Jordan Family Happenings

Choo! Choo!

2013-01-03T09:20:00.001-05:00

After Christmas, we found a great deal on Choo Choo Train Rice Crispy Treats.

On January 2, the children had a blast putting them together and adding their own special touch of decoration.

Happy Birthday, Barnabas!

2011-10-18T20:56:00.001-04:00

On July 6th Barnabas turned 6 years old!

We had a special breakfast of eggs, sausage, and cinnamon rolls to begin our day of celebrating. Hadassah helped prepare everything for the birthday boy. Later we headed to Chick-fil-a for lunch and playing in the playground. When we got home, Grandma arrived for a visit. She was headed to Florida and stopped by to help celebrate! We played games in the afternoon and rested a bit. Then, we had dinner, dessert, and opened presents! The next day Grandma went swimming with us and we had a picnic at the pool. It was fun!

Barnabas has amazed us all with his natural love and ability for learning. Over the summer, he really excelled in reading! He was doing great last year in Kindergarten, learning sounds and reading words. Then, all of the sudden, he was reading chapter books! He just started reading everything he could get his hands on! We are so proud of him!

Barnabas is such a sweet, little man. He loves to talk and has a vivid imagination. He is a big help at home with his chores, and he is gaining more responsibility as he proves he can handle it. He and Jeremiah are best buddies and love to play for hours in their room with cars and roads. Barnabas also loves to join in with his older brothers and play games, when they allow him. ;o)

We just noticed a couple of weeks ago that he has his first loose tooth! He is excited, but doesn't like to wiggle it! So, it may take forever to fall out!

Barnabas is playing soccer again this fall. He is on the Mavericks, and really seems to enjoy himself. It appears that he likes the social part of being on a team more than the physical part of playing soccer! There is a teenage assistant coach on his team, and he seems kinda sweet on her. It's cute....for now. ;o)

Our family is so thankful that God blessed us with Barnabas! He is such a little sweetheart, and lives up to his name of "encourager".

I found this link to a labor day post and it talks about all of our first 6 deliveries. Barnabas was so content with staying in my uterus, he was 12 days late! He was worth the wait!

Back to blogging....

2011-10-12T16:32:00.001-04:00

I'm really behind in blogging! It's my goal to get caught up on some birthday posts...soon. We've had 4 since I last posted! Here is a preview of the first birthday post. (Mobile blogging for the first time)

Kangaroos

2011-06-25T09:45:00.015-04:00

Do you remember this post WAY back in April? Well, I said that I had three posts....here is the third one, finally! (We did celebrate on his actual birthday, I'm just very tardy in putting it up here. I've been having a little guilt about it, so here we go!)

On April 1st, Jeremiah turned 4!

Happy (belated) Birthday Jeremiah!

The birthday boy enjoying his day SO much! He can hardly believe he is now 4. It's so cute when you have to keep reminding children they are a year older, and they puff up with excitement that they, too, are growing up! He's getting taller and smarter all the time!

This is what we had for breakfast! A bagel with strawberry cream cheese and fresh strawberries sliced on top. Yum, it was delicious!
Then we headed to Kangazoom for some bouncy fun! This was our first time to venture away from the other jumpy place named after a primate. ;o) We loved it and would gladly return again if we had another Groupon! This is Thaddaeus enjoying some jumpy time.

Little Miss Priscilla enjoying some time in a bouncy house that's just her size!

The birthday boy showing me his awesome jumping skills! He kept saying, "Watch this, Mommy! Mommy, look what I can do!" He loved this birthday outing more than ever!

All the children after we had jumped and played for a couple hours. They were worn out and hungry! We headed home for lunch and birthday dessert! Below is the picture of what we had! A couple of days earlier I had purchase strawberries for $.49/lb, so we were eating them before I froze some or they went bad. Yep....$.49/lb....I love shopping at ALDI!!!! When they have overstock, they SLASH prices until the product is gone. Once, a friend got me 5 loaves of honey wheat bread for $1 total ($.20 each)!!!

Strawberries, hot fudge sauce, chocolate chip cookie cups (w/scoop of vanilla ice cream)

Such a happy little guy!

We are very thankful for Jeremiah in our lives. He brings us lots of joy and laughter. He is part of our comic relief! Some of the things he says are so funny, and once we laugh, he continually repeats them! He's also at the age where he still pronounces words incorrectly. One of our favorite things he mispronounces is the word chocolate. He says "chu-loc-uh-let". It's so cute! He is a lively little boy and loves to rough house with his bigger brothers. He is also very loving, and gives me about a hundred hugs a day. He told me the other day he loves me "100 million times more than I love him". That's doubtful. ;o)

Surprise!

2011-05-23T07:53:00.000-04:00

On March 23rd, Chris turned....brace yourself for it....40 years old!!!!!!

Happy Birthday, Chris!!!!!!

Well, I decided a couple months beforehand that we were going to do something really BIG to celebrate this birthday. He kept assuring me that he didn't want me to make a big fuss and do anything special. All I heard him say was, "Blah, blah, blah". Don't get me wrong, I'm a submissive wife and I listen to my husband. But, deep down I knew that he would LOVE this and it's a pretty big deal to turn 40. Besides, growing up he barely even celebrated his birthday, thus never having a surprise party. I had heard him loud and clear!

So, the children and I decided to throw Chris a surprise party!

This was ~~impossible~~ very tricky to plan with all the children! You know what I mean, right? These little ones love their Daddy and want to plan a big party for him, but they also tell everything they know to him! We had a little talk about how important it would be to keep it quiet and not let on at all that we were even aware of his approaching birthday.

I made lists and jotted ideas down. All the while reminding myself not to ask Chris for help! I tell him everything and value his opinion on projects, so it proved difficult for me as well as the children. Then, I sent out invitations to our entire church plus anyone else that I thought would enjoy ~~harassing~~ wishing Chris a happy birthday! The plan was to have the party after our morning worship service a few days before his actual birthday. I figured that he wouldn't even be thinking about it, and I was right.

The day before the party, while Chris was off visiting a friend, I snuck off to pick up the huge cake I ordered. A friend volunteered to bring it to church with her, since it would be a little difficult for me to hide it from Chris! At this point we were all about to burst with excitement! I was a tad afraid that someone would walk up to Chris at church and blow it, by saying that they couldn't come to his party. But, we were successful! He had NO IDEA, and was completely SURPRISED!!!! ;o)

Here is the video that my friend, Maggie, took for us! Thank you for capturing his surprise on video! It is priceless!

A gigantic card that everyone wrote on wishing him well! It was fun to read what people wrote! Everyone was so polite and kind....come on, people!?! I was hoping for some "Over the Hill" comments!!!! ;o)

Oh, yeah! We had 40 candles for him to blow out! He did a good job!

Here are some of the children enjoying snacks and cake. It was funny how children were on one side of the room and adults on the other!

Thank you to everyone who participated! We had such a great time, and Chris felt loved!

Neon Golf

2011-04-25T15:00:00.003-04:00

So, it appears that I only have one loyal reader since I've been such a bad blogger lately! Thanks for hanging in here with me, friend!

On March 20th, Mordecai turned 11 years old!

Happy Birthday, Mordecai!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We celebrated on the Friday before with friends and a few surprises, too! Chris took Mordecai to run a few errands and ended up at the mall where we were waiting here with a couple of his friends! He was really surprised!

We played for awhile then I noticed the boys were cracking up laughing. They had spotted a Domino's delivery guy walking around out in the mall and thought it was hilarious! Little did they know he was looking for us! Chris went out and got the pizza and they were surprised again! We sat down and ate pizza, brownies, and opened presents. Mordecai's friends were just as excited about his presents, and they knew what he would like. Thank you for being so generous!

They were now energized and headed off to play another game of golf. We had a great time playing Lunar Mini Golf together!

For dinner that night I made Garlic Surprise, which was Mordecai's choice. The girls made him a birthday banner to run through, and we had leftover brownies and Blue Bell to celebrate!

We are so thankful for Mordecai! He is such a kind young man. And, his sense of humor is always keeping us thinking...and laughing! He loves to make things and has a vivid imagination. He loves to read, play with Legos, play outside, be silly, sing, play with his siblings, and do his chores. Okay, so I threw the last one in there, that's one I want him to love!

If you are interested in checking out Lunar Mini Golf, I have a coupon to share with you! Print this awesome coupon and SAVE!!! It even includes 4 glow in the dark necklaces! (It can be used at any of their locations)

Neon Golf, Surprise, and Kangaroos

2011-04-20T15:50:00.004-04:00

Hello! There has been so much going on here! Has anyone missed reading about our family's happenings? I have a couple of posts in the works, and hope to post them this week. My husband is nudging me to blog again!

Wonder what the title of this post has to do with anything? Me, too. Just kidding! Stay tuned to find out....

Why Should I Gain From His Reward?

2011-04-20T10:02:00.003-04:00

This song is so beautiful. The words are like a prayer. May it help us all to prepare our hearts and minds as we enter this time of celebration of the Resurrection. And always for that matter. May the Lord help us to remember His great love for us.

Happy Birthday, Deborah!

2011-02-28T13:49:00.005-05:00

On February 3rd , Deborah turned 8!!!!!!!

We enjoyed Stromboli for dinner, and a cookie cake for dessert. Deborah's siblings made her a banner and she ran through it as we cheered her on!

Deborah is a very sweet girl. She loves to play games, draw, play with her friends, and she is a great help to me with her younger siblings. Deborah also loves to help me cook. She is in the 2nd grade and enjoys reading, science, and history. But, she says math is her favorite subject! And, she's very good at it!

We love Deborah and we are so thankful God blessed us with her.

Time to Get Organized!!!!!!!

2011-01-14T13:23:00.002-05:00

Tupperware is having a HUGE sale! All Modular Mates are 40% off!!!!! Go here to browse the online catalog and shop! Let me know if you have any questions!

Happy Birthday, Hadassah!

2011-01-14T12:01:00.005-05:00

On November 29, Hadassah turned 9 years old!

Hadassah is our first baby girl and a joy to have as a daughter. She loves to sew, crochet, and play games. She enjoys making up games to play with her younger siblings. She often volunteers to sweep and she likes to organize closets and toys, in addition to her normal chores. Hadassah is in the 3rd grade and enjoys learning. Her favorite subject is Math. She is enjoying reading a book series about horses. We are so thankful to have her in our family!

RV Trip 2009

2010-12-26T23:49:00.001-05:00

Click here to view this photo book larger

Merry (white) Christmas to you!

2010-12-25T20:26:00.001-05:00

Hope you are having a very Merry Christmas! May God save us all!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-20T15:50:00.003-05:00

Happy Birthday to Priscilla!

2010-11-05T04:48:00.001-04:00

Happy 2nd Birthday, Priscilla!!!

On October 3rd, Priscilla turned 2 years old! She has really enjoyed other family member's birthdays this year, and she was ready for hers! We let her pick out a cake at Sam's Club. She chose an Elmo cake with matching cupcakes. All throughout the store she would look in the cart to see if her "Elmo Cake" was okay! It was adorable! :o)

Priscilla is such a joy and we all love her so much. She is talking a lot and sometimes we call her a parrot since she repeats everything we say! She loves to play with (and annoy) Jeremiah (Jer-Jer and sometimes Jer-uh-mee-uh) and Barnabas. Hadassah and Deborah love to dress her up and fix her hair like their personal baby doll. Priscilla loves it, too. And she knows big brothers Nehemiah (Nehe-mee-uh) and Mordecai will do just about anything for her!

Priscilla started showing interest in the potty a couple of months ago, so we put a little potty in the bathroom for her. She would go periodically, but I wasn't ready to potty train her. Once she started waking up with a dry diaper consistently, I was ready! So, the week prior to her birthday, we focused on going potty. Surprisingly, she caught on SO quick! She's been wearing big girl underwear since! Yay!

Papa came for a visit the day before her birthday. This was his first time to meet his newest grandson, Thaddaeus. I'll post pictures and more on his visit later. Here he is helping us celebrate! He kept on giving Priscilla more ice cream! It was really funny, he couldn't believe how much she loved it. :o)

Here is a video of Priscilla singing to herself and then talking to me.

4 Moms, 35 Kids - Breakfast Link-up

2010-10-15T10:07:00.010-04:00

In this post I'm linking up with a recent post over on Life In A Shoe as part of the 4 Moms, 35 Kids series.

You can see their posts here:
Deputy Headmistress
Smockity Frocks
Raising Olives
Life In A Shoe

This week they are talking about breakfast. I think breakfast is my favorite meal of the day! But, I'm not really eager to get up earlier than everyone else to fix it. This is especially true when I have a nursing baby eating through the night and then in the morning wanting to eat when he's ready, not when breakfast is done. ;o) A little planning ahead can help make mornings smoother, so I'm excited about this topic. I'll be checking all the others who have linked up to see if I can find some recipes to help our mornings!

Some of our favorite breakfasts are:

cinnamon toast
toast with jelly
oatmeal
applesauce muffins
bagels with cream cheese
scrambled eggs with toast
cheese tortilla wraps
scrambled egg/cheese tortilla wraps
cereal with milk (not a favorite...doesn't keep tummies full)
waffles or pancakes (rarely do this)
bacon and egg sandwiches (camping favorite)

Just this week a good friend passed along a recipe that I thought would be good to share here. We made it this morning and they were so good! I will make them the day or night before next time, so we can just heat them up and eat them in the morning. We didn't use peppers this time because we didn't have any on hand. I also sprinkled a little cheese on top before baking, we like lots of cheese! Enjoy!

Mini Oven Omelets

1/4 C chopped green onions, divided
1/4 C chopped red bell pepper, divided
1 C 1/4" diced ham, sausage or bacon
3/4 C grated cheddar cheese
12 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Thoroughly grease a 12-cup muffin tin with nonstick spray.

Reserve half the green onions and red pepper. In a small bowl, combine the remaining green onions and red pepper and ham. Divide the mixture evenly among the muffin cups. Top each with cheese.

In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, salt and pepper. Combine thoroughly, then pour egg into each muffin cup. Use a fork to lift vegetables and ham to be sure egg penetrates to bottom of cup. Fill each cup 3/4 full. Bake 20-25 minutes; just until muffins have risen and are set. Remove to a rack to cool.

Package in individual servings or all together in a Ziploc bag and refrigerate for up to 5 days, or freeze. If frozen, thaw before reheating. Reheat in microwave for 1-2 minutes or until warm in the center.

Thanks for stopping by! Please leave me a comment and tell me what's for breakfast at your house.

Thaddaeus is Growing!

2010-10-08T12:01:00.002-04:00

Thaddaeus James

Thaddaeus in my homemade wrap! It's so comfy!

Thaddaeus' had his 2 month check-up a few weeks ago. He weighed in at 14 lbs. and was 24" long! I was really shocked at his weight....I was estimating around 10 or 11 lbs. He is awake a little more during the day now, and loves to smile! He will respond to faces and voices with a loud squeal of delight! We sure love this little guy!

Thaddaeus in an outfit Nehemiah wore 12 years ago

Thaddaeus smiling while sitting in Daddy's lap

Fun Pictures

2010-09-22T14:59:00.004-04:00

The Jordan Academy

2010-09-15T13:43:00.010-04:00

School is back in session here at the Jordan home. We have officially done 14 days so far! We all agree that it feels like more! ;-) It's always an adjustment at the beginning of the year, and especially so with a brand new baby! I will be posting over at The Jordan Academy periodically, so go over and check it out. I posted about our first, fun (and yummy) hands-on activity for this school year. Go read it and tell me if you've ever done that.

We are thankful for the freedom to home school!

August Pictures....

2010-09-02T00:21:00.003-04:00

....mostly of Thaddaeus!

We have been spending most of our time cuddling our newborn this month! Here are some of our favorite pictures from August. The first few are of Chris and Thaddaeus getting to know each other. They are so sweet! I took about 20 or more of them looking at each other and making eye contact! :0) I love seeing my big, strong husband cuddling one of his children, especially when they are so tiny.

Priscilla kissing her baby brother

Look at that smile on her face!

Thaddaeus at 3 weeks old

Message on our fridge....by the children

Thaddaeus - 1 month old

This is what we call a Jordan sandwich!

Priscilla enjoying her first ride in my new ERGO carrier! She fell right to sleep...it was nap time.

He loves to sleep with his arms this way

Thaddaeus in my new ERGO carrier! I really like it!

Thaddaeus in my 12 year old sling that I've used with all of our children. I love that sling!

Priscilla holding Thaddaeus....for a second, then she's done!

We are doing well around here, and enjoying our new little addition. Hope you enjoyed the pictures.

Happy Birthday to Nehemiah!

2010-08-10T23:40:00.001-04:00

On July 24th, Nehemiah turned 12 years old. 12!!!!! I can still hardly believe it!

The week leading up to his birthday, Chris took Mordecai and Nehemiah up to a family camp. Chris was the morning preacher for 6 days so they took the motor home and camped there. They had a blast! Nehemiah was able to hang out with the other youth that were there, and even stay out late playing glow-in-the dark Frisbee a couple of nights. When they came home at the end of the week they were pretty exhausted!

We celebrated his birthday with Pizza Hut stuffed crust pizza, ice cream cake, and a movie. YUM!

Nehemiah is such a blessing to our family! He is continually growing in his relationship with the Lord through bible study and reading his bible. Chris has started letting Nehemiah read part of the family devotion each night to help him develop new skills. He is a great help with his younger siblings and around the house. Also, he is so good interacting with children, as well as interacting with adults. Nehemiah has many interests including: writing stories, reading, learning to play guitar, singing, learning computer software, playing sports, cooking, drawing, and the list goes on!

We are so thankful to God for our first born child! ♥

A Few Thaddaeus Pictures

2010-07-23T15:30:00.004-04:00

Thaddaeus after his first bath....all cozy and warm

I love this picture! His hands are so cute!

In the basket with me in the bathroom, so I could take a shower and have him near by.

Sleeping and swinging....again with his hands up! Maybe he'll be very expressive.

I'll post more later, but I'm off to take a nap! :-)

New Jordan Baby !!!

2010-07-13T10:15:00.015-04:00

Chris and Jennifer Jordan,
along with
Nehemiah, Mordecai,
Hadassah, Deborah, Barnabas, Jeremiah,
and first time big sister Priscilla,
announce the arrival of:

Thaddaeus James Jordan
8lb 6oz
21 inches
born at 7:58pm
on 07-12-10

Both mom & baby are doing wonderful
at Gwinnett Medical Hospital
in room #232.

Phone to the room - 678-312-3932

More pictures to be posted throughout the day

New Jordan Baby has Arrived!

2010-07-12T22:10:00.004-04:00

The new Jordan baby #8 has arrived. It is late on Monday night and the Jordan children will not have the opportunity to meet the new baby until Tuesday morning.

So the NAME and PICTURES will be withheld until after the entire Jordan family has been to the hospital.

But I will let you in on one piece of news....

.... the baby is a BOY!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday to Barnabas!

2010-07-10T00:34:00.006-04:00

On July 6th, Barnabas turned 5 years old! He is such a big boy! We celebrated his birthday (a day early) by going to the water fountain and having a picnic, and enjoying the outdoors.

When we came home we had dinner and an ice cream cake that he and Daddy picked out.

Barnabas had a great time and enjoyed all the festivities. :0) The next day we made him a birthday banner to run through and he helped make pizzas for dinner. Oh, and Chris brought him home a cherry slushie...he loved it!

He said that the day before was a practice run for his real birthday! LOL :0) (We were just making sure we got to celebrate in case the baby was born on his birthday.)

We are so thankful that God blessed our family with Barnabas. He is such a little lover always running up and giving hugs and kisses to us. He is a sensitive little guy and thinks of other's feelings as well. He is a great big brother and does lots of translating for us concerning his younger siblings.

He is extremely excited about our new baby. When asked if we are having a girl or boy, he says he doesn't know, but we should name the baby Julia. :0)