Soup & Snow Chunks

It's winter and as you can see we are eating a lot of hot soup at our house.  The kids are getting pretty crafty with how they manage to get every last drop! 

Going.

Going.

Gone.

Here is a picture out our front door yesterday.  I was some of the most beautiful snow...falling perfect and HUGE.  As we watched the snow falling, Jared said, "there are snow flakes, and then there are snow chunks."  Well said hubby.  
 

Learning to embellish

Well, I thought I'd post something I'm learning to do - embellish a girlie t-shirt! Yippe! I've never done much appliqueing before so this is pretty new to me. I read a blog post lately about certain supplies, etc and this shirt went much smoother than one I did a few months ago. It's still not perfect (I need some more practice on my top stitching), but they are fun to do.  I think they could be very sweet on pants or skirts for girlie-girls as they get older.

So, here is my 'little chick' t-shirt that was a gift for Kara's first birthday. Hopefully the shirt fits!

And if you see a theme you are right, barrettes!  You gotsta have matching barrettes for each outfit.  I'm planning on putting some on an Esty shop (if I ever get organized), so look for that soon!  

Projects and The Farm

Many of you know we were away for Thanksgiving on "The Farm" and Leyton was "Farming" the entire time we were there. There were many baby lambs born on our watch while my dad was out of town for a few days, so that was exciting for everyone. Jared and I held the fort down and managed to get ears tagged and and all the cows and sheep feed. We love it and always leave thinking we need to buy a farm. Maybe someday. Here are a few pictures of Leyton and Evie in action.

 

Also, here is a picture of Evie's holiday dress I made her.  Not really a Christmas dress, but a winter dress I guess.  Anyways, it was fun to make, and of course she has a matching hair bow...what girl can have a dress without a bow to go with it?  She also matches our pink & white kitchen floor, that was not planned.  :-)

Recipe & Haircuts

So, the big news at our house is everyone got a haircut this week!  Yippe.  Jared, of course, gets a haircut every week, but the rest of us are on a different schedule.  Since I cut Leyton and Evie's hair I decided to spend the $10 and buy actual hair scissors, and I was feeling crazy and threw in a penguin kids hair 'cape' just for fun.  Putting my grand total at Sally's Beauty Supply at $16 - most likely under the price of a normal kids haircut, so I was pleased with my purchases. 

Evie feeling gooney after her haircut.

I love how the back flips up...so precious.  

My new haircut at the 5:30 hour...dinner prep in full swing!  Always the craziest part of my day, so I thought I'd try to get a picture just to make it more absurd.  

Just a cute picture of our sweet girl.

Also, a little recipe I'll throw out there after mentioning it to several friends who thought they'd like to try it.  This is from Tessa Angelo for those of you midwestern folks who know our dear friend Tessa.  Great, easy recipe that kids and adults both seem to love.  

Tessa's Chicken Bundles :-)

2 C.      cooked chicken, chopped

1 can    cream of chicken 

1/2 C.  shredded cheddar cheese

1 C.      milk

**Mix all above ingredients together.  

2 pkgs of refrigerator crescent rolls (I actually used 3 this past time and it was two dinners for our family with the ingredients above).

Put a spoon full of chicken mix on each roll and 'bundle' the roll on top, pinching the roll together.  Bake a 350* for 20 mins.

Fall in the Pac-Northwest

It's officially fall/autumn in our neck of the woods, and we are loving it!  We are also officially friends with the orchardist behind our property and got to 'glean' the trees behind our fence (golden delicious...ymmm).  It's been great!  Lots of applesauce and apple crisp at our house.  We also got to mooch two boxes of pears from a orchard that wasn't getting harvested this year.  It's been a fun fall so far!  

Here are some pictures of our harvesting and a fall family outing for our church at a pumpkin patch last Sunday.  

Leyton and Jared gleaning...going back to the days of Ruth

Apples from our neighbors orchard!

Evie at the pumpkin patch in her fancy fall outfit from Grandma.

Sun Valley Church Family Outing @ the Pumpkin Patch

Evie's pumpkin of choice

Our sweet kids having a blast!

Project: Baby Bibs

Made a few baby bibs today for two new baby girls that we know.  I love this paisley print, so feminine and fun for a baby girl who needs to be cute while she's eating!  This is a simple pattern I slightly modified from a bib my sister-in-law (Racheal) made for Leyton when he was an infant.  I topstitch around the bib with a decorative stitch.  I only have a couple stitches on my machine but they are fun to use on stuff like this.  

Craft of the day...off the list!  Moving on to clean up my kitchen before my kids wake up from their naps.

Camping in the Cascade Mts.

A couple weeks ago we went camping with our friends, the Carlson's. They have kids the same age as our kids, so the kids did great together! They knew about this great spot, about 45 mins from Yakima, gotta love living in the great northwest! We froze our tails off though...it got down to freezing at night and we didn't have good sleeping bags for all of us. Clearly, we need to invest in more outdoor equipment now that we have kids to camp with! Goodness sakes.

You have GOT to listen to this

I recently listened to a sermon/podcast by Voddie Bauchman called, The Centrality of the Home, which was more than worth my time!  So, I thought I'd pass the link on to anyone who is willing to download it and take the time to listen to some wonderful challenges and a different point of view on modern evangelism and raising kidos.

Good stuff.

McCain has my vote and here's why

I am pretty much a one-issue voter in many ways.  So, I wanted to share this with those of you who cherish life and desire to fight for the unborn.  I strongly recommend checking out the National Right to Life site.  

NRTL's site has as a voting record chart for McCain and Obama's (who is a baby killer...seriously...he is a sick, sick man who apparently approves of and votes to NOT protect babies who have survived an abortion and need medical treatment to survive - see Born-Alive Infants Protection Act).  Obama also would like to see YOUR taxpayer dollars fund abortions and would happily see partial birth abortions legalized again and has a 100% Pro-Choice track record.  To see how sick and Nazi-ish/Holocaust-ish a partial birth abortion is, follow the link.  Obama actually mislead/lied about his voting on some abortion issues when interviewed at Saddleback church in California and his campaign then came out and admitted it, etc.  Listen here.

Don't let peripheral issues cloud your judgement (education, price of oil, etc) as you prepare to vote.  There are few things in life that REALLY matter.  I'm not saying that McCain is the answer for our nation, Christ is the answer, but this issue is important and worthy of your time and attention.

Random Summer Stuff

Here is a catch-all entry if I've ever done one!  Here is just a bunch of fun summer pictures and stuff going on in our lives that I thought would be fun to share.  Hope you enjoy.  

Also, THANK YOU so much for your encouragement with my last entry about the sewing projects.  I loved reading your comments!  

Potty training in full swing, and this picture is after a major victory. :-)  Either you know what I mean or you don't on this one...  

We immediately went to Toys-R-Us for a toy!

Evie & Leyton eating watermelon.

My first time making apricot pineapple jam.  

And, it turned out pretty stinkin' good!

Don't call it a picture on the wall...our first 

two pictures are up after living here 9 months! 

Our garden is crazy big right now.  Notice the compost bin Jared built for us in the back corner is brimming full!  Our garden will be even bigger next year when all that 

good stuff is in the dirt. 

sweet peas in our garden.

sweet peas.

My wheeling and dealing got us this table off Craigslist and the umbrella and stand on an end of summer steal-of-a-deal at Fred Meyer.  We are loving sitting out on our deck!

Outfits Galore!

It's been a crafty week for me.  I finished an outfit for Evie this week out of fabric I bought a year ago for this project, nothing like getting right on a project!  Also, I made an outfit for Tyfanny's daughter, Avarie (for her 3rd birthday).  Hopefully it will fit!  I'm a little nervous about that...

Do you know how hard it is to get a good picture of an outfit ON A 17 MONTH OLD?  I think I need help from my husband next time I try that.

Details for you sewing folks out there:  both pants are "britches & bloomers",  Evie's top is Simplicity 4243 and Avarie's top is just a Children's Place white shirt with coordination fabric.

I feel like this is a model shot or something...gazing off in the distance.

Just trying to show the pants.  Not having great luck.

Avarie's outfit. 

Cute little ruffles!!! 

My very first attempt at 'embellishing' a t-shirt to coordinate with pants.  I hope it holds up!  It's got an iron-on backing and then some decorative stitches on the top edges.  We'll see.

Panic Averted

Current topic...shredded cheese.

Alright, so, awhile ago I was informed (by a very credible source) that shredded cheese had powdered "plastic" on  it to prevent it from sticking/caking together in giant globs.  So, being the person that I am to easily jump on a bandwagon against over processed food I banned pre-shredded cheese from our home with great joy (note the hypocrisy: I'm seriously addicted to Pepsi). 

Unfortunately, the fact was brought to my attention today that the powdery stuff on cheese is actually a plant product called, cellulose.  And, since I know that ALL THINGS on the internet are true I 'researched' this on the internet and it sounds like shredded cheese is back on the menu at the Jensen house.   

That's the health and food report for the week from me.  Over and out.

New at Tag...

First time for everything. I guess I'm supposed to answer this questions with one word, so here goes! Thanks Tyfanny for introducing to be tagged!

1. Where is your cell phone? counter
2. Your significant other? napping
3. Your hair? brown
4. Your mother? ma
5. Your father? pa
6. Your favorite thing? home
7. Your dream last night? nope
8 Your favorite drink? PEPSI
9. Your dream/goal? humility
10. The room you’re in? office
11. Your hobby? sewing
12. Your fear? nov 4
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? yakima
14. What you’re not? homebody
15. Muffins? coffeecake
16. One of your wish list items? watch
17. Where you grew up? idaho
18. The last thing you did? errands
19. What are you wearing? skirt
20. Favorite gadget? food processor
21. Your pets? nope
22. Your computer? MAC
23. Your mood? laidback
24. Missing someone? yep
25. Your car? rockin'
26. Something you’re not wearing? makeup
27. Favorite store? gap
28. Like someone? huh?
29. Your favorite color? green
30. When is the last time you laughed? 30 mins
31. Last time you cried? awhile

So, I guess I give it a try...I tag Tawnya, Victoria, Christie & Becky.

Sun Valley Church Children's Ministry

Thought I should quickly blog about my new adventure. I will soon be starting my new role serving as the co-director in the Children's Ministry!

I will be starting in September and it is a quarter time - at home position that I'm really excited about. I'm looking forward to interacting with more SVC families and being more involved. If you think of me please pray as I begin this position in about one month. I am taking over for Amy who has been doing this for several years and I know there will be much to learn as she has played a big role in this area of our church.

That's it for me right now.

Trip to Idaho and Home Again

Recap of our last two weeks. Went to Idaho and hung out on the farm with my parents...came home...my parents came up and spent two days with us on a trip they took for their 40th Anniversary. Harvested a bounty from our garden...went to the parade for the Hop Festival and got tons of candy.

Leyton & Grandpa feeding

Evie eating dog food.

Our first 'harvest' this year from our garden!

Grandma & Grandpa stopping by on their anniversary trip.

Hop Festival Parade

Hannah & Aiden showing Leyton how to get CANDY!

Old hop harvester.