Photo Shoot

We took our yearly trip to Portair Innovations today. I love how the pictures turned out! Here are some of the highlights . . . .

3 Word Journal

So I've been reading a book called The 3 Word Journal by Randall Wright. In it Mr. Wright teaches an easy way to keep a journal. Our mind are like a computer. Significant experiences are all stored there - we just need the right 'search words' to recall them. Using just 3 words - we can quickly record and later 'access' those memories. Anywho - I've tried it this week. Writing down three words in my all-purpose notebook

So some words from my week . . .

Allison, Sunday, Workbook

So tonight Allison decided that we all needed a Sunday workbook for tomorrow. She went up by the computer and got some printer paper. She stapled 10 pieces of paper together, asked me to get her a pen - and then she went to her room to work. Well she just came down and showed Dad his Sunday workbook. I was amazed! She had drawn a temple on the outside with Dad's name on it - and a tiny angel Moroni (only she told me she ran out of room at the top so Moroni is a little squished). The next page has a picture of the church which Dad can color tomorrow. Next was a 'Spot the Difference' She drew - I think another church building and then 4 other buildings - and he has to figure out what is different. Then she did a word search. She really did it! She wrote some church words at the bottom of the paper . . . but she told me he has to read the words at the bottom - not just look for them in the puzzle because 'I just sounded out the words - I don't really know how to spell them'. And sure enough at the bottom of the paper she wrote . . . 'Tepl' (temple) "Chrch", and "Sakrmint" (sacrament). Then she did another spot the difference . . . but I couldn't quite tell what they were and so I asked. "They are the building on the back of a penny," she said. Oh - and sure enough they do look like the Lincoln Memorial. She ended with a scrambled word puzzle . . . which was a little tricky because she was using phonetically spelled words . . . all scrambled up. But she whispered the answer to me and told me not to tell dad . . . and sure enough all the letter sounds of what she was writing were all there . . . just mixed up.

Anyway - Allison is just such a little joy. She is always coming up with fun activities and games we can do together. Another thing she did today . . . we had some Halloween music going and she started dancing. Suddenly she said, "We need to have a Halloween ballet." She proceeded to get some paper and she made invitations for her friends to come to a Halloween Ballet on Friday. I'm not sure what to do about that . . . we might have our own family Halloween Ballet on Friday . . .

OK . . . one more set of 3 words . . .

Allison, Lion King, What?

The kids were watching Lion King and I sat down to watch it with them while I fed Evan. Periodically Allison would look at me and say, 'What, Mom, What?' I'd look at her a little confused and say, 'I didn't say anything - I'm just watching the movie.' It happened again.

'Mom, what? What mom?'

'Nothing, hun - I'm just watching the movie.'

A little later . . .

'Mom what?'

'Allison - nothing. What do you keep saying that?'

'I just want to know what you're thinking about the movie.'

I realized she kept asking that when the movie was a sad or scary. When Mufasa died. During the scary 'Be Prepared' song. I realized she just needed reassurance. We all need reassurance sometimes.

Random Pictures

Here are some random pictures . . .

5 Years Old

My little girl turned 5 yesterday. She loves the Rainbow Magic fairy books - and so we had a fairy party with the girls from her primary class. It was so much fun! We've done birthday parties before and there always is an element of craziness with it. Whenever we get lots of kids together - that's just the way it is. But this time it wasn't. It was fun, without the chaos. I can tell she's getting older!

So some of the things we did . . .
The girls arrived and King Oberon (Anthony) sprinkled fairy dust on them and they became fairies. They each put on a tutu fairy skirt and wings They then chose their fairy name. The rainbow magic fairies each have a special name like - Bethany the Ballet Fairy or Ruby the Red Fairy. We had all sorts of fairies at our party. Allison the Unicorn Fairy, Shelby the Snow Dog Fairy, Lana the Painting Fairy. Then all the fairies colored the Rainbow Fairies (who had lost their color due to Jack Frost) and then decorated a fairy bag. While they were decorating and coloring I (who was dressed up as Bella the Birthday Fairy) told them stories about Fairyland. When they got done we played a little circle game where I would give them clues and they would guess which fairy I was thinking of . . . and then I pulled out little paper Rainbow Fairies I made and we were playing a guessing game with them when Jack Frost (Anthony) swept in and stole the Rainbow Fairies from before our eyes. He cast them out of Fairyland Castle and hid them in our backyard. The girls then went outside to rescue the Fairies.

We played Fairy Freeze - Jack Frost turned every fairy he touched into ice . . . but the fairies could 'unfreeze' each other. Then Jack Frost gave his hat to different fairies and they got a turn freezing each other.

They played that so well that they earned their fairy wands. However Jack Frost had another trick up his sleep. When the fairies opened the fairy wand box - they discovered the wands missing! Jack Frost had hidden them. The girls then went on a scavenger hunt for the wands. They had to complete a fairyland puzzle, do a crossword puzzle, and complete a 'Spot the Difference' to finally find their wands in the mailbox.

They then made fairy paper dolls and we had cake and ice cream.

The Name Game

Last night we had a Relief Society meeting. We did '3 Classes in 60 Minutes: Shop, Clean, and Cook'. We had 3 different instructors - one taught a garage saling class, another shared some very helpful house-cleaning tips, and the last instructor - her name is Peggy - she taught a wonderful cooking class - complete with a yummy chocolate cake demonstration. I had a great time and learned a lot. However I have to write about the ditziest thing I did last night.

Peggy came up to me before the meeting as I was preparing some mint lemonade for refreshments, and handed me a slip of paper and a pencil. She informed me they were doing some giveaways and that I needed to write my name on the paper for the drawing. Great! So I quickly filled out the paper and gave it back to her.

So after the first presentation, my friend Caroline - who is sitting right next to me - had the honors of picking the first name. It was Peggy! Peggy won a super-cute apron. But as I looked over Caroline's shoulder I noticed that the name loooked suspiciously like my hand-writing. Then I suddenly occured to me to me - I wrote Peggy's name on the slip! That is my handwriting!

Someone teased Peggy about 'rigging' the drawing. She must have put her name several times in the cup. She assured everyone she only put it in once.

Oh know - I think. No big deal - I'm not going to say anything. What are the chances that her name will be drawn again. There are nearly 30 of us here.

So the 1st instructor had 2 prizes she was giving away and so the next person immediately drew the 2nd name. Yes - you guessed it - it was Peggy again! Mortified - I had to explain what I had done. What were the chances her name would be drawn - twice!?! I'm such a ditz!

Nightmares

I wonder if the various seasons in one's life can be defined by one's nightmares during that season of life. As a kid I remember having monster and other fanciful creature nightmares, nightmares with big dogs attacking . . . in grade school - nightmares of friends shunning me and of the classic 'forgetting to put on clothes and going to school', in college I'd have nightmares of realizing half-way through the semester that I have forgotten to attend a certain class I'd signed up for, etc . . .

Well, this morning I woke up and realized that I am truly in the full-fledged motherhood season of my life. My nightmare was horrific. Allison went to her first day of kindergarten and suddenly forgot how to use the bathroom. We had company over and I was cleaning the counters with - I think it was Comet - but the powder was turning my counters a solid shade of baby-blue. I was scraping with all my might to try to get it off. Someone had let me borrow a hand-sewn quiet-book and for some reason I felt the need to wash it in the washing machine. I had planned on putting it on the delicate cycle in cold water with just a little bit of detergent . . . however, went I left the laundry room for a moment, Anthony had come in and put the quiet book in the washer with all the dirty towels, on the regular cycle with hot water! Oh the horror. Potty-training, cleaning, and laundry - those are my nightmares. What else . . . did I have the dream where I went to run some errands and forgot Evan - who was sleeping at home . . . no, that's that one that plagues me during my waking hours. I'm driving in the car to the grocery store - the kids singing in the back seat - when *PANIC* - where's Evan! I don't hear him! I whip around in my seat - and, oh wait, I did remember to put him in the car.

The nightmares of a mother.

Magazines

I love the Friend magazine. Each issue has so many activies and Family Home Evening ideas- it's great! Allison also loves the Friend magazine . . . and any other magazine actually. Whenever the Oriental Trading Magazine or the Family Fun magazine comes in the mail - I will lose my Allison for several hours while she puruses all the fun activities and stuff in each one. She'll take her marker and circle everything she's interested in, and then bring the magazine to me with the marker and I am supposed to then put a star by the things I like. That is our system. Allison does the circles - I do the stars. Oh and if she's super-duper interested in something (particularly from Family Fun or the Friend) - she will take her scissors and cut it out, and then put it in a special box in her room.

This special box has recently started to overflow and become quite a mess-maker in her room. I asked her to go through all the magazine cut-outs this week and throw away what she didn't want because the box was too full. She threw away a few of the papers - but really, it didn't make much of a dent. The box is still full. I can't just throw them away when she's spent so much time and effort purusing the magazines and cutting them out . . . but her room really is a mess. Oh well.

Oh and I wanted to write about the Oriental Trading magazines. I think Allison got Grandma Jensen's shopping genes. She loves to shop! She will look at those magazines for hours trying to decide what she is going to buy (We have yet to actually buy anything from there - but she sure enjoys looking). Speaking of shopping - today we went to Michael's and Target to get some patriotic things to decorate their bikes with for National Night Out. As we were in the car Allison asks me how much money we have. I told her that we have $5 to spend. "5 dollars!" she says. "But Mom - remember last week when we were at the store - the rasperries cost 3 dollars and you said that was too much money. You were wrong. We have enough money. We have 5 dollars!" I couldn't believe she remembered the raspberry incident. And how much they had cost. She's becoming a lot more interested in money matters lately.

Anyway - magazines. We love them around our house. And the lastest edition of the Friend magazine had this great play in it called 'Naaman Learns to Obey'. We decided to put it on for Family Home Evening last night. Allison has been taking this drama class at the Rec Center - and loves it! She got her own prop box, and explained to me that a narrator is the person who tells a story. We even set up our 'staging area' at the bottom of the stairs.

So here's the result . . .

The Jensen Family presents: NAAMAN LEARNS TO OBEY
Starring: Allison Jensen as 'The Girl' 'The King of Syria', and 'The Messenger'
Carter Jensen as 'Naaman' and 'The King of Israel'
Anthony as the Narrator and Elisha
Evan as Elisha (in the last scene)
Wendy as the videographer and producer