Fall Update

Here are a few pictures of the kids doing their stuff!

Emma continues to LOVE Bryant! He for the

most part likes the attention. As seen here

he occasionally gets adorned with bows, crowns,

and other girly items.

Emma wanted to earn some money.

She wants to buy a kids digital camera.

So I told her I'd give her five bucks for

cleaning the fridge. I think she earned it.

She scrubbed the whole thing! It

was spotless, the only thing I did was help

unload/load it and clean the drawers.

This is what happens when you tell Will to

smile.

We celebrated "Mr. Powded day" Mr Powded

is a person Emma made up a year or so ago.

She doesn't use the name much anymore

but we thought it would be a fun family

holiday. We had a little obstacle course

in the backyard and...

Cupcakes with candles. It was a hit!

Wow what a month we have had. Dennis is fully into his program and we all miss having him home so much! He really likes the other four residents in his program. It of course has been stressful but I guess he can handle a year of anything.

I hurt my back pretty bad this month. I was having problems with my back since Bryant's birth and wanted an MRI to see if I had another herniated disk. Of course they make you do physical therapy first. I went to physical therapy just one time and she did some adjustments on my back and showed me some stretches. I went home feeling really well. But a day later I turned to grab something in the washroom and whatever she moved shifted back and maybe then some. It sent terrible pain all through my back and down my leg into my ankle.

To make a long story short it didn't go away for 4-5 days. I was in the most pain I have ever been in and for the first time I had to call someone in the ward to take the kids because I couldn't take care of them. My Dad flew out the next day to take care of us. I finally did get an MRI and it is just a bulging disk. The pain has decresed a lot and I am able to at least take care of our kids which is such a blessing.

For the 4-5 days that I was laying on the couch I learned a couple of good lessons. It was so enjoyable to just lay there and play with the kids. They would bring toys and sit on the floor and I would play with them while I laid on the couch. I enjoyed so much just spending time with them and not worrying about everything else that needed to be done. I learned I need to live in the moment and not be so concerned with the next task at hand.

I also am so grateful for all of the family and ward members that were willing to help. We had family that was willing to fly out next after my Dad left if needed and I can't count how many wards members offered service. We are definitely blessed to have so many that love us. I want to be so willing to serve others.

While my Dad was here we did celebrate his b-day. We used white powdered doughnuts and candles and the kids loved it as much as cake!

We get some pretty heavy rain here. There are big canals running behind all of the houses to help the rain drain. The kids love to go back and play in it during/after a big storm. It rained hard almost all day so it was pretty full. Without these canals I'm sure our house would flood with these big storms!

And...

Emma and I got our hair cut awhile ago and I haven't wanted to post anything until now so...

Before...

After...

Emma picked out her haircut and she LOVES it!

I haven't been able to get mine to look like this and the stylist assured me it was sooo easy. But I found if I just wash it and let it dry it really looks okay. Okay works for me most days so I actually kind of like the haircut now. Sorry we weren't brave enough to do it while living in Milwaukee Marianne! I guess it took a hot Texas summer to get us to finally shed the extra hair.

Emma's Birthday!

Emma did this, she thought it was so fun.

William loves this baby pack 'n' play that Emma

got for her b-day.

Flip Flop Cake

Butterfly Piñata

Breaking of the Piñata

Emma turned four last week! Some of the things she requested were a piñata, and a birthday cake shaped like flip flops. We did the best we could! The piñata was pretty much Dennis' doing, the kids helped to paint and decorate it. It's a butterfly, in case you can't tell.

Bryant has starting smiling a lot which is always fun.

We made a trip to the temple yesterday with the whole family. We went to Dallas which is about two hours away. It was well worth it but made for a long day. We now miss having the temple just an hour away and for those of you in UT we are completely jealous we don't think we will ever have one 5-10 minutes away again. I took the kids to play at the park while Dennis did a session and wore them out so that they slept for him while I did some sealings. It was very nice to be able to attend the temple we haven't been able to go since Bryant was born.

Bryant's birth!

Graduation Dennis with MIL

Graduation Dennis with sister, dad, and mom

Bryant was sleeping for this pic.

Emma LOVES Bryant! He gets at least 100 kisses

a day from her, that's not an exaggeration! She is

a great big sister.

Grandma Jensen and our three kids

Our sweet Bryant in his blessing outfit

A hot Texas summer afternoon

YEAH we can finally go swimming every day!!!

These last two months have been a whirlwind! We had the birth of our third baby, Dennis graduated and is officially a doctor, and we moved! It's all definitely a lot to have happen in two months time. Actually it mostly all took place in one months time, it's just taken me two months to find time to blog about!

Bryant is a trooper! He has handled the craziness so well. He is also a very good baby. He sleeps 8 to 9 hour stretches at night. I know without a doubt the Lord blessed us by sending us a sweet little baby that could handle everything our family has needed to do in the last little while. We are very grateful to have him in our family.

We miss many things about Wisconsin. A few are: friends, the library, the beautiful green summers, and Dennis says the weather. However, I DO NOT miss the weather in WI. While we miss WI we completely love Texas! I LOVE the heat!!!! Although I am grateful for a house with central air! A few things we like about Texas: Small town USA!, the people are so friendly, the Walmarts are clean and stocked (if you've lived in Milwaukee you know what I mean), having a house for the first time in our married lives, dishwashers, washers and dryers, a yard, etc..

Our church is in a town 10 miles north of us. We get to drive 70 mph to get to church and there are no stoplights!

We got a statement from our old apts. in WI we lived there a grand total of 1,439 days, yes they provided us with this info. who keeps track of this stuff? They were great days and we miss our friends. We have been so blessed over the last four years. We are so grateful for the hand of the Lord in our lives!

William

I decided since I did a post completely about Emma I should do one about William too.

Having William has made me just LOVE little boys! He is so crazy I find myself shaking my head in disbelief multiple times a day as I see him fall off of something that is resonably high or run into something hard and then quickly jump up, laugh, and often go to do it again. I know this is a typical boy thing. I'm just impressed with his resilience. Having a sensitive little girls first makes it that much more impressive to me!
He also has such a tender heart. The minute Emma falls or anything like unto it she immediately begins crying. When William sees this he runs full speed into their bedroom, grabs her blankets and stuffed animals, (making multiple trips if needed) runs full speed back to Emma and hands them to her to help her feel better. He has always done this on his own with no prompting from me. He really loves to help!

Emma

Yesterday I was reading Emma a story from the friend about paying tithing. It was about a boy who paid his tithing to the Bishop and then felt good because he had. After the story she asked why the boy needed to do that. I said to help people who don't have enough money. She then replied that she would like to give her money to Jesus, Heavenly Father, and the Bishop to help people who don't have enough money.
Emma does get a small weekly allowance for doing some VERY small jobs around the house. She does pay tithing on her allowance. I was impressed yesterday with her generosity and her ability to understand what I was talking about! I thought she would be too young to understand tithing but she was always wanting money so I thought I would start giving her a little. I remember in a stake conference hearing that a child's most influence age is three years old! I guess they really can understand more than I realize!

Here is a picture of Emma in a princess dress she bought with her allowance. She is a very patient money saver!