A Busy Week

  I've really enjoyed getting back into journaling (blogging) again.  I know that someday as I look back I'll be really glad to have caught so many memories of my life and my kids' lives as they grow up.  Here are a few of our happenings this week.

Since getting The Lego Movie for Christmas, Joshua (and Audree) have been super into their legos.  We were kind of over building just a house or gas station (with the kit that we have). So I suggested to Josh that we build a train for him.  He was in love.  Over the past week or two we've built airplanes, semi trucks, phones for each of the kids, etc.  I've enjoyed seeing Josh explore his creative and imaginative side more.  

  When we built the semi truck, he insisted that it was Grandpa Jensen driving it.  Ha!  One of my favorites of this one is the loaves of bread on top.  :)

A little selfie time for all of us while out running errands. 

Oy Zach! My needy sleeper.  He's definitely been the most attached sleeper out of all the kids, but I think I would contribute that to nursing.  He's a sucker for some good momma's milk time.  Nothing puts him out faster that nursing.  Made me wish that I could sleep like a little baby.  Fall and stay asleep through noise, transferring from carseat to crib, and from arms to crib.  Wouldn't that be nice?!  I figure someday the walls of my home will be quiet and empty.  Soak in all of what they bring while they can and look for the good despite the trials that come with it.  

 

Josh has become quite the little artist.  This creation he entitled "Oh no!  The family's broken apart!" (Think stick figures) ha!  What a creatively clever little guy.  There are even the right amount of noses and heads which means that he actually took some time thinking about this one.  On a side note, we love our magnadoodles.  We got one last year for Christmas and it's seen a lot of use.  We wanted each child to have one of their own because they love to draw on them all the time, so we got another one this Christmas. They've been well worth the money.

Audree Jane getting her diva reading time in.  I love this spit-fire of a girl to pieces.  P.S. She is fully potty trained, stays dry most nights, and has become more independent with it insisting that I "get out" of the bathroom.  That girl.

We've recently discovered how much Zachy loves books.  He laughs and giggles at just about everybook that's read to him.  Guess I should start doing it more.  I love this shot that I caught of Jake reading to our little Z.

We had a really great time visiting a local library for our ward's playgroup this past week.  This library had an awesome kids area with a puppet stage, lego area, puzzles, bean bags, and this train table which the kids adored.  It got a little tight with all the kids there, but they still had a good time.  I also enjoyed getting in my social hour with the many lovely ladies from my church.

These kids are enjoying their doctor kits we got for them for Christmas.  All of their animals are "sick" and so they need to fix them with shots, check their ears, heart, temperature, etc.  They love it.

Our little Zachary is growing so fast.  And I know that sounds cliche, but he really is.  Seems like he's growing developmentally so quickly and it's so fun to watch.  Just in the past week he's started real crawling more and more around the house, he pulls himself to stand, and dances.  He still doesn't have a clue when it comes to words (which is so funny because at this age Audree could say Mama, Dada, Cracker, Bear, and I'm sure a few other words) Isn't it so interesting how differently every child develops.  She still is so advanced in her language for her age and that started at a very young age for her.  Anyways, back to Zach.  He is getting so fun.  He's SO busy, into everything, eating everything he can off the floors and always wanting to stand and play at my feet.  I've really enjoyed getting to this stage, but at the same time my baby is growing TOO fast!!  He'll be one year in just 6 short weeks!  That's nuts!!!  Anyways, here is a video of my standing, dancing boy.  Love him to pieces!

Soupy Saturday

Was happy to find that 2 out of the 3 kids really enjoyed one of my favorite soup recipes, although Josh did eat quite a few bites of it with a little "it'll make your muscles bigger" encouragement. Ha!  It's been a long time since I made it and I just forgot how good it was. Recipe here. 

Beakers Vegetable Barley Soup: http://m.allrecipes.com/recipe/78052/beakers-vegetable-barley-soup/

 

The Happiness Project

Last night I went to a really beautiful Relief Society activity for our ward.  It was our monthly enrichment/activity night and I'm happy that Jake was home to watch kids so I could go.  Granted there was babysitting there, but it's just that much easier to know that my kids are at home getting to bed on time instead of still worrying about them while at the church.

Anyways, it was a lovely evening.  And I really wanted to write down my thoughts while they were fresh on my mind so that I could remember them and refer back to them often.   It's been a goal of mine to journal and write down my thoughts more, and so here I am. 

Our theme for the evening was "The Happiness Project".  There is a book that it was based off of, but our activity chair took it more in a direction that is LDS and christ related.  It was really nice to sit down with other women and discuss happiness and how to become happier people.

Some of the Principles of Happiness that we came up with and discussed were:

• It takes effort to be happy.  It's something you have to work at and try to do. 
• Enjoy it now.  Enjoy your life now.  
• Everyone can be happy. 
• It's a choice to be happy. 
• Exercise and working towards personal health can make you a happier person. 
• Service towards others brings happiness. Losing yourself in the service of others, often brings you the most happiness. 
• Prayer: Opening a relationship with heavenly father through prayer brings happiness and we should also pray to be happy. 
• Happy people are selfless. 
• The atonement is healing.  That healing can bring you happiness.  Christ is and brings happiness. 
• Heavenly Father has given us everything here, every tool that we need to make ourselves happy. 
• It's important to not be cynical, but uplifting, positive and happy.

 We went through a few talks from general conference, devotionals or some other LDS sources.  Here are my thoughts from each one.
"Unclutter Your Life" by Elder William R. Bradford, of the Seventy, May 1992 Ensign

Unclutter your life and get back to the basics.  The basics that we identified in our meeting are:

• Scripture Study (personal, family and in your marriage)
• Prayer (personal, family and in your marriage)
• Exercise, taking care of your body
• Go to all church meetings
• Fasting
• Gratitude journal, recognizing your blessings 
• Family Home Evening

As we discussed this something important that was brought up was to not compare yourselves to others.  What may seem like your baseline is not the same as others.  1 verse a night might be your "enough" and others feel the need to read 1 chapter.  It doesn't matter.  That basic list is between you and God.  Ask God and work with him about what your own personal priorities and basics should be. 
But a good point was made that there are certain things that need to be done "no matter what".  Your list of basics above should be done, no matter what.  Before pinterest time, leisure tv watching, even cleaning your home.  NO MATTER WHAT.  Another favorite quote from the night for me was:

"We give our lives to that which we give our time."

How true is that statement.  Just ponder it for a minute and where do you spend your time?



"Of Things that Matter Most" by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, General Conference October 2010

If turbulence is happening in your life, don't speed through it, slow down and change your focus.  Important places to focus are:

1. God
2. Family
3. Fellow-men
4. Ourselves

 Be grateful for your small successes.  While they may seem small to you, God notices them.  They are not small to them.

A few of the other talks we briefly touched on were:

"Living After the Manner of Happiness" by Elder Jeffery R. Holland, BYU-I Devotional September 23, 2014-

"Three Choices" by Elder Joseph B. Worthlin, General Conference, October 2003

"The Lord has a Plan for Us!" by Elder Carlos A. Godoy, General Conference, October 2014

"The Atonement and the Journey of Mortality" by Elder David A. Bednar, April 2012 Ensign

 

When it came to goal setting, a sister shared with us something that I thought was really interesting.  She shared about how some research or looking had been done about when you were goal setting and if you were to take the time to visualize how you might fail at that goal and then make a plan now on how you were going to recover from that failure than you were more liking to be successful in meeting that goal.  

 

One of the greatest examples that I thought was shared through the night was the story of Nephi.  After being commanded to leave his homeland, travel in the wilderness without any of his riches or items from home, be scrutinized by his brothers, not knowing how but being commanded to build a boat to sail far across the ocean (almost being thrown overboard by his brothers), to only then be brought to the promised land, starting with nothing, having his father die, and having his brothers leave him because they want to kill him, etc.  Him and his people built a temple and "lived after the manner of happiness."  What a faithful man.  Being happy through something that most, if not all of us will never experience in this life.  What an example to look up to.  

There were other challenges extended and experiences shared that I'm really happy to be going home with.  My life was definitely uplifted by attending this activity.  I only hope to take the challenges, words, and experiences and remember them throughout this year and my life. 

 

 

Awesome Wednesday

Kids have been a little obsessed with the Lego Movie that we got for Christmas. Josh has started to sing Everything is Awesome in his robot voice around the house and of course Audree follows his lead. So when I pulled these out they were super excited to play with them. We built a gas station and a house with 2 garages and a garden. All 3 kids were well entertained. 

Snow Tuesday

The kids and I had a wonderful afternoon enjoying our first real snowfall this winter. While Zachy napped we played outside together for a whole hour. I'm glad they lasted as long as they did and Audree stayed dry and didn't need to go potty once. I was so proud. We shoveled snow off the driveway, they played on the slide park, and then I pulled them around on the sled. They giggled and laughed the whole time on there. It was so fun? They kept requesting that we build a snowman, but unfortunately the snow wasn't good packing snow. It was too light and didn't stay together. We still had a lot of fun though. We made a little track in our front yard and I would pull them around and around on the sled. They loved it. We finished off by coming inside to a cup of hot cocoa with marshammalows. Josh loved his, but I'm not so sure about Audree. It wasn't even hot, barely warm, and every time Audree would take a sip shed jerk it away fast. That happened about 30 times over. She also spilled about half of it on the blanket, but oh well. We still enjoyed our little afternoon together. 

Monday

Jakes been working a lot of late nights. Most of the time all of us are in bed by the time he gets home, last night though he got home just in time to catch Zach before he went down (other kids were already asleep). Zachy loves his daddy and especially when they get to play together. I couldn't help but catch this sweet moment of them playing cars together.  Looking forward to the many moments they'll have playing together in the future. 

http://youtu.be/dS5_rkOHG0E

Josh went back to school on this Monday really excited. A few of his classmates were missing, but he still had fun. They started the letter K and he played Gears Gears Gears there a new toy that we also got for Christmas here. 

Audree again doing really well on the potty. Gets antsy and says she has to go every 2 minutes, which I think is associated to when she's anticipating a #2. As soon as that's over with she's just fine and settles in to a pretty normal schedule. I'm so proud of her and happy to be down to only 1 in diapers. 

Jake is sick and has also been working a lot (no surprise there as an intern). I'm hoping that as time goes on here he can settle into a schedule more and not feel constantly exhausted. It wears on me watching him so worn out. 

Sunday

Jan 4th: 

J: Joshua had a change up in his primary class today as he moved up to CTR 4. He got a CTR ring and wouldn't take it off for the rest of he day. He was also very happy to have some of his friends that weren't in his sunbeam class now in his new CTR class. 

A: she was a dream at church today. Did better than I expected during nursery for potty training really enjoyed herself. 

Z: this is the longest that I've been able to nurse any of my babies, and the older he gets I think the harder time I'm going to have parting with it? I'm not sure when I'm even going to let that day come. I figure do what feels best; what feels most natural to me. This third time around breastfeeding has felt so natural, easy and comfortable. I treasure being the one who can comfort and nourish him. I treasure our time together, time just for me. Now that he is in his older wiggly phase, I treasure the stillness it brings.  I love his want for me. This is the first time I've realy felt this way about nursing. My first time around it was all stress and anxiety and I only got 6 weeks. 2nd time around I still felt like an uncomfortable beginner only doing it for the nourishment part and got 5 months. I wasn't too unhappy for it to end that time. But this time is different. I love the bonding part of it. 

I find it interesting that as a mother of three I'm still learning so much about it and about myself. This time around though I'm feeling comfortable in my own skin and think less and less about what others think of me. The important part is that I'm doing what's best for me and my family. And every mother is entitled to the same. 

I had a really wonderful day in Primary today. I got called 6 weeks ago as the new chorister. As the new year was approaching I was feeling very overwhelmed and stressed about the calling.  But after some good advice I planned out my next singing time as what felt best for me and this week went awesome!! Even with new year changes, kids and teachers were focused and participating. It was amazing. 

HD Workshop & Happy Boy

Jan 3rd

J & A: We took the kids to the Home Depot workshop this morning. We try to take them to these as often as we can. It's free fun and they enjoy it. This month they made sleds 

Z: such a playful and curious boy today. He's loving being able to kneel and play more with his siblings. 

Jan 2nd

J & A: Playing Santa in their bubble bath. Saying ho ho ho and then asking/telling each other what they want for Christmas. 

Z: Kneeling. There is something about babies kneeling that I just love, but in this case hate because it means he's growing too fast! Also double fisting his dinner. Someone loves lasagna. 

Daily Moments

In an effort to do better about our family journaling I would like to document daily moments for each of the kids. We'll see if I keep up with it. 

Jan 1st:

J: Joshua's first piano lesson. This was just on a whim, but he was so proud of himself and so eager to learn. When he gets older it'll become more regular. 

 

A: : Audree's first day of potty training. EEK! 

Z: totally loving on this baby doll. 

Laughing at it. Trying to eat it's face. Ha!