The next 'wave'

At just short of 16 weeks, it's becoming more and more apparent that Dani is caring the next addition to the family.

We will try our hand at doing 1 this time!

Christmas Eve at the lanes

We decided to go bowling for Christmas Eve afternoon.  Kate and Liam got to experience their first pair of bowling shoes and rolling the ball down the lane themselves.  Fortunately, they have ramps to put the ball on top of to roll down the lane, so we didn't have to wait for minutes at a time for their turns.

Liam was quite serious the entire time.  He wouldn't even watch his ball hit the pins because he was too busy preparing to get the ball in the return.

Jacob and Claire were the big winners of the day with 97 and 96 (i.e. the parents didn't fare so well)!  The boys and the girls bowled on opposite lanes, and somehow finished in a tie (thanks to a last roll gutter ball by mama).

BYU - Oregon Basketball game - who to root for...

BYU's basketball team came to Eugene to play the Ducks, so we took Jacob and Claire to the game.  All week long, Jacob couldn't decide who he was rooting for.  Jared was worried he was failing!

At halftime, with BYU winning by 6, and both Jacob and Claire clearly rooting for BYU and getting quite excited whenever they made a basket, the Duck came by, and kiddos wanted to get a picture with him in it.

After BYU led the entire game, Oregon tied it up in the last minute and forced overtime, where BYU wound up losing by 4.  At this point, both Jacob and Claire declared that they were so happy that the team they were rooting for the whole game ended up winning (Jared apparently has some work to do there).

Despite the gut-wrenching loss in a very winnable game, it was a fun time for everyone.

Classic Christmas time pictures

We waited until the weekend before Christmas, but we were able to get in a trip to see Santa.  Santa was very chatty and he and Jacob were quickly engaged in conversation about glasses.

Kate sat on Santa's lap and refused to say anything - or look at Santa.  She was willing to sit there (unlike Liam) as long as she wasn't expected to smile, talk, or look at Santa.

We took some pictures in front of the Christmas tree and wound up with this gem!

The boys picture and the girls pictures were a little bit more of a challenge!  The boys had a little bit of an American Gothic feel going, and in the girls picture, Claire and the camera's shutter were a half second off.

Ugly Sweater Party

We held our 5th annual Ugly Sweater Party on a Friday for the first time.  While we didn't have as big of a crowd as other parties, it was fun to be with friends.

Nana sent accessories to use for ugly sweater party pictures.

and they got some pretty fantastic use!

Basketball

Jacob played organized basketball for the first time this year.  He got to play 8 games.  The way they organized the game was pretty neat - everyone on each team wore a wristband of a different color, and the boy guarded the boy on the other team with the same wristband.  His last game, he had to join the other team and wear the red shirt.

Jacob played hard and ran a lot.  He made a few baskets in almost every game (he says he made 12 over the course of the year), including making 5 in one game!  He was on a team with nice boys, and the team had fun together.

Snow?

We've had a whole lot of cold weather recently.  In Oregon, especially in Wilsonville, what often happens is that there is fog that freezes and leaves a layer of white on the ground - not enough to make a snowball in, but enough to leave tire tracks and to make roads slippery.

The debate at home is: is it snow, or is it frost?

A few recent favorite pictures of Liam

Liam is going through a funny phase - he has such a big personality and is always very excited about things.  For example, when we went to the Lefrandt's on Thanksgiving for dessert, Liam (who normally LOVES dessert) didn't end up having any because he was so engrossed in the toy vacuum!  He played with that toy vacuum for an hour and a half straight!

A few days later, when the real vacuum was brought out, he hurried over for his turn with it.

He is also continuing to be very photogenic - whether it is his happy face (which we usually get) or his sad face (which is just as cute).

Kate and Liam are starting to play together more often.  They have personalities and play styles that are more different than Claire and Jacob's, and we have noticed that they don't play quite as easily together as Jacob and Claire.  However, recently, they have been increasingly involved in one another's games.

Thanksgiving (and more!) with Amber

Amber came to join us for Thanksgiving for the 3rd time.  It was fun to have her here, and the kids certainly got lots of time with her.  Some of the highlights included Amber's "interview with a 2nd grader" series of videos with Jacob, Zoo Lights, and the girls traditional late Thanksgiving night trip to the outlets.

Kiddos had the entire week of Thanksgiving off of school.  One day, I came downstairs to see that Jacob and Claire had helped get breakfast for Kate and Liam.  The boys and girls both shared their own stools.  Another morning, I heard Jacob and Claire talking about making oatmeal, and I came downstairs to see 4 large (and full) bowls of cold oatmeal.  1 packet of oatmeal and a bunch of water made it more like soup, but Jacob loved it and the other kids ate it, too.  It left its own special mess!

Even though we didn't have lots of guests this year, we still made plenty of food!  It all tasted delicious!

Jacob joined Jared in playing the Turkey Bowl on Thanksgiving morning.  They had a large turnout of 22 people, so they split into 2 separate games for the last 45 minutes.  Jacob's proudest moment was his actual tackle of one of the big guys (who kind of tripped over Jacob so he wouldn't run Jacob over - it was pretty awesome)!

Kate was a big helper making Christmas dinner - she loves pulling over the stool and helping.  Amber loved taking pictures of the all the different faces Kate makes.

We went to Zoo Lights on the Monday after Thanksgiving.  It was quite cold, but the lights were awesome!  (it also was apparently the only place we got a picture with Amber while she was here!)

 

 

Merry Christmas from the Jensens!

Don't touch the tree...

We opened ornaments today - everyone was pretty excited for their own ornament.  Jacob got a basketball, Claire got a piano, Liam got a cozy coupe, and Kate got an Ariel ornament.

Once the ornaments were up, Kate and Liam spent lots of time examining the tree - often at a very close distance - all the while being reminded not to touch the tree.  Sometimes it took a lot of will power.  

Liam would fold his arms to help him.

Fortunately, we have a nativity that both Kate and Liam loved playing with.  They carried the pieces all over the house - the stable rarely actually had baby Jesus inside it.

Unfortunately, we have other things that Kate and Liam also thought were decorations they could play with!