The ZOO!!!

The kids and I spent last weekend with my three siblings in the Seattle area-- so much fun! The highlight of our trip was the Woodland Park Zoo. And who wouldn't enjoy Guitar Hero with your aunts and uncles! (Yes, Sadie's using an umbrella for her mock guitar...) Just had to share a couple photos.

Lenssen Look-alike Meters

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Family history - Geneology

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebrities - Collage - Morph

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Genealogy software - Roots

A Boy and His Tools

Two photos. Four months apart. Tools for different seasons.

My two year old has "made a living" by shovelling our driveway this last 4 months. Starting back in Novemer, as the first photo shows, his Dad gave him some good training.

Now that we've reached the end of March and see flowers in bloom, Grant retired his shovel and began to service his lawnmower, anticipating the need as our grass began to turn green.

Today, March 27, 2008... he's confused. We woke up to three inches of snow and a school delay. Does he bring the snow shovel back out and park the lawnmower?

Decisions. For a boy and his tools.

My Love

Eleven years. We just celebrated eleven years of marriage! I can't believe they've gone by so quickly... for better or for worse. My husband is really great-- I'm a blessed gal to have such a fantastic man until death do us part!

SWEET!!! (uh... 16)

GO COUGS!!!

Our little town of Pullman is in quite an uproar of excitement as we've watched our winning WSU men's basketball team ROCK their season and now find themselves in the top 16 teams of the NCAA! Good luck, Coach Bennett and team as you play #1 ranked Tarheels tomorrow night in NC. You'll have quite the cheering squad here in Pullman!

This post not for the weak stomach...

Seriously. If you get grossed out easily, don't check out this photo I'm posting. And you may think I'm a sicko for posting it, but it was just too funny (and us stay at home moms need a little humor in our days!).

In honor of St. Patricks Day, my two year old "gifted" me with a poopy diaper. But not just any poopy diaper-- it's GREEN. Yup. It wasn't staged, planned, or "Photoshopped". I have no idea what caused it. But since it's St. Patty's day I'm sharing it.

And now I'm even more seriously considering the beginning of potty training. Who wouldn't?


Here it is... don't get too grossed out!

LOVE Day

Happy Love Day!

I just had to post a recent photo of my little ones and I to tell the world how much I love them. So precious, and so quickly growing up...


And I just got a new scanner, so I had to scan a photo from ages past... almost 11 years ago. Happy Valentines Day to you too, my love!

MORE Snow Fun

Here's more photos of the fun we're having in the snow... gotta make the best of it because it's a nightmare to get anywhere around here with our eternal snow storm. (Did the White Witch become mayor of Pullman without my knowledge???)

Lenssen Blizzard Fun

Join our fun in this 2 1/2 minute video of our snow storm activities... wish you were here to join us! (Turn off my background music by scrolling to the bottom of my blog and clicking "pause" on my playlist before you click play on the video.)

Snow Day!

We got buried in snow last night! Here's a couple of photos of the fun and beauty we're beholding here in Pullman. (My husband is away on business this week... wish he was here to help shovel... I miss you, dear!)

A Glimpse of Christmas at Our House

Enjoy this presentation of the Christmas holiday spent with our family!

New Mommy Blog

I'm debuting a new blog-- Mom-E-Memoirs. It's a place where I'll blog about my thoughts of my life and hopefully share some of the creative things I work on.

So, if you can't get enough of the Lenssens at this stop, feel free to stop by:
http://mom-e-memoirs.blogspot.com/
and get even more insight on my family and our lives.

This blog will continue to mostly feature my kiddos and the day to day news from our home. Come back and visit soon!

Christmas Day

I wish I could somehow post all the photos, words, and videos that would somehow describe the joy, peace and love that our family enjoyed this Christmas day! But you and I both don't have the time to go through that... so here's just a couple of my favorite photos taken today.

Merry Christmas to all... and to all a good night! (These beautiful children are OUT like lights in bed right now... what a day!)

Merry Christmas!

Welcome all you who are visiting as a result of receiving our Christmas card! We're happy to share with you what we've been up to this year.

Scroll through our most recent posts on the blog, and even look back further into 2007 by clicking on the "Blog Archive" links listed at the right of your screen. Enjoy, and feel free to leave comments by clicking on the word "comments" at the bottom of each post.

And don't wait until next Christmas to visit again-- check in on our blog throughout the year to keep up with our family. Or, explore the "Likable Links" to see blogs of our friends and family (let us know if you have one and aren't listed). You'll always find something new!

May God bless you during this holiday season. Jesus is the reason!

Love from the Lenssens

Tis the Season for Children's Choirs!

We had two beautiful girls sing in Christmas Choirs tonight-- Allison was a part of the preschool pajama choir and Sadie had a solo in the production "Angel Alert". They did such a great job we wanted to share it with you. (Again, you can turn off my background music by clicking the pause button on my playlist at the bottom of the blog.)

"Party Cat"

Sadie got to play her favorite piano tune yesterday at her first piano recital. She's being accompanied by her teacher Miss Christina.
(Turn off my background music by clicking the pause button on my playlist at the bottom of the blog.)

Black Friday

What a blessed Thanksgiving we had yesterday! Spending time with my family was so wonderful. I'm so very thankful for each of them and the roles they play in my life and my kids' lives.

And here we are on Black Friday-- I ventured out not too far from home to the local ShopKo... and ended up coming right back home. I think that on this day I prefer the warmth and comfort of my home with a fire roaring, coffee on, and computer for christmas music and internet shopping.

Time for making Christmas cards too! Look forward to one in your mailbox soon.

"I do not like them, Sam-I-am!"

Time marching on...

To my surprise at bedtime last night, I found my 7 year old not just looking at the pictures in a book, but reading it word for word. A classic. Green Eggs and Ham. I remember reading the book as a child. And now my child is reading it. I feel old-- but so happy for my sweet girl who is learning and growing every day.

Let it snow... rainbow style!

We finally had our first snow today! And I was actually prepared with a fun snow activity with a way to "color" the snow. I picked up some squirt bottles from the local dollar store, and put food coloring and water in each one for the kids to squirt at the snow. They had tons of fun, and we ended up with a creative, tie-dyed snowman! Try it-- it's fun for kids of all ages!

Here Comes... um, well, There Went The Bride!

It's already over! The exciting family wedding has come and gone, and now we have the happy newlyweds living in town here. Here's some photos from the October event that we shared with Dan, Shelle, and all the other Lenssens.

Dwayne was a groomsman (and oh, a HANDSOME one at that, I may add...), I sang my favorite hymn "The Love of God" during the ceremony, Sadie was a gift-taker, Allison was a flowergirl (nope... she didn't make it down the aisle... just as was anticipated...), and Grant was the token child who didn't want to cooperate during photo time (we will "treasure" memories of his cinnamon toast crunch flying everywhere...). All of us had important, traditional roles to play.

The most important part-- Dan and Shelle got hitched! It was a blessed day and we look forward to sharing in their new lives together here in Pullman.

Chainsaw Jesus

So today I was confused by my 2 year old's pronunciation of a word... is it "Jesus" or "Chainsaw"? We talk about Jesus and read bible stories, and my son thinks Daddy's chainsaw is just the coolest.

I know he's used both words in his new, ever-expanding vocabulary, I just sometimes get the two confused. I'm not crazy-- but I am the mom who's supposed to be able to interpret toddler-language.

So, in the car today with Grant and Allison, I decided that maybe the two could go together. "Maybe Jesus needed a chainsaw... then he could have cut down that cross they put him on..." (I know... it's a strech...)

And my sweet 4-year old's response: "No, Mom! If He cut down His cross, we would still have all our sin!!!"

What an insightful little one, huh? It made me thankful that Jesus didn't have a chainsaw.

"Moosie and Chachos"

I have a two year old. And I know that every day I hear him say things that I tell myself I've gotta remember. But do I write them down? Seldom. I'm changing that right now-- via my blog! Journaling... that's what it's for, WRITE?

At our "traditional" Sunday night dinner tonight, I served up the typical and simple snacks of a yogurt smoothie and our family version of nachos-- chips with cheese, sour cream and salsa. Simple. Easy. Pleasing. Perfect for a Sunday evening.

But the best part of our Sunday night dinner is the way my son says it:

Moosie and Chachos.

Also enjoy the photo of him as a contortionist... silly boy!

Pumpkins, Leaves and Costumes, Oh my!

October comes with some really fun traditions. As a scrapbooker, it's a little hard to make each year differentiate from the last. But when I think about how much my kids LOVE tradition (like posing for a jack-o-lantern photo making the same face that their pumpkin has), I realize it's just perfect do the same things over and over again. So, here's to tradition... only the beginning of a long exhausting but FUN season of it... and may you all find new and old traditions through your holiday season too. (And it's okay if it's the same thing you did last year.:)

What I LOVE About October