ABCs of Me

(A) Age: I turned 33 last week, and I'm officially at the point where the continuous joke is that I turned "29 again!" Sadly, my gray hairs and laughter wrinkles give me away. Happily, I can run 13 miles, play with my kids, and I'll take a wrinkle for a laugh any day (and I do)!

(B) Bed Size: Queen - but if you'll forgive the pillow talk - I wish every night between 1:30 and 3:00 that we'd bought a bigger bed. As newlyweds - even though we agreed that we wanted four kids - a bigger bed just seemed so BIG. I remember moving from the full to the Queen and thinking Kevin was so FAR away. Now, four pregnant bellies (which took up a lot of space) and four kids later - each one wanting to sneak in for snuggles on any given night - I would rather we had the bigger bed and found other opportunities (as we have to anyway) for closeness!

(C) Chore You Hate: Scrubbing the floors AROUND the toilet bowl - and I have to do it in the upstairs bathroom nearly every day because Owen doesn't quite wake up in the middle of the night to pee. He sleep walks - most often making it to the bathroom - and has no concept of aiming in his sleep. He pees in the EXACT same spot nearly every night: directly to the left of the toilet bowl, all over the floor. *Once he stopped at the white laundry basket full of clean clothes instead. That wasn't better.

(D) Dogs? No way. Tried it once. Dog lasted in our home 6 weeks before Kevin and I - who admittedly are mildly OCD about neatness, etc. - had to adopt him out to a new home ... of course, not before he tore up a lawn chair, raced mud tracks through our very small bad yard, and licked the heck out of our then one-ish year old son! (Collin was NOT complaining; he loved that puppy!)

(E) Essential Start Your Day Item: Coffee. Nothing fancy - just drip coffee with a touch of cream. Mmmm. (drinking a cup right now!) I'm a morning person, but I don't really perk up until I've drank that first full cup!

(F) Favorite Color: Blue. It's always been my fave, but it's even more so now that I have four blue-eyed babes! Their eyes just sparkle with mischief and laughter, and they pierce me with looks that I can not disregard: "teach me, Mom; help me, Mom; tickle me, Mom; uppie, Mom!" And the look that I'm learning more and more to better decipher as my kids get older and their needs become more sophisticated: "I'm grumpy or mad, but you have the ability to fix me --- I need a _____ (a hug, a lesson, help, attention, a friend). I'm looking at you because I need you, Mom!"

(G) Gold or Silver? Silver.

(H) Height: 5 feet + 5 1/2 inches (We celebrate 1/2s around here: half birthdays, half an inch, dividing things in half - and then in half again!)

(I) Instruments You Play: Does the keyboard count? Not a piano keyboard. A computer keyboard. I also play a mean raspberry on bare bellies! Ask, E! ; )

(J) Job Title: The IRS would tell you that I'm the President of the Tepker Law Firm, Inc. My kids would tell you I help the Judge put people in time-outs in the Jail (aka, Municipal Prosecutor) or that I help my clients to make good choices (aka, Attorney for parents involved with CPS). *Idebated putting Mom, wife, etc., on here, but I decided that those aren't really JOBS - they are privileges!

(K) Kids: Collin - 6 1/2, Owen - 5, Kate - 2 11/12; Eli - 7 months.

(L) Live: Bellingham, Washington

(M) Mom's Name: Victoria Lynn. *Kate is Katelyn Victoria.

(N) Nicknames: I'm not sure I have any nicknames now that I'm an adult -- just names. Bellingham and the legal community call me Jen. I'm currently trying to bring back Jenny, which is the name I was called as a kid and am still called by childhood friends and all of my family - except my husband and kids, who call me Jennifer when they aren't calling me Mom or Mommy. As a kid I had nicknames though: Jenny Lynn. Jen-Ren. And in 8th grade for a miserable year of very bad hair (I'd never heard of hair gel or mousse, and I have a LOT of hair): Fro-Baby.

(O) Overnight Hospital Stays? When the kids were born and twice with Collin: when he was a baby and had a very high fever and when he was a toddler and had febrile seizures twice in one day.

(P) Pet Peeve: When my kids take their shoes off and leave them in front of their cubby rather than inside of their cubby. Or when jackets are tossed on the floor under the coat hooks. Or when clothes are discarded on the floor next to the laundry basket. Get the theme here? There's one more that bugs me even more though: when things get put away WRONG. Like when you I open a DVD to watch a movie and find a different movie inside the case. Ugh!!

(Q) Quote from a Movie: I have a terrible memory - for things like that especially. There's too much else going on that I'm focused on remembering. I wish I remembered more movie quotes though; I'm often the only one left NOT-laughing at quote-jokes.

(R) Right or Left Handed? Right.

(S) Siblings: 8 -- Two older half-brothers (Richard and John), Three older step-brothers (Zac, Ben, and Evan), One younger half-sister (Christina), One younger half-brother (Jared), One younger step-brother (Kramer).

(T) Time You Wake Up? Seems like I'm always up - 24/7. But it varies -- between 5:30 a.m if I'm working out or running (haven't done that lately at that time admittedly) and 7:00 a.m. when my kids can't take it anymore. ; )

(U) Underwear: Hmmm. Black. Red. Most comfortable are boyshorts-style. Ten years ago, I would have claimed - and even did to my aunts once, who thought I was crazy by the way - that a G-string was the greatest invention ever. I don't know who I was fooling. I was crazy. (Yes, you were all right.)

(V) Vegetable You Dislike: Mushrooms.

(W) What Makes You Run Late: I think the better question is "What doesn't make me run late?"

(X) X-Rays You've Had Done: As I preschool-age kid, I had x-rays after a bike crash. Then as a ten-year-old-ish kid, I had x-rays after another bike crash. Now that I've typed that, I'm a tad nervous to get on my bike ... but, um, I love my bike. I'll be careful.

(Y) Yummy Food You Make: I married a man who loves to cook. And especially loves to cook for me. So I don't make much. But I make a great garlic-tomato-chicken pasta and a rockin' chicken kiev. For my kids, I make lots of silly foods, like colored pancakes, green eggs and ham, and April Fools Cupcakes (meatloaf cake, mashed potato frosting, and corn sprinkles). ; )

(Z) Zoo, Favorite Animal: Elephants are just amazing - so huge! Giraffes are so unique! And monkey-species are so funny! How could I ever choose?!