In their own words....

Jack... getting prepared to start school, we were trying to get jack excited about all the things he'll learn, like math, reading, and writing. Friday after school Jack came home and said "Mom, I don't think you are sending me to the right school, all they are teaching us is how to play" What do you expect Jack, its the first week of kindergarten, not a college lecture hall!
Brianna... We've been going to bed earlier than normal, now that we have to get up earlier than normal. Sometimes the sun stays up just past our "lights out" time. This morning, Brianna stumbled into my room, with a little sleep still in her eyes, and a lovely purse on her shoulder and said, in her most worried tone, "Mom, the sun never went to bed last night!"

Come on, Bug, give me a break!

Megan LOVES the piano. Her favorite is for me to sit with her on the bench and let her compose her own music. It is so lovely, however, I don't trust her to sit on the bench by herself. I'm sure she'll either fall off, rip the hymn book, or climb up and play with the things on top of the piano. Sometimes she's content to stand at the piano and reach her little fingers up there, but come on, she can't see the keys (she's short). I knew we had a little baby piano somewhere in the basement and once we found it, she loved it so much. It's so cute to watch her play on it and try to "rock out, baby style" at the same time. I was hoping that would suffice long enough for me to... say... do the dishes, but she thought that she could have the best of both worlds (see top picture)

Oh, and she likes to "help" me with the dishes as well. Thanks Bug, thanks a ton!

Jack's first day of Kindergarten

We got up early, ate breakfast, got dressed and all ready and were out the door by 7:30.
Jack was excited to start kindergarten. When I asked him how excited he was, he said "Like, a whole handful and then half of the other handful." When I asked about the other half a handful he said he was saving the other half a handful of excitement for after school when he gets to ride the bus.

Jack's teacher is Mrs. Otzenberger, or "Mrs. O". A couple of times, when talking to me, he's referred to her as "Mrs. Bubble" (because the "O" looks like a bubble ... so cute!). I told him to try not to make that mistake while talking to her. His classroom is really fun, and filled with all kinds of great things. There are even "Cardinal's" decorations throughout the room.

What a long day it was for us at home. Brianna and I were constantly looking at the clock and talking about what Jack might be doing right now. Brianna missed him so much. She drew a lovely picture for him and carried around all day until it was time to go meet him at the bus stop. When I told her it was time to go, she got so giddy, you'd think I told her it was time to go see Princess Aurora. I have to admit, I was a teensy bit anxious to hear about his day as well.

When he got off the bus, he announced that he was now two whole handfuls excited about kindergarten.

Once we got home, and after I asked him probably a million questions, he called daddy to tell him all about his day too. Man, you'd think this kid is a superstar or something. Well, around our house, he is.

Updated... whew!

So there you go... consider yourself formally updated. Sorry I got so behind. We've got a fun couple of weeks ahead of us. Coming Soon... Jack's first day of Kindergarten, and Megan walking(she's so close... we've had a few steps here and there, but we need a little more practice) Brianna is busy too, I guess maybe she's getting looked over (being the "middle child" and all) Jack's doing all the new "firsts" and megan is the adorable baby. We'll be sure to give Brianna her fair share of the spotlight... because we all know how much she likes it :)

First Birthday "cake"

Okay, so it's not your classic birthday cake, but given her food allergy situation, momma had to get creative. She's not allergic to sugar (yeah!) so I got out the marshmallows and the pink sprinkles and had some fun. It was so easy and all the kids loved megan's marshmallow cake. Brianna, who has never been much of a fan for cake, cookies, or ice cream said " for my next birthday, I want marshmallows, not that yucky cake and ice cream"

Birthday Candles are HOT!

BABY SEES FLAME... BABY LIKES SHINY LIGHT

BABY USES SUPER HERO SPEED TO REACH FOR AND TOUCH PRETTY FLAME

BABY QUICKLY REALIZES THE ERROR OF HER WAYS AND DECIDES IT WASN'T WORTH IT

BABY ENJOYS MARSHMALLOW AND FEELS MUCH, MUCH BETTER, SO DOES MOMMY

Twelve Months ago...and here we are today!

Megan Kaye Jensen

July 22, 2008

We love having you in our family. You are our special, wonderful adorable "Bug".

July

August


September


October

November

December

January

February

March

April

May

June

July 2009

Happy Birthday "Bug"

Pool Party!

Swim Lessons 2009

Brianna resting, and Jack negotiating

Here's a hilarious shot of a thirsty and resourceful kitty on a hot summer day.

Here Jack is, taking a breath without touching the ground (go on buddy, you can do it)

Head down... Kick, Kick, Kick

Here's Brianna, swimming across to pool

Well, we got the kids swimming lessons again this year, but at a different place. Last year we did it at the city pool where they were in a class of about 6 kids with one teacher. Unfortunately there was a lot of hanging on the edge waiting for your turn, and not enough actual helpful instruction. They got the basics, like how to hold your breath and kick your legs behind you and all, but not enough to let us ditch the floaties. This year we went with a different teacher. They had one on one attention for a half hour for five days. It was hard work, especially for Jack (his teacher expected a little more out of him) Brianna's teacher I think could have got her a little further, but she is only four. Jack would have to swim back and forth in the deeper part where he couldn't reach when he needed a breath. He would stop at the edge and argue, beg, plead and negotiate with his teacher to try to get her to take him back where he could reach. He promised her the world and was stunned when she said..."I don't care, we're doing it here!" I was a little annoyed by his taking up so much of their short time arguing, but now it's kind of funny looking back. It is so much his personality to try to negotiate his way out of something. Probably a trait I'll be dealing with for a while. They even got to jump off the diving board at the end of each lesson. Jack even got good enough to jump in and then swim the length of the pool to where he could reach in the shallow end. All in all it was a great experience. We now go to the city pool with no floaties for the two "big" kids. And although they both prefer to hang out where they can reach, every now and then we convince them to jump off the edge over in the deeper (4'6") section. I'm confident, that if somehow they ended up in a pool with no one around, they'd be able to get to the edge alive... my goal is met.

Do you know the muffin man???

Okay, so scrolling through my pictures and movies of the summer trying to decide which ones to post, I couldn't pass this one up. Maybe it's because I'm slap happy tired right now, or because I'm a little delusional about how absolutely adorable my kids can be, or maybe you all just needed a good laugh, and some new dance moves for you next opportunity to get your jiggy on.

These two will always put on a good show for an adoring crowd, or even just a camera in the "on" position.

ENJOY!

oh, and by the way, that's about all the excercising that ever gets done on that treadmill... too bad!

The Jensen's go to the fair

Megan discovered she loves cotton candy. I can handle this stuff, mom!
So sweet, a little respect for the flag and the national anthem

Megan, just killing time surfing the web and texting her friends....

Aah, the teacups, only Brianna was crazy enough to try this one more than once

The Dragon Roller coaster was a hit... to say the least...

Crash bang boom be 0h

a few years ago we stumbled upon something fun.

The Demolition Derby at the county fair. It's loud, its messy, and it's good ol' fashioned, small town, out in the country (even a little redneck) family fun. The kids love it and so do we. We may just have ourselves a new little family tradition.

Woo-wee! Ya'll gonna have some fun tonight! If yer lucky, ya'll just might get some mud flung up on yer self.

We also had to indulge in a few fair classics like the teacups, the funhouse of mirrors, a dragon roller coaster (over and over and over) the big swing - go- round (ugh, made me sick) and of course cotton candy and caramel apples.

A few wheels less and a little bit of confidence.

So, it was father's day weekend, and I though we might just try it out. "let's try taking the training wheels off, Jack" I suggested one afternoon. I was met with an enthusiastic.."okay!" We went outside, got out the tools, and got excited. With the wheels off Jack was confident it would be a piece of cake... that is, until he got on. You see, when there's no training wheels on a bike, it tends to be a little bit tipsy. I assured him I wouldn't let go of the back of his seat and around the driveway we went. The only problem was, he was literally scared stiff and suddenly forgot how to pedal. I tried, over and over to convince him that if he'd pedal it would go a lot better, but after a few minutes he was doing his best at convincing me to put the training wheels back on. Brianna, in the mean time was begging for a turn to ride around the driveway with mom holding on. She had a blast and miraculously was still able to move her legs in the up and down motion. Jack still insisted on getting his little wheels back, we compromised and put only one back on. It was a little awkward at first, but he rode around for a day or so like that. At least it helped him be aware of what the wheels were doing (or not doing) for him. Brianna got one of her wheels taken off too. The next day, Jack's pride and persistance took over and he insisted I... yet again... get out the tools and take his lone wheel off so he can try again. Amazing, how after only one day he became a little more aware of the concept of balance and a little more confident. We practiced over and over again, with mom being dragged behind. At one point, I either got distracted, or couldn't keep up, or maybe I/we had a surge of confidence, and... I let go... Off he went, not even realizing I was still on the other side of the driveway. WOOHOO! We all did a crazy and probably ridiculous looking "he-rode-his-bike" dance. He got really good at riding in a counter clockwise/left turn only direction around the driveway. When I suggested he try going the other way he did fine... until the garage door got in his way. We called him Lightening McQueen and tried to explain why (race cars only go in one direction) He sensed we were teasing a little bit and was determined to figure out right turns as well as lefts. Next came "kicking off". He was sure he would need mom to be at his starting gate forever, that is, until mom decided she needed to get some other things done. Well, if he wants to ride his bike, he'll have to figure out how to kick off.... Look at him now! (momma's so proud) Oh, and he also lost a few teeth this summer too. which is not necessarily related to the new bike adventures.

still not enough? think I should do more?

Well, that was only the beginning of our summer. there has been a lot of other great things happening this summer, so my "update" will continue. Hopefully I'll be able to catch up and then keep up a little better. Just in case anyone is trying to keep up with us.

Oregon Coast

We heard that Newport had a huge lighthouse that we wouldn't miss. After driving around and seeing a big bridge, and some neat boats, we found this little house with a red roof and a room with a light on top. We were a little dissappointed. We left newport and began driving north along the coast when we came across a state park that has the largest lighthouse in oregon. I think this is the one they were talking about.

check out the tree behind Matt. It is so windy there, that the tree was actually growing the way the wind was blowing it

We picked a few of these shiny black rocks to take home

We wanted to play on the beach, but this wasn't exactly your shovel and pail, get out the beach towel and soak up the sun kind of beach. Still, it was beautiful.

Oh, and by the way... it was 50 degrees, foggy, misty and windy... BRRRR
Matt and Jack, who didn't pack jackets, got souvineer sweatshirts from Newport Oregon.

some cool boats in Newport Oregon

Yellow Stone

I really wanted to see a bear, but we drove all around yellowstone and didn't see one the whole time. It was getting late so we left the south end of the park heading to Jackson WY through Teton Nat'l forest. Maybe five minutes out of the park and the car in fron of us slammed on it's brakes and started backing up. Once we realized why, we did the same thing. Soon there were five cars all stopped on the road and people were getting out to get a better look at this guy. He was maybe 30 feet or so from the back of our vehicle. It was really neat to finally get to see a bear.

The grand Tetons

Anyone up for a snowball fight?

This was actually a really neat sight. Back in '88 there was a terrible fire that destroys much of the forest. But, nature knows what it's doing, when the trees burned and the pine cones burst, the seeds were planted in the perfect way. Now there are acres of old dead sticks and brand new growth underneath. An amazing view of nature at work.

Jack is growing up "this big"

Oh, and by the way, boiling sulfer water... STINKS!!! but it's still cool to look at

There were wooden walkways all over the place to keep us safe. Signs everywhere warned that stepping in the wrong place could land you in a pot of boiling water

This was Roaring MT. A mountain with pockets of steam just bursting out of the side making quite the sight.

oh, and by the way, I love waterfalls!

Jack's deep thought of the day...

Jack: "what did they call it when it was new?"

Mom: "when what was new Jack?"

Jack: "old faithful, what did they call it when it was new?"

Impressive!

there were some natural see-saws where someone cut up tree trunks and wedged them between two close trees. the kids had a blast trying to make them work as good as the kind at a park

We had some time to kill waiting for the next show at Old faithful

"hurry and take the picture... there's bugs!" -- Jessie (would you like a toothpick?)

there were several traffic jams due to the buffalo. they liked using the roads as much as we did. so we just slowed down and enjoyed the... ahem... "view". Once, traffic was stopped for a mother and her calf taking a break to nurse, right in the middle of the road. "No hurry, we'll wait"

there were so many buffalo and they were right by us. Several times I could have reached out and petted one... don't worry, I didn't. "nice to see you mister buffalo" jack would say. Brianna kept forgetting what they were called and kept calling them heffalos.. a cross between buffalo and Pooh Bear's "heffalumps"

Here's Jessica with Megan when we went to visit her in rexburg

So, we thought the best way to spend a weekend with Jessica would be to take the crowd up to Yellowstone National Park. We all had a blast. I'll post a bunch of pictures here, but I'll never get them all in, so feel free to visit my web album to see the rest of the shots of gorgeous Yellowstone