Cookie Fun!

It is a holiday tradition to get together with my mom, sister and the boys to make and decorate Christmas cookies at the end of each year. This year was especially fun because my cousin's wife, Jyothsna, and their son, Matthew, were able to join us. (They recently moved back to Portland from the east coast). It's always messy and the cookies are somewhat unappealing after being decorated, but it is always lots of fun!

Rolling the dough and cutting 'em out





Decorating





The best part



Too much sugar!!!







Yum

One Last Dance

Aayla had her last dance class today. The teacher had all the parents stay in the room to watch what the kids have learned. It was a dance recital, of sorts. I have never seen such cuteness!!

A little ballet...

Some tap...

To Get You Through Your Day Daddy!

We luvs you!!

Tree Time

We got our very first Christmas tree this weekend. We went to a local family farm and cut it ourselves. It was really fun walking the rows of tree looking for the perfect one. Aayla had fun helping decorate, but she had more fun taking the ornaments off and playing with them! She also thought it quite funny to pretend to take off the candy canes and eat them!

Fun on the farm...




The perfect tree...




Setting it up...


The final product...

Holiday Fun!!

Family self photo at my work holiday party...

Early Christmas presents thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Jensen...

Decorating our first gingerbread house with help from Stacie...


The final product...


We hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season so far!!

Thanksgiving 2009

We celebrated with our good friends Stacie and Garrett a couple of days late this year. We (mostly Garrett!) cooked a vegetarian Thanksgiving feast! It was delicious!

We are so thankful for all of our wonderful family and friends!!

Freaking Mommy Out!!

Spokane Trip

We had a great trip north to visit our friends. Saturday the boys went to a Cougar football game in Pullman (my old stomping ground!!) while the girls relaxed at home. Sunday brought snow to the area. What a treat for Aayla to get to play in the snow before Thanksgiving! Aayla and Ella seemed to really enjoy each other and it was fantastic to catch up with Katie.

The most amazing self photo ever... (and this was our first try!)



Me and two of my favorite girls...

Couch potatoes

Aayla dancing



Ella and Aayla



Friends for life



Our gracious hosts



We woke up to snow!

Two Little Monkeys Jumping On The Bed

We visited our good friends Seth, Katie and Ella in Spokane, Washington this past weekend. We had a wonderful time. A full report of the trip coming soon...

Fall Art

Good Little Swimmer

It's been a while since we've posted Aayla swimming. She is doing really well! She easily swims half way across the pool and can almost roll over by herself!

For Daddy!

We miss you and look forward to having you home tonight!! XOXOXO

Happy Halloween Times

It was another great Halloween! We had fun carving and painting pumpkins. This year, Aayla decided to add a face to her painted pumpkin. We call him "Creepy". She also enjoyed meeting up with the family for some 'trick or treating' at a local mall.

Aayla in her butterfly princess attire.



Ninja, Butterfly Princess, Scream Guy

Thanks Grandpa and Grandma Jensen!

Aayla loves her new dressy winter coat and hat!

Pumpkin Patch Adventure 2009

We tried out a new farm this year closer to our house. It was fantastic! It was a great little farm with tons of things to do. Aayla enjoyed wagons rides, picking out pumpkins, barrel rides, going down the slide, jumping on the giant tractor tires, riding a little play tractor and a very first real live pony ride (which, by the way, was her favorite part of the day!).

We found the perfect pumpkins!!

A first for all of us... barrel rides! A little tractor pulled us through a very bumpy field!

Playing around on the farm...

Aayla's first pony ride. She wasn't smiling, but she was super excited after the ride was over!

Happy kids.