Christmas Day

We had Christmas morning at our house with what we thought would be a short gift opening, but we were amazed at how carefully Eilee opened her packages this year...it seems she is still intrigued by it all! Maybe next year she'll be tearing into them like her older cousins.:) Then, we went to Grandma's and Grandaddy-O's house for Part One of the McGuinness celebration. We loved sharing a special devotional by John Elderidge about the carol "O Holy Night" (please see his blog to read it---it is so moving). And we all squeezed around the tree as always for our cozy gift opening. Mom made her yummy traditional Orange French Toast and Cranberry Breakfast Pudding. Then, it was off to our our Reidy cousins for a delicious Christmas dinner and Maureen's famous Christmas cookies. We loved seeing all the family!

Christmas Eve 2008

We had a cozy Christmas Eve in Grandma Da's house this year with The Jensen Family. After enjoying our favorite meal of the year, we went to the Christmas Eve service together and came home to share our gifts. We had such a fun time seeing Eilee with her cousins Anders and Christian. They all really love to play together now! (They even ask to talk to each other on the phone.)

A few of her favorite things...

She does love girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes and snowflakes (or raindrops) that stay on her nose and eyelashes and brown paper packages tied up with string, but these are a few of her favorite things...

*Reading a pile of books.

*Leaning against any wall in the house.

*Taking her princesses and little people with her wherever she goes.

Thought I'd post a few pictures before fall is officially over. :)So...in an effort to catch up on what's been happening in the Jensen household for the last few months, I'll make a quick list of the highlights.

*We starting taking full advantage of our Disneyland passes. Eilee loves "Dumbo, Horsey, and Train." AKA Dumbo, The Carousel, and Casey Jr.

*Eilee dressed up as make-shift flower (I promise next year I will not be making or buying a costume on Halloween!) and went Trick or Treating for the first time at Biola University since our friends invited us to a dorm decorated as Candyland. At the start of the night, she was giving all the candy back and, by the end, she was trying to grab as much as her little hands could hold. We're learning. :)

*We took our almost-annual trip to Oak Glen with Eilee for the first time (well, 2nd if you count when she was just a little peanut inside me.) Eilee just loved being given her own special apple by the nice lady at Wood Acres.

*We had Thanksgiving at our house for the first time! I was thrilled to do what I love best...decorate and bake cookies and everyone else brought the rest.

*And...we've been running like crazy through it all with Kristoffer training for a marathon again and Erin seriously contemplating running a half-marathon in early February. Pretty much every Saturday we take turns pushing Eilee as we run with a group of about 6 or so.

Fall Fun

Here's one of our many efforts at getting a Christmas card picture. :) Erika caught this cute one in their backyard one crisp fall day.

Punkin Patch

We had a great playdate at the best Pumpkin Patch in OC at Irvine Valley College. They had a cute haybale tunnel, tons of 50 cent rides, some random goats, and pumpkins of all sizes. Eilee had fun pulling and pushing Liv around in the wagon (she has inherited her daddy's strength) and riding the mini carousel with Amelia and Charlie (and she's inherited her mommy's love for horseys). As soon as we brought home our smattering of pumpkins and gourds, Eilee decided to play toss the mini pumpkin (you can tell her daddy has been really working on her throwing arm). Ever since that day whenever she sees a pumpkin she calls out "punkin patch!" in a very excited one and a half year old girly squeal! :)

Due to technical difficulties involving our really old computer that will not upload our pics from our nice camera anymore, the pictures will come later. I've been procrastinating writing on the blog lately due to this problem. So hopefully we'll get a new computer for Christmas and be back to giving normal updates.

Why does MIT have to be all the way in Boston? :(

In mid-September we had a weeklong goodbye party for Kirk, Wanda, and Kyle. Eilee and Kyle really started playing (and saying "no" to eachother) together this time. We are so sad that they will be so far for 5 years or so, but are hoping this means they will end up back here (maybe San Diego) when Kirk is done with his post-doc. They are living in a neat old home that has a view of the Red Sox's stadium (I wish Kristoffer were here right now...I can't for the life of me remember the name of the stadium.) and is right across the street from a park that flies a flag that George Washington flew. How's that for a little history? :)