Merry Christmas 2009

Merry Christmas from the Sorensen's

This year has gone so quickly.  The kids are busy and I guess so are we.  We have been blessed throughout this year and pray the Lord continues to guide and direct us in our daily lives.

Last year I think I started with the youngest, so this year I'll start with the oldest.  Oh, that is me!  Yikes!  Well, my life has been good this year.  Health is a great thing and I am very grateful for it.  I am still staying busy with the kids activities as well as my own. :)

I work at least 16 hours a month to keep up my nursing license.  I love my job! 

I am also staying busy with the typical household jobs and activities that I enjoy (scrapbooking, bunco, etc), and also church callings.  I was called to be Primary President in May.  I am still adjusting and trying to do a good job.

Justin is doing well.  He's stayed healthy as well this year despite a little back issue last month.  He twisted a vertebrae in his back that required some PT.  He keeps busy with work and is doing a great job supporting us and making sure we have all that we need.  He is now working with the 11 year old scouts.  I wonder if he'll still be there when Tyler is 11. 

Tyler is now 9 and a half.  He enjoys reading, math and all sports.  He is very active and keeps us on our toes!  He played football, soccer and baseball this year.  He continues to do well in school and enjoys the EY (Excellence in Youth) program at school.  It challenges him a little more than the classroom.  He gets to do more difficult activities.  This past week he had the opportunity to participate in a spelling bee.  He was so excited.  This year was only practice, so hopefully he will be as excited next time.

Jenna is 7 and our "little hopper".  She is always moving...for those who have seen her when she is excited, she  jumps repeatedly and/or shakes her hands.  It's her way to show you that she is happy!  She loves animals and wants to be a vet.  She is also doing well in school and has finally figured out how to read quietly by herself.  I love when they discover that reading is fun!

Megan is the ruler of our home, even at 4 and a half.  She is a lot of fun and has the cutest personality.  She is always making us smile/laugh.  She loves her cousins and her friends and is constantly asking where we are going.  Preschool is fun too!  She loves to go.  Her favorite activity has been doing Perler Beads (We call them "melt-a-beads").  She does them daily and loves to take them to her teachers and friends. We have done so many this year that I decided to decorate our tree with them.  

With all that, I'll close this Christmas letter and hope you and yours is happy and healthy. 

We wish you a Merry Christmas!

With love, The Sorensen's

Broken...really?

Well, it all happened one evening.  Megan was at the neighbors playing with her friends RJ and Autumn.  She'd been gone about 30 minutes and there is a knock at the door.  It's my neighbor, Rod, holding Megan who is crying.  He says, "She and RJ were jumping off his bunk bed.  She says her leg and arm hurt.  She won't squeeze my hand, but I don't think it's broken."

I carried her to the kitchen (where I was in the middle of dinner) and put her on the counter.  She sat there crying and cradling her arm.  I gave her Motrin and an ice pack.  She sat there for about 15-20 minutes while I finished making dinner.  She seemed ok, but still moved around very carefully.  By the time Justin got home and we ate dinner (total of an hour), she was almost all better.  I was convinced we were going to go to the Urgent Care and have an X-ray.

Justin thought I was crazy.

We went and I started to doubt my decision, as she was acting normal with some guarding of her wrist.   We got to the office and had the X-ray done.  I knew the tech and she let me look.  I should have been a radiologist because I pointed out the fracture.  Hee hee!!

Distal Radial Fracture or Buckle Fracture

So sad...my baby has a broken arm.  I was so relieved when they brought in a splint.  No hard cast for us.  Although Megan threw the biggest fit that lasted about 10 minutes!!

"I AM NOT WEARING THAT!!"

My nurse friends tried to bring in stickers and special tape to help to decorate this ugly black splint.  Still...she was NOT going to have it.  She thought she would look "weird".  How does a 4 year old know that? I finally said, "If you don't wear that, we'll go to another doctor and he'll put one on that you won't be able to take off.  This one we can take off when you have an itch and to wash."  That did it.  She complied and now that the 3 weeks are up, she doesn't want to take it off.  It smells and I am ready for it to be done.  She needs to find her independence again and begin to WIPE herself!!!

Here we are at Skateland PlayDaze the day after.  She stuck around me for the first hour.  Doing the mellow stuff. Then she ventured off and went on the jumping toy and down the slides.  Thanks MOTRIN!!

I never thought she'd actually do this!  She's nuts!

Halloween 2009

Happy Halloween!

This year we all dressed up.  I think that is a first for us. 

 The kids Trick or Treating at Grandma Sorensen's.  Jenna looks a little possessed, but really she is a happy witch.

 

Justin was "Static Cling".  Kari was "A basket of Laundry".

Tyler as a baseball player.

I love when they chose things that don't take any thought or money!!

Jenna as The Wicked Witch of the West.

Her eyes even say that.  She really got in to her part for pictures this year.

Megan as the good witch.

She was so excited to be out of the house because she had been sick for 3 days and missed 2 Halloween parties.

Kitchen

The tile is done!!

This is after the grout.

 Just don't notice the yellow floor...I hope that goes soon! :)
 

Here is the before....

Here is the after...

Here is the new (almost done) back splash! We still need to grout, but have been busy and Justin hasn't felt well the past few days. I have had several requests to post this, so here is where we stand.

I love it! I am so glad I was able to talk Justin into turning the squares to the diagonal. It took A LOT of work. No wonder "Tile workers" charge an extra $1/tile to do this.

Doesn't it look amazing!?!

The grout will be dark like the tile. I can't wait for the complete project!
Next...demo the wall in to a bar and then replace the floor!!

Cottage Cheese Happens!

This is what happens when the cottage cheese container is dropped with the lid off!

It's even up to the ceiling.

Megan loves cottage cheese and will eat it most days.

Megan took this picture herself!

Sleeping buddy!

Megan was upset that my mom (Nanie) had gone to the store without her. Although she was asked many times if she wanted to go with her. Papa was there to console her. She snuggled right up to him like she always does and managed to fall asleep. He claims that he was not asleep, but this picture is proof that he was. I am not sure how she stayed asleep in this position, let alone with the snoring in her ear... hee hee!!

We love our Papa!!

Jenna's 7

It is hard to believe that Jenna is seven. She is growing up too fast. She is a perfect addition to our family. We adore her...even her "Drama" moments. Justin tells her we will enroll her in Drama and how she will be able to support us with all the money she makes with the "drama". Jenna loves to draw and read. She is growing up to be a beautiful young lady who is aware of other and kind to everyone. We love you Jenna!!

For her birthday she wanted a party with several of her friends. This party started at school as we gathered up the crew and walked home. What fun!!

Here they are decorating their cupcakes!

Every birthday we make them special pancakes. It's such a fun tradition.

For the family party we did a pinata. It was a beautiful ice cream cone. It took lots of hit, but when it finally broke Uncle Daniel showed us how they do it in Mexico.

The Snake!

Tyler and Megan decided one day they wanted to go hunting for crickets in the back yard. Tyler got all geared up with plastic baggies on his hands. But along with those crickets he found a snake. I am so impressed that he actually caught it.

They kept it in the ice cream bucket with grass, crickets and anything else they thought he would need. Tyler poked holes in the top so he could have air (how thoughtful). The following day while they were at school, it crawled out. Hooray!!

Summer Camping

We went camping this past weekend to Memphis State Park here in Nebraska. Who knew there was a Memphis, Nebraska? Anyway, it was an Elder's Quorum Camp out. We decided it had been too long since we'd gone (7 years).

About 9:45pm it started to sprinkle. Uh-oh!! Everyone hurried in to their tents and it began to Pour!! Lots of thunder and lightening. Unfortunately, our tent (that we borrowed from some very generous friends) had not had it's seams sealed (they had not yet used it) and it dripped on us. Water came in through the rain-fly and through the zippers. We had puddles everywhere! Tyler and Megan had it the worst. Their bags were quite wet. We finally got to sleep after 1:30am. Waking up every so often of course. Then up for good at 6:30.
Surprisingly everyone was quite chipper.

Breakfast was very yummy! Donuts, bacon, pancakes, eggs, fruit...
couldn't ask for anything more!! Notice the bacon Megan has stuck in her teeth. What a GOOF!

There was little turtles, little frogs and BIG frogs or toads. We found one that had been squooshed on the road. It was pretty cool. Anyway, the kids and adults had a great time fishing on the lake. I think everyone that wanted to was able to catch at least one fish.

Tyler and Justin

Scott and Tyler showing the food chain...little fish gets eaten by BIG fish!

Jenna and her primary teacher Maquel Welch hunting for little snails.

Jenna came home with a handfull.

Scott graciously holding the fish that Jenna caught. He's a true fisherman! Me holding Megan's fish. (Mommy doesn't touch fish) Never has. Even as a kid my dad always faked the hold for me :)Scott showing Bennett the fish.

Daniel and Brandon showing off their fish!Thanks to everyone who made this camping trip a success. It was so much fun! Now we can go out and buy our own tent and this time plan around the weather!!

Trapping a Bunny?

I found the kids out this morning rigging up this contraption...a block's box, a twig, and some veggies. They found a bunny in the yard (which is VERY common in Nebraska) and they decided they would trap it.

There is a twig holding the lid up in place. Inside is a leaf of lettuce and some carrots. They are convinced that the bunny will go in to get the food and move the twig therefore closing the lid to the box and trapping the bunny inside. What a great idea!! They positioned it next to the bushes in the front yard and we then left for a few hours to run some errands.

They were so excited to come back to see if they had something. Tyler and Jenna very quietly crept up on the box. Tyler hurried and closed the lid since he was sure there was a bunny inside. NOPE! No bunny. They were very disappointed. They said that some of the food was gone. Probably one of the pesky squirrels. I am glad they had fun.

Happy Birthday to Me!

I had a lot of fun this birthday. I copied an idea that my Aunt Sherry had. Whenever she answers her phone on her birthday, she says, "Happy Birthday to me!" It is so much fun! The responses you get are hilarious. It was especially fun for me because I don't have caller-ID, so I had no idea who I was saying it to! Try it!! I dare you ...

Megan and I taking a bite out of my yummy ice cream cake. It was Cookies and Cream. What a nice surprise from my hubby!

Vegas Baby!!

It's hard to believe the vacation that I have looked forward to for so long has come and gone. My two friends from high school and even before (Jennie in orange and Kari in blue), decided we would take a "GIRLS VACATION".

The first day we spent much of the day traveling to Vegas, but had just as much fun there as we did IN Las Vegas. I picked up Jennie in Santaquin, UT and Kari in St. George. We checked to our hotel, The Luxor, then hit the strip looking for discount tickets for a show.

We found tickets for Le Reve. It's written by the same guy who does Cirque De Soleil.

IT WAS FANTASTIC!!! It was like gymnastics, acrobatics and diving all rolled up into some very fit individuals. Amazing strength. We weren't allowed to take pictures during the show, so this is a picture of how it looked at the end.

The Las Vegas strip at night is so neat! Here is the view of New York, New York.

When we got back to the hotel and got ready for bed, Jennie realized that she had forgotten her toothbrush. So she improvised...yes, it's a cotton swab with toothpaste!!

This is the picture of INSIDE the Luxor! It was really cool although we never got used to the elevators that seems to be running on a diagonally.

Here is the outside of the Luxor. Pretty cool with the transformer on the outside of the building.

On our last night, we hit the outlets on the north side of Vegas. My good friend Suzanne (who lived in Omaha previous to moving to Las Vegas) met us to go shopping then to dinner. We went to The Cheesecake Factory. We had a lot of fun visiting and filling ourselves full of food. We then went back to the hotel and watched some of the festivities going on inside the casino part of our hotel. It was most fascinating!

Me and Suzanne! Miss you Suzanne. Thanks for spending some time with me.

UNTIL NEXT TIME...WE WILL DO IT AGAIN!