It Does a Mother's Heart Good...

Spring is HERE!

It seems that Mother Nature has finally bestowed Spring upon North Central West Virginia. The weather has been beautiful, low 70s, slight breeze, crystal blue sky, fluffly clouds. We have been taking advantage of the mild evenings to spend some time outside as a family.

I guess since the weather is nicer it's time to get into the swing of spring cleaning. It's time for the first lawn mowing, and finding flowers to plant! I always used to think that summer was my favorite season, but over the past few years I have come to favor spring over the others. It's nice to say goodbye to winter for the next 6 months or so and enjoy the beautiful scenery God gives to us. We are going to be looking for a toddler-friendly park soon and will be enjoying the Rail Trail in Morgantown a lot for evening walks. Welcome Spring, we've missed you!

Getting in a few pitches of Bocce

Does ANYONE think this is a good idea?

Apparently 80's pop sensation New Kids On The Block are getting back together! At first glance, I thought to myself, that is the silliest idea I have ever heard! Now I have to admit that I was a big NKOTB fan, and was totally in L-O-V-E with Donnie Wahlberg. But I was NINE then. They were young and good looking. But something about 40ish not so buff men having a mid-life crisis going back on tour has ZERO appeal for me. Do they think they can compete with the teen pop sensations of the new century? Will thousands of "adoring fans" come out of the closets and flock to arenas around the country to hear "The Right Stuff"? Somehow, I just don't think so. My real question is....what music manager decided to pick these guys up to go back on tour? If I were in the record business, I wouldn't think this is a smart money-maker. But then again, the station of Sirius Radio that I listen to features NKOTB occasionally, so maybe I am the one out of the musical loop!

Can You Guess?

Which one is older?

Back from "The Ick"

Sorry for the lack of posting lately...my entire family had "the ick" last week which got us all down. It was the pukey flu, so as you can imagine, it wasn't fun. But we all seem to be healed and back to normal.

Easter was pretty quiet this year for us. Unfortunately, my mother-in-law got the stomach bug from one of us and was down most of the weekend. It was quite chilly and spit snow. Morgan did get to Easter egg hunt at her great-grandparents' house and the whole Tenney clan was together on Saturday to watch the girls open their Easter baskets. It's lots of fun to see them together now that they can run and play with each other.

I have posted a few pictures in some previous posts of some of the things we have been doing. Now it's back to work and back to Ms. Ellen's for Morgan. April will be very busy for both Patrick and me at work...great another busy month!

Cousins

The girls got to spend a lot of time together over the past week. It was wonderful to see them together!

All in the Family

The Kids

Morgan and Big Pop


Daddies and Daughters

"Sisters"-in-law

Silly Girls

Easter Sunday

All dressed in her Easter Sunday best!

On the way to church

Morgan and Great-Aunt Lola

Hunting for Easter eggs

Found another!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Morgan's first theatre experience

All dressed up for the performance

I have my own seat!

What's the program say daddy?

Tonight we got the chance to begin exposing Morgan to "the arts". Patrick and I have been looking forward to taking her to see The Peking Acrobats since I bought the tickets last fall. I thought it would be flashy enough to keep her attention while still entertaining enough for Patrick and I not to want to slit our wrists (scenes from Barney and The Wiggles concerts we have seen on TV flew through my mind). Morgan made it through the first 45 minutes of the performance before having a total meltdown aided greatly by a) the fact that she had NO nap today, even though I left her in her room for over an hour by herself and b) the fact that the show started at 7:30 which is the normal time we start winding down for bed. Poor planning on Mama's part. She seemed to really like the performance at first, especially when the men were doing gymnastic moves on the floor. The slower portions where the women would show off how flexible they were didn't impress her much, although I quite enjoyed them. We left at intermission. I didn't want Patrick or myself to have to stand outside with her during the show and I figured since we came as a family and wanted this to be a family event that we should leave as a family.

We did see advertisements for Elmo Makes Music, which I am sure is very Barney-esque with show times at 10:30 AM and 2:00 PM, a much better fit for nap schedules. So while we learned very valuable lessons about planning events around sleeping, it was a good time, I believe, had by all.

29 and holding...

Happy Birthday to...well to me! Today is my REAL 29th birthday. My friend said it is the last birthday I will really have since I'll be 29 the rest of my life! My husband is just happy that I am now staring 30 in the face, something he has been doing for 3 months. HAHA. It hasn't been a real exciting birthday since I am in Louisville, KY by myself at a conference. I did treat myself to TGI Friday's for dinner and an early night of PJs and TV. Apparently the chefs at the hotel knew it was my birthday because they served the conference (400+ people) Boston Creme Pie cheesecake for dessert at lunch! It was good. I guess when you get to be in your late 2os birthdays just aren't as exciting anymore. But here's to another year, hopefully better health than last year, and lots of love and happiness before my next decade birthday!



Since I don't have pictures of what I did today, here are a few pictures of what Morgan did in my absence.

Happy Birthday Big Pop!

Today is Big Pop's 51st birthday. He is officially over 1/2 century old! Morgan got the chance to celebrate his birthday early this year with him. She had a great time and really loved her Big Pop!

Happy Birthday Charlie. Hope you get to do everything you want to do today.

Fun Food

Today for lunch my friends Amanda, Donna, and I went to IHOP. It's a no-meat Friday for me and Amanda said she woke up thinking about IHOP for lunch! Coinciding with the premier if Horton Hears a Who in movie theaters this weekend, IHOP is offering some special dishes. Amanda and I were brave enough to each try two of the 3 new dishes. We didn't try the green eggs (scrambled eggs and spinach) and ham for many good reasons. I had the Who-Cakes, which were super fun, delicious, and topped off with a bubble-gum flavored lollipop. Amanda tried a Beezle drink, which was Sprite with cubes of red and blue jello floating in it. Sounds gross, but tasted pretty good. And because you all know I carry my camera everywhere, here we are with our Whoville inspired dishes!

Amanda enjoying her Beezle drink.

Don't these look delicious? They were!

Dish Carnival

Today my friends Catherine and Alaina participated in an online dish carnival, hosted by Rocks in My Dryer. Not to be left out, I thought I would show you some of my dishes. I am not nearly sophisticated as my friends and don't have much to show, and unlike my friends I did not have time to take pretty pictures of my dishes, so you'll have to take what I found on the dishes' respective websites.



Our wedding china is a beautiful pattern, Dearborn by Noritake. It has delicate lighter blue flowers around the edges, but not so flowery that Patrick won't eat off of them. In fact, HE picked them out after I narrowed the thousands of choices down to three. We have 12 place settings given as a wedding gift from our friends in Belgium. They have not been out of the box or used in 5 years. They are currently sitting in my garage, and now that I think about it, I hope that what I think is in that box is ACTUALLY what is in the box! I had to sacrifice something to fit in our 900 sq ft home! Often I sit at my desk and dream about a beautiful china cabinet where I can display my dishes and actually have them available to USE. Ahhh, someday.




Our everyday dishes are Summer Breeze by Pfaltzgraff. I have 8 place settings plus many serving pieces. I also have the matching curtains, kitchen rug, and assorted hanging pieces in my kitchen. We stuck with the blue theme and mixed in the yellow. I enjoy all the fun things that Pfaltzgraff comes out with every few months to keep my kitchen fresh.




Finally, we do have 4 West Virginia University dishes by FiestaWare. They were a total splurge, but we use them on football game days when the team is out of town (we have season tickets for when they are here). Sadly there is no picture. Maybe some day I'll get a picture of them up here for you.

Happy Birthday Jeff!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my little brother, Jeff. Today he turns 28 and for the next week we remain the same age. He always likes to remind me that I can't boss him around this week because we are the same age. I always remind him that we may be the same age, but in one week I'll be older again! For those of you doing the math, yes my mother had her babies less than a year apart. We are the only two she had. After having my own, I am beginning to see why!

Nannie's Big Birthday

Happy Birthday to NANNIE! She is celebrating a rather big birthday today, but I won't reveal which one because she'd kill me! HAHA. Morgan got to spend Nannie's special day with her, and she had such a good time.

March is "Birthday Month" in our house, so you'll be seeing a lot of our family in the coming posts!

Star Wars through a 3 year old's eyes

I saw this video today on one of the blogs I regularly read. It was too cute not to pass on, so take a moment and enjoy this little girl's synopsis of Star Wars. Kids can be so darn cute!

Pity? Party of One, Right this way

Tonight I am having a small pity party, right here in my living room. Today one of my medical conditions is causing me a lot of pain from my lower back down through my toes. It basically feels like someone beat me with a sledgehammer just moments ago, and the pain and throbbing in every one of my joints and bones is pretty intense. That comes with the territory of this condition, and on days like today when the weather dips it's even worse.

Now, I am not throwing this pity party for my condition or the fact that I am in pain. That's no big deal when compared to the Reason for the Party. When I have days like today I cannot play with, pick up, or allow Morgan to sit on my lap. I cannot phyically get on the floor to play, or run around, or pick her up in my arms. Today is one of those really bad days that just the weight of her body on my lap causes excruciating pain. Morgan is not feeling well today. She has a cold with cough and stuffy nose. Nothing any normal mom can't deal with on a daily basis. But tonight I am not a "normal" mom. And my baby needs me. I just had to tell her she couldn't sit on my lap which caused her to cry "Mama, Mama, Mama" in a very pitiful, stuffy nose and tears cry while reaching her arms toward me.

How do you tell your 20 month old child that Mama wants desperately to pick her up, snuggle, and make her feel better, but she just can't? How do you explain that Mama hurts some days, and others she feels great. How do you convey that you are not rejecting her, but you just can't take care of her needs today? That's why I am throwing a pity party. I just want to feel better so I can make Morgan feel better. So now I am going to get in bed with the electric blanket (heat lessens the pain some) and read a little and try to rest so I feel better in the morning. Evenings are always the worst time of day, pain wise, for me, and mornings are best. So I will wait for Morning, when I can pick up my baby and give her all the love and attention I can.

And tonight my prayers will be especially for those who are in worse pain than me, because I know things could be so much worse. I pray that God's healing hand will reach them and ease their pain tonight.

Prayers for Julie G.

An Urgent Prayer Request:

Morgan and Ellen on Morgan's 1st Birthday

I ask you all to please keep Morgan's babysitter Ellen's daughter-in-law, Julie, in your prayers. Julie is 42 years old and 5 weeks pregnant with her second child. She started bleeding today and was rushed to the hospital where the doctors suspected she was having a miscarriage. Thankfully, however, the doctors were able to find the baby's heartbeat. Julie and the baby are still in a lot of danger at this time, as Julie is still bleeding. Please pray for her to stop bleeding, for the baby to continue to grow in her womb, and for Julie, Scott, Caitlyn (their 6 1/2 year old daughter), Ellen and Ron (Ellen's husband) that they can continue to stay strong emotionally and take care of Julie's and the baby's needs in the coming weeks/months. I ask that you please ask your church families to pray as well. Thanks!

Getting to know you...

Alaina has tagged me to do a meme, so in the spirit of good fun, here we go!

1.Were you named after anyone? Not that I know of. More than being named after anyone, my parents made my initials spell JET since my dad was a figher pilot! My brother's initials also spell JET, and thankfully I married a Tenney, so my initials didn't change. :)
2. When was the last time you cried? Last week.
3. Do you like your handwriting? Yeah, it's pretty nice.
4. What is your favorite lunch meat? Ewwww....none for me thanks
5. Do you have kids? I have one daughter, Morgan. Unless you count the dog, who is really more like a child than a dog!
6. If you were another person would you be friends with you? I certainly hope so.
7. Do you use sarcasm a lot? Yes, I sure do.
8. Do you still have your tonsils? Yes.
9. Would you bungee jump? HECK NO!!!
10. What is your favorite cereal? Cocoa Puffs
11. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off? Not normally
12. Do you think you are strong? Yes.
13. What is your favorite ice cream? Rocky Road.
14. What is the first thing you notice about people? Eyes...usually I am looking to see if people appear friendly
15. Red or pink? Red for me, Pink on Morgan
16. What is the thing that you like least about yourself? I stress out easily, and I am moody.
17. Who do you miss the most? My parents.
18. What color pants and shoes are you wearing? Grey pants, Black sweater turtleneck
19. Have you ever re-gifted? Yes. I figure if I am not going to use it, someone else might as well, right?
20. What are you listening to right now? Co-workers talking next door.
21. If you were a crayon what colour would you be? Light purple.
22. Favorite smells? Bread baking
23. Who was the last person you talked to on the phone? One of my supervisors.
24. Do you like the person who sent this to you? Yes. We’ve never met in person but she is an awesome person and I love to read her blogs! :)
25. Favorite sports to watch? Football
26. Favorite food? PIZZA
27. Scary movies or happy endings? Scary movies. But not slasher films. I like a good mystery/suspense film
28. Last movie you watched? Meet the Robinsons
29. What color shirt are you wearing? Black
30. Summer or winter? Summer - I would love to live in a warm climate all year long, just like Alaina!
31. Hugs or kisses? Hugs
32. Favorite dessert? Chocolate candy
33. What book are you reading now? Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix
34. What is on your mousepad? The Dell Logo
35. What did you watch on TV last night? Nothing, I was sick. But normally Tuesdays are NCIS and House
36. Favorite sound? My daughter's laughter
37. Rolling stones or Beatles? Neither
38. What is the furthest you have been from home? Depends on where home is...I've been to the Philippines, most of Western Europe, the Ukraine
39. Do you have a special talent? Nothing in particular...I am a good organizer and trip planner. My family calls me the "Happy Trip Master"
40. Where were you born? Clark AB, Philippines

Alaina pointed out that there were several numbers missing in the questions. It was driving me too nuts not to fix it, so I did. I really don't have anyone to tag, so if you want to participate, please do so!

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Today is Grandpa's 56th birthday (gasp...yes I DID put how old he is!). Morgan wishes she could be there with him, but is sending lots of birthday hugs and kisses his way.

Happy Birthday Dad. Hope you have a great one. We miss you.

Happy Valentine's Day

Wishing you all LOVE and HAPPINESS today, and always!

Date Night

Tonight Patrick and I got to go out as a couple, sans Morgan, for the first time in probably 4 months. Since Patrick has to work tomorrow night, we decided to roll Valentine's Day into date night to make it extra-special. Way back in September I had bought tickets to see Chicago! the musical at the Creative Arts Center here at the University. We try to go to at least one show a year in an attempt to stay "cultured". I had never really paid any attention to the fact that the show was the day before Valentine's Day, so that was a bonus for us!

We had dinner at Chilis, which was good as always, and then headed to the show. The show was really good! Most of the performers were debuting in their first tour, but they all seemed like seasoned veterans. I had promised Patrick that he would like the show, and I am so happy that he did. He is starting to trust me when I say he won't regret going (after a rather horrible performance of The Nutcracker I wasn't sure he'd ever go again). We are actually going to see The Lion King this weekend with my aunt in Pittsburgh. Two musicals in one week...be still my heart!

We ended up getting home really late after picking up Morgan from Aunt Becky's. We can't thank them enough for entertaining Morgan all evening. She LOVES going there! I am so glad we got to go out. It's rare, but it was a very nice change of pace, and it's always great to spend time with Patrick.

If a tree falls over in your driveway, would you hear it?

Apparently, the answer is yes if you are Patrick, no if you are me. Yesterday we had a little excitement at our house, compliments of the wicked winds that have been blowing around Morgantown over the past few days. Patrick said he heard a noise when he got out of the shower and looked out the window to see the tree lying in our driveway! He came running from the bathroom and said "You gotta see this!". I really didn't know what was going on, having not heard a thing (weird, how do you NOT hear a tree falling), and we all went running to the front door.

Morgan was fascinated by the sight and insisted that I hold her at the door so she could watch Patrick try to cut the tree out of the driveway. We finally ended up in her room where she could sit by herself and have a much better view of the action.

I am still quite amazed that the tree didn't hit anything during its fall. A little to the left it would have hit the house, a little to the right it would have fallen on the garage. If my car had been backed up just a little bit it would have fallen on my car, and my aunt was due to be at our house any minute, so her car was spared as well! All I can say is thank you God!

I have to call today about getting the tree removed. At least that solves our problem of how to put up a fence around the tree, but it sure did take a lot of our back yard shade away!

Lenten Hymn

Lent has begun for Catholics around the world. A forty day period of time of fasting when we prepare ourselves for Easter. A time for serious, disciplined self-examination, a time spent in intensive prayer and repentance before the feet of Jesus at the cross.

The way to bring myself to the Lord and offer myself to him is best sung in this hymn (which cannot be sung by anyone better than my father-in-law):

Just As I Am.

Just as I am, without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me, and that thou bidst me come to thee, O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

2. Just as I am, and waiting not to rid my soul of one dark blot, to thee whose blood can cleanse each spot, O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

3. Just as I am, though tossed about with many a conflict, many a doubt, fightings and fears within, without, O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

4. Just as I am, poor, wretched, blind; sight, riches, healing of the mind, yea, all I need in thee to find, O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

5. Just as I am, thou wilt receive, wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve; because thy promise I believe, O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

6. Just as I am, thy love unknown hath broken every barrier down; now, to be thine, yea thine alone, O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

I go to the Lord a broken Catholic and Christian. I know all I need I will find in Him. I will use this season before Easter to prepare myself for the death and ressurection of Christ which brings hope to all those who believe. To quote another one of my favorite songs (by Garth Brooks), "There's bound to be rough waters, and I know I'll take some falls. But with the Good Lord as my captain, I CAN make it through them all!"