Smiles and Cycle Cross

That Cora is so much fun! We are getting some smiles lately and we are loving them.

Also, here are a few pictures of our kids doing a cycle-cross race. They did awesome and had so much fun! Mud, barricades and finish ribbons, oh ya!

Sorry for the short post, but having 3 kids is keeping me hoppin'.

Evie, Leyton & our friend Gabe at the starting area.

Evie

Leyton, edging out the big girl!

Look-Alikes?

Our sweet little Cora is nearly 6 weeks old and getting nice and chubby, just the way we like 'em in the Jensen household (as if we have a choice in the matter). The past week we've been seeing more and more little smiles and can't wait for some giggles to start soon. Our family is having so much fun with her, having a baby in the house is just plan wonderful.

I have thinking she looks a lot like Leyton did as a baby and I found this picture of Leyton at about the same age that Cora is right now and was shocked with how much they look alike at this age!

Can you tell which is Leyton and which is Cora?

Cora Jane

Our baby girl, Cora Jane, was born last Tuesday morning and came into this amazing world safely and beautifully! Praise God, I went into labor 1 week before my scheduled c-section date, so we headed to the hospital in the middle of the night (thank you Julie for coming over to watch our kids at 2am!!!) and she was born at 4:53am via c-section delivery weighing in at 8lb 3oz.

We've been home since Thursday night and she is doing great! Our kids are adjusting well and we are so thankful to have my mom here to help us, she drove over on Tuesday and the kids have been enjoying some precious time with Farm Grandma.

Our wonderful Daddy and Cora in the hospital

Big brother with TWO little sisters!

She does a lot of praying...

Big Sister Evie. She is precious with Cora.

Girls Shirt Dress

Recently, I checked out the book, Martha Stewart Encyclopedia of Sewing and Fabric Crafts from the library. It's been such a fun book to get ideas from! One of the easy projects that I knew I could pull of quickly before our baby arrives next week was the Girls Shirt Dress, for Evie. Sadly, I just donated about 10 old dress shirts of Jared's to Goodwill and was forced to go buy one. Ya win some ya loose some. All in all the project cost me $6.91 for the shirt and sewing notions (double fold bias tape and thread), not bad for a fun project and a cute dress for my sweetie!

So, this morning I decided I wanted to get this made, and here is the final product. It took me about 45 minutes from start to finish, so it's a quick, easy project. If you hubby has some spare shirts that need to be retired this is the project for you! I will say, I think the pattern template is prefect for size 4-6, anything much bigger and you need to modify the pattern.

21 Days and Counting Until Babycakes #3 Arrives!

My Son Is All Boy

Have I mentioned my son is a serious mountain biker at age 6? This is the mountain bike we got him for his 6th birthday in June and he and Jared have been tearing it up ever since. There are a handful of short trails through the forest area near our house that the two of them frequent, with Evie on the trail-a-bike behind Jared. Yesterday he did a 'jump' in our backyard on a ramp Jared built for him and he said, "that was a sick jump!", I honestly don't know where he picked up that lingo, but it made me smile.

In other news, the crib is up and 28 days and counting.

Can you tell this boy means business?

Swim Lessons

At the kiddie pool on the lake.

Getting to swim in the deep part of the lake with their favorite lifeguard.

Our kids had three weeks of swimming lessons on the lake this year and it was the prefect way to end our summer. Strangely the weather just got warm when we began the lessons the second week of August and it was amazing the entire 3 weeks.

Nearly each day Jared walked down to the lake from our church (a 2 min walk) to have lunch with us after lessons and see the kids in the water. I have to say, some summer experiences are just magical, and this was one of those times for our family. We all had a blast and it was so fun to be on the lake each day and get to spend time with Jared.

Baby countdown: 32 days and counting every single one.

Here I am... in all my glory!

Summer Round Up

At Grandpa & Grandma's

On the farm in Idaho.

Camping in Eastern Oregon. I sure love these two kids.

Girls are Reigning at Our House!

We found out today that our newest family member is a girl! We haven't said much about our newest babycakes until now, but our third baby is due the first part of October, so I'm just at the halfway point now.

Today was also our sons 6th birthday...more on that coming soon!

Last day of school for our family!

Today was scheduled to be our last day of school at our house, and we made it! We are officially done with kindergarten for Leyton and pre-k for Evie. It has been a great year and I feel great about the progress that both kids and I have made the past 9 months on this journey together.

In the fall we will be joining a new Classical Conversations group in our area that is just forming, so I'm excited about being part of that core community. There are three established groups in the Portland area, but several more are starting for the fall and I'm so thankful that our community will be closer to us. We will meet once per week with this group and have a more structured class time with presentation by kids, instructions with tutors and a weekly enrichment time (painting, music, art, science, etc). Both kids will be able to attend, so I think it will be a great addition to what we are already doing!

However, in the mean time I'm excited about summer and taking a much needed and deserved break (for all of us)! Next week we kick off our summer with the kids attending a summer camp at our church's preschool program...and I'm going to take the mornings OFF! I have to say, I'm looking forward to this little break to get refreshed and ready to have some fun this summer.

Now, we just need some Oregon sunshine!

Raising a boy

If you ask me, raising a boy (kids for that matter) while living in the city is challenging. Both Jared and I grew up either on a small farm or a rural lake setting and I have to be honest, it's hard for us to know how to recreate those experiences on a small town lot. Our dream is to be in a rural area and own enough land to keep us and our kids busy with projects and space to roam and play, but that may never happen. So, until then our thinking caps are ON to figure out how to do our best where we are at. Any suggestions are more than welcome!

Recently Jared and Leyton had a great day at a nearby lake. It was a day full of mountain biking, snacking, falling into blackberry bushes, fishing, snacking some more and generally getting tired out being a man and a boy. Good stuff.

Jared, thanks for being such a great dad!

Jared's Christmas Gift

For Christmas I gave Jared a photo session with a friend of ours, Joel Bock, who is a wonderfully gifted professional photographer. My goal was to get some pictures of Jared as a musician so we can enjoy and celebrate his gifts and have some pictures of him in our home.

Well, we got some really fun pictures and I thought I'd share a couple of my favorites!

It's so fun being married to Jared and getting to be a part of his musical life! He is such a blessing to Leyton, Evie and I...you're a gem babe!!

Recent Happenings

This winter our son has made the big leap to riding on his own with amazing proficiency! Now, I ride with Evie in the Burley trailer and Leyton rides beside me and away we go. He's such a great rider we end up riding for several miles and Evie sometimes falls asleep. It's so fun to ride with Leyton on the road and I love that Evie is still content in the trailer. She really likes the trail-a-bike (a bike that sticks out behind my bike with pedals and handlebars) but I don't love having her on it while I'm watching him so closely, so she gets to ride that when Jared is with us.

As I reflect on our recent biking adventures, it makes me so thankful for this time we have with our children and grateful for healthy and happy kids. They are such a blessing to me!

Here is my baby as she approaches her 4th birthday in exactly 1 week.

She is still so little and precious!

Evie and her gluten free bbq chicken pizza

(a California Pizza Kitchen copy)

Leyton being silly while getting his routine buzz cut.

He wanted to try a mohawk...but he didn't really like it.

Quote of the Day

"Mom, last night I didn't fall asleep, I flew asleep."

-Leyton reflecting on how tired he was last night when he went to bed

Christmas Recap & Ping Pong Champion

I haven't blogged for an age, so I thought I'd do a quick Christmas recap.

It all started on a Monday morning on a 20 mile stretch of road in eastern Oregon that had been packed with snow and ice and then shellacked with a slick veneer and then glazed with a slimy gel that made for spooky driving. At 10-15 miles per hour every vehicle on the road was sliding around including huge semis and minivans like us. There was no exits on this stretch of road and you didn't dare pull over because you would have gotten hit in about 2 minutes.

Once we made it out alive, we proceeded on to my parents house in Idaho and had a blast! Here are a couple pictures from our time

Farming with Grandpa

Girl cousins

The best car track I think I've ever seen! Great gift Grandpa & Grandma!

The Annual Ankeny Family Ping Pong Tourney

I've competed, recruited and trained for years without a victory, but I finally brought home the title this year! My cousin Tami was a fierce competitor, but in the end I prevailed,

with a little help from the net.