A tool or a toy?

I hope this doesn't sound like bragging, but I love what my husband does, and he is SO good at it!  Obviously I hardly ever get to see him actually doing his job.  When we visit him at the fire station, we just get to see him hanging out, watching movies, eating dinner, blah, blah, blah.  But it sure was a treat for us to have Russ come to Cody's preschool this week.

He talked to them about how to get out of your house in a fire, when to call 911, etc.  My favorite part is when he talks about toys and tools.  He starts off showing a toy truck and a hammer (Colton was his little helper this time), and describes how toys are for kids and tools are for adults.  So then he pulls out a box of matches and asks if it is a tool or a toy and the same with a lighter.  And the kids usually get it.  They were so attentive and it is fun to see them responding to him. 

He also puts on his fire gear one piece at a time explaining what the pieces are for and making sure that all the kids know that he is still Cody's dad and not someone they should be afraid of.  He lets them come up and give him high fives and hugs and tap on his helmet and touch his airpack and most of them really love it.  There were a couple kids that already had a fear of fire drills and fire alarms and fire fighters and hopefully this really helped. 

Cody sure was proud of his daddy!

Mr. Bump

This little magnet thing hangs on our fridge.  And fittingly, Corbin moved it to fit Colton's last couple days. . .

It started with the paper shredder and a trip to the ER.  I will spare you the gory details (and pictures), but just know that it was not pretty and I am very glad that his daddy was home.  Luckily, the ER doc said everything should heal without stitches or surgery in 6-8 weeks, and that was confirmed by the hand surgeon a few days after.  Phew.  Unfortunately, the first few days of changing the bandages was torture -for Colton and Mom.

And then, that night, shortly after we got home from the ER, Colton was trying to climb up onto Corbin's bunkbed and couldn't quite hold on to the rungs on the ladder and somehow faceplanted right onto his face, resulting in blood from the mouth and a big puffy cheek with a bruise.  (It was on the left side, you can kind of see it in this picture, but it was much more prominent in real life.)

And THEN, two days later he was trying to walk down the stairs in his big brothers shoes - and you can guess what happened.  Not sure how far it was, but I think less than half way judging by the relatively short duration of the crying. But that little trip up left him with a small rug burn on the side of his eye.

And so, like a friend said the next day at church, I don't think that will be our last trip to the ER with Mr. Bump (or Cut or Rugburn or . . .).

Playing Paramedic

The following are direct quotations:

Paramedic Cody:  "How many allergies do you have?"
Patient Corbin: (counting on his fingers) 7, no 8

Corbin:  "How many lives do I have?"

Cody: "Let me see."  (writes number on board - 850)

We made it to midnight!

Our New Year's Eve Staycation... 

burgers and fries at Scaddy's and then off to the hotel for a night of fun!

First things first - swimming!

Then back up to the room for games, treats and just hanging out:

And before we knew it, it was time to ring in the new year!

We each shared our New Year's resolution with each other and the boys have not neglected to remind me of mine - "to be a nicer mommy."  :)

Russ had to work at the fire station on New Year's day, so he snuck out in the early hours of the morning and the boys and I slept until 9am!  That's a record for my boys!  We enjoyed the free continental breakfast and watching cartoons on all the numerous channels that we don't have at home.  About noon, we headed over to Jungle Jims and spent the next several hours riding rides, playing video games, eating pizza and climbing around the play area.  It was a blast!

Before we ended our day, of course we had to visit Russ at the station (check out this post).  The kids were out before I even got on the highway to head home.  It was a perfect getaway.

Happy New Year!

Oh to be a kid again

At 4:30am the two eldest Jensen children sneaked a peak at their goodies, were caught at the top of the stairs and were hurriedly shewed back to bed by their mother.  At 5:30am, mom hears beeping and other noises and finds little man downstairs all alone playing with his presents.  He goes back to bed with mom and dad until 6:15 and then is shut in his room to look at books and wait . . . until 6:45am, which we tried to make 7, but finally gave up and decided to let the joyousness begin!

How it works at our house:  You are allowed to check out your stockings and your gifts from Santa at your own will, but for all other presents, you must take turns, youngest to oldest.  The kids really don't mind that much, and it kind of makes it funner to know that it is "your turn".  And maybe its just me, but (1) I can't stand the "free for all" present opening and (2) I want to see my kids open the things I got for them!  Plus, I think its important to make sure they know who its from, so they can properly thank them later.  (My husband and I have differing views on this, can you tell?) 

Despite our early start, we had a great morning.  We even took a break in the middle to have a yummy breakfast - crepes!  The boys' favorite!

Cody and Colton loved their play kitchen from Santa, and Grandma Jill had no idea that her aprons would go so perfectly.  They have been put to use many times already.  Daddy loved his mug from the boys that had pictures of them on it.  It will get good use at the firestation.  Cody loves his BYU jersey, since he goes to school there, and would wear it everyday if I let him.  I think Corbin's favorite, at first, was his Diary of a Wimpy Kid book set or his drawing book, but since he figured out his electricity science kit, it has definitely topped all presents.  Colton's favorite and most used present is his toy vacuum - and would you believe, it actually sucks things up!  We will put that to good use! 

And before we went over to Grandma & Grandpa's we had to try out the fingerpaints from Grandma Jill...

 

The rest of the night was filled with cousins and food and games and more presents, of course.  With 14 grandchildren, it was a house-full, but the boys sure had fun!  Thanks to everyone who made this such a wonderful holiday for our family.  We hope everyone else had a day of joy and cheer as well.

 

Merry Christmas!

On the Eve of His birth

I think it is because of our traditions growing up, but I have always liked Christmas Eve to be the "spiritual" part of Christmas - forget about the presents and Santa, the treats and the parties, and just focus on Christ.  We have had several discussions and activities throughout the month about Jesus Christ and the "real" meaning of Christmas and I think my kids actually "got it" this year.  It made me so happy to listen to them re-tell the story themselves and to hear them telling each other that we were really celebrating Jesus' birthday.  So this year for Christmas Eve, we stuck with our tradition (for the 2nd year) of going to Temple Square to see the Nativity and the Christmas lights.  And the evening turned out to be just right.

We rode the "train" into downtown and luckily planned a little better this year and instead of eating at the first place we saw, we had a perfect dinner at the Olive Garden.  We actually don't take the kids out to eat very often, so this was a treat.  How can you go wrong with all you can eat breadsticks and noodles?  And the best part of dinner was that two people came up to our table and told me what a lovely family we had and how well behaved the boys were.  (Maybe they were thinking about Santa coming.)

After dinner we bundled up and headed 2 blocks over to Temple Square. The beauty of it never disappoints. The pictures really don't do it justice.  I am always amazed at how every tiny limb is illuminated, and of course the temple was gorgeous as always.

The boys and I squeezed up front to see the life-size nativity.  For just a moment, it is possible to completely forget about the cold and to be enveloped in the story.  Even though it gets crowded, and even though it looks the same every year, I love it every time.  And I love seeing the renewed awe the boys have as well.  (I wish I could have gotten better pictures of the wise men and the shepherds, it really is quite neat.)

All in all it turned out to be a great night.  Most importantly, we spent time together, we made memories and we rejoiced in the birth of our Savior.  So until next year...