There is nothing better than an afternoon with friends – especially those who enjoy their kids as much as you laugh (I mean enjoy at your own! Kickball with the kiddos is a MUST for adult bonding

WE DID IT!

When I first met Jaythan I felt like I’d found the one person I’d go into the abyss with. Someone I could jump with, who’d be there by my side to surge forward when no one else wanted to push. Well, we just jumped!

We are now the official full-time owners and partners of JDE llc!  JDE: Jennifer Davenport-Elam/Jaythan Daniel Elam is our “parent company,” as our goal is to form a number of different underlying offshoots.  In essence JDE will act as an umbrella to the smaller division companies/partnerships.

JOINTLEY – our creative design offshoot – is the first of these sister companies. So far, our joint design endeavor is BOOMING! We are still in our infancy stage i.e. getting to know each-others “work laugh” but so-far-so-good!

We hit Camp Randall Stadium to meet Bucky Badger (UW’s mascot) We almost fit in as 99% of all fans there were in Wisconsin RED while Team Elam was more a smattering of orange and yellow Definitely missed that memo!

To my beautiful birthday boy. You who opened a new world to me, who showed me the possibilities beyond myself, who taught me how to laugh and truly love the little things

Happy 5th birthday sweet boy.

ok it’s true; 1 tired mama plus 3 crazy kids and we didn’t get far on the actual walk to end child abuse but we supported!  We helped the local economy enjoying mac-and-cheese pizza on State, we popped 2 balloons, had 3.5 tantrums and 1 TO during the pre-walk motivational speech and due to an unfortunate set of events; i.e.heat, sun, and tempers, we ducked out after the first 30 seconds of walk….ahhh memories

We welcomed our 3rd and final member to our family 6/1/11.  Harley weighed in at 8.5lbs 21 inches and has been a dream! She has a feisty spirit with an insatiable appetite. She loves to snuggle, only sleeps sitting up (a mild hurdle for us to navigate) and doesn’t even flinch at the chaos and noise levels Team Elam doles out!  Noah fell in love at first site saying he wished we would have 20 more babies just like her whereas Ima’s quietly holding out for the dust to settle. Jaythan and I both feel so incredibly complete.  Love to ALL our friends and family!

I never expected the contentment life has provided me, but what i really couldn’t see coming were you girls!!   Cara, Leah, Jade, Beth, Molly, Christine, Jenny, Mattia, Eliza, and Laura… you guys are my quan.  We’ve been through thick and thin and are continuing to grow to change the world; through our kids, through our experiences, through our guts and determination!  I know no matter where we end up, it all started here, with us, with the support and understanding, with the appreciation of what each of us brings to life, we’re our own team.  I love you guys and couldn’t imagine life without you.

They say it takes a village to raise a family, they’re right! sometimes you have to make your village and I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else!

For those of you who know me, you know I can’t get enough family time!  so when we planned our christmas vacation to Oahu,  I was in heaven!  Our nautical minded son couldn’t think about anything else, our attention starved 2 year old was bouncing to get 2 whole weeks of extra nana poppi lovin and the love of my life was holding on tight to the possibility of a late late date night.  It defied even our wildest expectations!

check out our pics from the trip! (click ANYWHERE on the text to take you to our flickr page!)

We have a small camera that the kids go crazy for.  They play, they take shots and pose, it’s adorable.  Lately I’ve taken advantage of their excitement and newfound pos-y-ness and i’ve been clicking shots randomly.  I taught Ima that when you say cheese, it automatically makes your mouth curve into a smile.  She remarked that she really prefers cheeseburgers so now, every-time there’s a camera close by, she bellows out “CHEESEBURGER!”

We have a song!  It’s not romantic and it won’t remind me of our beginings but everytime I hear it, the kids go crazy!  We dance around, jumping and clapping, smiling and laughing all together.  I want to take that moment and bottle it.  It is the most precious memory for our family!

I GOTTA FEELING!!!