Christmas

Emalyn made this dollhouse for Krysta for Christmas.  It took her hours to do, and Krysta was soooo excited when she opened it up!

 



Our tree, with all our presents around it, Christmas Eve.

On Christmas Eve, I made a really big, nice dinner.  Potatoes, carrots, and ham, with rolls, a green salad, and what was supposed to be a fruit salad actually ended up being a plate of orange slices :).  We finished the "Gift of the Magi" advent calendar and then we read the rest of the scriptures in another advent calendar, and had a testimony meeting.  This is the first time we have done a family testimony meeting on Christmas eve instead of acting out the nativity.  I have always enjoyed doing the nativity with our family, but I felt the spirit so strong at our testimony meeting.  It was wonderful.
Then we put the kids to bed, and Scott and I (aka "Santa") wrapped presents and watched a movie.  We finished around 11:30pm (not too bad considering some past years...).  Then we went to bed.  I couldn't sleep-I was so excited!  Then I woke up around 7:30 to the kids counting how many presents they each had with their name on it under the tree.  We had cinnamon rolls and eggs for breakfast.  Russell ate and ate and ate-apparently he LOVES cinnamon rolls-and it was so hard for the rest of the kids to wait to open their presents until he was done, but they did a good job of trying to be patient.  When he was done, we took him out to the tree and the presents, and Scott began handing out presents.  Tyler and Emalyn's goals for this week (in our weekly goal meeting) were to ONLY show gratitude for all their presents-and they did a great job.  It was a wonderful Christmas morning.  We spent the rest of the morning and afternoon enjoying our presents, putting some together, figuring others out, etc.  Later in the day, we began packing for our trip to Utah we were supposed to leave for in the morning.  Little did we know that snowy conditions would make the roads unsafe to leave on the 26th.  We are still waiting for the weather to clear so we can travel down there safely, and today is the 27th.  Hopefully we can go down this afternoon.



Opening presents.  We had a great Christmas. 

Tyler's game, a piano recital, and other random photos

Tyler had to make a game for his school clas based on the book "Naya Nuki".  He worked really hard on it, and it turned out really good!



You can see the goofiness and silliness whenever they are together!

 Funny, random photos of Krysta and Russell just goofing off together.  They are such great friends, and love to play together.

Also, Tyler and Emalyn had their annual Christmas piano recital this past Monday.  Tyler played "The Little Drummer Boy", and Emalyn played "Deck the Halls".  They both had their pieces memorized and played them so well!  We are so proud of them!

Russell's cast #3 is off!

Well, it's off for at least a few weeks, until we get him in the next one. It was a little hard for me to want to take the cast off this time, because he had a little bit of a hard time last time. It seemed like he missed the tightness of his cast when we took it off, and he seemed happier when we put it back on. Also, we talked to Shriner's anesthesiologist, Dr. Csontos (pronounced "sahntoes"), and she agreed with us that we should wait on putting a new cast until he's completely healthy. She is THE best anesthesiologist ever! She has done wonders for Russell. Her opinion that we should wait wasn't a surprise at all, but it meant that we didn't have to remove his cast yet. We could just leave it on until it got closer to his new casting date. However, we want to work on muscle strengthening, and it just felt like the right thing to take it off. Plus, life is just easier with it off.

So, we turned on a movie for Russell, while he laid on the floor and Scott cut it off again with the tin snips. Russell wasn't bothered at all. It took about 30 min to get it off (this one was really thick!!) and Russell was so excited to have it off. He didn't seem bothered at all! He's really uncoordinated, and wobbly, and keeps pointing to his tummy and saying "Tummy!". It's the cutest thing to watch. He also got a bath tonight, and he smells good for the first time in about 6 weeks! He had two red spots on his lower back, but they don't look bad. It just looked like that must have been where they anchored the cast this time. It was funny to watch him going up the stairs. He's used to crawling up, because with the cast he can't get his leg up high enough to walk up, but he realized that he actually could lift his leg up high enough now, and so he could walk. But he couldn't make up his mind which one he wanted to do, so he ended up with this awkward half-crawl-half-walk thing. It's so amazing how quickly they adapt to new situations!

Ready to get it off!

Scott started at the lower part of the cast. I was there to help Russell's hands stay away from the tin snips, but as you can see, he was pretty relaxed and into his movie. I didn't have to hold his hands until we started cutting the top part by his chin.

Tyler was our photographer-and he got this great photo of Scott using the tin snips close up!

Breaking him free!

Freedom is close at hand!

"What? That thing was removable this whole time?!"

The empty, lonely cast. It amazes me everytime I pick it up after we've cut it off, just how heavy it is!

TaVaci Singers Christmas Concert

Emalyn and Krysta joined the TaVaci Singers, a musical performing troupe, this fall.  They have absolutely loved it!  It reminds me a lot of the Bonneville 5th and 6th grade choir my brother and I were in when we were young.  They had their Christmas Concert a couple of weeks ago, and it was awesome!  Well, it was for me and the girls anyway.  The poor boys all stayed home, because Tyler was sick with a temp of 104*, and we didn't think we should share those germs with everyone there. For me, it was nice because I got a pretty good seat since I only needed to find one for myself.  There's probably over two hundred kids in the troupe, so there were ALOT of people in attendance at the performance.  I was lucky that I didn't have to go early to get a good seat.

 

 

Krysta and Emalyn, right before the performance.

 

 

 

Can you spot Krysta? She's in the second row up, and looking straight at the camera.

I love the zoom on our camera.  I also love how I was only about 10 rows back, and on the ground floor.  I only got that good seat because I only needed to find a seat for myself, so I sat on the end of a row of a big family.

I waited and waited for Krysta to turn around so I could get her picture, but she just kept looking the other way.  It was cute, so I just took a picture of it.

But at last she looked a little closer to my direction!  And I caught it on camera.

For anyone interested, I have the whole performance on DVD.  Of course, we'll be bringing it with us to Utah in a couple of weeks, and will be showing it to anyone upon request. :)

Krysta's birthday-she's FIVE!

This was Krysta's first "friend" party.  We had a blast.  She 3 girls and 1 boy came.  She's best friends with a little boy around the corner, and we were so glad he was brave enough to come as the only boy!  The fact that both Krysta and Carson were wearing orange shirts was also something to celebrate, as it's their favorite color!

Getting ready to open presents...

Getting ready to eat some frog cake!

I was somewhat surprised, yet not surprised that she wanted a frog cake.  It was a hard decision between a fairy princess and a frog.  Who knew that a frog could win against a fairy princess?!!  I love our silly, unique, and adorable little girl. I am super proud of this cake, although I can't take credit for the idea, as I got it from a picture online.  I added the tongue and the fly though.  I couldn't resist.  This cake was one of the easiest I've done for my kids.  The inside is strawberry pink, which Tyler pointed out is perfect for being the bloody insides of a frog.  Thanks Tyler.

 A few days before her birthday, we were in UT for Thanksgiving, and her grandparents gave her presents too.

 

 Flipping between the above picture and the one below is hilarious to me.  Classic before and after pics.  ha ha.

Tyler and Emalyn giving their approval as a good brother and sister should, witha beautiful smiling grandma in the background.  I love the joy on her face too. 

 Now, flashing forward to her birthday again...to her "family" party.

This picture is funny.  I hadn't realized that Scott got a photo of me and my frustration about trying to get a toy out of its packaging.  Thieves these days must be way more talented than I am.

We love our sweet five year old Krysta!  I cannot believe how fast the last five years have flown by.  You are so beautiful, and kind, and loving.  You are such a peacemaker in our home.  You have such a strong, yet gentle spirit, for which I will always be grateful. You are doing so well in preschool, and I love your excitement for kindergarten next year.  You are a great swimmer, doing well at the piano, and learning your letters.  You are a loving sister and daughter in our family.  We love you!

Random moments in the Jensen family

I'm so sad...but this is the only costume picture I got this year.  Krysta in her frog costume.  She was an adorable frog.  This is her dressed up for her preschool halloween party.  Tyler dressed up as Harry Potter, Emalyn was Draculette (a.k.a. Dracula's Wife), and Krysta was a frog for one party and a clown for another, and Russell was Tigger.  I really thought I had pictures...but alas, there are none to be found.

Russell can now climb into his own high chair all by himself.  This is a huge accomplishment for any 2 year old, but especially for him, as you know if you've been following his story on my other blog.  Yea Russell!

Russell has also begun playing the piano.  It's really cute, he'll just sneak up on the bench and start playing (notice I did NOT say pounding, all my other kids started out by pounding,but not this one.  He plays the notes with one finger at a time.)

And I snuck this picture of sweet Emalyn LICKING up the snow off the floor of our fort out back.  I couldn't believe it, and just had to get a picture of it.  There's no accounting for taste.

How to carve a pumpkin

First, do no one's hair or makeup.  Seriously, pumpkin carving makes such a mess anyway.  It's not like you're taking pictures and recording this for posterity or anything.

 

 Second, the harder you squint at your pumpkin, the better the end result will be.

Third, the bigger your smile, the more awesome your pumpkin "Weirdo-Guy" will be.

 Fourth, try to look as scary as your carved pumpkin, but fail since you are just so cute anyway.

 Fifth, smile in the first picture with your finished pumpkin, because...

There's a one in three possibility you won't enjoy it later. Seriously, this picture makes me so sad for her.   I was busy getting the pumpkin seeds ready for roasting...so I don't know what that sad face is for.  But there isn't a picture of all three happy with their pumpkins, so that's what you get.

 

We had lots of fun getting our pumpkins ready for Halloween!

Russell's 3rd cast

Russell got his 3rd cast on Oct 25.  We were able to get his curve down to 18*, with a 0* RVAD, which is awesome. 

He's doing pretty good in this cast.  He gets really tired, because he has to get used to it all over again after having it off for 6 weeks.  But his arms and legs are building strength again, slowly.  He's finally been able to go up and down the stairs again, and it only took him about a week to relearn how to do that this time.  He's frustrated sometimes because he can't do some of the things he could do without the cast.  It must be because he's older and can remember those things better now.  But he's still mostly a smiley guy.  Just need to skip mealtime, bedtime, and later in the day when he's tired.  Those are tantrum throwing times.  But it's getting better every day.  I'm amazed at how quickly he's adjusting.  He's a strong little boy.

This is the look he's giving when he's trying to figure out something, i.e. the camera.  The toy keys he's holding, I gave to him right after he woke up from the anesthesia.  He's LOVED them!