A Day at the Park

There is only a short time that we can play at the park before it gets way too hot,

so I am trying to sqeeze it in more often.

Clark does like the slide, but I was trying to get them to do the train thing and he got done!

They all love the swings! Daisy can pump all by herself. I was trying to teach Walt, but he gave up.

This is an older photo I realized I hadn't posted yet. This is Clark helping me with the laundry.

Van

Van had two teeth just hanging on to almost nothing for so long I thought the teeth would never come out. The bad thing was the other front tooth was already coming in. Well finally one night Danny was teasing Van that he was going to knock out his teeth and Van said no your not and Danny grabbed Van's hand and said ok I won't, but you will and he hit Van's hand to his mouth and booth teeth came right out. Since they were so ready it didn't hurt him and thank goodness he laughed about it.

He had this snaggle tooth for so long!

I guess I never got a picture of his other front tooth out before the one behind it grew in.

Here is Van with his left tooth missing.

Van had a play day with his good friend Matthew, who he misses from his old school.

Van learned how to ride his bike, pretty much on his own!

Danny tried taking the training wheels off a while back, but it made him so frustrated he pretty much gave up way to fast. Recently Danny put the training wheels back on, but really high and it just gave him that safety net he needed and then he was fine. I kept telling him that he wasn't even using the training wheels that he was riding his bike. The other day on his own he jumped on Hanna's bike and wallah he was riding. He came in and told me he was riding Hanna's bike! 

Spring Break

The first couple days of spring break we just played and relaxed at home.

After being cold from playing outside they begged for a bubble bath.

I agreed, as long as they stayed in their swimsuits of course.

Max warmed up in the shower instead.

My old companion Tanya and old zone leader Chris and their family came out to visit from UT.
Me and the kids met up with them and went hiking at Calico Basin. It was great seeing them and our kids got along so good! Below is a picture of the kids being entertained by a very friendly groundhog.

Clark was so good! I hate having him miss his naps,

but when there are 5 other kids in the family sometimes someones got to give.

We went to Tanya and Chris's hotel to swim after our hike and the kids begged to ride on the escalator. It's the simple things in life that make kids so happy make me smile!

On Thursday we drove up to UT.

We did so much in such a short time and I have very few pics. of it all.

We went to a fun indoor pool in Lehi with a water slide. My friend Tanya and her kids met us there. We went to the Nickel Arcades (which was a hit)! We went to a movie theater which is something I haven't ever done with all my kids (it was the dollar theaters of course). I saw my friends Alicia and Laura that I hadn't seen in a couple years. I saw my cousin Heidi and her new house and my Grandma Mike was at her house visiting so I got to see her too. We stayed at Kurt's which he was a little stressed about, but truthfully I knew he loved us being there with him;)

And Danny was able to take Max and Hanna to Temple Square for General Conference! Unfortunately, they didn't get into the main conference center they were just 3 minutes too late:(
We will have to try again when Van is 8. I'm glad they took these pictures and that they still were able to go and see the beautiful Salt Lake Temple and hear the prophets voice.

It was a much needed  break for us all and a wonderful spring break it was!

Easter 2013

 Easter egg hunt with the cousins.

Most of the cousins are too old for hunting, now they help hide the eggs.

 Dyeing Easter eggs.

 Van finds his basket in a chair.

 Max finds his basket in the oven.

 Daisy fond her basket behind the curtain.

Walt finds his basket in the cupboard.

 Hanna finally finds her basket, in one of those drawers.

 Finding the eggs now.

 The family spring toy. (A big ball that sprays water.)

Clark slept in. When he woke up the kids were happy to help him find his basket behind the couch.

 Organizing their candy.

Happy Easter! Love, The Jensen Family

Hanna's Baptism

 Hanna's invitation.

 Hanna with her cousin Ruby.



 Grandpa Ernie came in from CA.

 

 Hanna with Grandma Dee.

 Hanna with Grandma Susan.

Hanna thought grandma had forgotten about her quilt.
She was delighted with it to say the least!

I crocheted this cute scripture bag for her.
I was pretty proud of myself!

Hanna asked for Hailey to give the talk on Baptism, Andrew to play the piano, Raquel to lead the music, Max to give the closing prayer (which he did a wonderful job) and her dad to baptize her.  

It was wonderful to have so many family members there to support her. We are so blessed!

School Play

Hanna and Max both played a role in each of their school plays.

Hanna's play was titled "E-I-E-I Oops." She played one of the "Cute Chicks."

Hanna with friends Savanna and Briley.

Max's school play was titled "A Knight to Remember." He played Pudge/Sir Cumference.

Max with his friend Steel.

They both did a great job and I am so proud of them both doing something that was "hard" and out of their comfort zone.

Van & Kindergarten

I pulled Van out of his Kindergarten class two weeks ago. I had been observing his class for a month and noticing that there wasn't much teaching going on. I felt that his teacher was trying to do the least amount of work possible and still be there to get her pay check and benefits. She handed out repeated worksheets so she wouldn't have to explain much, they watched videos, listened to c.d.s... really not much teaching going on. They didn't have a very good routine on anything they were doing. They hadn't even started site words or writing phonetically yet. I could just see this was not going to help Van be prepared next year at all. It's a bummer that it was so late in the year before I got in there and observed what was going on.

Van started this last week at his new school. I was a little nervous on how he would do because it's all day K and they also have homework. He was only going 2 hours and 45 mins. before and no homework most days. I was also worried to pull him away from his friends and classmates. He had made some good friends in his previous class, but Van is outgoing and friendly so it didn't worry me too much. Plus when I would ask Van how he would feel if he went to a different school, with a new teacher and new friends, he really didn't care he would say, okay.  Since I wasn't feeling good about leaving him at his current school and Van wasn't against me taking him out of his class, I decided to go with it. I was just hoping and praying I was making a good decision.

Well, I met with his teacher on Friday to see how things were going and I was so happy to see that she was actually teaching him! She did say he gets tired around 2:00 which is normal for the kids to get used to all day K. Then she showed me his writing page; she had read the kids a story about a girl who lived in a family and it told how weird the girls family was, but she loved them anyway. After the story she asked the kids to write something that they think is weird about their family. This is what Van wrote, (M d T P) she asked him what he wrote and he said, (My dog eats poop). She said, that is weird. Now how many words did you write and they counted out the words, 4. Then she wrote down 4 _____ and asked him if he hears any other sounds in each of the words. Then he wrote, Mi dog ets  poop. Then she asked if there was anything else he wanted to write and he added, that weird. She said he found those last two words in the classroom, but smart enough to know where they were. She said it only took 2 mins. to work with him and he wrote a sentence.

I am so happy with the decision I made to pull him out of his previous school and move him to a teacher that is truly motivated to TEACH! I know he only has 3 months left of school, but I can see already that it is going to make a big difference.

Primary at Home

I kept all the kids, but Max home from church today. They were acting fine, but I just wanted to be safe. We decided we could still do a few things on our own. We had enough kids that stayed home from church to hold primary. Daisy gave the prayer, Walt did the Article of Faith, Van gave the scripture and Hanna gave the talk. I read some stories from the Friend magazine and we sang some primary songs. I don't like missing church, but we did a pretty good job.