Who we are

In case someone who isn't related stumbles on this, I'll tell you a bit about us.

My name is Jennifer (born in 1973, what else would I be named?), I go by Jenn most of the time, Mommy to my kids. I have a foul mouth (I'll keep it pretty clean here) and can outbelch most men - on command mind you - none of this drinking soda and then belching crap. I love a good practical joke. I'm about as liberal as you can get, except I'm all for the death penalty. I have two brothers and a sister.

My long-suffering husband, Jon.

Born in Chicago, IL in August, 1970. He grew up in one of the suburbs. He has one brother and two sisters. He left IL in 1996 to take a job in the Bay Area, CA. Then he met me, married, moved a couple of times, had a couple of kids. He's a Cubs and Bears fan, and is really happy that the Cubs train in Mesa - he intends to go to a couple of games next year. He loves women who belch and curse. Jon's an amateur woodworker, and is pretty damn good at it. He's also a wonderful father to our kids. Jon has become incredibly proficient with a round brush and blowdryer - he's even better than me. I'm thinking he needs to do my hair every morning. See Natalie's blurb for a better explanation of his dryer/brush prowess.

This is Natalie Rose, AKA Herself or the Tiny Tyrant.

Natalie is our Tater Tot - born in Boise, ID, in December 2004. She's 3.5, going on 13. She's a funny, sweet, vibrant, intense little firecracker. We think she's smart as can be. She's in preschool, and loves it! She is a wonderful big sister to her brother - very loving and protective of him. We'll see if that changes once he can get into her stuff! She loves the color blue, the letter B, and her ever expanding menagerie of stuffed animals, and those little tiny plastic animals - Steiff or something?. She sleeps with a stuffed horse (the bane of my existence) that is roughly the size of a Shetland Pony. Good thing we got her a full, instead of a twin. She starts soccer in two weeks, and can't wait! She just got her first haircut a couple of months ago. It had to be just like mine, and it has to be blown dry every night, with a round brush, otherwise "my hair is ruined. It doesn't look like yours". Oy vey.

This is Oliver Edward, AKA Skeezix, Mr. Man, or Buddy Boy.

Oliver is our AZ native. We know so many transplants, and Jon, Natalie and I are transplants as well - kind of cool to have one of us be a native. He was born in April 2008. He looked identical to Natalie at birth - their newborn pictures are so similar it is uncanny, but he's definitely developing into his own person, both in personality and looks. He looks a lot like my brother, Rich. Let's hope the similarity ends there. :-) He is a mellow, content little man, who loves to eat and sleep. He just learned to roll belly to back the other day. He's trying so hard to go back to belly, but isn't quite there yet, which frustrates him no end - Natalie was the same way. He loves to stand too, and can support his weight just by holding onto our fingers.


This is my Mom, Monica, AKA Mitz.

She's long-suffering too. I bet she'll kick my ass if I post her birth year (March baby), so I think I'll pass. We're very close, she's lots of fun, and we are loving living near each other again. She and my dad are just 8 miles away, off the same main street. I live to torment her, and in the past two weeks have managed to hide her wallet (at Costco, so it wasn't like it was sitting in her purse on my counter which would be too easy) and her car from her. She'll repay me, I'm sure! The kids call her Mitz - well Natalie does since Oliver can't speak yet - because it's a family nickname, and she's not into Grandma. She really wants the kids to call her Lola Mitz, but made the fatal mistake of telling me she thought it would be so cute if the kids couldn't say Lola and said Lolly and Pops instead. She loves the color blue too, as do Natalie and I, which will make for some interesting board game pawn negotiations in the future. She and I like to go to afternoon tea at chi-chi places, and are looking forward to taking Natalie when she's older, and less likely to use a sofa at the Ritz as a trampoline.

This is my dad, Jim, AKA Pops.

He and my mom married in June 2000, through him I got another brother and a sister. I'll post about them at some point! I'll skip his birth year too (December baby) - it's the same as Mitz's. Jim is an AZ native. He loves to camp (oh the crazy camping stories we could tell!) and fish - taught me to fish, and gave me my first fishing rod. I'm looking forward to him teaching Natalie and Oliver. He once farted on my head so hard, I felt my hair blow in the breeze. No lie. He likes to act gruff, but he's a big softie with the kids. Natalie loves to climb all over him.

I'm not going to post Jon's family right now - I don't have their permission. Assuming no one minds, you'll read more about them as this progresses. Oliver is getting baptized in September, and Natalie will have godparents named (she was baptized by a minister at home while we were still deciding which denomination we wanted to join) at the same time - and all of Jon's siblings and his mom are flying out. We're looking forward to it!