Resembling her older sister

Kate has been wanting to wear her 'pretty' headband.  When she does, she seems to look a little like Claire.  Also, it more clearly shows the bruises on her forehead.

"Snow" day

We've had a number of days of "freezing fog" in a row, and today's was probably the heaviest.  We don't get much snow here in Portland, so when there's white stuff on the ground, we call it snow, and we go out and enjoy it a little.  Since we have afternoon church now, shortly after breakfast, we put on our jackets, pajama pants, and rain boots and went out to play.

 

A couple of the neighbors' kids came over (through the hole in the fence... that's another story) and helped 'build' a snowman by scraping the snow off of the table.  It was about 3 inches tall.

Kate and Liam also got to go out and enjoy the snow and loved it!

After playing outside, Jacob and Claire curled up to read together.

Primary Spotlights

Jacob and Claire came home with a little questionnaire from primary.  Below are the questions and answers, in kiddos' own words.

JACOB (the picture shows what he wears to swimming... yes, those are Batman rain boots!):
What is one of your favorite smells?  Gasoline

If you were a crayon, what color would you be?  Blue
What is one of your talents?  Bike riding ... on 2 wheels!
How many teeth have you lost?  6
What is your favorite game to play?  Wii Lego Star Wars
What exotic pet would you like to have?  A Callipitter because I had one.  I think it's dead.
If you could have one superpower, what would it be?  Laser Eyes!
What was your favorite Halloween Costume?  Spiderman
What is your favorite day of the week, and why?  Monday because school begins and I get to see my friend Henry
What is your favorite book, movie, or TV show?  Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection (from the Animated New Testament stories)
How do you like to help others?  Sharing with others
What is your favorite dessert?  Frozen yogurt
What is the strangest food you have ever eaten?  The top of a cauliflower
What is the worst flavor of ice cream (real or imagined)?  Coffee-Coal-Alcohol-Smoke flavored
Where would you like to serve a mission and why?  Japan because a girl in Claire's class moved from Japan.

CLAIRE:

What is one of your favorite smells?  The pollen of a rose
If you were a crayon, what color would you be?  Red
What is one of your talents?  Coloring and Art (Swimming was her first answer!)
How many teeth have you lost?  6
What is your favorite game to play?  Spot It
What exotic pet would you like to have?  A Caterpillar (but I already have one)
If you could have one superpower, what would it be?  Super nice (I already have it)
What was your favorite Halloween Costume?  Fairy Princess
What is your favorite day of the week, and why?  Saturday because it is the fun day that we don't have school
What is your favorite book, movie, or TV show?  Lucky Star Wish Upon a Friend
How do you like to help others?  Giving things to them
What is your favorite dessert?  Cake
What is the strangest food you have ever eaten?  Frozen yogurt topping creations (the parents may have suggested that one!)
What is the worst flavor of ice cream (real or imagined)?  Coal ice cream
Where would you like to serve a mission and why?  Canada.  Because there is a lot of snow.

Editor's note: Jacob and Claire found a caterpillar sometime this summer or fall, and unbeknownst to us, they kept it in a tupperware in a little compartment in the hose holder outside.  This week, they were wondering about it... Dani steered them away from checking on those poor little caterpillars!

A beautiful day at the beach!

We left Wilsonville, and it had been frosty for the last few days and looked like this...

Kate and Liam immediately took to the sand and were so happy to be playing outside.  They loved carrying around their buckets and shovels and filling their buckets.

 

Building a sandcastle is somewhat of a challenge with toddlers.  Liam especially liked helping.

We had a few minutes to finish the castle before the toddlers helped take it down.

Here's another view of the castle in process - check out Liam's plumber's crack!

We made a little toddler chair.  Both Kate and Liam liked sitting in it... as long as they got to keep their shovels and buckets!

I LOVE this picture of Liam!

The babies took a break from playing in the sand for a quick drink.

Something about the sunshine made for good pictures!

Kate was our wanderer.  She liked walking around and meeting other people, dogs (she LOVES dogs!), and areas of the beach.  At one point, Kate made her way to the water.  A little wave made its way up to us, and Kate loved walking around the water.  It was cold!

The sunshine also shows Liam's red hair.  His hair looks a little more orange than Claire's.

   

Jared and Jacob took turns kicking a football around.  Dani took some fast shutter pictures.

Before we left, Jacob and Claire decided to have a few minutes on the swings.  How cool is that?  Swings on beach!

After the beach, we took a trip to the candy store where we got $1 Tillamook ice cream cones... YUM! Claire and Jacob both got to spin the wheel, and Claire won free popcorn and got to write her name on a little paper to put on the wall!  It was pretty exciting!

Afterwards, we went on a rollerblade and scooter ride.  Yes, we still rollerblade.  When it comes back, we'll be so in again.  It was fun to see the different hotels and all the seaside homes.

Liam had a lot of fun - Kate fell asleep.

We went until the sun basically went down.  Only a few minutes after this picture of Dani (how pretty!), the fog rolled in quite quickly, and the sun disappeared.

We went to a restaurant, Norma's.  This is only significant in that it was actually quite a peaceful dinner!  Babies ate clam chowder, garlic bread, fresh bread fried fish (not Kate), fries, and cole slaw.  It was so refreshing to have such a peaceful meal!

The photographers!

It was an awesome day!!!

Life with twin toddlers (again)

It's amazing how much of our memories of Jacob and Claire as toddlers comes from pictures and stories we have recorded.  There are lots of times and events that don't end up in the blog, many of them likely are times where the babies are being difficult and we don't want to remember it!  With that in mind, below are a few tidbits of life with twin toddlers... again.

Part of the bedtime routine for the babies is sitting and reading a book while drinking from their cups.  Once we begin the routine, it's pretty easy to get the kids in their beds.  We have a drink while reading a book (Liam sometimes likes to read a book alone on his blue rocking chair).  Then we have prayers, give each other noggins, turn on the Star night light, and put the babies in bed.  Kate screams like crazy for about 60 seconds and settles down.  For the next hour or more, Liam pounds on the walls (with his head, hands and feet) and they both take turns talking and singing.  

Sometimes, you have to make trade-offs.  Dani reported she successfully cleaned the entire kitchen, folded laundry, and put away a pile of random things we had collected in a basket (which, honestly, was probably the biggest accomplishment of all).  Meanwhile, Liam helped un-load their drawers upstairs, scatter Tupperware across the house (twice) and Kate helped un-fold some of the laundry.  Two steps forward, one and a half steps backward.

Kate continues to love playing with her babies.  While she was given a baby for Christmas, she has become equally attached to one of Claire's old babies (which Claire really didn't play with much, until recently when Kate developed a love for babies).

 

Liam, who was sitting in his highchair at the time Dani took the picture of Kate and her baby, started looking at Dani saying, "Cheese," fully expecting a picture to be taken of him.  

Liam still loves playing in his box.  He likes to load it up with toys and climb in.

We have had some really nice, sunny (and chilly) days.  Dani has been taking advantage by getting out and walking with the babies.  Because of the frequent rain we get in Portland, we seem to appreciate these sunny days even more.

"Go Kate, Go!!!"

"Go Kate, Go!!!"  It's a phrase we hear often, often when she is going down the slide upstairs.  When we were teaching her to go up the stairs on the slide on her own, we would encourage her by saying, "Go Kate, Go," and she picked up the phrase and loves it!

Recently, we were getting Liam ready for bed, and Kate fell backward from the slide and landed on the back of her head.  She started crying, and Jared went to pick her up and hold her.  She immediately pushed away from him, saying, through her tears, "Go Kate, Go."  She repeated it all the way up the stairs.  After she got to the bottom of the slide, she turned, no longer crying (but still rubbing her head), and had a big smile.  It was a precious moment of overcoming for our little baby girl!

Coco the Class Bear Joins the Jensens for a Weekend

Jacob's class has a 'class bear' that travels to all the students' homes.  They take the bear around with them and write about what they did.

Coco got to do a few fun things with the family:

- play Star Wars with blocks and legos, 

- have his own bed (an empty diaper box with Claire's pillow stuffed into it so it could be soft) with 3 blankets and 3 bears.

- Get frozen yogurt (he got to be belted into the van

- be part of family scriptures and prayers

- be toted around the house by two little toddlers

January fun

We've had a number of beautiful days over the past couple weeks - most of which, we've seen from inside our house.  Liam has started bringing his shoes and asking that they be put on, and once they're on, saying, "Go... Go..."  He really likes to be outside.

On Friday, Dani took the kids to the Korean War Memorial park.  Babies' favorite thing to do was to wander around.  They love to walk!

Dani tried to get a picture of all the kids.  It was apparently a little too sunny!

By Saturday, it returned to rain, so we decided to do some bowling.  Jacob, after he would roll the ball, would stand there with his hand in the air. the entire time.

 

Claire and Jacob went back and forth using the ramp and throwing the ball, and settled by the middle of the game for throwing.  Claire was hilarious to watch!  She threw some backhanded.  She basically dropped it (it came to rest in front of the 2nd row of pins).  She would bend her knees, pop back up, and drop it.  Then, when she realized how slow the ball was rolling, she decided to walk all the way near the seats, run forward and drop it, and then exclaim, "look, it went faster!"  She would stand there and try to guide the ball to where she wanted it to go.

Kate and Liam watched from their strollers. Liam really liked clapping once the pins were knocked over. 

Jared, after rolling a 1 on the first frame, ended up with 142!  He was happy about it.

Kate and Liam were excited to show off their new outfits.  Kate's has a little hood, and she would occasionally put it on.