kevin and jenna [dot] com » Colby

Aggie Game Day

Jenna — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 04:47:14 +0000

One of the best things about living in our college town is having access to college sports. If you know me well, you know I’m a born & raised Aggie, but now that I have kids of my own, I’ve been enjoying getting to expose my kiddos to the Aggie culture.

This football season Colby and I went to one game (Kansas), and Kevin went to 2 games (OSU & Texas). Kevin’s company also had a big tailgate for the Idaho State game back in September. So, the 5 of us rode the Aggie buses to the Quad and then walked to Kyle Field so we could eat barbeque at 4 pm. Because tailgates can last all day, but not really with kids. (We didn’t stay for the game.) It was a lot of fun because it turned out to be in the Aggie practice field, so while the kids weren’t technically allowed to play with the equipment, there was nothing our kids could really “destroy” out there.

I took the stroller with us, but that turned out to be a big mistake because the kids ended up fighting over it more than using it. Other than that, it was a great day in Aggieland.

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Pregnancy Update: 31 weeks.

Jenna — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 04:49:38 +0000

Carlee, taking care of her baby [doll]. She has already claimed that the baby in my belly is “hers”.

How far along: 30 weeks in pic, 31 weeks now. I really should stop taking pictures at the end of the day, when I look exhausted! I promise that I put on make-up every day and actual clothes, most days.
Size of baby: 3.3 pounds & 16.25 inches, or the size of 4 navel oranges (according to my app. shaking my head.) Although, yesterday I measured at 36 weeks – my ob says if the baby keeps growing at this rate, I’ll have a 9 pounder, a month early. Stay tuned.
Maternity clothes: I really thought I was going to get to break out my cute winter stuff – we had approximately 2.2 days of cooler weather, followed by consistent 90 degree temps. Again. I think maybe another cold front might be coming through tonight, although I won’t hold my breath. I’ll survive with whatever I’m wearing, it’s just hard to dress my kiddos appropriately.
Movement: Yes, still lots. My doctor told me to watch and make sure I have 10 kicks in an hour, and I told him it wasn’t uncommon for this baby to have 10 kicks in 10 minutes. But the movements are definitely slowing down a bit – not the jerky movements anymore. I’m also having quite a few Braxton-Hicks, which is exciting and very painful, all at the same time.
Sleep: Getting more and more uncomfortable. I am still snoring, I am still tossing and turning, and I am still in need of regular chiropractic adjustments and prenatal massages.
Cravings: Not too many now that I’ve been cutting down on sugar and grains. I do like HEB’s vegetable crackers (which actually have like 0 vegetables?) and HEB’s honey wheat pretzels. Both of those I could probably eat the entire box or bag, but I do limit myself. I also still like milk and will drink a small glass each night before bed.
Symptoms: HOT. Mostly due to the weather, but I have to have my fans on all the time. Kevin has started growing his hair out, instead of buzzing it, mostly because I think I’m freezing him out. [I'm reminded of that scene in Father of the Bride 2, when Steve Martin's wife AND daughter are pregnant in the middle of summer. They've cranked the a/c on full blast, and Steve Martin runs around wearing blankets and mittens...]
What I miss: Other than sleep? Really, nothing. I am in the phase of realizing how little time is left of this pregnancy, knowing it will be our last, and enjoying being a punching bag for this baby’s kicking. I am truly wondering how much more my belly is going to grow, but in the end, it will all be worth it.
Favorite Moments: I think we have decided on her name! It’s a very recent discovery (as in, the past day or so?) and like all our girls, we don’t have a middle name yet. We’ll take suggestions, other than Faith & Joy, which Kennedy & Carlee already have. So far, I have thought of “tax deduction”, “Christmas gift”, and “the grand finale”. Colby has suggested “Judges” or “Ruth” – because of course in the Bible those come after Joshua, which is his middle name.

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Colorado Pork Loin

Jenna — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 04:25:45 +0000

This recipe gets its name because we first had it on our trip to Colorado this summer.

For 4 pounds of meat, mix together in a plastic bag -

3 tsp ground coriander
3 tsp black pepper
3 tsp brown sugar
2 T minced garlic
8-9 T soy sauce

Grill for 20 mins. on one side, then flip and pour the sauce on the meat and grill the other side for 20 mins. longer. Let meat rest and then slice, like so.

I can’t think of an easier way to make grilled pork tenderloin and I was so excited that I already had all of the ingredients on hand. Plus, the meat was only $1.99 per pound this past week… I bought 3 more and froze them in plastic bags to eat when baby gets here.

Coincidentally, Colby has now decided that the baby’s name should be “Colorado”. Wonder if she likes her pork loin?

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Glucose update

Jenna — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 03:11:51 +0000

I went in for my 3-hour glucose test on Thursday, and I was really nervous, considering I “flunked’ my 1-hour test… by 71 points… So, after all the help you all gave me, I could see that I needed a major diet change. My goal was not to try and trick the test (if that was even possible), but to make sure that I was eating the absolute right foods for me.

When I went in, my baseline glucose reading (after fasting) was an 88. A normal reading is somewhere between 90 & 100, and if I had had between 90 & 100 in the 1-hour test, then I wouldn’t have had to take the 3-hour test. Then I drank the lemon-lime-sugar-coma-inducer… Last week I chose the orange-crush-of-death… and after an hour, my glucose level was at 151, which was better than the 165 level I needed to stay under. And after 2 hours, my reading was down to 130, and they were looking for me to be under 145. So, I passed, with flying colors.[insert big sigh of relief]

So, what was my ’secret’ for eating better? I majorly cut back on sugars & grains in my diet. That little step was so much harder than I ever thought it would be. Don’t get me wrong, I still ate 1-2 things per day that I considered “no-nos”, but for the most part, cutting back on those 2 things was my secret. And the best part? I had more energy than most days when I was pregnant. I didn’t snap at the kids as much, because I wasn’t always crashing on sugar highs or lows.

The day of my glucose test, I made these pumpkin chocolate chip cookies with the kids (they were super yummy!) and had no regrets about eating a few. I could definitely tell, after not eating things with flour and sugar all week, that I didn’t want to eat too many, for fear of the sugar high. ”Everything in moderation”, right?

And what do I eat the most of? Meat. Veggies. Nuts. Cheese and plain milk, even though most people who follow this plan might cut dairy out completely. I’m not even tired of salad, and we’ll have an entire garden bed of lettuces, spinaches (sp?), and swiss chard in a month.

Now, I think my challenge is convincing the kiddos that this change is a good thing… that we can eat healthy foods that don’t have sugars and still enjoy them. Any tips?

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Just keep swimming…

Jenna — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 03:56:19 +0000

It’s the middle of October, and yes, we’re still swimming in Texas. These pics are from our weekly swimming date with Doc & Belle; I think it’s the last time we’ll be swimming because the water temperature is finally getting cooler after a very very Very hot summer. And, the reason I got pics is because I didn’t get in the pool.

I also got some great video of Carlee swimming. She’s quite the little squirming tadpole. I can’t keep her out of the pool, and she swims so fast and so far that I have to watch her all the time. Doc & Belle aren’t just “back-up”. They’re vital swimming companions.

Dear Summer of 2011, you treated us well in the pool. I’m still tan from my water aerobics classes (which ended just last week) and subsequent swims with Doc & Belle & the kids. however, I’m a little tired of all the heat. Fall on the calendar started 3 weeks ago, which actually means nothing in Texas, but this pregnant woman is really ready to have some relief from all this heat.

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Colby’s turn at the camera.

Jenna — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 03:27:17 +0000

Last weekend my cousin Jesse got married. They had one-time use cameras on each table at the reception, so Colby took this as his mission to take pics of everyone… many times over. So, I gave him my iPhone and told him to have at it. I deleted a lot, but I thought these were really cute. (Obviously he didnt take the ones he was in, but he did have everyone posing. I see a budding photographer in the works, just like his dad.)

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Prayer Journaling.

Jenna — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 05:16:02 +0000

Yesterday Kevin and I attended a fantastic one-day parenting conference at our church called Extreme Home Parenting, led by Mark Holmen of Faith @Home. Kevin and I have always been proponents of teaching our kids at home first before taking them to church, and Mark Holmen talked a lot about how a lot of families “do church” rather than give to the church – we should come to church filled rather than needing to be filled.

Yesterday morning, he preached on Deuteronomy 6, especially verses 5-12. (I’m linking to NIV because that’s the version he read from that morning, but he did talk about using different versions of the Bible for study.) If you were unable to hear this message, it will be on KBTX this Sunday morning at 10 am cst, if you’d like to set your DVRs. Or, FBC has copies of the cd that you can get from the church office. I loved his emphasis on praying blessings over your children. For his child, he used Numbers 6:24-26 -

May the Lord bless you
and protect you.
²⁵ May the Lord smile on you
and be gracious to you.
²⁶ May the Lord show you his favor
and give you his peace. (NLT)

Last night I sang a version of this to our kids before bed, and Kennedy kept asking me to sing it over and over again. So I did!

In the Extreme Home Makeover, Mark mentioned that not every family’s faith walk would look exactly the same. Some families do devotions in the morning (which is clearly not us – we like lunch time devos) and some parents get on their knees in front of the bed to pray, some families keep prayer jars or boxes and some families do prayer journals or prayer trees. Kevin immediately elbowed me when he said “prayer journals”, because we know how much all of our kids love to write and draw, and while the other options seem a little foreign to us, this is one that we could keep up. And, my mom is a huge fan of prayer journaling – I have learned my journaling/writing skills from her and am all too thrilled to be able to pass them down to my kids.

So, here’s our first attempt at prayer journaling with the kids. I gave each of the kids a spiral notebook that I got for 5 cents each at Office Depot last month. We introduced it today slowly; the kids got to decorate the front and back covers of their journal this afternoon, and tonight we had Colby write some prayer requests down (tomorrow we’ll have the girls draw pictures and write). Then we all took turns praying out loud individually for these requests. The advantage of journaling is being able to look back and review, to see what still needs prayer and what God has done in answering these requests.

In this age of self-comparison and “keeping up with the Joneses” (love you, Joneses!), I won’t pretend to think that this will work perfectly, nor do I think it’s the best way to do prayer for every family. But, I am blessed to live in a nation where we have the freedom to worship God in the way that is best for each family, and to be able to teach our kids at home before we drop them off anywhere else.

What works best for your family – how does your family do “faith at home”?

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Frugalicious Friday: haircuts

Jenna — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 16:16:33 +0000

My frugal friend Gillian has started a wonderful part of her blog called Frugalicious Fridays. Anybody know how to have a link-up party so we can all post our frugal tips together? Because she and I have no clue. Either way, I’m a big fan of alliteration, so I’ll be tagging her on Facebook and linking to her blog so you can see how she saves money. She and her husband are Dave Ramsey graduates as well, and I love how real she is – whether she’s saving money or not!

So Gillian, this one is for you – there’s about to be 3 (little) girls in the Grubbs Household, and if they follow in their mother’s footsteps, that’s going to equal a lot of clogged drains and hairy hairbrushes. I cringed a little bit (or a lot) when I watched Kennedy’s first haircut in the “salon” and had to pay $25 for it. Yikes! So, we took the haircutting scissors we bought to use for Colby, and Kevin cut straight across.

Before:

After:

Such a great job! I estimate he cut about 4 inches off, which has really made a difference because now Kennedy is able to brush through her own hair without so many tangles.

We already cut Colby’s hair with our own set of $40 clippers, which Kevin bought 10 years ago in college. And Kevin cuts his own hair too.

All in all, let’s say:
Kevin’s haircut = 3x/month = 3 x 12= 36 x $15 per haircut = $540 per year
Colby’s haircut = 1x/month = 1 x 12 = 12 x $10 per haircut = $120 per year
Kennedy’s haircut = not per month, but ~6x/year = 6 x $25 per haircut = $150 per year

That is a total savings of $810. I can really get excited about that.

What are your secrets to saving money? I hope to be posting more tips in future Fridays, and I’d love to link your frugal tips.

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Four on Four.

Jenna — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 03:59:09 +0000

It’s 10/4, good buddy, and here’s my 4 kids.

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Fish Tacos

Jenna — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 04:47:41 +0000

I have 3 kids. This means I have a wide variety of appetites to please. If I try a new recipe for dinner, it’s a pretty good bet that none of the kids will like it but Kevin and I will love it.

This recipe, all the kids loved, except Colby didn’t want the tortilla. Here’s what I did.

I used these spices on top of about 1 lb. of tilapia filets.

Then I wrapped each piece in foil.

And put it in the oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

It turned out super yummy on top of flour tortillas, with shredded cabbage and sour cream mixed with guacamole. Wish I had taken a pic of that too!

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