I know you are all wondering where in the world I got this great picture of a perfect loaf of bread (ok, so it might be a teensy lopsided). We made it. That's right, we were feeling a little domestic on Saturday (actually it was Matt's idea) and we made homemade bread. But not just your typical bread from storebought flour, we ground our own wheat flour from actual wheat kernels. And we even got to mix it in the beloved Bosch. So, needless to say, I thought it deserved a picture. :)

"He's Just a Friend"

OK, for this post I have to give a little bit of background so bear with me. Emma's ne thing this year is Webkinz World. It is a virtual world of pets that you adopt and take care of online. You name them and play games to win money to buy them food, clothes, and homes, and other fun stuff. You can also play with other friends and their pets online (only those you know of course).
So, the other day Emma was on Webkinz world and I was in the process of asking Emma what she was doing on the Internet and then Matt got home and walked in on the conversation. I think you will get more of the idea if I write it in dialouge form:

Janaye to Emma: What are you playing on Webkinz world?
Emma: Nick just sent me a present for my horse.
Janaye to Emma (as Matt is walking in from work): That sounds fun, what was it?
Matt: What was what?
Emma: I got a present for my Webkinz horse.
Janaye: From Nick.
Emma a little bit too quickly (with blushing cheeks): He's just a friend.

We were trying so hard not to laugh. She was so embarrased. Needless to say, Nick has called her every day since. Hello...they are only in the second grade. When did you start getting calls from boys? I mean I think I was at least in the fourth grade. And how did he get her number? Hopefully she doesn't go arond giving her number to all the boys who give her webkinz presents. :)

Make a free ecard - it's easy!

I FOUND THIS FREE SOFTWARE THAT YOU CAN CREATE ALL KINDS OF FUN STUFF. SO I USED SOME OLD PHOTOS TO SEE HOW IT LOOKS. WHAT DO YOU THINK?

American Idol???

The other night I was able to catch the last bit of the American Idol auditions in Philidelphia. Does anyone else think that the last contestant ( I forgot her name ), the married nanny, is mormon? I mean how many people have never seen a rated R movie and have never had a drink or anything? I might just have to vote this season....

Frazzled

Ok, so I went to do some Christmas exchanges the other night and I just had to laugh at myself and the frazzled mess I was in . I didn't have a receipt and so the cashier was suppose to give me a merchandise credit, but on accident he gave me cash, but asked if I could go spend it in the store. So I was trying to be nice and oblige and went to pick out something for the same price of the item I returned. So I found something and picked up a little candy treat for myself and headed to the counter. He rings me up and it turns out I am over the cash amount. Embarrassing! So I have him take off the treat and figure that would be good. Well, not so. So here I am digging around my purse for 15 cents and do ya think I could find any? No, and by this time there is line forming. So I have run out to my car dig around for change, because every other time there is a mountain of change. But, not so on this night, I was lucky that I found 5 pennies. I know you are thinking by now just use the dang debit card already, but I was so frazzled it didn't even cross my mind. Luckily I happened to have a dime in my coat. I know this is random but it was so embarrassing as it was actually happening---one of those just laugh at yourself moment.

Testing, Testing.....

So I was just checking to see if this idea worked. I made this collage on Picasa, it is just basic and they have some other basic layouts. What do ya think?

Yummy!

Parker's first round of rice cereal. I think we got more on his bib than actually in his mouth. :)

Christmas Morning

Waking up on Christmas morning: a moment of peace before the chaos hit.
Peeking through the stairs...waiting for mom and dad to get up.
Caitlyn with her favorite princess cash register.
Emma is going to give karaoke a try and meet Chocolate, her horse webkinz.
Brandon opeining hes presents and declarin that it was "Awesome."

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve we had a pizza picnic (Chicago style) around the Christmas tree. Then we acted out the Nativity and sang Christmas carols. Just in case you couldn't tell, Emma was Mary, Brandon was Joseph, Caitlyn was an angel, Grandpa was a Wiseman, and Grandma was a sheep. We were short a shepard because dad was the narrator. Parker was going to be baby Jesus, but he fell asleep before the festivities.
We always get to open one present on Christmas Eve: matching jammies for everyone.

Merry Christmas

We hope everyone had a great holiday season. We miss getting to see all of our friends and family in Utah, but had a Merry Christmas here in Illinois with Grandma and Grandpa Jeppsen. We got to see Santa at our ward Breakfast with Santa. Brandon and Emma were right up there making sure he got their letter, but for some reason Cait was a little bit shy...I guess she has some facial hair issues.

The Nutcracker

The girls and I wanted to start a new Christmas tradition this year. We went to go see The Nutcracker in downtown Chicago. The girls loved the whole thing and they each said their favorite dancer was the sugarplum fairy. Altough I have to giggle because during the sugarplum fairy's dance with the "prince," Caitlyn turns to me and says with this concerned look on her face, "It's ok for boys to wear tights huh." Then on the train ride home Emma came to the conclusion that the boys in tights weren't wierd, just different.

So I learned two lessons from our little excursion towntown. Number 1--Always know the ADDRESS of the place you are going and how to get there (Of course I would happen to catch the taxi that has never heard of the Chicago Ballet's Atheneaum theater) and Number 2---Always carry enough cash for that extra long taxi ride in case the taxi driver doesn't know where the heck he is going. :)

I think this was the girl's first train ride since we have moved here. Of course after about the first 10 minutes the coolnes wore off and they were wondering if we were there yet---um yah, just 70 minutes left.

Where's KBYU?

I thought this was a cute picture. Everyone is gathered around the computer watching the Christmas devotional broadcast. You never know how much you appreciate those "Utah" stations until you don't live in Utah. Thank goodness for the internet though right?

Happy Birthday, Brandon!

Brandon turned 5 on November 11th. We had a quiet little family party at Grandma and Grandpa Jensen's house. He is totally in to Transformers this year and was so excited for his Transformers cake.

Happy Birthday, Caitlyn!

For Caitlyn's 4th birthday she got to have a princess party at the Sugar and Spice Party center. She and about 15 of her little friends got to dress up in their favorite princess dresses and spent the afternoon at the salon getting the royal treatment. They got their hair done, a little lip gloss and some pretty finger nails.

After everyone was all princessed up, we had cupcakes, opened presents and finished off the party with a walk down the runway. It was a perfect party for a pretty princess!

We Got our Wings!

So in November Matt got to fulfill one of his lifelong goals: learn to fly an airplane. OK, OK, so he wasn't totally flying by himself, but it looks pretty cool anyway. Our family was able to ride on a private jet out to Utah to attend the temple sealing of Jordan and Kylie and Jaxon (which was a wonderful experience), and the pilots were telling Matt about all the controls and let him actually fly it a little bit.




Everyone got to check out the cockpit.