Baby shower gifts

First off I love baby showers! This super cute party celebrating a tiny life thats not yet even here yet. A new mom especially needs to be showered with the cutest/usefull things. Me being a mom twice I know this very well and with each kid I was SURPRISED with a shower and the most beautiful gifts. I have been so blessed with amazing friends/coworkers that I want to "pay it forward" and give good gifts. Of course parts of it are so related to how much I know the mom. I try to be considerate and think of what they would need the most and if time permits I try to be as crafty as possible, try being a key word haha. I will also attempt to guide you through good gift giving through the eyes of a mom and crafty girl.

Key things to remember for a good gift

1. Yes it is absolutely the thought that counts not the dollars spent.

2. Gift registries are great to go off of so that the parents dont end up with four baby bath tubs. They only need one lol! 

3. Giant stuffed animals...NOT so great. why? Cute yes, but where am I going to put a 3ft monkey that collects dust for the first year of my childs life? So put the monkey down...just put it down.

4. Diapers are always ALWAYS a safe great gift EVEN if your mom/dad friend is planning on cloth diapering the first month its usually disposables or when they are on the go. Cause folks babies make the gift that keeps on giving...poop!!

5. YouTube will teach you the ways of creating unique gifts.

6. Gifts of babysitting, cooking food, and or cleaning house are the best FREE gifts a mom could get! My sisters give me this gift and I can't tell you how much I love them for it. So even if you are broke and want to give a good gift a card with a note promising one or all of these items and you will be genius!

All pictures seen on this post were MADE from by JennKnowsIt.com

The diaper cake above was made for baby Isabella, I worked with her mom and she was one of my first friends to have a baby and I had always wanted to make a diaper cake. BTW this "cake" was made like 3 years ago and was one of my first attempts at a baby shower cake so not bad for a first try. But I also had help from Trish and Sara on this baby. 

Super cute baby sleeping cupcakes, tutorial found at http://justjennrecipes.com/ she has some awesome recipes so go check her site out! 

 

This beautiful basket was taught to me by the beautiful Trishy, my friend and former coworker. She can work some magic because she used to work at a gift-basket-making place lol. Tons of baby items rolled into little roses and tucked into nooks and crannies were tons of things for Baby London. Items included onesies, mittens, pants, wash clothes, a bib, hats, baby lotion, and many others. It really was like putting together a bouquet of flowers!

And finally the "Welcome Wagon". This one was all my idea. I had already gifted a diaper cake and a beautiful "Flower basket" so I couldn't give something like that again. I thought way in advanced for this gift because Baby Samantha's parents are good friends of my husband and I. We both know the mommy and daddy from back in high school!! So I looked around and saw these "mini" little tikes red wagon and a light went off. A welcome wagon to welcome a little baby how perfect :) So we ordered the wagon from Amazon and bought all the items to go into it. This wagon was made very similar to the way the flower basket was made but less tissue paper. I did a small bouquet of "flowers" made from baby wash clothes. Rolled onesies into a cupcake roll, and randomly placed all the other items including two blankets, bath towels, more wash clothes, mittens, a hat, pants, and baby lotion. The sign in front I made with my vinyl cutter, hehe an excuse to make vinyl awesome! Plus when Baby Samantha gets older and wants to pull her baby dolls around her parents can remove the vinyl if they wish. So you get the size a toddler could very well pull this wagon..I know because my son pulled it lol!

I've somehow earned a reputation for good baby gifts, in fact some people have told me they want to specifically invite me to their baby showers hahaha while I'm flattered I really want everyone to know that a good gift is really the thought. I really wanted to give Baby London and Samantha very special gifts because their mommies were amazing to me when I was first pregnant with Ayden. I had to wait a year and two years to be able to show them how much I care. I think they loved it and thats all that matters. Have questions on a baby gift just ask me!

iPad2 case makeover

Oh my electronic gadgets its my weakness...well among other things in life haha. I did not get the original iPad i actually somehow gathered strength and waited for the iPad2! Right I know the 3 is probably around the corner. Doesn't matter I wanted it and I made it happen. If you want it, it will come. Its my motto. Goals people goals!!! So here I am with this super cool new toy but I needed to protect it. I went online looked at several cases, some of them over priced and ugly...some just plain ugly. What's a girl to do? Whala be CRAFTY! I actually found an online site that would custom color the case I want and they quoted me 2-4weeks. That seemed reasonable *sigh* fast forward 7weeks and countless emails to the production people and at 8weeks I FINALLY got my case.

First things first its a beautiful color but I had to add the vinyl....heck yes gotta put my initials on it!

But the interior lining was a complete grease attracting lining. When you have two kiddos with grubby hands yeah its not a good thing. I had to do something to the inside. Hello Martha Stewart and Michaels craft store with the 40% off coupons! Never buy something full price there, NEVER you hear me?? I bought the stencils, paint, brushes all with coupons and will reuse them again and again :) 

Stencils!!! love love love it. Took literally less than five minutes to finish it and than voila! 

Completely customized just for ME! And now you can't tell if there would be hand prints plus my handy hubby installed the protecting film cover over the actual screen as well. Super easy and you can do this to practically anything.

light organizing

One of the big that changes in your life after kids is your stuff. Now its your stuff + their stuff + plus stuff ya didn't even know you had. So you now have to find a new place for allllll this STUFF! Easy answer would be "just get rid of it" hmmmm easier said than done. I tackle crazy unorganized areas one corner at a time. Don't try to kill yourself and clean your house or reorganize an entire floor at once cause with two little monkies jumping around it just doesn't get done. Plus if you're like me at all you get easily distracted by some awesome forgotten treasures (which BTW best part of cleaning). So here are some areas that I recently hit up and changed around. Thank you Ikea for being a part of my life hahaha! So some tips to follow:
1. Pick a section to focus on. Don't over do it and pick the whole kitchen on your first attempt...cause that's kind of scary. Pick a section of cabinets instead of ALL of the kitchen or just the pantry.
2. Don't spend a ton of money buying containers (i.e. container store cause its a rip off) to make things pretty. Chances are you have these materials on hand or hello dollar store!!!
3. DRAG everything out of the space. The goal is to put back into the space the actual items you are going to need and use. If you haven't used it in a couple of years please do everyone a favor and toss it or donate it depending on the item.
4. Trash bags are your friend, keep one close by to help you be encouraged not to hoard. Remember no hoarding!!
5. And finally a picture helps you remember where everything went!

My makeup station at the top. I know its horrendous but it had been awhile since I touched it. I have two small children its hard to look mac-tastic everyday hahaha. Well that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it! It so badly needed to be reorganized so those hanging "jars" are displayed at ikea for like kitchen space. Hmm I look at it and say no thanks but its great for my makeup brushes! Voila it looks beautiful and off the table and away from grubby little hands!!






Girls with straight hair want curly hair and girls with curly hair want straight hair. Silly but its true. Alas it takes a lot of tools sometimes to make these things happen. My sink cabinet looks like it vomitted hair supplies everywhere. Graphic but true. It desperately needed some organization. I used all my extra tubs for other projects so I did purchase a tub from Ikea but all the little boxes I had on hand from previous *cough*ikea*cough* trips in texas.






In the end it looks a million times cleaner. While I may not whip out a curling Iron at the drop of a dime I also don't need it so often where that skill set would benefit me. The last picture that is one of the clear organizers for holding TEA packets but not any more. I used this baby for every day hair accessories aka hair ties and clippies. These short organizing tips have just helped me not feel so overwhelmed about disorganization. I love a clean house but I know that I can't kill myself over it. One day at a time, or section at a time. I hopefully can encourage someone else to better organize the small areas in their lives :)

Regular Couponing...Extreme savings!

Yes that TV show Extreme Couponing has caused everyone to attempt to do the same. I say more power to you cause guess what SAVING MONEY is AWESOME!! I don't know about you but I don't have a money tree. I'm a mom and a wife and money can't be thrown away (hmmm much like I threw it away in my early 20's). So for awhile I've been saving money. I seldom buy things full price unless necessary...for example my iPad2 heehee. So since I need extra dough for stuff like that I save money in everyday items by using coupons. Let me CLARIFY I use ONE NEWSPAPER a weekend. Not 12, not dumpster diving....ONE! In one month on just everyday household items I kept a log on what I spent just to see how it is. People are quick to generalize "oh coupons are for junk food." So here it is couponing on NON FOOD ITEMS!! Everything above was bought at either Walgreens or Target.

HERES the breakdown...

Dove men care bodywash retail $3.99 clearance $2.78 after BOGO coupon $1.34. (x2)
Dove men deodorant retail $2.99 sale $2.39 coupon $1off = 1.39
Dove women's deodorant retail $3.99 clearance $2.78 BOGO coupon $1.34
Pert plus retail $4.99 sale $3.99 RR -3 =99cents -1$ coupon = free
Revlon nail retail $4.99 sale $3.99 RR -3 =99cents -1$ coupon free (bought 2)
floss and tooth brush retail $2.99 each sale 2/5 RR -3 =2/2 -1.50 = 50cent for both
9month size Jeans retail $8.00 clearance $2.00 -$2 coupon = Free
Herbal essences shampoo retail $2.99 clearance $2.24 - 1$ = $1.24
Keri lotion retail $4.29 sale 3.99 RR -3 =99 - 2$ coupon + 1$$$ (MADE A DOLLAR)
Colgate toothpaste $2.74 sale 2.32 coupon -$1 =$1.32
Colgate toothpaste $2.50 each sale 2/4 RR $2 2/2 minus two $1 off = free (2 items)
Paper mate pens retail $1.49 sale 99 - target coupon $1 =free (2items)
Gain dish washing soap retail $1.78 sale 88 coupon -50cents = $0.38cents
Lysol touchless soap dispenser retail $11.99 RR 5$ -3coupon = $3 for entire system (a reg just refill costs 3.99)
3d crest white stripes retail $23 -$10 manufacture -$7 walgreen coupon =$6
Oral b toothbrush retail $1.99 2/2 sale coupon -2$ off 2 = Free. (2 items)
Venus razor retail $7.99 sale 6$ -RR 3 - 3 coupon = $1
Expo markers retail $4.39 sale $3.99 RR 3 =$1
Tictac retail $1.19 coupon -1$ = 19cents
Mentos retail $0.88cents - 1.00 =+12cents profit

Total retail = $117.11 Cost $19.92
Savings $97.19 PERCENTAGE SAVED %83.0

Entertainment Center turned Play Kitchen

Summertime is coming to an end and every summer I always finish some DIY/re purpose project. Last summer I did a run down bench turned brand new and a run down picnic table turned perfect table for Ayden. This summer was finishing our daughters nursery and Ayden's play kitchen.

Ayden loves to play chef. Last year during a visit to my sister in Texas we went to Ikea and bought him all the pots and pans and felt foodies. He plays with those toys more than anything. Originally I thought oh I'll just get one of those used fisher price/little tikes play kitchen on craigslist or something. Um have you seen how much one of those things cost brand new and or used? Upwards of 50$ and more. That and they all look the same :/ not knocking anyone that has one but I had more in mind. Especially after seeing a couple of blogs with FANTASTIC entertainment stands turned into play kitchen. Remember back in the 90's when everyone had one. Well folks now its not good interior design so now it needs a new purpose a new life. I am not one to waste so hey I started checking craigslist every now and than in the FREE section. One day I saw a FREE one in the exact size/style I wanted and BEST of all it was disassembled meaning we could pack it into our small car whoohoo! It was meant to be! Below is the actual photo from the craigslist ad.



If you've read my blog before you know that I work at a pretty awesome place. Maybe not awesome to you but to me it is. I have some of the most awesome co-workers EVER. So I started telling them my ideas for this DIY play kitchen. Immediately they all wanted to pitch in and help. I had my friends husband cut the perfect hole for the sink. He also cut the hole for the oven see through door. The sink itself was a silver mixing bowl given to us by our good friend Jenn. See where I am going with this? Ask and it shall come!! The before....



I worked on it slowly. I decided to prime with Kilz Primer Spray took a couple of cans but it needed it.



Not bad. Time for paint. Lucky for me I had a half gallon of SwanWhite primer/paint in one left over from our daughters nursery so I decided that would be the base. I know didn't I just say I primed the unit well better to be safe than sorry! I had to put like 3 coats on that sucker though. Hmmm maybe next time I'll just spend the time to sand it down...hahaha next time (dont think so!) I also was smart in that since I used the white as primer and white I only had to buy a sample container of blue paint for the backsplash!! its like less than 3bucks!!! And the backing on the original unit was that cardboard. I needed some plywood. Enter in another coworker Colette who donated two big pieces of plywood!!! See all done with the main paint!



Just as I was getting all the paint done Ikea Centennial was OPENING! Whoohoo that means all the handles I needed and knobs I needed would be cheap and easily available. So I bought 2 sets of handles two for the bottom cabinets ($4.99) and oven and a set for the fridge ($7.99) Than finally the knobs for the stove top ($1.99) and lastly the "faucet" I dragged my friend Stephanie and she helped me look all over ikea for something that resembled a faucet and at the very end we found a Garage hook that upside down was the perfect sized faucet. Whopping price $0.99!
Total of $16 at ikea for the kitchen!

Hardware was coming together nicely now for the decorating. I needed curtains. But I was not going to get big curtains and cutting them down. Instead another talented and crafty coworker of mine (Jeanne) sews a lot and offered her sewing skills to me. All I had to do was buy fabric. I ended up only needed one yard of fabric at JoAnnes for $4.00! The fabric was perfect it had lots of little "kitchen" items on it. I found the pattern and directions on a fellow blog The Crafting Chicks. Perfection to cover the space underneath the sink to cover the metal mixing bowl. All I needed was a tension rod to fit the space (Lowe's for $2.99) She also used the leftover fabric to make two small tieback curtains for the faux window. The other pieces of fabric used she already had and it matched perfectly. I'd like to also add this was my first time in a fabric store looking at fabric and it was like a kid in a candy store. Ayden was with me and picked his own fabric for his apron and hat (coming soon). Also the oven door I needed plexi glass for, pshhh i found an old frame i didnt want any more and used the plexi glass from that and had my husband score it down to size!

I needed "burners" and found at the dollar store these red cup coasters perfect for burners!! I also found food shaped sponges for the sink there too! Yay $2 I decided to paint on a faux flat top stove and just glued on the burners. Paint again left over from another project of mine. Helps to be crafty folks.








Whala Ayden loves it! Why wouldn't he. I wish my kitchen could look that awesome ;)



Lets run down the costs....

Entertainment center = Free
Sink = Free
Backing to unit = Free
Primer = $15.00
Paint = $3.00
Curtains = $4.00
Faucet = $1.00
Handles/knobs = $15.00
Burners/sponges = $2.00
Tension rod = $3.00
Sealant = $10.00

$53.00!!!!

Yes lots of man hours were put into this but it was a complete labor of love. I mean is it picture perfect maybe not but is it perfect for my kids heck yes! My neighbors all were like wow this crazy lady is dedicated to this white thing in her garage. Little did they know it would be this cool. Pretty sure my husband was hoping I'd give up half way through since it took up my garage for a month! It was all worth it. Anytime anyone comes over that hasn't seen his kitchen he drags into his play area and shows them ALL his goodies. All thats left is a play dinning set since Grandma gave him a dinning table/homework table. The fact of the matter is this. If I can do it you can do it too!

Notes if you do it:

Don't rush it. Rushing it costs you more money! I took my sweet time with this finding the right parts and you know what so many people were excited to help me. They were more than willing to come over and help and let me borrow tools etc. All i did was provide the food. Ask around for stuff and you'll be surprised how many people want to give you stuff that doesnt. The labor parts like cutting the hole I left to someone more experienced with a jigsaw and that worked out well. I let my husband bash out the glass after taping with ductape (to hold all the tiny pieces. Posted it on facebook and got fabulous comments.

I'm featured!

Did you know I'm featured on Bridget Marquardt's website? Look Here

See!


love my watch :) Gift from my hubby for my 26th birthday! I also got to meet Bridget in person at an event at the Palms in Las Vegas, super sweet :)

We've been busy

We welcomed our newest family member our little girl Aria. She completes our little family and we love love love her so much. Everyone tells us she looks just like her mama and how perfect is it that we have one of each :) She's already 3 months old and showing lots of personality. Aria loves to chat it up just like her momma. Ayden is the best big brother always helping. He gets clean diapers, throws away dirty ones, gets towels, gets binkys, and whatever else she needs. He absolutely is in love with her and we couldn't be more proud of him.



So yes like the title says we've been busy. I am back at work. Working at my day job and doing side projects. Finished decorating Aria's room and working one room at a time to refinish our house. We moved in we changed out a lot of hardware but we didn't personalize it much after so now that our family is complete its ready for more work. This blog will be my way of showing the hard work as well as random things inbetween. I'm calling it JennKnowsIt.Com - not to be confused with "I know it all" but just a random stuff I happen to know.

The concept and name is a funny story that started at work. I've become the gal that knows random things. My coworkers all urged me get back to your blog and blog about random things it would be awesome. Hey why not HAHA!



She's our beautiful daughter.

Spring changes

We are just days away from meeting the newest member of our family and we couldn't be more thrilled and excited to meet her. We just celebrated Ayden's second birthday and always our friends and family were there to join us in celebration and we had a grand time!!!

My coworkers were so thoughtful and loving they threw myself and a fellow soon-to-be new mommy a surprise baby shower!!!! Very unexpected and just so wonderful. Our baby girl was truly showered with gifts and I'm thankful to be working with such a great group of people.

Everyone asks are you ready for the second baby? There's never one single answer. Can you truly ever be "ready"? Life is constantly changing and you learn to adapt to the changes and try to prepare. That's what we've done is tried to prepare as best as we could. But we cannot see the future so we'll take it day by day and see where this journey takes us. We're blessed that we've got our big boy and our new baby girl soon. For us this is what we've dreamed of and we couldn't ask for more.

We'll have our hands full very soon :)

Winter Greetings!

Wow last post back from the summer time! Crazy how fast time has flown by! I don't think a lot of people follow my blog which is fine but I do know I have the occasional troll and what not so hey heres my update for those folks haha. Rumors are true we're expecting our second baby next MAY!! Ayden will be 2 when his SISTER arrives. That's exactly how far I wanted to space our kids. Ayden is great with babies and when his cousin Lexi was here he was great with her and they were partners in crime. I didn't want to wait too long in between kids because it worked great for my family.

We celebrated a year in our house, Ayden had a great Halloween as Super Man and went trick or treating like a big kid. However once he realized there was candy in his Spongebob bucket well he wanted to eat every piece that went in. Silly boy will do tricks for candy. He is such a sponge right now. He points to everything and will learn the word for the item. Sometimes he knows word we didn't even teach him. Sponge I tell you. He's also learning 3 languages on a daily basis and so sometimes its hard because both my husband and I only speak 2 of the 3, Ayden is the only one with all 3!!! He'll ask me for things in Chinese and I just think its babble until his Grandma or his Dad translates...who knew?!?!? He loves to go out and about. We are very fortunate that he is so well behaved especially in public. We have never had to experience a store meltdown or horrible tantrum, mind you the pediatrician office is a diff story. Keeping my fingers crossed that this does not change once we hit the terrible twos.

We've had such an amazing year filled with tons of milestones and great friends and family. We are so blessed to live around our supportive family. Without their love and support we wouldn't be where we are today. Seriously could not ask for more.

I'm in a great STRESS FREE job. I leave work and never think twice about the days work. I'm surrounded by awesome co workers that don't create drama. Its close to home and best of all the perfect schedule yessss!!! Its nice not to worry about work or dread going. I actually enjoy going to work and I'm thankful for it.

Here's to wishing you and your family the best this holiday season. We hope that everyone stays warm and full!!



Happy Holidays

Loving the summer time!

Summer already! I love the summer months in Colorado. There is just so much to do and July is always a fun month for our family. We have our annual family BBQ for the Fourth, my birthday, my husband's birthday, and our wedding anniversary. A lot to celebrate and be thankful for.

Summer months also means Garage Sales! My sisters and I loved going to garage sales in the summer with my mom and aunts. It was fun running around picking out toys. Of course now that we are adults we'd rather look for fixer uppers and things for the house. My sister is the super crafty creative one. Me I'm a little bit like that but not as extravagant. I don't sew and I don't think I'm planning on doing that. I do however sand, paint, and re-new! Because this is our first summer in the new house I'm more looking for things to accent our home. I found an adorable picnic table ($5) for Ayden and fixed it all up for him. Found a lovely bench ($5) that I'm currently working on and of course I found a good condition FREE clothing drawer that just needs a little TLC to bring it back to life. It is nice side projects but the big project is my yard. I'm adding flowers, fighting weeds, and pruning trees lol.

Re-capping June through July: Celebrated best friend Val's birthday, my sister and her family visiting Co for two weeks, BACKSTREET BOYS CONCERT with VIP MEET AND GREET (DREAM COME TRUE), Twilight Eclipse, July 4th with my extended family, my birthday WEEK celebration with Golf-dinners-the zoo-presents-shopping! I have such wonderful friends and family who are all so amazing. Especially my husband who continues after all these years to still spoils me on my birthday, thanks hubby! He also got an early birthday present a new set of rims for his car. If you know my husband you know he is a car fanatic and this is what he wanted.


Yes we're one of those families that match, red white and blue baby

Ayden checking out the sparklers

Feeding the giraffes at the zoo

Me and the Backstreet Boys

Me and my new BFF Brian from BSB

The Backstreet Boys concert was absolutely amazing. The whole VIP experience was worth every penny. I've been in love with them since I was 13 and I always dreamed of one day meeting them and hanging out with them and I got to do that on June 22nd. Words cannot describe how happy I was that day *sigh* It was like I was 15 all over again!! Hey you may not understand and I don't need you to this is my blog not yours :P

Why hello bunny

Will and I were watching my favorite show : The Girls Next Door seasons 4 & 5 last weekend and we happen to be saying hey remember when we met Bridget at the Playboy Club in Las Vegas a couple of years ago and it would be so cool to get to meet Brittany Binger. Brittany is Miss June 2007 and is on GND as well as Kendra's show as well. She's our favorite playmate as well :) Funny how we just said that than two days later on twitter she announces she'll be in Denver at JetLounge downtown!!!! Hello that was just meant to be a sign that we had to go and meet her!!! Now that we are parents we have never gone out late at night. We did that all 18-24years old so we've been there done that. But to meet Brittany Binger hell yes we were game. My sister came up from the springs and babysat ayden while he slept. We have not been out to the bar since my 24th birthday so uh we're rusty and we get tired easily lol.

We got dressed up, trekked downtown, there was a Vitamin Water event going on so it was packed but we got there before the line and we got whatever flavor water we wanted lol. Found Brittany B and I literally just walked up and introduced myself and Will and chatted with her like she was my bff LOL! She is the sweetest person ever! And if its possible she's even hotter in person!!! Needless to say mission accomplished!!!





And just as a reminder me and Bridget at the Playboy Club/Club Moon @ the Palms Vegas

Ayden turns one

My how a year flies by! This year was full of amazing milestones for our little man. He's grown so much and if its possible I love him more and more every day!



Yes he's a cutie and future heartbreaker ;)

He's [this] close to walking and he's already a troublemaker lol! He loves to eat, loves his doggies who he calls his wow-wow (our family teaches babies that word for dog lol), he gives hugs and kisses, he says: Daddy, Mommy, wow-wow, Baby, Ba (which is the first word for grandma in viet) sure a lot of kids say Ba a lot but really in Viet its a word and he hears it ALL the time since his grannies watch him. He acts all shy the first five minutes of meeting new people than after the five minutes he's ready to give you lots of smiles, winks, and high fives. He waves - especially to strangers lmao! He's in 18-24month clothes but we put the 12month onesies on him any way. And the Most Common compliment everyone says, besides how cute he is," Wow he's the happiest well behaved baby I have ever met!" Best compliment ever because we do not have a child who screams at strangers or is bad. He'll be at a party for hours and you'll never hear him cry.

His Sesame Street birthday party was amazing if I dont say so myself. My girlfriends helped me make his decorations and his cake pops. Yes my little sister sam is the arts and crafts gal but me I am the creative cooker gal. Hey we've all got our strengths mine just happens to make your tummy happy too.


Elmo cupcakes, chocolate cake pops, and tissue pompoms. Awesome ideas I found on the net and re-created :)

Thank you to all of our friends and family who attended and made the party a huge success. We hired an entertainer for all the kiddies. Our balloon lady was AMAZING! She made a TONNNNN of balloon animals in the short hour we had her there. We also had a pinata that all the kids (even aydens age) could participate in. The pinata had ribbons that everyone got to hold on to than all pull for the raining of candy. Yes it rained candy hahaha! We gave out goodie bags and had a great buffet of food. It took weeks of planning, hours of man power, but the happiness on our little boys face was PRICELESS! He also got tons of toys and an entire summer wardrobe. We seriously couldn't ask for more.



Here's to many many many more birthdays! We won't be topping this birthday until the big 5 hahahaha!

just a minute

My poor laptop of several years (wow it lasted long) was at its own death bed recently and could no longer endure my abuse and so it is now resting in peace while I place my abuse on a shiny new laptop. Granted its not super fancy and not top of the line but it is going to provide the support my habit of Facebook games, Sims 3, D60 camera photos, and Photoshop and that's all I need it to do - oh and blog entries lol!

So we got a new laptop and comcast cable internet so I have no excuses not to design and blog more. Give me just a minute to transfer all my files and programs though because it's a lottttttt of uh junk to move. I've been going through a lot of old photos. It's funny how much our lives have changed. Looking through my previous laptop is like reliving my life. Looking at photos when we first lived at the big parker house, lots of birthday parties, vacations to everywhere, clubbing till 2am, bottle service at the hottest bars, laughs with friends, our wedding, family photos, pregnancy, birth of Ayden, our new home, more weddings, and everything else inbetween. I love my new camera and I need to take my point and shoot camera more often.

My point is so many good memories in the last few years and we have so many more memories to make!

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays to our friends and families and to you out there who may or may not be reading my blog!

We've had such an amazing year filled with so many milestones in our lives. This year started off with me with a new job, than becoming a MOMMY, celebrating two years of marriage, and watching Ayden grow and meeting all of his baby milestones, and moving into our new home, not the first home we owned but still a milestone nonetheless. The year has flown by so fast and now we celebrate our first Christmas with Ayden. We've spent so many Christmas's just the two of us we were used to just showering each other with gifts and now this year it wasn't really about us any more it was about that little boy.

Will did however get a pretty good present he got a new car. It wasn't the ideal situation to be getting a new car but it was a bad situation that we made lemonade with. He has a more family friendly car and finally a car I can drive as well. I joke and tell him its our car cause whats yours is mine baby!! No I won't steal his car I have my own car.

In other Ayden news he has sprouted TWO new bottom teeth. Weeks of on and off cranky-pants have finally paid off with these sharp suckers. You can hear him bang cups up against his new pearls haha. He's also discovered that if he can't see you than you must have left him and he will scream bloody murder. He's become such a mama's boy but I can't lie I love the way he makes me feel. To know that this tiny little person needs you and trusts you with their life and can't be away from you makes you feel pretty darn special. It does break my heart when I send him off to Grandma's and I miss him all day but when I sit in my cubical and stare at his pictures I remind myself I sit there because of him. To earn money to buy him diapers and milk and provide that oh-so-fun health insurance. Oh I think they call it responsibility. Hey we all need our motivations and he is my number one person for that.

I'm glad we moved into our house when we did. I just left all of my Christmas decorations out and decorated right before Thanksgiving. The lights outside look great, I love our tree (pre-light fake tree all the way), and the stockings are perfect. Ayden saw Santa earlier this month, we took family portraits, individual portraits of Ayden, and we sent out our holiday card.

Our one big new years resolution is..... NO BINKIE!!! DUN DUN DUN! Wish us luck!

I forgot about you

Full time mommy, wifey, daughter, sister, and Sprint Employee makes me forget about the internet. I have enough time for twitter on the phone and facebook via my phone. We found THE HOUSE. No not the tv show but our home for at least the next 10 years. I dont think it's the forever house. It's a our house while our children are under 10years old house. Why do I want to move again later? Eh I'll get bored of this house eventually.

Ayden is moving towards 6months! Time flies by when you're raising a little monkey. He already had his first hair cut but thats true to Vietnamese tradition for a "fresh start" on his crop of hair. He was getting baldy patchy from the first crop that came in so its like replanting....its getting to be another full crop. He's got his dad's hair thats for sure.



Cheesy McCheesy. That ham.



Buzz Buzz


We close on the house at the end of October. We saw what felt like over 30 houses and they all started to look the same. We were picky but we were willing to work with a fixer upper. Instead we found a house that wasn't brand new but was in EXCELLENT condition. Probably better than some of the new houses we saw. This couple is an older couple, no kids, one dog. The house was cute and special very "us". We are excited to get this move done and over with. I hate packing more than the moving it self. Can't i just leave my useless crap all over the place?

Before I end one more picture. We had a reunion date with the couples who were in our birthing class. You know where you learn lamaze breathing and watch birthing videos. Yeah you could say we ALL bonded. Our babies were all born within days of each other. We all went from super prego bellies to big bouncy babies. It was an awesome play date. They had make your own pizza's where you roll out the dough, grill it on the grill, and all the toppings your tummy could handle. Perfect play date. Can't wait for the next play date.

house hunting

Yes we are house hunting. You know going out into the wilderness, guns out, sneaking around corners as to not scare the house in the good neighboorhood so that hopefully you'll find that beauty of a house to claim as your own lol. We've been in and out of lots of houses. Trying to picture your crap instead of their crap. When I look at the inside of a house I picture where Ayden will be taking his first steps. Where the Christmas tree will go. Where I would hang our wedding photo. Cheesy things like that. We've decided this will be our "forever" house as in 10+ years we will invest into this house. This house has to be big enough for one more kid, has to have ample storage for all my crap, and has to have garage space for Will's crap haha. This is a great market to get into a house as people are trying to get out of theirs and before all the interest rates get all crazy. So we're going to take advantage and settle down once and for all. Our doggies deserve a big roomy yard and Ayden deserves a house he can run around in and grow up in. We're excited to be getting our house and we will move before the summer is over. This I guarantee.

Old navy whats wrong with you?

I normally love Old Navy, heck I used to work there as a teen....during Christmas season at that. But lately it seems as Ayden has been screaming bloody murder any time we mention going to Old Navy and as soon as we hit the Old Navy parking lot it is serious bloody murder giant tears time. 2 for 2 he has screamed while we were at old navy. So I'm forced to speed shop like I won a free shopping spree for five minutes of shopping lol. That adrenaline starts pumping and I'm looking for my size and if its a sale item its bonus points hahahaha.

I think he secretly hates it because Old Navy baby size runs SMALL!!!! 3-6months my ass my son is barely not even 3 months and that shit wouldn't fit his one leg! I don't get it their sizes should be somewhat comparable to Baby Gap (as they are the same company) but Old Navy sizes are too small for him. I wanted him to have a 4th of July outfit but they were all too small, the 18-24month looked like it would fit but I didnt want another romper. So he just wore a striped red blue and white romper that was a gift from Jen and Steve. We showed him sparklers but it was too wet and cold outside for him to care lol maybe next year it will be better.

Ayden's first 4th was quiet and at home. His grandma turned him into a cranky baby when it comes to eating. She started heating his bottles when I went back to work and now all he will eat is warm bottles. So we cant travel far without finding some place to get hot water to warm up his bottle. Often we'll find the starbucks get a hotcup of water and dunk his bottle into it. Next baby gets room temp bottles because I am not doing this a second time damnit!

Pictures coming as my early bday present is amazing!

Works in progress

The biggest current project is decluttering and making more space as we now are a family of three. I'm getting better and not clinging on to so much stuff so it is progress but alas its a work in progress lol. I've also brought back out my Wii Fit I finally feel like I have somewhat enough sleep and energy to even want to work out. Probably a good idea seeing as how everyone and their mothers are getting married this summer. Can't be looking all flabby at the weddings so I better be working out. I am going to be donating a lot of items such as clothes, shoes, and toys all in good conditions to better causes than collecting my dust.

I am excited to become an Aunty!! YAY!! Tom and Sam are expecting their first baby together and I can't wait for Ayden to have a cousin. I grew up with so many cousins I want Ayden to have cousins the same age as well. Speaking of Ayden he is growing so fast. He's smiling and cooing all day. He's growing like a little weed. Tall and skinny like his Daddy lol. Sam's going to be back to visit for the summer since Texas is all sorts of hot, humid, and buggy this time of year. Perfect timing since the Renaissance festival hazah!

Also working in progress is a new layout for the blog. One fitting for Simply Jenn's blog :)

Lots to look foward to!

I <3 my family

Being a wife is amazing but being a wife and Mom now thats what I call completion :) Ayden is 7weeks old and just yesterday got his first full set of immunization shots eek. He was a bit fussy since his poor legs were hurting (two shots in each leg) but he pulled through like the champ that he is.



He's the love of our lives.

We are still figuring things out like juggling work and home life. You think you have it figured out but along comes baby and than you have got to re-org. All the junk you used to hold on to has to go in the trash cause theres no longer room to hoard. I'm excited about this next part in our lives. Being a parent means no longer being selfish about your own lives because now its about whats best for him. In a couple of years I want to add to our family and hopefully have my own mini me a daughter :) Not right now of course because this is Ayden's time.

My super amazing loving hubby has been such an amazing Daddy. I wouldnt be able to be sane without him. I love him more each day and Ayden is truly lucky to be his daddys own mini me lol :)

25 things you may not have known about me

Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you

1. Well my number one goal right now is to be an amazing Mommy to this beautiful little boy named Ayden. He makes me want to be a better person. Our family is a better picture with him in it. We couldn't be more proud. We're excited for all the things in our future.

2. I love puzzles, the big complex 3D ones to the 1000 Thomas Kincade puzzles. If you come over to our place you'll see plenty of replica landmarks in 3D form. I'm sure this will be a favorite past time as I don't forsee much puzzle time in the future.

3. I'm an electronic gadget fanatic. I've got a video ipod, ipod shuffle, and iphone - yes they pretty much all do similar things but I had to have one of each any way. Oh and I'm getting a second cell soon here, but thats cause of my new job - just a perk :) My Wii is awesome, so is my DS, my digicam is a necessity and

4. I am a fan of cooking reality shows like Hell's Kitchen and Top Chef! Those I'll watch any day but those dating ones or the singing/dancing ones I am not into at all. I love watching good food being made or someone being yelled at for making crappy food lol. Oh and Unwrapped, diners drive-ins and dives, Andrew Zimmermans world travel! What can I say I <3 food, hell I travel to places mostly for food hahahahha.

5. My husband and I met on a blind date, yup we were set up by a good friend :) Who says you can't find your mate on a blind date pshhhhh. And personality wise we are as opposite as they come. I'm loud and outgoing he's shy and quiet. You never notice it though because I'm so friendly you forget Will doesn't talk to you.

6. I have an evil weakness for designer purses. It's a collection really. Oh especially all things Louis :) Although I haven't truly indulged in this weakness in a long time so that must mean I am getting stronger. I've probably spent MORE on purses than people spend on their first car..maybe your second car too..:/...its bad. I don't approve of knockoff/fake bags. Why WASTE your money on a piece of fake crap that breaks right away when if you save and truly want the real thing it can be attainable its not impossible. So put that fake ass shit away.

7. I'm a diabetic, yes even before the pregnancy. It runs in my family and I do my best to keep it under control with diet but since being pregnant it's been a lot more work from me and the pharmacy to keep my sugar in check. Some days it sucks really bad not to be able to eat what you want but some days I just am thankful that it's not worse.

8. Las Vegas feels like our second home since it's the place we visit most. Before the economy went into the toilet we were there like 4x a year. Last year was the first time we only went twice. Yes more than normal people but so little to us. We love our friends there and we love that theres a million things to do there. Seriously we've never had a bad time in Vegas I mean how could you have a bad time unless you had a big ass stick up ur ass???

9. I'm a crawfish ADDICT! You should know that in case you have a crawfish boil and need someone to help you eat it....seriously CALL ME! If I had the funds I'd totally open a crawfish restaurant...YES in CO..don't knock it till you try it.

10. My dogs are my first "kids". I never had a pet of my own growing up so adopting two little doggies to practice my motherly instincts was an amazing choice. Who knew I could love these dogs so much?? We'll see if practice pays off lol. When you care for a little being who needs you, yes even if its a little dog, it gives you a whole new appreciation. Dogs are not accessories they are like mini-people with their own personalities and who truly love you.

11. I get annoyed very easily. I lack the patience sometimes and I try to control as best as I can but if I'm short with you BACK THE EFF off than - TAKE THE HINT!

12. I DO NOT like people cancelling plans on me at the last minute. This goes with #11. Don't tell me omg invite me when you go, agree to go, than cancel ALL the freaking time. I DON'T need to hang out with you than. If I don't mean that much to you for you to make the effort to meet me somewhere than don't even bother acting like you care. You only get so many cancels and I'll stop making plans with you.

13. I'm a big cry baby when it comes to movies, like the dog movie 8below...omg I balled like a baby. I'm a sucker for a good crying movie...but at the same time I don't want you to see me cry :/ But the only movie that should've made me cry didn't - The Notebook. Yeah good movie but it didn't move me.

14. I love reading for fun. Harry Potter series, Twilight series, Traveling pants series, mystery novels, and lots more are my favorite. I love crawling into bed with a good book or while I'm on vacation pool side.

15. My weekly read though has to be US Weekly. Yes I've got a subscription and read it cover to cover every week. Yeah so if we're discussing celebrity news you better believe I know the scoop. hahahaha.

16. I cannot go to bed dirty. No matter how drunk/tired/etc I may be I DRAG my ass to the shower to take a good hot shower before I crawl into bed. I will not go to bed dirty. I love a clean bed. I love the smell of fresh bounce on my sheets and crawl into it clean on clean baby.

17. I used to not be able to stand needles, touching my eye, eye drops, or take pills and now I'm a pro at all of the above. After being diabetic, lasik eye surgery, and after being prego and giving birth nothing freaks me out. I had to put drops in my eyes like no tomorrow. Insulin only goes through my body via needle and after being prego you take prenatal vitamins the size of horse pills so you get over it quick. The trick is swallowing the water not the pill that just so happens to swim in it.

18. I'm good at public speaking. I've had practice since high school. To this day at work I'm always confident when speaking in front of groups even if I have no idea what I am talking about I can probably bluff my way through it lol! I've done it before muhahaha!

19. I really enjoy golfing. It's finding people to golf with thats the trouble. Been golfing since freshmen year of highschool and its true watching it is borrrring but playing it is a whole different thing.

20. I always get a shotglass from wherever we are going or staying at. I think this one a lot of people do but so do we. The only place I never got one was when I went to Vietnam....brought back a lot of other things just not a shot glass. We've got shotglasses from all the hotels we've been to in Vegas, the Dominican Republic, and all the other places inbetween. We've traveled a lot together and it's something I'm so glad we got to do before we started having kids.

21. I have the same online blog since 2002 and I still update it to this day. I've made some AMAZING friends on it and I've met a lot of them too. They are true confidants and I'm thankful to have them in my life. We even have a baby journal blog.

22. There is a star in our solar system named after Will and I in the cancer constellation. Will gave it to me as a gift for our paper one year wedding Anniversary. He's always been the romantic.

23. I like MAC and sephora a lot. I don't wear a ton of make up every day but on nights out or special occasions I know how to look good ;) This has been the past year or more that I've really gotten into it and really invested money into the good stuff. My HS friends will tell you they never knew me as the makeup girl lol

24. Contrary to a lot of peoples beliefs Will does NOT buy me everything I want. The majority of my purses were bought by me. He did buy me a few items such as wallets from time to time and my watch but not things like my CAR. Don't assume just because yes I am spoiled at times that I don't work and don't buy things for myself. During my entire pregnancy there was only 6 weeks where I wasn't working full time but thats because of the poor job force out there! I didn't get to sit at home and just be barefoot and prego was working full time damnit.

25. Both of our families are completly opposite from each other. My family is big and loud his family is small and quiet. But I love both sides of our families. It is a balance in our lives and I wouldn't have it any other way.

**WHOO ok that was harder than I thought. I hope you all learned a little more about me.