Jean Valjean

{{While watching Les Miserables in concert on PBS on a Sunday afternoon}}

McKenna: Mom, why are they calling Jesus "Jean Valjean?"

Our Valentine's Birthday

We celebrated another birthday for Dave this week.

Read about it here.

Can't even express how much we love this guy.

Katie's First Piano Recital

In January, Katie had her first piano recital.
She takes group lessons from a friend of mine and she loves it.

The group played a few pieces together.
Then Katie performed a solo of "Go Tell Aunt Rhody."
She was awesome! We were so proud of her!

It's A Free Country!

Katie cracks me up. She is five going on thirteen. I'm already seeing a little pre-teeny bopper coming out of her and I'm not sure what to think. For now, I just laugh. To myself, of course.

Today, in the car, she says:

Katie: Mom! I couldn't believe it! Yesterday, JJ was like, 'Emma, this is for someone else.' It was soooooo mean.

Mom: Oh no.

Katie: I mean, ya, it's a free county!

Toothless

Katie surprised us tonight by popping her tooth out by herself in the bath.
She's been wiggling it like crazy, desperate for another visit from the Tooth Fairy. I have to admit, I didn't think she had it in her to pull it out. Every time we offered, she would give us a nervous, "No!"

But she did it!
And now she has a new smile fit for an almost six-year-old.

Meeting the GG Busaths

Classic example of why I'm loving this photography class.
The prompt today, "Generations," stretched my creativity and led me to take this shot. Otherwise, I'm sure I wouldn't have taken it.
Now I have a photo of Katie with her Great-Grandma & pa Busath.

Katie has not yet met them, but she knows that she is named after her Great-Grandma Joys. I also have not yet met Grandma Joy Busath, but I know that she is a very special lady. I hope Katie looks to her throughout her life. I see her example and legacy lasting in the family and am so thankful for her and her faithfulness.

Rhyme Time

{{to keep us busy on our way to Home Depot}}

Meg: What rhymes with car?
McKenna: Guitar. Jafar.

Meg: What rhymes with tire?
McKenna: Choir.

Meg: What rhymes with ladder?
McKenna: Mad hatter.

:0)

She's a clever girl, that one.

Our Fashionista

Katie went to a diva birthday part today.
She was quite the fashionista. Or Madonna.

We have packed all our dressups, so Katie got to raid my closet and jewelry box. Lucky girl. She was in heaven. We had a fun photoshoot after she was all dolled up.

Dainties

This might be my most favorite picture of Brooke.
Since she was born she has always had her blankie in hand and two fingers in her mouth. In her days of pacifiers, she would still shove her fingers in her mouth along with the binkie. This blankie is her best bud and has been named "Dainties." I love it. And oh do I love her!

I'm flexing and stretching my photography skills (or lack there of) in a free online photography class (Thanks Liz!) through the month of February. The class is called "the joy of LOVE" and we're supposed to take pictures of those we love while practicing skills and tips from each class.

I'll be posting most of my pictures over at So Buttons, but some may find their way over here, since my subjects are our sweet little girls. Naturally.

D.E.A.R.

It's been a while since we've updated our D.E.A.R. list, so excuse the catching up.
In fact, I'm going to continue D.E.A.R. over on So Buttons, so if you are interested in what we're reading and our simple reviews, check it out over there.

Here are a few of the chapter books that we've read in the past year:

Pollyana is a story loved by many, but this was actually my first time reading the story. I had never ever seen the movie. I know, it's hard to believe, but it's true. Katie & I read this around the time Brooke was born. If I remember correctly, Grandma Jensen read a few of the middle chapters with Katie.

This was a great story, very well written, and full of humor. I loved it. I think Katie was too young at the time to follow the story or to understand the humor. I'm not even sure that after watching the movie she understood the story any better. We will definitely try this one again now that she's older.

Pinnochio is also a classic that I had never read. My only experience was the Disney movie - which is very different from the book. This, in my opinion, in not appropriate for little kids. Pinnochio is very naughty! In the movie Pinnochio seems more innocent to me - as if he finds himself in trouble or in sticky situations. In the book, Pinnochio gets himself into mischief and is not a very good boy. How he ever turns into a real boy? I don't know. He definitely doesn't do anything to deserve it!

This was another story that was a bit too mature for Katie (we read it when she was barely 4). I found myself substituting a lot of words and skipping parts while reading it to her because I thought some of it was inappropriate for her.

Peter Pan I loved! Again, I was only familiar with the Disney movie and the stage production - never had read the book. But I loved it! And I think Katie & McKenna loved it too. They were also fairly familiar with the story which I think helped them follow along with the storyline. The pictures in our copy also helped. I'm pretty sure McKenna was more interested in the pictures than the story, but that's ok.

We love the fantasy, adventure, and imagery of Peter Pan. Reading it made us want to fly away to Neverland and play with the Lost Boys and Princess Tigerlily. We had a lot of fun reading this one.

The girls favorite part: the word "nincompoop." They couldn't get over how funny that word is and kept asking for me to "read the part that says nincompoop" over and over again. What can I say, it is a hilarious word!

Alice in Wonderland is a strange book. It is just strange. There is a lot of fantasy, strange characters, confusing conversation and riddles, and definitely a lot of intrigue. Did my 3 & 5 year follow the storyline? I'm pretty sure they didn't. Most of the time I don't think they had any idea what we were reading about. Not to mention the book hardly resembles the Disney movie that they are familiar with.

The biggest upside for the girls? This book also used the word nincompoop. :0)

Speaking of Disney's Alice in Wonderland...we just barely saw the latest version with Johnny Depp. I have to admit, I didn't think I would like it at all, but I loved it!

So what are we reading these days?
We have fallen in love with the Magic Tree House series. Fun, quick reads that are perfect for our little ones to follow. Brookie even likes listening and looking at the pictures.

Snow Storm of 2010

Sad I didn't get pictures of all the kiddos and cousins out playing in the snow, but happy I at least documented Brooke's first official snow play.

Ok snow, now that Christmas is over, I'm ready for you to go back to where you came from. Ok fine, I'll settle for you melting and making the flowers bloom. :)

Christmas 2010: O Christmas Tree!

Picking out our tree at our favorite local tree lot is always a fun tradition. We added Krispy Kreme donuts into the mix this year. Donuts + hot cocoa + decorating the tree = a favorite family activity. This year it was especially freezing when we went tree hunting and luckily we found our tree right away. I think this year we made record time in picking the perfect tree. And it actually did turn out to be our favorite tree we've had.

Christmas 2010: Christmas Eve

We had Christmas Eve dinner all together. Clint was a sport and sat at the kids' table. Couldn't pass up taking a picture of that! We had just enough seats (I think) for everyone. There's nothing better than having a house full of people you love!


After dinner the kiddos decorated cookies for Santa. There was lots of licking of frosting and mountains of sprinkles. So fun! Santa sure got a treat this year.

The kiddos all got coordinating pajammies from Grandma & Grandpa Jensen. I'm so glad we got some pictures of all of them together, happy, and cozy.


We were especially excited to meet our newest Jensen cousin, Garrett, and share in his first Christmas!

After all the kiddos were tucked in bed, the grown ups played a few rounds of Bananagram (another gift from G&G/Mom&Dad).


My favorite Christmas picture is all of these stockings hung together. Great-Grandma Jensen has knit all of these herself over the years for each one of us. They are precious to us and I absolutely loved seeing them all hung and stuffed side by side.

Christmas Eve was the slumber party of the year for us. Mom & Dad slept in our bed, Maya in the closet (it's a big closet), all the other cousins stuffed in our girls' room, Clint & Mari & Garrett in the playroom, and the rest of us camped out on the floor in the family room. It was perfect.

It still makes me happy thinking about Christmas 2010. I'm sure it always will. It was so wonderful have everyone stuffed in our house and so perfect to wake up Christmas morning all together. Christmas 2010 will be among our most favorite memories. I'm sure of it.

Christmas 2010: Happy Kids

Christmas morning was a hit. The woke not too early (around 7:30) and they were all patient enough to wait for the parents to clean up their beds from the family room floor. Each kids took their turn trying to sneak a peak as to whether Santa came. There was much discussion as to who Santa left the tricylce for under the tree. Maya was the lucky winner!



Everyone was happy (with the exception of a small accusation of someone being naughty...) with their loot from Santa. McKenna got her trumpet, Katie got her pillow pet, and Brooke was just happy to have anything. Jensen boys got legos and nurf guns, and Maya got the coveted tricycle.

Grandma & Grandpa Jensen got all the cousins coordinating pajammies that were opened on Christmas Eve along with personalized mini-clipboards & family journal pages. Each Christmas we get a page from her with family pictures from the previous year to collect. We look forward to this every year.

The excitment and anticipation of Christmas morning sure is fun with little ones around, and with eight cousins all together this year, it was more fun than ever.

It was fun to have [almost] everyone together this Christmas. We know it's not easy to travel around the holidays - especially when transporting Christmas presents for the family. We are so incredibly thankful that our family was willing and able to make the trek. This definitely will be a Christmas to remember!

Conversation with McKenna

McKenna: Mom, is your tummy a girl or a boy?

Mom: {confused} Uh...a girl?

McKenna: What's her name?

Mom: {still confused} I'm not sure...

McKenna: Mine's a girl too. Her name is Abigail.

Mom: ?????

Precious Moment in Katie's Prayer

Katie: ...I'm thankful for Jesus and that He can take away our sins... Mom, can Jesus really take away our sins?

Mom: Yes, He can.

Katie: How?

Mom: Well, He can take away our sins through His Atonement when we are sorry for what we did and we repent and have faith in Him.

Katie: I have faith in Him.

Me: Me too.

{{she goes on to finish her prayer...}}

Conversation with Katie

Katie: Mom! McKenna far-ted!

Me: Oh honey, can you think of a better way to say that?

Katie: Why?

Me: Because saying "farted" isn't very lady-like.

Katie: It's boy-like?

Me: Yes, because boys are gross.

Katie: Why?

Me: They fart and burp and pick their noses.

Katie: {{thinking}} Well, I'm kinda like a boy.

{{LOTS of laughs and giggles from both of us}}

Halloween 2010