She won't be able to watch Hallmark commercials, either!

Meg's newest favorite song to have sung to her at night is:

Goodnight Sweetheart, well it's time to go.
Goodnight Sweetheart, well it's time to go.
I hate to leave you, but I really must say...
Goodnight sweetheart, goodnight.

Tonight after the song was over Sirri said,

"Mom, I like that song so much, it almost makes me cry."

Heaven Help Me!

Yesterday, Sirri came running in the house after school.

"Momma, Momma! Today was my best day ever!"

She could hardly get the words out fast enough.

"Really Sirri? What happened?"

"Austin kissded me! And I liked it! And I'm going to marry him!"

So, Sirri had a lot to say, but her mother was speechless.

"Ready or not, Austin. Here I come!"

The Evolution of a Room.

Well, Kendon and I FINALLY redid our room. It looks fabulous.

And I am so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Kendon said I had to make it look like I was screaming with excitement since that is what I've been doing the last three days!)

This room has been a LONG time comin'!

Here is the story of our room:

This was our room before we swapped with Sirri.
Sirri had her own room and Kendon and I were sharing with Connor and Meg. I know. I know.
This room was horrid. A major dumping ground for anything that didn't have a home. And the animal print curtains left much to be desired. This poor room was about as unromantic as it could get!

This was Princess Sirri's room. The one she had all to herself. Lucky girl! (Actually, one time Sirri said, "Mom, it's not fair. Everyone in our family gets to sleep in the same room, accept me. I want to sleep with all of you guys too." Yeah, no kidding it's NOT fair!)

So we swapped and redid this room for the kids. (Clear back last June!)

Here is the kids' room today! Like the crib in the middle of the room? And notice that the railing is tied up? Yeah, try getting out now, Meg!
My three favorite things about this room: 1) The valances my mom and I sewed! 2) The yarn art above the bunk beds that I made! 3) It is bright and cheerful. I love the color.

So, Kendon and I moved into Sirri's old room that we painted as a nursery before she was born. We had plans to redo this room LONG ago. But, we all know how "plans" go.

Can you believe Kendon lasted in this room as long as he did? And can you believe we never even took down the sweet pictures of Jesus?

Well, the yellow walls are now GONE!

I must admit I had a moment of sadness (and yes, I cried) as we were painting over the walls that were our first baby's nursery. I can still remember sitting in a rocking chair in that room listening to lullabies waiting for our daughter to come. After Sirri arrived I spent many quiet and special hours, late at night feeding Sirri in that room. That room is where my dream and goal of being a mother were first realized. So, yes, I cried.


But, then I quickly got over it. Cause guess what? I now have a very romantic, very grown up, very beautiful room! Yippppeeeee! Kendon and I both said it feels like sleeping in a hotel!

Wanna see????????























Pretty huh?
And doesn't it just make you want to eat Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream?
Yeah, me too!

Letting go

Lately, I've been trying to give my kids some more independence. I think it's important.

I also think it's hard.

I let them get their own clothes and put them away. You should see their closet. Oy!

If Sirri needs a band-aid, I've been letting her get it herself. Oh well if she needs three (or ten) in an afternoon and no matter that she always picks one five sizes too big.

The kids (even Meg) have been really into serving their own food at dinner. They always use much more ketchup than I think is appetizing and sweeping the floor after dinner is no longer an option. What a mess.

Sirri has suddenly decided that she needs to wear her much too large, brown cowboy girl boots to school. every. day. Even if her outfit is black. Ugh.

She is also really into making her bed. This one I can handle. My feelings wouldn't be too hurt if this weren't just a phase.

All of these things I can handle. I'll admit, they might make me cringe, but I'll manage. Like I said, I really want strong independent kids.

BUT....when Sirri came home from school the other day and decided she needs to be doing her own hair. I panicked.

I decided to see what exactly she meant.

She armed herself with the comb and hairspray and went to work.

Half a can of hairspray later she was done and this is what she came up with......

Oh, man. Letting go is going to be a lot harder than I thought.

That hair has still got to be mine. MINE.

I've Wanted to do This Ever Since Meg was Born...

I mascaraed those GREAT lashes.

Killer.

What a knock out!

Would you like a little cheese with your "wine?"

Tonight during scriptures we were reading about King Noah and that he was a wine bibber. Kendon asked the kids, "Do you guys know what wine is?"

Sirri did! Her answer,

"Waaaaaaaaa!"

Oh, looks like Connor knows what it is, too!

Jensen Family "MANY WEEKS IN A ROW" Review

Catching up, AGAIN!

My blog is starting to read like my high school journal....

"Dear Diary. I am sorry it has been so long. I really want to do better and promise to write everyday."

HA!

Only now, instead of writing about all the cute boys I have crushes on, it's one handsome man and three cute kids!

So, without further adieu... here's what we have been up to:

Sirri had her six month check up with her oncologist and everything still looks great! Cancer free is the way to be! What a sigh of relief. The time between her appointments goes so fast, yet on the other hand it is amazing the amount of anxiety that can be built up in that short amount of time. I wonder if I will always have a fear in the back of my head that this monster will come after my baby again. I sure hope that with time the worry and fret will lessen. I wonder too, that as Sirri gets older if she will ever worry about this herself. I suppose Kendon and I will have to be examples of faith and trust for her and not give her any reason for concern. I really do feel in my heart that we have overcome the greatest part of this trial but sometimes my head gets in the way and wants me to think otherwise. I think the hardest part from here on out will be the darned CT scans. Sirri really hates those. She has to have an IV for the contrast to flow through and boy does she ever throw a fit. This last time was especially bad. I told Sirri that she doesn't have a choice about having the scan but she can scream as loud as she wants and boy did she ever take me up on that! Two pokes later she was done and the proud owner of two cans of soda and an ice cream thanks to Anna the tech who does her scans. She felt really bad that Sirri was so upset. We are just so thankful to live in a time that has such great medical technologies.Sirri was sick a few days after her appointments. I'm so glad we had just received good news about her health or I would have been worried.

Speaking of cancer, I am participating in the Relay for Life fundraiser this summer. I am part of a team of fifteen friends and we are going to have so much fun. The theme is, "Relay on the Red Carpet, " and every team chooses a movie to represent themselves. We have chosen the movie GREASE and are going to be the Pink Ladies. We're going to wear poodle skirts and roller skates and have an absolute blast!!! Not only are we going to have fun but it will be a special night as well. The main purpose is to honor those who have passed away from cancer and also those who have survived and to raise money to find a cure! Sirri has the opportunity to walk a lap with other survivors and I think that will be a special moment. I'm so excited!

And speaking of surviving....I have! The first few days after my surgery were really rough but as soon as I hit about day four, maybe five or six, I was starting to feel pretty good. I'm nearly 100% there. I'm just a bit tender still and don't have all my strength back yet but I'm getting close. The worst part is when I have to wear jeans for a full day. KILLER! I still have two weeks til I'm released to go to the gym and that stinks. My pants are a bit SNUG. The sweat pants I bought at the beginning of the winter turned out to be a good (great) investment!

Speaking of winter, we have been enjoying ours lately. It seems that every year we take the kids sledding at the end of the winter, say, "boy, that was fun, next year we need to do that more often." So, this year, we really have. We have been three times in the last two weeks and have had a great time along with a fair amount of minor injuries! We also attended our town's Snow Fest that is always so much fun. Snow bowling, ice sculptures, horse drawn sled rides, treasure hunts! Such a great time. I love our little community! It is so nice that the kids are getting bigger and it makes outings like this much easier. Sirri and Connor can get all their own snow clothes on and can actually stay out longer than it takes to get the snow clothes on!!! That is a major milestone. Meg does great as long as we duct tape her gloves on so her fingers stay warm. Good times!!!

Speaking of Meg, she has suddenly begun talking up a storm. Her favorite words are, "No way!" It is so darned cute and I'm afraid we have created a, "no way monster" since she knows just how cute it is! She can also frequently be heard to say, "awesome!" (with a cute thumbs up), "I some" (I want some), "pease" and "tane to," "I bub you" (I love you) "yep!" and can copy almost any word now. (Just today I was asking her to sit down so I could help her with her shoes. She proceeded to repeat, "sit, sit, sit" over and over again. The ssss sound was a bit on the shhh side causing her mother to have a giggle fit!!!! I can remember when Connor couldn't say shirt. hee hee!!!!)Meg is also really into shoes. REALLY into shoes!

Speaking of Connor, he has been loving the sunshine. The first part of our winter was really gloomy and foggy but the sun has finally decided to come out and Connor is a HAPPY boy! He will even play outside by himself for quite some time and it is so nice. It is especially nice since when he is in the house all he wants to do is play on the computer. He and his little buddies are suddenly these major GAMERS! They get together and play Nintendo for hours. (Since we are the uncool house and don't have nintendo, he resorts to PBSkids.org on the computer. Oh well. He's learned all his letters there!) Connor is really excited for the snow to melt so he can shoot his bow again.
Speaking of shooting bows, Kendon's year of being President of his archery club is over. He is really excited for this year where he gets to just go to the shoots and have fun instead of being in charge. I'm a bit bummed cause I liked watching him be in charge. It was so fun to see him in his element and to do so well. He really did a lot for the club this year. He created a few new fund raising opportunities and fun contests too. He did great!

Speaking of great, our valentines day holiday was just that. Sirri, Connor and I had a fun time making their valentines. Connor chose to make airplanes (you know... out of smarties, lifesavers and a stick of gum) with a note that said, "It's PLANE to see Valentine, I like you!" Sirri wanted to give the boys the airplanes but thought the girls would like hair barretts. So we did hair clips and glued flowers on them with a note that said, "Our friendship is HAIR to stay!" (Thx for the idea, Kim!) Sirri addressed all her valentines all by herself and I was so proud. She seemed so big. I guess she is so big. (Even if she does still wear a size four pant!) Kendon and I went on a much needed date. It has been way too long and we have recommitted ourselves to date night! We went out to dinner and to the movies. We haven't been to the theater since we saw The Book of Mormon Movie. That was in 2003! Yikes. (I feel bad cause Kendon really likes to go to movies and I don't. I have a hard time sitting still that long without having something else to do.) The evening ended especially great because our babysitter had all the kids in bed and sleeping by the time we got home! yeah!Speaking of bed, Meg has learned how to climb out of hers. Ugh. First, she learned to climb out of her bed and into Connors. So, we moved her crib away from the bunk bed and into the middle of the room. That didn't stop her. Now she just bails out. She is the only one of our kids to ever climb out. She does pretty well staying in bed though and we are thinking it just might be time for a big girl bed. I'm not sure I'm ready for that. If she's going to be in a big girl bed, I'd really like her in big girl undies too! Wouldn't that be nice!!!!!

Speaking of nice, that's what I call anyone who made it through this whole thing! Consider yourself hugged!

Sometimes I Forget the Magic of a Little Construction Paper and a Piece of Yarn...

Sirri brought home an "M" Monster today. She wanted it transformed into a mask.

Easy enough.

A few hole punches, a bit of yarn and voila...a monster mask!

Connor of course wanted in on the action. So, a piece of blue construction paper and his own bit of yarn and we had mask number two.

Connor salvaged the scraps from his mask, immediately wrapped it around his waist and declared it as his Power Ranger belt!

Sirri was quickly donning her own pink Power Ranger belt and the wrestling, karate chopping, bed jumping mania began!

One very fun hour later, they were Power Rangered out.

And their mom was still basking in the joy of observing the simple life and remembering that this is how life should be done.

I think I might go make myself a construction paper crown!