Hairstyle #22

This is a beautiful style that takes forever and a day to do. For instructions, go here.But A1 does look gorgeous like this.

School Funnies

A1 says some of the funniest things about school. Here's a collection of some of my favorites:

A1's school has a professional coach to teach PE for each class. A1's class has Wednesdays as their days with the professional coach. One Wednesday morning, I explained to A1 that she needed to wear pants and sturdy shoes for PE and to be ready to get dirty because the coach might take them to one of the fields to play. She agreed and we went on with our morning. Then during breakfast she asked where the carriage was going to take her. "What carriage?" I asked. "You know, the carriage with the horses. You know, the coach." "No, no, no, not that kind of coach," I laughed. Then I explained that the coach wasn't a carriage that drove princesses around; the coach was a man ("On a horse?" she asked me) who would teach them how to play sports. It took a while, but I think she now understands what a coach is. And I understand that I've let my daughter watch too many princess movies and not enough sports.

During the second week of school, A1 revealed to us that one of the boys in her class has a crush on her (I didn't think I'd have to deal with this in Kindergarten; I thought I still had a few years) and keeps trying to kiss her. I told her not to let him kiss her. She said, "I don't let him kiss me. And, Mom, I don't like it. It distracts me from learning."

Here's a conversation I had with A1 as we walked home from school one Friday afternoon:
A1: Why didn't our teacher send our homework folder home today?
me: Well, it's Friday. You don't have homework on Fridays.
A1: No! (groaning and complaining)
me: Don't worry. That just means we get to make up our own homework.
A1: Hurray! (cheering)

A2's Culinary Skills

One Saturday evening R and I were both too busy to make dinner. A2 told us multiple times that he was hungry, but we kept stalling him, telling him we'd be right there and just to hang on. Finally A2 gave up on us. He set the table for the four of us, including cups with water and napkins. Then he pulled out the cottage cheese, served each of us a heaping spoonful, and put away the extra. Then he blessed the food, called us all dinner, and sat down to eat without us. After he finished his food, he cleared his place and told us once again that we needed to eat. Needless to say, we sat down and ate the dinner that he prepared for us.

A2 Starts Preschool

My little baby is a big boy now. He has started preschool. I cannot believe how big he is now.He and six of his friends meet together twice a week, and the moms alternate teaching. The kids are excited to learn about letters and numbers and whatever else we teach them. I think they're most excited about singing and playing with all the new toys.What am I going to do with myself now that both my kids are in school? How do you spend your free time?

A1 Starts School

My sweet daughter, my tiny girl is officially in school now. She started Kindergarten in September at the local elementary school.

She is the youngest in her class, but she absolutely loves school and learning and homework and everything that I loved when I was in elementary school. She loves her teacher, who is a wonderful and kind woman, very patient with the kids. I am looking forward to volunteering in class and learning more about the kids.

Aren't they the cutest bunch of kindergartners you've ever seen?

A2's New Hobby

Because A1 has decided that she likes photography, A2 must also enjoy taking pictures. So I present his offerings from our camera.He still needs to work on keeping his fingers out of the picture and holding the camera on the subject of the picture instead of dropping it as the flash is going off. But other than that, I like it.

The Dinosaur Park

While we were visiting family in Utah, we went with Grandma Jensen to the Dinosaur Park. There's a nice museum, but even better there are dinosaur statues throughout the park, hiding in the trees and drinking at the lake. A1 and A2 were entranced by herbivores......and the carnivores.They dug up dinosaur bones......and crawled inside dinosaur skulls.It was a magical adventure and we are still talking about the petrified tree that was also a slide (too much fun on the slide to take pictures). Thank you, Grandma, for taking us to such a wonderful place.

Welcome Wyatt Brown

On the most recent vacation to Utah, we were fortunate enough to be there when my new nephew was born. He's a darling, looks just like his mom, and has the quietest cry I have heard (I'm sure that's fixed by now). Everybody got a turn to hold him at the hospital, but I think Aunt Erin and Uncle Ryan took the longest turn.A1, A2, and I watched Carmen while her parents were in the hospital. We had a blast playing at Grandma and Grandpa's house and the rust trap that is their swing set. As a final adventure for our time together, Grandma took us to Build-A-Bear, where each kid built a bear.This was the best way to end a few long days while Carmen's mom and dad were away at the hospital. Thank you, Grandma, for the bears. Thank you, Aunt Alison and Uncle Casey, for letting us play with Carmen and bringing a beautiful boy to our family.

Camping With the Jensens

This summer was the first time in years that most of the Jensen clan was able to get together. The only person missing was R, who had to stay home and work. But Steve and Tracie and the kids were visiting from Indiana, so A1, A2, and I decided to join in the festivities.

We went camping, where all the kids learned to shoot a crossbow (the Nerf kind, not the real kind) and more importantly the rules of shooting (don't shoot at people, don't shoot when people are near, etc.).

We went fishing, as is Jensen family tradition, where A2 caught his very first fish...


...and the rest of us caught our limit.I think the kids had more fun trying to step on the fish as we released them than actually catching them. But we finally ended up with enough for dinner.But the most important part was that we got to be all together and had fun sitting in the sun. I can't think of anything better than spending time with the family at a lake.

We Miss Our Friends!

This summer our bestest friends moved away, the Johnsons to the OC and the Floods to Utah. We miss them everyday and wish that they were still here. Who is supposed to tell me to get over myself when I start complaining? Who can I distract from actually earning a living at home? Whose apartment can I go to when I need eggs and don't feel like changing out of my pajamas? Who will feed me delicious French food when I'm supposed to be losing weight?

We couldn't stand it without them anymore, so we all met at Jaime's house for a day-long visit. The kids loved to see their friends again and couldn't believe what it was like to actually live in a house. Their favorite part of the house: stairs inside the house. Unbelievable!

We still miss you, friends. We need to set up another playdate!

The California ScienCenter

I can't believe I have never taken my children to the California ScienCenter. It is the most amazing place! The kids absolutely loved it. We learned about the different ecosystems on earth and where turtles live.The ScienCenter has a really good aquarium, including a walk-through tube so that you feel like you're walking at the bottom of the ocean with fish swimming all around you. The kids wanted to spend the rest of the time inside that tube, especially once the diver started photobombing us.A1 and A2 got to do a "newscast" on "TV." Aren't they so cute?Then they built and painted toys on the computer.The California ScienCenter is the greatest place for nerds, so I think we're going to have to spend a whole lot more time there.

PreK Graduation

A1 graduated from PreK this summer. She loved going to school four times a week and learning from some of the greatest teachers in the world. We absolutely love Teacher Renee and Teacher Kim. Thank you for taking such good care of my little girl.A1 learned a lot in PreK. She learned that she loves homework (she made us buy her a "homework book" so that she could do homework on the days she didn't go to school), she learned the sounds of all the letters and how to put them together into words, and she learned all the numbers up to 30 and started on addition. We are so proud of you, A1!

New Quiet Time Activities

A1 and A2 have become too old to take naps in the afternoon. However, I still need an hour or so to myself each day. So we have instituted Quiet Time. During Quiet Time the kids stay in their room and play. They can play whatever they want as long as they stay in their room and don't make too much noise. The favorite activity has become reading. I often come into the room to find something like this happening:
I am raising two little nerds, and it makes me so proud!

A1's New Hobby

A1 has decided that she likes photography. She begs and begs to use the camera to take pictures of very random things. Here are a couple of her most recent attempts at being a photographer.Flowers are always a good place to start, don't you think?

Swimming with the Grandparents

I often take A1 and A2 to the pool. A1 has come to love the water and usually spends most of the time swimming back and forth. A2, on the other hand, does not like the pool; I have to fight with him to keep him in the water for more than 5 minutes. That is, until Grandma and Grandpa came to the pool.

Grandpa, as usual, was the hit of the party. A few of our friends were there, and all the kids spent the entire time chasing him and being chased by him. They squirted him and splashed him. They rode on him like horse. Grandpa is the official favorite person of the neighborhood.

Grandma decided to teach A2 all about loving the water. Under her loving tutelage, A2 spent hours and hours in the pool. He jumped in from the stairs and from the side. He swam. He splashed and squirted the other kids. His poor little lips were blue and he was shivering by the time I pulled him, kicking and screaming, from the water. Now every time we go to the pool, he spends the whole time jumping into the pool and kicking from wall to wall. Thanks, Grandma!

Easter 2011

Camping gets so much easier and so much better as the kids grow up. This year's Easter camping trip was even better than any we have had before. We were able to stay for the whole time, and the kids just wanted to be like the adults. So A2 had to help Grandma set up the trailer.
And A1 had to help Grandpa light the lanterns each night.We hiked during the day and played games at night. Everyone helped cook (the kids' favorite thing was getting the water to do the dishes at the end of the meal) and everyone helped play. It was such an awesome trip.
The main event was the big Easter Egg Hunt, just like every year. And just like every year, A1 begged to have Grandpa as her hunting partner. Will anyone ever be better than Grandpa?This year, A2 decided that the only acceptable hunting partner was Aunt Megan. It made his day when she decided to arrive earlier than expected, and he spent the rest of the trip tagging along after her. I do have to say that Aunt Megan always was my favorite hunting partner too.And for all the hard work of finding where the Easter Bunny left the eggs, the kids (and the adults) were rewarded with large bags of candy and Zhu Zhu pets. What a haul!We love camping!

Totally Awesome

A2 learned a new phrase to describe all the people in his life.

Kid-friendly Las Vegas

On the return from a recent trip to Utah, we decided to spend some time in Vegas. But what can you do in Vegas with two small children? Well, we spent quite a bit of time at M&M World, where the kids got to see a 3D movie and take pictures with all the different colored Ms.We also took pictures outside the famous hotel/casinos, just to say we had seen the sites. A1's favorite was the replica of the Statue of Liberty outside New York-New York. She had just learned about it in preschool, so she was excited to follow suit.It's not a bad way to spend a few hours if you want to miss the most of LA traffic when you're trying to come home from vacation.