HONOR ROLL & PRINCIPAL'S LIST!

We could not be more proud of these boys! Especially the twins! They started kindergarten so young and they struggled so much. They would have to sit in during morning recess and work with Mrs Birch to try and get caught up. She worked so hard with them. As they continued to grow their teachers have continued to work with them. In third grade - it finally seemed like things clicked for them and they were caught up to everyone else. We were so proud of them for their hard work. As long as they worked their hardest - we never cared about their grades. But when the first semester for 4th grade ended and they came home with these bad boys - you bet we all celebrated with treats!

MORE DECEMBER RANDOMS!

When I don't blog and I have a whole bunch of random pictures on my phone - sadly - they all get thrown into one post with no details - but at least maybe it will spark a memory down the road.

I got to go on the twins field trip to the Tempe Center for the Arts to see the Christmas Carol play! I was really excited because I love that movie - none of us knew it would be one actor doing every single part. Needless to say - it wasn't our favorite!

Eli played in MULTIPLE football tournaments this month. Always made it to the semi-finals - most of the tournaments they won the whole thing, but the one that would have allowed them to play in the Pro Bowl in Florida they lost - not totally heartbroken because now we don't have to pay to go there, but I put on a sad face for Eli's sake! 

Tyson got to be on News Crew one day! 

I have avoided Art Masterpiece successfully since Emma started kindergarten - Finally the twins being in 4th grade and I got stuck with it! I had help the first time and it was great because I didn't really do anything - we will see how it goes - but the twins are happy at least! 

While in the process of re-doing Eli's room - Tyson got upset because Eli got a basketball hoop in his room and Tyson didn't. Lucky for him we had an extra - turd face!

Eli got invited by Derek to go ice skating. He didn't want to go. I kept pushing him to go - basically to the point where I was forcing him to go. I couldn't understand why he wouldn't want to go do something with his friends. He finally confessed - he didn't want his friends to laugh at him when he falls. I assured him he would be good at it, because he is athletic and has great balance! I also assured him that he would fall and they would laugh! Because it's funny when people fall! Well he went.. and had the best time! And he fell, they laughed and they fell and he laughed! And now he can't wait to go back! Some day I hope my kids will realize I am right even though they think Im not! 

Jared and I had been bugging Emma in the last 24 hours nothing - nothing imparticular - just being annoying to bug her! Well it just so happened we wore the same shirts the next day so we took a selfie and texted it to her at school - she was not amused - but we were! 

EMMA'S CONCUSSION!

On Monday, November 27th, Emma was at cheer and while she was backspotting her flier - her flier freaked out in the air and came down, but she come down like she should have, she came down with her arms out so she elbowed Emma in the head a couple of times. When cheer was over the coaches told me she probably has a concussion, but we blew it off, when we got in the car, Emma told me how bad her head hurt, but she kept it to herself because she didn't want to get pulled from cheer. The next day was block day in high school so Emma had cheer for 2 hours that day. The flier freaked out again and Emma got elbowed several more times and once she doesn't even remember. That was the end for her. Coaches called me and we kept it quiet. I knew it was bad cause her head really really bothered her, she didn't want to eat and noises were the worst. She toughed it out and went to school with ear plugs in her ears and kept her hair down so no one would notice. She didn't do a whole lot the rest of the week in cheer and didn't even cheer in the pep assembly or at the basketball games - we were trying to heal her on our own. A week later she was doing much better. So at cheer Monday night the 4th of December, everything was going great. Then we got a text from Emma saying to rush down there cause at the end they were going to let parents come in and watch. So we did. And we watched her get elbowed in the head again, this time she let go of the girl once she was on the ground and she ran out of the room. Coach ran after her. The girls did the routine one more time and asked how Emma was and the coach didn't want to freak them out so she just said, "Emma thought she knocked her tooth out" so everyone kind of giggled and carried on. Emma was in bad shape. This time one of the coaches told the head coach what was going on and we all let Emma sit out of everything and she carried on wearing her ear plugs and sleeping as much as she could at home. Saturday, December 9th was the first cheer competition of the season and Emma was having a great day! Grandma and Grandpa Jensen came out to watch her too. We watched her new the routine and I was very nervous when her flier went up, but all was good and perfect! It was flawless. After the routine and some time had passed, Emma came out and got Jared and she cried to him about how much her head hurt. Shortly after that, it was awards time. As soon as awards were over, Coach Markham came over to me and said, we needed to take Emma to the hospital. She was in bad shape. After she finished competing she was pale, her eyes wouldn't dilate, etc. They think the flipping upside down and all the noises pushed her over the edge and enough was enough. We went straight to Banner Cardons and sure enough, she had a concussion. She missed the cheer party that night and now would be missing the DC2 Christmas Show Recital that she was looking forward to. They sent us to Banner Concussion Center in downtown Phoenix. They said no school, cheer, dance, etc. But since we were in the finals week of school she needed to finish. The doctor sent a note saying no extra homework, if she needed books for tests they needed to allow it, etc. She pushed through everything. Her teacher were super supportive of her and with the help of them, sleeping after school, working as hard as she could and help from Heaven she finished her finals and got great grades. She had to start Vestibular therapy. Emma could not close her eyes and stand straight. When a person closes their eyes your brain knows you are on the ground and not floating in space. Cheerleaders and gymnasts have a heighten sense of this because of all the tumbling they do. Emma had to work with her brain and quickly because she wanted to be better to compete in January - to remind it that when she closes her eyes she knows where she is and has a sense of gravity about her.  The bad part about being out was once the doctors cleared her, then Perry had to go through their clearance process, but that was going to be hard to do since we were on Christmas break! We had the best athletic trainer at Perry and she worked with Emma over break and met with us, texted us the next steps we should be doing and got her all cleared! The doctor originally thought Emma would need 10 vestibular therapy sessions, but luckily we only went 3 because each one was $479 a piece - yikes!! Emma was cleared in time for for the January 13th competition, but she still struggles with getting hit in the head - she is a lot more sensitive to it than before her concussion. We were so grateful for how it all turned out and how Heavenly Father answered Emma's prayers and got her healed quickly in time for the things she wanted. She is for sure blessed!

RANDOMS!

Tyson loves him some buffalo wings! He might have enhaled a bunch tonight!

The twins and other baseball siblings found a wagon and took turns pushing people for a whole game!

Eli had his first scout camp out! He was stressed!! He was acting different and we kept asking him what was wrong, but he kept saying nothing, but he was not his usual self. We had to pick him up 2 hours later to run to a football game and when we showed up he was back to his usual self and talked the whole way to the game. We even had to take Trey home and he didn't even want to stay and play with him - he wanted to hurry back to his camp out! The next morning he showed up at home around 8am and then around 10am - he was crashed on the couch - snoring out loud! It was a success!!

ROOM MAKEOVERS!

The house turn 11 years old this year and it was finally time for me to update some more rooms. I wish I had before pictures but sadly - I just have the after ones. The kids bathroom went from a blueish/greenish wall color, brown and blueish greenish polka dot shower curtains and then brown letters with blueish/greenish striped paper covering the letters that spelled "BATH" that held each kids brown towel and then a wrought iron decor that we put bath time pictures on with magnets. In the new kids bathroom Jared helped me frame the mirror - LOVE it and even better - I had a vision of how I wanted the bathroom light fixture to be and I was going to pay the $500 for it, but Nathan talked us into building it ourselves. I got all the parts and told Jared to call the electrician to wire it up since it is literally made out of pipes for water and he looked at me like I was an idiot since he has a couple of degrees in engineering and I guess they are electrical engineering - oops! Even after he told me that I still doubted him. Then he took the old bathroom light fixture off the wall, ripped out the wiring, strung it through my water pipes and even got the light to turn on and off - who knew I married such a handy dandy man!!??  The powder bathroom was black and bright pink with a Paris theme decor in it. Eli's room was a super soft blue color with tan and black argyle at the top and tan curtains. He was SUPER EXCITED to get his room redone and be a big boy now! He spends time on his desk doing his homework, shooting basketballs in his room and is highly obsessed with Standford! Jared and I spent about 10 trips - no exaggeration running around from home depot to home depot buying all the parts and pieces to make these shelves and desk come to life! I designed this in my head and copied a couple of things (thanks Michelle Jolley for the headboard idea and basketball hoop) and Jared used the tools, his man building knowledge made created this for me! I mean for Eli! We spent the week painting, building, sighing at each other and listening to Christmas music - it was a long week, but I am so happy how it turned out!

DATE NIGHT!

Most of the time in the mix of the crazy kid schedules now a days - Jared and I just don't have time to date each other but every once in a while we are able to sneak away for a quick bite to eat and a dinner and it is THE BEST! Tonight I took Jared to the Perch in Chandler - super fun spot for a different type of dinner. I love me some Jared time!

TWINS ARE GOOD DOOBIES!

Sometimes - ok most times - Emma and Eli's activities consume our whole weekend and bless the twins hearts - they get dragged around to everything and have to figure out how to entertain themselves on a boring field.  So knowing the twins were going to have to do that AGAIN this weekend - we made the older two chicken quesadillas and then Jared took the twins out to Slim Chickens for dinner! They were so excited - you would have thought they were going back to Disneyland! They were hyper and shouting good bye over and over and then giggled the whole time they were there eating their chicken, macaroni and cheese and then their own desserts (that they might have brought home and Jared and I finished - Zorry!) These two thought they were the bee knees!