Sa---wing......Romney!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYzbeexc-tA

Ryan and Blake and then Robbie all had airtime. I have to add that Ryan watched Robbie's swing probably 30 times in a row. It was awesome Robbie!

a few weeks ago a film crew from Mitt Romney's headquarters in Boston came to our house (it was kind of random how it all happened). We found out the day before they came and I was under the impression that it was going to be a media interview...then realized after talking to the campaign's head field guy in NH and then the creative director at the HQ in Boston that it was a 3 hour film shoot IN OUR HOUSE. I got a little flustered. I had about 3 hours I could clean our house that day in preparation because it was such a busy day anyway. They showed up BRIGHT and EARLY Saturday and captured "life". When they showed up Ryan was even still sleeping because they came early. Nothing a little Visine can't fix. They set up and started filming immediately. The kids were on the couch in PJ's watching Saturday morning cartoons, Ryan and I made breakfast, fed Blake and then we all ate at the table together, helped the kids brush teeth, pretend to go to school (since it was SAturday), play baseball in the backyard, jump on the trampoline, brush hair, read books on the couch , etc. It was actually VERY fun. I was surprised how easy it was to just do normal life (at a MUCH slower pace obviously) with cameras, lights, etc all around us. The kids acted completely normal (well, Hallie was eating up the cameras and performing:). They guys on the crew were pretty fun to talk to. One of them is a writer and did a lot of the lines in Toy Story (the Picasso line from Mr Potato head was one of them). Anyway, we didn't realize till we were signing the contract (signing our privacy away) at the end as they were packing up that they were going to use the footage from the shoot all over the country. We thought it would be regionally. Anyway, if anyone in FL sees anything...let us know...

Very cool experience.

A few more weeks have past...

Our ward Christmas party. Aubrie sang a duet with her friend Nycole. Robbie was a wiseman and Hallie was an angel. Hallie says, "mom, now I am three, I am not scared of Santa. I'll sit on his lap this time."

Aubrie and Hallie our reindeer, Blake is Santy and Robbie was the elf.

Aubrie is on a Destination Imagination team and she likes it a lot. I on the other hand, although I love being the manager am questioning the timing of agreeing to being the manager. It is SUCH a cool organization (its internationally available just FYI) and it is teaching her skills that I don't think she is getting in school. I just don't know if 11 kids 7 and under at our house is that great of an idea. :) I think we're switching to the school next meeting, we'll see how that goes.
The activity in the picture above was the ant/bridge instant challenge. The kids have 2 yardsticks and a sheet of newspaper and a "river" 6 feet wide. They had to build bridges (the more they built the more points) that thousands of ants could cross the river on. There could be no gaps and as a team they could not leave the "banks of the river". They had 3 minutes to plan and 6 minutes to build.

I mean really...

Robbie's first school performance. He is cautious (doesn't like to get in trouble), a planner and very observant. This performance was a big deal for him. He was so excited about it . He had everything all planned out in his mind how it was going to be. He did a really great job drumming and being a really cute pilgrim!

Sitting at lunch with Blake and Hallie and thought he needed a snapshot taken of his cuteness. He just got his first tooth and did a REGULAR crawl across our house. Watch out!

I am loving the "better" camera that is so conveniently connected to my phone that I have constantly with me. a little more life documentation.

On belay

Another Fun Friday night at the Y. You have to be 5 to climb so one of the girls there had Hallie help belay. Then they all could boulder around afterward. They are getting more brave. The first time they did it I don't think they even went 1/2 way up the wall.

Tis' the season...

Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus and our Wisest Woman (great gift!)

4th annual Creches, Carols and Cookies. Creches from all over the world set up around the cultural hall, and a kid area with dressups, crafts and nativities they could play with.

Someone was taking a picture of them right next to me and the Iphone borrowed their flash I guess:) Kinda cool.

Color for Christmas (A Jensen tradition carried on. We find the over-sized books at Sams)

Trimming the tree :) & our "beloved" Little People Nativity (and we added a Playmobil one this year and its a hit!)

And, the "Easter Egg" (coined by none other than DuVall Laws) hit 200K. Word!!!

Robbie: "Hey mom, did you notice that I am not coughing anymore"

Me: "No, I didn't. Thats great Robbie. How did you do that....I need your secret for me"

Robbie: "I just use the hand sanitizer for a few days. It works 99. Almost 100. Aubrie told me that. So it just made my cough go away"

Me: Staring at him very confused.

Robbie: "You know it works 99-99."

and then I just started laughing. Hand sanitizer. It kills 99.99% of all germs. I LOVE the way their minds put things together. Who needs expensive antibiotics???

Atlantic City or bust...

Okay, not really. I mean it wasn't our primary reason for going...

But we did go down to New Jersey for the long President's day weekend. True to form, the Doxeys are a party! We packed a lot into a few days. We left early Friday morning and got to Jersey just in time for Leah to get home from school. We went to an awesome park where Doug later joined us and just played. Perfect weather! Amber/Doug and Ryan and I had a great date night that night and went to a haunted forest and dinner. I LOVE date nights with siblings. Sometimes that feels like the only time we get to really be adults together. It seems like whenever one of us goes or comes to each others house that always gets planned in and I am SO glad. Saturday was Philly. We went to Valley Forge for our first time. It was more beautiful, enormous and special than I was anticipating. Next go around we are bringing the bikes! That night we stopped by the funnest children's museum in Cherry Hill on the way back. That was probably one of my favorite things we did. We all had the place to ourselves. They had a smallish hockey rink that we played on Robbie/Ryan against Aubrie and I. That was the first time I realized how fun it is to really "play" with our kids at an older level.

Monday morning we headed to Atlantic City with Amber and the girls. Another first time for Ryan and I. The Jersey shore is beautiful. All of our kids wasted NO time in jumping into the ocean. Crazies!

We had a really hard time leaving it was such a relaxing and fun weekend. I think we didn't get out of there till 5:00 or so. But we missed all the Boston and NYC traffic because of it:)

George and Martha's home behind us

*we even had a little National Geographic thrown in there. A female praying mantis eating the male. We watched for a good 25 minutes I bet.

Regular soldiers quarters at Valley Forge

Martha and George

Boardwalk inn Atlantic City

Children's museum

Iphone updates

Its that time again. The IPhone picture dump. We really don't use the camera anymore (maybe if we get a nicer camera one day...). So, in no particular order.....LIFE!:)

Our jaunt down to Boston to hang out with Dave and Karla for the day. It couldn't have been more perfect. Beautiful day, not too cold, a long bike ride along the Charles River, amazing playground along the way and pizza at Pinocchio's next to Harvard before heading home.

The playground that we stopped at had a zipline. Crazy fun! The kids have been waiting for years for Grandpa Haynie to come to our house and build a zipline in the backyard (I told them all about my fun backyard growing up). So this might hold them off for a few more.

Ryan and Aubrie were having a chat on the trampoline the other day and I had to get capture it, it was so cute. I love seeing moments like that. It makes me feel so content and I want to stop time for them.

Our nor'ester crazy October storm. Hanging out by candlelight before our 8 o'clock bedtime. We were lucky and had power after 24 hours. Most were out for at least 3-4 days. 3 snow days 2 months into school is a really bad sign...

Handsome guys one Sunday afternoon. And as a note--Robbie LOVES Ryan so much. He is his favorite person. He always wants to work with him, play with him, know where he is, etc. and the feeling is definitely mutual. Pretty special.

Robbie's first tennis lesson. "Mom, I really love that tennis!" and thanks to Ryan and many afternoons in the backyard playing baseball and at the track and tennis courts, Robbie has great hand/eye coordination.

Apple-picking with Whitneys and Medaris'

Afternoon at the playground

Karla gets roped into helping me re-finish our dining room table. It was LONG overdue.

???

Many, MANY Friday nights are spent at the YMCA for the Jensens. The kids usually have gymnastics or tennis or some class. Then we stay for their family time. We play in the gymnastics room for an hour--they are allowed on all the apparatus' and they love the tumble track and ball pit and rope swing, and parallel bars and... they LOVE it needless to say. Then we swim for an hour. By that time we are all tired and hungry and Friday night is pizza night. :)

Butterfly Unit at school. They even were able to see caterpillars go through all of the stages and eventually they tagged the butterflies and released them as a class. One of Aubrie's favorite things this year so far.

A staple :) costumes and trampoline.

Miss Hallie Rae's ballet