Bieber Fever

Me: Hey Ryleigh, did you know that there is a Justin Bieber movie that just came out?

Ryleigh: Yes, all the kids at school were talking about it.

Me: Well, do you know who Justin Bieber is dating?

Ryleigh: Yes mom, Selena Gomez, duh.

Attempt to connect with my 1st grader, squashed. She is officially smarter than the internet.

Yup, Still in Katy

This afternoon after school some friends and I conducted one of our twice monthly Eco Club meetings. Today's topic, the school garden. The kiddos got to help us select a location for the garden and then we sat them down and talked about what kind of vegetables we want to plant in our garden. One of my fellow Eco Moms taped pictures of veggies up on the wall and let the kids put sticky notes up under the veggie that they most wanted to see in the garden. A fun activity and of course, strawberries won with an incredible majority. Then we went through each veggie and talked about them because ya know, lots of kids don't even know what an unprocessed veggie even looks like.

Our 3rd or 4th veggie was the cucumber which I think only two kids voted for. So I asked the kids, what can a cucumber be used for...hoping to get them more excited about one of my personal faves.

Kid #1 says, For Salads! Great answer Kid #1, yes, they are quite yummy in salads.

Kid #2 says, For Pickles! Yes, exactly Kid #2, cucumbers can be turned into pickles and maybe we can do that with our cucumbers.

Okay moving on...oh wait...Kid #3, yes, what would you like to add that a cucumber be used for?

Kid #3 replies, Spa Treatments!

Ahhhh yes, spa treatments. Let's not forget about the spa treatments. Miss Jenn subscribes to her local produce co-op specifically for the great value on spa treatment items.

Life in the bubble does at least have its entertainment value.

Jeramy the Watch Dog

Jeramy was the Watch Dog at Ryleigh's school today and he came home with a great story...

He was helping shelve books in the library when a kid came up to him and asked for his assistance in finding a book about Sponge Bob. Jeramy said sure, no problem, just point me to the card catalog. The kid looked at him with a look of confusion. Jeramy explained that the card catalog would be the large bank of drawers containing numerous index cards. The kid continued to look at him, confused. Jeramy then told him, it helps you find the book you're looking for. Oh!, says the child....then points to the computer.

Dude, I told him, you are so totally old.

Post Christmas

The girls and I arrived in Monahans on December 18th for a two week trip. That trip ends in just 3 more days. On Saturday, Jan. 1st, the girls and I will make the long trip back home. Jeramy didn't come with us, not because he didn't want to, but because he is currently on a rig off the coast of Cairo, Egypt. We've missed him so much, I think everyone has missed him. He has gotten to Skype in with us a couple of times, but even Skype has its limits and the connection has not been very good. The good news is, Jeramy will be back home in just 14 days and then he'll have just one more hitch before moving back into the office. So yay!...no more single mom here!

Even without our Daddy, the trip has just been awesome. A fantastic Christmas, as usual, but with so much time we've been able to really spend lots of quality time with grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. And as fatigued as I'm feeling after having to check my shoes and my bed for scorpions every day, I'm sad that it's all about to come to an end. But, being back in my bed and having a grocery store that carries more than Tampico Orange drink and two isles of various types of tortillas will be Awe-Some. Is it too much to ask for just one organic apple in this town???

Yesterday I realized that mom has been using regular laundry detergent in her new fancy schmancy HE washing maching. But MOM, I say, I you HAVE to use HE detergent, it says so in the instructions and at least 13 times all over your machine. But JENN, she says, you can't buy HE detergent in Monahans. Yes you can MOM, I buy mine at the dollar store in Katy, you have to be able to buy it at the regular grocery store in Monahans, even if it does feel like a street market in Mexico. But you know what internet?...you can NOT buy HE laundry detergent in Monahans, but you can buy 5 differnt fragrance variations of Fabuloso household cleaner. No shit.

I finally found mom some HE laundry soap at Wal-Mart in Odessa, a place that feels like the Largest street market in Mexico. So now I can rest well knowing that her new washing machine isn't struggling to process the excess sud-ation being caused by regular laundry soap.

Pumpkin Pie...done. Next up, pink stuff....

My First Triathlon

I submitted the following essay to a contest for the 250 first timers in the triathlon I did on October 17th.

My First Triathlon
By Jennifer Montgomery, #579

For about 10 years I’ve been saying “I want to do a triathlon.” Ten years ago, that was during college. That was before marriage, before kids, before careers, volunteer work, multiple moves, multiple pets, multiple countries and multiple excuses for why I couldn’t take time to do a triathlon. During college is when I should have done my first triathlon, not just because making time to train would have been much easier, but because I could have gotten hooked then. I could have gotten hooked and been doing triathlons all this time, for me, while all my excuses carried on around me.

But I didn’t do my first triathlon back then and four months ago I found myself no longer the young athlete that I once identified myself as. I suddenly started identifying myself as the woman, wife and mother of two that I now am. While I LOVE with all my heart being this woman, I missed that young athlete that craved competition and pushed herself to go longer and faster with each swim meet, each track meet and each workout. Aerobics for housewives has just never really been my thing.

In July I Googled “Texas Triathlon” and a few clicks later found Try Andy’s Tri in Sugar Land, just 20 minutes down the road. I signed up, paid my money and it was done, I was doing it. Back in the pool I went, I could now justify bike rides without the kiddo trailer and hello running, it’s been a long time. The first time I ran three miles without stopping was just amazing and as I started feeling stronger in the pool and faster on my bike I began to think, I can really do this.

My husband kept telling me that I was nervous the week leading up to the race. Of course I was nervous, what was I thinking in doing this? Was I actually going to do this? The idea of getting up before the kids and driving 20 miles away before the sun even came up, well that seemed crazy. How would my household even function without me there to wake it up and get it moving. That’s my job, I turn on the lights…who is going to turn on the lights if I’m not there?

The night before the race I went over and over the race route in my mind, from start to finish. I’m seriously going to come in very last. The guy is going to be standing at the end with a cone in his hand and a look on his face that could only mean, “It’s about damn time!” There’s no way I’ll be able to run 3 miles at the end, after all that swimming and biking, no way. I worked really hard, I really tried to get to that point, but it just didn’t happen. Everyone is going to be passing me while thinking in their head, “Seriously, go back to the donut shop you apparently crawled out of and leave this racing business to the ones that can hang.”

Then the morning came and I got up, got dressed and pulled my family-mobile vehicle quietly into the street. The morning smelled so wonderful, the way the world only can when very few are up and about. I took some deep breaths and pulled out of my subdivision and hit the Grand Parkway bound for Sugar Land. As I closed in on the race site I started seeing more and more vehicles with bicycles attached to them. Then, all of a sudden, I didn’t feel so out of place. All that hard work, all that training, that should mean I deserve to be here, right?

I got my bike all set up an hour before the race was supposed to start and took a walk around to see exactly what I had gotten myself into. To my surprise, there were lots of people that looked, well, just like me. When I got back to my bike and still had 45 min. to kill before the race I heard a friendly voice come from the woman sitting down on the ground next to my bike. She asked me if this was my first time. Okay, so it’s totally obvious, yikes. She said her name was Kara and then she started, without prompting, assuring me that I would do great and that I was going to love it. We chatted all the way to starting line and she was a life saver. Not only did I finish the race, I beat my goal by more than ten minutes. It was an experience that I will never forget and the only regret that I have is that I didn’t do it sooner.

First Grade

Anyone that follows me on Facebook knows just how much I have been anticipating the start of school. I love my eldest child, but dear God, I can't take another full day of her attitude. My mom says it's normal...or at least it's normal in our family. I called my mom on Sunday after we made our SECOND attempt to buy Ryleigh new shoes for school. The second attempt, like the first, ended in me dragging her to the car because we could not agree on the type of shoes she was to get. She needs athletic shoes, plain and simple. And I don't want to spend more than $40 on them. Totally doable, except that on the first trip she would only look at the Lelli Kellys...an $84 pair of shoes. And why does she want the Lelli Kellys???...because they come with a play cell phone that has lipgloss in it. She knows this because she saw it on a commercial. The second trip to get shoes ended in the same manner because she only wanted the Twinkle Toes that lit up. I am not opposed to Twinkle Toes, which is obvious because she already had a pair of Twinkle Toes. They do not light up, but they do fit and so it is my firm belief that she does not need another pair. She disagrees, quite adamantly.


So, on the first day of school she got to wear her old Twinkle Toes, the ones with rhinestones missing on the toes. And to be honest, I don't think it bothered her as much as it bothered me. Mom says all kids are ungrateful and are never happy with what they get whether they get it all or they get very little. I don't know if I believe that but these arguments have left us lots of room to talk about gratefulness and the importance of it. I told her that if she shows me that she has learned how to be grateful this week we can go shoe shopping again this weekend and try again. Maybe this time at Academy where they have neither Lelli Kellys or Twinkle Toes.


At any rate, here are some great pics of her at a Girl Scout event last weekend and then first day of 1st grade.

Mexico in June

Last April my mother, in a moment of weakness, told me that she would be willing to watch my kids for three nights during the summer if Jeramy and I wanted to go somewhere alone. I immediately took to the Internet and booked two non-refundable plane tickets to Playa del Carmen, Mexico. This way, when she sobered up, she couldn't take it back. While my mother is a fantastic grandmother in so many ways, she generally only likes to be a fantastic grandmother in small doses, and preferably at my house where I am clearly in charge of changing all poopy diapers. Just to be fair, Jeramy's mom is the same way.

Of course, in order to take advantage of my parents' generous offer, we had to first drive our children 10 hours to their house and then fly out of Midland. Yes, my mom is still punishing me for being 17...for three years.

A trip to West Texas isn't all bad. First of all, I get to see my family. And then of course, there are the fried burritos from the gas station...best served at 2am after sitting under the heat lamp for minimum of 6 hours. Worth driving 10 hours for every time.

So, we headed west, Monahans bound with a one night stop in San Antonio so Jeramy and Ryleigh could ride a roller coaster at Sea World.

And then at last, Jeramy and I found ourselves sans children on an airplane, headed to Mexico. 8:30 in the morning?? Why that's bloody mary time. Layover in Houston? A couple of vodka tonics will get me through it just fine. Final leg to Mexico...white wine indeed.

Once we made it to Mexico we decided that it would just be way more fun to rent a car than to take a shuttle...and what else would two newly liberated parents do. And while were were at, we decided to ride in a style. Only a red convertible mini-cooper would do.

Once we were at the resort we had some dinner and commenced to behave like we didn't know better and imbibed an unknown amount of wine that night.

The next morning...oooooooo, the pain...what-was-I-thinking-I'm-never-drinking-again kind of pain. Room service was really the only option...room service and water....room service, water and Tylenol. And then finally, some relief. And then, we were off to the spa.

When we arrived at the hotel we booked a couple's massage and nothing, not even the hangover from hell, was going to keep us from our massage. And it was just really lovely. The best part was after the massage when my hubby and I just got to sit and stare out over the ocean and have a cup of tea together. The world sort of stopped and it was in that moment that I felt like I somewhere with my husband and only my husband.

Next on the agenda was to get two wicked sunburns. Isn't that what you're supposed to do when you go to Mexico? Mine wasn't really that bad...but only because I am a woman, which means that I am not too manly to wear sunblock. My deal husband on the other hand...burned to a crisp. However, he totally recognized his stupidity and kept his complaining to a bare minimum.

The second full day we spent driving our little red convertible to Tulum. Tulum is a group of ancient Mayan ruins that would have been sooo much fun to walk around and see, if it wasn't 251 degrees outside. But it was indeed 251 degrees outside so we took in the highlights and then went for a swim in the ocean. Once we arrived back at the hotel we took a nap and then got dressed for our final night in Mexico.

The next morning I woke up yearning for my children. We turned our little red car in, got on airplane and headed home.

I would like to thank my mom from the bottom of my heart for watching our kids, it was a much needed recharge for us. And thank you to my husband for all his hard work which made the trip possible.


And here are the pics...