The Jensen Crew

Sharing my bed again

2011-03-17T20:21:00.000-07:00

Chris is moving home. We have become closer and closer and are really great friends again and decided we can continue to work on things together while living in the same home. It is nice to have him next to me while I sleep again. My bed felt so empty and without him next to me at night, reality often slapped me in the face. But even though he is moving back home for now, he has taken a job up in Slave Lake and will be home only about once a month. Its a great job and a great opportunity and we will be able to be debt free by end of September or October and eventually we will work on being closer in distance again. Things are still tough but we are doing our best and really focusing on being best friends and making sure whatever choices we make, that the kids stay first in our minds and we do what is best for them. Chris is a great dad, a great man. I am happy he is home.

Calliope is 4!!!

2011-03-17T20:20:00.002-07:00

Calliope is such a little angel!!! I love her to pieces. Her sense of humor and loveliness is great to witness. We just had family over for her birthday. My parents Tate and Kipp and their families, Chris's dad and step mom. It was delightful for her. She loved her cake and each of her presents. When we gave her her bike, she was so amazed she was stunned. We had to convince her it was for her and she could barely believe it. When she finally believed us she was so so happy!! It was funny to watch. She is so cute! Sometimes it is hard to take in how fast time really goes. Her first four years flew by for me. I hope the next four don't go by so fast. ( but I am sure they will seem to go by even faster than the first four)

Tate taking a top picture of the cake

top view of the cake

Lady bug cake. It was so adorable

Lady bug close up

Loves her cake!

Happy Birthday to you!

Blowing out the candles

Present time!!!

YAY!!! I new bike!!!!!

test driving it.

totally have to keep the helmet on at all times now!!! hehehe

Owen cut his hair yet again!!!! grrrrrrrr

2011-03-17T20:20:00.001-07:00

Not sure why Owen keeps cutting his hair, but enough already, I've had enough!!!! This time I sent the kids to get dressed while I finished getting ready for school. When I went in their room I found Calliope and Owen in the top bunk and Owen said Calliope gave him the scissors. Oh my goodness!! I have no time for this. He told me several times, in fact, that it was Calliopes fault because she gave him the scissors. LOL!!! Poor boy had to go to school with hair like this because I needed to get to school. Luckily our next door neighbour is a hair dresser and she had time that evening to fix his hair. Sorry I don't have any after pictures, I was sure I took during pictures but can't locate them, I will add them later if I do find them.

Ezra is 2!!

2011-01-29T07:01:00.004-08:00

So crazy my baby is two! Ezra is still my calm peaceful boy. Actually probably my most calm and peaceful child. He is a joy to watch and he brings me joy. We had just a family party. Grandma and Grandpa Boehme came, as well as Grandpa Jensen and Grandma K. Tate and Felisha and Khyrum also came to celebrate. Pizza for supper, cake and then presents. Ezra loved getting presents. For his cake i made him a cute monkey sitting on a huge pile of bananas. He loved it!! He liked it so much when I was taking pictures of him and the cake, he would keep turning it so the monkey was looking at him. LOL!!!

blowing candles out with daddy

present time!

and the goody bag each of the kids got!

Calliope the hair dresser!

2011-01-23T22:14:00.000-08:00

Well Calliope got a hold of scissors and decided to cut her own hair. Luckily she did a not too bad job and after a couple weeks it wasn't so bad. When I asked her why she decided to cut her hair she replied " I told you I wanted and hair cut and you wouldn't do it, so I cut my hair" oh well that was news to me because she never said she wanted a hair cut. LOL!! And as you can see, she wasn't very sad about cutting her hair.

Little punk!!!

New Years Eve 2010

2010-12-31T21:01:00.003-08:00

New Years Eve was spent with the kids, and my brother Kipp, his wife and 2 boys, Asher and Tige. Lots of dancing and food!!!! Chris stopped by for a little while. He worked a bit late and then had to work early the next morning so he was only with us for about an hour. Kipp and Laura made pizza and I made tons of apps and we ate and danced and later played some games.

Laura prepping the pizza

this is phase one of the food!

diggin in

more phase 1 of the food

Kipp and Laura more pizza prep

whats better than Mr. Potato head!

dancing!

thumb wars I think

phase 2 desserts!

yummers!

the PIZZA!!! so good!

more desserts

round 3

sampling snails in garlic butter in little bread bowls. no one really liked them!

Christmas Eve & Christmas 2010

2010-12-31T21:01:00.001-08:00

Christmas Eve got split a bit. Chris first took the kids to his moms house for a couple hours, then I took the kids to my moms for the evening. At my parents house we had fondue, then a nativity acting out with the kids and then Joulupukki gifts, of pj's, for the kids. My dad went to Finland on his mission and I grew up with the Joulupukki, so we do a littler version with our kids. The Joulupukki comes Christmas Eve night while you are still awake. He knocks at the door and when you answer it, he isn't there, but he left leaves a big bag of gifts.

The first pictures are of what kids got dressed up to act out the Nativity.

Calliope ~ Angel

Owen ~ Shepard

Sydney~ Shepard

Zipporah~ Wiseman

Lynnette ~ Mary

Abigail ~ Shepard

The next set of pictures is of their new pj's! I somehow missed getting a picture of Daisy, so that's why there isn't one of her in there, but I promise she was there and also received 2 pairs of pj's

Ezra

Calliope

Owen

Sydney

Zipporah

Abigail

Lynnette

Forrest

And Christmas day. Chris spent Christmas Eve with us after we were done at my moms and slept over and we all spent Christmas day together. It was a nice day. Just us. This year we were really blessed. So many people brought food or money or gifts or all of the above to our door during the 2 weeks before Christmas, word got out that we were having some hard times emotionally and what a blessing to know Heavenly Father was making sure we would be ok, and sent so many people to our door, and even more wonderful that so many people listened to their promptings to come to our door. Most people we will never know how who they are, but the love that came with each knock at the door was felt and I am forever grateful.

All the stockings were placed on the couch with care! hahaha

Presents under the tree

Dogs checking out the goods!

Chris

Forrest

Daisy

Lynnette

Abigail

Zipporah

Sydney

Owen

Calliope

Ezra

NEW TRADITION!!!!!!! We decided to start a new tradition of taking the kids to McDonalds for Christmas lunch. We still had turkey dinner for supper, but we felt it was a nice idea to go for lunch since McDonalds is open til 5. And we were right, it was fun!!!! So we will do it every year from now on.

Waiting for the food. Grandma Jensen came with us.

Forrest

Daisy

Lynnette

Abigail

Zipporah, she sat across from all of us

Sydney

Owen

Calliope

Ezra

Chowing down!

Ezra's 1st hair cut, Winter Solstice & Ginger bread decorating!

2010-12-31T21:00:00.000-08:00

Ezra finally had enough hair to get a hair cut. So December 18th, my sister brought her hair cutting supplies with her into Raymond and Ezzy got a hair cut. He wasn't too happy, but we did manage to get through it and now he looks not like my baby anymore. He is a big kid now!!!

before

during.... and not very happy

getting through it!

so wasted from being so upset

looks so good. Sorry I don't have a front view

And now for Winter Solstice. With the stresses in our lives right now, I really wasn't sure if celebrating Winter Solstice this year was going to happen. Chris insisted we needed it more than we ever did. So the kids got to stay up REALLY late, because Chris didn't get off work until 930pm. So we ate finger food and while we waited for Chris, the kids all sang songs which I video taped. It was pretty funny!!! You will just have to believe me since i have no idea how to get a video on this thing. I usually make gifts for them, but this year, there was no time. But we were fortunate enough to have a FHE group of empty nesters bring us gifts and food to help with Christmas, plus there was a homemade blanket for each of us. So I wrapped the blankets and we used those for our WS gifts. Also I let them open their pj's that Grandma Jensen bought them. So we didn't do anything super amazing, but it was a fun night and the kids enjoyed it and we were able to keep our tradition for another year.

Aren't the blankets so awesome!!!!!!?? Chris and I

got one too, but I forgot to picture them.

And now for the pajamas from Grandma Jensen

Ezra

Calliope

Owen

Sydney

Zipporah

Abigail

Lynnette

Forrest

A couple ladies from our ward called and said they wanted to decorate ginger bread houses, but had no kids to do it with, so could they borrow mine. haha They asked if they could come over and bring all the stuff and decorate houses with the kids. I said sure! And it was fun. All the kids had fun! They brought the graham cracker houses already built and the kids just had to decorate them. Phoebe and Shelly, they are fun ladies! I truly appreciate them doing that with us.

Getting ready. Notice Ezra..... LOL!!!

Forrest

Daisy

Lynnette

Abigail

Zipporah

Sydney

Owen

Calliope

Ezra

Everyone with Pheobe and Shelly helping out!

ADOPTION DAY!!!

2010-12-29T22:21:00.000-08:00

We almost forgot about adoption day this year, things have been crazy and crazy busy here lately. But luckily, we remembered. So we took the kids to the build a bear place in Walmart and everyone but Forrest got a stuffy and an outfit for that stuffy. They are actually pretty great stuffed animals there. Forrest got a couple t-shirts instead of a stuffy. Then we got KFC and took it home for supper and hung out the rest of the evening at home. I sure am glad to have each of my kids. I am truly blessed to have a great family! Oh and Adoption day is December 9th, every single year!!! Our girls were officially ours for keeps December 9th, 2004.

Ezra falls asleep

2010-12-29T21:58:00.001-08:00

Ezzy often falls asleep before bed these days. Now that I am going to school, the little ones go to my sister in laws during the day. Ezra will not nap there, so he is very tired when I go to pick him up. These photos are from 2 days in a row and they were pretty funny so i had to snap a few shots.

he is such a cutie!!! love this kid!

Lynnette's 12th birthday

2010-12-29T21:10:00.000-08:00

Lynnette had her friend party the Saturday before her birthday. Lynnette hosted her party down stairs and I provided the food and it was a big hit. Instead of making a big cake, Lynnette wanted to have everyone decorate their own cake so I made a bunch of small cakes so each girls could decorate their cake how they wanted. Most ended up just mixing all the icing around on their cake and have a bunch of grey icing! Lynnette has some pretty great friends!

On her birthday, December 6th, I made a birthday breakfast for everyone. French toast and fried ham as per Lynnette's request. For lunch Chris took her to Subway. I made a cake surrounded with twix and topped with nerds. We gave Lynnette money to spend at the mall. And I took her a couple days later and she took her money from us and grandparents and bought herself some nice clothes and things. Happy birthday Lynnette!! I hope you had a great day!

goofing around in the basement

decorating their cakes

Decorated by Lynnette

Cake I made for Lynnette's birthday day!

Band concert

2010-12-29T20:39:00.000-08:00

December 1st, Daisy and Forrest had their band concerts. Forrest playing in the grade 8 band, jazz band and stix. Daisy played in the grade 7 band.

Forrest with the grade 8 band

Daisy with the grade 7 band

Forrest in the Jazz band

Forrest playing in Stix.

Santa pics

2010-12-29T20:06:00.001-08:00

Santa came to our ward Christmas party, so I took the opportunity to take pictues and opt out of taking the kids to the mall. LOL!!! Lynnette was the only older child who wasn't too cool to sit on Santas lap. haha!!

Lynnette

Zipporah

Sydney

Owen

Calliope

Ezra!! LOL!!! thats as good as it gets for him.

Chris and Holly trip to Edmonton

2010-12-28T19:39:00.000-08:00

Chris and I had planned a trip to Edmonton before we split up. The plan was to go so we could be alone together and connect again I guess. We decided that the reason was still legit so we arranged childcare and took off for the weekend. My brother Tate and his wife Felisha and their super cute baby Khyrum came and stayed at my house with the kids the whole weekend.

On the way up, we decided, since there was no kids with us, to finally stop at the Candy Store in Nanton. Chris loves candy and is almost a candy conosur. So he was in heaven! It was fun.

Chris and I both love Winners. So we decided to stop at as many Winners as we could. We stopped in one in Calgary and one in Red Deer on the way up, both successful!! While in Edmonton we hit three more, again success at everyone one. And on the way home we stopped at one in Calgary. There is a picture below of our car stuffed with awesomeness from Winners!!!!

Our first night up, Chris went and visited a friend and I went out for supper with my friends Marissa and Kim. It was nice to go out and be with friends. I haven't done it since just before moving down here. I really have no friends here yet, which I find strange, since I know so many people. I guess I haven't really clicked with anyone here yet. Anyways, we ate at Olive Garden and it was so yummy!!!! Good food and good friends, very much needed. That night we slept at Marissa's in Stony Plain, and headed to Edmonton to do some shopping in the morning. We stopped and ate at Red Lobster and had a super yummy lunch! I even ate a mussel and it wasn't even that bad. My first and only until that day, was a not so good experience for me. I guess cooked right, they aren't so bad. We did lots of shopping, then stopped at our favorite Japanese food place on Whyte Ave and had soft shell crab, tempura shrimp, spring rolls, sushi and Chris had a giant spiced Oyster, which he LOVED!!!! That evening we went and had wings with out friends Kim and Kevin. Wings always seem better when we are eating them with Kim and Kevin. Then we decided to spend our night in a hotel just so we could be totally just us. And it was nice. A small room and we were super tired, but I just love to stay in hotels for some weird reason, so it was exciting. Next time, if there is a next time, we will stay in a hotel the whole time.

We were going to go to the Edmonton Pro Coro, the next day, but decided since the weather wasn't great, that driving during the day was a better option, so we left for home that morning. We had a nice drive down, a really nice weekend all together. We planned to have a weekend of shopping and good food and that's what we did and had a great time being together.

We had talked about a trip just to Calgary to hit ALL the Winners there. We will see if that will happen, but if it does it will be mighty fun!

picking out candy in Nanton

I posted this picture, cuz it is so cool how it turned out, everything blurry but the candy rack!

Chris gathering more candy

me and Chris in the candy store

all the candy

candy again

on our way into another Winners!

Our extremely full car after our 5th Winners

In the car

shrimp and spring rolls

soft shell crab..... so so so good!

sushi. And I must say, I haven't ever liked sushi, but I keep trying it from time to time and really have wanted to like it so I could enjoy it with Chris, who Loves sushi. This time I tried it and it wasn't too bad so I had 2 pieces. They say you can train your taste buds, so I guess after years of casual trying sushi my taste buds are starting to not mind it so much. hahaha

happy eating really good food

proof I ate sushi

eating sushi

yummmmm soft shell crab!

this is Chris's oyster

digging in

Very pleased with the oyster

outside the Japanese restaurant

our hotel room

very small, but still fun

oh and this is so cool. It is a completely round rainbow. I kid you not and rainbow around the sun. It was so pretty and you could even see all the colors of the rainbow, I wish the pictures could have really shown how awesome this was. We spotted this on our drive home.

First snow fall!

2010-12-28T19:17:00.001-08:00

We got our first real snow fall of the 2010 "winter" season on November 16th, 2010. The day before it was nice and warm and the kids all road their bikes to school. As you can see bikes got left on the lawn over night and we weren't prepared for the snow fall. haha. Helmets, and bikes can be spotted on our lawn. It went on to snow for a few more days, luckily I made the kids run out and get their bikes in the back before they went to school. hehe

backyard... totally not ready for the snow.

Living apart for awhile

2010-11-12T23:43:00.000-08:00

I am sad to say, Chris moved out on Friday, November 12th. We decided that it might be best for us to live a apart for awhile. We are still working on us, in fact our hopes are that it will be easier to figure things out, not living under the same roof. The day before while he was packing was so hard, and the day he moved was even harder. Chris drove me to his place before he had to go to work so I could see it and he should me around. Lets just say I have been crying a lot. I hope and pray that eventually things will work out. The last week and a half since we had decided he was moving out, we have been getting a long really well and I feel we are friends again. We are going to be dating and finding some common ground and hopefully Chris will move back home in a few months. We never dated before we married, so maybe this is us going backwards a bit. I don't want to give a lot of details as it is pretty much between Chris and I, but I will say this was a decision we both calmly made together and we are both determined to make things work. He lives just on the other side of town. The kids have taken it really well, they are actually pretty excited about dad having his own place and they can go on sleep over there. Chris is around lots and will be around lots. We don't want the kids to suffer in any way as much as we can control. Chris is taking me out for dinner tonite and a movie. I haven't been to the movie theatre in 4 years. crazy I know, but I have reasons ans excuses every time, but decided since Chris asked me out on a date, I figured no excuses, I need to go with him.

1st of three loads taken yesterday. He took another load today. He has lots of stuff. LOL!!

Taking his suitcase, that I snuck in it a small framed picture of me and him kissing at our wedding. wonder if he has found it yet. :)

He has the love seat, I have the couch.

Chris's new living room

kitchen

spare room/ kids room

laundry room

bathroom

Chris's bedroom. hahaha single bed

house from outside. yup he lives in the trailor court.

Get the record books!!!!!!

2010-11-12T23:34:00.000-08:00

So Forrest has never been one who liked to go to bed. I think he really likes to say, he stayed up until such and such a time. Lately he has had giant bags under his eyes, almost looks like he has black eyes, yet he still refuses to go to bed. He does eventually go to his room, but he has mastered keeping himself up. So the other night, when we noticed he had fallen asleep just before 7pm, we had to take pictures and document. That's a major record for earliest he has been asleep!!!!

Halloween 2010

2010-11-12T22:52:00.000-08:00

Halloween in Raymond was so much nicer. Most the kids just went off and I didn't have to worry. The older ones had a blast being dropped off at the other end of town and then making their way back. And so nice that Raymond did trick or treating on the Saturday, since Halloween was on a Sunday this year.

Everyone

Forrest ~ Emu

Daisy ~ Cave woman

Lynnette ~ Gangster

Abigail ~ Goth

Zipporah ~ She devil

Sydney ~ Vampire bride

Owen ~ Caterpillar

Calliope ~ Unicorn

Ezra ~ Tiger

Daisy's 13th birthday

2010-11-12T22:24:00.000-08:00

Daisy had a big birthday party this year!! The girls all had a blast. We had a pizza movie party. Lots of pizza and snacks and games!!! Daisy turning 13 means 2 teens in this house! yikes!!! She turned thirteen on the 26th of October, but we had her party the Friday before.

Daisy and a couple friends decorated the basement

present time

having fun

chocolate bar cake

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAISY!!

Eyes, ears, mouth and nose!

2010-10-31T18:00:00.000-07:00

Head and shoulders knees and toes. Ok, not quite! Here are some of the other photos I take of the kids every year!

Forrest

Daisy

Lynnette

Abigail

Zipporah

Sydney

Owen

Calliope

Ezra

Hands and Feet

2010-10-29T23:02:00.001-07:00

Each year I take pictures of the kids hands and feet, eyes, ears, and mouth, along with pictures of their whole selves in the autumness. Here are their hands and feet.

Forrest's hands and feet

Daisy's hands and feet

Lynnette's hands and feet

Abigail's hands and feet

Zipporah's hands and feet

Sydney's hands and feet

Owen's hands and feet

Calliope's hands and feet

And Ezra's hands and foot. It was hard to get him to cooperate like the others so I took opportunity to take his hands and feet while he was showing me his feet. So no separate hands and feet pictures for him.

The leaves are falling all around

2010-10-26T20:57:00.000-07:00

I guess it may be appropriate to post the pictures of my children I took in the "autumness" a few weeks back, as it snowed today. I love to take pictures of my children and really love how great fall pictures turn out.

I love this one of them all walking away, hand in hand. It is perfect and I am going to blow it up and get it matted at Costco.

All the kids, this is as good as it got for these. hahaha

My boys

My girls

Forrest

Daisy

Lynnette

Abigail

Zipporah

Sydney

Owen

Calliope

Ezra

Calliope's first dentist visit

2010-10-10T22:53:00.000-07:00

I took Calliope to the dentist on Thursday October 7th. And not because I am a good mom, but because I totally am sucking at keeping her teeth healthy. Poor girl. I took her in before I have to take everyone else back in November, because her teeth are just so bad. I noticed a cavity a little while ago and just hoped it could wait, but then not too long ago, I noticed more teeth had problems. Her mouth is so bad. I feel like super nasty white trash mom who neglects her kids. I was crying about it all that morning, just thinking of her having to be put to sleep so they can fix her mouth. Now that we moved back down here, I am taking the kids to my cousin Richard Boehme again. He asked they didn't have fluoride in the water up there. I am not sure, but I did notice an increase in teeth problems after we moved and Calliope was born up there. I do no have her in a routine of us brushing her teeth at least every night before bed. And Richard was nice and said to me not to beat myself up about it, I have my hands full and he has seen a lot worse. But still I am sad for her, I should have been better with her teeth.

Calliope was too scared to lay down, so Richard said she could stay sitting. After that she was fine and let him check her teeth.

Cool shades on while the bright light is on.

Red &White day!!!

2010-10-01T11:20:00.000-07:00

Raymond definitely does not lack in school spirit!! I grew up on Red and White days!! And so fun that now my kids are able to enjoy them as well, though my mom never drove into Lethbridge at 9:45pm to Walmart to pick up face paint and colored hair spray. But I am sure I never even really wanted to paint my face, so I probably never asked my mom to get face paint for me. My son remembered last night, a little too late and after his dad had gotten home from Lethbridge. I debated for awhile, and decided the quick trip in was needed. I got home around 11, told the oldest 4 they are super lucky spoiled kids and set them to bed. This morning was a mad rush to get everyone all decked out in red and white.

Sydney

Zipporah, she is only sad, cuz she saw the neighbour girls started to bike to school and she wasn't quite ready yet. She spends a lot of time in the mornings trying to get me to let her stay home. I never do and it always ends up with her in a mad rush to leave. Tears are our usual in the mornings with Zipporah. Luckily, out of all my school kids, she is the only one who fights going, but she always comes home happy and tells me about her fun day at school.

Abigail

Lynnette, keeping it low key it true Lynnette style.

Daisy

Forrest. I promise you that is his real hair. All I did was spray his hair with colored hair spray after he fro'd it out.

Owen's new hair

2010-10-01T10:58:00.000-07:00

I am pleased to report, that this hair cut was completely planned and no scissor use by Owen at all!! LOL!!! His last hair cut around a year ago, was started by him and a pair of scissors under some cushions.

We live next door to my good friend Carrie, we grew up together. And she is a hair dresser now. She has her own salon in her basement and cuts hair from home. So we ventured over there last night and Owen got a really great hair cut. He looks like a different kid. We love his curls, but even Owen was ready to have his hair cut. He was so excited when it was finally time to go over there.

before the hair cut as we are walking next door. In the picture below you can totally see his excitment! I love it!

Even more excited now that he is sitting in the chair

getting started

almost done

and the final product!

See, I told you he looks almost like a different kid! Still super super cute though! Love you Owen!

No job

2010-09-29T20:56:00.000-07:00

I got a call this morning, they decided to go with someone who has "in school" experience. blah!! I lose a cooking job to someone with no cooking experience. Jim Ralph, the RHS principle, said he really wanted to hire me. My resume was very impressive as well as my work history etc., and he said I did really well in the interview and he even commented on having the right personality for the job and stuff, so I was successful at portraying who I am in that interview, which is nice. He offered some advice to go and get on the EA (education assistant) sub list. That way I get that in school experience I guess and then the board can't pass me up next time. Jim said that if I decide to go that route, to let him know when I am on the list, and I will be the first one they call. Sometimes it might not be in the foods class, but that's ok. I am wondering if he thinks I was the one who could help them really get their vision of what they want the program to be, but the board had final say. They would have had to pay me more too, cuz I am certified! grrr to school politics.
So I decided to start that process and I may return to school. The Lethbridge College offers all their coarse through distant learning so it makes it more doable for me. It is nice to know I did everything right, and didn't loose the job because I sucked at the interview or something like that. So frustrating cuz the job would have been perfect, both in when I worked and the type of job. I am going to let them know that I am willing to volunteer to help with banquets and I will even volunteer my time to go into the class room and show the kids some hands on learning so they don't have to watch as many youtube videos. I may just have to force my way into that position!! hahaha

I am still trying to figure out my next steps but EA sub and College are looking like a good option.

Job interview

2010-09-28T12:01:00.001-07:00

Today I had my first job interview in over 15 years. YIKES!!! Sadly life has gotten to the point where both Chris and I are needing to work. I had always planned on going back to work once my youngest was in school, just like part time or something. Right now my youngest is 20 months, so a few years early. But I have an amazing family and my sister in law, Felisha, will be watching the younger kids and my mom and sister, Livi, have said they would help out where ever I need. I applied for a "Education Assistant in the Culinary Arts" for the Raymond High School. Mom happened across it one Friday in the local weekly paper, which I never really read. The dead line to apply was the following Monday at noon. Livi and her husband Jim helped me make my resume awesome and Jim wrote up a cover letter that is fantastic, Sunday night, and got it emailed out at midnight! Monday morning Jim decided it might be nice if we could get a copy to Cardston in person. So after calling and leaving messages, my dad got a hold of me at 11am and I ran to my brother Kipp's and printed everything out, with a quick stop at Livi's for a big envelope she wrote the address on and met my dad in Welling at 1120am. He made it to the office in Cardston at 11:55am!! WOOHOO!!! Took major family team work, but it got done. I got a call the Friday following to come in for an interview, Tuesday the 28th at 9am. YAY!!!! I made a sad attempt at buying something that would be good for an interview. I am queen of frumpy moms, and though I quite like my relaxed, easy, comfy, frumpiness, it is not appropriate for an interview or work place. Luckily my parents are awesome!! My mom came over Monday morning to see what I had and decided she needed to take me shopping LOL!! So int he end we returned what I had gotten and she bought me about $400 worth of clothes. She said I need stuff for when I get the job, and she is right. My parents are not wealthy and I know this is a sacrifice for them and I appreciate it more than I can express. I never in a million years would have done this for myself. In fact I never have tried on as many clothes in my whole life as I did in one afternoon. But we found some great stuff and I felt really confident going into the interview, because I new I looked good and put together. Oh I should also mention, dad gave me a blessing Sunday night. The interview went really well I think. There were 6 people in the room interviewing me eeek!!! The interview ended up being for 2 jobs. Both Raymond and Magrath are needing to fill the same position, so they did all the interviewing together and asked me if I would be open to a job in Magrath as well, which I said yes. Both schools are looking to really grow the culinary programs and with my education and work experience background, I know I can really help in that growth. And they are looking for someone to help make it fun for the kids, but still where they are learning and getting stuff done, and I know I can do that as well. I just hope I was able to show them my personality and who I am in that 20 minute or so interview. From growing up in Raymond, I new 2 people interviewing, so it made me more relaxed I think, though thanks to the priesthood blessing I am sure, I wasn't nervous, just really hoping I was answering their questions good and was able to get my answers out the way I wanted. I will know by noon tomorrow at the latest if I got one of the jobs or not. I am sure praying for the job. If I have to go to work, which I do, this is the ideal job. The hours match my kids at school and it is in the culinary arts, where I am very comfortable.

So here is a sample of the clothes I got, the clothes I wore to the interview. Firstly, my shoes. My kids were laughing adn so excited I now own high heels. Wedge heels I think they are called. I got two pairs of shoes, these are the ones I wore to my interview.

this picture isn't that great, as I was in a hurry to get going and my camera was acting up for some reason, but you can see my outfit none the less.

and this is me after I got home!! hahaha

Oh and I should note how funny I think it is, that I was going to an interview to present who I am to them, but I was wearing clothes like I haven't ever owned before, high heeled shoes which I never wear and painted toe nails, and a borrowed purse!!! LOL!!! Oh and I got my hair cut and styled by my neighbour hair dresser Carrie, something else I never do. Oh well, I think I like wearing nice clothes after all. I may have to clothes shop for me more often.

So hopefully my next post will be self taken pictures of a super happy mommy who just got a job!!!!

My name is Crystal

2010-09-28T11:49:00.001-07:00

This morning, my little Calliope informed me that she is Crystal. She said, "my name is Crystal now". I said to her, oh you want to change your name and we call you Crystal and she replied, yes, her new name is Crystal. I thought she would forget before long, but she told the kids at lunch today that her name is Crystal now. hahaha Wonder if she will remember tomorrow that her name is Crystal. And here is a couple photos of Crystal, this is her self picked out outfit for today.

Finally caught up!!!!

2010-09-21T21:56:00.000-07:00

Well "Jensen Crew" blogger readers, I have finished updating my blog with a total of 25 enteries in just a few days, so enjoy and happy reading and catching up on me and mine!!!

Cousin Arianne's wedding cake

2010-09-21T21:36:00.000-07:00

Just this past weekend I made my first cupcake wedding cake. In fact, I think it is the first time I have decorated cupcakes. At least since being an adult. weird but true. All the white detail is hand done no template!

Ezra's toe meets can of 6 bean mix

2010-09-21T21:08:00.000-07:00

Ezra likes to open my pantry and play with the food. September 17th was no different. Only this time a nice big can on six bean mix, landed on his toe and cut open the skin on his big toe. It was horrible. He screamed and screamed and screamed and for awhile there was little I could do to console him. Makes me so sad. I can't even imagine how much that must have hurt him and am floored that the can didn't break his toe as well.

first of this is the can it is a 540ml can. yikes! and just to compare a can of campbells mushroom soup is 284 ml

Ezra's painful toe!

when I put him to bed that night and saw his toe again, I thought that maybe I should have taken him in for stitches.

daddy comforting Ezra

We gave Ezra tylenol and he sat on my lap for a long long time and wouldn't give up the bottle of tylenol, after awhile he started sucking on it, for comfort I suppose. poor baby.

this is his toe 3 days later, so healing up nicely, didn't need to take him fo rstitches after all.

BAPTISM DAY X2

2010-09-21T20:12:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, September 11th, both Zipporah and Sydney were baptised. I am so proud of them. This summer they have become amazing friends. Their birthdays are just three weeks apart. This summer, one day, they were both complaining of having no one to play with, we had just recently moved to Raymond, from Stony Plain and they new very little people. So I took the opportunity to explain to them how lucky they were to always have a friend near by to hang out with. That they were very lucky to be so close in age, cuz that meant they have a always friend. And that they are even more lucky, cuz they already share a room with that friend and are sisters closer in age than most. They took to that like nothing else and have been buds ever since.
They were so lucky also, to be able to share a baptism day. I made the dresses they were baptized in and bought dresses for after. I finished their dresses, pretty much as they were walking out the door. It was a busy morning of food prep for the lunch afterwards and making sure the get their dresses done.
The day was very nice. My dad was able to baptise and confirm both the girls. My sister Tisha gave the baptism talk and Grandma Peggy Jensen gave the talk on the Holy Ghost, both were great and did amazing jobs. I was even able to get both girls changed just as my dad was walking out too. I told the bishop I was going to get them changed fast and I did, and he even commented on that. hahaha

The girls with my dad in their baptism dresses. I can't believe I didn't get pictures of each of them alone, sheesh!! But anyways, I made matching dresses for the girls with the only difference being the ribbon used for the bows on the bottom part of the dress and used different material for the tops.

Sydney and Grandpa

Zipporah and Grandpa

Chris and I with the girls

Chris and I with Sydney

Chris and I with Zipporah

All the family

Zipporah and Sydney with their good friend Rees, who is also our next door neighbour.

the girls hair. These pictures of their after baptism dresses were taken the next day before church. I had forgotten to take them the day before. My dad is in the ward before us and we even say them leaving as we were coming to church, but my dad showed up as we were taking these so he got in a few as well!!! So happy for that!

best friends

Zipporah

Sydney

This is my favorite picture. I am going to blow it up and frame it for each of the girls, as well as my dad.

6:30 am wake-up call

2010-09-21T19:46:00.000-07:00

I went to bed late, the night of Friday, September 10th. I was busy trying to get both Zipporah and Syndey's baptism dresses made. I make dresses for my girls to be baptized in, I like my girls to be baptised in dresses and not the jumper suit thing they provide. Then each girl has a dress to keep to have her girls wear for their baptisms if they like. I didn't get quite done, as making two dresses is more work than making one. I think I started them Tuesday and worked a bit each evening on them. I went to bed and decided I would wake up a bit early and finish up the dresses and hopefully be done them before the baptisms at 1230 pm on the 11th. Well, there hardly is ever a need to set an alarm in this house, as someone always comes into my room by 7am if not earlier. So here it is, 630am, Chris and I were both abruptly woken out of our sleep by a loud crashing noise. We both startled up and looked at each other. "what was that" I said. "Not sure" says Chris, "it's probably just some pots and pans". We both get up to check things out. Chris stops in the bathroom first, this is when we discovered what the noise was.

That's our bathroom mirror, all shattered to pieces. So glad no kids were in the bathroom when it happened.

oh man, glass in the tub too. It chipped the tub in two different places, so glad no child was in there bathing.

the wall where the mirror used to hang

The glass was really thick glass too, so could have done a lot of damage to a person, easily

I originally thought that the wire connected to the back must have snapped and that's why it fell, since I could see it was snapped, but upon further investigation, you know CSI agent Holly on the case, that isn't what happened. The mirror was being held up by two hook, the kind that are nailed into the wall by small brass nails, that the wire was hanging on to. Well the nail on the left side (if looking at the mirror) tore down the wall. The hook and the nail are still in 100% good condition, but the wall it torn about 3 inches. CRAZY!!! And the night before there was no sign whatsoever that the mirror was in any danger of falling, wasn't tilted or anything.

Syndey is 8

2010-09-18T23:49:00.000-07:00

Syndey's big day was September 10, 2010. We didn't have a big birthday breakfast, cuz that morning the school was having a pancake breakfast for all the students and all the kids wanted to go. So Sydney was extra lucky and got to have her birthday breakfast with the whole school! At lunch Chris took her to subway and for supper we had carbonera. Family came a bit later and we had cake and ice cream and she opened presents. Sydney also opted for the money this year and no friend party, so I will be taking both her and Zipporah birthday shopping this week sometime. I will probably take them out for dinner too.

opening some presents

First day of School 2010

2010-09-18T09:54:00.001-07:00

Man, it was a weird summer this year. I think moving beginning of June and Chris working up North for the next month, then being here and not having work, getting the house unpacked and organized, and the kids having a new freedom to walk, or ride their bikes around town without mom hovering over, and moving 2 doors down from cousins and a block away from grandparents, made for a summer of adjustments.

Even still, I do enjoy having my kids around and I do not like that get up and go fast that are school mornings. But August 30th showed up and off to school they went. First day back was less than a half day though, so they were all home before lunch. Owen didn't have his first day until 2 days later on September 1st. That's why he isn't in the picture above. Everyone has settled in nicely and are making even more friends, which is always nice.

Forrest Grade 8

Daisy grade 7

Lynnette grade 6

Abigail grade 6

Zipporah grade 3

Sydney grade 3

Owen Kindergarten. He got more pictures cuz it is his very first day ever. He didn't even go to preschool. He did great, I was worried that he might not like me leaving but after a few hugs and kisses he said it was ok to leave, then he ran and got one more. hahaha

walking up to the school

by the bikes

just before going into the school

pointing out a kids he knows from church. He was pretty amazed that he even new anyone.

making a hand. I had to make one too. He kept mine with him and I took his. His teacher read the kissing hand to them that day. And that night me had me kiss his hand so he could take me kiss with him to bed. LOL!!

time for me to leave

leaving Owen in the classroom!! he loves kindergarten!!

Zipporah's 8

2010-09-18T09:07:00.001-07:00

Zipporah turned 8 on August 19, 2010. We had a special birthday breakfast, pancakes, eggs and bacon. Her dad took her for chinese food for lunch and for supper we had all our family over for lasagna and cake, and of coarse present. No friend party this year, since we are fairly new here, she opted for the money this year and will do a big party when she turns 9.

pig cake

no boy friends.

some of her presents

Summer Sprinkler Fun

2010-09-18T08:39:00.001-07:00

This summer Ezra, and all the kids, had a ton of fun playing in the water. Their most favorite thing was putting the sprinkler under the trampoline and jumping. Ezra could play in the water on the tramp for hours if I let him.

Calliope and Ezra in the sprinkler.

water in the face, no big deal.

ok maybe it can be a bit much

water frisbee, awesome!!

lets move the sprinkler to the tramp

loves it!

After Ezzy got off, some of the bigger kids were allowed to jump and be crazy. Owen is in the middle with my nephew Asher on the left and Nation up high on the right.

New Puppy

2010-09-17T22:30:00.000-07:00

We have a new puppy. Her name is Puddles. She is white with some tan around her eyes and on her ears. She is cute. We love our new puppy. She will be around 5 pounds probably when she grows up. (Penny is 2) It was pretty funny when Puddles first arrived. Penny was so scared of her, like didn't eat for 3 days, scared. I had to really work with her to get her to eat a tiny bit. The dogs live on our bedroom, and Penny would not go in our room even. She is used to Puddles now, but doesn't really like that Puddles is still here. hahaha

Puddles Zipporah Penny. Dogs don't photograph too well, Penny is way cuter than this pictures is leading you to believe.

Beets beets beets beets Beets beets beets beets

2010-09-17T21:06:00.001-07:00

I hate beets, always have and always will. Didn't like them when I was a child and didn't like them in college when my grandma insisted we had to eat a bit of everything. Ummm, I am 18, I know I don't like beets, I don't need to eat a little bit to discover that all over again. blah!! I do however, have several children, almost all of them in fact, that enjoy and LOVE the red root vegetable. Like many can't get enough when beets are served. Ezra is one of those children, he unfortunately eats with his hands a lot still and ends up being red from head to toe by the end of the meal. I love it though.

hmmm, I think I want some more

hey mom, got the camera again I see

giggle, who new beets were so exciting?

look at me mom, I am red. Red from my feet to the top of my head! (hahaha)

oh pretty

yay!!! more beets

goodness!!!

Ice ice baby!

2010-09-17T20:43:00.000-07:00

If you want to make Ezra happy, give him a glass with ice in it. Every single time, no matter if he is crying, just sad or cranky, give the kid some ice and he is happy! until its all gone, then he is begging for more!!

best smiler ever!! I love his wavy top lip when he smiles big goofy smiles!!

just can't get enough

Who needs a bed? Not Owen

2010-09-17T19:56:00.001-07:00

I walked out of my sisters (Livi) house, after chatting with her for a few minutes, to venture two doors down to my house. As I am walking out, I see this (see below)

So I take out my cell phone and take a couple pictures. "Owen, is that you" he doesn't move, but I see his eyes open.

Thinking he was there because he was in search for me, but didn't want to go into Livi's house for whatever reason, convinced him to come back home with me. After being home maybe 10 minutes I find this (see below)

Fast asleep on a pile of clothes, that are waiting to go down to the laundry. And he was super asleep, it took a bit to get him to wake up.

I finally get him to wake up and tell him to go to the couch, it will be more comfortable after all. But instead, he didn't make it and fell asleep just a few steps from the couch (see below)

out cold

Turns out he was sick, and was really sick for a few days.

Tables

2010-09-17T19:04:00.000-07:00

I don't know what it is with kids and tables, but every single one of my children, went through a phase of always having to be on the table. On this day, August 4th, 2009, I discovered Ezra had discovered the joys of being on the kitchen table. So of coarse I took a bunch of pictures to document the glorious day. He found a bowl of chips and was just eating them, and of coarse being a ham for the camera every so often. But turns out, he is not a table climber. This was the only time he went on the table. And since he isn't an adventurous boy, he was safe and stayed away from the edge and when he was ready to come down, he called for me and waited for me to get him off. Since Ezra was born I would talk to him and call him my calm, gentle quite son. And he so is. He can go down stairs, goes down our deck stairs all the time, but our basement stairs are much steeper and longer and he just sits at the top of them, a safe distance from the steps and plays and waits for someone to take him down.

what mom, I found some chips, sheesh!

what? chips mom, there are chips, I love chips so I have to eat them. come on!

oh brother mom!!

ok I will pose a cute pose for you.

done yet, I just want to eat my chips

so good!

ok I will do a little dance too!!

Ezra always has made the best faces!!!!

umm go away now........

classic foot in bowl trick

Another day at the office!

2010-09-17T18:53:00.000-07:00

Ezra is one super cute funny kid. He is just nice and mellow and just enjoys so many things. This day, was the computer. He looked so much like he new exactly what he was doing, and getting whatever it was done. He probably felt like such a big kid!!!

oh look he stumbled on to something realyl interesting I bet!

some mouse action

Come on mom let me get back to work!

Ezra has a friend

2010-09-17T18:21:00.000-07:00

Ezra's new friend of coarse, is his reflection. It was so stankin' cute to watch him read to himself, chat to himself and laugh with himself.

Getting some help putting things away.

hahaha he must have told a funny joke to his new buddy!

Stopped reading his buddy a story long enough to give me a smile! hehe

cutie!!

so serious. Must be a really important conversation.

awwww holding hands!

Calgary Zoo

2010-09-17T12:54:00.001-07:00

Last year I used airmiles and got passes to the Calgary Zoo for our family. Only we never ended up going as planned. Since they expired July 28, 2010 (a year later) we made time to go just a few days before they expired. Grandma Jensen came with us. The kids had a really fun time. I didn't enjoy it so much, maybe cuz the kids were complaining so much before about having to go spend the day with just our family, that I wasn't really in the mood to be in the hot all day. Oh well, the kids had fun and we did go out to eat at Swiss Chalet afterwards and the waitress commented to me before we left about how great our kids were and she was honored to serve us. haha!! wicked!!!!

Thumb bite

2010-09-17T12:37:00.001-07:00

Lynnette was pushing her friends little sister on the swing and the swing hit her hand and it flung her thumb into her teeth. Big infection. But we put magic awesome sauve on it and the infection went right away!! Thanks Dr. Christopher

Writing on Stone Provincial Park

2010-09-17T12:15:00.000-07:00

Shortly after school got let out for the school year, a bunch of us went to Writing on Stone Park. The kids had a lot of fun and it was so so hot!!!

playing on the play ground

we saw a snake, so everyone decided to check it out.

it just went into a hole in the tree

yeah thats probably not a smart idea!! Infact, later in the day we had to explain to the kids that that isn't what you do when you see or hear a snake. haha

My mom and dad. Proud granparents.

All the grandkids that came. 17 in total that day. Not bad, I think that means only 5 grandkids aren't there.

getting ready to explore the hoodoo's

wall climbing with grandpa

In a hole with grandpa!

Super hero cake

2010-09-17T12:05:00.000-07:00

My nephew Asher had his third birthday. And lucky for him Aunt Holly lives really close now!!! He loves super heros so I did a cake search and decided to make him this cake. Spiderman on the bottom, batman in the middle, superman on top and iron man figurines!

hahaha, I love this, he is so pleased!

Ezra doing the dishes!

2010-09-17T11:49:00.001-07:00

This was so cute I had to share! Ezra was being really clinging one day ( well he was super clingy for the first 2 months of being here, still is a clingy kids, always has been always will be) but I had to get some stuff done. He seemed interested in the sink, so I put him up to the sink and he started doing dishes and had a ton of fun!!! When all else fails, put your kids to work!!! hahaha

LOL!! So happy!!!

Father's Day 2010

2010-09-17T11:28:00.001-07:00

Chris was sure spoiled again!!! The kids really went all out and each got him their own gift, and even a few extras that some went in together on. Chris wanted a picture with each child. I should have had them hold up what they got him, oh well. He was a good sport about getting up, even though he worked so much that week and travelled here the day before. You c an really see how tired he is. hahaha

Forrest

Daisy

Lynnette

Abigail

Zipporah

Sydney

Owen

Calliope

Ezra

And he wanted one with me. blah!!!!

Braids

2010-09-17T11:01:00.000-07:00

Time to have fun with Forrest's crazy hair. Ever since we moved to Raymond, his hair is the talk of the town. All the kids at school were touching it and even teachers were feeling his hair. It was so bad, in fact, that Forrest was washing and conditioning his hair everyday, so that he would have nice soft hair for people to feel. He said he hates it, but I think the positive attention is something he really enjoys. So we decided to have my sil Felisha braid his hair so he could shock the kids at school again. It was fun!

braiding

pretty cool

didn't realize his hair peak came to such a point. I think that is a Grandpa Boehme hair line.

and of coarse Owen wanted in on the fun. He just got two braids on the side, since his hair is so thin.

Chris' 36th birthday

2010-09-17T10:42:00.000-07:00

36 candles is A LOT!!!!

Since the kids were at my parents (cuz of the move) on May 29th, Chris' birthday, we decided to celebrate the following week at our new home in Raymond. Chris isn't a cake fan, so I made an ice cream cake. I got the idea from the blog here. I actually saw the big cake roll at the Merc, our local grocery store and decided to use that instead of the swiss rolls. It was yummy! Everyone loved it, and next time I am going to try it with my angel food cake roll, that will be heaven!!!

the cake

the cake with a wedge cut out

slice of cake

opening presents. The girl in the pink shirt beside Chris is my niece Asia.

Chris loves coconut

He got a gift from each child. So 9 presents ain't so bad!

Cowboy day

2010-09-17T08:52:00.001-07:00

About day two of school here is Raymond for the kids, the elementary school had cowboy day. They all had to dress up and there were activities and stuff. They did some calf roping (fake calves) and stuff like that. Here are my cowgirls, dressed up in as good as we could do for being in boxes! Can you tell who my sassy girls are? LOL!!

Abigail

Zipporah

Sydney

Daisy

Lynnette, she didn't want to wear the hat, but mean mom that I am, I made her for a picture

All the cowgirls together, and even Calliope.

We moved!!!

2010-09-03T11:44:00.000-07:00

Well, the day had come, when it was time to move back "home". Home being the small Southern Alberta town I grew up in, Raymond. I absolutely love Stony Plain, and being so close to Edmonton, which is my favorite place to be. Just driving into the city always made me happy. But, after 2 years of going back and forth about moving back, and fighting the pull, we decided it was time to pack up our family and be close to family, and in a small Mormon community.

The Thursday before we moved, May 27th, my dad came up with Kipp and Laura (and their 2 little boys) with a big closed in trailer, to help out. They had some vehicle trouble and had to have a new vehicle driven out to them in Claresholm, so they arrived pretty much at wake up time in my house. Kipp and my dad finished taking down the play center and loaded it into the trailer, then attached it to our big green van, I loaded the kids and their suitcases, and mom and dad travelled to Raymond with the 9 kids all by himself. He is a brave man, and I went through the rules with the kids over and over again and talked to the older ones about helping out, oh yes and since some of them get car sick on the 6 hour drive (sometimes more do to bathroom stops) I made each and ever one of them take a gravel. And if it caused some of them to sleep, oh well. LOL!!! My dad did a great job and I am so grateful to him and my mom, they had the kids for the whole weekend.

Friday, I was busy packing and cleaning. Kipp and Laura were very helpful and I don't think things would have gotten completely done, had they not came to help. My awesome friend Marissa, came by a few times and helped with cleaning as well, so grateful for her too. And I should point out, so sad I had to leave her in Stony Plain. I miss her so much.

Saturday we did more cleaning and since it was Chris's birthday, we took a 3 hour break and went into Edmonton to the mall. So not stressful there when you don't have 9 kids to keep safe and close under foot!! We walked around a bit, and Chris and I went to Tony Romas and had ribs, lots of ribs. Chris miraculously ate all his, I had to take mine home. Which ended up being a good thing, since Kipp hadn't eaten, cuz Laura was feeling sick, so he ate my left over ribs on the way back to Stony. The evening was filled with more getting stuff done. Kipp and Chris loaded the back of Tate's truck (the vehicle my dad ended up bringing up) with bunk beds and boxes.

Sunday, Chris and Kipp went and picked up the moving truck. We rented the largest one they had. It is HUGE. Chris was super sure we would even have extra room, me I wasn't so sure, we have a TON of stuff.

We were a bit disappointed in our bishop, he refused to let anyone call around to have people help us move. Since it was on a Sunday and planned he wouldn't let anyone make calls, and my phone books were packed and it was so sad to think we would be doing it alone. Kipp and Laura did call a couple friend of theirs who are in our ward and they did come and help. And the elders quorum president came for awhile and helped us too. The bishop even showed up for a bit himself and helped, his wife came inside and cleaned my bathroom in her Sunday dress. And Sheila and Daryll Burgess came also and they are pro movers I think. They got the job done like never before seen. So much stuff got packed right into the truck. In the end we had to leave almost all our dressers, all our book shelves and a desk and a couch and big TV and other odds and ends.

Chris was originally supposed to drive the moving truck down and me the red car, and Kipp and Laura in the truck. But that day, we decided Chris should stay and keep working instead of driving there and back only having a short time in Raymond anyways. So 5' 0" me, drove and big huge moving truck. It wasn't too bad, but no shocks made for a very bumpy ride home. I think we got to Raymond after 1 am maybe even 2am can't totally remember anymore. But we drove a bit slower do to our loads being so heavy and we saved lots on gas that way I think.

Monday night we ended up getting into our place. I did the walk through with the landlords (they are in our new ward) and afterwards they asked if we had help unloading. We really didn't, cuz we were a bit shy to ask people on FHE night. Well Kirk and Tina went home and within 5 minutes I could all the sudden see men, lots of men and some young men, walking up to our place. They were so awesome. I was so amazed that in a moments notice on a night most like to be together as a family, so many people were so willing, and happily willing to come help us out. Blew me away, especially since things were so bad in Stony around us moving on a Sunday, which BTW had to be done do to only having the truck for so many days, and not wanting to spend another 500 dollars just so I could keep it a bit longer. And with Chris needing to work and stuff, it had to be done.

To make things easier I just had the load in the boxes where ever, for me to find homes for everything later. Chris came home that following weekend, and i was able to have quite a bit taken care of. It still took quite a while to get everything unpacked, but it did eventually get done.

Chris, Kipp, Laura and their boys in our almost empty house

Everything almost out

Well ok, had to leave somethings in the house, as we ran out of room in for all of it

the FULL garage

View from the other side

and one more view to show how loaded our garage was. My plan was to have everything in the garage to make loading up quicker and easier. Plan accomplished, though had the garage fit a few more things, it would have even been better.

View of this big moving truck!

Before being loaded up

If you look closely you can see the truck almost filled up and see how much stuff is still left to pack up.

Here Kipp and busy shoving stuff. They managed to do a lot of stuffing and got a ton more stuff in then I ever though possible

shove shove shove shove!

the unloading. The men did an assembly line and in record time that van was empty! It was amazing to see!

Notice that they are in fact, very happy while they are working! And they really had a great time, laughing and joking around as they got the job done!

unloading

Assembly line

Almost empty truck

just a few more things

And here is my house. I felt like I was on hoarders for a few days, as there was only tiny walk ways to get from room to room.

This is after I got half the dining room free of boxes in just a day

And me in the moving truck before dropping it off.

closer up, just so you know it really is me.

me again!

And just so you know, it is a lot of work, moving a house of 11 people. 13 of them being children. There is so much stuff and it was so much work getting everything done. But the kids love it here and all their peers welcomed them so warmly and there is a new found freedom here of being able to ride bikes around town and walk to the store with no worries from parents or parents tagging along. Its nice here.

Nachos GRANDE!!!!!!

2010-06-16T19:47:00.000-07:00

On the 10th of May, Chris came into our bedroom that evening with the hugest plate of nachos ever!!!!! There isn't even any meat on that plate! He wanted me to take a picture of them, he was so proud of his creation, so I did, then I picture documented the whole process of eating them. I told him there was no way he could eat all that. Just a week earlier, if not days, he still wasn't able to eat as much as he could before his esophagus surgery, but just like a flick of a switch, he has his appetite back! He ate the whole thing and even licked the plate clean! crazy! I will also add, I didn't have any of it, not even a tiny taste!

He just tried some, so good!!! his face says it all really! He is so pleased!

Wondering where to start

yummy!

working on it, not bad so far

wow!

still going

and going

almost done!

so good can't waste any of it!

licking the plate clean!

see all gone, every tiny speck!

Bruised nose/ cut lip

2010-05-17T15:47:00.000-07:00

First I will start with Owen's bruised nose. On May 8th some of the kids were playing in the backyard on our play center. Owen was swinging and had Sydney push him. Well she got over excited and lots control over herself and pushed him too hard and his face hit the wood. He got an instant bloody nose. Poor Owen, he gets hurt a lot, but I have never seen him this hurt before. He could hardly breathe he was crying so hard. Chris worked his magic and got him all calmed down though. I am sure it included talking about cowboys.

The first three pictures at the first day

after we got the bleeding to stop

so sad

The next two are the second day

more bruising, but bigger smiles!

and then the next 2 are the third day

Now for the cut lip. Not really super cut, but a little slice from a razor. Calliope got a hold of one of my disposable razors and tried to shave her face "like dad". She ended up with a tiny cut that hurt pretty bad. Since I was taking pictures of Owen's nose, she wanted me to take pictures of her lip. The first two are the first day and you can't see anything. She had toilet paper on it the whole time and took it off just for the pictures. Bottom lip right in the middle

The next three pictures are the second day and you can now see red where she cut.

Lots of excitement in the Jensen home!!

Teenager in the house!!!

2010-05-16T19:22:00.000-07:00

Forrest had his 13th birthday May 6th. I made him a cake covered in bounty bars and skittles. He absolutely loved it. All the kids were excited about getting some of the cake. He chose money over a party. Chris took him out for supper (the following Friday) and to a movie. And he bought some books at Chapters with some of his money, and he is already checking chapters online for more books that he wants. In September Forrest was a size 16 and had a young boy voice. He joined the running club and has grown quite a bit and now he is down to size 12 and has a voice that is deepening. He started off the school year just shorter than me and by Christmas or sooner he was taller.

Like tradition I made a yummy birthday breakfast for him and for supper we had his favorite food, mac and cheese. Only I made it from scratch! Love homemade mac and cheese!! He said too that once the kids at school found out it was his birthday, everyone was really nice to him. So I think he had a great day!!!

I got him his own 12 pack of mac and cheese for him. He LOVES all mac and cheese.

Owen's 5th birthday

2010-05-16T14:14:00.000-07:00

I know the above picture is blurry, but I had to add it. Chris got Owen that cowboy hat for his birthday and he LOVES it. Owen is all about cowboys. He also got some transformers from us during his family party.

On April 8th Owen had his 5th birthday. On that day we just got a transformer cake from Dairy Queen (he picked it out) and had a little family party. Chris also took him out for supper. We also started the day off with a special birthday breakfast.

I decided that I might be brave enough to finally do a friend party for Owen. So about 2 weeks after his birthday day, we had all the kids from his primary class come over for a party. All 7 kids he invited came. Owen was so excited! All the kids were very well behaved and we had no problems and everyone had a lot of fun. Owen absolutely loved opening so many gifts. And each gift he enjoyed thoroughly and many times said " I don't believe it!" and was so excited!!! We did some crafts. Each kids colored a wooden letter, the first letter in their name and I made little books out of 12X12 cardstock and they got to color and put stickers on them and make their own books. I didn't plan any games, because I figured they would all just love to hang out and not have the organization of games and that's what happened. The kids don't see each other much out of church, so I think it was really neat for them to just play instead of having to sit for a lesson together.

Owen and his transformer DQ cake!

Blowing out the candles

Owen's castle cake I made for his friend party. I did get some of him with it and blowing out the candles, but they aren't to be found. Lost on my memory card and must not have transferred over. :(

top

the guards

hahaha excited about something

all the kids eating cake

Little Ezra loves cake!!

searching for presents

Owen's black eye

2010-05-12T12:27:00.000-07:00

On the 19th of March Owen was jumping on this couch (see picture below). It is a couch made for children, so it small that and regular love seat.

He actually does this quite often and also likes to get up on the bench and jump from there to the couch. As you can see a dip in the middle of the couch because of all the jumping that goes on, on this couch. Well on this particular day, he lost control and hit just under his eye on the bench. This is the results.

his left eye underneath, nice and painful

you can even see the red mark exactly where it got him, so close it wasn't his eye ball.

still super happy boy, and yes he still jumps on the couch!

Still super cute!

PDD-NOS

2010-04-19T12:13:00.000-07:00

When Sydney was 21 months old, her pediatrician diagnosed her "moderately autistic". She told us she would never be able to be left without an adult, never be able to move out and pretty much need constant supervision and "help" her whole life. She learned a lot of things by following her sister Zipporah around, she would point at what she did, say what she did etc. I was unable to teach her, but she learned really well by mimicking her sister. As time went on, she improved in strides, like I mean big huge GIANT steps. I started questioning her diagnosis about 4 years ago when she was in preschool. By kindergarten, the teacher even told me, had they not been told, they never would have been able to pick her out as being the child with autism, and when people came into our home to work with her, I got the same reactions. I talked to the school councillor who was wanting me to not have her reassessed. He said that it didn't matter that she didn't use the aid that was put in the classroom for her, because that aid could be used for other children as well. But there was no way I was going to have her keep a diagnosis that wasn't right. What if there was something else, and I was dealing with her wrong because of her current moderately autistic diagnosis? He didn't seem to think it would do any harm keeping things as they were. Buy by the end of the year her teacher had requested her be reassessed and so that set thing in motion, though it has been a long slow process. A couple days ago I got a call and she has a new, fits her so much better, diagnosis is PDD-NOS. So she is on the autism spectrum but is a much milder, higher functioning autism. I would also say that I would be surprised if she didn't move out and live on her own and even start a family of her own. Academically she is brilliant. She is suspected as having a photographic memory of some sorts. We haven't got her tested for that, nor do we even know how, but sometimes its a bit amazing. Like with reading, to her each letter says its specific sound, so sounding out words is very difficult and almost impossible at times, because she can't see how each sound can blend. But if you just tell her the word, so knows it for good. I have never had to tell her a word twice, never. Her spelling test this year she has gotten 100% each week. All she has to do is right it on her list the beginning of the week and never look at it again and Friday 100%. crazy crazy. I think even in a few more years her social quirks will even be gone. She used to play alone and even though she still prefers it, she engages the kids at school and plays with others. This year (her grade 2 year) has been the best at socializing that I have seen her. There are just little things here and there, that probably only those of us that live with her even notice. It is actually quite awesome to see how she progresses in strides and how huge of leap she is now at 7.5 years of age, than she was at 21 months.

Another cake

2010-04-17T20:39:00.000-07:00

Check out my newest cake on my cake blog www.hollyjocakes.com.

Lymphadenitis

2010-04-17T12:27:00.000-07:00

Yeah I thought the doctor was giving me a bogus name for what Forrest had. When the doctor handed me his prescription and said what he has is called LYMPHADENITIS, I really thought for a second he might have made up the name. hahaha This is the second time he has had an infection in his jaw. The first time we took him to the walk in. This time he started hurting in the evening, by morning I could see it starting to swell so I kept him home form school and they were able to get us in to the doctor 15 minutes after I called. We took care of things before his swelling got too bad this time, so its a bit hard to see in the pictures, but if you look the right side of his jaw, your left looking at him, you can see it is a bit swollen. He had a lot of pain with this too.

Welcome to the family Shuka!

2010-04-17T12:09:00.000-07:00

Chris loves birds. He especially loves the companion birds. After his green cheeked conure died, he said he would like to get a bigger bird next time. So we have been casually looking around and seeing what out there. African Greys and very intelligent and make excellent companions. So the plan was someday, we would be able to get one. They are pretty pricey. Well Chris works with a guy who he sometimes takes home and his dad had this bird and was needing to get rid of him and willing to part with him for only the price of the cage. That was a deal we couldn't let get away. So now we have an African Grey Parrot in our family. He takes quite a bit and its fun to listen and see what he says, and sometimes a bit weird when he says something in your voice. Birds kinda creep me out a bit, but Chris really loves them, so I have never fought him getting one. I am slowly getting used to Shuka. Actually it is happening faster than I thought. The kids absolutely love him and we are just waiting for them to be used to him here and not be so in his face sometimes.

Owen was in absolute heaven having Shuka on his shoulder.

Sending Smiles!!

2010-04-11T19:55:00.000-07:00

So being the blog snoop that I am, while reading my cousin Lynn's blog, I had to click on her link to an new blog she posted about. I super super love this idea. The blog is called SENDING SMILES. You have to go check it out. I think it is the most fantastic idea and I so want to participate. How wonderful to help strangers feel loved and important during times of need or trial. My hope is that as I participate, I will become more compelled to help the people around me and be more aware of who is in need. I so love doing things for people annonymously, and with this, though they might see my name, they don't know who I am.

Calliope's 3

2010-04-11T15:47:00.000-07:00

We had a Hello Kitty birthday for Calliope. My cake looks more like a knock off Hello Kitty, but it past the Calliope test and she loved it. She got a special birthday breakfast and we just had a family party. For supper she wanted macaroni and cheese, so thats what we had. Calliope loves to sing and dance and be all girly, but she also loves to climb and jump off of things and run around with Owen, she is definately full of energy. She loves being with her big sisters and they love to spoil her.

super excited about her cake!

blowing out the candles.

Paper bag prince

2010-04-11T15:41:00.000-07:00

Owen, our very own paper bag Prince.

New plate

2010-04-11T15:24:00.000-07:00

Who needs a plate or a table when you can just flip over the garbage can and dump out your lick a maid powder onto it and lick it up. Even though this totally disgusted me, I decided to grab the camera and take a couple pictures anyways. haha

yummy!!!!

Ezra's 1st birthday

2010-04-10T18:52:00.001-07:00

It is so crazy how fast a year goes by. Ezra turned 1 on January 28th. My parents were able to come up and help us celebrate. We started the day with a special birthday breakfast. Then had his favorite food for supper, chicken. Ezra absolutely loves chicken. Chicken and cheese have always been his favorite foods. We actually got KFC for supper, and he ate lots and lots of chicken. We spoiled him rotten and got him way too many gifts, but in my defense, this is the last 1st birthday we will be celebrating, so it had to be big. LOL!!

happy eating breakfast

pancakes, bacon, and eggs

small frog cake, this one he got all to himself

little and big frog side by side

hmmm interesting

starring down the frog, showing him who's boss I suppose.

got your eyes!

yummers!

I want both!

Opening presents, Calliope helping too.

Ezra with all his presents

he didn't stay sitting for long

Ezra with grandma and grandpa Boehme. hahaha he is so scared of pretty much everyone that isn't his mom or dad or siblings.

Ezra 1 year pictures

2010-04-09T22:52:00.000-07:00

Ezra is such a sweet awesome child!!! Just laid back, not much into adventure, I have always been able to just put him on the couch and he would just play there, no looking over the edge and falling off, nothing, in fact he did teach himself around 8 months to get off the couch properly. He wasn't walking at 1, but the next day he took 5 steps in a row a few different times, then nothing until almost 14 months. He would walk along the wall and barely be holding on, but not walk alone. He is walking now like a pro! No words yet either. He has said dad a few times, and hi once or twice, but he still just does baby babble a lot. I guess he just isn't a child in a hurry, and that is so ok with me.
Ezra loves toys that talk, or I guess interact. He loves balls, he just loves to throw them and play pass. He drives cars around on the floor and still likes to be within reach of mom.

Couple of cakes

2010-04-09T20:57:00.000-07:00

I made the Monkey cake for one of a friend of mine who is in my January 2009 mommy group. It was her sons birthday cake for his first birthday. I made a bonus smaller one so that her son could pig out on his own mini cake. made January 24. And on the 26th of January I made the flower cake for a friends friend. The flowers were actually brighter in real life, sadly they look so dull in the pictures.

Cleaning....bad!

2010-04-09T20:16:00.000-07:00

On January 18th I was cleaning mine and Chris's bedroom. Everything was fine until one of his hindu statues fell on my toe. It wasn't even one of the big ones, but it split my skin and hurt extremely bad!!! clean at your own risk!

Olympic Torch

2010-04-09T19:28:00.000-07:00

Well a once in a life time experience for us. The Olympic torch not only ran through our town, but right infront of our home. So I woke everyone up early and we bundled up and were outside waiting by the curb just before 7am. The older 6 followed the torch runner to the school and once there the school had hot chocolate and stuff to entertain the kids until school started. The school is just a block and a half away so because it was running right by the school, the school made an event out of it.

almost here

and now he's gone