Merry Christmas Everybody!

Randall and I watched It's a Wonderful Life this year and I bawled through the entire thing.  I'm pretty sure that's the first time I've watched it since becoming a parent, and I could totally relate to all the stress of sick kids, bills, work, etc.  I loved it!  We had an amazing Christmas this year and once again...I'm totally bummed it's over.  We did all the usual stuff -

Decorated Cookies
Don't look at my pathetic sugar cookies. If anyone has a delicious FOOLPROOF recipe, please let me know because mine NEVER turn out right. 

Decorated Gingerbread Houses

(or gingerbread trailers)

Decorated Ourselves

 Performed in the Nativity at our ward party.

 Had Christmas Eve dinner with the Brown side.

Thanks for the pictures Laura. I couldn't find my camera that morning. 

 My mom made Jedi robes for the boys and Red Riding Hood robes for the girls.

 Opened gifts and played with our new stuff on Christmas morning.

 Cameron REALLY enjoyed all the candy in his stocking (and a few pieces he found in everyone else's).

 LOVE the headphone feature included with this toy. 

 My Mom, Dad, Rachel, and Jana came to see what Santa brought everyone.

 The experienced sniper -

 His worthy opponents - 

 The fierce SWAT sisters -

I just realized that I didn't get a single picture of Savanna opening up her presents on her first Christmas.  That's probably because her siblings "helped" so much that she didn't really have much to do. She still had a great time rummaging around the mess and tasting all the wrapping paper, new toys, and candy wrappers she could find.

 I don't know why Santa's encouraging this whole WALKING thing...

My girls hanging out in their new "carriage."

One of my kids happened to take a picture of Randall's Christmas present during a take-a-ton-of-pictures-before-Mom-catches-you-playing-with-her-camera extravaganza...so I figured I'd include it. 

I received some new clothes, jewelry, boots, a 4-slice toaster (yep, my family's officially too big for a 2-slicer), and a waffle iron all bought lovingly by me...with my husband's money.  The best thing about that is most of it I used/wore before Christmas (which was only fair because Randall started using his present in November) and I LOVE all of my gifts. ;) Surprises are SO over-rated for psycho sale-seekers like me. At least when it's from someone that shares my bank account and doesn't possess my mad deal-finding skills.  Randall has managed to pull off some amazing surprises in the past, but I'm mostly just glad that he accepts me for who I am (a SUCKER for a sale).

I forgot my camera (again), but we had a delicious Christmas dinner over at the Stewarts on Christmas Day and had lots of fun playing games with everyone. 

FAVORITE GIFTS -

Carter - "There are three.  Star Wars Clone Wars III, DS Bakugan game, and my scooter with light-up wheels."

Lydia - "My Barbie Rapunzel and Eu-gene." 

Meleah - "Ree-punzel!"

Cameron - "Woody toys!" (Toy Story sets)

My kids are totally spoiled and my house is a disaster, but we've had a WONDERFUL Christmas.  Now I'd better go clean up this pig sty! 

 

Fortunately, my husband has mad trash-organizing skills and was able to fit all the garbage into our 2 cans (including the box pile from my previous post).  I'm a lucky woman!

I can no longer hide...

In my defense, some of those boxes are from diapers and wipes which are a necessity.  Only a few of them came full of toys to give to my already spoiled children. Really!  ;)

Carter's Santa Letter 2011

First a shake maker, popcorn maker, money machine, an ice cream maker, a robot that does my homework, a secret clubhouse, a flat screen in my room, my own computer, a dog.

Could I please can I have everything on my list? From Carter. p.s. Am I on the naughty list?

I think he must have been hungry when he wrote this list.  I'm hoping that he gets the money machine. The robot that does his homework would also be nice.  Then I wouldn't have to nag him every week to get it done...

My little angel is STANDING!

 Will someone please inform my baby that she's not even 9 months old yet?  Thank you!

Already?!

First, I find this in Lydia's backpack -

Then Carter brings home this -

(was folded in half like a card) 

At least with Lydia's I could console myself with the fact that the "masteryas pearson" could be a sweet FEMALE friend in her class.  Carter's however, is actually his "girlfriend" that he's been "in a relationship" with since the beginning of the year.  I was originally pretty happy with "the relationship" because it made Carter really excited to go to school every day.  But upon further review, I have decided that having a child with a girlfriend makes me feel entirely too old.  Fortunately, Carter has informed me that his crush on Haley has subsided a bit.  For instance, at the beginning of the year when she would ask him for his fortune cookie at lunch, he would just give it to her.  Now he hurries and eats it before she gets a chance to ask.  He's also developed a little crush on a girl named Paige so he's "kind of cheating on"  Haley.  Fortunately, Haley also has a little crush on Brady, so it's okay.  Apparently as long as they're both cheating on each other, everything's fine.  Part of me wonders where he even learned the terms "cheating on" and "in a relationship" in the THIRD GRADE, but I guess I'm just "old school" (another favorite phrase from Carter) and I don't know anything anymore!

"Clean up, clean up, everybody, everywhere!"

The other day one of my kids spilled a baggie of Cheerios on the floor and I decided to make them clean it up themselves for once.  I opened up the little sucky think at the top of my vacuum and they put the O's in one by one, laughing hysterically as the vacuum sucked their fingers.  Sure, I could have just vacuumed up the mess in a couple of seconds, but where's the fun in that?  Now I just have to hope they won't intentionally create messes so that they can play with the vacuum again.

If you don't understand the title, it's a song that I picked up from somewhere YEARS ago (Dora?), and I sing it to my kids ALL the time.  When they were little they used to love to sing it with me as we put their toys into buckets.  Now they pretty much hate it.  Hopefully someday they'll think of it fondly again... ;)

Clean up, clean up, everybody, everywhere. 

Clean up, clean up, everybody do your share!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Gotta LOVE shopping online!

I really haven't been buying THAT much.  They just send everything individually...in humongous boxes.  Remember this post?

I probably should have taken a few more in between pictures, but he really DID dive in.  "wink" "wink"

 My choo-choo box train keeps growing.  Wasn't it just yesterday that it was only this long? -

Happy shopping everyone!  I've gotta go hide all these boxes before my hubby gets home!

Blondie?!

Yep, it's true.  My dark fuzzy-headed little baby is turning into a blonde.  All that's left are the tips of her little ponies.

BEFORE

AFTER

 Fortunately she's still just as adorable with light hair as she was with dark.  And blondes have more fun, right?

Jensen Memories

This time of year is always a little bitter-sweet for me.  My Grandma Jensen passed away on Halloween 11 years ago, and we lost Grandpa on my Mom's Birthday (Nov 17) 3 years ago.  I LOVE this time of year (despite the cold weather), but I REALLY miss my Grandparents.

I think it's pretty normal to remember our loved ones during the Holidays, but I honestly think of my Grandparents ALL THE TIME!  They took in my family (8 kids!) during a very difficult time in our lives.  We were so blessed to be able to live with them for 18 months and create great memories and a special bond with each of them.

 Just the other day I was cooking something for the first time, and I literally started looking for my phone so that I could call Grandpa for tips on how to make it perfect. I truly can't spice anything without thinking "I wonder what Grandpa would put in this."  I think of Grandpa every time I find a particularly good grocery sale, whenever I make tomatoes and cottage cheese with salt and pepper on toast (seriously delicious if you have garden tomatoes),  whenever we go to the cabin or have marinated turkey, whenever I hear a man with an extremely low voice, whenever I pick a tomato out of my garden and see all the weird skin imperfections that Grandpa's garden tomatoes NEVER had... Grandpa was SUCH a tease.  He used to call us the "neighbor kids" that were coming in and out and interrupting his peace. He worked for Coke for many years, and now I'm married to a Coke-a-holic.  I've been very tempted to put a lime wedge in Randall's Coke when I get him one from a gas station just because that's how my Grandparents drank their diet Coke.  He wouldn't appreciate the gesture (he likes his Coke "pure"), but it would be very nostalgic for me.  Randall actually had Grandpa's help when he proposed to me.  I came into town really late and I didn't know that Randall was already at my Grandpa's house (he hid his car down the street).  Shortly after I walked through the door, Grandpa asked me to go downstairs and get something for him (a bowl?), which was pretty normal.  We used to grab stuff out of his storage room all the time.  When I went down to the basement there were candles and flowers everywhere, and well...you know the rest of the story.  Randall does an excellent Grandpa impersonation, and has lots of love and respect for Grandpa.  He learned the rules of the house very well.  ALWAYS go straight in to give Grandma and Grandpa a hug when you get there, and NEVER wear your hat at the dinner table. 

There are lots of automatic memory-triggers that make me think of Grandma as well- Wrigleys gum or buttermints, lavender and pink floral patterns, anyone bouncing a baby on their knee and singing (especially "Riggedy Jig"), my quilt that she made me for graduation...  She always smelled nice and was beautifully dressed and ready for the day.  Her hands were SO soft and she always wore Carmex or Savex.  I think of her every time I scrub out the kitchen sink because when it was my "dish night" she told me that that was the best part of doing the dishes because it means you're done.  Now that I'm an adult I realize that was probably her sweet way of making sure that I scrub out the sink when I was done doing the dishes! Grandma was such an educator.  She had a reading contest for us kids during the summer that we lived with them where we could put a sticker on a chart after we had read for 20 minutes.  I won the contest (of course) and she took me to Deseret Book to choose my prize.   I love to remember her deep throaty laugh and her saying "Oh Moyle!" when he was being a grump.  She had a beautiful voice, and I would do anything to hear her sing with the piano again. 

Not only were they ALWAYS there for the family, but their friends and neighbors also benefited from their generosity.  I remember going over to visit Grandpa one day, and he was just getting back from helping one of his neighbors fix their roof.  I don't remember exactly how old he was at the time, but let's just say he was NOT young!  He also always had neighbors coming over to return tools that they had borrowed from his  shed because he always made them available for anyone that needed them.

Even though it kinda makes me sad, I hope that I continue to think of my Grandparents every day for the rest of my life.  I hope that I can follow their example and find the sweet way to teach my kids instead of just bossing them around.  I hope I can teach them the importance of hard work, charity, and service, and that I can help them know their Grandparents even if they never got to meet them.  I know that if Grandpa was still here today he would tell them the same thing he told us all the time - "Remember who's you are!"  My children have such great ancestors on both sides of the family, and I hope that they can appreciate how blessed they are.   


On a side note, I have to give a shout out to the most amazing woman in the world! (yeah, I said it) 

Happy Birthday Mom!  

You are the perfect manifestation of how amazing Grandma and Grandpa Jensen are, because they made YOU!  We love you SO much, and hope you had a GREAT day!