Little Helper

Sometimes it is hard to remember how long Alayna has helped me in the kitchen. Because of our gluten free diet there are a lot of opportunities to make something from scratch that most people would just pick up at the store. I think she started helping before she was two!

Every week we make a double batch of waffles to use as sandwich bread, for birthdays (including some of yours) we make cake or cupcakes and for a random weekend treat we will make brownies or cookies. Alayna loves to pick which kind of cookie: chocolate chip, chocolate-chocolate chip, peanut butter, peanut butter with chocolate chips, macaroons, or snicker-doodles. For the first time ever, we made cutout cookies. We bought a heart cookie cutter just for the occasion (Valentine's Day).


But, Alayna wasn't the only one who wanted to help this time. When it was time to roll out and cut the dough, Cavell pulled his chair up to the counter as well. He made sure our surface was properly floured (with rice flour) at ALL times. He also wanted to help transfer the cookies to the cookie sheet, but didn't understand that the turner was meant to go under the cookie, not thru it.

We have four other cut out cookie recipes to try. We will be making cookies for St. Patrick's Day, Easter, Memorial Day, and Independence Day to try each one and pick our favourite. I think my new little helper will have plenty of opportunities to learn.

Hair

Lately, Alayna and I have been following a few hair blogs. She loves to look at the pictures with me and then we choose what hairdo we will do. I thought I could share a couple we have done.

From this page

Can you tell this is a heart? Alayna let me do it for my birthday. Paul had the camera in Cancun, and the pics from my phone were not very good. The heart was really cute, but I didn't like how Alayna's hair went into the piggys (I didn't do the messy buns). This time we left off the piggys for Joy School. I was teaching the letter H, and the kids were passing out Valentines.

Alayna wants this different heart hair do for her birthday party.

We also did this hair do. The first day we did this I, again, did not like how Alayna's hair looked in the piggys, especially how they were pulled back together. This is probably why I didn't take pictures that day. But, I loved how the first two braids looked on the front. The next time, when her hair naturally parted in the back, I just added the other two braids in those spaces. Which worked out well, since I didn't know what else to do with the rest of her hair.





Even with all the fun we have been having with Alayna's hair, I still love when she wants to leave it curly.

self portrait

Mmm Mmm Good

Friday night, Cavell would have nothing to do with dinner (home made chicken enchiladas). He almost ate a black bean, but once a drop of juice landed on his lips, he clammed back up.

Immediately after dinner he got down from the chair, ran to the open windows, ran his fingers inside the window casing and licked them with abandon.

Yum.

Our New Homestead

A couple weeks after our arrival in Texas, we were able to move out of our 2 room cottage and into a full size home. We have learned that our families happiness together is directly proportional to the amount of space we have available to separate ourselves from each other.

Yesterday we spent the morning cleaning up from the move. We have lived amongst cardboard boxes for the past three weeks and it was time to clean up our act. We still have boxes in a couple of rooms that we are not spending much time in, but our bedrooms, kitchen, and living room are free and clear. Its a great feeling to walk around the house without tripping over, rubbing up against, or being cut by cardboard boxes. Even though we are hoping to only be in this house for a year, it is finally starting to feel like home.

When we moved, we decided not to take our washer and dryer with us. We are now the proud owners of high-efficiency front loading machines. It took me a week to get the washer level enough that it stopped walking around the laundry room but now it just sits there and quietly spins our clothing clean at 2400 rpms. The washer has a gaping 4.7 cubic feet of space for clothing. In other words, we can do a weeks worth of laundry in two loads once a week instead of two loads every other night. The only drawback is that it takes a ridiculous amount of time to fold all of the clothes that can fit in the machine.

One of the drawbacks to renting is that I don't get to do any home repairs or projects. In fact they made me sign a sheet of paper promising to call them to fix anything instead of doing it myself. So now instead of being able to procrastinate fixing all of the little things that need to be worked on, I have to wait for somebody else to decide to do it. I'm starting to understand how Stacy feels.

Texas or BUST!!!

We survived our move from Florida and arrived in Texas just in time for Christmas. The trip was about as exciting as it could be. If you have ever spent much time on the Southern Gulf Coast, you are well aware of the complete lack of geographical interest. There are occasional rolling hills, but for the majority of the 18 hour drive, it is relatively flat. Luckily the boredom outside the minivan was countered by the excitement inside the minivan.

Yes friends, family, and fans, the excitement was at times, just too much to bear. In anticipation of this long ride and from long gained personal experience traveling across Nevada with my family without air conditioning, I thought I had prepared well for this experience. I was wrong.

The new minivan that I bought for work a while ago has everything. Seat warmers (just silly in Florida), build in DVD player, wireless headphones for the DVD player, multiple thermostats so that everybody can be as cool or warm as desired, cup holders everywhere, and plenty of room for four people to be comfortable. We had snacks, food for meals, and drinks to keep us going for three days just in case our two day trip was extended. The Pioneers would have been so jealous! But the smaller members of the family did not appreciate how far long distance travel has advanced in the past 175 years. These small children not only expected everything that was offered to them, they expected even more and expressed the displeasure of not receiving what they wanted with fervor.

About four hours into the drive, Cavell was done. He decided that until he was released from his car seat, he was going to scream. He did not just scream or cry for a while and then stop. He just screamed. When he couldn't scream anymore, he would take a short breath and resume the screaming. This would continue for hours. I thought for sure he would have to stop or hurt himself or break something. But he persevered and was able to reach his goal.

After 18 hours of screaming and listening to the audio for the movie Cars, we were very excited to arrive at our little two room cottage in Gruene, Tx. I understand a little better what the pioneers felt when they arrived in Salt Lake valley or any other destination. Travel weary people are just happy to stop moving. We all knew that we still had unload a moving truck, set up a home, and put together a new life in a new area of the country. As much work as that will be, we were just happy to get out of the van.

The Stars At Night. . . .

Are big and bright!!!



Don't you just love that part of the Pee Wee's Playhouse?

I haven't tried that yet, but I have migrated west to the great state of Texas. Yes, the Jensen family is moving to Texas. After three fun filled years in Florida I have accepted a promotion with Alliance Seating and Mobility to Regional Sales Manager that requires that I move to the Lonestar State.

I have been in the New Braunfels, TX area for 3 weeks now and Stacy and the rest of the family will follow at the end of the year. I will be flying back to Orlando every other week or so until we complete the move.

I am staying in a vacation cottage in the little town of Gruene, TX right outside the thriving metropolis of New Braunfels. My little house has a large sitting room with a kitchennette including a full refrigerator and a dishwasher. I have a nice bedroom and bathroom and a walk in closet. The kitchen lets me cook my own meals so I don't have to eat road food all the time and I can maintain my healthy diet. As rustic as a cottage with a full cow hide mounted on the wall sounds, I still have high speed wireless internet available. I also have my very own BBQ available should I discover an urge to grill a meal.

Work has been exciting. Now that I am working at the headquarters I am able to hob nob with the leadership at the company instead of driving around the state of Florida spending more time listening to books on tape than actually talking to real people. Since the division I work for is only one year old within the company, there is a big focus on growth and organization. Since I am the first person to be hired as a Sales Manager for this division and the first person at headquarters with any field experience I have become the default person to get answers from. So I am invited to meetings all day every day and sit in and give my opinion on all kinds of topics regarding aspects of the business that are sometimes not even remotely related to the work that I am experienced in. The amazing thing is that not only do people listen to my answers, they actually come back and ask me more questions later.

While I am working on glamorous business projects, Stacy and the kids are back in Florida barely surviving. At least that is what Stacy claims. I flew home last weekend to watch the Primary program at church and take care of a few things on the to do list around the house. Despite Stacy claiming that the family is just barely surviving, they appear to be doing quite well. I didn't see a single fly buzzing around the distended bellies of my children while I was there.

The Primary program turned out as good as Primary Programs can be. Alayna had a number of shining moments. Alayna sat up on the stand with the rest of her class for the whole meeting. When the sacrament bread was passed to her, she refused to eat the wheat bread. Her teacher prompted her to take a piece but she refused. Her teacher kept telling her to take the bread but Alayna refused three times before the Deacon moved along. I have to admit, I didn't see this happening. The story was relayed to me by the Young Men's President. He was quite proud of how she stood her ground and was aware of how to keep herself healthy. He almost felt the need to step in and come to Alayna's aid, but she was able to get her point across on her own. While all of that was going on, I was wrestling with Cavell in the pews.

Alayna started the program off with a bang. She sang the first two lines of I Am A Child of God as a solo. She also had a couple of speaking parts through the rest of the program. It is easy to swell one's chest when you realize that your daughter is the only kid any where near her age group that can memorize and articulate her part so the entire congregation can understand her words. There are High Councilmen that I wish could articulate as well as Alayna.

While home, we also attended the Church Fall Fling. Alayna went dressed as Belle from Beauty and The Beast. Cavell went as a chicken. Stacy found some cute dress up clothes at the thrift shop and brought them home in time for Halloween. A Disney Princess is an easy thing for Alayna to pull off. Princesshood is more of a state of mind for Alayna than just putting on a dress. She pulled it off with style. Cavell didn't really like his chicken outfit, but he left it mostly on. The little costume was actually designed for a dog to wear. Despite a few extra holes, we made the costume work and it even looked kind of cute. Luckily, Cavell is very patient with his parents.

Despite an exciting weekend with my family, I have only heard woeful tales of survival again since my departure. The woeful tales describe trips to the park, play dates with friends, workouts at the gym, and continued good health. What a horrible environment I have left my family in. I am so glad that they will be joining me in Texas soon. Our small little family will certainly prosper in such a wonderful location.

Just remember, EVERYTHING is bigger in Texas.

I Love Florida . . .

How many other places does traffic stop on a busy thoroughfare for four Sandhill Cranes to cross the road? Sadly, I didn't have my camera in the van to take a picture thru my windshield. I would have had plenty of time, they were in no rush.

Here's a picture of an adolescent crane at our house. One most often sees them in pairs. We think this one recently left its parents but has yet to find a mate. Whenever we hear trumpeting, we stop to watch them fly over us. After three years, we still find it exciting to see and hear them.

Catch-up Time

Since our last posting was three months ago, it's probably time to try and catch up on what has been happening to the Jensen's in Florida. To be honest, we have been so busy that we either haven't had the time to write a post or we were too tired to be creative enough to maintain the high standards normally associated with this blog.

While we make no promises regarding completeness or creativity, there will at least be a series of updated pictures of the kids. And that's what you really want anyway, right?

The biggest new development has been Alayna's first day at school. She started voluntary pre-kindergarten this year and has really enjoyed her class.

Alayna goes to school at the Lutheran church a couple of miles away from the house. She gets to go to school with some of her friends from her play group but she is in a class with all new children. Since Alayna is a very shy little girl, it is hard for her to meet new friends. And if you believe that. . .

Alayna has her own hook on the wall where she hangs her lunch box on the wall. I'm sure that less hardy children, not born in the wilds of the Rocky Mountains also use the hook to hang things like coats and sweaters.


When we went to pick Alayna up from her first day, Stacy couldn't help behaving a little bit like a stalker and looking through the windows to see how Alayna was doing. Here's one of her the pictures that shows the other children sitting contentedly on the carpet while Alayna shows the teacher how to lead the class.

Alayna was lucky enough to have two first days of school this year. The day after school started, the state of Florida was paralyzed in shock by the gradual advance of hurricane/tropical storm Faye. Schools canceled classes while the storm slowly made it's way up the state dumping rain and blowing a little wind here and there. The storm didn't get to our area of the state until Thursday and Friday but the fear of Katrina-like damage prompted very aggressive response to the storm.

Our house stayed high and dry but the neighborhood across the street from ours was under flood waters for about 6 weeks. At one point the city hired large water tanker trucks to try and haul water down to the river but after a week of pumping with the water and the transportation costs rising, that effort was ended. We did lose our landline phone for a week and we lost the internet for 2 weeks.

Alayna didn't go back to school for a week and Stacy had to go through the whole first day of school thing again. Believe me it was harder on Stacy than on Alayna.

Cavell has spent the last few months growing and learning new tricks. He has always enjoyed opening kitchen cabinets and pulling things out onto the floor. But recently he discovered that he can clear a cabinet and then put himself inside the resulting space.

He definitely enjoys eating meals with the family and usually 'can't believe he ate the whole thing.' One of these days he will develop some level of patience that will help him not throw a tantrum from the moment he hears or smells food cooking until he gets to stuff his face with food. He's also learning to use utensils but I don't think he's trying very hard.

Cavell gets to explore his daredevil personality on a weekly basis when the play group goes to one of the local parks for a picnic. He is able to climb up the steps, run across the 'rope bridge' to the castle and slide down the slide. Apparently this activity will keep him occupied for most of the afternoon with short breaks to take in sustenance.


In addition to school and playdates, Alayna and Cavell are in constant motion around the house and neighborhood. Cavell follows Alayna around everywhere and just loves to be near her. Stacy does her best to keep up with them but looks forward to bed time every night when she can take a moment to breathe and relax.


We don't stay up much later than the kids these days. Stacy and I have purchased a membership at the YMCA and have gone to the gym 6 days a week religiously for the past two months. We are 6 weeks in to the 12 week Body for Life program. I wake up at 5:30am every morning to get my exercise done before work in the morning and Stacy takes Cavell with her while Alayna is in school in the morning. In addition to cardio and weight lifting we have changed our diet again and now eat 6 small meals each day.

I don't think we are ready to share pictures yet, we want to keep the dramatic results a secret for now, but I will leak a few interim statistics. I have lost 14lbs since starting this program for a total of almost 70lbs since I started steadily losing weight about 4 years ago. I have just barely started to change the hole I use in my belt. I weigh less now than when I returned home from my mission.

Stacy hasn't lost weight using this program, but she has lost 40lbs since she had Cavell and from using the elliptical trainer in the garage. She's lost quite a bit of fat and grown a lot of muscle. Stacy has gone from a size 10/12 to a size 4. Clothes are literally falling off of her even at size 4. But have no fear, she doesn't look like a scarecrow or a runway model, she is even more beautiful than ever. She needs a completely new wardrobe from head to toe at this point but we don't know where she will be in six more weeks. If anybody has any clothes they have grown out of, Stacy might be interested in taking them off your hands. She had a few lucky finds at the Goodwill store yesterday that will help her stay clothed for the next little while but I don't know how much longer she can get away with a knotted rope for a belt.

We have both had losses in our body fat percentage and we are finally within the 'healthy' range of the Body Mass Index. I have to be very conscious of my wedding band and Stacy has just stopped wearing hers. She chooses from a few different pinky rings and wears one of those on her ring finger for now but even those are starting to fall off. Stacy realized yesterday that she has become that girl in the gym that the other women get intimidated by. I on the other hand, don't come any where near having that problem.

The best part is that we are feeling good and healthy. The only negative is that we can't stay up late and watch movies after the kids go to bed. Way too sleepy.

Teeter-Totter

One of Grandpa Steve Onines' favourite things to do with his grandchildren is play "teeter-totter." Oh the tales of children, upon hearing his return home, running to the front room, throwing themselves on the ground in front of him as they offer their hands and feet. All so Grandpa could teeter and totter them. How joyous the cries of, "Again!" that followed, until Grandpa's back could take no more for the day. And sadly, each child would soon become too big for even one turn.

Last month I was able to take a new grandchild to Grandpa's house to participate in this rite. Grandpa loved Cavell's open mouthed wonder and giggles at this entertaining game. I think he enjoyed the encouraging claps Cavell gave to "ask" for another go even more.

Teeter-totter, bread and waterWash your face in Cavell water.

That is a little different than the way I recite it. "Teeter-totter, bread and butter / Wash it down with a glass of water." We are not the only ones that remember it our own ways. I found this article that seems to support my dad's version. Of course, he does replace "dirty" with the grandchild's name. Does that mean something?

Art by Alayna

Alayna drew this picture for her friend Mara. It is even more beautiful in person. Especially when we compare it to the pages of "writing" she has been doing for the past while.


This is only a small example. Imagine a full sized sheet of paper like this. No margins, the whole page. Now imagine a full notebook of this, and every other surface she can find to write on. She is making a few more pseudo letters, especially O, M, and N, but the page is so overwhelmingly full that it's hard to look at and see any of these. I would provide a better example, but she put her "homework" away in her desk, in her room, before going to bed.

I am going to see if I can convince her to give this picture to me and let her draw another for her friend.