A little bit of December

The girls were VERY excited to witness the snowfalling. So much so, that Lauren pushed the chairs in front of the door so that even Anna and Rissie could observe the wonderland.

This display is actually cuter than it appears, and will be especially fun for Gma Lee. This is Anna "Baby Proofing" the China cabinet just as Grandma would do with a wooden spoon in her kitchen. I'm sure she doesn't realize WHY she is doing it - just that it's what you do with a spoon and two cabinet doors! ...Then when she saw the camera, she decided to pose.

Anna and Rissie enjoying the dough of FHE cookies.

My handsome husband and a happy Anna welcoming him home!

Anna, you say? No no. This was Marissa Jane - who seriously should have known better!

I think it's pretty obvious what's going on here. Notice the satisfaction on Rissie's face as she reveals the finished work of art - then check out Lauren's tongue of concentration.

Thanksgiving

We are so grateful for this time of year to reflect on the many blessings we have. I am particularly grateful for my testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the hope of Eternal Families that comes from that knowledge. I am grateful for many, many things, but during this phase of my life, I am especially grateful for the privilege and opportunity I have of being a mother who can be home with her kids - I can't think of anything that would make me happier! (My heartfelt prayers go out to those of you still waiting your turn for this blessing.)

Here is a little recap of how we celebrated our Thanksgiving:

We made these cute Pilgrim Hat Cookies for FHE and used them as place setting decorators. Lauren set them out. She also passed out the little turkeys we made from cut out hands and rice crispy treat balls - Thanks Mrs. Shaw (aka Aunt DeAnna) the art teacher for that idea. There is a cute little song that I learned in third grade that goes with the little turkeys. I am sure the girls would love to sing it for you if you have a chance to ask.

"Five Fat Turkey's are We"

Anna happily helps stir and sample the Graham Crunch

Rissie and Lauren check on the rolls. As you can see Lauren took special care that her hair was extra pretty for the big day and they both picked out skirts and tights to wear.

Sweet and Simple - We are ready for a little simplicity, at least I am. Although, I wouldn't have minded the extra effort to add a real table clothe or some matching place mats for our newly inherited Dining Room set. (Add that to the list. check....hope that doesn't sound ungrateful :)

I hate to brag, but for those who don't know, I have the best husband in the whole wide world!

We introduced the game Jenga to the girls. They loved it! You'll have to watch these quick clips of each of them trying.

Lauren's turn...she says she's gonna pick an easy one this time! Rissie is SO excited!

Jonathan Kade - A BOY - Representing Anna

I'm sure the word is out well enough, especially if you read my mom's comment. IT'S A BOY. :)
And as you know we have been moving into our new apartment. Well, I wanted to put up the kid pictures and found that I only had two framed kids and we are almost to baby number FOUR. How sad is that? In all of Anna's eighteen months we have not lived anywhere long enough to require the framed pictures. So, I decided it was time. I found four matching frames and Anna is officially represented as part of the Jenkins' kids. :) Here is a little bit of representation that she hasn't had.

Her blessing pictures (unfortunately a few months after the actual event) and her first year picture.

Then this is what I put together to represent Kade's place on the wall. I gathered these pictures of Jon from our wedding video. Back when I was making that video, I thought of how fun it would be to have a little Jonny. And who can blame me?
He may not look like this at all, but any time I mention movement or kicking Jon smiles and announces,

"That's my boy!"

Needless to say, his daddy is very excited for him to come. :)

Blue Island Apt Tour

Going to the hospital

We just told the kids that we are going to the hospital tomorrow to find out if they are getting a new baby brother or baby sister. Then, Lauren (4) explains to me what we should be looking for...long hair if it's a girl and short hair if it's like Daddy.

Halloween Party

Saturday night was our ward's Trunk or Treat. The girls, as you probably would guess, were thrilled with anticipation and excitement. Here is the group of them, Christopher Robin is holding our little Pooh Bear. He was one of two adults who dressed up. He looked the part a little better when he stood up; you could see his knee highs. (Some of these pictures you can't see well so you'll want to click on them for a bigger picture -- especially the collages.)

Pooh Bear without the painted face.

Kitty without the ears. When you asked her what she was she would give you a sweet little "Meeow" --BTW, had no idea her eyelashes were so LONG. Lucky.

The next day our Fairy tried her own hand at the eyeliner. Haha.

It was too cold to go out so the kids went from room to room in the church. Anna was so funny; she would not let go of her apple. She preferred it to the candy bag. Meanwhile, Lauren and Rissie were literally squealing with delight!

Blue Island pictures and a quick recap.

There is an update on our transitions and some pictures of Blue Island. But I started it before Rissie's A. update so you'll have to scroll a little to find it.

Rissie's Arthritis

Between New Jersey and Chicago we took Rissie in to see her rhuematologist. Both knees were showing swelling. So the new plan of attack would be upping her medication treatment to stronger action, which meant giving her a shot once a week for six months. My heart sank. Who wants to give their three-year-old a shot? (It's not three times a day though, right Allison?)
I told her doctor we were in the middle of transitioning again, and didn't want to put her through something like that in the middle of jumping her around. He told us that it would be fine to wait until we got to Chicago and recommended a doctor he did his residency with.
We continued to faithfully give her the Naproxin twice a day and met with her new doctor yesterday. She was very sweet with Rissie and I was overall pleasantly impressed with her. She also found that the swelling had gone down and thought the methotrexate might be too strong for the time being. (We were running out of her med in New Jersey and (with our insurance in Utah) hadn't been giving her the full amount. Probably why the swelling had been different.)
Rissie will continue taking Naproxin at a slightly elevated dose and hopefully that will be enough!

Heartache is a hard reminder that our hearts work.

What's happened with the Jenkins? -- Blue Island

So I thought I would give a quick update on our rapidly transitioning lives. Since moving from Mexico a little over a year ago (June '08) we have lived at my parents for the summer then spent 12 weeks in downtown Miami, then home to Utah again where we lived as moochers off our parent's for another "quick 12 weeks" that turned out to be SIX MONTHS (it's okay with me if we don't relive that,) then to New Jersey for a month and a half for Jon's first rotation (which is where you find all the posts on Boston and NYC visits).
NOW we are in Chicago where we are planning to spend the rest of Jon's rotations. We live in Blue Island, Il and are waiting for our apartment to be vacated.
Here are a few pics of Blue Island.

We're Back On - 1st Lauren's Haircut!

We are back on. Jon hooked up our Internet last night! You don't realize the conveniences the Internet brings until you try watching conference in your minivan outside the public library for their wireless. Plus I've been a little out of touch with everyone's lives.
We are very temporary right now - well be moving into OUR apartment at the end of the month, so I am sure there will be a lot of updates this week and then another break while I settle our family in. YAY!
Lauren's Hair- I really didn't think I could ever bring myself to cut her beautiful hair. BUT after spending the summer in the chlorinated pools her hair just wasn't pretty anymore and was so damaged that it wouldn't DO anything anymore either. So we both decided it was time...


...it's pretty dang cute if you ask me. (And if you ask her she'd love to give you an ear full about it - or just about anything these days.) She is a fun funny girl! :)

We miss all of you but are very happy to be feeling more settled and together. We love Blue Island and Chicago is a pretty and exciting city. We are looking forward to discovering more.

Sing Sweet Nightingales

This is more sweet than funny, but still worth sharing.

Kid Funnies

I have to write these down before I forget... Boston might come later today.

Yesterday
Lauren (4.5): We don't eat cows, worms...or potato bugs, but we can eat fish. Right Mom?
Rissie (3): NO! We DON'T eat FISHIES!
Lauren: Right Rissie. We don't eat REAL fishies.
Rissie: Not fishies or sharks.

In the car,
Lauren: Dad, will you roll up your window? It's making my hair crooked.

Lauren's breakfast prayer,
"...and please bless that Daddy will come home soon so he can see how cute I look..."
She had done her own hair - a lone thin "braid" in the front with the rest pulled together for a fashionable side ponytail. Check out the sidebar for another of Lauren's creations! ;)

Rissie's favorite lunch: Kinkabutter fanwich
movie: Kinkabell
Christmas song: Kinka Bells
The day she figures out the right way will be TOO SOON!
Oh - and her favorite breakfast these days: snow flakes

This is the third thing I've added since posting, but I keep remembering things...this actually just happened.
Me, referring to her panties: No Lauren, the big Tinkerbell goes in the back.
Lauren: Oh. That's why it hurts?
Chuckle, Me: Yep.

Coming soon - our adventures in the BEAUTIFUL BOSTON.

NEW YORK CITY - WAHOO

Wow! What an exciting day!! We had an absolute blast. We told Lauren we were going to the park where Giselle sang in Enchanted. So, as you all know our little singers, they sang Giselle's songs the rest of the drive into New York.
The Lincoln Tunnel spit us out right into the theater district. Talk about a first impression - it was awesome. Our goal was Central Park and Gray's Papaya for lunch. Both were great and we even found a descent place to park. Jon had to run back after lunch to find a more permanent place for the car. He left it on a side street "neighborhood" that was FREE. I didn't think that was possible in Manhattan.
Central Park was HUGE and we didn't even dent it before we were exhausted - especially Jon who pushed the stroller most of the time. It was beautiful. It's amazing how much you disappear as the crowd gets bigger. It was just us the whole day and yet we were surrounded by people. Does that make any sense? I thought we would stick out like a sore thumb with our stroller group - but nobody sticks out in New York. There were a couple of people who would go off on how cute the girls were. A few of them even took their pictures.
I was SUCH a tourist and took a million pictures. Okay not a million, but I did take 231. It was hard to pick the favorites so rather than use up all of the space I put them into these collages. Some of the architecture was so cool. You really should click on some of these to get the full detail...that is, if your into that kind of thing. In this first collage there is a picture of Lauren by the chic-flick bridge; we ate lunch on the benches four feet inland.






We drove past a couple of "movie makers/film crews" in front of the Rockefeller Center . If it hadn't been the end of long day we probably would have stuck around to see what it was.
Oh yeah. One funny story - the girls and I were getting our picture taken in front of the Enchanted fountain and a couple of feet away were three fancy dressed thespians, or so I assumed. As we walked passed the transvestite spoke to the girls, which totally took me off guard because of his high pitched woman's voice. Out of a natural response to be polite I smiled and even laughed a little. When he didn't break "character" it occurred to me that, "Hello, Becky - we are in New York." This probably wasn't his costume - but who he was trying to BE. sigh. It makes me chuckle to think of it. How sad.

Some comings and goings of New Jersey

The sight seeing pictures are mostly of The Green in Morristown, along with the Ford Mansion where George Washington lived. Morristown was a very cute place. If it weren't so far away from family and no mountains I could totally see us living here, or a place like it. This first picture is just an example of how the city buildings looked. The houses and appearance of Jersey is a whole 'nother post. I've already maxed out your attention span with this post I'm sure!

The Ford Mansion
There was a museum behind where they kept different artifacts from the mansion. The girls were actually more interested than I thought they'd be, especially seeing Sleeping Beauty's spinning wheel. Even better, they thought the loose flax was Jesus' hair.

Lauren got tired of our adventurous sightseeing,
so she found her own place in the "family stroller".

We gave them Red Vines to keep 'em happy and enthusiastic.

Our "Home"
On week nights they provide dinner for us in the clubhouse (very nice!), and at lunch there is room for us. BUT, on the weekends when Daddy's here the girls get to eat on the coffee table.

Swimming - their favorite!

Modeling (quite literally) our little dining room and kitchen while painting.

Lauren has taken to posing for the camera.
I asked her about it - she said she likes it.

Disney Princesses with the castle - another favorite.

Anna likes to join in - but right now she destroys more than contributes. Her sisters are good sports.

Some of these shots are more to give you a shot of our living space.

The girls bedroom/living room...you can't see it, but Anna's crib is in the corner opposite the gold chair you see. What does all of this mean?? No kiddies in OUR ROOM! :)