Halloween

YAY for Halloween! We hadn't had a chance to decorated pumpkins and remembered that i had these stick-in thingies JUST IN TIME! So right before dinner we decorated our pumpkins. The one that i had gotten for Amy was not intended to be decorated, but it looked so naked. So, we made it work. I love AJ's face in the little picture. He was DETERMINED to get that ear into that pumpkin! They looked pretty cute on our steps. (And i love how you can see the scarecrow's shadow in the pic-so festive!)

So we had a quick dinner and headed out. I felt too un-festive so i threw on my back-up-plan baby costume quick and we headed out. We hit all the town homes and i figured since we still had time we should go hit some of the houses a couple of streets over. The kids were cracking me up because half-way down the street they were SO done!! We were headed home and we would walk past a house across the street. I would ask if they wanted to go there and they would just sigh and say "no!..too tired!" they slept good that night though! :)

Oh the memories. I remember LOVING this part as a kid... inventorying the LOOT!!! I showed them how we used to sort all our candy and trade what we didn't like. AJ was all over this, but Julia just dug in! Julia gave all her sweet tarts to AJ because they are "too spicy" and when I asked AJ if there was anything he didn't like, his response was "not really" (with a big grin).

Amy was AWESOME during this event! I has put her on the floor in her boppy while we were sorting candy. She started fussing and squirming around. Before i could get over to her, she had flipped herself over so she could pull herself over to the pile of candy and she was grabbing at it the best she could. She was SO proud of herself when she wrapped those little un-coordinated fingers around a twizzler. What a cutie!!! As long as we let her swat the candy around and occasionally get that wrapped twizzler back into her mouth, she was happy!

What a fun night, and the kids were only slightly bug-eyed and hyper when it was time for church the next day! :)

Family Home Evening

Tonight For Family Home Evening, We were playing "Seek and Ye Shall Find". It is a Mormon version of "Go Fish". The cards are cartoon character-pictures of Book Of Mormon people. So, out of nowhere, Julia says "Do you have the guy with the Boobies?". Brandon and I start laughing hysterically! When i get a grip enough to check out the card she was looking at, sure enough, It looks like Captain Moroni needs a bra over that chest plate of his! HAHAHA!! WE TOTALLY lost it at that point. That girl keeps us laughing! Love her!

The Mascot Bowl-September 28th

We think we have found a new tradition!!! The mascot bowl was SO much fun. The kids had a blast and it was a GREAT family night!!! The mascot bowl is a charity football game where a bunch of different mascots form a team and play against the Lehi football team (I think they were middle-school kids...i forget! :)

They have a meet-the-mascots thing before the game when you can get autographs.
Here are the kids with "Holly" the Orem Owlz mascot. (minor league baseball)

The "pre-game show" included a guy parachuting in and landing on the field. The kids thought this was pretty impressive. It really is crazy how fast they are going when they come in to land!!!

This picture sums up the night...AJ watching the game, and Julia watching EVERYTHING ELSE! :) she is so easily distracted, but she had a blast!

Are we feeling the love?!?! AJ is such a good big brother. They were so cute watching the game and going together down in front of the bleachers to watch. They thought they were hot stuff going "alone"...(as if we couldn't see them the whole time :) !!!)

Barney turned out to not be a very talented football player! He was injured playing football and had to be taken out of the game!!!

Luckily, the injuries turned out not to be serious and he was able to rejoin the team on the sidelines. He wasn't looking so good though!!!

On our way out we were able to catch another picture with
"Big Blue" (from Utah State) and get a couple more autographs.

It was a great night!!! Can't wait till next year! :)

Crazy Spaghetti Dinner-September 21st

So the Jenson's have some fun (and a little weird) traditions that we have decided to carry on...one being a "crazy Spaghetti Dinner".

First, Mom and Dad have to get bags of "stuff" together for each person to use to eat-no real utensils allowed! Each bag is given a number. Then, after everyone get their stylish newspaper bib-like-thingies on, each person picks a nimber to see which bag they get.

Then you get to see what you get...and figure out how you are going to use it. AJ wasn't so sure.

Then you dig in, or at least try!

I got to eat spaghetti from a Tupperware lid using a ladle.

Brandon had to eat from a glass pot lid with tongs.

AJ had a pan of spaghetti and a wooden spoon and whisk as "utensils".

...and Julia had an egg separater and the lining of a lunch bag.

AJ was nice enough to let her borrow the wooden spoon when she had given up on the egg separater. :)

Drinking can also be a challenge...

-I had a vase (which would have been pretty easy except for the scalloped edge on top, water kept escaping!!)

-AJ had a measuring cup

-Brandon had an ice cube tray (which prooved to be the trickiest)

-And Julia was quite amused that she got a bottle!

It was a really fun event, but we all had a little cleaning up to do after! But, it was all worth it!!

If nothing else, a face like that makes it all worth it-That is true munchkin joy!!! :)

YAY for silly but memorable family traditions!

Our little Amy!!

I have been feeling so guilty because if the "third-child-syndrome" that my child has truly been cursed with! I haven't taken her baby book out if the plastic yet, i feel like i don't get enough pictures of her like i did with the other kids and i certainly have not sent enough pictures to family far away to see her grow!!! GUILT!!! so her i am FINALLY making a post and it HAD to be about her!

We really just love her to pieces. Although she has not been as well documented as i would like, she has had PLENTY of attention in other ways, usually in the form of being nearly smothered by siblings! :)

She is really a good baby but is the biggest mama's girl out of the 3 kids. But, she has been with me more than the other 2 were at this age, too. She loves to smile and her favorite things to smile at are AJ & Julia.

I have tried really hard to get a good picture of her ADORABLE smile, but i have really struggled to get one that is centered, she is looking and she isn't doing "big-eyes"...

She LOVES the bath and is usually smiling a lot. This one is pretty good too, but it is so funny how different she looks with her hair wet! Usually it isn't so drastic at this age but with that hair, it is!

Oct. 6th ..this one is pretty close, but not the whole effect.

Oct. 8th..this is what i usually get when i take a picture. Our camera is slow and it flashes first so by the time the picture is actually taken, she is making one of these faces...

although "big eyes" makes me smile every time, i really wanted her real smile!

So, i took her outside, laid her on the grass, and TA-DA!!!!

A cute smile,

And a giggly girl!!

So there she. We just love her and i will try to show her off on the blog more often! :)

Baseball "season" ?

UGG!! I think it is time that we all need to accept that i am not a good blogger and will ALWAYS be behind. But i will keep trying! I have had these pictures ready to go for a while now but haven't been able to find the time to type anything (It's a lot harder to type with a baby in my arms).

Anyway, So AJ played Baseball (Coach-pitch) for the first time this year. He LOVED it and, I must say, was pretty good too! The weather was less than cooperative and his baseball "season" was not very summer-like. I think he had one game and maybe one practice that was warm and sunny...ohh well! But we were at all the games (we had to tag-team a little because of Amy) with blankets and sweatrshirts when needed! :)

Here is his first practice. He was all decked out in his baseball gear-GO SOX! :) Julia was happy about the playground. AJ just jumped right in and was the first to bat. We were so proud of him. He was really involved and excited to learn and practice.

(Bottom right pic:)

When "Grammie" came to visit she took the kids to the store to pick out a prize. AJ chose a bakugan and a batting helmet! (That is dedication!) He thought he was pretty cool that he had his OWN helmet at the games!

Here are pix from his first game. He was SO excited!
He had some nice hits and my friend got a great action shot of the ball up in the air. (Top right) We were so proud. It was so fun to watch him and cheer for him!

Ok, this picture CRACKS me up! If this isn't true baseball form, i don't know what is! :)

So, the season has been over for about a month now, but at least it has been documented! He loved baseball and has been playing at the park with friends and practicing with Daddy whenever he can. We are so proud of how well he did and we all had so much fun going to his games and practices as a family!

HAIR!!!

ok, after i had already finished this post, i realized that most of these pix were already on here, but, oh well, i figure better some duplicates than nothing at all...and these are in fancy little collages too! :)

Amy has had a TON of hair since she was born. They had it all styled when they brought her to me, but it didn't take long to discover what it was really like...CRAZY!!!

I took these pix after a bath. At first, when it is wet, it looked like it might curl a little and stay down. But, NOPE!!! As it dries it starts to pop up until it is all sticking straight UP into the air! it is pretty funny, but I love it!! :)

SO I am OBVIOUSLY not a very good blogger! I was just looking at a friends blog and saw us on her list that it had been 4 weeks since our last post! I was horrified. i knew it was bad, but come on!!! SO here we go! (note: i am starting this Tuesday at lunchtime!)

Ok...5/18/09 Coming home from the hospital.

Here we all are ready to go. That day was so busy for me. I should be a low-key day, but come on, if you know me, we all know that isn't likely! So we ended up staying at the hospital for a few extra hours because we were waiting for the lactation consultant to come in. I wanted to meet with her one more time before i went home. I don't really know what happened but it took FOREVER. So we finally met with her some time after lunch, finished getting everything rounded up, and headed out.

Amy was so tiny in the carseat. She was quite stylin' I must say! :) She actually had a headband to match the outfit and bracelet exactly, but it was too big-I made it beforehand but obviously had forgotten just how tiny their little heads are at first! AJ and Julia we GITTY to be bringing "baby Amy AND mommy" home.

We left the hospital and headed over to DeAnn's place. Brandon's mom was in a nursing home and had been able to come to the hospital to see Amy be born, but hadn't had a chance to hold her yet. We stayed for a little while and then headed home. Unfortunelaty, our timing sucked and we got stuck in the ridiculous traffic that happens on the road on the way to our house.

But, we made it and once we got home, of course, Murphy had to investigate. I was trying to hold him back enough so he didn't christen her with his slobber, but let him get close enough to feel like he could really sniff her. And Julia had to hold her too. She just can't get a hold of her enough...still!

Because of the traffic, we didn't get home until dinnertime. Our friends, Brian and Heather, had called and offered to come by and bring us dinner. So they (and their 3 kids) got there soon after we got home. So we had a big Subway picnic in our house and they hung out for a while.

It was a good day, but i was TIRED! But it was really good to be home with my WHOLE family again! I can't believe we have 3 kids!

(note: I finished this Thursday after Lunchtime! :) UGG)

Baby Amy!!!

Well, Amy Maria Jenson has arrived! And since i am not a great blogger, she is now a week old!  But she is doing great and is has been so fun!  Here are a few pix...I will try to post more info/stories soon! 

Birthday: May 6, 2009

Time: 6:22 pm

Weight:  7 lbs. 10 oz.

Length:  20 inches

This is the "one week old" pic!

...and i have to give you a close up so you can really see just how much hair she has!  it is CRAZY!!!

 This is what she looked like when they broguht her to me for the first time after she was born...the bows were all the nurses doing, it was PERFECT!! :)

And here is the FRO that happens after the bath.  There is just no controlling it! :)

The Final Countdown!!!!

I get to change my little countdown...to LESS days!  I had my doctor's appointment this week and we decided that unless Amy comes sooner, he will enduce me a week early!  So if she hasn't come by MAY 6TH she WILL come on May 6th! :) 

It is a little weird to pick our child's birthday, but because 

1. we live so far away from the hospital (45 minutes thru crazy construction zones) and 

2. Brandon works so far away (45 minutes through crazy construction/traffic and in the other direction from the hospital) and 

3. we have to get our other kids somewhere and 

4. Julia was born within 4 hours of my water breaking...

i have been a little worried about making it all work (and making it all work fast enough) whenever "It's time".  Although this may still have to be worked out if she decides may 6th is too far away, (which i would be ok with ) I feel a little better knowing that the insanity of getting to the hospital might be avoided. (Plus having a for sure date that is earlier than planned makes me...and my WHOLE body REALLY happy!!!)

so that is the update...as of today...11 days to go!  WOOHOO!!!!

Easter!

So here is the Easter Run-down! 

1. First, when the kids wake up (as was tradition in the Lantz household) The kids have to hunt for Jelly beans.  Each kid has to find a specific color and the amount of jelly beans for how old they will turn in this year (AJ-7, Julia-4) So here is the hunt! 

2. Once they find all the jelly beans then they get the baskets the easter bunny brought (that are hidden in a special hiding spots that only the easter bunny and the parents know about!) Here is the happinesss that Easter Candy brings...

3.  Then comes a little while of free reign over the candy until mommy can't stand it and makes them put it away for later! :)  This year Brandon made a YUMMY french toast breakfast for us!   

4. Then, for the REAL meaning of Easter!...We get to go to church and remember why we really have this day!  Of course, we have to get dressed up and i must say, i have some pretty cute looking kids!!! 

5. This year we didn't have a regular Easter event with all the Jenson's like we normally would because Grandma (AKA "Ma-mah") is in the hospital.  So we decided that we would bring some little Easter festivities to her hopsital room.  We brought some eggs with us and the kids waited outside while i hid them.  Then they got to come into her room and have a little egg hunt.  It was cute and "Ba-Pa and Ma-mah" had a good time watching the event!  Here is that event:

6. So it was a little different Easter than we would usually have, but it was a good one.  We got to eat candy, have fun, remember why we REALLY have Easter, and spend time with family...a successful day, i think! 

Firehouse Field Trip

Julia is in a little preschool/playgroup thing and each month we either have a party or a fieldtrip.  This month was a fieldtrip to the Fire Station down the street.  It was really cute, the kids loved it!  

Here is the little group learning all about the fire truck and all the cool tools in it.  I love the one in the top left where they are all so serious...they are looking at the jaws of life!

And here are my kiddo's checking out the firetruck and with the fireman all suited up.  

It was cool, they had him get all his gear on to show the kids and talked about how it is all to protect him and that it is still a nice man inside and not a scary monster!  They talked about regular fire safety and really focused on not hiding from the firemen!  It was really a good thing for them all to see and know!   

It was a fun little fieldtrip! 

Tha Jazz Game!

Brandon found some super cheap jazz tickets on stub hub so we could ALL go to the game on St. Patrick's Day!  (I think he was looking for tickets for just him and AJ to go, originally.) We wore green for the day and then all changed into jazz colors/gear for the game!

So we met Brandon at work and had dinner at Taco Amigo.    

We parked at his work and headed over to the trax station.  The kids were all excited to go on the "train".  Here they are-you can just see how happy they are!  SO Cute! 

Due to Brandon's NEED to be in seats for all sporting events well before the event starts, we planned plenty of time and were there really early!  So we got to go check out the statue of Stockton and Malone (and have a little photo shoot) outside the arena.  AJ and Julia got to compare thier hands to Karl Malones's hand prints...WOW!! 

So we had some time before the game started, but the kids did GREAT!  They both really watched the game and loved the whole atmosphere and event.  Seeing the Jazz bear (although he was pretty small from where we were sitting) was a highlight!

Around Half-time (which happened to fall right around their usual bedtime) they started to get a little antsy!  Luckily, i came prepared with some push-pops and that saved the day.  You would think that my children never got candy-they were so excited to have these things!  Julia was so funny.  She wanted me to hold her like "Baby Julia" and feed her with the push-pop like a bottle. Of course AJ thought this would be fun for hm too...i looked QUITE ridiculous with then on my pregger-belly lap feeding them push-pops!  HAHA hey-whatever keeps them entertained-right?!?!

Oh-and Julia's grumpy face...i don't even remember what that was about but it was so funny, i had to include it!  I'm pretty sure it was just plain old attitude!

So that was our St. Patty's day Jazz event!  It was super fun.  The kids had a blast and it was so fun to watch them soak in and enjoy the whole event!  Yeah for stub hub!  :)