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You are here: Home / Archives for JJ

JJ

Life 2012 | J.J. turns Ten!

JJ turned 10 on January 26th. I can’t believe my little boy is 10 already. He has gone through a lot in is young life as we struggled with his developmental delays and the eventual diagnosis of Autism. But I’m so proud of him for all he has accomplished and the person he is becoming.

I wanted to share 10 things about who JJ is at this time in his life:

1. He is so excited about everything. He always seems to have a inner delight about even the little things in life.

2. He has an amazing memory and can remember even the littlest things about life or things people say, even if you don’t think he is listening or noticing what is going on around him, HE IS.

3. He loves video games. Getting a DS for his birthday was a huge event in his life. The first thing he talks or asks about every day is that DS and the games. “Can I play the DS as soon as I get home?” He also loves to play on the Wii and computer games. He has a bit of trouble with the coordination of it sometimes, but he keeps trying and enjoys it even if he loses. He also LOVES to just watch other people play, especially his Dad.

4. He loves going to Cub Scouts. Its hard for him sometimes with the requirements and the things he has to do – but he still loves to go. I’m so grateful for the leaders and the other boys who are patient with him and make him feel like he belongs.

5. Everyday when JJ gets home from school, I read little notes from his teachers and they always say how happy he is and how helpful he is with everyone. It’s so good to hear. Sometimes we struggle at home with him getting overwhelmed and overstimulated and it causes fights and grumpiness with his sister and us (his parents), but its so nice to know that he is so happy with everyone else. He’s happy at home too (most of the time), but its good to know he gets along so well with the teachers and the other students in his Life Skills Class.

6. He loves FOOD. It seems like we can never fill that skinny little tummy of his. He will eat twice as much as I do and still be hungry. He rarely has things he doesn’t like and its nice to just put something in front of him and have him eat it. Not sure what we are going to do when he is a teenager as he is already eating us out of house and home!

7. JJ ADORES the show Phineas and Ferb. His favorite character is Agent P/Perry. He just loves everything about it. He’s always pretending to be Agent P and playing with his Phineas and Ferb toys. He loves talking about the show and reading about the show and playing the show. It’s pretty much all we hear about from him.

8. JJ is very helpful. He hardly ever complains when I ask him to do chores and little things to help me around the house.

9. JJ has a movie bug just like his parents. He loves watching movies and tv shows. Even though you would think it would be an overstimulator (and it can be sometimes) – most of the time, it is something that actually calms him when he needs a little down time.

10. JJ loves to travel. While I can’t wait to take him on a plane someday, cause I know he’ll love it, but for now he loves to travel in the car and he loves taking the school bus everyday. And he loves riding on trains and the TRAX. He is very content to gaze out the window and see where we are going. I’m never sure what is running through his head, but I’m sure its inspiring and its fun to watch his delighted eyes as he gazes out that window!

I love you JJ and I’m so happy to be your mom.

JJ was so excited about his birthday and he had a great day! I just thought I would share some of the fun he had that day.

He was so excited that his birthday fell on a Thursday – which is pizza day at his school. Pizza is his favorite. Even better, it was parent teacher conferences this week and they invited parents to come to lunch with their kids. So I got to go have a picnic with JJ in his school’s gym on his birthday! I also brought donuts for him to share with his class and he was so excited about that.

schoollunchWhile JJ was at school, I spent the morning/afternoon (after going to lunch with him), creating a Agent P cake for him. I first made 4 mini cookie cakes. (I just made my red velvet cookies and put some cream cheese frosting in between each layer). I think I did about 5 cookies on each little cake. Then I frosted the cakes with chocolate cream cheese frosting. Then, I used fondant for the first time to create the Agent P, that I put in the middle. It didn’t turn out exactly as I had planned, but it was pretty good. I used green sprinkles on top of the cakes to look like Agent P was peeking out of the grass/ground to head out on a spy adventure. I admit that cake decorating is not my forte, but JJ loved it and that’s all that mattered.

cakeAfter school, JJ got to watch some movies and play. For dinner, of course, we had Pizza and JJ was so happy to have it twice in one day!

Then the moment he was waiting for…his presents. I wasn’t quite able to capture how truly happy he was when he opened his Nintendo DS. It was really like a dream come true for him. The rest of his presents were games and additional stuff to go with the DS. (Oh and of course he wore his Perry Shirt on his birthday).

presents1 presents2 presents3 presents4 presents5And then of course we had to blow out candles and eat cake and ice cream before going to bed! And JJ got overly excited about the blowing out candles too as you can see in the photos! I’m so glad JJ had such a fabulous 10th birthday!

blowingcake1 blowingcake3 blowingcake2

Filed Under: Life 2012, Personal, Project Life Tagged With: 2012, agent p, birthday, cake, family, food, happy, JJ, life, memories, movies, perry, phineas and ferb, pizza, play, scouts, ten

Life 365 | Week 45

Monday, November 1, 2010
nov1
After the weekend of replacing the floor, its nice to see the kids room clean and organized. At least for today!

Tuesday, November 2, 2010
nov2
We still have leftover Dirt Dessert from Sunday and its such a delicious treat!

Wednesday, November 3, 2010
nov3
I hate the season of being sick. We have all had a hard time getting rid of our colds completely. These wonderful little vaporizers are awesome!


Thursday,
November 4, 2010

nov4
Our lawn is filling with leaves and I am reminded again that I am totally becoming a Fall person!

Friday, November 5, 2010
nov5
More snowflakes today – but it didn’t last long. I spent some time taking some pictures around the house.

Saturday, November 6, 2010
nov6
A fun Saturday. We took the kids to Megamind and then after the kids went to bed, Joey and I went out to dinner and brought home some Redbox movies which we watched together. I love it when we get to have date night!

Sunday, November 7, 2010
nov7
My little JJ is getting so big. After church today, I took some photos of JJ for his baptism program and I was delighted with this one!

Filed Under: Life 365-2010, Personal, Project Life Tagged With: 2010, baptism, clean, colds, dirt dessert, fall, family, JJ, leaves, life, memories, moments, movies, olive garden, organize, photography, sick, snowflakes, treats, vaporizer

Project 365 | Week 18

Monday, April 27, 2009
apr27
The kids have been enjoying being outside in all the Spring weather. I feel really grateful that I have a yard (although small) that the kids can go and play. I love seeing them use their imaginations and enjoy running around and just being kids. They have even been playing really well with each other. Today, when JJ got off the bus I gave them some drinks and snacks and sent them out to play. A few minutes later, I went to check on them and this is what I found. They had overturned their wagon and was using it as a table for their snacks. Just cute kids!

Tuesday, April 28, 2009
apr28
All the playing outdoors lately has made the kids sleep much better at night and I am so happy about that. I really think it helps them work out all their little stresses and makes them so much happier. Plus they get more rest and that has helped them even more! Yay! I went to tuck them in tonight and I found them already in bed (SURPRISE) and all snuggled in with their favorite stuffed animal friends.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009
apr29
Some of the things I love about JJ:
His laugh and his smiles are so contagious.
He looks like his Daddy!
He loves playing on the computer.
Each step of progress in his development, is so much more appreciated and enjoyed.
He makes me stronger.
He has an amazing memory.
He eats just about anything.
He loves movies.
He’s a bustle of energy.
He likes giving hugs.

Thursday, April 30, 2009
apr30
Some of the things I love about Beth:
She has so much self confidence.
She gives the best hugs.
She loves all the girly things, while still loving to play in the dirt and other tomboy stuff too.
She’s completely beautiful.
She has her Dad’s sense of humor.
She says the cutest things.

Friday, May 1, 2009
may1
I bought a new treat maker and it arrived today. These star popsicles were a big hit with the kids. I bet I will be making them A LOT this summer!

Saturday, May 2, 2009
may2
I wasn’t feeling very well today and I had a lot to do, so Joey took the kids up to the rec center for a little while and they played some racquetball. I think if they keep playing with Joey, that they are going to get pretty good!

Sunday, May 3, 2009
may3
After church we had a good time hanging out together watching some “church movies.” I love seeing my kiddos with their daddy. It somehow makes me love them all even more!

And here is my weekly layout:week18I used my Digital 365 Kits to create this layout!

Filed Under: Layouts, Life 365-2009, Personal, Project Life Tagged With: 2009, Beth, church, daddy kids, family, JJ, layout, memories, moments, movies, outdoors, play, playtime, popsicles, racquetball, spring

Project 365 | Week 5

Monday, January 26, 2009
jan26Today was JJ’s 7th Birthday. I can’t believe how fast time has gone. JJ was so excited for today. JJ’s favorite color is yellow, so we made a yellow cake with some chocolate frosting with some great sprinkles and added his favorite spiderman action figures. One of the things that JJ is really good at is matching games and he loves them. So we finally got him MEMORY and a fun little stuffed puppy (he’s been wanting a dog) – it’s an e-pet, so we are going to get him set up online so he can play the fun games that they have that go with the puppy. We had pizza for dinner since that is one of JJ’s favorite meals. It’s so wonderful to see JJ so happy – his smile goes from ear to ear. Beth was completely jealous of all the attention JJ got today, but I’m glad we were able to make it his day. I think he had a good time.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009
jan27My poor little Beth is sick today. She was so sad to not be able to go to school. But she was all sniffles and coughs. So she sat and watched several episodes of the old My Little Pony shows (I used to watch them on Saturday morning when I was a little girl).

Wednesday, January 28, 2009
jan28I love my kids’ little feet and they take after me with not wanting shoes or socks on. Even in the winter we walk around the house without anything on our cold little toeses.

Tonight I had to put the kids to bed before Joey got home from work. But the kids were still awake when he arrived, so he went in to say goodnight. Beth hugged her daddy and whispered, “Daddy, I knew you would come.” She just says the sweetest things.

Thursday, January 29, 2009
jan29Bethie’s cold has turned into the flu. My poor girl. The day began with having to clean up her throw-up off the floor. Plus she was warm to the touch all day and was obviously sick because she actually took a long nap, didn’t eat hardly anything, and actually let me hold her without squirming away every couple of minutes. So basically I accomplished nothing all day – just sat and held my girl, which was actually the best thing in the world.

Friday, January 30, 2009
jan30JJ & Beth LOVE matching games. When JJ got home from school today, they started fighting over JJ’s birthday present, the MEMORY game. They just wouldn’t play together and I was trying to get some things done. So I found some matching games online for JJ to play while I set up the Memory game in the kitchen for Beth. They played for a couple of hours without any more fighting and it was great. Even better, I was able to stand in the hall and get both of them playing their games in the picture. 🙂

Saturday, January 31, 2009
jan31I had the opportunity to spend a few hours with my college roommates today. I actually grew up with Amber in Orderville and we went to Dixie College together. We met Brianne there and we had some amazing memories in St. George. Amber was only there with us for a year and then she went on to Weber State, while Brianne and I spent another year together at Dixie. Brianne now lives in Massachusetts with her husband and 2 kids. Amber spent several years in Memphis while her husband went to school but they moved to Price, Utah this last year with their 4 kids. I think I’ve actually seen more of Brianne than Amber in the last 10 years. But anyways, for the first time since I think my wedding (they were both bridesmaids) – we were together again. We have kept in touch through our blogs, but it was really nice to just be with each other, have some food, and reminice a little bit. Thanks Brianne and Amber – I had a wonderful time and I miss you everyday!

Sunday, February 1, 2009
feb1I had another amazing opportunity to be able to go to church with Brianne today and see her daughter be blessed. My friends are spread out all over and I have only been able to go to a couple of baby blessings for their kids – so I was so happy that Brianne had her blessed in her home ward in American Fork. Holly is so cute and beautiful. This photo is of my daughter Beth Colleen and Brianne’s daughter Holly Colleen a few days ago. Thanks Brianne for inviting me – I really enjoyed being there.

Beth has been sick all week and now JJ is too, so they couldn’t come with me to church – so Joey stayed home with them. I think they are feeling a little shut-in and so to occupy them for awhile we did a little crafting. I found the most adorable Accordian Hearts on one of the blogs I read and they are really easy so we made some to hang around our house. It was a lot of fun. See how to make them HERE.

Here’s my completed Week 5 layout!
week5I used my Digital 365 Kits to create this layout!

Here’s my completed JANUARY layout!
jan09
I used my Digital 365 & AspirationZ Kits to create this layout!

Filed Under: Layouts, Life 365-2009, Personal, Project Life Tagged With: 2009, amber, birthday, brianne, cake, church, daddy, family, feet, games, holly, january, JJ, layout, matching, memories, memory, moments, my little pony, pizza, sick, sweet

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I'm a wife, a mom, a blogger, a lover of crafting, and a graphic designer. I believe in living life to the fullest, sharing your heart and talents to enrich the lives of others, and then telling your story to leave as a legacy for those that come after you.



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