50 Facts About Me

Yes I do wear this shirt a lot.
And yes, I am running out of options.

1. What time did you get-up this morning? 7:23 am
2. Diamonds or pearls? diamonds
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Its been awhile- Waitress
4. What is your favorite TV show? Lost
5. What do you usually have for breakfast? Cereal with strawberries on top
6. What is your middle name? Joyce
7. What food do you dislike? peas
8. What is your favorite CD at the moment? Angels & Airwaves I-Empire
9. What kind of car do you drive? Hyundai Santa Fe
10. Favorite sandwich? Bacon Tomato Sandwich (could care less about the Lettuce part)
11. What characteristic do you despise? When you can't get people to shut-up about themselves. :)
12. Favorite item of clothing? SHOES!
13. If you could go anywhere in the world, on vacation, where would you go? Somewhere warm and tropical, I'm not picky.
14. Favorite brand of clothing? O'Neill (and yes it's partly because of the sales)
15. Where would you go to retire? Ventura
16. What was your most recent memorable birthday? 2007; Kent and I sent Jack to my parents while we went to Disneyland and pretended our place was a B&B.
17 . Favorite sport to watch? surfing
18. When is your birthday? May 15th, 1980
19. Are you a morning person or a night person? Right now I'm not much of either, but I guess I'm a night owl.
20. What is your shoe size? 7
21. Pets? Does Jack count?
22. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with us? Jack's toddler bed is up and ready; he's refusing to sleep in it...
23. What did you want to be when you were little? a teenager (no joke)
24. How are you today? Great
25. What is your favorite candy? Chocolate covered gummy bears from Rocky Mountain Candy Company
26. What is your favorite flower? red Calla Lilies
27. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? May 27th; Jilley's due date
28. What is your full name? Jodi Joyce Allen Howe
29. What are you listening to right now? The breeze rustling my curtains (Jack's napping, ahh peace...)
30. What was the last thing you ate? A chocolate chip cookie. Don't judge me; I had lunch first.
31. Do you wish on stars? yes
32. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? dandelion
33. How is the weather right now? partially cloudy and breezy
34. Last person you spoke to on the phone? My Mom
35. Favorite soft drink? Cola
36. Favorite restaurant? Tucanos Brazilian Grill
37. Hair color? Brown
38. What was your favorite toy as a child? Barbies or maybe my bouncy horse Jo
39. Summer or winter? Summer
40. Chocolate or Vanilla? chocolate, chocolate, chocolate!
41. Favorite cereal? Honey Bunches of Oats
42. The last time you cried? Not a cool question; I'm pregnant!
43. What is under your bed? Upcoming birthday presents, wrapping paper and supplies, a box of Kent's treasures, and our multi purpose printer...
44. What did you do last night? Taco Tuesday with the Mia Maids & Laurels
45.What are you afraid of? I have an irrational fear of SPIDERS, eek!
46. Salty or Sweet? I usually favor salty
47. How many keys on your key ring? who cares? 7
48. How many years at your current job? 2
49. Favorite day of the week? Saturday
50. How many towns have you lived in? 5

Introducing Butterball

Words like card, hoot, and witty have all been used to describe my husband Kent. It has also been said that he is just plain weird. I'll let you be the judge.

Without further adieu,
I give you the latest of Kent's projects:

My Pants Won't Fit

That's right Kent is on a diet, but instead of quietly going about his weight loss he's decided to add a little accountability to the process by going public with his pooch. The only problem is that no one is reading his blog.

Last night it was proposed that I "plug" my new favorite blog to help boost comments and participation. So please, read this Card's blog. I promise it's a hoot. And leave a witty comment telling Kent how weird he is or submit a photo and funny identity and get in on the action. What do you have to loose?

(PS-Thanks Honey for deciding to go about your slim down at the height of my "bulk up!" But really, this pregnant lady is thrilled to pieces at your recent success!)

Happy Birthday Jack!

We can't believe that you've been our baby boy
for two years now. Where has the time gone?

You are the best thing we have ever done.
We love you more than we ever thought possible.

Happy 2nd Birthday Jack!

Love forever,
Mama & Dada

*Sorry for all the typos in the slide show; I think I've counted 3-5. How embarrassing! Nursery, 1st, Check-out, etc. In my defense I was up quite late putting this little ditty together.

The Aquarium of the Pacific

Picture this:
3 and 1/2 Howes visiting
The Aquarium of the Pacific
forJack's 2nd Birthday to be...

Here's what we dug the most:
Jack's highlights- Giving the scuba guy
a "high-five & saying hi to Nemo.

Kent's highlights- Making funny faces with
Jack & petting the sting rays.

Jodi's highlights- Getting cuddles &
seeing baby sharks growing in shark pods!

Happy almost 2nd Birthday Little Man! We love you...

Are We Done Yet?

I mentioned months ago that we were remodeling the bathroom.
What I didn't mention was that the bathroom remodel
spurred 10 or so other smallish home
improvement projects. Since then Kent has re-textured
just about every wall in our townhouse, replaced all light switches
and outlet covers, helped add recessed lighting to the
living room, and re-painted almost everything.
Last night, Kent was supposed to be painting
our bedroom when I caught him doodling...


This one's too funny



I think he's tired of home improving. What do you think?

Thank you for all your hard work Kent.
I know for every wall you paint there are beautiful waves hitting
the shore that you will never get to surf.
I appreciate all your hard work/nesting and sacrifice
so that we can have a comfortable home to bring Jillian home to.
You are wonderful and I love you so much!

Baking and a Lil' Blog Stalking

I know we are all guilty of it,
but I'm going to come right out &
admit it. I have been known to peruse blog
rolls of friends. I have also been known to
catch up daily on the lives of complete strangers
(be they friends of friends, if that makes it any better).
I admit it-I am a blog stalker!
I'm not completely proud of this fact, but find it
less scary to admit on my blog that I admire
someone else'sblog than to post a comment admitting
it on said blog(s).

Having said all of this, I will freely tell you
there is this one blog that I totally adore!
This Mom/Wife/Woman is amazing!
She takes amazing pictures, bakes delicious food,
sews, crafts, contantly keeps her kids
busy with amazing outings, crafts, and baking lessons.
And if that wasn't enough, it appears that
she keeps an immaculate house! She might just
be Super Woman and I can't help but have a
little hero worship as I check in on her life (daily).

Last week I tried a recipe from Super Woman's blog-

Bodacious blueberry muffins.

They were so great even Jack ate them!
(He's totally picky about what he puts in his mouth.)
He liked them so much, every time I turned around
another muffin was missing off the cooling rack.

Just wanted to pass along the recipe.
And relieve my guilty conscious... .

bodacious blueberry muffins

1 and 3/4 C flour

1/3 C sugar

2 t baking powder

1/4 t salt

1 beaten egg

3/4 C milk

1/4 C cooking oil

1 C blueberries

Mix together all dry ingredients. In a separate bowl
mix together beaten egg, milk, and oil. Add the wet
ingredients to the dry and mix until just moistened.
Fold in blueberries. Place in prepared muffin pan.
Bake at 400 degrees for about 25 minutes, or
until tops are golden brown.

Z Pizza

Here's a little heads-up
for those of you who live in the O.C.

Stater Brother's Supermarket
is giving away coupons on
the back of their receipts
for free slices of Z Pizza!
Sooo cool! Who turns down
free pizza?

(Especially when it's really good free pizza.)
Oh, and did Imention the slices are big?
Awesome...
















Jack really enjoys a good slice of P.
That's right, he's calls it P.
(We're still working on the -izza part).

Dollar Bin Chalk

The Easter Bunny brought Jack $1 bin chalk (he he).

Shaped like eggs & in its own carton!

We can't get enough of it!
~
"Mama draw car..."

~Draw~


~Draw~

~Draw~

Chalking the sidewalk with Jack reminds me of the countless hours I used to spend on my belly making many a chalk master piece in the backyard. I wanted to recreate those fond memories, but two things held us back- 1. the mess (yes, Jack still hates getting dirty) and 2. the bump. We'll keep chalking and I'm sure these set backs will resolve themselves.
~

My Bad

Dear Friends,

It's been a while since I've posted. Sorry folks...I've been busy, tired, and
uninspired. I'm thinking it's only going to get worse from here on out until the baby's born. So here are some tardy posts to keep you satisfied until I get the gumption to blog again.

Love,
Jodi & the bump

Unwilling subject

What?
You said CHEESE;
what were you expecting?

(PS-I love this shirt. It's not technically for preggers like me. It's actually from the teen section at Kohls. But the style right now is loose and flowy, just perfect for my ever growing middle.)

Chuck-E-Chesse

Jack's 1st trip to Chuck-E-Cheese, from Mama's point of view
(behind the camera)

Jack's first time behind the wheel.

Trapped behind the plexiglas in the tube run.

Sliding to freedom

Playing a game just Jack's size (prego siting in left
corner of photo; facinating).

Break for a little dinner. Notice Jack is feasting from
the middle of his slice of pizza.

Yum...

Back to work

Must shoot from tippy toe position

Ski ball champ

"Here, have a turn."

Way to go Aunt Mack,
you beat a 2 year old at a Top Glo.

Tallying up the tickets

Jack's prize (note to self-No More foam toys,
not good for Jack's digestive track.)

Your numbers match up; you're free to go home!

2nd Year Photo Shoot

Where has the time gone? In mere days my little boy turns TWO!
Here are highlights from the photo shoot to commemorate this new milestone.

Nana and Aunt Mack took him to Photography Innovations with the hopes he would be better behaved than if Mom or Dad were there. This theory held true, but apparently it didn't mean he held still. According to Nana and Mack, Jack's photographer really had to be on her toes to catch these sweet photos (the quick shutter speed didn't hurt either).

I don't have enough good things to say about this Photography Studio, 1.they were very patient with Jack, 2.took over 70 shots of him, 3.spent tons of time helping us customize our photo package, 4.had no sitting fee, and (here's the kicker) 5.the photos were ready to take home 20 minutes after we paid! I'm definitely going back, the only drawback is they don't have studios in California. Just my luck, I guess we'll be taking pictures when ever we visit Arizona.

Enjoy the photo shoot and keep your eyes peeled for my favorite "Jacked-up" photo.