coloring and a tutu

her 2 favorite things at the moment

christmas recap 2009

the tree was picked (on the coldest night of the year)

cookies were made

presents were wrapped

santa claus came

bells were played

presents were opened

5 happy children

time with family

happy birthday to me

a very happy christmas

at the jensen home

hold on just one minute

i just walked into the garage and he was 3. he was taking apart his power wheels jeep just so he could put it back together. so imagine my surprise the other day when i was getting ready in the bathroom and he comes in to comb his hair and i looked at him in the mirror and thought is he really that big? and he is. he is growing and he just won't stop. it is kind of crazy to have to reach my arms up to give my little boy a hug. and it seems like i have to keep tipping my head farther and farther back just to look up at his face. it is true what they say that the days can be long but the years just fly by. i am sure before i know it i will be looking up at evan. sigh...

toddlers and teenagers

toddlers and teenagers. having both at the same time is kind of crazy. i can't decide which is harder. the toddlers are easier to make happy. peanut butter sandwiches, making up songs and dancing to them and sitting in a triangle rolling the ball to each other made these 2 very happy today. the teenagers always have to be taken somewhere or have someone over to be happy. they don't want to hang out with me anymore. soon my toddlers will be teenagers (ugh) so i am going to enjoy the simple things that make them so happy. i will be more grateful for them, even when they have their "moments" because toddlers have their "moments" just like my teenagers do. i do love all of them the same and i love the one smack dab in the middle. i am so lucky to be a mom.

happy halloween

a flapper

michael jackson

pirate

me(age 17)

lightning mcqueen

chick magnet

yo dawg...whas up?

"you kinda have a big butt, you should get a smaller one"

and

"you can snuggle me, i just don't want to smell your breath"

never a dull moment in this house, with this 3 year old

i don't take anything he says too personal

although i really wish i could get a smaller butt.

picking the perfect pumpkin

looking for the perfect one
found it

the perfect seat

hot diggity dog, i am drivin the tractor

fun, fun, fun

a good night

last night was a good night. no one had anywhere to go and everyone was home. i wanted to take a picture of our night but of course my camera battery was dead. we had just finished dinner. i was in the kitchen with all 5 kiddos. i was making a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich for rick because the leftover soup we had just didn't "fill him up", normally i would have been annoyed to make something else but for some reason i didn't mind. so there we were in the kitchen. jess was making chocolate chip cookies and for some reason it was taking her a really long time to make the dough, evan was standing on the bar stool waiting patiently for jess to finish the dough so he could lick the beater, ruby was playing peek-a-boo with herself and the aprons hanging up, brendan was practicing his oral presentation on a supernova remnant cassiopeia A for science and lily was trying to eat all of the bacon for my sandwich. basicallly all 5 children were making some kind of noise. this usually drives me crazy but it didn't. brendan finished his report by saying, "this concludes my presentation." and then says in a very enthused peppy voice (which is so not usual)"vote for summer!" which is a line from the one and only napoleon dynamite. it was so funny it made me laugh out loud. i know it was a moment that you had to be there, but it made me laugh, a good belly laugh and when all those kids saw their mom laugh it made them all laugh, just as hard as me. it was a good night. and that oral presentation was ridiculously boring.

his first day

he thought the day would never come. i thought the day would never come. it finally came. his first day of school. and seriously, look at him work the camera. placement of the feet? the hands on the backpack? the smile? dang he's good.
lets hope he doesn't end up in the "time out" chair as much as his big brother did

why can't all my children be this excited about going to school?

miracle

it was a miracle yesterday. he didn't ask me to pitch him any balls until 4pm. it could have had something to do with me hiding his bat. oops.

how was the first day?

okay, i guess
"amazing"

fine.

good-bye summer

we will miss you

a lot.

camp out

i was watching jon and kate +8 and she had a little camp out in her backyard. what a great idea. i got evan all excited to sleep in a tent, even though i don't think he even knew what a tent was until we set it up. he loved every minute of getting ready for the big night. we even had smores. we got all settled in our sleeping bags and then someone forgot to turn off the sprinklers. it scared evan right out of his sleeping bag and right into the house. that was it for him. i really wanted to go inside and get into my big comfy bed but jess was already sound asleep and i couldn't leave her all alone all night. lily was too scared of the wind, brendan didn't think there was room for him and rick said he would sleep inside in case ruby woke up in the night. what a guy. anyhoo i stayed out in the tent and it was just like sleeping in the great outdoors. i was hot, it was noisy i tossed and turned all night and couldn't wait for morning to come so i could get up. maybe next year i will have a few more takers on my big camp out!

pig tails

oh how excited i am. ruby will sit and let me do her hair. so i was able to comb all 20 strands of hair she has into pig tails. there really is nothing cuter than piggy tails- especially on my little 1 year old! and that dimple....

bedtime snack

mommy, could i get some corn on the pops?

(corn pops)

lake powell 2009

lake powell. it had been way too many years since i have been. it was just as i remembered it. beautiful. i was so glad to be back. the best part about lake powell? everyone loves it. big kids, little kids and those kids right in the middle. we would pick lake powell over disneyland. crazy but true. of course the best day of our trip my battery in my camera died. this was the day i jumped off a cliff. really i did and i have no proof. only a couple of mishaps happened. we had a sinking wave runner, evan almost got swallowed up by the tour boat waves (but was saved by papa craig ) and i lost the key to my luggage carrier. not bad at all. so thanks mom and dad. we had a great time. same time. same place. next year? we'll be there! the crazy group
brendan



jessi

those two

ruby girl with pink eye

lily and "sambo"

sparklers

sparklers

the best part of the 4th of july.

i loved watching lily dance

around and around.

spell her name with her sparklers

just like i did

when i was little.

the big one four

my all american boy

turns 14 this week

baseball

wakeboarding

training table

golfing

riding his green kawasaki

oreos

lake powell

hangin with his best buddy

these are his favorites

happy birthday

i love you

opam update

the room is finished

i know it was supposed to be one project a month

but it took us several months

she loves her new room

i even love the paint color she picked

at first it kind of scared me

but it is so her

no more OPAMs for a while

unless they are a lot easier

livin the dream

is there anything more "american" than enjoying a baseball game with friends and family on a beautiful spring evening?he's removing his hat-are they getting ready to pray for a win?
what a face

the bike- goes to every game



those chocolate cookies were yummy
could i get another one?

#7 the one we cheer really loud for

have a happy memorial day weekend

enjoy your american dream

have a wonderful sunny day!

getting ready

the pots have been planted

the flowers are in the ground

little hands helping

i know. i know.

one day i will miss all the little hands helping

now if daddy will just hang that tire swing

in the big tree

our yard will officially be ready for summer

yipee!

photo session

with the first baby he got his picture taken every 3 months without fail sometimes even early. the second baby was a girl she had her picture taken every 3 months also. the third wasn't quite as lucky but i was pretty good at getting her picture taken. number 4 and 5 have barely had their pictures taken at all. today was the day. the setting was beautiful . the tulips, amazing. quite a few pictures taken and a few good ones. you know the celebrity look, it just doesn't work for me. i wish she would leave something in her hair, even if it is only for picture taking purposes. but no. maybe i will try again. but i doubt it. these will have to do. and if i do say so myself i think they are pretty darn cute.

celebrity baby

is it just me or does it seem like celebrity kids always look like a mess. their hair is never done, their clothes are goofy and never match-what exactly do those nannies do? i like to think of my ruby as a celebrity baby. although i always do her hair, she always pulls it out and it looks like this everyday. at least she has a REALLY cute face and doesn't wear goofy clothes. and her mom is not a celebrity.

strike 3

what a busy day. we finished off the day with brendans baseball games. 2 games back to back. he got up to bat and struck out. no big deal. got up to bat again and struck out again. well 1 game over and he struck out every time. all i can think is the next game will be better. struck out again, and again, and again. the last time he got up to bat there were runners on 2nd and 3rd. we REALLY needed those 2 runs to come in, but i would have been happy with just 1 run in, oh heck i would have been happy if he just hit the dang ball. now evan is at the park crying and i need to go and help him and i decide maybe it is better if i just walk away anyway. i walk over to evan and hug him and kiss him and tell him he is ok, he will be fine and then i hear it again....strike 3. it was at that moment i wanted to take my big boy in my arms and love him and kiss him and tell him everything is ok and he will be fine. because i could tell even at 14 years old he wanted to cry, cry just like his little brother. so he had a bad day. and he never hit the ball. he came home and showered and told me he wanted to quit baseball. but an hour later he came upstairs with batting gloves on and said he was going to the batting cages. he isn't going to quit. he just had a bad day, and we all have them. they are no fun, but they happen. and thank goodness we learn to pick ourselves up and try again. because tomorrow is always a new day.