Decisions, Decisions

After much pondering, fasting, and prayer, we made the decision that Matt would apply to graduate school and attend full time if he was accepted. Actually, Matt really has been trying to get his MBA for a long time, it just seems like other things kept taking precedence (ie, kids, new job, and moving). It is kinda funny though because our whole married life we have said that we never wanted to have five kids and have him trying to go back to school for his MBA. Funny how life never seems to go according to OUR plan though. So, with FOUR kids we are starting this new phase of our life. Matt applied to lots of places in the Chicago area, but his hope was that he would be accepted into the University of Notre Dame's MBA program. Growing up in the midwest, he always thought it would be great to attend ND. Unfortunately, his GMAT scores had expired so he had to retake the GMAT, which meant a lot of hard studying and lots of prayers. But, it ended up to be a blessing in disguise because he did much better the second time around. So, a couple of months and interviews later, we got the good news...he was a an official "Domer," he was accepted as an MBA candidate at the University of Notre Dame! He will be attending their two year program full time, so we put our house on the market and are hopefully heading to South Bend, IN this summer. The kids took the news of the move better than expected, but I don't think they really understood that we won't be coming back to our neighborhood, and with the housing market in a huge slump right now, we could almost guarantee them they would be able to finish out the school year and spend one last summer in Illinois---that was a great relief to them. So, with lots of faith and a little bit of luck, we are hopping on the starving student wagon hoping to be in a better place at the end of the ride. Wish us luck!

Two Wheeler

Yea! Caitlyn is so ecstatic that she can finally ride a two wheeler like all her friends! Actually, it was a couple of her friends, Emily and Taylor, who taught her how on her little bike. They kept working everyday after school until she finally got it. Good job, Caitlyn!

Pug Party

Aunt Jen came all the way from Utah with her pug, Samson, to go to a pug party downtown. These pug parties are a huge deal and people attend them with their pugs from all over. The kids were very excited to see both her and Samson and couldn't get enough of him. They all went with her to the party and had a great time seeing all the pugs in their costumes and generally just seeing sooo many pugs together at once. It was a great experience! Thanks for sharing!

I Put Ketchup On My Ketchup

Yes, this picture is exactly what you think it is...Parker is DRINKING ketchup out of the bottle. I literally turned my back for 2 seconds and when I turned around this is what I saw. One of those make-u-gag mom moments. I guess when you need more ketchup, you need more ketchup, right? All I can say is his Aunt Amy would be so proud....she who puts ketchup on cottage cheese and doesn't mind a ketchup sandwich (bread + Ketchup) every now and then. Bottoms up?!

Sunday Jam

When I was growing up my family spent pretty much every Sunday at my Grandparents house, along with lots of my cousins. We had dinner and then while the adults would sit and chat the kids would entertain themselves. We did all kinds of things like jumping on the tramp, going on adventure walks, and making up games in the basement. Today, we are lucky and my kids get to see one set of their grandparents every Sunday. While they love spending time with them and eating Grandma's "homemade" lasagna, we don't live by any cousins so the majority of the time the kids just hang out with each other. One Sunday Caitlyn and Emma made up a little performance to Aaron Carter's "That's How I Beat Shaq," and set up the play room for their "audience" (the rest of us). Here it is for your viewing pleasure.

Big Brother

Doesn't Parker make the cutest big brother? No, I am not pregnant...which Matt is very thankful for. :) For me it is more of a bitter-sweet feeling. Yes, raising kids is definitely a lot of hard work, but they are so darn cute they make it all worth it. There is nothing sweeter than hearing your child say at bedtime, after a crazy, busy day, "I love you, Mom."

Caitlyn's Creation

Caitlyn made this beautiful seashell creation at preschool and we enjoyed seeing it on display in our house for many months. Unfortunately with 4 kids in school it is just impossible to display and keep everything they create at school, so when it is time to display a new creation we take a picture of the old one so they can always remember what it looks like. A picture takes up less space and makes it a little easier for the kids to "recycle" some of their projects.

It's Just A Phase

Parker is definitely thinking this particular bowl of Lucky Charms are magically delicious. In fact he couldn't get enough and I just thought it was hilarious that after he licked the bowl clean he had a little marshmallow on his face. Don't you love this stage of toddlerhood---the every time they eat they make a giagantor mess that requires some major clean up?

One More Time

Grandma and Grandpa Jensen put on a little easter egg hunt at their house too. Everybody was assigned a certain color and got to find all their plastic eggs of that color. The kids thought it was great cuz they weren't worried about not finding any eggs and as an extra special surprise some of the eggs were filled with a little moo-lah...possibly the one thing better than candy. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

Easter Morn

After the hustle and bustle of the Easter Bunny, it is so nice to get ready for church and spend the day thinking about the real reason we celebrate. We are so grateful to our Savior for his atoning sacrifice for us and we know that because of his suffering in Gethsemane and his resurrection we have the possibility to return to live with our Father in Heaven. And through, faith, repentance, and keeping the commandments, we can and will be together forever as a family because of our Savior's atonement.

Yes, as long as they will let me I will dress them in "matching" outfits...it's just one of my little OCD obsessions.

Happy Easter

Our Aunt Amy got to stay with us this Easter weekend because Grandma and Grandpa were house hunting in Utah. Each of the kids got to dye a dozen easter eggs, which I am considering maybe doing a week before next year cuz they always end up with more dye on their hands than the eggs. Especially Parker, he was loving throwing the eggs into the dye and then removing them with his hands...I think his hands were blue for about a month. Of course the Easter Bunny came and brought lots of goodies and other fun stuff in the baskets and the kids had fun finding all 60 colored eggs.

Easter Egg Hunt

Our neighborhood has a crazy-big Easter egg "hunt." Although, "hunt" might not be the right word...basically it is just hundreds of plastic eggs spread over about four lawns and 20+ kids dashing around trying gather as many eggs as their bags could hold. Yeah, there were soo many eggs we had to graduate from easter baskets to grocery bags. Thanks to all my great neighbors for making this fun memory possible!

Precious

Emma was giving a family home evening lesson and the other kids were right up there listening so attentively, like they couldn't get enough of it. These rare moments make it all worth it.

Happy Valentine's Day

It's time for our annual Valentine's party. The kids love (and lets face it, I do too) the chocolate fountain and the heart shaped pizza is just a classic. We also got to play a mean game of HEART-O and we watched the Valentine's edition of Alvin and the Chipmunks. We love getting to spend this special day with the little ones cuz for right now they love spending it with us and we know that somewhere in the not too distant future it won't always be that way. Yeah, Matt and I will just have to settle for a nice, quiet, romantic night out all by ourselves---hopefully we can manage. :)

Let's GO Mini Mites!

Caitlyn decided to try out a little cheerleading. She is a Mini Mite and gets to cheer at basketball games for kids her own age. She did great at her first game. She was even so brave when a wild shot bounced right off her head---she just kept on cheerin. :) Except for a couple of random cheers (get your freak on?) and no pom poms (she was really looking forward to the pom poms, but her age doesn't use any) it was a great experience.