This blog is the story of life as I went from a world traveling pastors wife to a home-schooling mom of 4.

To Benadryl or Not to Benadryl, That is the Question

By Jen | July 24, 2008 | 9 Comments

The question is right in my title.  We leave for Europe on Saturday from Denver and it is going to be a long flight!!!  We leave in the morning (U.S. time) and arrive in the afternoon (Europe time) the next day.  Basically, we need baby goo goo to sleep.  I am thinking if she can sleep on the plane she will adjust to the time difference better and not have jet lag so bad.  I am highly considering Children’s Benadryl.  I just got done reading parents personal opinions on the Baby Center website.  They say I shouldn’t use this and it is drugging my baby for no good reason.  Shoot.  I maybe would have thought that when she was under a year, but she is almost two now.  Besides, is it for a good reason if it will help her adjust to the time difference better?  I would love feedback…

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A letter from my teenage years

By Jen | July 20, 2008 | 6 Comments

Justin, Maisie, and I are in Sacramento, CA right now, finishing up loose ends before our big move back to Europe!  Yeah, that’s right.  We are headed back in just five days!!!   So we have been sorting through my mom’s garage (we had a garage sale the last couple days) and I have taken it upon myself to organize photos and other memory type things.  I was very excited to come across a binder titled, “Jennifer” where I found lots of fun things from my childhood and teenage years. It’s always fun to take a walk in memory lane and see how I was as a child.  I was a pain.  It is proved in the following letter that I wrote out to my mom.   Here it is typed EXACTLY how I wrote it! At the top of the page, it reads, “I thought about this for a…

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Frozen Berries

By Jen | July 20, 2008 | 5 Comments

Maisie’s most favorite summer snack is frozen berries!  She eats them probably every night.  We have to strip her down to just a diaper because she makes quite the mess with them!

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Teeth Extravaganza!

By Jen | July 16, 2008 | 1 Comment

Let’s just say that I became best friends forever with two amazing dentists, their assistant, and the lady at the front desk.  They all know me by now.  I have had three fillings, two crowns (one of those to fix the broken tooth and the other to fix my root canal crown that the dentist thought was done in a third world country…no, just Roseville, CA), a teeth cleaning, and FOUR teeth pulled!!!!  And that isn’t counting my first visit to figure out an action plan for my teeth and the follow up to the teeth pulling.  So like I said, they know me well.  All of it was just sick and wrong (like dentist appointments should be).  But let me just say teeth pulling!!!  THE WORST OF THE WORST!  Everything about it.  The fear building up to the appointment, the nightmares leading up to the appointment, the shots, the…

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Fourth of July in America!

By Jen | July 5, 2008 | 5 Comments

We had a very fun and very American Fourth of July!  I had such a fun day.  It was nice being in America on such an American holiday.  For the last few years we have been in France during America’s Independence day and I must say, it just isn’t the same.  I sort of just took it all in, knowing that it would most likely be my last celebration of this holiday in America… for a while at least.  I loved every part of what we did, down to the hot dogs and snow cones.  It was all just so much fun!!!!!  And of course, here are some pictures from the day. I will start off with a picture from a little photo shoot of Maisie modeling the red, white, and blue dress that Mimi (Justin’s grandmother and Maisie’s great grandmother) bought for Maisie!   We went to a park…

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