Country vs. City

To spear you from a REALLY long post I am going to break up our trip to Nana and Grandpa's house. This post is of all the things the kids did out on the ranch. Grandpa, Grandpa Jensen, and Uncle Micah were so kind to take the kids to do all kinds of fun things. The highlight was definitely feeding cows. The following was the day after we arrived when Grandpa took them to see the cows. We found a calf that had been born in the last couple hours. The kids thought that was awesome!

The fresh calf. There were quite a few born the week we were there.

Carter is a BIG fan of anyone who had Grandpa in their name. He just loved having two of them around for the week!

This girl is in her element when she rides a horse. She LOVES it. Need to get her riding lessons someday.

This picture is right before the horse nearly rid of Brady and Carter. Surprisingly Carter wanted to get right back on. Guess it didn't scare him!

Then they got to feed the horses!

 And the highlight of the trip, getting to feed the baby calves!

The following two are stolen pictures. I just love them though! They sure do love their Grandpa Jensen!

Isn't this the best picture ever? Nice work Amy!

These kids love the country. They were NOT happy when we headed to the city part of our vacation. But before that, up next is Easter!

And we are back...

We have been MIA for a while now. We took a 3 week trip and got back last weekend. We had a ton of fun and are happy to be back to normal (some of us). More on that later.

Now lets talk about my big boy. We decided to take the plunge and tackle the last of his babyhood before we left. He still had his binki at night so decided to take him to the store and he picked a toy to buy with it. He chose a spiderman action figure. There was no talking him out of it. He happily handed it over! Then for a few nights he kept asking me to take him back to the store and buy it back. It was sad! After that though he has been fine. He asks for it now and again but is okay with not having it. Here's my big boy! Every form of baby is now out of this kid. Sad day for me.

Have to add a picture of this girl. She loves to take car of the dog. She was cradling her to sleep one night. :)

Get ready, more posts to come!

Fun with friends.

I am not sure why I never posted this! Back in November we had a play date with Jagger (one of Ella's best friends). These kids love to play dress up! Don't you just love Jagger's "super man" face. :)

My Valentines.

 Aren’t my valentines cute? I love these kids. I decided to make them a valentine this year, I think it turned out cute and they loved it. We just spent the day hanging out, making valentines, and playing with a friend. Fun day. Hope you all had a fun Valentines!

Ella had a lunch "play" date with a friend!

 And now for a little about my Valentines. I love this boy. He is so sweet, yet so fiery! He loves his mommy and daddy, Ella, Riff and Jagger (Ella's friend). He tells us so each day. I love his little eyes. They are so sweet and so naughty at times. I love that he is almost completely potty trained at night now as well. Good news, except that now I have to wake up to take him. :) I love that he is all of a sudden interested in doing preschool any chance he gets. He can count to 10 and pretty well knows his ABC's. I love that he sunggles with me. Oh my little Buzz (we have to call him that now you know), I love you. :)

He is shooting me with his lazer. :)

 And now for my Ella. I love this teenager trapped in a kids body. She is so sweet and easy going. I love that she is such a girl. She loves anything pink or purple. I love that she has a love for dance as much as I do! She LOVES to read. She can read pretty much any picture book now and does it any chance she gets. I am sure I will be purchasing chapter books any time now. I love that she loves school. She really wanted to learn about the solar system last week so that's what we did. I love doing this co-op preschool with her. I get to see the excitement when she learns something new. I love that she is always taking care of someone. Even me when she thinks I need it. She is so darn grown up this girl! I just hope her saying, "But I will always be your little baby!" stays true. I love her.

And now for my first Valentine. :) I'm not a really mushy person so I will cut right to the chase. I love him because he loves me. Even after me "cancelling" valentines day this year he came home with some flowers for me. He brings me diet coke or milky ways from his work pantry. Okay so the way to my heart is food, but whatever. I love that he doesn't care if the house is super clean when he gets home. I love watching him with the kids. They can't wait for him to get home and he always plays with them when he walks through the door. He is such a great dad and husband. There are lots of other reasons I love him, but we could be here all day. Lets just say, I love him and am happy he chose me. :)

A

Fun with Grammy

So just after the new year (yes I am still backed up here!), my mom came up for a visit! We had a fun week and the kids were in heaven. We spent a lot of time around the house, but did venture out a few times. We ate at an AMAZING little diner with excellent shakes. I can't wait to go back. We checked out Powell's books finally. The kids managed to come home with a handful of books thanks to their Grammy. :) We also headed out to the Tillamook factory and spent an obscene amount of money on cheese, checked out the coast, went to OMSI (a science museum), and did some playing in the snow. It snowed a bit each and every day. Not enough to play in (except for during church, bummer!) but enough to get the kids excited. Thanks for coming Grammy, we had a blast!

Meet Riffle.

Riffle, Riff for short, is the newest member of our family. Yes, she is named after tap steps. :) This little puppy is the cutest, sweetest, most annoying thing. Yeah, I can't make up my mind about her. Our friends were offered a litter of beagle mixes free, and they asked us if we wanted one. Our kids have been wanting a dog lately so we made a quick decision to give it a try (as we would be getting the dog the next day). Well, we still aren't sure about this decision. She is sweet and snuggly in the evenings. and barks and whines for hours after she wakes up. She is Jekyll and Hyde. She nips and pee's on the carpet at times. On the other hand, we later found out that she was only 6 weeks when we got her (was supposed to be 8 weeks which is recommended...they lied).She is doing surprisingly well with housebreaking for being so young. She never poops in the house, only pee's small amounts at times. She is sleeping in a crate ALL night without whining. Now if we can get her to stop nipping (especially the kids) and teach Carter and her to exist in the same world we will be okay. He thinks she's his toy. She thinks he's her toy. See the problem? We will see how the next little while goes. I do feel a bit like i would be adopting and giving back if we got rid of her. That being said, if her and Carter can't get along we will have to get rid of her. Here's to hoping she behaves herself so she can join our little family. P.S. I had NO idea how much a tiny puppy is like a newborn baby. Or worse. You are thrown right into night bathroom trips, potty training, walking. It's like newborn and toddler in one! Why didn't someone warn me? Oh yeah, we didn't give people time. Anyhow, enjoy some cute photos of this cute, naughty little puppy. :) 

She falls asleep in the weirdest positions. 

Asleep like this. Yes, really. Lately it is on my lap on her back, legs in the air. I will get a picture of that soon. She's adorable when she's sleeping at night.