Life at the Jensens

Fun at the Discovery Museum

2012-01-17T13:04:00.000-08:00

Years ago we took Bryce to the San Jose Childrens museum a couple of times and Alan had been wanting to take the twins forever. We had planned a few times and it would turn out they were closed that day or something else would come up. So Friday we were getting the van serviced and figured it would be a perfect day to go. The twins loved their time there, and I think Alan had almost as much fun as they did. I loved watching them explore and learn.

Here they are driving the fire engine

This was making music with strings

Emma was so excited to make the ball float in the air

This was the kids playing in a stagecoach

Alan and Gavin had fun using a rope pulley to pull up a couple of bowling balls

Gavin being a patient in the ambulance. He likes to remember that he was able to ride in one when he was born.

Driving the ambulance

The kids loved the water area the best, I think they spent an hour playing with all the different kinds of tunnels and things they had there.

Making art that would stand up

It was such a nice day, I am glad we were able to share the day with them. It is amazing how fast these little ones have grown into big kids. We turned in their kindergarten papers last week, I don't think I am ready to have them grow up so quickly.

Poor Emma

2012-01-05T08:10:00.000-08:00

It's kind of ironic that after having Bryce who is kind of a tornado and an accident waiting to happen, that our two accidents that involved medical care were for Emma. Emma has energy but nothing like her brothers so I was surprised that she has got two injuries both after doctors hours that required trips to urgent care. The frist was when she and Bryce were playing up on his bed and she got bumped off and somehow hit the bed on the corer of her eye and needed some glue to close it up.

This time Emma was running up the stairs and Bryce was running down bringing the iron to do a craft project and they had a run in.(I am noticing a patttern that Bryce is always a part of her injuries) I am guessing it had to be the pointy part of the iron that hit just right. We are so grateful that it was lower because that is way too close to the eye. So off I ran, with the boys tagging along to get it checked. I was told we may have to go in the emergency room because it went so deep. Luckily the doctor decided that he could glue it and it would be ok. She had glue for almost a week and now we are just waiting for the injury to finally heal. It looks so much better but its always a worry with scars and faces. They say they don't think it will leave a permanant scar so we are keeping our fingers crossed.

You can see all the glue on this, because it went deep the glue was really build up.

Christmas photos, definately not the best time for an injury.

The doctor warned us about a possible black eye, she had some nice shades of purple for a while.

I am so glad she is getting better. I decided I better document this as I am realizing from my mom and mother in law that as major as these things seem at the time, eventually you forget about it. I am so grateful to have this blog to document these crazy years of our lives. Now lets hope for more positive things to blog.

Santa time

2011-12-10T22:22:00.000-08:00

We had the oppurtunity to take the kids to the church to see Santa. I am so grateful that the same Santa has been there as long as I can remember. So no waiting in lines and they always have great treats for the kids so its always a win win. Well besides having trouble getting the kids to look the right direction and smile, but that is a problem that may never be solved.

The kids also got to see a different Santa last night outside the big Christmas light display we went to. I sometimes wonder if it confuses them to meet so many Santas but they seem to not be too concerened about it all, so I guess I should not be either. 2 weeks until Christmas, it always feels like its coming fast, but then not fast enough either when there is so much to plan. I love Christmas time.

Just for fun, where has the time gone?

Happy Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-27T20:16:00.000-08:00

We had a small group for Thanksgiving this year, but still had a really nice time. These three munchkins are always what I am most thankful for.

These are some pictures my mom took of the twins one day while she watched them for me.

November went by fast, and now we are looking forward to all the fun that Christmas will bring.

Happy Halloween

2011-10-30T17:40:00.000-07:00

I think this has been the longest I have gone without blogging ever. Life has been great. We have kept busy with lots of fun things like the cruise, which I think I will eventually blog about but I am waiting to get copies of pictures from everyone who went so I can post the best pictures. So hopefully that will be soon. After the cruise my main focus was planning for a Halloween dinner party. I love Halloween and was excited to try and find some creepy but elegant food items to prepare for friends. We ended up throwing a party for 12 and had a great night enjoying all kinds of food.

This is the table all set up before we ate

Dinner was roasted crow, brain souffle and vampire mash. We started with a mushroom soup that had puff pastry on top to look like a spider. I did not get a picture of the soup but it tasted yummy.

For dessert we had mummy pears, they were so yummy. I am going to make these for the kids on Halloween, they tasted great and were pretty easy to make.

These next pictures were heading to Bryce's school for the Trick a door event.

Then for Saturday we took the kids to the pumpkin patch for a few shots on our way to the church party.

Cute pirate Kyle

This shot was so sweet to me, I turned back and the kids were all walking together holding hands so of course I had to get a picture of a sweet moment.

Halloween has been pretty busy, we have a school party at Bryce's school and then trick or treating on our street tomorrow night. I think the kids are going to be on a week long sugar high, but I guess that is what Halloween is all about.

First day of Preschool and our beach trip

2011-09-06T13:54:00.000-07:00

So today was the last first day of preschool ever as this is the second and last year of preschool before they oficially start kindergarten next fall. They were so excited to be back with old friends and have one new friend join the group. Poor Emma looked a little funny this morning after getting stung by a bee right below the eye at the beach yesterday. Luckily it was not hurting her she was just swollen. They had a great day.

We also had a great day at the beach on Labor Day, spending time with several families from our ward. We came home a little sunburnt, but thoroughly enjoyed our day.

Time for Reflection

2011-08-27T22:06:00.000-07:00

So I recently heard from a friend that a friend of hers had died unexpectantly in an accident leaving behind 5 little kids. This story really struck me hard as I am guessing this is one of the worst fears of any mom to not be there for your kids when they need you for so many things. I looked at the blog of the women who had passed away and saw that she was struggling with the same things we all struggle with, money, kids day to day stress and then just one day was gone.
It just made me realize that each day is a gift that we can all easily take for granted with some of the frustrations that come with raising kids. I have been asking myself if today were my last day on earth would my kids know how much I loved them and how grateful I was that I got to spend my time raising them? Or would the remember that Mom was grumpy because no one ever flushed the toilet?
It truly is the small things that can bring us so much joy, those few extra moments of snuggling with a kid, laughing at things that only little kids think are funny. Or taking the time to spend quality time with your family. I may not be a perfect mom but I do know my kids know I love them, I tell them often how long we waited for them and that they were the best things that ever came into my life. Now I just need to make sure I am showing that everyday by letting go of some of the silly stuff that bogs me down.
So I challenge myself and challenge each of you to spend some time each day to look for some miraculous moments mixed in all the chaos. Moments where you find that glipse of what you are doing this all for. I am going to continuously look for the moments that make me so thankful to be my kids mom.

First day of Second Grade

2011-08-22T23:21:00.000-07:00

Bryce started a new year of school today and I think we were all looking forward to it. We had a great summer but somehow by the end everyone started getting grumpy with each other. I think the way Bryce's school does classes so that he had the same teacher, class and room as last year made this year much less stressful for him. Here he is before school started, excited to head off for a new day.

I love his cute poses he loves to do.

Outside his classroom

Showing me where he was going to be sitting this year.

This is their behavior chart, it was good to see all the clothespins on Good Day

One last shot by the coat hooks. The only bad thing is we have already started the regular habit Bryce has of losing his coat. He left with it today, it was not on the hooks or at his desk but somehow it never made it home. Sadly Lost and Found is a regular stop on our radar. I would love the coat loss to become something that happens less than once a week in second grade, we will see how that goes.

We are looking forward to all the fun things 2nd grade will bring.

Fairyland Campout 2011

2011-08-08T07:54:00.000-07:00

Last year Bryce got the oppurtunity to camp overnight in Fairyland with Alan and had the best time. We knew the twins needed a turn as well, so this year they got their turn to go.

Getting the car loaded

"Helping" Dad unload

Tent is all set up, now its time for fun

Riding the train

In Jail in the old town

Showing off their glow in the dark bracelets

Snoozing in the morning

One last shot and then its time to head home

Our kids loved this experience, I would recommend it to everyone.

Going to the Temple

2011-08-08T07:40:00.000-07:00

We had a really nice Sunday at the temple. We love to go once or twice a year and let have the kids enjoy the beauty of the temple grounds. We had a few families join us for our little trip and then a picnic at the Joaquin Miller Park in Oakland. The temple has such a peaceful spirit when you visit, if you have never been I recommed a tour at the visitors center.

Emma and Caraline

Gavin checking out the display of all the languages the Book of Mormon was printed in, this was his favorite he said.

Caraline and Gavin

Cute Ruby

Trying to figure out how to get in that little house on display

All the kids at our picnic

Beautiful view from the Oakland hills

It was such a wonderful way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

A day at the water park

2011-07-09T15:52:00.000-07:00

We had a really fun day going to a park in Mountain House on the last day of our heat wave. The kids loved playing in the fountains. Gavin stayed in the water the whole two hours while Emma and Bryce explored some of the playground equipment. It was nice to enjoy the summer fun in the water.

Emma with her towel coverup Grandma Sheryl made

Living in Chaos

2011-07-08T07:58:00.000-07:00

I don't know when it was that this brilliant idea popped into my head that we could replace our carpet out for laminate and save so much money by doing the work ourselves. It sounded good in theory, I had been reaassured that this was a super simple job to do, but found there was so much we did not know.

So first came the prep, taking up the yucky capet was a piece of cake, but we had an entry way of tile that needed to come out, looked kind of small, but it was a nightmare. My poor arm and wrist hated me for several days. Luckily we had a secret weapon, my step father. He had all the tools and much more knowledge of how this stuff works. We had asked him to help, but now I realize we could never have done this without all his specialty tools and knowledge. It took two days to get the floors in, but what a transformation it made in the house.

Alan is on the phone here but you can see how he is feeling during our demo work.

Bryce wanted to get in every shot. This is the bad spot where every little bit of cement had to be chipped out.

Gavin hanging out by the boxes of laminate

Our cement floors, we had to learn to live with dust.

First finished room, we were so excited

Family room

Living room

Dining room, now I just need to find a good dining room table

Took a few pics of the kids before church on Sunday

I am glad our project is over, now that its done I am so happy we did it.

Fun and busy weekend

2011-06-15T20:47:00.000-07:00

We had the most fun kids weekend this last week. We started all the fun off Satuday morning at the rodeo parade. Who would think you would need coats and blankets in June, but it was cold and windy. Gavin loved the marching bands as usual. Bryce loved the stagecoach and Emma loved the rodeo princess. They also all got a gum pop so they were pretty excited about that.

Next we picked up Grandma Jensen, took her the to airport and had some fun across the bay. We went to a cute little diner for lunch. We sat by two older ladies who told us the kids were so behaved, that is not something I hear often. One of the ladies offered to buy Gavin if I was selling him several times. She asked him for a french fry and he gave her one that he had already bitten. I told her it was fine to toss it but she said no way I am eating it, it was kind of funny.

Next we went to childrens museum called Curioddysey in San Mateo. They had a ton of animals also lots of learning activities for them to do. They had a bird of prey show and the kids got to get up close to an Owl, falcon, and Turkey Vulture.

Here are the kids out front

Gavin with the koi or their fishy friends as they called them

Making music play

Next we found a really great park in the same area as the discovery museum called Magic Mountain park, it had the most amazing equipment. I wish we had longer to stay here.

Monday Alan took a day off and we met up with Trina and Judy at Discovery Kingdom. The kids had the best day. I think a full day was a little bit much for Emma but we got through it. The kids wanted to get wet so badly at the killer whale show, but Emma cried when it finally happened. It was much more water than I expected, Bryce who sat in the front row was completely soaked. We were pretty wet too.

Bryce showing off how wet he is

I love this picture. They asked everyone if they wanted to go for a second time, you can see by their expressions how both Alan and Bryce felt about this option.

Bryce and Shouka the whale

Emma wearing Judy's hat

Bryce made a friend

It has been so nice to be taking our kids to more fun places. I think we have a lot of great adventures in our future.

**update- poor Bryce got super sick after we got home late Monday night from Marine World. He is convinced he drank whale water when it splashed and that caused his sickness. I have never seen anyone as sick as Bryce has been this week. Here it is Saturday and Bryce is still not 100% well. Emma and Gavin both got the flu too, but much milder versions and were back to their normal selves within a day or so. Today a Discovery Kingdom commercial came on, Bryce covered his ears and insists he will never go there again because it made him so sick.

1st grade

2011-06-09T17:34:00.000-07:00

1st grade ended today. What a fun year for Bryce. He got to do so many things this year. His class went on field trips to see the Polar Express, the zoo, the ice slide and the pumpkin patch. Bryce really expanded his reading skills as well. Today I got a letter from his teacher showng his reading results from the Star testing. He tested at a 4rth grade 8 month level. It said he tested 98% level of all the 1st graders nationwide. It just shocks me remembering that little guy who still was not reading at the beginning of kindergarten. I was worried he would struggle since I had not got him going before school, I now realize it doesn't matter when you get, just that you do. He makes us proud to see him reach his reading goals at school. It will be fun to see what goals he will be working on next.
It often shocks me when time goes by how you never notice the subtle changes. I knew a few months ago his pants suddenly all looked to short, but looking at the comparison shot from the beginning of the year I see how much taller but also so much more grown up in his face. He is learning so much about the world and really becoming a big kid. I feel so lucky to get to spend each day with him and share in his journey.

The joys of older kids

2011-06-04T09:20:00.000-07:00

Most people who know me know that I love babies. I have to admit I have always had such a love for the sweetness of newborns. When I dreamed of being a mom it was always with babies or little children. As we have now moved past pretty much all the baby stuff I have felt that familiar longing to have a baby again. I realize that is probably not to be part of our plan so I am turning my focus to all the joys of having bigger kids. I just have to hide all those tiny baby clothes that drag me back to that other place. =)
This year we have really began to enjoy more things with the twins turning 4. We were able to take our first real trip to Disneyland. It was wonderful. We also have started taking hikes with the kids, something we all love. On Memorial Day we tried out a new trail in our town called Brushy Peak. The kids loved it. My only negative was the sign that said beware of snakes and mountain lions. I had this fear of running into a mountain lion and spent the first half of the hike planning my defense with the kids. But luckily we only saw some cows, squirels and birds. The main excitement was the fact that it started raining. Rain is not common here after April so it was a suprise at first to get sprinkled on, and a bit of a shock when it started to really rain on us at the end, luckily we were only a few hundred feet from the car when it started to get heavier. I am loving all the things I learn from my kids each day. I love to hear their interpretation of things. I really am enjoying big kids, I think I just never had the ability to imagine all the great times to come.

I am not having muh luck with blogger lately in being able to put text near the pictures, I can't figure out what is wrong.
So this is my descriptions for some of the photos below.

One day Alan was working on the sprinklers. It was a cold day, not normal for this time of year. I think the kids had missed all the summer fun so they all got on suits and played. Bryce is wearing his silver medal he earned in school, not sure why. These photos also remind me we need to get some dirt and get some landscaping done. The previous owners had a pond, but we don't think that is good for our kids so we will make some planter boxes. Time goes by so quickly to get everything done.

Bryce got his gold medal for AR reading. The funny thing is he worked to hard for it, was so excited, but lost it by the end of the day. Good thing we got a picture because I never saw the medal again, kids!

Mothers Day

2011-05-11T22:38:00.000-07:00

I had the best Mothers Day weekend. We went to Nathan and Emily's wedding on Friday in the Sacramento temple. It was a long day for the kids and Emma had a little run in with a sidewalk, but otherwise a great day.

Saturday we went to Kyle's first birthday, Trina went all out and the kids had a ton of fun in the jumpy house.

Sunday started with a nice breakfast from Alan and present of a charm necklace for each kid. The kids all sang two Mothers day songs at church and did a great job. They made me cute gumdrop/cookie flowers which I let them eat. After church we headed to Grandma Marvels for her birthday party. It was a great day. Sadly it ended badly with Bryce throwing up that night. I am thankful no one else caught whatever it was that he had.

I am so thankful to be a Mom, there were so many years that my only wish was to have kids, I feel grateful everyday for my kids.

Easter fun

2011-04-24T20:36:00.000-07:00

We had a fun night time Easter egg hunt planned by Shauna. The kids loved it and got a ton of candy.

The twins turn 4

2011-04-21T08:41:00.001-07:00

So this year we decided we were going to have low key birthdays. Normally we do a family and friend party, but thought we would let the kids each pick an activity they wanted to do on their special day.
The twins wanted to go to Build a Bear and make an animal.

Here they are picking out the shells of what they are going to make

Gavin is doing the foot pump to stuff his dog

Getting the heart ready to go inside

Emma having her turn with the stufffing machine, you can see someone is really trying to sneak in and help =)

Emma hugging Sparkles to see if she is the right size

Gaving hugging Ruffy

Emma being excited

Outside in the mall near the Easter bunny

Dinner at the mall -kids choice- Hot Dog on a Stick

Emma with Sparkles in her princess outfit

Gavin with his Jedi dog

Home for presents

The twins had seen these small cakes all year at the grocery store, so they were so excited to each get their own cake, plus Grandma Sheryl brought fancy cupcakes, they were so yummy.

Mmm frosting

Apparently forks are overrated.

We had a great day, the kids went to bed full of cake and excited about all their new toys. I can't believe how fast the last 4 years have gone by. I love every day with my kids! I can't believe I got so lucky that I get to be thier mom.

Spring Break

2011-04-09T14:17:00.001-07:00

It was a wonderful spring break this year. This week was the calm before the storm. For some reason next week is jam packed with too many things to do. Alan was able to take two days off from work. We first went to Happy Hollow zoo and park. The kids had so much fun. We have been used to going in the morning and leaving by lunch time. This time the kids were ready for a much longer day, which was nice. They had so much fun playing and exploring. Waiting for the merry go round Lemur play area Rides

Emma got really sad at the puppet show, so I was trying to get a good shot and said oh I guess we are going to be grumpy, so Gavin obliged and made a grumpy face for the camera.

Play time

Bryce was sad here, he had just fallen down and scraped his hand.

Second round on the merry go round

Then on Wednesday we went to Lake Chabot to hike and have a picnic. It was much more chilly then we expected, but once we got hiking and in the sun it was good.

About 1/2 way up our climb, I was naive in thinking we were just about at the top here, not even close.

The kids would get so excited everytime they thought we had reached the very top, only to see another hill beyond that hill still going up.

Bryce celebrating finally making it to the real top.

The kids attempting to show me how tired they were when we got to the top.

On the climb down

Emma fell and scraped her knee on the way down, so she was showing her injury, so Gavin felt that he needed to show his scraped elbow from earlier that week.

It has been so nice to start doing more big kid activities with the kids, we are looking forward to more fun hikes. After this hike we went to see Grandma Marvel and Uncle Artie and then stopped at the cupcake store for some special treats. It was so nice to have a few days of fun in the middle of the week.

2011-04-08T09:36:00.000-07:00

I have been awarded the Versatile Blogger award by Angel @ http://hermit-the-blog.blogspot.com/

Thanks Angel, my first award, I feel so special. =)

Here are the guidelines for this award

1. Thank the person who awarded you.

2. Share 7 random facts about yourself.

3. Pass this on to 5 new found blogging buddies.

4. Contact those 5 and congratulate them.

7 Random facts about me

1. Although everyone thinks I am so neat, I have a few places in my house that are super messy and disorganized... they are just hidden well.

2. I have a brother who I have not seen for almost 4 years, he lives in Oregon and besides a text or call once a year thats all any of us hear from him. He really is a great guy, he just has made some wrong choices with his life so he seperates himself from everyone. It makes me sad.

3. When I was young I had totally brown eyes, over the years they got more and more green. Now when I look at Emma's brown eyes I am always watching to see if they will turn. She has different hair and skin color so I am not sure what will happen with her. I love her eyes no matter what color they end up.

4. I am obsessed with a flavor of ice cream at Baskin Robbins, I only like to go there when its out (spring and summer), its called Baseball nut. It has boysenberry swirl in it and it reminds me of the summers I spent in Oregon with my grandparents. My grandma made the best berry pies, when I eat the ice cream it reminds me of those days.

5. I love kids clothes and stuff to decorate kids rooms. I think my heart beats a little faster whenever my Pottery Barn Kids catalog arrives. I know its kind of weird, but I love looking at all the possibilities.

6. I still feel like a kid when I talk to other adults my age, I am not sure why I don't see myself as the same. It makes me wonder if others do the same.

7. I have the hardest time leaving my kids for more than a few hours. Sometimes even that is hard. So knowing that Alan and I need some alone time we booked a full week cruise for this September. I know it will be great but I am already having mini moments of panic about leaving the kids. I know they are going to be in great hands, I just feel sad to miss out on seeing them for a whole week.

Ok I am paying it forward by awarding these 5 people the Versatile blogger award

1. Kirsten of http://batesbrood.blogspot.com/

2. Shauna at http://holtbuster.blogspot.com/

3. Darcie at http://mann-clan.blogspot.com/

4. Jen at http://jenlignell.blogspot.com/

5. Marci at http://www.the5wardsinwashington.blogspot.com/

The moments I miss

2011-04-03T22:39:00.000-07:00

It's funny, I don't think anyone would accuse me of not taking enough pictures. I love to catch every special moment I can whenever I get a chance. It does not matter if its a simple day at the park or zoo, I usually grab the camera. But no matter how diligent I am there is always going to be some great moment I miss. The first was a few weeks ago, I went to Bryce's school for an assembly and his class went up with two other classes and sang a song. I could have kicked myself for not taking my camera, which reminds me I need to put an email out to the other parents and see if someone else got a great shot so I won't have to think about the fact that I blew it. The other was a few days ago. We went to a wedding reception for friends from church. They had music and dancing so I couldn't help but get up and enjoy it. It was so much fun to get to dance with all my kids. They all took turns, but sadly they were each swayed away by the cake. I just kept dancing for pretty much the whole time. For the final song they had a slow song and requested that everyone there come up and enjoy that final dance. So we went up as a family. At first Alan and I were dancing and the twins started dancing together. It was the moment where my heart ached and I wanted to forever remember that moment. Then we all kind of smooshed together and we had a whole family dance. I loved that moment in time, I can't think of anything more precious than those 4 people with me on the dance floor. I just wish our brains could store those moments as vividly as a camera does. And here is a moment I knew I could not less pass, this is Bryce playing in the dress up clothes. And Mom this is for you, I had to get a picture of Emma in the cute dress you made from Grandma's pillowcase.

Unchartered territory

2011-03-23T22:07:00.000-07:00

So this year has brought up some new experiences with Bryce and his friends that I am not sure how to even tell him how to handle.
It started with him telling me that he was going to marry a girl in his class, I loved when he told me he liked her the best because she had the best clothes. He got all excited that she was his girlfriend. I think that happy time last all of about a week. It was right around Valentines so I told him we needed to make a special Valentine for her, because of course we do special things for our girlfriends. I have to admit I am still not too sure about this girlfriend thing, I know its totally cute and harmless at this age, but then later do we suddenly say no girlfriends until you are old. Hopefully he will be like so many of the preteens who just don't want to deal with girls, but knowing him probably not.
So a few days after Valentines I am picking him up from school and ask how was your day and he said not so good. He did the cutest thing ever, he said Mom, you know how my girlfriend and I were like this, he makes a heart with both hands, and then says well now we are like this and he breaks his hands apart to make a broken heart. My heart broke for him. So then he tells me that this girl doesn't want to be his girlfriend and is mad at him. So thinking I am going to get to the bottom of it I tell him to talk to her, ask if she is mad and appologize if he did something. Well I guess she tells him that yes she is mad but won't tell why. At that moment I thought wow, we girls can be a pain, I think men are pretty simple when it comes to this stuff. So he moved on and about a week ago he told me they were kind of friends again. But then today he told me that her and 3 of her friends don't like him and tell on him all the time that he is annoying. Insert sad moment here, I know it makes him sad. I do think he can be annoying, but he assures me he is not doing anything when they get mad at him, seems fishy all around. I truly do not know what to tell him besides well just be extra nice to these girls and play with other kids. I have this desire to want to fix things for him and I guess this is one he is going to have to figure out for himself.
Any thoughts?

Bryce's big day

2011-03-18T09:25:00.001-07:00

It is hard to believe Bryce turned 7 yesterday, how does time go by so quickly? He had a great day where he was able to request every meal and then have a trip out to chocolate fondue with Dad and Mom.

Bryce started his day with his request for green eggs and ham, luckily he enjoyed the taste in spite of the looks.

Then off to school where he got to order school hot lunch for the week. Our school has a special hot lunch program that has really healthy choices and only organic meat and fruits. The only problem is that its $5.50 a day, so poor Bryce gets to bring a sack lunch from home. He had asked if he could have hot lunch on his birthday so we went ahead and ordered a whole week of school lunches, he has loved it. Then he got to bring St. Patrick's day themed cupcakes for the whole class. His class also enjoyed some fun St. Patrick's day shenanigans when they all made leprechuan traps and came in to find their class had been attacked by leprechauns. They had green glitter everywhere along with chairs upside down. They also found candy hidden all over. Several leprechaun traps had caught leprechauns but somehow they all found an escape. It was a fun way to celibrate his birthday.
Bryce's trap

Next we took Bryce to Simply Fondue. We got two kinds of chocolate, the campfire chocolate and a classic milk chocolate. Bryce also got a special drink from the resturant with a candle lit in a strawberry. You can watch the chocolate mess on his face progress along with the pictures, Bryce did not subscribe to the philosophy that less is more when it comes to chocolate.

And yes, if you are wondering he did have chocolate up his nose and no it did not bother him at all

Home to open presents

Green dragon

Favorite book- he also got Mouse on a Motorcycle and Charlottes Web

Bryce had been telling us for weeks he needed some ties for church so he got two from Grandpa and Grandma, along with a new shirt and pants to match. He was excited and will be really happy on Sunday. I almost want to video Alan teaching him how to put them on, it just makes me see how fast he is growing up. =(

A Snaptor toy from Emma

A fun remote control from Auntie Debbie and John

He got several other fun gifts and some money to go pick things out later. It was definately a good day for Bryce and for all of us, we are so happy he is a part of our family.

A fun day at the zoo

2011-03-11T17:57:00.000-08:00

Today we met up with some friends and took a trip to the zoo. It was a nice day a little on the cooler side, but the sun came out and made for great weather.
I loved all the plants and trees that were flowering.

Donna the Elephant

The boys

Meerkats

The kids all having fun with the fences by the Zebra habitat

Little monkeys Bryce, Emma and Adelyn

The animals were wild

The spider web

Our little group

Bryce seeming to be worn out from all the play

Sliding is more fun with friends

Bryce and Bailey

The Sun bear

It is so nice to have an annual pass this year so we can spend lots of fun days exploring and learning about all kinds of animals.

Daffodils 2011

2011-02-21T19:58:00.000-08:00

There is a funny thing about traditions, you sometimes don't even know how they started but they can become so important. So the time had arrived, the time I look forward to and everyone else in my family dreads, spring pictures in the daffodils. I don't know how the time snuck up on me this year. I was driving Bryce home from school last Friday and I pass the hill we go to every day and suddenly realized the daffodils were blooming. In my mind it is always much later in the year that we go, but as I looked at last years pictures I discovered it was this same weekend that we went out.

I was telling Alan it was that time to go and take pictures this weekend to which he asked why we had to do it. Well its a tradition I explained, and there is no stopping it now. I do have to admit that as we got there and the kids were not cooperating, I started to think maybe it was a tradition I could live without. But as the sun finally started to go down and the kids started to cooperate, I was thankful that we are able to have that experience and that we will have these pictures and can continue to use them to see how much the kids have grown in the last year. I love knowing that each year we will trudge out to this hill, probably get frustrated, but when its all over we will always enjoy looking at our pictures.

It always amazes me how time goes by and you don't notice the day to day changes in your kids. But then as you look at a yearly picture you can suddenly see how much they are growing and changing. I am also really looking forward to spring arriving, this has been a cold winter.

A few group shots, they never go as planned. =)

Brotherly Love

Bryce made me promise that if he would behave I would have to let him do some silly shots, there were a few and this was one of his, he told me this was him being charming.

Bryce of course found a stick to enjoy while we were out, there is something about sticks and boys, they are like magnets.

I love looking over the years, so here are the last 4 years

2008

2009

2010

2011

So let the tradition continue.

Time for some change

2011-02-16T20:08:00.000-08:00

I have come to a realization that I think a lot of couples do at some point. That realization is that marriage does take work. I have heard that over the years along with how hard marriage is. I used to wonder what is so hard about it. I mean having any relationship takes some amount of effort but wondering why everyone thought marriage was so much harder.
For the most part Alan and I get along very well, we don't disagree too much, but here is where I have realized we have a problem. We don't make time for any romance. I think often when you have kids its just sort of normal for them to take center priority but then one day you wake up, for me that happened on Valentines day and recognize that something is missing. Not something major or something that can't be fixed, but something that is going to take some effort. I spent Valentines sad, not that I didn't get a gift, but that there was not one sweet sentiment exchange between my husband and I, or one acknowledgement that it was a special day.
I have allowed things to be a certain way, got in the habit of saying lets not buy each other gifts, lets just get stuff for the kids. I think that is a bad practice. I realized that I want my kids to know that part of being married does require some effort in planning for and thinking of your partner. I think gifts are important, not expensive gifts, but some kind of gift that shows that you thought about your partner for more than 30 seconds.

I am going to make some new pledges-

1. We need to start having some kind of regular date night. I have in the past just thought it was fine to do things with the kids because it gets to expensive to get a babysitter, but no matter what it costs, I think we need to plan some kind of date night.

2. I want to spend meaningful time together as a couple, not just watching tv or playing games, but sharing in common interests and discussing things outside of our family and home.

3. We need to do thoughtful things for each other on a more regular basis. I think you can get away without this for a time, but eventually it catches up to you.

4. We need to laugh more.

5. Birthdays, Anniversaries and Valentines day require some kind of recognition no matter how small it is.

I hope we can find a way to get in better habits so that we can be a better team in raising our kids. Our 15th anniversary is coming up in 3 weeks and we have no idea how to celebrate it, but one thing for sure is that I am not going to let that day pass by just like any other day. I need to feel the love.

Confidence

2011-02-05T22:29:00.001-08:00

So how does a mom instill confidence in her kids to know how great they are? The other day I caught my twins playing at a full length mirror we have on the back of a closet door. They were talking to themselves and to each other. Emma was telling Gavin that she was so beautiful and he was so handsome and he agreed and said something simular back. If only we could all be so sure of ourselves and abilities as small children are. When I give my kids a compliment they accept it without any thought or question to the validity of what I am telling them.
I wish I could be so confident when I recieve compliments and didn't let the self doubt creep in. I need to discover the secret to helping my kids keep their strong faith in their abilities and self, I guess it starts with working on myself.

Bryce has been struggling lately with fear. It was getting to a point where it started to concern me, he would not go upstairs once the sun went down unless someone came with him. He recently told me he is concened about ghosts and mummies. I assured him our house is free of those things, but he is not 100% convinced. So for now he is going to bed each night with his light on, and hopefully he will feel safe again.
It just reminds me for all the times he seems so grown up, there is still a little guy in there struggling to find his way with all the scary things of the world. I wish there was a way to protect them from everything.
I found him asleep about a week ago with this crystal heart sticker on his forhead, I decided I better get a shot.

Random Thoughts

2011-01-30T10:40:00.000-08:00

Anyone who says they would be bored being a stay at home mom has never spent a lot of time with little kids.

I learned an important lesson, you don't need to smell something when you find a spot of something in a weird place, it really is not a mystery that needs to be solved. I think there are some things you just don't need to know.

Even though so many parts of being a mom can be so repetitive and dull, the love you get from your kids is never dull and totally makes up for all the other stuff. I am glad I never have to miss out on one minute of thier lives, slow times and fast.

Getting older is kind of an adjustment, even when you think you don't care some sign of aging can make you think twice about that. Another shocking thing is when you see people your age from high school and so many look old it is a little unsettling.

I don't know how anyone survives life without good freinds, thats like eating cake without frosting. I am so grateful for all the people in my life who bring that extra sweetness. One of the greatest gifts in life is great friends.

Things are not always what they seem. I was on the computer and heard Bryce telling the twins a story. My heart got all full thinking how sweet he was and watching the twins totally interested. A minute or two later I notice his story takes on a more sinister vibe, his voice was the one you use when you are telling a ghost story. It was about bees and suddenly they were hanging out in the attic wanting to sting people. I asked if he was trying to scare Emma and Gavin. He replied, yep, I wanted to make them cry like I did when I went on the Tower of Terror (at Disneyland). He is such a funny kid. I should learn to never be surprised.

Disneyland

2011-01-21T11:44:00.001-08:00

We had the best trip ever to Disneyland. This was the first visit for all the kids so they were excited and unsure what this was going to be all about.

Here are the kids are we are just getting on the road, all excited to be leaving town. They actually did really well on the trip down, we made a few potty stops, but had a great day of travel.

The kids were so excited to get to sleep in a hotel. They were a little wound up, so after this shot, we spent some time helping them actually settle down so they could sleep.

Emma and Gavin were so excited about the hotel elevator

Our first picture in the park, no one wanted to look because there were too many fun things to see

In front of Sleeping Beauty's castle

Riding the carousel

We met up with Trina, Kyle and Judy at the haunted mansion

In It's a Small World

Posing outside of Mickey's Toon town

Gavin in the toon town play area

Emma purposefully looking away for every picture

Meeting Minnie was such a treat for the twins

Bryce got chosen to go to the Jedi Training Academy

Darth Vader showed up to get all the kids to join the dark side

Bryce is fighting Darth Vader

He got his Jedi certificate after they fought and forced the bad guys to leave

Teacups... Emma was a little tired and sad until the ride started

Bryce loved spinning the cups

Trina and Kyle

Gavin on our second trip on Small World.

Goofy in California Adventure

Mater and Lightening McQueen

Our family in California Adventure

Waiting for the 3-D Bugs Life to start

Fun with Pluto and Mickey

Bryce loving the Ladybug ride

Bugs parachute ride

Emma with Ariel at the Princess lunch

Judy, Kyle, Trina and Karen enjoying appetizers

The kids waiting to meet some princesses

Our little knight

Bryce and Emma enjoying Snow White

Emma and Belle

Trina and Kyle at the carousel in California Adventure

The kids meeting the army soldier and Woody from Toy Story

Trina and Kyle in line for the Buzz Lightyear ride

Judy and Emma

The kids climbing on the big bear statue

Bryce on the zip line swing

We think these are the bears from the movie Brother Bear but we aren't sure

Our final day back in Disneyland

Dumbo

My little monkeys in the cage on Casey Jr. Emma picked the pink car

Karen, Judy and Kyle on the Winnie the Pooh ride

Gavin pretending to eat Pooh's hunny

Bryce getting ready to ride the Indiana Jones ride with mom

Waiting for the train to arrive

Emma letting us know it was time to go home with her sad and grumpy face. We took that last train all the way around, picked out a special toy and were on our way home.

Gavin riding his favorite ride-the tram to the parking lot =)

We can't wait to plan another trip in the future.

Signs of the Times

2011-01-13T09:14:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I recieved a email from Bryce's teacher explaining that they had a drill to handle if intruders came to the school. She explained that they had quite a discussion about strangers and some of the kids seemed concerned so maybe the parents should discuss this a little further. I asked Bryce about the drill, did they just have to hurry in and get counted in cases of abduction. I am not sure why I was naive to the kind of drill it was, he said no mom we had to come in the class and hide under our desks so no one could see us. They were not practicing for the possiblity of someone being kidnapped, they were practicing for the possibility of someone coming to the school to attack them. What a sometimes sad world we live in where kids have to learn there are people who might want to come and get them. I am glad he is learning how to be safe, but how sad that it is common enough to have to be practiced.
It just makes me want to take my kids and go hide away somewhere safe. =(

Things I would never have learned if I didn't have kids

2011-01-10T08:04:00.001-08:00

Even though it can take hours to clean a house, it takes less than 2 minutes to destroy it

No matter what kind of mood I am in, hearing a kid laugh can always make me smile

Kids are only tired when its time to clean up

The best time to clean is when everyone goes to bed so it can stay clean for at least 8 hours

Moms know the sound of thier kids cries even from a great distance

Homes with kids are not meant to have clean glass, and if I try to fight that and clean everything my kids will actually go out of their way to put thier handprints immediately back on any clean surface

It is possible to be dying to get a break from your kids but then find you miss them when you are away even for a short time

Sometimes you have to just join in the crazyness or you will end up a grumpy mom

Having the oppurtunity to be with your kids most of the day is truly a privelege, even though there are times it does not feel like it

If your kids get really quiet, its usually not a good thing

It's much harder on moms when kids grow up, I miss my little ones so much.

I have also learned I need to live in today, enjoying all the great things of now, not continually missing the past

Having a dance party is a great way to get everyones energy out

It's never good to compare your kids to other peoples kids

Nothing can make you happier than seeing your kids be sweet to each other

Nothing can make you sadder than seeing your kids be mean to each other

Kids give you a chance to experience all the fun things you loved as a kid again

That it is possible for a kid to get something on their head but then it can be physically impossible to remove it, like a potty seat.

As much as I love a clean house, some days its not worth fighting it

There are some foods that are not good choices for little kids, especially when you have to clean them up off the floors and walls

You can love so much it hurts

You can be angry enough to want to hurt someone

Christmas is way more fun when you have kids

Motherhood gives you so many phrases you could never imagine coming out of your mouth, as well as the oppurtunity to become your mother and say all those things your swore you would never say.

Nothing can install panic into a mother like the stomach flu. And sometimes you wonder if you will survive, but somehow everything gets back to normal again

Having kids makes you realize you can love someone more than you could have ever imagined.

There is nothing better than family snuggle time, seeing my kids accomplish new things and growing into wonderful people.

I am so thankful for all the things I have learned and will continue to learn along the way. This is definately the best job I could ever have.

Christmas, New Years and beyond

2011-01-09T09:04:00.000-08:00

We had a really nice Christmas. On Christmas day the kids got up and were so excited to see all the fun gifts they had gotten, plust they were dying to play with all the stuff from our Christmas eve party as well. Grandma Jensen came and had breakfast here and then we just had a quiet day of the kids playing with toys and watching movies. It was pretty low key and peaceful.

Here is the tree right before the kids started pulling everything out.

Santa brought the kids a cardboard castle they could color on, they spent a good part of the day in there.

Checking out all the doorways

The next week we had a super fun New Years eve party. Emma had such a good time that this is how I found her when I went to cover her up, she loved her tiara.

Our twins turned 3 this year so on January 2nd they officially became big kids and started in primary with the big kids. No more nursery and toys. They are doing so good with the adjustment, I think it was harder on Mom then it was on them. I can't believe we are past the baby stage, it went by way too quickly.

Here is Emma so happy to be a big girl

Gavin is excited

Emma looks so much taller, but I think its her shoes and hair bow. I think she is about 1/2 inch taller than Gavin.

Another really great thing happened this week, Gavin finally had potty training click and he is a big boy now, we are all so excited about that. I had to get a shot of him running around in his undies and wearing Bryce's snow boots.

I tried to get a nice picture of all the kids, but Bryce refused to smile. I told him I was going to save this so he could see how he acted so often. It kind of makes me smile that he can be so stubborn sometimes.

Alan had the Monday after New Years off since they had to work New Years Eve. Bryce was in school and off to a fun day at the Del Osso farms for sledding on the ice slide, so we decided to do something fun with the twins.

We decided to go to the zoo, it was fun but super cold that day, we all came home a bit frozen.

Here is Gavin posing for me

Having a happy day

They have been dying to ride these cars all year

Emma loved her giraffe

Gavin wanted the panda, but when another kid jumped on he agreed to a gorilla

Such a fun time of year. I am already looking forward to when we can have some more family time. We head out to Disneyland next week, I can't wait.

Christmas Eve

2010-12-27T10:43:00.000-08:00

We had a great day celebrating with our family.

Grandma and Emma

Emma and Scooby

Alan, Gavin and Bryce boxing on the Wii

Wonder twin powers

A visit with Santa

2010-12-19T21:50:00.001-08:00

I have to admit that even though I mostly enjoy that my kids have such a stressfree visit to Santa these days, there is a small part of me that misses when they would freak out when they had to sit on Santa's lap. I wonder if that makes me a little strange? I think its just one more reminder that they aren't little anymore. I even have a 6 year old that keeps questioning me if Santa is even real, I am not ready for all the wonder to go away. Tonight Bryce told me he does believe, so I am going to enjoy it for as long as it lasts.

Practicing our smiles before our turn to sit on Santa's lap

Eating cookies and playing Jingo- I think Emma was trying to show off her cookie

I love the joy that comes from kids at this time of the year, such a happy time.

Riding the Train of Lights in Niles

2010-12-07T09:43:00.000-08:00

For Christmas this year Anne got tickets for our family and for Mike and Gayle's family to ride the Christmas train of lights. We were all a little unsure what to expect since there were some mixed reviews out there that it could be boring. We knew Gavin would love it since he is especially fond of trains. We chose the one that left in the late afternoon and I think that was the best choice, we enjoyed the scenery on the way up and then enjoyed all the Christmas lights in the dark on the way home. We had a really fun time and the kids loved it. We went on Grandpa Jensen's birthday to celebrate him, it has been 6 years since he passed away. We also went to his favorite place to eat after, it was nice to have him part of our adventure too.

Here are the kids in front of an old fashioned light pole

With Grandma, they were so excited about getting on the train

The ticket taker made punching the tickets fun for the kids

Gavin trying out the seats to find the perfect one

Emma checking out the train

Anne, Hannah and Gayle

Emma, Gavin, Hayden, Bryce and Hannah with Santa and Mrs. Claus

Trying out another car

Grandma Jensen and Hayden

Emma would cover her ears whenever the train blew its horn

All of us in front of the train

Some pictures of the cars lit up

Halloween

2010-10-31T19:40:00.000-07:00

Cake walk prize

Judy, Trina and Kyle

Getting ready to Trunk or Treat

Cute Kyle

Bryce's school parade

Bryce getting in the Halloween sprit early. I also like to call this shot future blackmail.

Fun at the Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-16T21:19:00.001-07:00

We were able to go to the pumpkin patch this last week to celebrate a birthday party for our friend Caraline.
Here are the kids right as we are coming it, it was a bit bright out, thats why Gavin is so squinty.

Bryce wanted to make a funny face.

Emma posing by the corn, sadly the one of Gavin here had his eyes closed.

Getting ready to celebrate

Playing in the hay maze

Fun with Corn

Buried Alive

Good friends

One arm down, one to go

Having fun with the wagons

So cute and so dirty, this is right before we were leaving, the kids were covered in dirt.

Checking out our annual stats

Such happy kids, fun day!

Bryce's big night

2010-09-28T08:43:00.000-07:00

Bryce participated in our summer reading game at the library. He had to read 100 books and then got some prizes. One thing all the kids who finished get to do is meet the mayor of Livermore. We had told Bryce he was going to get to shake the mayors hand and be on tv (our public city channel). I think he was nervous about what a mayor was, we told him, but as he sat in line he and a few new friends had a ton of fun imagining all the things the mayor could be like a lion, or snake or underwear etc. I am sure after that he was a little dissapointed that it was just an older man. It was over 100 degress yesterday so it was still a little warm at 6, but we survived and then the kids picked Weinershnitzel for their special treat after. We had a nice evening.

In line ready to march over

The big moment ( I heard the mayor tell a few kids, make sure you come back next year, but could not hear what he told Bryce, when I asked Bryce he said "I don't know" so I am thinking he was not paying too much attention. =)

We took a few shots of the kids on the library and city council grounds right after

Showing off his medal

Our frog prince statue

It has been so fun to see reading become something Bryce enjoys. He is really doing well with it and we are so proud of him.

!st day of Preschool

2010-09-08T13:22:00.001-07:00

It is hard to believe Emma and Gavin are already old enough for preschool. They have been really excited about it starting. I am grateful to do a mom's co-op group so that I get to be a part of their first year. We have a much smaller group than we did with Bryce, I think it will be a much calmer experience. Plus we have three girls and one boy so it was a pretty quiet first day. The kids were all so cute, and I know we are going to have a fun year.

Snack time- we made catepillar so we had pudding that looked like dirt with gummy worms, it was kind of funny because 3 year olds believe you when you tell them its dirt and then don't really want to believe you when you tell them its good to eat.

Worms

We had lots of dress up fun

Even Gavin, I worried that he would feel sad that he was the only boy, but he is not complaining.

I am thankful for so many fun and happy times with the kids.

Ardenwood

2010-09-04T20:39:00.000-07:00

Today we had a fun day at the Ardenwood historic farm. It was a special train day so we knew that would be something the boys would love.
Here are the kids at the old Ardenwood station. It used to be an official stop between Oakland and Santa Cruz.

Alan and Bryce had the chance to help ride on a hand car, they loved it.

We were afraid if we took our whole family we might lose a few kids on the way, so Anne and the twins and I went on the regular train.

This is the train we rode on, it was built in the 1890"s and boy did it stink when they burned the coal.

They had this special instrument, I can't remember the name now, but it looked like a player piano, playing the songs without anyone there, the kids loved it.

Trina and Kyle while we had lunch.

Gavin taking a ride on Dad.

There were lots of fun animals to see. We saw several cows, bunnies, pig and chickens.

The highlight of the day for the kids were all the model railroad sets they had up on display, the boys just went around and around and looked at them. We also got to enjoy popcorn that had grown on the farm as well as some fresh baked cookies. The weather was perfect today, in the lower 80's. I think it was a pretty perfect day.

Here is Gavin in front of the train Alan and Bryce went on. I love his super cheesy smiles.

The other day the twins found Bryce's new pen and paper set but decided the paper was really not necessary. Thank goodness it was washable ink.
Emma

Gavin-he was not as determined as Emma was.

Bryce is a first grader

2010-08-25T08:27:00.001-07:00

Bryce had his first day of school yesterday. He was pretty excited and not too nervous. I was a little sad because I couldn't take him to class like I did last year. So Alan dropped him off and then my mom came with me to pick him up. He said he loved everything about his first day and was looking forward to going back today.
Here he is out in front of the house ready to go.

Gavin and Grandma waiting for Bryce to get out of class. We went a little early to get good parking since I was wearing the boot and shoe from the foot surgery.

Bryce in front of his classroom

His new desk, and he is showing off the chocolate bar his teacher gave him. He had that whole thing eaten before we had even stated driving.

The other side of the door, he is a Lion this year.

Mmmmm chocolate

A day out with Thomas

2010-07-30T21:47:00.000-07:00

Today we took the kids to a super fun day of train riding in Felton. Once a year they bring in a Thomas train and have a ton of extra things for the kids like face painting, jumpy houses, bubbles and train tables.
Gavin especially was in heaven, he is the lover of trains. We got our tickets back in the spring so he has been so patient in waiting for today to arrive. It was so sweet this morning when he was in the bath he would ramdomly yell out yahoo just thinking about his day. I think we all enjoyed it, but Gavin loved it. Its funny because just about three years ago we took Bryce and he was so excited about all train things and today he said he was happy to come home. It's prbably a little sad to grow up.

Here is Alan and the twins on the train shuttle into the park

Sooooo excited.

Here are all the kids after getting their faces painted. Emma got a flower, Bryce a shark and Gavin a Thomas train.

We never got in the line to get a picture in front of the train, but at least we have this

Waiting to get on the train

Getting ready to leave the station

Enjoying the ride and the beauty of the trees and water

Tether ball and jumpy houses

The magician had the ball spinning on the stick Bryce was holding, but you can't see it so well in a photo

Percy

Waiting for the shuttle train to take us back to our car

I am so happy Gavin got to have this special day. It was such a nice day to spend as a family, it makes me appreciate this cute stage he is in so much more to see how quickly the joy for all of this passes. Such a happy day!

Fun trip to the beach

2010-07-24T14:11:00.000-07:00

Our poor kids have been wanting to go to the beach forever. They finally got thier wish. We met up with the Whitemyer family for a day of fun.

Here Bryce is with his seaweed name, Kim helped him spell it out.

Emma loved the water and was so cold but never wanted to get out

Gavin was a bit more leary of the water, but by the end of the day he started getting a little more brave.

Mindi, the kids, Alan and Chloe

Kim and Dawson

Bryce and Emma warming back up after coming out of the water

Gavin and Emma found this whole and had so much fun playing in it. I think they spent at least an hour in there

Jason, Jenn and the kids got dressed up for a nice picture, here is one we took

I tried to get a few nice ones of Emma hoping for something I might be able to blow up and put on her wall, but with the wind and bright sun I just could not get any perfect shots.

I did love her sad face here

Visit with Hunter

2010-07-17T09:23:00.000-07:00

We had a fun visit with Hunter this week. We were able to go to the Oakland zoo, along with other cousins. We also went to Lake Elizabeth and let the kids catch crawdads.

Waiting for everyone else to get to the zoo.

Bryce, Hunter Emma, Gavin, D.J. and Danielle

Hunter and Bryce on the snake

Cute twins

Waiting for the big kids on the skymover

So much fun

Coming back in

Waiting for the train

Picnic at Lake Elizabeth

Crawdads

A closer view

Grandma helping Emma fish

So yummy

Bryce finally holding a crawdad

Gavin guarding the bucket of crawdads, right before we threw them all back

Emma after she fell in the water, so sad and itchy.

Camping at Fairyland

2010-07-11T10:24:00.001-07:00

Bryce and Alan had a fun night camping over at our local kids park Fairyland. Bryce was excited to meet lots of new friends and had a good time playing with them. They have an old town there and he and his friends loved locking each other in the jail.
They had a magician who performed all kinds of tricks and told jokes. He did get a little nervous when he juggled some knives, but loved when he ate fire.
We are hoping we can take the twins in a year or two as well, such a fun experience.

The owl and the pussycat boat

Playing in the bamboo at the picnic/campground area

All of our kids favorite ride, the train

Playing in old town

Getting the tent all set up. Bryce actually helped hammer in all the stakes. Alan was so grateful the ground was so soft in Oakland.

So much fun

Emma finally got her turn with Grandma

2010-07-04T19:52:00.000-07:00

Emma has been so patient waiting for her turn to go to Grandma's and paint bird houses. She was not sad when Gavin went because she and I had a special date planned while Bryce wen to a birthday party. But then later that week Grandma came and got Bryce to run a few errands with her. Right after she left Emma ran up to me and said so sad and sweet, "Is it my turn now Mom?" I felt so bad for her at that moment, but we told her that her special day was coming and a few days later she got to go to Grandma's to paint her birdhouse and a little box she could bring home.

Working on her box

You can see her birdhouse on the table. She was so excited to show us when we came to get her.

I am not sure if it was her idea or Grandma's to do some of the same poses as Gavin, but she pointed out the pictures that were just like Gavin's.

Playing with Grandma's toys

Poor Grandma Sheryl has been putting in lots of kid duty lately. She was so nice to come watch the kids so Alan and I could go see a movie. Here are Gavin and Bryce after they had a water fight. Gavin told me it was everyone against Bryce, and it was fun to see him get wet, since usually he just gets the twins.

Grandma let Bryce use her camera to take a few pictures that day and here is one he got of her, I actually thought he got a nice picture. Of couse he got about 10 other unuseable shots, but I am thinking he may be ready to have our old camera to start taking more pictures, he sure loves taking them.

We feel thankful for all our fun times with Grandma Sheryl.

Bryce's chance to learn a little about how the dentist really works

2010-07-02T15:07:00.000-07:00

About a month ago we took Bryce into the dentist for his regular cleaning. We had realized he had a permanant tooth growing in behind his baby tooth but that the tooth was not really lose. They told us to have him wiggle it and if it didn't come lose soon to come have it pulled. I am not sure if Bryce did not understand what was involved with having a tooth pulled, but he insisted that is what he wanted done. Not only insisted but jumped up and down when I said ok I will call the dentist. So on the morning of the appointment I was so nervous and Bryce was ecstatic.
Here he is outside of the dentist office

He told me he was feeling confident at this point

This is about where everything changed for him. They put some numbing gel on and then started the shot, Bryce did pretty good but yelled ow a time or two. He also was not too good with the water and spit tools and at one point spit water all over himself, the dentist and assistant. At our office they give one shot, let you get numb and then do a second. He was pretty nervous to get the second shot but was happy when he realized he didn't feel it.

After the shots were done he got relaxed pretty fast, and the whole extraction took maybe a minute or less

Here he is after with his gauze, luckily it only bled for a few minutes and not much at that. Here he is with Dr. Hansen.

A new smile

Bryce put a special request to the tooth fairy, I guess he asked her for 100 coins, so he was pretty happy to wake up to 100 pennies under his pillow. In fact he was so excited he had to get up at 6:30am to show us.

Bryce says that he didn't like getting a tooth pulled as much as he thought, so that if another grows in the same way he will work much harder at wiggling it himself...we will see how that goes.

Summer Randoms

2010-06-30T15:00:00.000-07:00

Here are just a few random pictures from some of the things we have been doing this summer...

I love this shot of the twins hugging

A trip to Fairyland with Judy and Trina and Kyle

A fun day with Jenn and the kids, here Chloe is entertaining the kids

Jenn painted some flowers in Emma's room. Emma gets so excited whenever she sees she always tells me how Jenn painted it for her.

This picture made me laugh. The kids are not allowed to touch the camera but somehow I always find weird pictures of toys and other kind so random stuff. Bryce will tell me he didn't use the camera, then I find this picture. Not too good with hiding evidence.

Father's Day

Gavin's Day with Grandpa and Grandma

2010-06-24T12:05:00.000-07:00

Gavin got to have a special day with Grandpa and Grandma last week. It is Grandma Sheryl's tradition to have each of the her grandkids paint a birdhouse and then she displays them in her back yard. Gavin really enjoyed his special one on one time and has been talking about it ever since he came back. I am so thankful that my kids get to grow up with grandparents who live nearby and enjoy spending time with them.
Here is Gavin working on his birdhouse

Even Buddy wanted to get in on the action. I am surprised Grandma has not made a kitty print birdhouse yet

Gavin being king of the world

Having fun in the backyard

Grandma let Gavin paint a little box and put a surprise in for Alan for Fathers day but somehow I don't think Dad has seen much of this box. Gavin will say he made it for Dad, but he doesn't seem interested in sharing it with him. =)

It's always a great day if Gavin is spending time with one of his Grandma's

We had Grandma Jensen over on Fathers Day to have dinner with us, and Gavin was like a little shadow to her all the time she was here. All the kids love their Grandma's, but Gavin has a special fondess for them that is far and above the othes. Thank goodness he got such wonderful Grandparents.

The Best Dad Ever

2010-06-20T09:37:00.000-07:00

I am so thankful that our kids have such a wonderful Dad who likes to spend time with them. He is a hands on Dad which is something that made having twins a much happier experience for all of us. I know that the kids all love their Dad a ton.
Happy Fathers Day Alan!

Bryce is officially a kindergarten graduate

2010-06-12T21:06:00.000-07:00

Thursday was Bryce's last day of school. He was able to perform with his kindergarten class as well as all 100 kindergartners. He did a pretty good job singing, but seemed to take singing breaks during the performance. We noticed the girls were much more focused on singing than the boys, not really sure why.

Here Bryce is proudly showing off his certificate and eagle feather he recieved for learning to write his numbers correctly.

Here he is getting ready for the show to start

Bryce loved his teacher Mrs. Deleon very much

Emma and Gavin hanging out at the school

So last year I had this bright idea that I would put Bryce in the same outfit on the first day and then on the last day to see how much he had grown. This year they asked the kids to wear nicer clothes on the last day so we had to wait until after school to do our photo comparison. I really don't see a major change in his size in the last 9 months. The main difference I noticed was the big whole in his knee. For some reason that has never been made known to me, Bryce gets a big whole in every pair of pants he owns, always on the same side. He then proceeds to pull it until it is torn from seam to seam. At first I tried to replace a few pair since it looked bad but when the new pairs looked the same exact way within one month we decided to embrace the holiness and pretend we do it on purpose.

So here are our comparison pictures

Last August

Current

Here is where I see the big difference, the twins have really grown into big kids over this school year.

Last August

And Thursday

This was such a fun year for Bryce. He learned how to read and so many other great things. I am excited to see what first grade will bring us next year.

My how I love these kids!

2010-06-09T10:16:00.000-07:00

I love my kids all the time, but there are so many moments when I look at them and am amazed that we have them. I feel so lucky that I was chosen to be their mom and look forward to all the joy they bring to us. Many years ago before I ever had kids I had a friend tell me she was jealous of my life, my house was clean and I had plenty of time to myself. At the that I sympathized and imagined I would feel the same way some day. To be honest I have never once envied the life we had before kids, it was not half as great as life is now. Not that we don't have frustrating times with the kids, but the good times far outweigh any hard times we face. It does take so much more work to keep the house clean and we don't get to do things for just ourselves but when I look at these happy faces and can't imagine any other life without them in it. They truly changed our lives for the better and they are the best gift I have ever recieved.

Father and Son Campout

2010-06-05T12:24:00.000-07:00

Alan took the boys on their first campout. It was at Coyote Hills in Fremont. The boys were both super excited about sleeping in a tent.

"Helping" Dad set up the tent

Bryce loved the dirt hill...well until he fell and got dirt in his mouth (the fall and dirty mouth part came the next morning)

Gavin and a friend

Bryce refusing to look at Alan for any photos

Enjoying their bed in the tent

Our smelly boys made it home in one piece and no one caught on fire (apparently that has happened in previous years), so we will call it a successful trip.

On the home front Emma and I had plans for a great girls night and fun morning but unfortunately Emma was still feeling sick so we made the best of our time and look forward to other girly events in our future.

Open House

2010-05-28T15:23:00.000-07:00

Last night was Bryce's open house. We were excited to have Grandma Jensen, Annette, Hayden and Hannah join us for the event. This kids were very excited to check everything out. Afterwords Grandma Jensen took us all out to dinner. The kids were a little too excited to behave but otherwise it was a great evening.

This is Bryce in front of the cubbies

Aunt Nette and Grandma Jensen

Bryce showing off his work at his desk

Emma was especially excited about Bryces sea goggles he made

Gavin found a fun robot in the reading area

Hannah and Hayden on the reading couch

Grandma posing with the big kids

Here is a picture of Bryce's classroom and his teacher Mrs. Deleon on the right

This is a picture one of the mom's took in the morning before school one day, this is less than half of the class, but he really has had the best little group this year.

Celebrating

2010-05-17T20:27:00.000-07:00

We had a fun day celebrating Malaca's 3rd bithday. We were babysitting the Westover boys so they got to come along and we all enjoyed the celebration.
This is Grandma Jensen with all the kids. I am not sure why Bryce is so grumpy in this picture, but sadly all three shots look like this or worse, he is such a funny boy.

Emma and Hannah, cute cousins

Bryce after eating his chocolate cupcake

Gavin getting excited about getting a balloon from Aunt Cheryl

The kids all having fun together

Emma and Brigham

Mothers Day

2010-05-10T09:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a wonderful day to celebrate being a mom to my 3 favorite kids.
The kids were able to help Alan make breakfast, well as much as kids can really help and they all drew me nice pictures. Bryce was so excited by the picture he made for me he took it and gave it to Grandma Marver for her birthday, I pretended to give him a hard time for giving away my card but really thought it was sweet he wanted to do something for his great-grandma.
We were able to go to Grandma Marvels to celebrate her 94th birthday yesterday. It was so nice because the kids are getting to an age where they can play without me having to worry about what they are up to every second. They did a great job behaving and I was so proud of them. After the party we brought the twins home for nap time and Alan and I were both able to take a nap while Bryce watched a show, such a nice relaxing day.

I truly feel blessed to have the kids I have.
Bryce is such a sweet boy and loves hugs and snuggling, it makes me sad that there will be a time not that far in the future where he wont be as fond of hanging out with mom and dad. He is doing so well in school and far exceeding all we had hoped for him. The picture below was one day when Bryce was about to get in the shower and had on my costume glasses from a 50's party we went to. He posed some funny shots that day and lets say I have some good blackmail photos for future use.

I love how much Emma loves accesories, purses, hats, backpacks or just about anything else you can think of. She knows she is a princess and loves all things fairytale. There is not a day that Emma does not make me smile or laugh. She loves life and is such a happy girl. Emma has a very tender heart, I love how much she loves people and animals.

Gavin used to be our shy one, but this year he is really coming out of his shell and getting more comfortable in new situations. He is still quiet, but can be so funny. He truly has the sweetest disposition. If Emma is crying over a toy he has even if she is being kind of a pain, he will stilll give it to her to make her happy. He is such a snuggly loving boy.

I am thankful every single day to be a mom.

3 years ago today

2010-04-18T09:19:00.001-07:00

Something amazing and unexpected happened 3 years ago today. Our twins decided to come over two months early. Their birth really turned things upside down for a while, but through it all they have always brought so much joy to our family. I feel blessed everyday for these two precious little kids, they truly are an answer to so many prayers.

Emma came first and was so tiny at 3lbs 11oz.

Gavin was a little bigger at 4lbs 2 oz.

Now its almost hard to imagine my big kids as those tiny little babies that were with us for such a short time. Our big kids are full of energy, and mischief. They take life on full force and make us laugh every day. We are so happy to celebrate this special day with them.

Here are all the kids today. Time is always passing way to quickly, but what a joy to share our lives with them!

Other good news this week, the twins started speech just a few months shy of two, they were quite delayed. So after a little less than a year of therapy they were tested by the school district to see if they would still qualify. Not only did they not qualify anymore they tested ahead of their age, such great news.

Time is passing by quickly

2010-04-11T14:49:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a big day for the twins, they moved to big kid beds. It was kind of sad taking down the cribs, knowing this will probably be it for babies. I am trying to tempt fate by giving away all my baby stuff, but my friend says it wont work if you do it on purpose.
The kids were so excited to help us take the cribs down. Here is Emma saying her goodbyes to her crib.

Bryce was good to help us take the canopy apart.

Gavin having his last moment in the crib, he was cute I asked if he wanted to get in for a picture and say goodbye to his crib, he said yes, but the second I snapped the picture, he said he was done and ran off, I don't think he felt the same nostalgic feelings I did. I just can't believe it was three years ago that I was getting ready to put these tiny little babies in their cribs. Its funny how small they looked in the big crib, and now these days how huge they were looking in the small cribs. Now as I look at them in the big beds it just brings me back full circle with them again.

So Gavin will start with the trundle bed, and we just moved it so its behind when you look in the door. Its perfect for me not to worry about him falling out. I should have taken a picture after the beds were made up, the boys have cute bug bedding.

Emma gets the big bed that will double for a guest bed when anyone ever comes to stay. The kids were all so excited to try out all the beds yesterday.

Emma so happy with her pink bed. And lets be honest, there is a lot of pink, something I never thought I would pick.

Another sign of the twins growing up. We were on our way home from Tracy yesterday and someone said something that made Bryce cry, I can't even remember what that was. Emma turns to Gavin and says" Gavin, Bryce is crying like a baby". Gavin then responds to Emma," I know Wah Wah Wah", it totally made us laugh. We truly are blessed with the best kids.

Such a happy day

2010-04-04T20:54:00.001-07:00

Today was a great day. We had a nice quiet Easter morning at home with the kids. The Easter bunny tried to be smart and give the kids the same items but their own colors. Unfortunately Bryce decided that even thought he got two of something, he really needed all six things and kept trying to steal them away from the twins... but besides that we had tons of fun.
Then tonight we had family and friends over to celebrate all the kids birthdays. We often do a dinner right in the middle of the kids birthdays so we can just do one big celebration and this year it just happened to land on Easter. I did not get as many pictures as I would like but know several others took some, so I will probably add a few more later.
We had a nice dinner and cake. Emma said her favorite part was wearing princess clothes and blowing out pink candles. She really is such a fun girl who keeps us entertained with all the cute things she has to tell us. I love how excited she gets about purses and jewelry and dolls, its so fun for me to have a girl to share those things with.
Here she is all decked out in her princess gear.

I guess it was unanimous with the twins, when I asked Gavin what his favorite part of this day was he said blue candles on the cake, they both told me seperately so I guess blowing out candles had a big impact on them both. Gavin loved playing trains today, he is going to be so excited when we to to our day out with Thomas this summer. I am so excited to see how happy he will be.

Bryce got his favorite things, dinosaur stuff. Bryce says you can never get too much dinosaur stuff and after watching him play I believe him. Here he was giving me a great dinosaur face. He really has grown so much into a big boy. Grandpa Tom taught him how to play checkers tonight, it makes me so happy to see him grow and a little sad to think of the fact that he is not my little guy anymore.

Emma is modeling her new spring outfit and little tulip purse to match.

Here is Willow hanging out in the bathroom sink, she is such a funny cat.

Bryce had the chance to bring his class mascots home from school for the weekend and we were supposed to document some of the things we did with Eddy and Edgar. Bryce's class is the eager eagles.

Here Bryce is playing fuseball with them.

Grandma Jensen came to babysit and got to pose with them.

Emma is always looking for new hats

Rudy the dinosaur playing hide and seek with the eagles.

One other cool thing happened this week. Bryce's class had an Easter egg hunt and one kid could find the golden egg and win a chocolate Peter Rabbit. Bryce told me how much he wanted to win and I had to remind him that so did all the other 19 kids in his class, but lucky for him he found the golden egg, he was so excited, it made me so happy for him.

Spring is here

2010-03-21T18:04:00.000-07:00

I can't remember when I have been more excited about spring. This has been a much colder winter full of yucky colds for our family. It has been so nice to see the sun this week and have our windows open. I am sure there will be a day I will be sad that it's hot this summer but for now I am in heaven.
Here are a few pictures of the twins today. They stayed home from church since Gavin had a stuffy nose and I decided Emma was better off having a nap if I was going to be home anyways. The twins are really sweet together most of the time, they have rare moments of being mad at each other but for the most part they are good friends.
They just happened to match today and Emma was loving the new hat and skirt Jenn brought her yesterday so we got out the camera.

Cheese!

Happy Birthday Bryce

2010-03-18T11:02:00.001-07:00

I can't belive my little guy is now 6, where has the time gone. He has grown into such a fun boy. He had a great day yesterday celebrating at home and school and with friends.

Bryce hugging himself because the twins refused to give him a birthday hug.

The kids enjoying cake time

Daffodils 2010

2010-02-21T08:34:00.000-08:00

So it was that time of year. The time of year I look forward to with a little joy and a little dread at the same time. Its fun to think about getting out into the spring flowers and picking out cute things to wear, and at the same time dreading how chaotic it can be trying to get kids to smile and not wanting to be mad the whole time.

This year turned out to be not too bad. We invited Jenn and the kids to come up too, so they had a delay in getting here so by the time we were heading out we were an hour into the twins normally scheduled nap time. Gavin was suffering with a cold so I knew he really needed to rest. As Emma cried in the car on the way over becuase someone looked at her funny I knew time was not on our side. I promised the kids if they would try we would be done quick, and so I don't think we spent even 10 minutes with them and Alan whisked them home for the much needed nap. I think we got a few cute pictures in spite of everything. It was extrememly cold yesterday only in the 50's so that made it hard to get happy faces when we were all freezing. Its just fun to see how much my kids have grown each year.

Our first year

Last year

Yesterday

Poor Gavin was starting to feel tired and sad so we knew it was time to be done.

Here are two shots of Jenns kids, they always pose so well, I am hoping our kids will be able to do that someday.

The post I should have written

2010-02-20T13:32:00.000-08:00

I was sitting here this morning getting all nostalgic wanting to write about all the cute things my kids are doing and saying. I opened the page to start and the screaming started. After having a talk with Bryce on why it is not good to torture people my mushy love feelings all went on a short vacation. So I will put off my shmoopie post for another day. We are off to take pictures on the hill in town where wild daffodils grow. I am planning to put my kids in spring clothes because well you can't wear coats in daffodils and its just over 50 degrees outside...maybe that will be enough punishment for all the trouble we had this morning, we will see.

Happy Valentines

2010-02-14T16:52:00.001-08:00

I really have not had a lot to post lately. We have had a real gloomy winter so we have been spending much more time indoors than I would like. This week we finally got a little bit warmer and a little sun, I am so happy. I am excited tomorrow we are taking the kids to Fairyland since Alan is off for Presidents day. I am just happy to be getting out.
Here are a few shots of the kids right after church today.

I am thankful to celebrate Valentines with our little family. Our kids truly make each day special in so many ways.

Potty time

2010-01-27T20:25:00.000-08:00

So we had been debating whether it was time for potty training. I think I have been a little more leery taking on the task since it's twice the fun this time. So we decided it couldn't hurt to try. We went shopping and the kids picked out their underwear, they were both very adamant about which characters they were going to pick and neither one wavered even when faced with more options like Sesame Street, and Wonder pets.
We invited Bryce to join the twins for a potty underwear party. Everyone got really excited and got on the new underwear. Things actually went great for about an hour. I got on the phone and called Grandma's so the twins could brag about being big kids, only to have the call to my mom interupted by Emma peeing on the couch. That was definately not in the game plan. Still hopefull we put on the second set of Dora underwear and started again. We sad Emma on the toilet for several minutes only to have her go potty on the floor 2 minutes after she got off. Gavin actually made it longer but in the end we realized neither was quite ready so the cute underwear got packed up for a few more months. I am happy we tried, but am happy to wait until they are a little more ready.
My boys at the potty party.

One day after church I just snapped a few shots of the kids, I never got a good one with everyone smiling and cooperating, but I have just accepted thats how it goes with three young kids.

My kids 2009 review

2010-01-06T10:10:00.000-08:00

I have to say that even though there are days where I feel frustrated I would not change one thing in my life. I am so thankful for the children that we have been blessed to raise. They truly bring one thousand times more joy than any frustrations that come from little kids. I am so thankful to get to spend every day with them and grateful to share in all the special little moments we have together.

Bryce has grown by leaps and bounds this year. It has been amazing to watch him learn to read, he continues to amaze me everyday how quickly he has picked it up. I love all the little bits of information he shares with me that he learns in school. He loves learning new things but especially all things about dinosaurs. I am amazed at how much Bryce knows about all the species of dinosaurs. He says he is going to be a paleontologist someday, so we will see how long this love of dinosaurs lasts. He was so cute on Christmas eve with our extended family. He would get so excited everytime he opened a dinosaur he would have to tell everyone to stop opening gifts so they could see, truly expecting that everyone else in the room would be equally thrilled with each gift. He truly has a tender heart and is really striving to be better at obeying. He is a very special kid.

Emma has really exploded with language this year. It's so weird now that she only had two words at the beginning of the year as now she fills our days with tons of happy chatter about everything. She loves animals so much, poor Willow has learned to tolerate Emma's love and actually lets Emma get close to her, something she still doesn't allow with Bryce. Some of her favorite things to say "My do it" and she insists on doing anything she can. Yesterday we went through Taco Bell to get some quesadillas, after I ordered I thanked that man in the speaker. She yelled out the window "Thank you, bye bye robot" it made me laugh as I tried to explain that was not a robot but a man on a microphone, when we got to the window it was a women so I am sure she still thinks it was a robot. She is such a happy fun girl. I can't imagine how sad it would have been to not have had both boys and girls in our family, it is amazing to me how different they can be and I love my fun little girly girl.

My little Gavin bug, what can I say, he is such a sweet boy. He truly had a joyful heart and a tender spirit. I love how what a snuggler and lovey boy he is. When its time for bed, he points to my bed so we can snuggle and simply says bed, knowing that means snuggling and singing. We like to play making different sandwiches as we snuggle so we all take turns being the bread, or peanut butter, or jam etc. He is always pretty calm, but when we has his mind to somthing he can be a bit stubborn at times too. He is a man of few words, so the ones we hear are always precious. My favorite is when we sing 5 little monkeys, he does the cutest hand and words for no more monkeys jumping on the bed. I need to get that on video soon. He is a busy little guy who loves trains, everything is about Thomas right now. He is truly a joy to spend my days with.

It's amazing how fast the time is going, shortly we will be switching to big kid beds, underwear and Bryce will be growing in so many other ways. It seems this time just passes by so quickly and I really want to focus on how precious it is. I am so thankful for all the small moments of joy that we had this year. I am looking forward to seeing what 2010 has in store for us.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-29T08:44:00.000-08:00

We had a nice peaceful Christmas. Thursday night we went to my aunts house and had a nice Christmas eve party. Bryce was so excited about all the dinosaurs he got. Then Christmas we stayed home and and Anne came and had breakfast with us. It was a quiet day where the kids just played with toys most of the day. Our house looked like a bomb went off, but we decided fun was more important than order.
Here are the kids in their matching jammies

Bryce wrote Santa a letter and left some cookies and celery

Gavin having fun with the food for the reindeers. When we went up to put Bryce to bed we came down to find Gavin had eaten Santa's cookies. Happily that was one job checked off the list.

Bryce got dinosaur puppets, he thought they made great slippers and gloves.

Some fun stuff from Santa

Its amazing how fast the holiday season comes and goes, but we are so thankful for all the joys it brought to our house.

Visit to Santa

2009-12-11T08:16:00.000-08:00

I have to admit our visit to Santa started out on a bad note. It was somewhat crazy to get everyone changed into something clean to run over to the church at night. When we grabbed the camera we realized it was messed up. I found out Bryce had been playing with it and dropped it. I was so bummed, but luckily after working on it for about a half hour it seems like its ok again. The main reminder of that night is these pictures ended up in widescreen, but I am glad I was able to take them. I wish my kids were not so destructive with everything.
Emma was a little unsure of Santa and refused to sit on his lap, but much better than last year.

Having fun on the church piano

The twins enjoying their candy from Santa

If you are wondering where Bryce was in the last pictures, so were we. He took off in a sugar frenzy running around the church. Two searchers and about 15 minutes later her turned up.

Happy Thanksgiving 2009

2009-11-26T23:51:00.001-08:00

As this Thanksgiving comes to a close I just wanted to write how Thankful I am for so many things, most importantly my family. I could not ask for anything better than time with my hubby and kids. We spent a wonderful Thanksgiving with the Jensen side of our family but also got to stop in and say hi to my family too. We truly are blessed in so many ways.

My sweet Emma

Gavin wearing a cute hat out of Grandma Jensens box of hats

Bryce enjoying a cookie with whipped cream - he told us he was only thankful for dinosaurs and mammels this year.

Emma just loves these toy glasses that are at Grandmas house. She will be one of the few kids who will be thrilled if she ever has to wear glasses.

Each of our kids is a truly unique gift and we are so very thankful.

My Little Turkey

2009-11-20T17:11:00.000-08:00

Today all the kindergartners preformed the Turkey Tango and another Thank you song with sign language. It was really cute to watch. It was fun to have Grandma Sheryl come too to support Bryce, it's so nice to have her nearby.

Tango moves

another reanactment of his turkey moves

It never takes long for his hats to get messed up

It is sure a joy to see our little guy turning into such a big kid and doing so many new and exciting things.

Our church Halloween Trunk or treat party

2009-10-29T07:52:00.001-07:00

The kids had a lot of fun at the church Halloween party. Now we just have the school party Friday night and then Halloween on Saturday. Oh we also have a costume parade Friday morning, so I am thinking we may just stay home Saturday night and have the kids help hand out the candy. This kind of excitement is a lot for the kids to take and still be happy.