Snow in Portland!

It snowed here, which is apparently a rare occurance around here (you can tell by the way people drive in it). So this morning kiddos and I donned our snow gear (which was still packed in a box) and went out to build a snowman. You can see that it is mostly made of snow, but also made of dried leaves.

Jacob and Claire also really wanted to have a "snow fight!" Here is Claire in action... they were hilarious. They really had fun, but both had their moments when they were less than happy about a hit in the fight.
One of my kids loves playing in the snow more than the other.
Can you tell?
And we started the snow adventure and ended the snow adventure with tears from Jacob (he fell right off the step and caught himself with his face to start and he ended with a snowball to the face from Claire). Poor kid... no wonder his sister likes the snow more.
We came inside and had a cup of hot (warm) chocolate... Jacob drank his so fast I could not get his picture, but Claire loved hers!

Stereotyping

Today I had a moment where I felt like a perfect stereotype. I was pulling away from Costco in my minivan with my children in the back and I was wearing my BYU sweatshirt and listening to David Archuleta singing Silent Night. Wow!

I live close to Costco... I love it! The David Archuleta song was on a Christmas mix that someone gave to me, and I am wearing my BYU sweatshirt because I live in Oregon and tonight BYU plays Oregon State in the Las Vegas Bowl. I have no excuse for the minivan though... I love my minivan and I don't care who knows it! I also love the children that were in the back seat, even if they have been cranky lately.

How is Jared Liking His Job?

Since we did move to Oregon for a career change for Jared, I have been (and I am assuming he has been too) getting this question over and over. Everyone is wondering how Jared is liking his job... Well, the company is doing great! Last week he made gingerbread houses one day and watched and epic puppet show of 'The Grinch' that a co-worker put on at work on another day. Often when he calls me or I call him from work he is surrounded by his laughter and the laughter of the people around him. He enjoys what he is doing and loves the people he works with (he also makes more money for doing it).

When we had our Ugly Sweater Party more than half of the people were from work. We spend most of our weekend time with someone that he works with. See this picture... all of those guys work together, and this may just be after 2AM (we all watched Fred Claus on a projector in our front room).

I think he likes his job!

Also, I cannot say that I don't love his job or the people he works with, or their wives! We feel really blessed to have such a great job especially at this time, but we also feel so blessed that we love the job and the people associated with the job!

Thinking before speaking... sometimes can be difficult!

I recently finished reading the Book of Mormon (the one with pictures) with kiddos for the fourth or fifth time, so I decided that it's an appropriate time of year to start the New Testament stories (the one with pictures). We're currently reading the Sermon on the Mount, and today, we got to when Jesus was teaching the right way to pray.

I typically more tell the story than actually read, so when it was talking about using vain repetitions, a funny conversation with Jacob started (if only I could find a font that describes Jacob's high-pitched, excited voice and his fast way of talking):

Me: We should think about what we're saying in our prayers before saying it

Jacob: Oh, I say "Bless uncle T mission, bless the food." (which he says, sometimes numerous times, at every prayer) I no say bless the food any more (at this point shaking his finger)

Me: Jacob, it's okay to say "bless the food" at prayers before we eat.

Jacob (still shaking finger): Oh, okay, i no say "Bless the food" before bed. I say, "Bless uncle T mission, bless the food." Oh, oh, I say, "Bless uncle T mission, bless the food." Oh, I no say, "Bless the food." I say, "Bless uncle T mission, bless the food." Oh, oh, I say "Bless uncle T mission, thank you for my toys."

Sure enough, come prayers, and after a reminder to think before speaking, Jacob omitted blessing the food and remembered to give thanks for his toys.

That said, Jacob, a few times a week, will have long, drawn out conversations in his prayers, identifying objects on his plate he is thankful for (PBJ, pretzels, oranges, carrots, etc.), expressing his hopes (bless that we don't go to naps after lunch), talking about what he did that day (thank you that we played and had a bubble bath), or saying stuff that we don't understand, but are meaningful to him. It's fun hearing about the world from 3-year-olds!

Christmas in the Air

Kiddos are really excited for Christmas this year (or at least I am excited for them for Christmas this year). Everyday they come down and look for Marco (the elf that watches them all day and reports to Santa every night about if they were naughty or nice) and they are constantly reminding me, each other, and our babysitters that Marco is watching. Speaking of Santa, we saw him today at story time at the library. Claire was so brave and excited to get on his lap, Jacob was a little more timid and cautiously stood next to him. You can tell by the look on his face that he was a little leery. Also, you can also tell that we moved to the Pacific Northwest because our pictures with Santa our in raincoats and rainboots instead of winter coats with hats and gloves.

Claire and Jacob look so cute in their new Christmas outfits (thanks Nana). I took this picture a couple of weeks ago before we decorated the tree. I even made the giant bow in Claire's hair... I may have gotten carried away, but it is really a cute bow.
Merry Christmas everyone... what a fantastic season, I love teaching my kids about the birth of our Savior and quizzing them on where he was born, what he slept in, etc... They really know that story now and I love hearing them tell me in their little high (especially Jacob) voices.

Christmas Decorations

We cut the Christmas tree down ourselves at a Christmas tree farm. It was fun to have kiddos with us. Claire loved tromping through the trees - Jacob was less sure of it because of the weeds!Front entrance. Dani found a bunch of little trees and a santa carrying a tree, so she decided he obviously needed to be in the forest
Our Christus with kiddos' nativity and the Christmas countdown.
Our stockings! Over our fireplace (we love having a fireplace - not that we've used it very much). And we have a mantle for our nativity. We love the picture of the Timpanogos temple.
My mom sent us the cool Merry Christmas blocks. They look good over the cupboards.
We put more garland over the cupboards, and we decided it looked empty, so we put presents up there. And yes, they are real presents - no reason to wrap an empty box!

We are feeling very festive! Merry Christmas!!!

Kids are so funny!

I was laughing about something Dani hadn't noticed that I had done (I had snuck a fingerfull of frosting), and Dani was trying to guess what it was, so Claire decided to help guess:

Claire: You laughing about my toot?

Earlier today, they were playing RocketShip:

And Claire was dressed 'fancy' for the occasion - and requested a picture of her dressed 'fancy' with her helmet on

Last night, Jacob's pull-up broke at Jim and Mel's house while we were there for Jim's surprise birthday party, so Jacob pulled off his pants and ran around loudly looking for us to change him in the middle of 30+ guests!

And now, Jacob is running around saying, "I have Christmas Energies!!!"

EDIT: Just now, 2 more funny things happened. We got a book from the library called The Biggest Thing in the Ocean about a giant squid. We were talking about what might be the biggest thing in the ocean, and I, thinking I would teach Claire something, asked her what was the biggest thing in the ocean. Her response: "Water!" Who taught who!

Then, for prayers, Jacob said he was, "Thank you for this handsome day."

Kiddos are really funny!

Ugly Christmas Sweater Party

Saturday night was the night of our 2nd Annual Ugly Christmas Sweater Party. We had some incredible sweaters! Before any of the pictures, I want to say... the Jensens DOMINATED Bunko! Jared ended up with the highest score, Dani ended up with the 2nd highest score, and we were the winning teammates at the top table at the last round of the game! Amazing, I know.

Now, on to the sweaters! This year, we set up a beautiful backdrop to take pictures in front of.

The Wonderful hostess in all her glory (and red pants!)

Chris came with a lighted up sweater! And, mine had shoulder pads!

The Battles, who won the couples contest, came with interactive sweaters!

Weston and Karen had some sizing problems with their sweaters.

The individual winner (Ryan) and the tied-for-first-place couple winner.

We loved Bev's sequin hat!!!

We made cookies and people frosted them - the brown one on the top left (bottom left when you crane your neck to the right) was the winner. There were some great ones!

We put up a Christmas tree and had people decorate it. Pretty!!!

The Schaffers brought a gift for the hosts - from GOODWILL!!! GROSS!

It was a really fun party!

What Am I Thankful For?

For him

For her
and for him
and for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. (Thanks Amber for taking the pictures)

K&J Photography

There is a contest to get a free photo session from K&J photography and their photos are beautiful. If you are in the Portland area or plan on being here at some time you should enter.

Bubba

We were a Target a couple of days ago and checking out when Jacob said "She is Beautiful!" loud enough for those around to hear. I asked him "who is beautiful?" and he pointed to the lovely lady behind us who was probably about the same age as his Nana or Grandma. I think he made her day! (PS- he loves to go out and play in the rain with his boots and rain coat, thanks Nana!)

More Visits

After Sid, Katie, Matty, and Goober left Papa Streeter came (Mama Streeter was already here). We stayed busy for their entire visit. We went straight from the airport to Red River Gorge.

There are lots of waterfalls in the gorge.
Dad came to Oregon and became a tree hugger.
Lots of waterfalls. Lots and lots.
We also took a trip to the Tillamook cheese factory (YUM). It is the Streeter family favorite cheese, so it was a must do.
We went from Tillamook to a little town on the coast called Oceanside. We had delicious seafood and even more delicious dessert at a little cafe called Roseanne's (I think). Then we spent a little time on the beach.
My kids like to be with their dad. The Oregon coast is beautiful.
Claire is still very afraid of the ocean after her little incident, so Grandpa kept her safe at a distance from the water she was ok with.
Near Oceanside is a little State Park. It has a cute little lighthouse.
There is also an impressive Octopus tree.
It is really big.
We ate lots of good food while Ma and Pa were here. Dad saw a couple places on the food network that he wanted to try, so we drove across Portland to try Otto's sausage kitchen.
We also went to the Pearl District to get gelato at my favorite gelato place, Mio's Gelato.
Forest Park is a huge Urban Park/Forest in the middle of the city. We had a nice walk there.
It is pretty.
We also enjoyed time eating yummy food out at other places and at home. Mom and Dad got to go catch up with Dad's old college roommate too. We stayed busy and even overlapped our next company by 2 hours. Stay tuned ...

Visits

October was a busy month for us... we had LOTS of visitors and we loved it. Our first arrival was Sid and Katie.

We took them to Columbia River Gorge to see lots of beautiful waterfalls.
Our kids love Sid (they love Katie too). He taught Jacob and Claire lots of important things.
He taught them about exploring caves.
We threw an Oktoberfest in their honor... complete with Leiderhosen, homemade rootbeer, hotdogs with sourkraut, make your own big soft pretzel, and polka music.
Then our friends Matt and Rachel got here. Then Mama Streeter got here. The girls shopped, the boys explored. We ate, we played, and we made yummy calzones.
Sid and Katie got engaged! They were really happy.
We all tried out several types of donuts from Portland's famous Voodoo donuts. They have CRAZY donuts. The bacon maple bar was really good (real slices of bacon on top) but to my surprise I really loved the grape donut too. I think the one covered in cocoa puffs was my least favorite.
Claire loved her M&M covered donut.
We also went to the rose garden and although the roses were past their prime, there were still a lot in bloom. On top of all of those things we enjoyed funny games (including a human mop race) staying up late, lots of laughing and I enjoyed my own cheering squad at my soccer game. Thanks for coming everyone. It was fun (stay tuned, this is just the beginning of the visitors).