Super Edith!

Edith battles the temporarily evil Alena.

Surprise, Alena!

For Alena's third birthday celebration (though not the last, the Jensen family party was the following day) as she turned 10, Lily decided that Alena needed a surprise party because we have gave her a surprise party when she turned 10.  It was her idea to be wrapped up in a box.  She and Finn were in there for 15 minutes, Nina in the smaller box, before Alena got back to unwrap them.  It was a very good, very big surprise!

Edith's loves.....35 months

Edith LOVES puzzles!  She's very good at them too.

Edith LOVES shows!  Especially " little baby bum" on the " little green tablet". 

Edith LOVES to read books.  "Read it for me" is what she'll tell you while shoving a book directly at your face.

Edith LOVES her tutu!  She wears it, literally, every single day.  Around the house, on Halloween, to Connie's....

Camping.....rained out

We had planned to camp at Marr park for the Halloween hike night but persistent rain changed our plans.  We still enjoyed the Halloween activities that were moved indoors and we still spent the night in Ainsworth.

Fun with wigs!






Playing with Milo, Kristina's new kitten...... Before he moved in with her and Francis.




Shelling the popcorn that Grandpa Ed grew.  Dad cranked and Alena and Edith took turns putting the ears into the hopper.


Trying on Grandpa Ed's cap from his National Guard days.




And even though we didn't camp, we still had a fire and roasted hot dogs.
It was still a great weekend!

Edith's morning ritual

For the past few months, Edith has decided that she prefers to wake up and immediately take a warm "baba" down to the living room, lay flat on the floor with her blanket, and drink it quietly and alone.  Yes, I have been standing in the room while she partakes in her ritual and have been told "GET OUT" in a gravely 2-year old tone (this picture was taken at great personal risk).  Once Edith is done with her bottle, however, her sweet little voice returns and she is ready to get dressed and move on with her day.

Early Edith gets the worm

Edith was helping Mommy with some landscaping, after a recent rain, the worms were big and active.  

Kirkwood 2018 Pig Out

Another Pig Out down.... There was the standard fare of unlimited sno-cones, face painting, charicatures, climbing wall, train, swings, and good food.  Both big girls climbed to the top of the wall and rang the bell, Edith treated herself to at least three sno-cones, and they all played in the inflatable bounce house and slide.  

Catch and release

This year we raised dozens of monarch caterpillars, some from eggs, in 7 different containers on our breakfast table.  It is amazing how much they eat and poop.  We had to pick fresh milkweed from Mommy's garden every morning.  It was always a treat to catch them in the act of making a chrysalis of popping out of it as a butterfly.

"This is the best picnic ever!"

Grandma Dee and Grandpa Ed were kind enough to offer to watch all three girls for a night and give Mom and Dad a night off.  We met them at Menards to make the parking lot exchange.  At a mile out, Dad came to the unfortunate and sudden realization that we had left Edith's beloved blanket at home (not just a cruel joke for Mom's amusement).  We couldn't send Edith off without it, it would just be too cruel to Grandma and Grandpa, so Edith stayed with Mom and Dad, as a solo act.

We hit up Aldi for a grocery refill, then stopped at City Park in Iowa City to ride the carnival rides during their final summer in existence.  Alas, we had a 90-minute wait before the carnival opened.......but were well stocked with groceries!  When a random assortment of food for an unplanned picnic is what you have to work with, guacamole, chips, and grapes is what you get!  And....nicely enough, Edith proclaimed "THIS IS THE BEST PICNIC EVER!" 

   

 

And after our picnic, Edith got to ride all of the rides AND she got to chase some ducks.



Even Edith's solo dinner was a treat, the Olive Garden.  Here, Dad and Edith share a breadstick (Lady & the Tramp style).

Starting fourth and second grade

First day of school!  It was a very nice summer, but everyone is excited for school. New shoes, new outfit, new stuff to learn.  Nora was excited to get Kiera in her class with Mrs. White and Alena gets to have Harper in class with Mrs. Lynott as her teacher.

Camping

First camping trip of the summer - Marr Park in the pop-up!  Edith was the most excited.


Edith and Mommy lay down on their "wing" of the camper.


The big girls climb a cool stump with handholds cut into it. 


A scooter tour of the 3 unique playgrounds of Marr Park.  Daddy ran from playset to playset with Edith on his shoulders saying "that's my Daddy".


Edith was obsessed with the marshmallows as soon as she saw them hit the shopping cart at the store.  Finally, she gets to have her sugar (no chocolate, Edith does not like chocolate).  Alena and Nora each got to have 2 smores because they survived a trip on the merry-go-round on the first playground of the playground tour.  They had to hang out from the bars while Daddy pushed it around as fast as he could.  They didn't fall off, so extra dessert!


Reading books before bed is a great way to wind down and get ready for sleep.  After books, however, Edith was still not ready to go to sleep, so she began an hour-long monologue about camping, saying in a string "camping, fun, Mommy, stars, big pillow, little pillow, camping, moon.....".  On and on until she fell asleep - the last one to fall asleep.

Wet

Playing in the new water feature at Greene Square Park after a visit to the library.  Who needs a swimsuit.

Alena's first piano recital

Alena worked very hard and played beautifully!  Her version of "Over the Rainbow" was amazing - not a single wrong key was hit and she put a lot of feeling into it.  Aftwerwards, Alena commented that she really liked playing that grand piano, it sounded better than our $200 electric keyboard, which it should for $30,000.  Great job Alena!  Keep playing!

Last day of school :(

No more first or third grades for these girls......it was a great year....it will be missed.  Slow down the growing up, perhaps.

Here's the first day of school.

Christmas 2017

Prepping for Christmas can be a lot of work unless you have really good elves to help you out!

Adding the top to the tree.  

Hanging an ornament or trying to tear one off the tree?

The traditional co-hanging of the "JOY" ornament for the two Joy girls.

Looking good for something.....

Matching pajamas brought by our elf, Orange.  Cute girls!

Edith opens a present from Santa.

Alena opens a fairy door for her growing "fairy city" in her bedroom.

Nora claps for her little mechanical puppy.

We all sit down to play with the cool light-up cars and track with the singing, light-up drawing board.  Geesh, those toddlers get all the cool gifts!

The group at Grandma and Grandpa Jensen's.  Alena holds up a grey fox blanket.

Grandma and a bunch of crazy girls all hopped up on Christmas cheer.

Lab visit

Since Mommy had to work after Christmas, Daddy brought the girls up to visit the Lab, which they had been wanting to do for ages.  They finally got to see it all and Mommy showed them the many tools and instruments she uses.  They look good in lab coats, working the pipetter.  Alena has been obsessed with this rabbit fur hat (named "Fuzzy") and donned it as part of her official Lab gear.

Mommy the Snow Taxi

Mommy is working hard as a snow taxi, dragging a pretty large load down the

 snowy 30th Street to deliver a few neighborhood Christmas cards.