Girl Trap

I need to get this down somewhere because it is sooooo going on a page about Jackson.

So here goes... Last night we were talking about how Jackson has a new seat in class next to one of his friends who happens to be a boy. He says very quietly, "now I'm outta the girl trap." I wasn't sure I heard him correctly but Ken asked him to repeat what he had said and he told us he used to sit between 2 girls in his previous desk and that was a "girl trap - a girl, a boy in the middle and another girl" I could barely drive I was laughing so hard! The girl trap.... baby you don't know the half of it...

SO how will I actually scrapbook this?
I have a plan to find a great picture of Jackson, maybe from some random event where I got a great photo of him to talk about some of his creative thoughts and personality traits. I will probably go to my category drawers as part of my Library of Memories system (thank you, Stacy Julian!) and find a fun shot of Jackson. I love that even without having a picture of the "girl trap" I can still record this silly idea from him! It would be awesome to find a picture of him between 2 girls, but I'm not sure a photo like that exists for us, LOL. Right now I have no idea how this page will turn out, but I know I won't remember just how he said it even a month from now. I try to keep little notebooks all over the place to just get it jotted down right away. It definitely helps this tired mom of 3 to remember all the crazy, sweet, and silly things they say! Stay tuned for the layout soon, I am definitely inspired by my little boy right now!
xo, Jen

We're back and we're SCRAPPY!!!

Did you think we had left the blogging world forever??? Well, we did too, or so it seemed, but then we (actually, just Jen) decided it was a nice place to show off our craftiness, make some new friends, and link up to all things scrappy, cute and crafty. And of course, Amy is always along for the ride! So with a new theme, we begin again... Some things have changed around here and some things will stay the same, but you can be assured that these 2 crafting friends are ready and willing to share our love for this industry.

You will NOT find:

Many posts related to our personal lives unless they overlap in our crafting world, if you would like to know what's going on with the hubbies and the kiddies, head on over to Facebook and friend us there. You can keep up with our daily lives more than you probably want to ;)

You will certainly not find any drama or favoritism. We love crafting from every angle, country, or local scrapbook store.

On the flip side, you WILL find:

Lots of our layouts and scrapbooking projects - if you can cut and glue it! We have it!

Tips and Tutorials we find around the web (or possibly even think up on our own - GASP!) for creating scrapbooking pages or projects

Quick gift ideas - in this poor economy we are always on the hunt for fun and cheap gift ideas we can use our products and tools for

Reviews of products, tools, kit clubs, web sites, etc... that interest us.

LOTS of links to anything CUTE!

So you can easily see that while our personal lives are still on vacation from the blog, our crafting, scrapbooking, tutorial-finding, link-loving selves are still here! We look forward to many more posts this year! For a tiny tease of what I (Jen) have been up to, here is a little looky-lou...

See you right back here VERY soon!

xo, Jen

Walk tomorrow

Tomorrow is the annual Walk to Cure Diabetes here in Fresno. We are looking forward to a beautiful morning without too much heat which is very nice :) Please, if you haven't donated and feel led to, click on our link above and support Jackson. Donations are down and I am trying not to be discouraged, but it is hard. We have such a passion for finding a cure for our baby! Thanks to everyone who has already donated for this year's walk. We are so blessed by the kindnesses of our friends and family

xo, Jen

keeping track

This weekend I am documenting what a weekend looks like in our life right now. I saw this idea over at Ali Edwards' blog yesterday and decided it would be a perfect way to show what our life is like right now in the apartment and to remember that no matter where we live, life is going on... a good thought for me as our life seems turned completely upside down. I am using this space to jot down things we did so far...
Friday Night
-spaghetti supper cooked in our apartment kitchen - yay for not having to eat out until we leave!
-Grizzlies Game with all the boys, dip n dots and garlic fries along with a yummy frozen margarita for mommy
-a little treat from the convienent store after the boys crashed into bed
-Started laundry

Saturday
-Still working on laundry
-straightened the apt, cleaned bathrooms and vacuumed
- Kenny off to Tae Kwon Do in the morning - not without a bit of arguing on his part
-McD's biscuit and diet coke for breakfast - sorry, can't help myself
-checking on facebook, message boards, and blogs while the boys went to pick Kenny up
-reading my newest Sookie Stackhouse book, finished it today too
-worked on teacher's gifts
-played with my 7 Gypsies photo carousel cards - love the little nature of this project and that it is totally doable here in the apt.
-Kaden took a bit of a nap afternoon being up most of last night - ugh!
-Ken played golf this afternoon, way too hot if you ask me (high today was...)
-took the boys down to the apt complex pool, very fun part of living here
-new Nerf game for the wii and playstation games too - gotta have lots to do when it's too hot to go outside other than to the pool
-Pizza for supper around the coffee table
-off to the Gap for shorts and tee's - feeling like summer has officially arrived even though school isn't out for a little bit longer
- Baskin Robbins for a cool treat - got an oldie but goodie, mint chocolate chip in a cone
-Ken playing wii while I type on the blog - hee hee!

I can't wait to see what tomorrow will bring!
xo, Jen

2009 Walk to Cure Diabetes

Hi friends! We are gearing up for this year's walk, our last in Fresno. (sniff, sniff) However, as this year's Walk Chair, I am excited for the direction the Fresno Walk is heading and I want to succeed in making this year's walk the best ever!!! We are teaming up with the Fresno Grizzlies to "Strike Out Diabetes" which is fitting for this baseball playing and loving family. As we do every year, Ken and I wrote a letter to share with our friends and family about our life with a child who has type 1 Diabetes. My challenge and hope is that everyone who reads this letter will click on the link and donate at least $10.00. It seems like we are pulled in every direction financially these days, but I truly believe that we all have a spare bill here and there. Ken and I save our change and random bills all year long just so that we can give a little to everyone we know is in need and the cool thing is, we never run out! God has always provided for us and for each friend, family member, and organization who is in need. Please prayerfully consider if there is anything you can do this year, Jackson NEEDS a cure. Period.

Note: Amy knows how to put a Mr. Linky at the top of the blog to click directly to our fundraising page and I will ask her to do that shortly. :)

Ok, off my little soapbox now, which I think is ok, seeing as this blog belongs half to me, LOL! Here is our letter, written from the hurting heart of this mama for her child.

Dearest friends and family,
Have you ever wondered what it would feel like to be on a roller coaster that you could never get off of? Forces bearing down on you from every direction, exhilaration at the top of a hill only to find yourself just seconds later plummeting to depths you couldn’t have even imagined. Finally, a break in the action… only to realize the ride is not only just begun, but will never end. In a nutshell, that is what it is like to live in a family where a child has Type 1 Diabetes.
Our son, Jackson has been courageously fighting this disease for more than 4 years now. As we passed that 4-year mark a few weeks ago, we realized that not much has changed in our life. It is an emotional and physical roller coaster of which we will never get off. Jackson wakes up every morning to finger pokes, insulin injections, highs and lows and everything in between. Diabetes goes to school with him where he must learn and grow as a student, all the while dealing with blood sugar issues. He goes to bed each night with the fear of dangerous highs that wreak havoc on his body and even more dangerous night time lows that could catapult him into a coma or even death. We turn around and do it all over again the next day and the day after that and so on… We wish somehow we could get off this ride, to simply take a break. With Diabetes there is no break. He is never going to “outgrow” his diabetes. Every decision we make regarding his care today has lasting implications for his health many years from now.
Jackson looks like any other 6 year-old who loves playing baseball, riding his bike, and learning to read. And yet, he fights the same fight every moment of his life. It would seem like it would get easier for him (and us!) to deal with it and in some ways it has. We have experienced tremendous joy in seeing the support of our friends and family as a result of Jackson’s diabetes. We have been able to educate and reach out to others who are also on this roller coaster ride with us. Jackson has touched teachers, friends, and countless others with his bravery and strength. We are blessed beyond measure to have the responsibility of raising this young man. His sweet face keeps us going in search of a cure for this horrible reality.
We come to you humbly this year to ask you for your support of our son. The past 12 months have been hard for our country and the financial impact has hit many we know personally. We even hesitated to ask for your support this year in the wake of the struggles we have watched over the past few months. However, I stumbled across this quote a few months ago and it really spoke to my heart in terms of raising money for this organization that desperately needs of our funds even in the midst of a global economic crisis. We are so close to so many breakthroughs in our search for the cure for this disease.

It is not how much we give, but how much love we put into giving.
–Mother Teresa

It has always been our hope and desire to let you, our friends and family, have a glimpse into our daily life, not only to raise money, but also to raise awareness of the disease. We want you to know that whether you give $5 or $50 or even $500, we love you and appreciate every donation because we know it comes from your heart.
The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, JDRF, is the #1 non-profit funder of research aimed at FINDING A CURE for Jackson’s type of Diabetes. That is the reason we participate so fully in JDRF events, namely the Walk to Cure Diabetes. This year on June 6, 2009, Jack’s Pack will join with the Fresno Grizzlies and walk to support this amazing organization for the final time while we live here. If you are interested, here are the ways you can help make a difference for Jackson.
1. If you are local, you can join our family team, known as Jack’s Pack, which consists of family and friends who collect pledges and walk with us. We create a team t-shirt each year for every member of our team, young and old and have a great time celebrating Jackson’s life at the beautiful Woodward Park here in Fresno. Just give us a call and we will get you everything you need. We want this to be our biggest team of walkers yet!!!
2. You can support our family with a tax-deductible contribution in any amount. You can either make a donation online at www.walk.jdrf.org by entering Jack’s Pack and California under Support a Walker or mail donations directly to us. Please indicate in your comments if you would like our address.

Thank you in advance for helping us reach our goal of $8,000 this year. We are blessed by the generosity shown on Jackson’ behalf.

God Bless You!

Jack’s Pack Ken, Jennifer, Kenny, Jackson, and Kaden Allred

breathing new air

into this blog look! Check back soon for all the fixin's!!

xo, Jen & Amy

Whirlwind Memories

This past weekend prompted a completely spur-of-the-moment trip up to San Francisco to see a Giants baseball game. It was on our list of must-do things while we lived in California and as the days here are drawing to a close, we really needed to get it done. Some sweet friends of ours were already going to the game so we followed behind as they gave us a wonderful, albeit superfast tour of the city. A drive across the Golden Gate Bridge, a trip down Lombard street, the game, Fisherman's Wharf and supper at Joe's Cable Car completed our memorable trip to this amazing city! I hope to go back sometime and ride a trolley, but we were so thankful we had a chance to take the boys to enjoy this historic place. Kenny just finished studying California state history so he got a chance to see all the places he has been learning about up there. SO COOL! I will leave you with a few photos of our weekend.

I heard that the Easter Bunny often shops at AT&T Park for basket treasures so we'll see....

xo, Jen