Everything Jensen

We've already had soooo much candy this month. SOOOO much. So, we decided not to pass out candy this Halloween. No, we didn't do raisins. We're not monsters. We passed out foam glider kits. Seemed to go okay, no one egged our house or toilet papered us. The kids were so excited to venture out and go trick-or-treating, at cooler homes than ours. Places where parents didn't complain about all the sugar and passed out heaping handfuls of chocolate bars and sugar treats. Seriously, people were putting handfuls of candy into Eleanor's bucket. Handfuls! But, let's back up. First we had to get ready for Halloween. The kids covered our kitchen pantry with colorful decorations. And, everyone had fun squishing pumpkin guts, eating seeds, and carving patterns.  Steven and Eleanor are responsible for 80% of our amazing pantry artwork.     Getting out the guts.    Jefferson was more interested in squishing the guts then taking them out.   ...

This year, we tried trick or treating at the international cottages for the first time. When we lived in DC, we always wanted to try trick-or-treating at embassy row. But, the kids were so little. So, this was our stand in. While we didn't learn much about culture or traditions, mostly they just handed you every day old candy, it was a lot of fun. There was candy, after all. Plus, Eleanor found her twin at the House of Israel. The kids gave it two thumbs up and asked to repeat next year.  Ready to Trick-or-Treat!    First of many stops (Danke House of Germany)    I can't tell them apart.   A couple of heros

Today we went to one of our favorite places, Old Town, to get our family portraits done. This location also offered easy bribery for the kids. Smile big and we will take you to the root beer store. Bribes work. The kids did great. We are so excited to have these photos so twenty years from now we can look back and remember what we looked like in 2017... or would have looked like, if we were spruced up all the time.    Jensens...by a tree!    Jensens... on a table!    Jensens... hugging!   Steven, super handsome, right?   Adelaide could not be prettier.  Hello beautiful Eleanor!   Jefferson is dialing up the charm.   When the boys could pose no more, the sisters adorabled onward.   So, the kids earned their root beer. And, since they were smiley, Matt was able to practice using his phone's new portrait mode setting on them. Not quite as slick as the professional, but st...

Jefferson has had some pretty big surgeries since coming home. And, he had some pretty big surgeries in China. This poor little boy has been operated on more times than anyone else in our family, combined... and then some. So, we didn't take the decision to undergo another surgery, the third this year, lightly. But, over the summer it became clear that his body wasn't going to step up and fill in the gaps like we had hoped after his spring surgery. Additional work needed to be done to help get him to a place of continuous good health, not to mention to relieve him of constant discomfort. Unfortunately, this was his biggest surgery yet. Though we expected him to be in the hospital three to four days, complications meant his stay was six days. But, the good news... no, the great news... the results have been a great success! Jefferson will not need another surgery any time in the near future, maybe not ever. Woo! We checked in the day before the surgery so Jeffer...