j is for...

i know, it's crazy, isn't it? another wordplay! whew! c'mon! don't you see how fun it is? hmmm, i should have had exclamation point under e, huh?!?

june – the biggest birthday month for our family. the most important june birthday for “our small family” (as irene refers to us) is rhys’ birthday. june 27. that just happens to also be my nephew jake’s b-day as well. jake is exactly 10 years older than rhys. cool, huh? I called to make sure it was okay w/jake before rhys was born (rhys was a scheduled c-section). not sure what I’d’ve done if he’d said no, since that’s when my midwife and the surgeon could do it. so – let’s go to the beginning of the month and please don’t let me forget anyone!! eek! june 1, melissa (rob’s middle oldest sister) and my cousin, garrett (8), june 2, nephew ben (19) and brand new baby nephew, simon. june 3, judy. june 8th, lydia. june 9, cousin cameron (just turned 1). flag day, anna. june 16, gramma lala. june 18, niece alana (16!), irene’s 1/2 birthday party is always somewhere in there. june 24 mom and ken’s anniversary, the 27th, rhys, his b-day buddy on the east coast, andrew, and jake (13), on the 30th, FIL, Bob!

July – another biggie in the birthday department. 1st mom and irene’s best friend, rose (6), 5th is niece tricia (27), 6th frederick (5), 7th is josh (this was rhys’ original due date as well), 11th is BIL, Chuck and twin cousins Anna and Jason (3), 15th – alaska, 18th – michele, 28th – cindy.

January – my sister’s birthday is on the 5th and nephew’s birthday is on the 20th. it just so happens that both of them have J names (see next entry)!

Jolie and Jake – my sister and her son. Jolie lives in oakland with her partner, Kris and Karly (who will, of course, make an appearance when I do k!) as well as Jake, of course! when our brother ted has his birthday in november, jolie, ted, and I are all 1 year apart. this year will find us 37, 36, and 35. this is through the magic of divorce and re-marriage *grin*. so, while technically, they are step-sibs, I don’t think of them like that and I very rarely refer to them as such. I wish that we were able to see each other more often. jolie is a very calming force and is an amazing mother. very patient, very loving, very calm.

Jake – our OTHER nephew who is 13 (big jake). he (and his family) live in texas. we don’t see them nearly often enough, but when we do get together, it’s wonderful.

Jeremy and Jesse – my little (30) brother and his wife. they live in colorado and we don’t get to see them nearly often enough. they have andrew (6), kaitlyn (2 1/2), and baby simon (2 months).

Justie – a sweet 10 year old on our street who loves and adores rhys and irene. she comes over a lot and helps us in many ways. we’re going to be very very sad when she moves.

joshilyn jackson (the h in her name is silent, so it sounds like josssssssilyn, just so's ya know) - amazing writer and someone I can claim to know – even if it’s just in the yahoogroups way. but we’ve only got 1 degree of separation b/c she’s best friends w/lydia. if you don’t own her books (gods in Alabama and the new one Between, Georgia), get thee to the bookstore and buy them or to the library and borrow them! they are very good. VERY VERY GOOD!!! and her blog is hugely fun and funny.

joseph – our friend’s chrissy and bob’s new baby boy.

(mr.) jones – a song I greatly enjoy by the talking heads

judgement – I try not to have judgement about people who do things differently. I don’t always succeed, but I do try. i hope that people don't judge me before knowing me and who i am or what i'm about.

jellyfish – jellyfish are SO cool. the first time I saw them free floating (meaning not in an aquarium) was when we were in alaska (which reminds me of another J word!). I got to see them again when we were in virginia with lydia and her family. cap’n dan took us out on broad bay and there are lots of little jellyfish there.

juneau – before I was pregnant with irene, pat and bob (my mother and father-in-law) invited rob and I to go on a boating trip in alaska. we’d start in juneau and go around admiralty island. when we went, I was 5 months pregnant with irene. we had an amazing and wonderful time. pat and bob rented a boat that slept 4 quite comfortably. it was on that trip that rob felt irene move for the first time. I woke him up to feel her (we didn’t know irene was a her). because I was pregnant, I didn’t get to take full advantage of the natural hot springs, but when we were in tenakee, I *did* go into the hot spring there. I submerged my whole pregnant body in, stayed for a minute, then came out. I love hot HOT water, so I could have stayed in there for a very long time, if I hadn’t been pregnant. we also got to see orcas! IN THE OCEAN, IN THE WILD orcas! an entire pod of them. huge ginormous ones and a few young ones too. it is one of the highlights of my life. it was magical. while in tenakee, we went into a little shop that had wonderful prints by Rie Muñoz. I bought several art cards by her. I really love her works of art. she has some books that I might look into getting. my grandmother has one of her prints called “The Storyteller” that she bought when she was in Alaska 15 or more years ago.

juggle – I wish I could truly juggle. I can only pretend juggle.

jump – I used to jump rope all the time as a kid. I was pretty good too.

johnny jump ups – we have several of these sweet little mini pansies that have volunteered in our garden. I did not know that they are edible. and I thought I had a picture of mine to put in here...but, alack! alas! it is not so.

jazz – I’m really not a fan. rob is. my dad is. rob’s dad is too.

juniper – not my favorite bush. I used to get prickly from going into it to grab a ball that had gone astray when I lived in Redlands w/Moni and Dad. in rohnert park, we had 3 juniper tree kind of things. rob and I spent several hours removing them. in their place, we put a beautiful housewarming gift – a cecil bruner rose. loved it very much and it was quite wonderful in its production of lovely pink roses that smelled SOOOO good.

The Juniper Tree and other fairy tales by the brothers Grimm (my review is the last one when you follow the link) – interesting. when I went to find it on amazon, it has a new cover. illustrations are by maurice sendak. mom and ken got me this book when they were on their honeymoon in monterey 28 years ago. I still have it. I even know exactly where it is.

jack-o-lantern – I have so many memories surrounding the creating of jack-o-lanterns. many of them include my dad. I can remember when we lived in riverside – so I was either 3 or 4. I remember him having me taste the pumpkin flesh. I still taste it. he’d have me draw my face – er – the face of the jack-o-lantern on a piece of newspaper and pick my favorite, and then we’d draw it on the pumpkin and dad would cut it out. the first jack-o-lantern that we did with irene (not including the one we did FOR irene when she was 10 months) she drew the face and we did our very best to cut it out just like she did it. I think we did a pretty good job. the rule at our house in picking pumpkins is that you must be able to carry it. this could be something we begin to regret as the kids get stronger *smile*

jam and jelly – I love apricot jam. rob loves blackberry jam. I don’t like strawberry jam. don’t know if rob does, but neither of the kids do. I like most jellies and jams.