home renovation

I went to the midnight showing of The Hunger Games in Smithfield last night with some of my former students.  It was the last book we read together in my Honors English III class.  So fun to see them and to savor the movie together, but I was exhausted after my 3 1/2 hours of sleep last night.  As a result, we started the morning in a way we rarely do:  with a movie.  Here is Kaden in all of his Toy Story Sheriff Woody pajamas glory, watching Ratatouille, and eating an Aldi-brand cereal bar.  He was in heaven.

After breakfast, we got dressed and headed outside for a little "shoot ball."


 Kaden was more interested in his football and kick ball today, so I don't have a single shot of a basketball.  One was there, though.  We also had a soccer ball.  It's amazing how many balls you can fit in a stroller basket.



 Here's Kaden, upset, because I had misunderstood and shot the basketball, when he wanted me to shoot the football:

 Here he is, fully recovered:

 Here he is, after I told him he couldn't eat the football and made him take the big chunk of orange foam out of his mouth:
 Oh, the anguish.
 When standing didn't get the results he wanted, Kaden resorted to sitting:

 Here is Kaden distracted by mulch next to the basketball court.
Another meltdown was induced when Master Reese found out he wasn't allowed to pick up handfuls of mulch and dump them in the grass.  At this point, I realized we were probably overdue for a nap.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to capture footage of the event, as I was struggling to strap him into his stroller, whilst he arched his back and screamed bloody murder. 

We came home and read this:

We got this book at the library last time we went to stock up on new stories.  I remember my Grandma Jensen reading me this book when I was little.  If I try really hard, I can remember how it felt to be snuggled in her lap, my head nestled up against her, listening to her read this story.  It's an oldie, but a goodie.

Then we read about a zillion other books, and Kaden went to sleep with a handful of bibis (what he calls his pacifiers).

That was our morning.  How did you spend yours?

Isn't it funny how when you are selling your house, you hope everyone is so in love with it they'll want to buy it, but when you're looking to buy a house, you hope you're the only one that loves it until you buy it?  Right now we are in the process of selling our house, with what looks like a very rapidly approaching closing date (YAY!), and so we are also looking at homes.  Last night, we found THE house.  The one that filled my heart with palpitations and kept me up all night dreaming about paint colors.  The one we can actually afford and not have to do three years of repairs to.  I hope no one else likes it as much as we do, at least until we can offer to buy it.

Lately, I have been in a cooking rut.  Seriously.  A lot of this has to do with the fact that we are living on a very limited grocery budget right now, so most of my culinary creations consist of looking at what I have in my fridge/cupboards and trying to invent something that sounds divine without going to the grocery store.  Not a great deal of masterpieces have been created lately.  I have rekindled my relationship with eggs.  Eggs are my friend.  Breakfast for dinner?  My BFF.  Today, I really wanted to cook something good.  This woman saved me.  She has such a delightful, friendly cooking blog.  What I love best about it is that she cooks with pretty normal ingredients.  So, thanks to her, tonight we are having glazed carrots with rosemary and butter cream chicken.  We are also having garlic mashed potatoes, but I didn't have to find a recipe for that.  There will be potatoes, there will be butter, there will be sour cream, and there will be LOTS of garlic.  If you don't know how to make mashed potatoes without a recipe, come over to my house, so we can remedy this tragedy.  Oh, potatoes drowned in garlic, how I love thee!  We are also having homemade bread, because Bernice and I bonded and kneaded up two loaves together.  Not a bad meal for an assembly of what we had on hand. 

My Garden Heights gym instruction is all coming back to me now.  I have shot more basketballs in the last week than I have . . . well, probably ever.  Kaden loves some "shoot ball."  Even though I'm no Jimmer, how can I say no when he looks at me with his big brown eyes and says, "I wan Mama shoot!"  Luckily, he thinks it's just as awesome when I air ball or hit the backboard as when I actually make a basket. 

I wonder how long Kaden's favorite word will be "no".  And how long his favorite phrase will be "no, no, no!"  Seriously, I'm starting to worry that if someone offers him a full ride scholarship to Harvard when he's 18, he'll say, "No, no, no!" just because it wasn't his idea.  Playing mental games with a toddler is exhausting, I tell you.  Whoever named the terrible twos obviously didn't raise Kaden as a 19 month old.  We've been in full-swing tantrum-dum for over a month now. 

When did Kaden get so good at giving hugs?  One, unannounced squeeze around the neck and I can forget all about his last meltdown. 

I wonder how long Kaden will be good at just nicely coloring on the paper/being content to take the crayons out of the container and put them back in before he discovers he can also color on furniture, walls, and floors . . . It's probably time for this blog post to end!

One of Kaden and Kenzie's favorite things to do was take baths together at Gigi's house.  They had so much fun splashing!  Here they are, "helping" Gigi get the tub ready:
 Here they are splashing away:

And this morning in the house
The mother's guilt was stirring, much more than that of her spouse
A blog post with pictures had never been completed with care
Even though St. Nicholas had shown up and been there

So when the cranky toddler was nestled all snug in his bed,
While visions of fruit snacks and raisins danced in his head
Mama in her PJs, with computer in her lap
Hoped that the baby would continue to nap.

Then the keyboard produced such a clatter
As memories of Christmas made her post grow quite fatter.

 OK...enough of the rhymes.  Seriously though.  A Christmas post two months late?  Shameful.  Even though it's very late, I want to document our Christmas adventures.

Kaden met Santa for the first time at our ward Christmas party.  The interview did not go well, but we did get a free candy cane out of it:

Since we went to my parents' house for Christmas this year, Santa visited us early in  Kinston, so we wouldn't have as much to haul home in suitcases.  We went over to Gigi and Poppy's house, so everyone could watch Kaden open his presents.  While we were there, we opened our gifts from Chad's family as well. . Here are some of the things Santa brought Kaden:




His very first real soccer ball!  It's a size three, and he is quite the champ at dribbling this little baby. Here he is, excitedly showing his ball to everyone in the room, and to Kenzie, Tanner, and Aunt Meredith who were Skyping with us.  

Here is Kaden's captive audience:

 And Aunt Lauren and Uncle Tyler helping him open one of his gifts.  This year was a lot more fun, since last year he just cried every time he heard the paper tear. 

 Just when it looked like there were no presents left, the big Kahuna was discovered in the living room:


 I hear Santa got a killer garage sale deal on this little baby.  Somewhere to the tune of $3.00.  Not in mint condition, but a great used model, since it's his first car.  We figure he's likely to wreck it anyway. 

Here is Kaden showing off for the crowd at our early Christmas celebration.  He kept opening the car door, getting inside, getting out of the car, then slamming the door, and doing a funny dance move.  We found it hysterical.  As soon as Kaden knew we were laughing at him, it was game over.  He is such a little ham and loves to show off.  (I can't imagine where he got this from . . . certainly not from his mother! Cough. Cough). 



We also had a wonderful time spending two weeks with my family in Utah.  Grandma Joy and Uncle Jim were there along with my parents, Jared, Bryan and Lizadel, and their sweet little girl, Adeline. 

We did all kinds of fun things while we were there.  My favorites were eating home cooked goodness and spending lots of quality time in my pajamas.  My second favorites were eating at Cafe Rio and In and Out repeatedly.   (Anyone sense a trend here?)  We went out to eat (oh, dear, there it is again) with my lovely friend Stephanie and her husband Cameron while we were there as well.  Sadly, their sweet little boy wasn't able to  join us. 

Kaden wasn't so sure about Addy, mostly because he saw her as a huge source of competition.  He wouldn't let me hold her at all and would scream, "My mama!!!" anytime I went near her.  Don't worry though, I got lots of cuddle time with my beautiful niece when he was asleep at night. Here are some cousin shots of Kaden and Addy together:



 I particularly like this one, as it sums up how Kaden regarded Addy most of the trip:



 Since Kaden's photos with Santa at our ward party in Kinston hadn't gone over too well, we took him to see Santa at the mall in Utah just before Christmas.  The photographers there had a great drop-the-baby-from-behind-so-he-doesn't-know-what's-coming-approach that worked wonders.  Unfortunately, I don't have a digital image of the picture.  It did turn out really cute though, and their Santa was stellar!  Real beard and everything!

We had a big scare on Christmas Eve when Grandma Joy had a stroke.  She had to spend most of Christmas day in the hospital as well.  We are so thankful that she is OK and recovering well.  She's a real trooper and is doing speech therapy to help her recover from her stroke.  We celebrated Christmas together after Grandma got out of the hospital.  We had an AMAZING dinner, featuring prime rib (we used The Pioneer Woman's rub recipe...to DIE for) cooked nice and rare.  I also made 48 delicious, buttery crescent rolls.   

Here's the table, all set:


Kaden was very spoiled by west-coast relatives as well.  I feel bad for my child, since he is clearly not loved, nor does he have anything to play with.  Unfortunately, I didn't take many pictures of the gift opening.


One of my favorite parts of our trip was going to see the lights on Temple Square.  They always do such a spectacular job.  They've added some things since we'd last been there, and it was absolutely beautiful.  My friend Callie met us there, and it was also great to see her. 






Our vacation flew by all too quickly.  We had our traditional Jensen family New Year's appetizer feast a day early, since we flew back to NC on New Year's Eve.  Bacon tomato tarts, crab and cream cheese wantons, and spinach artichoke dip were just a few selections on the menu.   We got back to Kinston just a little after midnight; our New Year's kiss was shared in the car.

Christmas time is one of my favorite parts of the year.  I love that it is a time we think about giving.  A time when we remember the Savior.  There's just such a special feeling associated with Christmas.  Christmas 2011 was no exception for us.

No, this post isn't about Chad, although I love him, too.  This post is about the love and adoration I have for my neighbors, the Howards.

Coming across these pictures is what prompted this post:

 I took these right before we all moved to Cary, because I wanted to remember Kaden playing with the Howard kids.  Looking at these makes me cry, and cry, and cry.

When we bought our fixer-upper on West Highland Avenue, I was new to Kinston.  I knew the Howards, but I didn't really know them.  It was nice thinking we'd have a good family living across the street, but I had no clue how lucky we really were.

How do I love the Howards?  Let me count the ways:

1)  I love all of the yummy treats I've gotten to devour thanks to Stephanie's amazing cooking skills.  There is nothing as wonderful as getting a phone call with her on the other line asking if we'd like to "try" some of the dessert she just made, or hearing the doorbell ring and seeing a cute blond child standing there with a plate of gourmet cupcakes.

2)  I love how gorgeous their yard is.  Even though it meant that my yard always looked like complete crap compared to theirs, it was so nice to gaze out the window and see something pretty.  No matter the season, it always looks so lovely.

3)  I love all of the walks I've taken with Stephanie.  She is the kind of friend to whom you can tell anything.

4)  I love all the walks Stephanie has taken with my child.  Let me ask you something:  Does your neighbor call you up and ask to "borrow" your infant or toddler, even if he's cranky?  No?  Well, mine does.  Not only that, but she usually tells me to go run errands while she has him.  I know.  Be very jealous.  Stephanie has served our family in so many ways, big and small, and she always acts like it's no big deal, even when it is a huge inconvenience for her.  For example, she once kept Kaden for an entire day for me while I was still teaching, and it was her husband's day off! 

5)  I love that I have been able to watch a Supermom (not to mention Superwoman!) and learn from her.  Stephanie is such a patient, loving mom.  She is such a hard worker!  She is the kind of person who makes you realize you can do anything. 

6)  I love Landon, Joel, and Allison.  I love them.  And I love how much they love our Kaden boy.  I think Joel would give Kaden every toy he owns if we let him.  Every time we go over there we leave with a basketball, a truck, or a book.  I love all of the coloring book pages we kept posted on our refrigerator from Allison--beautifully executed designs with inscriptions like "To KR" (Katie Reese) or "To KF" (Kaden Fox).  I love all the amazing deals on magazine subscriptions I've gotten thanks to Landon's school fundraisers.  I just love the Howard kids.

7)  I love that even though the Howards aren't my neighbors anymore, they will always be like family to us.

One of the saddest parts of leaving Kinston is leaving our amazing neighbors behind.  I've tried to convince them to move with us, but to no avail.   I hope when we buy our next house we'll find new neighbors to love, but somehow I doubt they'll hold a candle to the Howards.  We already miss them so much!