Christmas Festivities

We were so excited to travel to Kentucky this year for Christmas. It had been two years since we had been there for the holiday since last year I couldn't travel because I was pregnant. For the first time ever, I mean in his whole life, we were at Spencer's parent's house to celebrate with his side of the family. His family has always gone to the grandparent's homes in Central Kentucky so his mom was super happy to finally have everyone gathered together at her house for Christmas. We had such a good time with everyone there. We attempted to put Carter, Ella Ann and Seth together on their cots in a little room but by 8:30 p.m. on our first night there we had to separate them all. They were just way to excited to be together to bother with sleep! Gayla had food galore for us and we were never lacking for something wonderful to eat each and every day! We opened presents Wednesday morning (we arrived Tuesday afternoon) and the kids enjoyed playing with all their new toys and they did a great job sharing. Rane enjoyed all the yummy paper, bows and boxes....no big surprise there. We had to make a barricade all around the tree because he kept eating ornaments.

One evening before dinner we drove down to downtown Owensboro and checked out their Winter Wonderland. It was a bunch of carnival rides, an ice skating rink, carnival food and Santa. The kids were in heaven! They rode three rides, which they all loved and squealed with glee the entire time and they sat on Santa's lap one last time before Christmas. It was quite chilly that night so it was great to come home and eat hot soup and sandwiches. Ahhhh! Spencer's Nanny came to visit on Christmas Eve and stayed that night. I know she really enjoyed seeing her great grandchildren run around like crazy and Ella Ann got to play her new Rummikub game with her as well.

After loading up the car with only half of the stuff we accumulated, we drove west to my parent's house Christmas morning. I'm sure they didn't sleep a wink the night before we arrived because they were so excited to give Ella Ann and Rane their presents! We did our stockings as soon as we arrived and then after Rane's morning nap and lunch we hit the presents. They kids got all kinds of fun toys and pretty clothes but Ella Ann's favorite presents had to have been her Snow White costume that she has been asking Santa for forever, two princess snow globes and an umbrella. She was perfectly happy playing with those things the entire time we were there. Ohh...and jumping on top of my dad in his recliner each waking moment...that was probably the best for her.

My Mom and Dad got a new kitten about two weeks before we got there so that was the highlight for us. Ella Ann named him Sebastian after the lobster in "The Little Mermaid." He is so sweet! He is such a docile kitten (strange) and he allowed Ella Ann to cart him around wherever she wanted to go and would sleep on her lap. It was precious. I watched "Marry Poppins" with Ella Ann (she LOVED it which made me super happy since it's my favorite Disney movie) and Sebastian slept in her lap or on her chest for the entire two hours. Unfortunately he licked her face one time and she broke out in hives like she did when she ate peanut butter one time so off Sebastian went. Not good.

We enjoyed lots and lots of good food at my parent's house as well. One evening we played the dice game, Left, Right, Center and yelled and laughed for hours! We had so much fun playing that game with them! Spencer left Sunday morning and I stayed with the kids until Tuesday, when my parents drove us home and then they turned around and drove all the way back to their house the same day.

We had such a fun Christmas. Both kids did so great with being in the car for a long time, sleeping in different rooms, playing, eating, etc. It was fantastic and we are sad to be home...especially me since I hate unpacking and the obscene amount of belongings we acquired along the way are not fun to find new places for in our home! Of course we are talking about me, though, so you know it's already done and everything is in place! Thanks again to our family who did so much for us! We appreciate all the wonderful food, good times and presents!

Below are some pictures for my parents since they cannot view my pics on Facebook. Otherwise, click HERE to see all of them.

Riding a reinder ride at Winter Wonderland in Owensboro.

With Santa at Winter Wonderland.

With her new umbrella Santa brought.

Don't ask.

Playing with sweet Sebastian.

Rocky, Sebastian and Dad.

Modeling yet another new outfit!

Loving the new Snow White costume!

This is what Ella Ann did every day all day at my parent's house: 1) Line up princess snow globes, 2) Press buttons to make them play music 3) Run around in circles in the living room until the music stops and 4) Repeat.

The kids loved the inflatable Mickey!

She loved that kitty and vice versa!

Mom got Rane's first non-open-mouth kiss!

Rane's favorite toy...the air vent.

Chocolate Haggan Das....doesn't get much better than that!

This & That

Not much to report on the Jensens. Spencer had the weekend off (the last time that happened, I believe, was on Ella Ann's birthday party weekend and he was sick) so we were happy to have him around. We are really, really looking forward to January 1 because Spencer will then start two full years of research. This means he will work NO weekends! Spencer has always worked on the weekends so this will be crazy! He will still have to moonlight, though, to make money for us to actually live on so this does mean he will work one weekend a month and sometimes more...but at least that is voluntary...no one is making him do it! He will have more flexible hours and will pretty much make his own schedule. If we want to leave and go to Kentucky or Tennessee to visit family on a Thursday we can! Wow! No more sitting in Friday rush hour traffic....EVER! On the other hand, though, I hope Spencer doesn't get too bored while he's home more often (it's inevitable...he's biting the bullet to get back to work if he's had more than 2 days off....he's weird) and that we don't kill each other....I'm not exactly used to him being around a lot!

So back to the weekend. On Saturday we went to Atlantic Station for a little shopping (one last little gift and to replace some of the jewelry that was stolen). That was fun! Saturday night a girl from across the street came over and babysat while Spencer and I went to a Christmas dinner at one of his friend's house. It was wonderful! We haven't been out alone since we went to Disney with my parents in October! Ella Ann loved having a playmate for the one hour she got to play with her before bed and Spencer and I got to enjoy a very fun night out with friends. It is so strange to be in the car alone with him...at night to boot! When you think about it, when does that ever happen? It's the little things that make me happy! We got home around 11 p.m. and it was great that the sitter just had to walk across the street. Today we went to church and I took down all of our Christmas decorations. After dinner Spencer took Ella Ann back to Atlantic Station (Rane wouldn't have made it that late) to watch it snow. At 7:30 p.m. it snows (fake snow) in the middle of the square around a huge Christmas tree. The outdoor shopping area is decked out in holiday lights that stream across the streets as well so it is a beautiful place during the holidays. Ella Ann went in her pajamas so she was thrilled! Unfortunately, though, it did not snow. Booo. Spencer didn't know what happened but they had a good time anyway. Her and Spencer have been spending a lot of one-on-one time together lately. Ella Ann hasn't had her Daddy all to herself much so she is loving it and I know Spencer feels the same. A couple of weeks ago he surprised her and picked her up from ballet and he said that when she saw him she started squealing and saying "That's my Daddy!" Evidently when Miss Heidi called her name to be dismissed she shot out of the room and right into Spencer's arms (a resounding "Awwwwww!" was said by the other moms). It's the sweetest thing to see them together. She adores her Daddy.

So that's about it. We head out of here on Tuesday. Ella Ann has two more paper chains to tear off and it is eating at her to do it. She thinks that if she goes ahead and pulls them off right now then we can leave. There is no talking any sense into the child at this point. Excitement fully takes over all reasoning. I don't blame her...Christmas is going to be a blast this year!

In front of the Advent Tree. Jana made this for our family last year and we love it. Ella Ann will stand in front of it and tell me the story behind every single symbol on the tree. She's really paying attention! It is the highlight of her day!

Checking out the big tree at Atlantic Station.

Isn't this the cutest????

Christmas & Such

This morning we attended Ella Ann's school Christmas program. May I remind you of last year: The kids were all walking in the room ringing bells....Ella Ann spots Spencer and I....immediately bursts into tears.....I spent the reminder of the program on the floor directly in front of her trying to get her to smile and/or sing through her tears....both of which did not occur. This year was quite different...quite the opposite in fact! She did so great....I actually heard her little voice singing above the other kids! She sang all 5 songs...every word, did all the hand motions and smiled so big and waved when she saw Spencer, Rane and I. It was so darn cute! I videoed and took pictures while Spencer manned Rane...it was a job in and of itself, as you know.

"Away In A Manger"

Her entire school, minus the kindergartners.

Then there was Rane........

still crawling around daily, hourly really, with random objects in his mouth. Yesterday it was a baby spoon I had dropped. Today he carried around one of my big spatulas. No joke.

Had Ella Ann witnessed this attack on her precious baby she would have had a COW!

And the grand finale......

Jack Nicholson, anyone, in "The Witches of Eastwick"? Ummm...if you haven't seen it, he plays the devil and his hair looks like this. Rane did his own hairdo with the help of some bananas.

This week Rane is full of new tricks. He can clap now all the time (he did it for a while a month ago and then I guess he forgot how), says "bye-bye" and waves, says "mama," says, "uh-oh," and "uh-ahhh." I say, "uh-ahhh" on a regular basis when I'm trying to get him to either get out of something or stay away from something...he says it now to himself when he knows he is doing something he's not supposed to do...as well as "uh-oh" when he drops something. He cut his 7th tooth this week too. He is well on his way to being 1!

Best Christmas Light Display In the Neighborhood

Errr correction...only Christmas lights in the neighborhood! The only other light displays in our neighborhood are the menorahs in every single front window except for ours...we have our Christmas tree instead. Our neighbors actually encouraged us to put out our Christmas lights, so that is what we did. Spencer and Ella Ann put them up last week and we obviously did it for Ella Ann, who was so excited to see the lights on her house she was squealing with glee! We didn't have enough for all of our dinky bushes so the two of them made a trip to Home Depot and came home with pink lights, yes pink. You can guess who picked those out. She loves her pink lights. The picture isn't so great above but it was the best I could get on the night setting on our camera. Spencer promises next year will be bigger and better! Honestly, it won't take much!

We have been gearing up for Christmas this week. I ended up having to make a paper chain countdown for when we leave for Nana and Papa's house because Ella Ann asks me in her most desperate voice at least 5 times a day, "Wheeeeeeeeen are we going to Nana and Papa's house?!?!" She cannot get it straight where we are going first (Spencer's parents), second (my parents) and who's going to be where. Yesterday she asked me if Carter and Seth could come along with her to Mimi and Grandpa's house. The person she is the most excited about seeing is actually Nanny, her great grandmother, which warms our hearts tremendously. So precious. I have been making a ton of Christmas candy for my friends and Ella Ann's teachers. Of course I made extra so I've eaten a ton as well. I am done with all of my shopping (hooray!) and I am shipping most of our gifts to Kentucky tomorrow because we will not have any room in our car.

On Friday Ella Ann was buckling the top clasp of her car seat and broke it. This meant an emergency trip to get us a new seat for her that day. She was already going to be moved up to a booster seat either this month or next because Rane was going to be sitting in hers so now we will be buying another new pricey car seat for little boy. When it rains it pours. Ella Ann is so excited about her new seat. It is very comfy and cozy for her, has two cup holders and she uses the seat belt from the car's seat so it is much, much easier for all of us. She loves being able to move around more and I do too because she can help me out with Rane. When she sat in it on Friday night she said, "I love my new seat! I am going to sleep ALL the way to Kentucky!" Ha! Yeah...I wish!

We will be taking down all of our holiday decorations before we leave so that our tree will not be a pile of pine needles on the floor when we get back. It's well on it's way anyway to being dead. I am actually looking forward to taking it all down (so sad, I know) because I am so tired of trying to keep Rane from breaking any more ornaments (he broke the first one out of the box when we were decorating), shaking the tree and ripping the paper on the presents.

Spencer and I are SO SO SO excited to give Ella Ann her present! I have been wanting to get her the "it" toy for 2009 ever since my mom called me to tell me about it several weeks ago. I have looked high and low, like the rest of America, for the Zhu Zhu Pets. They are fake hamsters that live in what looks like a real hamster house complete with a wheel and tunnels. They have all kinds of add-ons, of course, including a car that they get in and drive around your house! They make over 40 different noises depending on what room they are in of their hamster house, they look like the real deal, can be petted and while doing so they make cute little noises, etc. Ella Ann would love this crazy thing and both kids would have a ball chasing it around our house. This $9.99 hamster is going for $60 on Ebay and the fun house, forget it....crazy amounts of money and they cannot be found in any store. So there I was last week at Toys R Us, minus Ella Ann, looking for another toy to get her for Christmas when lo and behold I saw a man in the checkout line with the FUNHOUSE complete with TWO hamsters in line!!! Oh my goodness I was so excited! I went up to him, tapped him on the shoulder (he was like grandpa-age) and I whispered (literally whispered), "Where did you get that?" He whispered back, "Right over there." As he pointed to a top shelf near the checkouts. He also said, "Run." Well run I did! I bolted to that shelf and got the last one! I went to a new line that just opened and the same man got behind me and he said, "You better be careful going to your car...you could get mugged!" Of course he was joking, but that's how coveted they are if you haven't heard! So I got the funhouse! Spencer and I got it out and played with one of the hamsters the other night and we definitely think Ella Ann will go crazy over this! I cannot believe my good fortune at Toys R Us!

So here is our tree.....
and Little Bit who pulled off an ornament (Zhu Zhu funhouse is the red paper!! Ekkkk!)
There he goes, after a present (at least it's his present).

"Little Ole' Me? I won't break anything!"

When Andrea was down last week she taught me how to wrap presents to make them pretty so now I am obsessed!

Ella Ann in her new ride today.

What Could Have Been

This was going to be our Christmas card..........

but when push came to shove and I was at the checkout counter at the photo department in Target I chickened out. I couldn't have my children on our Christmas card in Pink Floyd t-shirts (I know you are thanking me right now grandparents....I did it for you!). It was going to be super cute too. The card said "Wish You Were Here" on it, which for those of you who do not know Pink Floyd songs (yeah, I only know one too) "Wish You Were Here" is the song most people do know. Spencer has always sung this song to our kids at bedtime and Ella Ann knows the words. I was in the boys department at Target a couple of weeks ago and spotted the t-shirt and nearly did a back flip in the isle because I was so excited! Pink Floyd is Spencer's all time favorite band and to have his kids wear their shirt was just great for him. I couldn't wait for him to get home that day and see the shirts! Of course I had to bribe Ella Ann to put hers on and as soon as the picture was over (the one above was the ONLY picture I took) the shirt was off and it was back in the bag to be returned to Target. If it's not pink, forget it. I also had to turn her headband over to the blue side (the underside is pink) which sent her into a tailspin. The idea for the card was Spencer's, but the traditional part of me took over at the counter today and I bought the backup 50 cards I ordered with another picture on it. I only paid for one order (I had 3 orders of 50 cards each!) so no harm done.

So we are busy this week, or at least I am busy. Tis' the Season! I baked over 50 cookies for my Bible study's cookie exchange today. I had made chocolate covered peppermint pretzels on Sunday to take but then I decided they were not cookie-exchange worthy so I got back out in the rain after going to Trader Joe's already with both kids because I was one egg short (ONE!) and baked 2 dozen more cookies of a different variety. I baked all. day. long. yesterday. It was so fun to me...I really enjoyed it, but I would have loved it even more had I been all alone! It was tough to keep Ella Ann out of the the cookie mess because I made them with peanut butter and Baby Rane from out of my cabinets, the dish washer, hanging on my pant leg, etc. You get the picture. I had a hair appointment last night to get my hair colored for the first time. I don't know why I decided to do it, maybe my early mid-life crisis of turning 30. Anyway, I asked for a "warm" color...not too drastic but somewhat noticeable....I left with sorta red hair. Not good. Not happy. Will be going back, most likely, soon to get it toned down. Spencer described it as "auburn." Ella Ann described it as "pink." Either way, not the look I was going for. I will not be taking pictures to document this so unless you see me before I possibly get it toned down you aren't going to!

I have a ton of errands every single day on my laundry list of to-dos. I have more oyster crackers to make (my Mom's awesome seasoned cracker recipe), candy making this weekend, presents to buy, presents to wrap and I want to go ahead and get Rane's birthday party prepped on paper so I will quit lying in bed at night thinking about it. Our festivities will officially be over on the afternoon of January 9th (Baby Boy's 1st birthday party)! He is 11 months old day, I cannot believe it. His babyhood has gone by in the blink of an eye.


Last night Spencer walked down our hallway to the bedrooms and he called me to come look at something. I get to Rane's room and this is what we found....

He had pulled out the bottom drawer on his own, threw the blankets out and climbed in! He was in it forever and was squealing with delight!

Friends & Fun

One of my best friends/sorority sister that I have been friends with since we were freshmen in college came down for a visit this weekend. She lives in Kentucky so she made a longer weekend out of it and arrived at our house late Thursday night and stayed until Sunday. Andrea loves, loves, loves to shop so we did that pretty much all day Friday and Saturday and well into both evenings. We had a blast! Fortunately Spencer got off of work fairly early both days so he could help me out with the kids, except for on Saturday since he was on call. The kids were troopers, though, and we made it quick for them at Nordstrom's that morning. While Andrea was at the Philosophy counter I let Rane crawl around the store and in the mall and he absolutely was in heaven! It was a wide open space and he had free range! Andrea and I stayed up really late (I mean like after 1 a.m. on Saturday night....I don't know that hour unless I am up with a newborn), got sushi and sashimi (alone!!!!) Friday night, went out for lunch on Saturday, cooked here on Saturday night, played with the kids and like I said, shopped, shopped, shopped. It was a fun-filled visit and Ella Ann and I were so sad to see her go this morning. The kids adored her and Andrea enjoyed spending time with them. Ella Ann wanted to be on her lap the entire time she was at the house and Rane was so curious about her he was constantly after he as well so she never got a break while she was here!

The first two pictures, though, are of Rane. Spencer went in to get him after his (brief) nap and this is how he found him.......

So that's what he was up to instead of sleeping!

Believe me when I say they were both all about Aunt Andrea!

So while Rane was crawling around in the mall a store had popcorn as part of their display. Rane was bound and determined to figure out a way to get through the glass and get the popcorn in his mouth. I was laughing so hard at him because he kept going back to the same spot and trying so hard to touch the popcorn but, obviously, every single time he'd hit the glass! People would stop and watch him and crack up!

Andrea and I before she left this morning.

I tried really, really hard before and after church to get a Christmas-card-worthy picture of the kids. Yeah, that didn't quite work out as you can see......

I mean we have like 30 pictures similar to these. We didn't use a single one and ended up using one from another day. My friend, Janelle, made the kids' shirts and I got Ella Ann's skirt off Etsy. They looked so cute this morning!

I bought a gingerbread house for Spencer and Ella Ann to make today. I've had the house for a while and we told Ella Ann that she could make it today and she bugged us for two days straight about it. We told her she could do it after rest time so before rest time she said, "I am going to think about that gingerbread house the entire time at rest time! I'm not going to sleep at all!" During our prayer before we ate dinner tonight she interrupted me and said, "And thank you, God, for making the gingerbread house today." Bless her sweet little heart! She was over the moon about it and it turned out great!!!

This is what ended up happening.....Spencer decorating while Ella Ann ate the candy and icing!

She was very proud of the gingerbread man she decorated!

The finished product! It's now our centerpiece on our table.