Stephanie Jerry:  

Life Hi there! I live a half of a mile past my parents in Cohasset and stay home with my three girls, Alexis, Aaryn & Autumn. I had my oldest early in high school and later had a set of identical twins. After high school, I got married to Alex Jerry and moved to Duluth to go to school. My husband received his degree in physical therapy and we moved back to the Rapids area. Of course, living right next to my parents was hardly what I had planned! Oh well, it's nice to have close support. In fact, my sister built her house right across the road from them, so there's always someone around if I need them. Anyway, I finished my Associate's Degree and have an internship to do before I receive a Bachelor in Science Degree. It's in Applied Psychology: Human Services. I'm not sure what I'll do with it. I'm so stuck on staying home with the girls that I can't imagine putting them in daycare. It would probably be really expensive too! I'm considering going for my master's since I have really nothing else to do. We'll see, I guess. Overall, I never pictured myself where I am today. I never thought I'd be a stay at home mom to three girls and have my own little hobby farm with a dog, four cats, four ducks, eighteen chickens (twelve will be dead shortly), and a couple of fish. The rat died and I finally gave away my goose. He was just too mean. My husband wants a pig now. I basically draw the line at pigs. Ish. I NEVER thought I'd be the proud owner of a minivan! I'm sure those of you who knew me well can't quite picture that either. It's a fast one, so that helps. Of the things that have stayed the same, I still love to run and take walks and I still love to play cards when my husband can tolerate seeing me act like a nut. I do have a tendency to be a bit goofy once in a while and still ask some ditzy questions, but not near as bad as I was before. I also love to bead and scrapbook and have been working on eleven different albums for the past three years. I have finally gotten a piano, so I play that as well. The only other thing about my life that is surprising is that my house is always full of everybody else's kids. I don't know why that is, but I'm constantly toting around at least one extra kid, if not two or three. I'll send one kid home and another is calling to see if they can come over. Go figure! I suppose now that my oldest is approaching her teen years, it'll be nice to know that she's home and not in trouble, even if she's got a room full of other kids. As far as my girls, they are all cute little peanuts. Alexis is just tiny all over. Her bone structure is so small. She's had the perfect hour glass figure since she was two. She's an amazing artist and can remember just about anything. She was the easiest child when she was young. She didn't give me any trouble. I can tell that the teen years are coming, though. She's been testing me quite a bit lately. Aaryn & Autumn are small also, but they aren't nearly as skinny as Alexis. They have the artistic talent as well. They didn't get the drawing thing from me! They are both in dance and love it. When they were young, I honestly thought that I'd go crazy. Twins are on a totally different level of naughtiness. Just last week, their teacher informed me that they had completely switched places on her. I'm thinking they had gotten by with it for at least two weeks before she caught on. The teacher was not happy. They had been doing each other's work, using each other's backpacks..the whole works. Stinkers. I honestly had a hard time not laughing about it. I think their teacher would have been even more furious if I had. Oh well. Thank goodness that they've stopped swinging from my chandelier (literally) and have calmed down some. They still think they're pretty tricky, obviously, but they are definitely getting better. So, that's my life! It's never boring!!! Steph School Well, most of my best school memories were of middle school since I was pregnant by tenth grade and ended up at the Teenage Parenting Program for 11th, and did Post Secondary at ICC for my senior year. I have to admit that I had some awesome memories of doing things that I would never want my girls to. One great memory is just remembering how Duane used to yell, "STEPH" down the hall in his high pitched squeel. Of course, he always could make me smile. Especially, when he'd hit on our teacher by asking her out in front of the whole class and when he'd write me all kinds of silly notes. He was and always will be one of my best friends even though I don't see him much. I also will never forget the ninth grade dance when I ended up in the ER for a neck injury. I had been headbanging to YMCA (of all songs) and tore the muscles in my neck. The next day at the ninth grade picnic I had to wear a cervical collar. Poor Poppy came to the ER with me. She was bawling and acting like I was going to die. Of all the things that I wish I had done differently, I truly wish I had paid more attention to the people I chose to date. I would have picked totally different people. That probably bothers me more than all of the partying that I did or the trouble I got into or should have gotten into. So, I would have partied less and dated more people that I could have fond memories of instead of heartbreak. Thank goodness my ...Expand for more