Noah

{{I'm seriously like a year {or more} behind on my  blog. With no real hope of ever getting "caught up", I'll just keep moving forward! Good intentions, but if those good intentions actually end up with what is intended, it'd be a miracle! ;-) With that, I'll update each child.}}

Noah. Noah. Noah. He is a good kid. Although a bit emotional at times, he's a good kid. I actually heard that boys his age (7-11) have more testosterone in their bodies than when puberty hits...I'm pretty sure any hormonal spike causes emotions to run wild! So, it's understandable! AND, he is the first child. I am not, but I've heard that the stress levels of the oldest are bit higher! My oldest sister thought her life was over when my brother was born, she was only 13, but she thought she had to give up everything and hold up the fort. She gave up her bowling career...what could have been. ;-)

Noah loves, loves, loves Avila. I'm pretty sure that we tell him not to pick her up at least 10 times a day, but probably more. He sure loves that girl, and she loves him. He is very sweet with her. He's very sweet with everyone really.

 

He has been involved in Cub Scouts. He loves it. He gets to go to a Den Meeting once a week and do all sorts of scout things. His very first Pinewood Derby was in January. He decided that he wanted a Batmobile. Not the old one, but the new and improved one from the latest collection of Batman movies. Adam was right on board. "They" made a pretty cool car. {we all know how the pinewood derby works, and who does most of the work ;-)} However, at 11 PM the night before the race, something went wrong when attaching the wheel, and Adam had to make another in a mad dash. It worked out, was within the parameters it needed to be, and won a lot of the heats. I think in the end, he came in 4th out of about 15 scouts. Not too bad!

 

 

 Noah is a goofy kid. He is always doing things to make people laugh...and laugh we all do. He's been polishing a few jokes, too. He loves to make people laugh, and make people happy. Almost to the point where it just stresses him out!

He loves to draw. He is always drawing. He doesn't just do stick figure drawings they are pretty detailed. His best drawings were always on the magna doodle, which always get erased, he has graduated to actual paper. Although there is paper all over the house, it makes me happy to know that his imagination is hard at work!

He loves school. Like loves it. He loves math. It's his favorite subject. He definitely did not get that from me. He excels in it. Reading is another thing that comes easy for him. He is reading at about a 4.5 grade reading level in 2nd grade. His teacher said that there are a lot of kids that do this, and it isn't uncommon, but what is uncommon is his comprehension level. Again, something he did not get from me! He can read a book and tell you exactly what happens and when and where it did, too. That, he gets from his dad! His favorite books are nonfiction...especially the ones about bugs and spiders. But, only so it will make me cringe. He finds joy in that for some reason!

Just recently, he recieved the Principals Award at school for "consistently demonstrating caring and kindness for classmates and being a positive role model". Awesome. Everyone always loves Noah. He's always got a following at school! He's always been friendly. They had a jog a thon at school a little bit ago. I went an watched him run, and everytime he would go past where I was, he was talking to someone. Just leisurely

And, he's handsome. He's growing up. It's sad. But, he's just so good looking! He does have some big teeth, but what 8 year old doesn't?? ;-) He's also getting very tall. He's about half an inch away from being too tall for the IKEA playland, which makes him about 56". He used to fit under my armpit, but not is about to my shoulder. It blows my mind. It's quite a show when me or Adam have to carry him to bed. Sadly, because he so big, he gets to wake up and walk most of the time! He is in a size 4 shoe and weighs about 62 pounds. Oh, how time flies!

We love Noah! I could go on and on about how great he is.

Happy 18 months.

How in the world is Avila EIGHTEEN months old? A whole year and a half. Goodness. My baby is not as much of a baby anymore.  I want to just hold her and cuddle her, and have her just smile and coo at me. She, on the other hand, wants to scream at me, pull hair, run around crazy and get into/onto everything! 

Miss Avila Maren is a ham and a half! She is a pretty funny girl...and she knows it! When she sees my phone or camera she will cheese it up with a smile and a pose. It doesn't last long and most of my pictures of her are blurry...she just can't hold still! She knows that there are five people in her house that she has wrapped around her little finger! She is still a mega nurser. She nurses all of the time, it seems. Well, when we are at home. Some days I purposely just leave the house so I don't have to nurse all day long! 

She is a dancer. Oh, boy, she dances! She dances while nursing, she dances while sleeping {really...if there is music playing, she will dance in her sleep}, she dances to the sacrament hymn, she dances to every tv show theme song, she dances to everything...and all of the time! She's got some pretty good rhythm, too. Her latest is {unfortunately} Gangham Style. She loves to watch the music video and dance like he does. It's pretty funny. Like her daddy, she loves music and wants it on all of the time!

She is a climber. Oh, is she a climber. She is my fourth child. I have never had a climber like her. Everytime I turn around she is on top of the dining table. Every. Time. She's usually dancing up there. She is now trying to figure out how to climb onto the swivel bar stools to get on the counter top. I'm pretty sure that when that is figured out, our lives are over! Every dish will probably be broken in every cupboard... didn't think I'd have to lock the upper cabinets, too! 

She is a trouble maker. Seriously. She climbs, yes. But, she's also into everything, can open doors, drops everything on the ground, and escapes from every buckle. At the zoo the other day, I had her buckled into the jogging stroller...it has an extra buckle so they don't get out while running. Well, she got out. She didn't unbuckle it, she just maneuvered her body out of the buckle and was hanging off the front of the stroller. That girl! 

She loves soda. Yes, we made the mistake of giving her just one little sip. And she obsessed over it. Oops. I now buy soda water and give it her. She loves it, and doesn't complain that it doesn't have flavor! I like it because she gets the fizz without the sugar and teeth rotting features! Other than that she just likes to nurse. She does love her some applesauce, but other food...not so much!

As much of a crazy girl as she is, she is a sweetheart. We love her so much...and are as much smitten with her now as we were when she was born! Her smiles is contagious for sure. She has gotten to where she will now smile at people in stores or whereever. It used to be a glare, but now she smiles a cheesy grin and says hi. Her teeth are just so cute! Her voice is adorable. It's so soft and just so cute! I love hearing their voices develop. She is such a cuddler. She loves for me to hold her and pat her bum. She will move my hand to her bum if I'm not doing it. She loves to have her back scratched and she will return the favor while you are holding her. Our friends were watching her the other night, and after her hour long cry fest, she just cuddled. It's hard to say no, even when there are a million things to get done! 

Many time during the day she will point to things and say "La La". I'm pretty sure it stems from me saying, "What do you see Avila?" She's just telling me "La La {or Avila} sees that, do you?" She now says Woah {Noah}, Ace {Macie}, Wawob {Jacob}, and Lala {Avila}, and walks around looking for them all day long! She loves her siblings. She is smitten by Noah. She adores him. Jacob, though, is her best friend. It melts my heart when they walk around the house holding hands, or just cuddle up next to each other to watch a cartoon. When Jacob is sitting next to her in the car she does great, he doesn't always have to be touching her and in her face like the others. He just is next to her, and that's just what she wants! She loves playing with Macie, too. Macie has the best toys in the house, and is the only one that carries her around. Macie loves having a little sister/doll to tote around! 

Little Miss Av, you are the best little one year old around! I can't imagine life without you! Happy half birthday, little girl! We sure do love you!

Baptism #1.

Noah turned 8. I am still in shock. How can my baby be eight?? Because he turned eight, he was given the opportunity to be baptized. He has been so so so excited about this...like beyond excited! He has been looking forward to this day for years! 

His birthday fell the Tuesday before Thanksgiving this year. So, I thought it would be perfect to host Thanksgiving at our house, and have the baptism the Saturday after. I planned it years ago! It was going to be perfect. However, you can never make everyone happy. It's impossible. Times that will work for some family, won't work for everyone. It just isn't that simple. A Baptism is pretty important. And we wanted Noah to know how important it was, so we decided to do it as soon as we could...we'd plan it the soonest we could, and do it, and everyone else could plan around it. Afterall, it was NOAH'S Baptism! ;-) 

It turned out to be a great day. Carol drove down from Provo with Matt and his family, Kim drove from Rexburg with her family and they spend Thanksgiving with us. And then my Mom and Dad drove down after Dad's Black Friday shift and got here late Friday night. The baptism was on Saturday. And the Jensens journeyed back on Sunday morning. Quick trip? Yes. But, memorable? Yes. Definitely so. 

Since we live in California, we have the option of doing Family baptisms. There aren't enough kids turning eight to always have stake baptisms. In fact, the next Stake Baptism wouldn't be for several months, so we were given the go ahead to do our own. It made it extra special.

The talks were perfect, the songs were the best, and it was a good day. And, we now know for the next baptisms that we should bring a towel for Dad and for the child. We should probably bring a back up tie in case the one we had breaks. And, we should probably not forget hair pomade for afterwards! Just a few minor details we overlooked! Oops.  BUT, our Home Teacher volunteered to make homemade vanilla ice cream, which was a complete hit! It went perfectly with the other treats we already had.

Afterward we had the family over for a luncheon of Italian Nachos, Italian Sodas...and swimming. In November. In the FREEZING pool. 

It was such a special day for Noah. He told me that he never felt better. He was all smiles afterwards and is so excited to be baptized. We are SO proud of you, Noah, and your decision to be baptized and to make those covenants with your Heavenly Father. I know that you were ready and are ready to learn. You are such a great kid with such a great heart! I love you, Buddy. You're pretty great!!

I promise that the eight is not upside down. I flipped it several times and it always looks the same. Odd, I know, but I PROMISE it is right!

Peter Pan Party

Jacob wanted a friend birthday party this year. He has been talking about it for months. I adopted the idea a few years ago that the kids could invite the same number of kids as they were in years. So Jacob got to invite four kids this year. He was pretty excited. He wanted to have a Legolas birthday party. Don't worry if you don't know who Legolas is. I didn't. Apparently he is in Lord of the Rings. He has a bow and arrow. Who knew?! It evolved to just a Bow and Arrow party. How do you do that? Then it was a "Weapon Party". I didn't think parents would let their four year old come to that. So, then it became and Indian Party. However, I wasn't sure that was so much politically correct. So then it became a Peter Pan party. Yes, he has a Peter Pan party last year. But who cares? I had so much ideas that I didn't execute last year that I happily obliged. A Peter Pan Party it became. 

Jacob was the brains behind the party planning. He told me the following: "I want to have three areas. A Peter Pan area to play Follow the Leader. And then a pirate area and play with swords and find a treasure. And a Indian area and shoot bow and arrows and play in a teepee." His requests seemed harmless. But, do you know how long it takes to make a teepee?? Lets just say I underestimated how long it would actually take! After a few sleepless nights, I didn't finally finish it! We had mini bow and arrows, which I didn't get a picture of. It's killing me! They were so cute with a popsicle stick and twine with q-tips as arrows. We made their "shadows" on black paper, which was the highlight of the party! We did in deed play Follow the Leader around the swimming pool, after they got Pixie Dust sprinkled on their heads to take them to Neverland. We also did have a sword fight in the Pirate area and found the buried treasure of candy in lieu of a pinata. 

A few hours before the party started, I got a phonecall from the bakery making the dozen cupcakes. They said, "We're sorry, but we are too tired to get your order done by 12. It will be ready around 2 or 4. Probably 4, though. You should go somewhere else." WHAT?? You are too tired to make my cupcakes? Nice of your to drop the ball 2 HOURS BEFORE the party. You lost my business. And probably others when I tell them what happened! It was insane. So, a quick trip to Costco to get cupcakes was in order. However, being a week before Christmas, they were all Christmas cupcakes. Jacob was pretty disappointed to see Christmas decor on the cupcakes, and told me that he couldn't have Christmas cupcakes on his birthday. So, we settled on chocolate muffins. That worked. 

 It seriously was the best party ever. Five little boys that age were perfect. Seriously. I was a basketcase leading up to the party, however...so it was JUST what I needed. A party to run so smoothly! Peter Pan was playing the background. So there was always something for them to do. It was simply perfect.

Four.

On December 19th, Jacob turned FOUR! {Poor guy, though, has to have a birthday a week before Christmas. His birthday blog always gets the shaft! I feel terrible about it, really! I'm contemplating celebrating his birthday in June rather than December. We'll see.} I can't believe it's been four years since Jacob graced us with his presence here on earth! He is quite the kid. Really. He has the charm that melts hearts...melts the toughest people.His smile is contagious. Everyone who has met him has been changed for the better! When we moved this past year we were at church for our final Sunday. The sister in charge of Primary that day got up to the front and said that it was the Christensens last Sunday. She called Macie and Noah up, and then remembered that Jacob would be leaving too. As she said his name she welled up with tears. Not to say that the others wouldn't be missed, but there just is something about Jacob that gets to people! Like, I said, he's quite the kid...there just isn't a way to explain it!

This past year he has been many different people. His favorites are Lane Frost Peter Pan, Captain Hook, Legolas, and Captain America. There isn't a day that goes by that he doesn't wear a costume of some sort. He doesn't play with toys a whole lot, it's mainly dressing up and playing make believe. With Jacob, we have to pick our battles. There are quite a few. He doesn't like tags, certain clothes, or underwear. So if he wants to wear a costume without a fight, we won't put up a fight either...at least he's wearing clothes {which sometimes is a fight in itself! ;-)}

He loves learning. Since the other two are in school and learning things all of the time, he is learning right along with them. He knows his alphabet. He knows the continents. He can count pretty high. He doesn't have much desire to write his name yet, but he's still got TWO more years until Kindergarten. He'll be okay!

I love this Jacob kid. Every day is an adventure with him. Sometimes good, sometimes not so much, but you know what, I wouldn't change it for anything. He has taught me some pretty amazing lessons on love, patience,and innocence. He's pretty great!

Here's to another great year, Jakey.