"Messmaker, Messmaker, Make Me a Mess"

Sophie has discovered the joy of making messes. This morning we hadn't heard a thing from her room until 8, but when we finally did, this is what we found when we went inside. Sophie had pulled all her clothes into her crib with her.

I knew this day would eventually come when we started hanging her "closet" on her crib rail, but we just don't have enough closet space for her clothes to fit in, too, so we made this work for a year and a half. Clearly it's not going to work anymore.Then when Joseph was trying to get off to school, Sophie decided to spill his cereal all over the couch. Of course it was my expensive healthy stuff, not just cheerios! I didn't think to take a picture until after it was all cleaned up, but here are the cushions after being deep cleaned.
She's also discovered my scrapbook corner in the living room and all the fun things that are in it. She pulled all the letters out of the container and luckily we managed to save most of my paper and stuff that I really don't want ruined before she got to it, but this is what her new "play area" looks like.

I know all you veteran moms are laughing because this is par for the course in motherhood, and Sophie's definitely made her fair share of messes in the past so it's really nothing too new, but she's suddenly turned into a whirling dirvish this week and leaves a huge path of destruction in her wake everywhere she goes. And it's only 11:00 am! But she has also learned to say "mess" and says it so cute that it's hard to get mad.

Tubing!

Last weekend we went tubing at Soldier Hollow which has become a yearly tradition of ours. It's the greatest thing in the world because not only is it not very expensive but it's all the fun of sledding with none of the work! They hook you to a tow rope and tow you to the top of a long hill, then you fly down it racing each other and have a blast! Sadly they wouldn't let us take Sophie on the big hill, but she had a great time on the little one. I thought she'd be afraid but she was so cushioned into the tube that there was no way she was moving one inch in there and she felt sufficiently safe. If you've gotta put up with the snow, might as well have fun in it!

At the top of Everest...er...the hill.

The snow was coming down pretty good, but Sophie didn't seem to mind.

Lovin' it.

Ahhh, such hard work!

Last Cake Class

Well, I'm done with my cake classes. I've opted to not take the next 2 courses because life is just too busy and I feel like I've already learned so much that I can use, but I will miss it and miss the girls I've taken them with. Here's a little sampling of the final cake we all made. (Clearly, I like daisies, or at least like making them out of frosting! I chose to not put any of my other flowers on like the others did.)Check out that basket weave! So fun!Side view. It's a basket with flowers coming out the top (in case you couldn't gather that on your own. :D)I threw the leaves on pretty quickly cuz I was out of time, so they don't look so hot, so don't look too close!My friend Melissa's cute cake.

My friend Julia's pretty cake.

My friend Kimber's darling cake (isn't her butterfly so fun?!)

My friend Isadora's lovely cake sans leaves (she hadn't put them on yet.)

Grrr, Snort, Tweet

We didn't get all the animals in, but here's most of the ones she knows. Love it! (Though I wish Joseph had just zoomed in on Sophie, cuz I look preggo and tired and gross. Good thing ya love me anyway!)

Valentine's Tag

I just passed up 150 posts, so since I believe in the law of tithing, I'm going to share 15 things about us (10% of 150) to commemorate 150 posts. I've been tagged and it's all about my sweetheart and me, so I thought it was pretty appropriate for this Valentine's season.

What is your hubby's name? Joseph William Jensen

How long have you been together? How long did you date? We actually have kept track of how many days we've been together by Joseph giving me a CD mix of songs we love every 100 days since we got together. (We're now somewhere between 1100 and 1200.) That was in December of 2004, then we dated until June 2005, then we were engaged for 2 1/2 months until August 2005 when we were married.

Who said I love you first? I actually did. I knew I wanted to marry him long before he knew, so I told him first. I was brave!!

Who is smarter? Joseph's smarter about most things, but I guess I can say I may know more than he does about a couple of things.

Who does the laundry? Who does the dishes? I do all the laundry and the dishes during the day, but Joseph (almost always) does the dinner dishes.

Who sleeps on the right? He does, and that's the way (uh huh, uh huh) we like it!

Who pays the bills? I usually do.

Who cooks dinner? I do, unless I'm not feeling up to it (read ALL THE TIME I'M PREGNANT!) but I do it anyway, just cuz I love my family. Joseph makes good eggs and mac & cheese! (and great cereal! :D)

Who drives when you are together? Joseph, unless he wants to study on a longer drive, then I do.

Who is more stubborn? We're actually both pretty stubborn, and we joke about how we never disagree about important things, only the really stupid, unimportant stuff.

Who kissed who first? Joseph kissed me on our like 2nd official date. It was nice. :)

Who asked who out first? Joseph says he asked me out first, and really he did, but I had kind of asked him to something the week before which he didn't at all consider a date, just a group hanging out, so I guess he did.

Who proposed? He did. He knew I knew he had the ring cuz we'd picked it out together that week, and he hadn't planned anything for that Saturday night, so I assumed he would do it then. But I'd always said I wanted to be surprised, so I was so glad he figured out a way to still surprise me. His sister gave tours at the Conference Center, something neither of us had ever been on, so he arranged for us to go on a special tour with her and her husband. They took us up on the roof then made themselves scarce and Joseph proposed to me by the top of the waterfall up there. It was very sweet.

Who has more siblings? Joseph has 4 sisters and 5 brothers, 10 kids in all. I have 1 sister and 4 brothers. Our ideas of a large family are way different!

Who wears the pants? I really think we share them pretty equally! Maybe he'd say differently, but I think it's really pretty equal.

Alright, now that you know our story, I want to hear yours! I tag Annie O., Karene, Jill, Katie, Danielle, and anyone else who will actually do it!

My Valentines

This is a little late, but I wanted to show off my Valentines, and then I realized that only one of them is actually in any pictures. Shoot! But I'll at least show some of the things we did on Valentine's Day, even if the love of my life isn't in any of these. This is my Sweetheart and accomplice in showering Daddy with love, Sophie Jo.We started the day by making Daddy heart and kiss-shaped blueberry pancakes.

Then we decorated the room with crepe paper for fun while he was at school.

We wrote a message to him on the wall.

And put a big heart on the ceiling.

These are the Valentines Sophie got in the mail from some of her cousins. She insisted on trying out the straw from Jensen and Siesa and the crayon from Sadie immediately and loved them! Thanks, guys!
"Well, you see..." :D

Apparently we made such a cute girl the first time...

...that we decided to do it again. We got the official verdict today at our ultrasound appointment, and it looks like we're having another girl! I admit I was pretty suprised because I was pretty certain that I knew it was a boy, but I was wrong, and I am very glad to be wrong. I'm excited for Sophie to have a sister so close to her age, as I always wanted one when I was growing up and didn't get one until I was already 10. She looks healthy and has all the parts she's supposed to have, and was moving around like a maniac all through the ultrasound. Looks like we've got another active one on our hands! :) Now the big name debate begins again...dang, we had it picked out if it was a boy! I don't want to start it all over again! Oh well. I'm just glad I'm feeling great (I haven't been sick at all, just tired) and we couldn't be happier. :D

Laugh for the Day

Just 4 more days until our ultrasound and we know what we're having! Until then, (cuz I know you're all biting your nails while you wait to find out like I am :D) enjoy this story about a child's take on pregnancy and labor.
The Middle Wife

I've been teaching now for about fifteen years. I have two kids myself, but the best birth story I know is the one I saw in my own second grade classroom a few years back. When I was a kid, I loved show-and-tell. So I always have a few sessions with my students. It helps them get over shyness and usually, show-and-tell is pretty tame.



Kids bring in pet turtles, model airplanes, pictures of fish they catch, stuff like that. And I never, ever place any boundaries or limitations on them. If they want to lug it in to school and talk about it, they're welcome.



Well, one day this little girl, Erica, a very bright, very outgoing kid, takes her turn and waddles up to the front of the class with a pillow stuffed under her sweater. She holds up a snapshot of an infant. 'This is Luke, my baby brother, and I'm going to tell you about his birthday.'



'First, Mom and Dad made him as a symbol of their love, and then Dad put a seed in my Mom's stomach, and Luke grew in there. He ate for nine months through an umbrella cord.'



She's standing there with her hands on the pillow, and I'm trying not to laugh and wishing I had my camcorder with me. The kids are watching her in amazement.



'Then, about two Saturdays ago, my Mom starts saying and going, 'Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh!' Erica puts a hand behind her back and groans. 'She walked around the house for, like an hour, 'Oh, oh, oh!' (Now this kid is doing a hysterical duck walk and groaning.)



'My Dad called the middle wife. She delivers babies, but she doesn't have a sign on the car like the Domino's man. They got my Mom to lie down in bed like this.' (Then Erica lies down with her back against the wall.)



'And then, pop! My Mom had this bag of water she kept in there in case he got thirsty, and it just blew up and spilled all over the bed, like psshhheew!' (This kid has her legs spread with her little hands miming water flowing away. It was too much!)


'Then the middle wife starts saying 'push, push,' and 'breathe, breathe. They started counting, but never even got past ten. Then, all of a sudden, out comes my brother. He was covered in yucky stuff that they all said it was from Mom's play-center, so there must be a lot of toys inside there.'

Then Erica stood up, took a big theatrical bow and returned to her seat. I'm sure I applauded the loudest. Ever since then, when it's show-and-tell day, I bring my camcorder, just in case another 'Middle Wife' comes along.

Sophie in Real Life

Loves for baby.

New favorite hiding place for our favorite pillow.

Yogurt beard.

Listening to the water come in.

Hard at work (aka deleting our playlists on itunes--argh!)

Reading the paper with dad.

Pontificating on who will win the election.