Kindy 500

This month I felt kind of smug, because we didn't have anyone in cub scouts, that had to make a Pinewood Derby car.  I know the boys love it, but I hate the work, and the stress, and I worry about all the boys feeling sad, SO anyway....I was feeling pretty relieved until...the note came home...

"would you please help your child make a car out of a box for the Kindy 500...all you need to do is get a large cardboard box, put large paper plates on it for the wheels, and small paper plates for headlights.

YEAH RIGHT!

There may not be a Derby car to build, but I definetely didn't get off easy!

Taylor was so excited, he could hardly stand it!  He had it all figured out to the smallest detail. 

 "Mom, I want a Polar Express train!"

I think I sat a just stared at the empty cardboard box for 1/2 hour, not sure if I should cry or scream!  I am NOT good at art, and this kind of a project can be overwhelming for me, but Taylor pulled me through, and just started cutting holes, gathering supplies, and we went to work.  One by one my other kids would come in and check our progress and make an awesome suggestion on something we could do to make it better, and..well...what do you think?

We had some candy cane striped ribbon that we used for straps.  The back box was labeled "COAL", and we put some real coal in it. The spokes were with some heavy glitter paper, so they were really sparkly! Don't you love the Santa hat?

Taylor really wanted a light in the front, so we used a miners head light. He also insisted we have a bell, that could be rung by pulling a string.  Thank goodness for Christmas ornaments!

After the activity, Taylor came home and put on his PJ's and his Polar Express robe that he got for Christmas! :)  

The teachers set up the gym as a track with historical stops along the way.  My job was to teach the kids about the Liberty Bell. We gave them some leftover chocolate Christmas bells, and a little dye cut picture of the Liberty Bell as a bumper sticker. Each of the cars were so creative and darling!

After all was said and done, it really was a fun project, and I loved working with Taylor!  He is such a creative boy, I love the way his mind works!

Rockin 'out and gettin' old

The other day Connor and I were in the car together, and a Culture Club song came on.
 I exclaimed, "Oh this was popular when I was a teenager!" and I began to sing along at the top of my lungs and do my "hand motions while you drive dance"...my kids love it when I do that!!  :)
Anyway, when I stopped, Connor looked at me and shook his head, then said,
"so do you think they're dead now?" 
Oh, son...who I clothe, take to soccer, give money to, clean for, and feed...

HOW OLD DO YOU THINK I AM??? 

Then yesterday I went into my room...did you get that..MY ROOM, and Ashyln and Taylor were laying in MY BED, watching MY TV...(get the point?)  Anyway, I walked in singing along to the Cat in the Hat theme song, (so maybe I was dancing a little..), and they both looked at me, and Taylor says to me,
"mom, this is a quiet zone."
"Oh? "
Then Ashlyn looks at Taylor,
"well, maybe she could sing a little, if she's quiet". 
Taylor slowly shakes his head back and forth.  "I don't think so." 

Ashlyn gives me the "sorry, I tried look", and they resume watching their TV show. 

Hmmm, what do I do with that??

The week after...

A peek at our post-vacation week...

The kids had Monday off (we got back on Sun.) 

My friends all said, "boy, that's great timing, now you can just relax for a day before they go back to school..."

"Relax? Um...not really...what I wouldn't have given to send them all to school first thing Monday morning...:)

Don't you just love the week after a vacation?  8 loads later, I finally reached the bottom of this post-vacation pile, only to find that the clothes kept coming in!  I thought it would be great to get a before and after shot of the laundry, you know, a total mess to spic and span laundry room, but after a week I've decided it's never going to happen as long as people in my house keep wearing clothes! I'm not sure the people on Clean House (don't you love that show??) would have wanted to tackle this one!  AAAgh! 

Deep Yoga breath..:)

He believes...in Leprechauns!  Like no other.  Taylor spent hours putting together a house for the Leprechaun, and making traps...so cute!

Trap #1.  There was actually a book proped up to the window.  The idea is that the Leprechaun would peek in, looking for gold, fall in and not be able to get out.

The kleenex is a trap.  He reaches for the gold colored lincoln log and the kleenex falls into the hole, trapping him.  The ladder helps him make it to the top.

The house.  Gotta love the big gold rock inviting the Leprechaun to come in.

Lucky wrote Taylor a note...

Other than some green pancakes, I wasn't too creative this year with St. Patricks Day. 

Crime Prevention Merit badge field trip.  I'll tell ya, these merit badges are taking a ton of MY time!  But aren't those boys cute?!

most of the time...

It's Spring, and at the Jensen household, this means new chicks. 

Alyssa said, "they start out so cute! Too bad they get so ugly!" 

So true!

Califor..nigh...ay!

Well, we did it!  We survived 30+ hours in the car together, and had a great time in the sunshine state!  This was a nice change from the major blizzard we passed through in central Utah...oh and can I add that we were stuck in traffic due to an accident, for...get this folks...3 hours near Beaver???  Yes, it wasn't looking so great for a while there, and I knew the kid's morale was waning, when Taylor asked Parker to tell him a story, and he began,

"this is a story about Furious George, and the man with the yellow shoulder pads..."

our trip didn't quite start out as we had planned, but we finally made it out of there, and on to much better weather!

We stayed the first night at Karl's brother Doug's house in Nevada.  Behind us are 20 acres of land we own...Doug chose to build a home on his land.

One of the first rides of the day.  We went to California Adventure on Wed. This is before we got all wet!

Connor's first purchase was this Goofy hat.  The kids each saved money for the trip and were able to decide how to spend their hard-earned money. 

Gawrsh!

On Thurs. we hit Disneyland.  Ashlyn and Connor were chosen out of the audience to participate in Jedi Training.

This was right before the light show at California Adventure...incredible!!

Some kids thought Connor was a Disney Character!  They'd say to their parents, "there's Goofy!"  and Connor would go up to them and shake their hand, and give them all high 5's, low 5's and everything inbetween!  He was great!

I drove with this chick, and let's just say I'm grateful 16 is 8 years away!! 

I said, "boy that was some ride!"

Ashlyn replied, "Oh, I would be much better on a real road..."

We'll try it again in 8 years!

On Friday, we travelled down to San Diego.  Karl get's so excited to be in his home town!  We ate some lunch at a beautiful park near Old Town.

The Mormon Battalion museum was amazing, a must see if you go to Cali!   We even ran into some old friends who are currently serving a mission there! 

We drove by Karl's old neighborhood.  This is where he put his footprints, signed his initials and dated the cement.  As the story goes, the workmen were none to happy that he ruined their sidewalk!!  We think it's great!

LaJolla Cove!  Gorgeous!!

It must be time for lunch, huh Alyssa??

The kids had a blast collecting shells in the ocean.  The water was a little too cold to actually swim in, but perfect for wading and playing on the shore.  Heaven on Earth!

It all went way too fast!

Check, check!

Tomorrow, tomorrow, we love ya, tomorrow!!!

1.  New flip flops and painted toes
2.  Clean van
3.  Travel treats
4.  Pepto chewable tablets
5.  Google maps
6.  Suit cases packed and ready
7.  DVD's and books galore
8.  Camera batteries all charged up
9.  New haircuts for all

and....of course...Disneyland Tickets!!!

Wanna Come??

Flopped teaching moments...

On Sunday morning, Taylor got burned by some hot glue...(I believe he was putting glue on the end of a broken plastic hanger to make a wand...).  The tip of his little finger just swelled right up with a nice big blister.  He was pretty miserable for the next few hours, and in an effort to capture a teaching moment,

I said, "Boy, can you imagine how Abinidi felt?"

Taylor quickly responded, "Oh, yeah!  And Darth Vader too!"...

"Uh...yeah...I guess so". 

End of teaching moment.