Bust a move

This is Jenna, right before the camera flash woke her up. Oops. I love watching her sleep. She is so sweet.

I have been wanting to take Jenna to the zoo but we don't have one here in town so Pet Extreme was the next best thing. She was mesmerized by the huge blue macaw and giggled when it talked at her. She also loved the fish and I loved using the aquarium setting on my camera for the first time! It was a fun thing, even if we didn't get to see lions and tigers and bears. We wish we could be at the Cleveland Zoo next month for the Great Strides Walk! (If you don't know what that is, check out the Porter's Supporters link to the right).

Remember when....?

I took this picture on the way to my water aerobics class. When we budgeted for gas this month, (which is a must because of Jake's commute) we gave ourselves plenty of breathing room because of the fluctuating gas prices. But, we didn't think prices would go up SO much, SO fast! And now the figure we thought was way more than what we needed may not be enough. We are wishing this picture wasn't a thing of the past...

Keep reading, there's a lot of new pictures of Jenna!

Latest experiments

This week I tried chicken cacciatore (to which Jake replied "You can make that any time!") and a shrimp salad with mandarin oranges. This could be my new favorite hobby .... or .... my only hobby.

This Week

I got nothin.' This week has been boring, with the exception of Friday night. We dropped Jenna off at my parent's and went to eat at Mike's Roadhouse (an establishment we won't be returning to - terrible prices, terrible food). But the night was redeemed when we saw a lamborghini and at Sears where we bought a Ty Pennington bedspread set. LOVE it. I have yet to take a photo but if you still have your Sears ad from this week, we got the one in the picture. It is nice to have something cooler than our down comforter. And of course, we had to go with something by Ty to represent Jake's favorite show. Jenna continues to talk it up and can now say "Jesus," "H" and tonight she said, "one more" over and over. I think she tries to say "milk" but I'll need to hear that one at least two more times before it makes the "Jenna's Vocab" list. She also knows where her nose, eyes and ears are. She gets to watch Baby Einstein while we wait for Jake to come home and she will sit still through the entire 30 minutes! (And I get to "rest my eyes" while she snuggles me on the couch.) She is getting more and more adventurous which has resulted in some owies, like the one on her forehead from her faceplant off the front steps. But she's a tough girl and keeps on climbin.'

Closet Climber

Another favorite thing to climb...

We did not pose her like this!

Jake-ism

Today, instead of writing about Jenna, I'd like to share something funny about the other kid in our house. A couple nights ago, I said to Jake, "We should come up with our own business so you can stay at home, too." He thought for a second then, in all seriousness, said, "I could grow chia pets." And then proceeded to sing, "Cha cha cha chia!"

Jenna has a couple new freckles. She has one by her eye and one under her arm, which is almost impossible to get a picture of without pinning her down. She also has this weird, scaly thing that she's had since birth but seems to be growing. It goes from her shoulder to her chest in a U shape. The pediatrician wants the dermatologist to look at it but she isn't concerned about it.

Jenna the Explorer

Jenna loves to climb and she has recently discovered the steps leading up to every front door on our court. One day, she was climbing up our neighbor's steps and our neighbor opened the door. I said hi and while I was explaining why I was randomly standing on her porch, Jenna walked right into her house! I was so embarrasssed but she was cool about it and it was interesting to see all her leopard print decor. Jenna is my little explorer and is always discovering new things. This week she also discovered cucumbers, which she loves, and she discovered how to sit in her little rocking chair all by herself!

I love food.

Last Sunday, we had a great combined RS/Priesthood lesson on budgeting given by our friend, Sherman. Jake and I got really excited about it and have tried hard this week to improve our spending habits. One of our biggest issues is groceries... $50 here, $40 there.... it all adds up SO fast and we're buying things we don't really need. It is so hard to go to the store just for milk and not pick up the box of brownies that's on sale! So, in an effort to save money, I've decided to get a little more creative and resourceful with my dinners. One great website is allrecipes.com because you can search by the ingredients you have/want to use and the ones you don't. So, for example, my mom gave me a ton of lemons and I had some shrimp so I searched for recipes using those two things. I found a YUMMY garlic lemon shrimp pasta recipe that Jake said was restaraunt quality! Wow!

The bread is random.... sourdough would have been better, but when it's all you've got....

Proof!

The next night I did a twist on my mom's classic chili mac. Instead of using ground beef, I combined chicken breast strips, black beans, corn, tomato sauce, stewed tomatoes, taco seasoning, dried onions, basically just a concoction of whatever sounded "Mexican." We put it in tortillas and YUM! Tonight I did the allrecipes.com search with chicken and corn flakes. I found a baked chicken recipe that I altered a little bit with a packet of dried ranch seasoning. It turned out okay... but Jenna liked it!

Jenna and Jake also made some great lemon cookies using the lemons from my mom.

We've had a lot of fun trying (and eating) new recipes and cooking with what we already have, instead of making several grocery runs. And it's fun to see all the money we're saving! P.S. Be sure to read all three new posts!

Lots of fun this week..... playing drums with Uncle Steve, a new pink Princess onesie from Aunt Missy, fingering painting with baby food and playing with the "sweeper" (as my Grandpa Brooks called it).

Strawberry Whine

Safeway had strawberries on sale this week (4 lbs. for $5.88) so I bought 4 lbs. and froze most of them. Jenna loved them! What she did not love was getting her shots on Friday. So far, she hasn't had a problem sleeping at night but today was the first day she was a little cranky. The doctor was out of the Hib shot so we have to go back... poor Jenna.
Jenna is 30" tall (61%) and 20.7 lbs. (27%) so she is long and lean with a small head (10%). The doctor said she is a textbook toddler but wants her to go to the dermatologist for a funky thing she has on her shoulder that seems to be growing. Also, the whining has really started and this week at the park was her first public meltdown. She wanted to climb up a huge step that leads to the twisty slide and when I took her away, she fell to the ground, screaming. Nice. I picked her up, dusted the wood chips off of her, told her I was sorry and put her in the swing. She was fine after a while but a couple people were staring. Guess I should just get used to it!