found some 4th of july pics hiding on my camera...

to the entire allen family-

thanks again for a great 4th of july!
we will certainly miss seeing you all every summer.
in our absence maybe you'll play some extra noodle ball for jank
and eat some extra candy for me?
we'll see you all in a few years.


thanks,
the jancers

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back from yuma

well we're back and we survived the july heat in yuma.
it wasn't as bad as i thought it would be
[except the flight from phoenix to yuma- worst flight of my life!]
yumans [that's what yuma peeps are called. weird i know] are the nicest people i have ever met.
our neighborhood is awesome.
the picture above is the backyard of the house we're renting.
who wants to come visit???

i had a successful interview for a position in the ER.
'successful' means they hired me despite my inability to coherently form a sentence.
promise it was that bad.
good thing they are 13 nurses short and couldn't really say no.
i'm not so sure i'm ready to work 13 nurses short... that sounds like a disaster.
fingers crossed some other RN's find their way to yuma before all the snowbirds overrun the ER.

we found an amazing daycare for kate to go to while we both work full time.
jank and i spent half a day driving around to the recommended daycares and let me tell you, some were downright frightening.
the decision to put her in daycare was a tough one for us.
we're not opposed to daycare, we've just never needed to use one so this decision was the one that weighed the heaviest on our minds.
i was sick with worry until we toured a wonderful school with a equally wonderful staff.
i feel so much more at ease with the move to yuma now that i know how well kate will be taken care of.
i just hope she adjusts well to all these changes....

it's going to be one heck of a year for the jancers.
but at least we're done with school [FOREVER!!!]
i can't wait to attend graduation in 8 days.
yahoo

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announcing...

dear baby jancer,

you and i are officially 12 weeks into this pregnancy.
your dad and i are counting the days until we get to meet you.
we're so excited to have another little one, even if the timing of your pregnancy is a little complicated.
[i'll be barely six months into a new job when you come. ugh, i hate being the new kid at work and adding a pregnant belly and a maternity leave isn't going to help matters]
regardless, we love you and cannot wait until february.

a few things:

1. do you see this mashed potato craving ending anytime soon? boiling potatoes in 100 degree heat is getting old especially since i seem completely intolerant to heat of any kind right now. and fake potatoes don't cut it- they have to be baby red mashed with loads and loads of butter.
2. thanks so much for not making the first trimester exhaustion as bad as it was with kate - i find that as long as i nap when kate naps i can function pretty well.
3. when do you foresee the oversensitive sense of smell going back to normal? the drunks and homeless patients have always smelled foul but this pregnancy is taking their malodorous bodies to a whole new level. not so much fun. just saying.
4. please grow strong and healthy. that's all we ask. we honestly don't care if you're a boy or girl [seriously, it doesn't matter one bit to us] we just want you to be healthy.
5. thanks for cooperating the other day so that i could hear your heartbeat. a magical moment for me- i was holding your big sister's hand at the time and it all seemed too good to be true.


i know it seems silly to say but, we really do love you already.
i think it's because we already have kate and we know how amazingly awesome it is to be parents.
we can't wait to see how you fit into this family of ours.
grow strong little one.

love mama.

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happy anniversary to us

happy 6th anniversary my love!

if possible i love you more each year.
i'm so proud of all you've accomplished.
[and so excited for PA school to be done]
can't wait to celebrate by jetting off to yuma with you this weekend
[although my job interview on monday is stressing me out]
at least we get to go out to eat and see harry potter tomorrow night.


i love you mr jancer.

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treats from the farmer's market

hey everybody!

check it out- my kid is eating fruit.
never mind that we didn't wash it and it's probably covered in dirt.
at least it's fruit and she ate almost the entire container.
progress? i hope so.

i'm going to pretend that she didn't spend 30 minutes this morning begging for a slice of cake.
but i guess that's progress of a different sort- she's requesting cake?
who is this child???
i don't know her anymore.

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meet kate

episode six.




this might be my favorite age so far.
everyday she learns something new.
time is flying by too fast.

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summer and swings

kate-

well little one, we survived the week.
you watched more movies and ate more mac and than i care to admit.
but at least we made it with our sanity intact.
[i might be exhausted to the core but that's the life of a night-shift RN/mom]

there was a few times last week when i actually felt like a proper momma.
it was mostly anytime i took you outside on a walk or to the park.
the swings remain a favorite of yours.
you would swing for an hour if i could tolerate standing in the blazing heat.
[why doesn't someone build a public swing set in the shade???]

thanks for being so tolerant of my poor mothering.
and thanks for taking such long naps this week [they were heaven-sent i'm sure]


i love you more each day.


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this week's going to be little rough

i picked up some extra shifts this week.
there is a possibility i will work every nite this week.
[if i get called in for my 3 on-call shifts]
soooo......
bring on the movies in bed with my toddler [and some kettle corn] so i can rest my eyes for a moment.
i might feel guilty about movies in bed but kate thinks it's the grandest idea ever.
so glad she's so easily pleased.


and a quick note to my patients:
no more attempts to puke on me please.
it's not very nice or cool.
and if you do not make any attempt to vomit in some sort of receptacle and instead vomit on yourself...
well, i might be inclined to let you sit in it for a bit.
just saying.


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just another day at the pool

harry-

thanks for all the smiles and giggles.

you're too freaking cute.

i'm taking you to yuma with me.

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bear lake

jackers and miss ty-

[that's what we call you guys when you're not around. now you know our secret]

just wanted to say thank you again for letting us use your family cabin for the weekend.

minus the bat [did i mention there was a bat?!] it was a wonderful weekend.

food, family and sun.

all the makings of great memories.

the hansen clan loved it.

indulge me in a recap:

logan didn't always have amazing food options but cafe sabor is one of the two restaurants i miss truly and deeply [the other is firehouse- i'm tempted to drive 90 minutes just for their focaccia bread]

lucky for us there is a sabor in bear lake. 

we finagled our way onto a private beach [thanks mom for teaching me the art of finagling].

i even got in the lake [twice!] which means the water wasn't too cold.

bear lake is one of the prettiest places i've ever seen.

kate was a peach- she spent hours digging in the sand and swimming in the lake

kate had a ridiculously good time playing with all her cousins.

she skipped her nap both days... until she couldn't fight the exhaustion anymore.

on saturday zoe rocked her to sleep and then received the coveted sleepsnuggle for 20 minutes.

nothing sweeter than a sleeping toddler. other than zoe of course.

ryken and kate enjoyed story time with grandma.

these two discovered a new favorite activity- running in circles while shrieking.

good times.

the cabin sits right on a golf course. 

the combination of green grass with the caribbean blue lake in the background is pretty rad. 

we spent some time on the course hitting balls. 

happy to report i am still better at golf than jank. 

thanks again to the saunders family.

we had a blast.

ps. matt [my bro-in-law] scrubbed the tubs until they sparkled. i've never seen a man clean so intently. i just wanted you to know who to give the credit to when you pull back the shower curtains and are blinded by gleaming white bathtubs.

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it's so nice to have friends who are geniuses

Picnic with the Jancers from inbleu on Vimeo.

jess and justin-

thank you doesn't seem quite big enough.
you guys are amazing.
we love it.

love love love it.

thank you!!



ps. family pics from the picnic can be seen here- just scroll down the page until you see our amazingly beautiful faces. hope everyone has a great weekend. we're off to bear lake!

summertime

dear july,

i fear that you will not get the attention you deserve.
we should be spending the dog-days of summer lounging in the pool and eating popsicles.
instead we are spending hours looking for a house to rent in yuma, worrying about my looming job interview, stressing about jank passing boards, packing up the apartment... and so many other things that hourly consume our minds.

we are headed to bear lake this weekend to spend some time with jank's family.
i'm hoping we will be able to slow down and stop worrying about everything.
there will be much card playing [rob knows hand and foot!! i knew ashley found a good one]
and way too much unhealthy food consumed [my grocery list is pathetic]
it will be so nice to sit at the cabin and be still.
well, as still as you can be with toddlers.

but even all the stress can't ruin this good summer.
we spent last night with our good friend jack and tyrel and their kids.
we had great mexican food and then let the kids run off all their energy in the backyard.
krew and kate went on their first date- in a barbie jeep.
i love the picture of all the crazy blond curls, all messy from playing so hard in the summer heat.


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lunch on a bench

to the marketing team for disney:

i always said i would never buy any food item just because it had my toddlers favorite cartoon character on it.

i mean really, does kate need to eat elmo granola bars or have big bird crackers?

a definite no.

but when she refused to eat for almost an entire day 

[i normally can get at least 2 decent meals in her]

i broke down and bought a mickey mouse shaped snack/lunch for katers.

and oh boy, was she excited.

she didn't even want to wait to get to the park to eat it.

and when she finally sat down to eat, she didn't stop until she was finished.

the whole meal was punctuated with giggles and exclamations of 'oh toodles!'

[mickey mouse clubhouse is the new fav around these parts]

well played disney, well played.

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