Change of Plans

We have been planning for the past month for Jacksen to be a Ninja Turtle for Halloween. We bought a turtle shell at a resale shop about a month ago, and have been adding to the costume as we go. Jacksen really enjoy thinking of things that will add to his costume and it really makes him proud of what he has come up with. One year we made a homemade spiderman costume and worked hours perfecting it, only to have Jennah win the costume contest in a cowgirl costume that we already had and she really didn't care about. Jacksen cried and cried. So on the way home from working all day in Bristow yesterday Jacksen told me about 6:00 last night he wanted to be a Ninja instead of a Ninja Turtle, although they may sound quite similar they are very different (his school party is today!). I explained to him we had worked for so long to get the Ninja Turtle costume together I really thought he should wear it. Knowing Jacksen takes such pride in coming up with costumes I thought maybe we should let him do it and so after thinking about it I told him if he could come up with it that he could do it. So here he is as a Ninja. I wish he would have thought of this easy free costume a month ago! Maybe all three of them can be Ninjas!

Family Reunion

We survived Jonathan's annual family reunion. This year it was at Lake Murray. It was a beautiful lake and we went just in time for the all the fall colors. Although it was the perfect time for the foliage, it was not the perfect time to be sleeping in a tent! Not only was it too cold to sleep in a tent but the tent that we borrowed from our sweet friends only had a net-like material on the sides of it. We covered the sides with blankets, but they kept falling off. Yes, we froze! Don't think we will be sleeping in a tent this time of the year again. Holiday Inn for us next year!!
These are all pictures Jacksen and Jennah took this weekend. They thought it was so pretty there. They wanted to take some pictures. (One reason I don't mind having a cheap digital camera.) They took some pretty good pictures.

My Newest Project

Anyone that knows me can tell you I love to stay busy. Most of the time I like to have two or three things going on at the same time (anything to keep from staying at home and cleaning). I do try to focus most of my "projects" on church related activities. I am one that loves to start new things. I love dreaming something up, planning it out, preparing for it, then actually seeing it happen successfully (well most of the time!). It is so rewarding.

So, I have been thinking about this for a long time and am finally going to follow through with it. My cousin attends a large church that offered a frozen cooking class. I thought this was a great idea. I wanted to put more of a focus on the importance of family mealtime. I went to the Focus on the Family website and found some interesting studies on family meal time. It said only one-third of families in the U.S. eat dinner most nights together. One study showed when teens ate with their family at least five nights a week they were less likely to be on drugs, to be depressed, and to be in trouble with the law. Another study followed a group of sixty five families for an eight year period. They found eating family meals together to be more valueable for development than playtime, school, and storytime. So now I am convinced this is a good thing to start in our home town. Not only will this encourage families to eat together, but it will give me and several others from our church a chance to meet others in the community and invite them to get involved in our church.

I am so excited to start a new project! If anyone has any great recipes that can be frozen I would love to try them.

Learning to Let Go

Today Jacksen went on a field trip to the Air and Space Museum, without me! I'm sure many would be surprised to know that I am a control freak when it comes to my kids. Besides the week they spent in daycare they have always been with me. Of course they will spend a weekend now and again with Grandparents and going to school, but besides that they are pretty much with us 24/7. I knew this would happen sooner or later and it has finally come. Jacksen had a school trip and Jennah has afternoon pre-k. Normally I would just take her out of school, but she had a double ear infection and bad allergies and missed two days of school last week. So she really didn't need to miss. We have great friends here that I am sure would keep Jennah and take her to school, but I just don't like to ask anyone unless they are family. Jonathan stayed at his Mom's house because we have a car in the shop and we live an hour from his work. Usually Jonathan can kinda talk me through this type of thing, but he wasn't here. I was up tossing and turning all night. I know it probably sounds silly to most. It really is hard on me. I just always think of what could happen to him if I'm not there. Jacksen really didn't care if I went of not. I am so embarrassed, but I teared up when leaving his classroom. I called my Mom for support and she wasn't very sympathetic. She just said this was just the beginning. I guess I just need to learn to let go. On his way out this morning I said Jacksen stay with the group and don't talk to anyone you don't know. He said, "I know mom!" I'm sure he will be fine.
In other news its huntin' season, and Jacksen is ready. He found all his camo and his gun (not real). He goes out in our backyard almost everyday and climbs the tree and practices.

Milestone?

Not exactly a milestone, but Joel has just discovered the trash. He is so funny! Needless to say he doesn't know exactly what is or isn't trash. We tell him to throw things away and he runs to the trash chunks it in, and then claps and does a little stomp dance. Just while I have been sitting here posting this he has already thrown a deck of cards and a flashlight away. This is such a fun stage. Well kinda!

Sweet Jacksen

Last night the kids were coloring and drawing at the table like they usually do right before bedtime. They do this about every night so it wasn't any big deal, but when we went to bed last night we found these notes on our pillows. He is so sweet! Our little Jacksen is getting so big. It is the little things like this that make parenting so precious to me. I love being a mom!

Dancing with the Stars

Jennah has a new favorite show. Suprise, suprise it's Dancing with the Stars. She is so cute she stands about two feet from the t.v. and imitates every move they make. It is so funny she had me crying I was laughing so hard. Not only does she dance her heart out, but she has a costume change between each dance.

Memories

This is me about 23 years ago and my little brother William. He is still my "little" brother but now he towers over me. Is this the picture you are talking about Mom? It says on the back we are making a cake for William's 1st birthday. Aren't we cute?

Homemade Apple Pie!

We did it! We made the apple pie and it was delicious. Jacksen and Jennah had a great time making it. I put Joel down for a nap and got to spend some time with just Jacksen and Jennah. They were big helpers. I was very nervous about making the crust but found an easy "no mistake" crust recipe and it was wonderful. Lita thanks for the pie recipe it was so easy! That was the first time I have ever made anything all the way from picking the fruit to making the crust. It was very rewarding. I will definitely do it again.

 

My Little Pickers

No, I don't mean nose pickers although I am sure they do their fair share of that too. I am refering to apple picking. An older lady from our church invited us out the other day to pick apples at her home. Jennah was so excited because she just learned about that in school. The kids had a great time. Joel was in heaven. His new favorite word is ball there were "green balls" all over the ground he would throw. So now I need a great apple pie recipe. I hear these apples are the best in pies. I think the kids would really think that was neat to help make a pie from the apples they picked.

5 Years Ago Today

Five years ago today started many new challenges in the Hendricks family. Jonathan was working at American Airlines as an aircraft cleaner. Not the job of his dreams but a good job with awesome benefits. We had built our home in Bristow about a year and a half before that and were pretty settled. Jonathan was on the tarmac right by the runway at Tulsa International polishing the top of the wing on a 737. He looked up and saw plane after plane landing on the runway. Usually, a plane would land every 20 - 25 seconds, in this instance a plane was landing every 3 seconds. He went back to his shop to see what was going on.

I was at home getting Jacksen ready for the day. He was a little over a year and a half old and I was five months pregnant with Jennah. The first few days after the attacks American Airlines started talking about layoffs. Everyday for the next month and a half we expected Jonathan to get laid off. Finally the end of November he got his notice. We didn't know what to do. That same week we hit a deer with our car and it tore it up so much the car wouldn't run. What a week! The good news was we had deer in everything for the next couple of weeks, deer tacos, deer spaghetti, deer chili, you get the idea.

We decided to take a huge risk and sell our house and move to Edmond for Jonathan to finish his degree. I was really scared because the plan was for me to work as a server at a restaurant in the evenings and Jonathan would watch the kids. Remember at this time I am nine months prego with Jennah! I was scared to death of everything. So we moved from a 1600 sq. ft. house on 5 acres to a 700 sq. Ft. college apartments with college kids all around us. (To top it all off I went into labor with Jennah the night we moved in to the apartment).

The first thing we did was find a church. Our saving grace was the Edmond Church of Christ. The young families class there took us under their wings and treated us like we had been there for years. After Jonathan finished his schooling we moved on to do youth ministry in Muskogee. That didn't work out but we still live in Ft. Gibson and love our church home here. Looking back on all that we went through we know it was Gods plan for us. We learned so much about each other and about God and how he works through us. We also learned so much from the Edmond C of C. Many things we have been able to start here at Ft. Gibson we patterned from the Young Families Class at Edmond. Even though we didn't know anyone who died in the terrible attacks on our Nation and I didn't have to let my husband go overseas to fight in the war, we were affected by it and it did forever change our lives.

We survived the camp-in! The kids had a great time. They had many activities that challenged them to use their imaginations. The kids took an imaginary bus ride, went through some caves, rode canoes (luckily they rowed faster than the alligators chasing them), rode four wheelers through the dessert, went fishing and had non-scary campfire stories told to them under the stars around the fire. Yes, all this happened inside the church building. The whole time they were quizzed with Bible questions. It is amazing how much these kids are learning. As you can imagine much work went into this camp-in. We appreciate all the work Janet and Leon did to make it such a success. After all these activities the kids were taken to their tents to start getting ready for bed. The girls had a make-up party they dolled up some of the older women of our church. The neatest thing of all was two of these lovely older ladies actually stayed the night! They are 82, 73, 70 years old! Can you believe that? I thought I was crazy. I really don't know who had more fun the kids or us adults helping. This is Jennah putting make-up on our Fearless Leader Miss Janet.

Are We Crazy!

Tonight Jonathan and I are helping host an overnight camp-out or camp-in I guess you can say. It is to reward the kindergarten-3rd graders at our church for saying the 12 Apostles. There are 29 little ones coming! It will be in the church building, but we have tents set up and lots of other fun things. I am kinda nervous. Surely they will sleep! Won't they? Jonathan will take Joel home about midnight and return early in the morning to make pancakes for all the kids. Jennah is so excited because she gets to come because I am staying; she also had to say the 12 Apostles. Jacksen was ready to pack for the camp-out the day he got the invitation in the mail (that was two weeks ago)!

Family Fun

When looking at these pictures of all we did this weekend, I realized the significance of them all.

First, we celebrated my Grandparents 50th wedding aniversary on Saturday. Going to this party really made me think about how I wouldn't be here if they had never met and married 50 years ago. I feel so blessed to have grown up in such a loving and caring family. I have always felt I have a special bond with my Grandma and I look up to her as a Christian wife, mother, and grandmother. Grandma has taken care of Grandpa for the past 45 years and now he is getting to return the favor for her. The vows you take when getting married really does carry on throughout life. We have much to learn from them.

Also this weekend Jonathan's family came to camp at a local lake. It was beautiful weather for camping. It was great because where they stayed was about fifteen minutes from our house. We spend quality time out there then went home for a good nights sleep. I really enjoyed the kids getting to play with their cousins Cooper and Wyatt. Cooper actually got to stay the night with us for the first time. They had a great time! I am sure this was just the first of many sleep-overs the kids will have with there cousins. Jonathan and Jacksen went with Brian, Cooper, and John to ride Brian's new four wheeler on some trails while Janet, Amy and I stayed at camp with the younger kids and Dayton. I had a great time visiting with them. We really missed you Jenny!

Here is Joel and Wyatt they are what I call "Binky Buds". Not a lot of conversation happens between the two of them.

This is the only picture Cooper and Jacksen would let me get of them. They were playing a game of catch me if you can. I caught them but I think they won!














The favorite game of the weekend turned out to be playing in the dirt/sand. For some odd reason it is really fun throwing dirt on one another! Our bathtub was put to the test this weekend.

We had a great weekend that really made us appriciate what wonderful families we both have. We love you all!

As most everyone already knows Jonathan's fatty tumors have returned and they are just as painful as before. He had the surgery May 25th and the middle of August they had already returned. He kept telling me it was just scar tissue from the surgery and I told him I didn't think so. Finally last week I made him go back to his Dr. to see if they had returned. (We were told they should never return in the same spot) he said yes they had returned and that was about all. We decided he needed to seek a new Dr. to see if there is anything else that can be done about them. The new Dr. has taken a more aggressive approach. He is wondering if there is a connection batween the tumors and the arthritus because they are in the same spot. He is doing testing and sending Jonathan to physical therapy to see if that helps with the pain (from the arthritis). Which leads me to the purpose of this post.

Last night Jonathan was telling the kids he was going to the Dr. so he could help him learn some exercises to help his back. Jacksen quickly told him he knew some good exercises that he learned at school. Something about tall, middle, long; he repeated this until Jon did it for himself. Then Jennah asked what kind of exercises the Dr. was going to teach daddy. Jon told her the Dr. was going to stretch his back out. Jennah got all excited and asked how much taller he was going to be after the Dr. stretched him. They are so funny!

He did go and the Dr. was very helpful and he thinks these exercises will really help with the arthritis pain. Now if we can do something about the painful tumors maybe he can get back to the way he was pre-fatty tumors.

1st Birthday Party

Joel had a great 1st birthday party. 29 family members came to help us celebrate his 1st birthday. What a great family Jonathan and I have. It really means a lot to us that everyone made it a priority to come. It was so much fun getting to see everyone there. My cousin Carie even came with her not even two week old baby girl! Joel looked so big next to her.

When we got home that night we brought everything in and found a gift we had not opened. It was two books that Joel loved. He really gets into books; more than the other two did at this age. I would like to know who got them for him so if anyone knows let us know. Thanks again everyone for helping us celebrate little Joel's birthday.

Ten Year Reunion

Jonathan had his ten year reunion in July. I have been trying to scan this picture for a while but it wouldn't scan. Jonathan had a good time. He was kinda disappointed that everyone was still as clickish as they were in high school. He has changed so much he thought everyone else would have too. He won something but it was five minutes before we got there so they gave it to someone else. Jon and I never win anything so he said just the fact that he won was good enough for him. I thought this was a funny picture and had to include it on my blog. 

1st Birthday!

Today my baby turns one year old! I can't believe it has been a year. It has gone by too fast. He is now walking and he can say MaMa, BuBu, DaDa, and Ball. I think I have enjoyed Joel being a baby more than the other two because they have so much fun with him. I love seeing them all together. Jacksen and Jennah just adore Joel. Joel thinks Jennah and Jacksen are so funny. Jacksen and Jennah are so excited about his party. I can't wait for them to see him eat his cake.

Vacation Injury

I wasn't going to blog about this but I had a request to do so, and so here it is. In our vacation pictures you may have noticed the cute little boogie board. This was Jacksen's souvenir. Looks like fun right? Wrong! Boogie Boards are very dangerous, well for me they are. This little boogie board caused a concussion, pulled muscles, and the return of TMJ.

Here's the story. Jonathan, the kids, and I were playing around in the pool at the hotel and Jonathan was on the board and we were trying to get him off. I had Joel on my hip (he has become a permanent accessory for me lately) I was pushing Jonathan off and the board came flying out of the water and hit me right in the chin (because Joel was on my hip I couldn't keep it from hitting me). You would be surprised at the force that fun little board had. Jonathan immediately knew I was hurt so he took Joel and helped me out of the pool. I knew it hurt my jaw because I have had TMJ in the past so I just assumed that was it. I went to the Dr. when we got back because I have been having really bad headaches and feeling really dizzy and light headed. He said I had all the stuff I mentioned earlier. He told me I would continue to be dizzy and even have memory loss for the next three weeks or so, and to wear a helmet if I needed to in order to keep from hitting my head again. I'm just glad it didn't hit Joel. That could have really hurt him.