Happy Anniversary!

Yesterday was Kendon and I's eighth wedding anniversary. We celebrated last weekend while in Boise. Kendon surprised me with tickets to a dinner theater. It was absolutely perfect. The show was fabulous and it was a gift from Kendon's heart. He knows that I love love love stuff like that. (Sometimes I think I missed my calling in life and should have been a Broadway star. Too bad I can't sing!)

Yesterday to celebrate we spent the first half of the day with Sirri at the hospital having some dental work done (no big deal, I'll post details later.) The second half of the day, we cleaned the house and folded laundry. I did make a super fancy dinner of Hawaiin Haystacks and strawberry lemonade. (That is fancy, right?) We also had a delicious, Better than Whatever cake that the kiddos all helped us make.
So, all in all, it was just a regular ole day. But that was alright by me. We spent the day taking care of our family and the life that we have created together. The family and life that was only a dream eight years ago. And now, is a dream come true.

Happy Anniversary, Kendon. I love you and am thankful for you everyday!

Water Rocket

Today when Kendon woke up from a nap he was excited to see that I had done a blog. Then he read it. I guess he wasn't too thrilled to read about and re-live our sicko week and would rather have read about the water rocket he and Connor and my dad built in Boise last weekend.

Because it was a very cool rocket and the three boys had a blast together that day and since I do everything that Kendon asks (HA!) here it is....

Here is some footage of the launch.

This video is titled:
Mom Screams Her Head Off.

I apologize.

I had good reason to be excited.
That rocket went clear up over my parent's two story home!
Very fun!


Wednesday, Kendon made these with his 11 year old scouts and they were a HIT! Here is a link to the instructions if anyone is interested.

WATER ROCKET

Week in Review

Crazy "Every Other Day" Sickness Edition

Monday: Clean house. Just like every Monday.

Tuesday: Sirri and Meg begin acting sick. Take them to the doctor. Pneumonia for Meg. Just "the crud" for Sirri.

Wednesday: Sirri and Meg are just sick enough to be ornery, not cuddly sweet. Mommy is ornery too. Kendon coming down with the crud. Connor feels great and his energy level is infuriating.

Thursday: Sirri comes home from school feeling crummier than yesterday. I knew I shouldn't have let her go. Back to the doctor to make sure she is well enough to have some dental procedures done on Monday. She passes. You'd never know Meg had pneumonia. She feels great. Connor still bouncing off the walls. Poor kid needs out of the house. Kendon is miserable but his partner is in Mexico, so hi-ho hi-ho it's off to work he goes.

Friday: Sirri is fine and Meg is super sick. What? Is this the every other day, come and go as it pleases sickness? Kendon still sick sick sick and at work work work. Connor? You guessed out. Strong as a horse. Me too. Thank heavens for the Mommy gene that repels sickness.

Saturday: FINALLY! Everyone is feeling better. Good thing. Sirri has a birthday party she's been looking forward to all week.

Saturday at eleven: Sirri is acting strange. She swears that she is just tired and is "GOING TO THAT PARTY!"

Saturday at noon: I pat Sirri's back. She shoves my hand away. "Mom, I'm JUST tired. I'm going to the party."

Saturday at 12:30: "Mom, I think I better just stay home." And on the couch is where her fevered little body remained for the rest of the day.

Sunday: Sirri was a bit fevered this morning but is feeling better this afternoon. Do I dare believe it? Well, if the pattern of the week holds, it's Meg's turn anyway. Good grief.

Oh, and it is blizzarding out. Thanks alot Andrea.

I have lots of pictures of a counter FULL of medicine, sick kids passed out all over my house and even the blizzard, but I don't really feel like posting them. You all have great imaginations, I'll let you use them!

Here's to a better tomorrow! (Hmmmmm. Didn't I already say that once this week?)

KERPLUNK!

This video of Meg, as a baby, just popped up on my screen saver.
It absolutely cracks me up!

Though Kendon and Meg are still very sick today, my spirits are up. So, I thought I'd share this to get rid of the "whoa is me" post of yesterday!



Is it really that funny, or am I just tired?

Yesterday, I took Sirri and Meg to the doctor. Meg has a bit of pneumonia in her right lung and Sirri just has the crud.

Last night as I was laying in bed I was thinking about what a great day today could be. I actually like snow days, vacation days and in this case, sick days. I like having all my kids home with me. Sirri doesn't enjoy missing school so I was hoping to make it a day where she was happy to be home, thankful for a day off. I was envisioning sleeping in, laying around in our jammers all day, watching movies, eating popcorn, playing play dough, painting nails. All things that are good for the soul when you are under the weather.

The morning started out well. The kids actually DID sleep in and we enjoyed a lazy morning of cartoons and making a big pot of soup together.

And then, without warning, the joyful morning walked right out the door and in stormed a bad bad mood and a few extra sicko bugs. Unfortunately, they all took residence in ME!

By late afternoon I was so cranky, impatient and down right plain ornery with my kids. There was not a nice thing coming out of my mouth and I knew it. I could hear myself, I just chose not to stop myself. The poor kiddos couldn't do anything right. I even thought to myself several times, "I hope you have a savings account for the therapy your kids are going to need after today." It was that bad. This sad state of affairs went on much too long.

Finally, I had had enough tears (mine and the kids) and tantrums (mine and the kids) that I decided mommy needed a time out and I shut myself in my room.

Luckily for the kids and me both, Kendon arrived home shortly thereafter. He was everyone's rescuer. He even brought home a Cocomotion machine. (Recently at bookgroup a friend introduced me to steamers and I've been hooked ever since. I've been making mine in the microwave which is just not the same. So, Kendon brought me the real deal home tonight! Very good timing, indeed. Thank you, babe. Steamers are the ONLY reason I don't want spring to come. Steamers are much more enjoyable when it is cold out! But I'm willing to give them up for a little sunshine.)

So, I took myself out of timeout and made everyone some hot cocoa. After Connor finished his first cup he said, "Mom, this really warms my heart." Yeah, me too Connor. And heaven knows, I needed some heart warming.

And, now that my kids are all tucked into bed and soundly sleeping, I look back on the day and know that I could have done better. I've been a mom long enough to know that sick kids (and mommies) can make for grumpy kids, who need more love and hugs and tenderness, not a grumpy mom. And even though in the moment, my impatience and grumpiness might have given me a feeling of control and power over the situation, it always ends up being a false sense of control and it is never worth it. (Just like the chocolate chip cookie dough I ate today. Never worth it.)

The part that makes me the most sad, is I can only imagine that at least once today, Sirri probably wished that she were at school instead of at home. That absolutely breaks my heart. One of my hearts greatest desires and goals is that my home will be a sanctuary and safe haven for my kids. I want them to feel that this is the one place in this big scary world that they can always feel safe, secure, loved and of much worth. Today, I didn't provide that.

So, tonight I am thankful for tomorrows. Because I'm praying that tomorrow I can be better than today.

I turned off the comments for this post. I know that you would all leave sweet comments saying that we all have days like this and to not be so hard on myslef. Yes, true, but for today, I really just needed a place to write this down and to take responsibility for my actions. No excuses.

When Sirri Grows up to be a Sport's Illustrated Model, I Won't be Surprised. Disappointed, yes. Surprised, no.

Seriously. Sirri asked me to take every one of these shots. And she posed herself, too. Aye, yi yi.

Top five reasons I should cut my hair.

5. I find my hair in the sink after I dry it, now. ICK.

4. I can't dry and style it in under three minutes. What a waste of my time.

3. My claustHAIRphobia is back. When my hair gets in my face it makes me all anxious and nervous like.

2. I have no patience. I don't like to wait. And growing your hair out, entails LOTS of waiting.

1. It looks like this by the end of every day. Not the cutest look.



Top five reasons I should continue growing my hair out.

5. My hair "flapped" while I was running the other day. I couldn't believe it. It's been years since my hair has been long enough to move on its own.

4. My kids like to play with my new "long" hair. Ah. Heaven.

3. I have a great hairstylist who I officially dubbed my "hair mentor" and she has been doing a great job making the many months of awkward stages a lot less awkward.

2. Uh?

1. Uh?

Hmmmm. I seem to only be able to come up with 3 reasons.

Wish me luck.

I can still remember going to kindergarten on St. Patrick's Day. As soon as I approached the glass door, I could see inside. I saw desks overturned, papers strewn about the floor, gold chocolate candies waiting to be snatched up and eaten, Lucky Charms cereal for snack time, and my favorite, little green leprechaun footprints dancing about the floor.

As St. Pattie's Day drew near, I was secretly hoping that Sirri's classroom would have the same green and gold excitement awaiting her. Just in case the leprechauns didn't make it to school, I invited them to our house.

And from the kids' reactions this morning, the little green men didn't fail to deliver!

They played with all our green toys and books in the living room and forgot to clean up. They dyed our milk and toilet water green. They replaced the fruit in our fruit basket with green legos. They left a trail of gold chocolate that led to a box of Lucky Charms for breakfast. Along with bringing breakfast they left a basket of green food for lunch. AND even though I mopped yesterday, they left little green footprints all over the floor (and kitchen table, and bathroom sink and kitchen cupboards. Little stinkers!)


When Sirri arrived home from school she had a backpack full of St. Patrick's Day activities. Rainbow color sheets, leprechaun math, lucky clover pattern pages and even a cute little song. BUT, what she didn't have was a great story to tell about how the leprechauns came to her classroom.

Sure glad they were able to come here!

Green lunch-grapes, green apple, edamame, celery, jello, punch
(and some turkey. so, it's not green but they needed a little protien!)

I Hope You Grow Up to be Just Like Him

Connor: "Mom, Grandpa Bigelow is a good guy, huh?"

Jensen Family Week in Review

Monday

The week started out bright and early Monday morning (5:30 a.m. to be exact) when I was able to finally go back to the gym!!! Yippee! It felt great. Getting on the scale....not so much fun. But, considering that my jeans hardly fit, I knew that number wouldn't be pretty. Oh, well. Something to strive for. Blah.

Connor had to go to the eye doctor today. He got something in his eye Saturday. He was up crying nearly the WHOLE night Saturday night. We couldn't do anything to console him. He would cry, "It hurts soooo bad. When is it going to stop?" It was so sad. So sad it made me cry. AND you know Kendon and I were feeling really bad for the poor guy cause we finally just let him sleep with us. In all our five years of parenthood we have never once had a child sleep with us.

Monday it was still bothering him, so I took him into the doctor. The doctor flipped his eyelid inside out and cleared out his eye. The piece of "whatever" was still in there and it had caused large swollen bumps under his eyelid. The doctor said, "it looks like a leaf or something." Connor responded, "see mom. I told you I got a piece of that prickly stuff that Sirri gets stuck on her gloves in my eye when I was outside playing in the garden." Yep. He was right. That kid is so observant and smart. I should have known he knew just what he was talking about.

The eye doctor said that Connor was the bravest little four year old he's ever seen in all his years of practicing. Normally to flip a kid's lid would be like pulling teeth and would involve much screaming. Not Connor. He is so tough!

Oh, ya. Kendon caught a muskrat off the street. He let it go down in the canal.
Atleast this little guy had the decency to stay OUTSIDE.
(Yep...that's forshadowing!)

Tuesday

Tuesday morning Sirri missed the bus. Oops. That was my fault. We were too busy playing, "Mighty Mouse Hunter."

Yep. A mouse. In my house. ICK. Meg was the first to see it go scampering across the floor and her reaction was priceless. Lots of eeeeking and aaaaahing and oohoohoohoohing.

My reaction was not nearly as cute. No one wants mice in their house (it makes you feel like your house is dirty and gross and unkept. And I try very hard to be anything but dirty and gross and unkept.) Anyway I was mad. And here's the kicker....it went scampering into MY new room. My brand new, beautiful room. Oh, no you don't. That was when the game was on, and that mouse was going to die.

The kids were more than happy to help. Sirri and Connor armed themselves with their flashlights and chased it out from under my bed and into the closet and then into the kitchen behind the stove. We had him trapped. I loaded up a mouse trap with enough peanut butter for a hearty sandwich and we waited for him to come out. The kids and I stood on top of the kitchen table patiently waiting for the mouse to find it's breakfast and immediate death. I kept asking the kids if they were sure they would be okay watching the mouse get snapped in the trap. They were confident they wanted to watch. We sat there for about ten minutes, trying to be quiet, which is not an easy task with an excited four year old boy, and any two year old child.

Unfortunately, school was about to begin, and as much as I wanted to teach Sirri all about the circle of life (really I just wanted the mouse dead,) we had to get Sirri off to class. Iwas sure we'd come home to a dead mouse, but not so. That mouse didn't show his dirty little face the rest of the day. Much to the kids chagrin. After naps, they were ready for him. Connor was going to catch him in a rope and Sirri would then trap him in the mug.



Later that night as I was folding laundry on the bed that little stinker of a mouse went running out from under our bed and under the dresser. Kendon grabbed some gloves and a pair of pliers and CAUGHT that mouse with his bare hands. Ya, I know, pretty gross, but very manly!

I calmed myself by eating lots of mint chip ice cream and watching The Biggest Loser. Ya, I see the irony.

Wedneday and Thursday

Just regular ole days filled with lots of wind. I know. It's March. I'll just have to get used to it.

Friday

The kids and I went to the mall. That is big enough news for a post all it's own. Seriously, shopping and I....not the greatest of friends. I'm learning though, and I did buy myself a new purse. I should take a picture. I think you'd be proud, Paige. It is yellow. And really cute.

Sirri and Connor were so excited to have money of their own to spend for the very first time. My friend, Denae, recently did a post about her family's success with a new chore chart system. I've been waffling back and forth on a system for a long time now (seriously like a year and a half) and this post finally gave me push to just do it! I'm so excited because it is working splendidly. The kids have specific responsibilities now and are learning about money and tithing and saving and SPENDING. They both spent their whole week's worth of money at the candy machines. That was tough for me to let them do, but they were happy and that is how you learn. (I'll have to post all about the system another day. It's simple but works.)

Learning about tithing, saving and spending.

Saturday

Fun morning at the Indoor Archery Shoot. Let the archery season begin!!!!!!!
AND, Kendon built me shelves in my pantry! Hip hip hooray! Handy hubbies are so nice to have around! Thank you so much, Kendon. I appreciate the hard work!




Man.....from the length of things, you would think this baby was a MONTH in review! Who knew a mouse story could be so exciting. Or maybe, it isn't! Thanks for reading. If you're still reading, that is!