Christmas Day

On Christmas morning, David got up at a decent hour. He opened his presents and was still looking for more!

Later in the day we went to Uncle Paul's house. For some reason I didn't take pictures! I've got to get better at remembering! We did shoot some video. We had delicious food for lunch. After lunch we had fun playing Guitar Hero. I was the singer, Tony played bass, Charlie played guitar and mom tried to play the drums. We also played Apples to Apples. I really enjoyed the time we spent there.

After that we stopped by Papa's house to exchange gifts with mom. David was very tired from all the activities of the past two days. He was getting upset that the present that Grandmary had got for him wasn't a toy.

Christmas Eve

Each Christmas eve we go visit my grandparents--Grom and Granddaddy. For about 10 years now they have lived in Hillsboro. We had a nice visit with my dad's side of the family. If you are wondering why Ashley is not in these pictures, it's because she was with her mom for Christmas this year.

David has been wanting to climb a tree. We don't have many large trees in our neighborhood and so he hasn't been able to. Fortunately, we found a tree to get into in Hillsboro!

Even Aunt Sasa got in the tree!

When we were there, a couple who is revovating a house next door came over. The woman said to me "I've never seen anything like this!" And that pretty much sums it up. There are presents everywhere! They fill the room!

It's OK, Sasa...anyone would get confused in all this mayhem!

OK, so I didn't take very many pictures. I think it's because we also had our video camera and so some of the trip is on there.

A Visit from Friends

One of Dustin's friends, Matt, and his family came down to Texas during this month and stopped by for a visit. David had a great time playing with Kate and Cole!

Pre-Christmas Fun

This month has gone by so fast! I can't believe Christmas is already over, but I do have lots of good memories from this year. Everything went so fast that I didn't even get any Christmas cards sent!

David did most of the tree decorating this year (which is why most of the ornaments are at his height).

The first festive activity that we had was David's class party. The kids decorated ice cream cones that resembled Christmas trees. They also had a book exchange.

A Bunch of Turkeys

This week Ashley prepared Family Home Evening and this picture is the result of the activity. I'm not really sure what the headband is for, but I think the pic represents our family pretty well. I love Thanksgiving. I think it has to do with a lot of good memories from childhood. We would gather with my dad's side of the family. I loved being with my cousins. Looking back I was probalby the annoying little cousin to them, but all I have a fun memories. Seeing uncles, aunts and the people there that make you wonder who they are and are they actually part of the family and if so who do they belong to? I guess my memories of Thanksgiving are warm and happy.

Lately, I've been hosting Thanksgiving at my house for my mom's side of the family. I wonder what kind of memories it's making for the children now.

First Bike

I found this little red bike at a garage sale. I thought it would be just right for David until we get him a new one for his next birthday. The tires are a little worn, but the good thing about having a 4 year old is that he doesn't care (because he doesn't even notice).

Just Something

I am having such a hard time with keeping up with blogging. I was just looking at some other people's blogs and they write A LOT and have lots of cute pictures too. I guess I need to remember that none of the ones I looked at are written by people who have to go outside the home to work. Anyhow, even though I have a sink of dirty dishes and a thousand household chores that need to be done, I'm going to write something. There that feels a tiny bit better. By the way, on Halloween, right before we were going to go trick-or-treating, David had his rectum slip out again. Dustin decided that he would take matters into his own hand and put it back in place himself. We took David to the doctor and he said it was fine to push it back in and to give David raisins, grapes, and apple juice to keep his stools soft. OK, enough yucky stuff. He is doing fine. OK, so here are a couple of pictures of Halloween this year.

Still Here!

Wow! It's been about a month since my last blog. I have just been so busy. I was worried about starting a blog because I didn't know if I could keep up with it. Anyhow, we had a run of bad luck last week. Everyone had a stomach bug. Then David had to go to the hospital for a prolasped rectum. Too yucky to go into detail on that, but he is home and doing well now. He and I stayed home from school today to see how he does. We were at Children's Medical Center and it was a nice hospital, but it is heart breaking to see sick children. I just admire the doctors and nurses who work there.

One good thing that happened this weekend was Sarah's wedding. Fortunately, David was doing well and Dustin stayed with him while I went to the wedding. Sarah looked so pretty and happy. The wedding was so nice. I didn't get many pics though and none downloaded yet. I think my brothers took some though. I was the Matron of Honor. I had to give a toast and I was nervous about it, but it turned out fine. I also got to dance with Granddaddy and that was so special. Ashley was a junior bridesmaid and looked so pretty.

More Birthday Goods

David got this very cool race track in the mail for his birthday from Uncle Joe and Aunt Emily. Ashley put it together for him. He also got race tracks from Big Daddy and Grandma Kathy. I don't know if we can call it the family room anymore...it would be more suitable to call it David's playland!

Birthday Fun

Tonight was one of a few birthday celebrations for David. We had a small family gathering. I can't believe he is already 4. We are going to take him and a friend to Chuck E. Cheese's on Monday, then on Tuesday (actual birthday) bring cupcakes to his daycare class, and then one more celebration when Nikki (David's aunt) gets back from Iraq (hopefully next weekend!). Lucky kid! Happy to say that he loved the gift I bought him...some kind of Star Wars thing called a Homing Spider Droid. Yeah, it shoots some kind of projectile...totally cool to a 4 year old!

Here he is playing with his new Chiefs football with Uncle Lew, Amanda, and Emma.

First Day of Middle School

Kids grow up so fast! Seems like it was only yesterday when Ashley was a small fry. Here she is on her first day of 6th grade...all decked out in dress code approved attire! Good luck Ashley!

GO CHIEFS!

I'm totally outnumbered here! I'm a Cowboys fan first. Everyone else here at home is a Chiefs fan..even Dave! He got these clothes from Grandpa Jerry. You know that Daddy's proud of his little Chiefs fan.

I Love My Life Jacket

We went on a trip to Arkansas to visit Alex a while back. While we were there we had to buy David a life jacket because we were going out on a boat. He loved that thing! He didn't want to take it off. In fact, he asked if he could sleep in it! Luckily, he was so exhausted at the end of the day he didn't notice that he went to bed without it.

The Butterfly Palace

One of the places we went this summer was The Butterfly Palace in Branson. First we watched a film about a caterpillar and a praying mantis. Eventually the caterpillar turns into a butterfly and the mantis eats it. David was very disturbed by this (so was I!). After the film you get to go into a large room filled with butterflies. We took pictures of the butterflies that landed on us. We had to wait a really long time before one finally landed on David's arm just as we were about to leave. The kids also got to release some new butterflies into the room. We all enjoyed the experience.

Sasa's Bridal Shower

On August 2nd I threw a bridal shower for Sarah. It was my first one and it went pretty well. I bought way too much food, but that made for some good snacks for a few days afterward. Sarah (or as I like to call her, Sasa) is getting married to Mark on October 11th. Ashley and I are bridesmaids in the wedding and David is the ring bearer. Let's all hope he complies with that! This is a picture of me with Grom, Kathy, Sasa, and Aunt Renea at the shower.

Blog and Learn

Let me just first welcome you to Jensenland! This is my first attempt at blogging. Don't know much about it, but think it's an easy way for finding out about people's lives and having your own little place to share your constructed thoughts with others. I have lots to learn. I guess I'll start by looking at other people's blogs and copy what I like.