January and February

Well, I didn’t give up on blogging. I just got a little busy and distracted. Southern Sweetcakes is going great! But most of my elective time is filled with cake planning. Along with that, I have been doing all that I can to get and keep my family healthy. It has been an incredibly long winter. Here are some of the fun things that I have been needing to post.

Father Son moment

Eric is going to kill me for posting this. Hee! Hee!

Gas low

Several weeks ago I had hope. This was the lowest the prices got before they started going back up again. Such a short dip.

Road Trip

I forgot about these funny pics from the tail end of our trek out west and back. We had a blast but were completely exhausted at the end.

It is bad news when even the driver is sleeping!

Good thing the co-pilot never sleeps when Eric is driving!

The Great Outdoors

Slave labor?

Something scary in the back yard!

It was wet and cold outside and I had been avoiding the outdoors. The kids got tired of waiting for me to finish whatever chore I was working on, and decided to get their boots on and go out by themselves. The attentive mother that I am, didn't notice their departure until I heard Jenna-grace screaming "Snake!!! Mom there is a scary snake!" I captured and pictured (bagged and tagged) Eric thinks it is actually a Skink. Whatever that is.

After spending Christmas in Utah, the kids were pretty disappointed with the Memphis snow.

Jenna-flower Nursery Graduate

One day when I went to pick up Jenna-Grace from school she had this cute flower headband on. I took about 10 pictures with my phone. Every single one was blurred or frowny. This was the best shot. I think I want to make one of these flower headbands. She is such a beautiful flower.

Jenna Grace is a Sunbeam!

Here are some fun pics from Nursery Graduation.

Big Boys Bed

While we were moving out Jenna-grace's toddler bed, we decided to go ahead and move out Max's too. So now Max and Aiden share the Big Boy Bunk Bed!

Big Girl Bed!

Jenna-grace had a Dora bed.

Now she has the bed that I had when I was a little girl.

Southern Sweetcakes

I am starting a little business. I wanted to share with you, my favorite people, a little about what I have been up to.
Southernsweetcakes.blogspot.com

31!

I am no longer 30. I am now in my 30’s. Turning 30 wasn’t so bad. It was kind of fun. I felt like I was finally a grown-up. It was a bit empowering. Now, however, I’m just getting old! Don’t get me wrong. I am not sulking in pity here. Rather, I am resolving to be happy in life. Life is a journey, not a destination. Live it up, no matter what is trying to bring you down. All being said with an assumption that righteous living is the only true source of real peace and happiness. I resolve to worry less about the clutter and more about the giggles; less about things I can’t control and more about my own state of mind. I resolve “to make the next 30 years the best years of my life”.
Trivia Fun! Who knows who said that?

Utah!

Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow!

It is hard to tell, but in the very middle of the picture is Eric and Jenna-grace.

We had so much fun in the frozen wonderland.

It started snowing the day before we arrived in Utah and didn't stop the whole time we were there. It was great! But we were a little cold. The thermometer at the bottom of the ski lift read 4 degrees! I wanted to take a picture, but I really didn't want to take my gloves off.

The kids had so much fun in the snow that they never seemed to get cold. They wanted to play and sled all day.

By the end of the trip we were all exhausted!

We had the best trip! We visited family and friends that we miss so much. And loved every minute of it. I am sorry that I don't have any pictures of our great friends and family. They were so good to us, and helped in so many ways during our visit.

Our Christmas Letter

For those of you who are visiting our blog for the first time. Welcome! I wanted to send out a paper version of our Christmas letter along with a card. But time got away from me. This blogspot is my favorite way to keep up with happenings of my own family and with all my friends and family far away. In a way it is a journal of our life.
I feel so very blessed as I ponder the last year of our lives. The world seems to be in such turmoil. But our little family is healthy and happy this Christmas season. The kids seem to be growing so fast! Even though Aiden has understood who Santa is for a few years now, I feel this is a new Christmas with a deeper understanding of why we celebrate Christmas. We love singing “baby Jesus” songs, as Jenna-grace calls them. And we are learning more and more about the beautiful symbols of Christmas. We are spending this week with Eric’s family. The kids are loving the snow and the mountains. Last night we went to Temple Square and enjoyed the lights and also the beautiful nativity scene. This is the perfect place to be at Christmas time.
Eric has been at International Paper for almost a year now. The hours are much better than public accounting. I think he really enjoys his new responsibilities. IP, like most companies, is doing its best to weather this difficult economy. But we are hopeful that all will be well with Eric’s position and we can stay with this company for several years to come.
I am still the happy homemaker. I am continually chasing after children and trying to stay on top of our busy schedule. I love working with the Young Women at Church. And recently I have toyed with the idea of starting a little cake business.
Aiden turned 6 this summer. He is our little bean sprout! He is just bursting with energy and growing like a weed! He loves Kindergarten and especially riding the school bus. He has really grown into quite a neat kid. I can’t believe some days how grown-up he really is. He is the best big brother to his little brother and sister. (Even though they are learning how to get on his nerves on occasion) On Friday we went skiing and Aiden is almost better than his Mother! (that really isn’t hard to do) I am really impressed with our little man.
Jenna-grace turned three in November. Most people think she is older than she is. She is tall, but mostly because she is so talkative. She loves to sing and tell stories. All of her baby dolls are very well taken care of. They each have to be tucked into bed along with her. She is our little princess (a fact that she is well aware of and tries to take advantage of whenever she can).
Maxwell is Eric’s little clone. He turned two in October. Not only does Max look like Eric, he also has his dad’s easy going personality. He is only frustrated when I can’t understand what he is trying to tell me (which happens less and less) or when he can’t keep up with his favorite big brother, Aiden.

We hope you all have a Merry Christmas, stay safe and warm and that you keep in touch!
With Love,
Jamie and the rest of the Jonkman Family

Way behind

Over the last few weeks I have been uploading pictures and then saving them as drafts with the hope that I would have time later to go back and add the text before I posted them. Then life happened. In the last few months my family has had strep throat, pink eye, the stomach flu, the real flu, and a fever virus. We had a few days that we were all healthy. During that time Max decided to put about 6 or 7 macaroni noodles up his nose. For lunch one day the kids were eating Macaroni and cheese while I was cleaning the kitchen. I looked up to see Max shoving a noodle up his nose. I fussed at him and pulled it out. Later that day I realized that there was another one still up there. We got it out with some tweezers only to find that there were still more up there. Long story short we had to go to the after-hours clinic that night and to the ENT the next Monday. Never a Dull Moment!
So what I am trying to say is that I am about to post several of those pictures from the last few weeks with just a little bit of explanation about what is going on. You will need to follow the link to older posts to see them all. If you have any questions, just leave a comment and I will try to clarify. I hope you all enjoy!

Merry Christmas!

pouty princess

We went to my Mom's for an early Christmas. Jenna-grace had so much candy, and cookies. When I finally said no more, she began to throw a tantrum. After a few minutes in time-out, I went and asked her if she wanted to get up, or stay and keep crying. She said that she wanted to stay and keep crying! The crown and jewelry were gifts from my sister and her family. I thought this was the funniest picture of a pouty princess sitting on a thrown of pillows and not getting her way!