Update

Yes, it has been a while since the Paul and Stacy Jensen Family has made contact with the outside world. I'm sure you are wondering if our children are still alive and growing and being cute. So here's a brief update on the 2 months that have past since our last post.

Cavell

We'll do him first since he's the newest and the cuteness hasn't worn off yet. Cavell is growing like a weed. At his 2 month check up he was given a clean bill of health and we found out he had grown 4 inches in length and gained 5 pounds in weight. He grew out of his 0-3 month clothes and is currently filling out the 3-6 month clothing. He's not anything like his cousin Jaxton, but he's growing larger and faster than his big sister did. Stacy enjoys going to the Dr appointments now that she doesn't feel like her child is at risk of being diagnosed with 'failure to thrive' each visit.

Cavell has mastered the art of the smile and is working on the giggle and laugh. The preliminary step of the cry and the coo are practiced regularly with wild abandon. The higher forms of expression are now within reach. Cavell should be well prepared for the impending visit of the Grandma's next month. All Grandma's in attendance will be very impressed.

Alayna

Having reached the ripe old age of 3-1/2, Alayna today announced her intentions for the rest of her life. She has decided that when she grows up she wants to be a student. We really didn't know how to respond to that decision.

Alayna has taken on the responsibilities of big sister very seriously. She helps change diapers, entertain, love, and talks to her little brother. She introduces him to strangers, tickles him, and sings him songs. She is very posessive. Cavell is not our son, he is her little brother.

In addition to big sister responsibilities, Alayna takes time to perform the duties of a princess, Little Red Riding Hood, the Little Mermaid, a kitty cat, a lion, and a humpback whale. She also takes the time to be just Alayna. Be careful when approaching Alayna, if you do not know which personality is in control at the time, you run the risk of offending a lion.

Stacy

Stacy has been getting into the routine of caring for two children and running a household. Her routine consists of feeding Cavell, feeding Alayna, exercising, feeding Cavell, playing with Alayna, feeding Alayna, feeding Cavell, getting Alayna to take a nap, feeding Cavell, convincing Alayna that cleaning up her toys is a game, feeding Cavell, going to a playdate, feeding Cavell, preparing dinner, eating dinner while Paul holds Cavell in the other room because he won't stop crying, feeding Cavell, getting Alayna ready for bed, feeding Cavell, scrapbooking, feeding Cavell, sleeping while feeding Cavell and doing it over again the next day. It's easy when it becomes a routine.

Stacy has created scrapbooks from the digital photos we have taken of Alayna and Cavell. She has almost completed a different book for each year of Alayna's life and is collecting photos of Cavell to start his books. It takes a lot of time to produce the book, but once she is caught up she will be able to put it on cruise control. Stacy has gotten quite good manipulating the software to make her pages. Despite her claims otherwise, she is developing into a digital artist. It's fun to look at her work in order of completion to see how much she has improved since she started.

Stacy is still knitting. For Christmas last year she received a Master Knitter accreditation package. She is almost completed her level one certification. Once she has finished her accreditation she can brag that she is a Master Knitter. We always knew she was good, but soon she will be on the level of 'little old lady in the rocking chair on the porch' good. Just remember that when a Master Knitter walks in a room, all other knitters are required to drop a stitch.

Paul

Paul works. When he isn't working at work, he's working on school. When he isn't working at work or on school, he runs an informal computer help desk from the sofa. When he isn't doing that, he plots adventures that have to wait for the end of school responsibilities. School is out the last week of November. December is when the adventures begin.

Website

Between work and school, I have put together a little space on the web that can hold some stories and photos. Eventually this blogspot will no longer be updated and future information will be hosted at the new location. The website is still in the construction process but it works. I can't spend a lot of time on it right now, but will be able to spend more time working with it later. One of the goals is to learn the new programming skills it takes to run a website and help Dad get some pots sold, help Ben start his business, and start up a few ideas of my own on the side.

The website is password protected, but since I am the administrator, I will be able to help people that lose/forget their password.

Website address: www.ps-jensen.com
If you do not want to take the time to create a password yet, you can use:
Username: jensen
Password: family

The photo gallery has some updated pictures of Cavell and Alayna. We are still uploading photos all the time, so check back often.

Video

I can't seem to get our new website to work with embedded video. I'm learning new skills trying to figure the site out, but so far that skill has eluded me. I know it will work, I just have to learn how to work with/around the system. In the mean time I wanted to make sure that everybody got to see some great video of Alayna and Cavell from the hospital. Alayna was very sweet and sang to her new baby brother. Click on the play button and enjoy!!

Twinkle, Twinkle. . .


Starts off sweet and then dissolves into gobbledy. . .



Just pure gibberish, but very cute at the end.



Knock, Knock jokes and other silliness.

Kenn and Lynn McHugh and their son Alex took care of Alayna while Cavell was being born. They brought Alayna to the hospital to meet her new brother. Thank you Kenn for bringing your video camera and capturing some great moments.

3 Year Old Politician

Alayna just wouldn’t stay still and quiet in church today. After making it through half of the meeting, it was just too much to sit in the pew and we had to sit in the foyer for the rest of the meeting. Shortly after we set up camp on the comfortable sofa, the remaining families that have children the same age as Alayna joined us. This lead to quite an interesting lesson in social behavior; I’ve concluded that politician’s don’t behave like three year olds, three year olds are politicians.

The first step is the greeting. Alayna and her friend Mara saw each other from across the foyer and down the hallway. Alayna shouted, “Mara is here and she has a pretty purple dress!” Mara and Alayna greet with hugs and kisses and sit down next to me on the couch. They proceed to admire and complement each other’s dress.

Mara mentions that Alayna is her best friend. Alayna replies that Mara is, “her best friend, but that Alex is her bestest friend.” Needless to say, this hurts Mara. Mara whimpers that, “Alex is not your friend, I am your best friend.” Alayna knows this is an argument that can not be continued with that kind of logic, so she changes the subject with, “I have on my white Sunday shoes.”

Back to fashion and appearance. This should be an easy subject for a couple of girls to discuss, but they have ulterior motives. Alayna seeks for a weakness by asking, “Do you have a pink Sunday Dress?” Mara does not have a pink Sunday dress, she only has a Purple dress with flowers. Alayna senses the weakness and goes in for the kill, “Do you have lots of play dresses? I have lots of pink play dresses.” Mara does not have play dresses, she has to wear pants and shorts. Feeling bad for herself, she admits, “I don’t like my purple dress, I wish I had a blue Sunday dress.”

With her clear fashion superiority established, despite her closet full of hand-me-downs, Alayna has established a high ground that she feels comfortable enough to escalate her battle from. This is where she gets cocky. Mara is at least 15 pounds and 4 inches larger than Alayna. When the conflict escalates beyond words into battle, Alayna is at a bit of a disadvantage. First comes the tickling. The tickles start off cute and fun and gradually end up turning into a painful annoyance. In addition to the increased movement is the natural increase in voice level. At this point we have reached even the loosest interpretation of reverence in a church foyer and Dad has to step in to mediate the tickle fight.

After the tickle dispute reaches an uneasy cease-fire with no clear superior, Mara decides to try for the advantage by instigating a nose-stealing contest. Mara steals Alayna’s nose first and then proceeds to trade it out with her own nose, returning her nose to Alayna’s face. This is a difficult concept for Alayna to understand for a couple of reasons. Number one, her father stole her nose on the day she was born and has stubbornly refused to return it. Secondly, why would she possibly want to go about her life with another girls nose on her face? So Mara receives her nose back with a little too much emphasis. The only way to retaliate at this point is for Mara to attempt to steal Alayna’s eyes. Third party intervention by Dad is required again. This time, Mara is sent to her own corner of the foyer to regain strength from her family before returning.

After a cooling off period and under the watchful eye of both parties’ parents, the two rejoined at the neutral center of the foyer for a final goodbye as the two separated for their different primary classes. Hugs and kisses were exchanged and complements on dresses were given.

STACY

We had a few requests for pictures of Stacy. Some friends of ours haven't seen her for a while and want to see how she is looking during her pregnancy.

These photos were taken on Mothers day. Stacy and the bishop's wife were the only two women with corsages at church. Stacy's corsage was much prettier. I am the BEST husband.
The dress hides the true grandeur of the belly, but I promise, it's in there. And it's gotten bigger.

With as much 'fun' as we have had with this pregnancy, Stacy is actually doing very well. Just like in school, she gets perfect scores on all of her tests and is the perfect Dr.'s pet. Something to do with bringing an apple to the appointments.

Sunday Dinner

I remember having waffles for Sunday dinner sometimes growing up. This treat wasn't very often because cooking waffles for seven hungry kids was a challenge I'm sure my parents weren't up to every weekend. Even more rare than waffles for dinner was the addition of a slice of ice cream on top of the last waffle or pancake.

Alayna really liked her dinner!!

Since changing to a gluten free diet we have found that waffles are a great food to have around. We cook a double batch of waffles almost weekly and freeze the excess to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for Alayna the rest of the week. I'll admit that I really like eating a waffle sandwich myself. Those crevices really hold the jelly.

Last Sunday I decided to teach Alayna about the joys of eating a bit of ice cream on top of a waffle. There is just something so tasty when the icecream melts into a hot waffle.

There is a waffle under all of that, I promise. This particular waffle is topped with Chocolate Trinity ice cream. It's an indulgent chocolate ice cream with a ribbon of chocolate fudge and chocolate cups filled with chocolate truffle. On top of the ice cream is whipped cream and on top of that is a butterscotch caramel topping. The only thing missing is a cherry, and pralines, and . . .

Why Alayna IS Sleeping Beauty

For her third birthday (belated, because Stacy's pregnancy kept us home bound for a while) Great Grandpa and Grandma Onines gave Alayna a real Disney princess crown. This gift was, and still is, a HIT. It comes with a magic wand. Using the primary colors, Alayna can change the color on the wand and presses a button that transmits a signal to the crown. The wand and crown flash white with a chime and changes the color of her crown jewel to match the wand. Each color is assigned a Princess; Snow White red, Sleeping Beauty pink, Jasmin purple, Cinderella blue, Ariel green, Belle yellow, and princess orange.

Alayna plays "Sleeping Beauty" with her best friend, Alex. She lays down, with a flower in her hands, and pretends to sleep. Alex gives her a kiss on the check and she wakes up. This is one of the reasons he invited his princess to see the castle with him for his third birthday.Alayna likes to run up to one of us and grab our hands saying, "I am Sleeping Beauty, dance with me." She will proceed to dance and sing the song from Sleeping Beauty's dance with her Prince with modified lyrics:

I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream.
I know you, believe in your eyes is a miracle, a dream.

And repeat, again and again.

Plecia americana/nearctica (Lovebugs)

Twice a year, residents of Florida are treated to the Love Bug season. In the spring we are invaded by P. americana, and in the fall by the P. nearctica variety. From all the old timers I've been able to talk to (I think I know four native Floridians), this is the worst Love Bug season yet.

Normally, the love bugs are quiet little larvae found in marshy bogs eating and decomposing what ever bits and pieces they come across. But when they mature and grow wings, they start to think of things amorous. The love bugs must find each other rather offensive because their mating habits are such that they face away from each other. I have only seen a couple of love bugs that are not attached to another. When they are stuck together, as seen in the picture above, the larger bug is the female and the smaller is the male. They fly in this formation, at the whim of the female, up to 400 meters in the air, but are primarily found along the roads and on automobile grilles.

This is a stock photo that really doesn't do justice to the amount of insect devastation that can occur on a simple drive through town. Love bugs have been known to clog radiators to the point of failure and completely obscuring vision through the windshield.

Because the little buggers are acidic, if left on the car paint too long, they will etch the finish. This means that my delivery drivers spend a good deal of this time of year cleaning their vans. There are a lot of old wives tales that deal with how to clean these pests from your vehicle. One of my employees soaks beach towels in hot water and lays them on his van, rotating them each hour for four hours before he scrubs them off. So far, I've been successful in driving fast through the rain to knock off the big lumps and the occasional gas station car wash to finish 'em off.

These pesky nuisances land on the playground equipment that Alayna plays on and get smashed as exhuberent children slide down the slides, adding love bug juice to the dirt and grime on their clothes. Luckily, love bugs are do not poke, bite, or sting. They are fairly benign, unlike the caterpillars.

Letters

We have a tray of salt that Alayna and Stacy play in. The game is based on the Montessori idea that a child can learn letters thru a more tactile experience. Except Alayna prefers to draw circles. Taking advantage of this predisposition, Stacy began to choose letters that involved a circle beginning with O. Stacy drew the letter and then help Alayna draw her own in the salt. Next they added different lines to O to make other letters, like P and Q. Then some lower case a, b, c and d. Next, Alayna wanted to do an e. Stacy explained it was a c with a - through it. This time, before Stacy could finish her e Alayna drew her own E!


And what letter does one do after E went so well? F, of course. Alayna's is on the right.


After a couple of practices, this is Alayna's T.


And, after a demonstration I in the middle, Alayna had to fit her I in on the right, before the salt was wiped.

Also of note, Alayna is not saying "cheese" for each picture, but the letter she just wrote.

Human Sling Shot

A couple of years ago at one of Stacy's company parties, the festvities were concluded with Stacy's introduction to the human sling shot. At an undisclosed location, in a canyon in Springville, Stacy was willingly tied to a bungee suspended between two telephone poles and shot into the sky. I honestly feel this was the result of spending the whole afternoon at a work party that did not include a drop of alcohol. Crazy Mormons looking for cheap thrills.

I saw this video on the internet and showed it to Stacy. While this is not a video of her, this is a video of what she did and where she did it. This video is currently on the top 100 list at video.google.com. Stacy still claims that she had fun doing this, but I don't think she would ever do it again.

What the video doesn't show is how close to the canyon wall the victim gets. Or how close to the trees. Or the creek. Stacy had much better form reminiscent of Superman.

The "Bird Dress"

Anyone that has talked to Alayna on the phone has heard mention of her bird dress. The description usually continues like this:

"It's blue, with a big bird, he's a flamingo and he's pink, with a flower in his mouth-beak, and it has yellow flowers and white 'cocoa-dots."

And finally, a picture taken today of Alayna, in her bird dress.