in life right now. Motherhood is a huge part of who I am, but its not all of who I am. I get excited about silly things & still dance around when no one is watching. I still like to be called Jenni even though most everyone calls me Jenn. I think about old friends when I blow dry my hair. I worry about bad choices when I clean the house. I dream atleast once a week about the same things I dreamed about while in college. 30 is 30. I am still fun & still get the occasional "are you the nanny?" or "those are all your kids? no way!" when I am out with the Sclater brood. the past 10 years have flown by at a speed totaly out of my control. & with the last decade of my life has come rollercoasters & challenges & fantastic times & growth! lots & lots & lots of growth! I am 30. & that is okay by me! I like who I am at 30.

{the birthday song}

Every year our dear friends make us a birthday song. This year they did not disapoint. It was so good that I of course started to cry like a baby into my bathrobe. We miss the Sowbys & our home in KY/TN & this song did not help matters!
Thanks friends! we love ya!!!

{youngest}

I love when our 2 youngest play together.

but when he starts to put a helmet on her...I start to worry what kind of ride he has planned. sweet goobers.

{sloppy}

Christmas always seems like such a whirlwind. It comes & goes so quickly. Its gard to slowdown. But we did for just a few minuets after all the presents, ham, church & candy. We read from the scriptures & had the children use the nativity to identify diffrent parts of the story. Next year we will do our own little pageant. This year it did not pan out...too much on our plates I guess. It will be a priority in 2012. I took a gazilion pictures. These are just a few I pulled out to post now.

Maybe Ill get to some more later.

the Sclaters got a peg tractor all their own! & a Pottery Barn Kitchen too! our personal Santa(s) was VERY generous this year!!

Presley was darling opening her gifts, so sweetly & with big big smiles for each gift. Babies & a purse amongst her favorites!

Tre was super excited by some gifts that Omah & Opah got him & was eager to show affection! Britt's teacher even gave Britt a gift for under the tree. We love her!

Omah's gift from the Sclaters...the Sclater cookbook.


My husband is adorable! After the kids went to bed us grown ups opened our stockings & exchanged gifts. Rod & I got his(black) & hers(white) ipads from my parents! We feel very spoiled! My mom had opened her gift from us earlier. It is a cookbook with stories about why each recipe has family significance & then pictures to go along.
back to Rod being so cute.
after I gave him his gift (I typed up our story, & got it printed & bound. kind-a pathetic compared to the gift I recieved.) He then handed me a package which had the biggest lump of coal from KY ever! & it lead me on a scavenger hunt...

so sweet. It was fun hunting for the packages & not being able to open them until I found the biggest one. I was giddy. this is the type of thing he used to do when we courted (& had time!). It brought back those memories. He always gives me the best gifts. after all the hunting & finding we cluttered the table with technology & made calls to family & face timed with Brad & Kalen. Kalen is so creative. she framed a picture of their baby to be for my mom. she loved it! I did too. so cute.

having my parents here has been way too much fun. They are such loving grandparents! We are not looking forward to their departure.

I feel like this is all jumbled, sloppy & non sense.

so Ill end here.

In my defense...I am slightly distracted by a cute puppy snoozing on T. My parents just adopted a pretty little grey hound today who loves snuggeling in a baby blanket. cute cute cute.

{eve}

waffles for dinner
tracking santa
new jammies from saint nick

Rod's birthday cake
hanging stockings
christmas shows
stories & songs
finding the german pickle ornament
brother's sleepover in sleeping bags
finishing wrapping
sweet dreams & anticipation

{compromise}

Rod had to work on his birthday. I guess people still are ill even during the holidays. darn. right?! So I had to make some compromises & for go the dinner & friends for his day. Instead I waited till he fell asleep on the 23rd & snuck out to his car & filled it with balloons & party decorations & dangeling notes listing things with appreciate about the man of the house. then on his steering wheel was a poem with challenges. He had to give a christmas treat to the nurses station, give children that he saw a little gift, & cupcakes to share. each challenge's supplies were provided in designated bags. The one challenge, & the one I knew would be the hardest...Rod chose to NOT do. whimp! He was supposed to tell someone it was his birthday.
at the end of his long work day he cam ehome. I had kept the boys up to help sing to their Dad. It was the first time Britt had seen his Daddy in 8 days. & only the second night Madds had seen. We have missed him this month. We had cake & hurried the boys off to bed for Santa to come.
I know his birthday was not perfect, but I am hoping he felt loved.




A big thank you to Rod for all the sacrafices he makes for our family. Imcluding leaving the house at 5am & working till 7pm on his birthday! We love you!