U is for...

UBER-excited kids! Christmas just can't come fast enough. (Funny... I tend to think it comes faster every year!)

Allison is our featured family member today!

She's been known as our "recycle creations" girl this year-- building crafty projects with anything she can get her hands on. Particularly recycled items. To the extreme. When we were eating chicken at a family dinner, she asked me after the meal if she could take the chicken bone home to "make a craft with it". Now that's creativity at work!

Last winter Allison had tons of fun in all the snow we had, she excelled in her gymnastics class last spring, and turned into quite a fish through our summer of swimming. Allison is a "playdate girl"... and adores her friends. Any time she has with them is a great time!

Beyond her reluctance to leave mom to go into school in the mornings (which is putting it lightly), she's been a great kindergartener! She loves the work they do in class and is picking up reading and writing really quickly. Allison just recently joined a Daisy Troop and is excited to do crafty activities, earn patches and spend time with more new friends there.

I've included a slide show of our favorite photos of Allison this year, and also a video of her sharing her version of the Nativity Story. I hope you enjoy this glimpse into our sweet 5 year old's life!

{U} is for... {S} is for... Do you know what's coming next? Come back to see in a few days!

S is for...

Sadie.

Simple.
Sweet.
Special.

Our second-grader has been busy this year. Highlights include playing in the snow like crazy last winter, working hard to learn verses as an AWANA Spark, piano practice almost daily (her picture above is with her teacher, Miss Christina), harvest and gardening work on Grandpa and Grandma's farm, "swimming" (without putting her face in the water if possible), learning to read and write better... and continually being happy with the simple joys of life. Her gentle spirit is content and compliant, and as friendly as can be!

Here's some of our favorite photos of her from this year, and a video taken two days ago at her fall piano recital. (turn off my background music by clicking the pause button on the music player at the top right hand side of our blog)

Enjoy! And come back soon for more installments in the Lenssen-Palousa Christmas Blog Series!

Additional Visual Aid to Previous Post...

And, for even more insight to our Thanksgiving Day Skype call to Uncle Mark and Aunt Brittany... here's video proof. Fun times.

Virtual Family Gathering

Our thanksgiving was a smaller number of family members this year... but still so nice to just be together.

And since Mark and Brittany are in Saipan for the holidays, we had them join us via Skype. Uncle Mark took time to swap silly faces w/ my kids (as you see my red head girl doing in the photo) and even played "Apples to Apples" with us! It was a great hour and a half visit... and helped us feel connected on Thanksgiving Day.

So one thing I'm thankful for is TECHNOLOGY. As a kid I dreamed that I'd be able to "see someone while I talked to them on the phone". Well, here we are. Meet George Jetson.

Surprise!

 
I had the pleasure of helping with a surprise 40th birthday party for my dear friend Carrie. Her husband put the plan in motion and I helped execute it... and we succeeded! She was quite surprised and got to spend some time with many special people.

And how about those Cougs?!? We surprised Carrie immediately after the APPLE CUP WIN... definitely a topic of the crimson crowd conversation!

New Tradition?

 
Recommendation: try having an early thanksgiving celebration with friends!

Thanksgiving is so frequently with family, that we forget how thankful we are to have our friends. The Davis family invited several families to join in a pre-thanksgiving celebration, and we all had SO MUCH FUN!

I think this should be a new tradition for every year... I'll host next year!

Which one do you like?

So, I took G-Man to Sears last month to have his 3 year old photos taken. And he wanted to have nothing to do with it. We didn't get any shots. I even bribed him with a new dump truck. He didn't like "the lady"... and a kid has to feel comfortable around the person taking his picture!

I gave up. I wasn't going to get 3-year-old photos of my son. But yesterday I gave it another try myself in my back yard.

He wasn't super cooperative, but we got a few decent shots.

So tell me which one(s) you like best and you just may receive one in the mail (that means you, extended family members!!!)

Photo 1

Photo 2

Photo 3

Photo 4

Photo 5

Photo 6

Photo 7


(My favorite is #3... the only down side is that you can't see his handsome brown eyes... which ones do you like?)

The G-Man turns 3 and has a TRACTOR PARTY!!!

We had the DREAM BIRTHDAY PARTY for any three year old boy... and we've decided we can likely repeat it for the next 15 years and he'll be just as thrilled!

Grandpa was quite pleased to be able to host this event... he even washed tractors, pulled out all kinds of equipment for kids to ride on, and re-tilled fields that were ready to be dormant for the winter. It's amazing what GRANDPAS are willing to do for their GRANDSONS.

Thanks Mom and Dad for letting us have a party at your place! (The last time they let me do this was with my whole sorority at their shop for a barn dance! A bit of a different party crowd than this one...)

S-Bug's 8th Birthday... Magic Party!

I'm so behind on my posts... but here's a peek at S-Bug's birthday party in early October.
Mom attempted to be a magician (pulled over a few tricks on these second graders, but my 10 and 12 year old nephews saw right through them...)and then the kids got to try out a couple of tricks on their own.

S-Bug had the greatest time with her greatest friends!

Boo!

For family who weren't around to trick or treat... here's a few photos of our Halloween!

S-Bug was Queen Susan from Narnia, A was Sunshine Bear, and the G-Man was King Peter from Narnia.

And Mom was coordinating the church Harvest Festival, but found some time to get dressed up into her Cleopatra costume before the festivities officially started. What a fun festival!

And the next morning... candy galore! (BTW, this was NOT my children's candy... it was left over from the festival and was being donated back to the church that day. But I couldn't resist letting them literally roll around in it for a minute or two... and then choose ONE to eat even though it was breakfast time...)

What a great weekend!

We were so excited to host Dwayne's family here for the weekend! His mom and brothers were all here together for the first time ever, and the first time in years for any of them even individually visiting. Here's a slideshow of photos highlighting their visit.

Come back and see us anytime! (Grant asked where you all were today... and then asked when his birthday party is going to be in an assumption that you'll be here!) The kids really miss you a lot already.

First Fishin' Trip With Dad

While Mom was away at a women's retreat for church, Dad and the kids were invited to head up the Snake River for a little fishing trip. We've got some really generous and fantastic church friends who run an incredible ministry called Better Fishing Ministries and take people out on the beautiful Snake River. While on the river, there is ample opportunity and visual stimulus to talk about God and the gift of his son, Jesus.




Since several moms were at the church retreat, a few dads and the kids got to take a trip they'll likely not forget anytime soon. And thanks to Lauren (the only woman who was on the boat), the "left behind" moms got to witness a bit of the fun via photographs! Thanks, Lauren!

Long Time...

No See!

Sorry to those regular followers of my blog... this last month blew by with no new posts! I've been busy over at Mom-e-Memoirs (in case you didn't know about my "other blog"). But one of my pet peeves are long waits between posts... so my apologies.

My last post did promise photos of harvest... and even though it's long over, I've only just now finished editing the pics I took during one of our favorite local times of the year.



We spent time at "both farms" for harvest... my dad farms at two locations. One is his family homestead, and the other is my mom's family homestead about 45 minutes away. This year we got to include Dwayne's brother Dan in the "family business" and we really appreciated his help driving trucks. It was fun to see the brothers work together out in the fields. The kids LOVE every minute we spend on the farm-- they get so dirty! Grant is especially fond of the farm. He announced this year that "I want to be a farmer like mine Grandpa!" (notice his hat says "Grandpa's Side Kick"... they're a perfect team!)
The very best part of harvest is playing in the wheat trucks. It's way better than sand (but still finds its way into body cracks and crevices)and always great to invite family friends out to experience farm life. Next year if you're around in August, come and join us!

Big FIRSTS in LenssenVille!

Our household is experiencing a big week of FIRSTS!

Our FIRST day of Second Grade for Sadie was on Wednesday... the weather was crummy but she was all smiles! She's got the same teacher she had in kindergarten and she can't wait to start doing science and art. She'll be starting piano lessons and AWANA again soon too.

Tomorrow is Allison's FIRST day on her own at Kindergarten! Today she and Mom got to hang out in her classroom together to get used to the idea of school. Say a little prayer for our sweet 5 year old who can really get anxious about new places and people...

Today Grant took his FIRST field trip to work with Dad. He wore his overalls and work boots and had fun messing around Dad's office. Another Grant FIRST-- last night the boys had the project of taking down his crib and delivered it to Grandpa's shop for storage. He's finally sleeping in his "big boy" bed!

And tomorrow will be Mom's FIRST day with two girls in school and only Grant at home! That's going to be interesting...

Tomorrow will be Dwayne's FIRST day of working wheat harvest with his brother, Dan. Dwayne LOVES harvest and will enjoy sharing it with another Ag-loving, deer scouting brother of his! (Photos of that to come!)

Skype-- LOVE it!

Have you ever used Skype?

If you haven't, you gotta look into it! As a kid who watched "The Jetsons" after school, I dreamed of the day in the 21st century when we'd be talking on the phone and SEEING the person on the other end at the same time... and now my childhood dream has come true! And it's FREE!

You can use Skype to make "phone calls" for free to anyone in the world using an internet connection and a microphone. And if you have webcams (or like me you download a DV driver to use your digital video camera instead of purchasing yet another technology item), you can see the people you're talking to!

Our family was motivated to try this w/ my brother and sister in law who are in Saipan for the year. We talked to them for the first time this last weekend and it was just like they were there with us! I even snapped a photo of them while we chatted. :)

We'll have fun with this all year sharing our crafts and school projects, piano recitals and dance performances from my kids to their Aunt and Uncle who are so far away!

Our Visit to Meet Mya

Got to meet my beautiful niece (and my kids' cousin... they were so excited!)! I just had to share a few photos with you...

Mya Elizabeth is Here!

Welcome to the family, Mya Elizabeth!

My sister Julie and her husband Rob just received the great gift of a beautiful baby girl... their first baby. Congratulations to them...and now I have a new niece!
Mya was born yesterday on the 2nd, at 4:34 am. She was 7 lbs., 8 oz. and 20 1/2 inches long.

We're thrilled to see some photos of her, and we can't wait to meet her in person!