Happy Birthday Jensen!

All right, I'm a little behind on my posts so here's what's been going on.

Jensen turned 10...yikes...double digits!


We celebrated his birthday by taking him and 4 of his friends to LP's Fall Festival. His favorite ride was the Viper. They rode almost all of the rides, had CC's pizza, lots of candy, and soda. KK had fun at the festival playing with her friends. She got her face painted and somehow talked her friends into riding the "big" rides. You know...the ones that make you want to hurl your CC's pizza. Hey, it happens. I heard all about the pile of puke they saw while in line for one of the rides. That's KK for ya, she's very observant and easily entertained.
KK's favorite ride was the Storm!

Around 8:30pm we took the gang back to our house for more sugar! We had cake and Jensen opened his presents. The kids played chase with Kodi the dog, wrestled in the living room and finally settled down in Jensen's room to build Bionicles. Everyone cleared out around 10pm which felt extremely late to me because I was coming down with a horrible cold!

Then we had Halloween. I'll have to post pictures later.
Jensen was a Ninja and KK was Spiderman. We went trick or treating with friends then drove to Gran-mommy's lake house. We had another family with us so the kids woke up at the crack of dawn, even though they went to bed at 1am! We fished, drove the gator, and took a boat ride. It started out cool but turned into a beautiful day.

Last night Jensen had his annual Awana Grand Prix. Jarrod and Jensen (mainly Jarrod) worked weeks on designing and building the car. Last year Jensen won the Commander's Choice Award for the sweetest looking car. This year he didn't receive an award. He did have one of the faster cars. He finished in about the same place as last year...somewhere in the top eight. There were around 50 cars entered into the race. There's apparently a lot of science behind making a fast car and Jarrod's figured it out but isn't willing to make a wedge or flat plank car just to win a race.

Here's last year's car:


Here's this year's masterpiece!


Next year, Jarrod will have his hands full! J and K will both be making cars to enter into the Grand Prix! KK already has a design in mind. She wants to make an Underdog car. We'll see how that goes with the boss!

Karate

We've been very fortunate to find a FREE Karate class for the kids. A friend from church, Darren, teaches Karate in his backyard as a ministry. He's a great teacher and has a cool website HERE. A few weeks ago he had his teacher and a few other guys come out to give demonstrations to the kids. The kids have really learned a lot in a short amount of time. There are 30 or 40 kids that show up every week. It's an awesome group of kids and we're glad J & K are having a blast.

Darren working with J & K on their first day of Karate.

By the end of their second lesson, J & K almost have their Kata down. We ordered their gi on-line and they turned out A LOT larger than expected. It looks like they'll be wearing them for a long time! :)

Jensen working on a defense move with a friend.

Camping with Friends

We had a blast camping with John and Amy at Tyler State Park. The kids stayed home with Nana and Bob-bob. We found a great campsite with a trail to a private "beach". We stayed in the water most of the days and were pleasantly surprised at the weather during the night.

Baseball Camp

Today Jensen finished his first baseball camp! It was at the "big field" at the High School Baseball Complex. He had a blast and learned a lot. He was really motivated to listen since his trainers were RHS coaches! It seems like he's really into this sport. Jarrod's gotten motivated to help him develop some skills and is even researching the science of running. He's already helped Jensen improve his batting. What an awesome dad!

VBS 2008

This year Jensen, McKenna and Marsden got to be in the singing group on stage. I wasn't sure how they would do, especially McKenna since she was put smack dab in the front! They had a blast and did great. At first Mars and Jensen "hid" in the back but before the week was over they were up towards the front. We had a great week and were also fortunate to have Jensen's best buddy with us. After VBS we went to Wet Zone on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Tuesday we went to see Kung Fu Panda and Thursday we went bowling. Since I was off work all week for VBS, I figured we might as well pack in a ton of fun! Now I'm trying to pack in recovery time before starting back to work! I wouldn't trade the experience of VBS for anything! There is nothing like serving with friends and teaching kids about God's great love and awesome power!

Third Grade Luau

Best Friends!

Jensen & Ms. Born

Ms. Born gives an emotional farewell to her first class at CLP

We had a fun last day of school luau.
The students played the limbo and ate fruit kabobs.

We've had awesome teachers at CLP.
Now for summer break, then off to the 4th grade!
Wow how time flies.

Tick Tock Town

KK & Ms. H

On the last day of school, KK's class put on a play called "Tick Tock Town". It was very cute and they did a great job.

She loves Ms. Harrington and will miss her and her daughter Ricki next year. Ricki is going to middle school. She and KK have been writing notes to each other all year.

KK and Braeden

KK was Chairman and Braeden was Council of Hour

Yearbook Signing Party & Picnic

Jensen and friends

Kenna and friends

Kenna gets her yearbook signed by Mrs. Schmucker

Living Museum

Jensen as George Washington in the Living Museum at CLP.

Jensen and Ethan - George and Daniel
Great job guys!

Jensen and Ms. Born

KK and Jensen in front of the school.

Fun in the Sun

We had an extra day out of school before Memorial Day weekend so we took the kids camping. We got to the camp site late Thursday night so we had to put up our tent and set up camp in the dark.

We had lots of fun and it was hot enough to swim. Gran-mommy came out to the lake on Saturday and we rode a paddle boat and ocean kayak. The park rangers came to the swimming area to talk about snakes and park safety. We got to watch them feed Cornelius the Corn Snake. The kids got to pet the snake and hold her for a few minutes. Not me - I was good watching!

Kyoto with Gran-Mommy

Happy Mother's Day Mom!

We wanted to take Gran-mommy to Kyoto and KK couldn't go without asking her best bud WHK to go with us. They love the Hibachi Grill!

The Catcher

Jensen's first game to play catcher and we forgot his cup! Oops. That should explain the way he's positioned behind the plate. Notice the new catcher's mit. Leave it to daddy to find an awesome glove on-line for a bargain!

Walk for Life

This was our second year to participate in the Walk for Life to support our local Pregnancy Resource Center. Last year the kids only made one mile. This year they completed the 2 mile walk! Good job kiddos! It was a great day for a walk around the Harbor with friends.

KK and the Cat

Can I get a little help here?

Owens Farm

KK's class went on a field trip today to Owens Farm. We went on a hay ride, fed some animals and planted a pumpkin seed. Supposedly this one pumpkin seed can produce 2-3 pumpkins...that is if we can keep it alive. We're going to give it a try. My track record isn't the greatest when it comes to plants but hopefully we'll have some big, healthy pumpkins by the fall.