That's Cute

I have been watching my niece on Thursdays I call her my little mouse. The two girls love to do crafts and eat snacks together. That's Cute!

Elliot and Grace like to take pictures right now. Heres one Elliot took of Kristin and I! That's Cute.

Grace has turned one of her dollhouses into a pony house. There are four ponies in one tiny bathroom...reminds me of our house. That's Cute!

My dog thinks she is a queen. She perches on things like a cat. That's Cute!

My Grandma says she's beyond the word Cute (I think she's wrong). That's Cute!

Belltown Restaurant Tour

My Mom was super creative with Christmas this year, instead of giving each person a gift she gave each couple a gift. I thought that was fun. So our gift was a restaurant tour through Bellevue. Two of the restaurants are marked by James Beard Awards. At each restaurant we will get to have a menu tasting and a tour of the restaurant:) I am super excited, as you can probably tell.

Hopefully I will get lots of pictures. I will attempt to not let you down and include names and overviews of each venue. Each restaurant holds represents a different type of cuisine and eating environment so this should be very interesting as well.

We are also going to double this as a Valentine's Day celebration and head down a little early to do some window shopping. I am trying to talk Brian into stopping for donuts and chocolate milk on the way out of town.....Rocket Donuts please:)

Must Have Kitchen Goods

So I interrupt our normal posting to announce a new segment on the Jager blog.

Must Have Kitchen Goods

Each week I will share one of my must have kitchen goods. I am labeling them goods so I have the freedom to share a gadget, pantry item or the like at my free will. Some will be silly, some will be handy, some will be tasty, some will be cheap and others won't. I would also love to start reviewing some kitchen items so I might incorporate that as well. Feel free to leave questions about particular items,have a gadget that you have never used because you don't know how to use it, have a recipe that never works but you want to figure it out (I might be able to help)...the lines are open any food related question will be answered.

This first item is a cheese grater, I own 4 cheese graters(I have a problem), up until a year ago I disliked them all. I found them hard to clean, hard to hold onto in use, and messy.

When moving my Grandma into a new apartment this past year she passed on a cheese grater she had gotten from my aunt and never used, I think she called it silly.? And for a family of 1 or 2 that doesn't need a lot of grated cheese she is probably right. However in our house we use lots of grated cheese so this thing is real handy.

This grater is from IKEA and it is a handy little guy that sits on the counter top in use (solving the hard to hold onto problem). The best part is the cheese falls right into the little detachable bowl, so no need to dirty extra plates or cutting boards in the prep process. I have also found it extremely easy to clean with the ability to pop off the top you can just spray it off and throw it into the dishwasher, no need to fear for your hand while reaching down into the depths of the grater. On top of this I saw the new ones have a lid as well giving you the option to store grated cheese in the container portion.


Unfortunately I have no idea how much it costs, but being from IKEA it can't cost much.

Sometimes it is the simplest things that make your life easier...this is one of them!

Cutest Bowling Kids Ever

Just wanted to share a pic of the cutest bowlers I have ever seen.

What to do on a sick day.?

I have come to find out I am very much out of touch with what to do on sick days. We are sick very rarely in this house....thankfully. We forgot how boring it is.

Elliot came down with Strep Throat last night:( Nearly everyone at school has had it in the last two weeks and it seems it is our turn.

So what have we done today?

-Watched Countless episodes of Mythbusters.
-Scoured Ebay to see if said little boy had enough cash to snatch up some of his wished for discontinued Lego sets.
-Had a quiet reading hour.
-More Mythbusters.
-Checkers
-DS (don't judge the little dude is miserable and bored)
-Popsicle
-Bath

Fresh out of ideas.

Daddy went to watch the Superbowl. I am pooped and I haven't hardly done anything today.

The boy wants a milkshake and since I no longer have a blender (shocking) I think we will go find one at a drive through. Fresh Air will be nice...? Don't worry we won't leave the car, no need to spread the love.

Having a little girl is complicated:)

I have a little girl and her name is Grace. She is the most beautiful little girl in the world. I love her spunk, her independent streak and her ability to see things n black and white (there is no gray area for Grace). I tell Brian so often that I wish I could be more like her in so many ways. God is growing her into the most beautiful little girl. Raising her does not come without struggle however, but that is alright.

I always wanted a little girl and God gave me one. But with mothering a little girl comes great responsibility. There is so much in this world that attacks the image of a woman daily. We are bombarded with images, ideals and standards that seem impossible to live up to. Having a five year old girl reminds me of this daily.

Being at school for Grace has been great, she has tons of friends and she loves to learn. But being outside the home in school with all kinds of kids with all of their own sets of influences has been interesting. I have had to diffuse more girl issues this year than I ever dreamed.

A couple of months ago I was driving Grace to Bellingham for ballet when she burst into tears. I was alarmed, she was unconsolable. It was a messy situation. Once I got her calmed down she told me she didn't want to put her leotard on. I asked her why and she then told me someone at school told her she had a big tummy. Shock, Horror, Outrage and Anger ran through my veins. If you have older kids and have had your childrens hearts broken you know the feeling. Its heartbreaking. The hardest part is in talking to her and explaining to her that she was made beautifully by God. She told me I wouldn't know because this girl was six and grace is only five so this little girl must be right. I know its not right for me to want to beat up a six year old but really. Secondly there is no merit to the statement this child made to mine. Never did find out who this child is. Probably for the better. However I have prayed for her.


I guess I am sharing this to spread the awareness. To spread the awareness that our little girls are already facing body image issues at the ages of 5 and 6. That a uber confident happy little girl can be crushed by soemone elses view of her. Its earth shattering to me.

I have been reading another blog recently that has been featuring a series on body image. It is written by a psychologist that specializes in body image. She is really enlightening. You can find her here. I love her view on the subject. It has given me realization that this is a universal problem. And with this realization comes change and with that change comes promises.

I have kept quiet about this for awhile because every time a woman of my size says anything about this issue others give you a look and if its not a look its a laugh or scoff. I am tired of this. We all have self esteem and body issues...if you say you don't you are lying. And for my daughter and my friends and my mothers and all of the other women in my life I refuse to ignore it anymore.

Because of my recent realization I am pledging the following. I am pledging to exude an air of self love in order to be a good influence on not just my daughter but any other girl in general. I am pledging to give my daughter confidence in her self that is built on a foundation that does not depend on your pant size or what you look like in a bathing suit. I am pledging to raise my daughter up to have healthy body image and healthy life practices in order to produce a healthy body to promote a healthy life. I pledge to make healthy choices for myself so I can lead by example. I am pledging to teach my daughter to love her body because it is the one God gave her. I am pledging to love my body for the same reasons. And we are beautiful because He thinks so. I am pledging to never use the D-I-E-T word in her presence ever! I pledge daily to pray for her self image in order to help her continue to have confidence in who she is.

I know these things will still not be enough and she still will have her heart broken. But I pray that I can aid in her loving her self a lot earlier than I did. A lot earlier than a lot of us do. I want her to know she has a woman in her corner that loves herself to.

I pray that if you have young girls in your life or just girl friends in general that you would make this pledge as well, that you would make a pact to lift yourselves up. That you would would make a pact to love each other for your heavenly purpose not because of the number that shows up on the scale or the number on the tag in your jeans.

Obviously this is important to me. Its alarming to me. It is something that I am on a mission to defeat. And only with Gods help can I even try:)

I am Jessica Jager and I love the women and girls in my life to much to ignore the problem! I hope you do to!

Dear Mr Husband,

Dear Mr. Husband, (I will save my more mushy nicknames for just me and you;)

Thank you for asking me to marry you 9 years ago this month on the 9th to be exact. I am not quite sure what I would do without you. I most certainly would not survive my two nights of no sleep due to much prayer over life, if I then couldn't spill my guts to you over a mommy and daddy breakfast date. Thank you for not going bug eyed and pulling your hair out because I am a bit cooky sometimes:) Thank you for singing to me in stores while we are shopping and not listening to me when i ask you to please keep it down, I secretly love it even though strangers stare at us with, what I think is, pity for me(just kidding). Thank you for smiling at me with dimples when I tell you I am frustrated...you have the best dimples in the world, and I must thank you in advance for passing them onto our children and teaching them how to use them on me, its helpful! Thank you for finding my engagement ring when it dropped into the snow atop the mountain you proposed to me on, I would be sad without it! Thanks for making this life fun!! You are the best friend I could ever have! Thanks for ultimately just wanting me to be happy, its the best having you be my personal cheerleader!! Thanks for attempting to set everyone we know that is single up with someone else we know that is single, it reminds me of your grandpa:) Your quest for others coupled happiness is sweet to me, lets just make sure people are really single next time:) Thanks for telling me to write down my dreams so we can get to all of them someday even if it isn't right now! Thanks for knowing whats important to me and trying your best to honor those things and apologizing when you can't!

You are the best Mr. Husband!! I am the luckiest Mrs. Wife in the world! Lets be together forever!