Pictures of the Week

Just a montage of our week...

Haha, he totally looks like a 1980's aerobic instructor.

Preston's first time making cookies. Can you guess which ones were his?:)

See previous post for Taylor and Preston's first time to the ZOO!

Taylor's Post: Zoo!

This Day 7 Years Ago...

Will and I on our first date - Nov 4th, 2003

I can't believe how time flies.

7 years ago today, I was nervously awaiting Will to drive up to my parents home (where I was living) and take me out on our very first date. We had emailed and spoken on the phone many times, but had never met in person.

He arrived and I opened the front door. He was cute. Had freckles - which I couldn't tell from his photos. We talked, laughed, made a picnic lunch and then left.

We had an awesome 10 hour first date hiking around Mt. Erie, going on a ferry ride, driving around Whidbey Island....

It was a beautiful start to a friendship...that eventually led to a courtship....then a marriage and now a cute little family. I love that man.

Happy first date day Will!

Halloween(s)

Just thought I'd start this post out with a cute picture:

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Oh, and this one too...

Okay. Now on to our Halloween(s).

First, you have to know that we had two nights of Halloween. Friday and Sunday.

Friday was the Ward Trunk or Treat, Sunday was our friends Halloween party at which the kiddos got to go trick or treating.

But first, we must talk about the Ward Trunk or Treat.

This is our little 2 year old, who is dressed like a pirate:

He wasn't always dressed like a pirate ya know. It took us a week to continually pump the pirate idea into his little head, bribe him with candy with each piece of the costume we got on him (while he cried "Noooo!"), and then the promise that once we got to the church he would get MORE candy.

Here is our 2 year old once we arrived at the church, 3 hours late for the Trunk or Treat, and there was no candy.

As you can see how sad he looked, you could only imagine how bad we felt. Especially since that was the only reason we got him to wear his costume in the first place.

Apparently, we should have listened to the announcements. The Trunk or Treat started at 5pm, not 7pm. And being fashionably late at 7:45 puts you at about 3 hours late when everyone is vacuuming and cleaning up.

Fortunately, a kind-hearted Woody from Toy Story went and rounded up the last few remaining pieces of candy and gave them to Preston in his Easter basket (because he didn't have a Halloween pumpkin bucket).

So I guess one could say we were all dressed up with no place to go. Our Trunk or Treat lasted all of 10 minutes for us.

But the little pirate and his pirate mommy were happy afterall.

Oh, here's another cute recent photo.

And another....the little pirate DID enjoy wearing his pirate hat though.

So Sunday night we went over to the Nisbet's home for the real Halloween. Preston wore his costume (again, coaxed by candy).

And his little friend, the NASA astronaut, and he had a grand time "twick or tweeting" around the neighborhood.

Although, it must be noted that Preston really did feel this way at first...

Until he scored tons of candy in his basket...and then he was happy.

Now, he loves to carry his basket around the house and come up to me every 5 minutes with a piece of candy in hand and say "This one?? This one??".

I'm just glad that the little guy has no idea how to open a wrapper yet.

Now here is the best part - a video montage of the evening. If you were wondering what Will and Taylor were dressed up as, you'll have to watch the video.

Enjoy!

It's Official: I'm a Mommy Blogger

I often wonder what I would be doing as a hobby if I weren't doing music.

Music has been such a huge part of my life since I can remember, that it is totally 2nd nature to me. And you could say that it has now gotten to the point where it is not just a hobby for me -but it's my profession. A profession that I have worked long and hard at to finally be paid to do (to be an artist that earns their own income is an accomplishment, in my opinion).

I recently received this comment: "I don't know how you find the time to do music as well as be a mom, and with a newborn even!".

Of course I would still do music! Not doing it would be like cutting off one of my own limbs that I've been using my entire life. Now that's just silly! Why on earth would I do that?

And besides, with recently adding another child to our crew, I have to say that music has become a HUGE release for me. It is NOT just another "thing on my plate", but it is rather the opposite. It is a place for me to go to unwind, to be creative, and to not have to serve mac 'n cheese, get spit up on, and change poopy diapers.

But again, I have often wondered what I would be doing if I weren't doing music.

When I was high school and thinking ahead to the time I would soon go to college, I wondered what I would decide to major in. Obviously, it would be music. I mean obviously right?

Well what you don't know is that I was also pretty good at English.

I took all those fancy tests in order to get into Advanced Placement English classes in high school. It wasn't necessarily poetry or novels that I loved, but honestly I was just really good at the technical stuff. Like how to form a proper sentence, how to use correct grammar, how to write a good essay, and things like that. I was also really good at memorization. I would memorize poems and sonnets only a few hours before class and recite them. I also lettered in Drama and could memorize my lines for plays in a snap.

When I got to college, aside from taking all of my music classes (I went for the music major, btw), I opted to take a bajillion English classes as well - above and beyond the requirements. And it was all for the FUN of it. And I got A's. Except for my Shakespeare class, I got a D. (Shhhh don't tell my parents I still don't think they know.) I also got a Paralegal Certificate and wrote a 50 page appellate brief, which I might add, was arguably the most grammatically correct paper I'd ever written.

I now write for my own pleasure. This is why I blog. It allows me to get everything out that is trapped inside my head.

Aside from this blog (which is our family blog that documents our adventures together as a family), I also have a what you would call "Mommy Blog". It's called The Belly Diaries, and I write about anything related to pregnancy, motherhood, what my 2 year old is doing, how their wellness visits went, how Taylor is progressing, how I am doing on my post-pregnancy weight loss journey, and more. Basically, in a nutshell, I write about all the embarrassing feminine girly womanhood topics that I would not want my friends husbands or my own father to read (because he does read this blog).

I'm definitely not a professional blogger by any means and honestly I don't care how many followers I have (I don't even have a "follow me" button on the blog). I do it for myself, and over the past few years I have had many women tell me how refreshing it is that I write about certain things, how honest and upfront I am, and how brave (because let's be honest sometimes I share things about pregnancy and stuff that most women wouldn't).

My mom keeps telling me "Jenni, you have such a way with words - you should write a book about your experiences as a mom!" to which I then promptly laugh and sneer at.

Well Mom, I'm not going to tell you that I'm writing a book, but I WILL tell you that starting this week I will be a "professional mommy blogger". Professional meaning that I will be getting paid to write blogs about being a mother.

I was recently hired to be a featured blogger on the website WhatToExpect.com.

It actually started with one of my blogging friends, who is a professional blogger for a few different websites from motherhood to fashion topics. She is pregnant with baby #2 and this time she won't be returning to her job after maternity leave. She started trying to find ways to make a side income that could eventually earn her enough to take the place of her full time job, but would be something that she could do from home. So she turned to writing.

I was shocked to find out that she was able to earn as much as she was by blogging.

I recently gave up all but one of my 17 music students so that I could have more time to be a better mom and work on my own music projects. To say the least, my monthly music income dropped significantly. It was very good motivation for me to work harder than ever on my music career in order to make up for the difference. I recently scored a film, am considering a 2nd film to score next spring, licensed my music for various projects, and have been hard at work on my next album which I hope to release Winter of 2011 just in time for Christmas. I've also spent more time trying to stay updated with the latest technical gadgets, and find new and better ways to market my music (which I really detest doing. Anyone want to market it for me? LOL).

I am driven though. I wanted to find another means of side income, and so my blogging friend put me in touch with her manager at WhatToExpect. I figured I already write a mommy blog, so it would be really simple to integrate.

I have been a professional blogger before - up until June I was an author on a Music Teacher's Website. I was only required to submit one article per month. For WhatToExpect, I am required to submit at least 8 articles per month, but my goal is to work my way up to 3 posts per day - which would essentially substitute all of my previous music teaching income every month.

So as it turns out, I CAN do something else besides just music. I can write. I am gooder at this ya'll American languige alot.

Ummm that last part was a joke, by the way. Ewe.

You can find me on WhatToExpect.com starting next week. Here's the link to my blog, which I've cleverly entitled: Mommy Notes - Music to your Ears, with the subtitle: "Living the high life - I make music. They make messes." I will be blogging about motherhood and balancing it along with a music career.

Here's to being a professional mommy blogger - something I can definitely say I never ever ever ever thought I would be!