Addresses needed

I am finally overcoming my laziness and sending out real snail mail Christmas cards this year.  The problem is that I have never compiled an address list so I'm starting from ground zero.  If you would like to receive a card, could you email me your address?  jennifer.swendsen@gmail.com 

Thanks and Merry Christmas!

Races, Halloween, and Kate turns 4

Time for an overview of what we've been up to this fall.  I have been pretty busy with accompanying gigs for the music department at Temple College, and have had a ton of fun doing that.  Scott is still working his butt off at Scott & White so we don't see him as often as we'd like, but he is doing well there and surviving on minimal sleep.  Jane is a funny little stinker and just started nursery, which is a relief for both her and me.  She has started talking a lot more and throwing more tantrums too, but on the whole she's a pretty happy girl.  Kate's enjoying a full social schedule since there are so many kids her age here.  She is still obsessed with everything princess and celebrated her 4th birthday on November 1st.
Back in October we went to Houston for conference weekend and got to run in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 5k.  We had a pretty good turnout from our family.  My dad was there too, just behind the camera on this one.

There were something like 30,000 runners at this race and Dad won first place in his age division!  We were quite proud, especially Kate, who likes to say that her grandpa is "the fastest of all the grandpas."  Here he is posing with his award, which was a pretty glass plaque.

While we were in Houston, Austin and his girlfriend Hannah went to Homecoming.  Cute couple!

Back at home in Temple.  One exciting recent family event was the purchase of this trampoline.  It's been a big hit with the kids so far, especially Scott. :) 

Poor Kate - it's tough when you're just trying to enjoy time with your sister and the paparazzi won't leave you alone.

The City of Temple recently hosted a fire safety day downtown.  We enjoyed riding in a fire engine and practicing our stop, drop and roll skills.

Scott and I weren't going to dress up for Halloween this year, since Scott had to work all weekend (including all night Saturday), but we ended up throwing together these costumes last minute for a Friday night party.  I was a flapper and Scott was Charlie Chaplin.

Kate was Belle from Beauty and the Beast, and I let her wear lipstick, which was unfathomably exciting.  The gloves weren't exactly the "super fit" she was hoping for.

Here is a series of attempts I made at photographing Jane in her bumblebee costume.  She was cranky anyway (teething?) but the most immediate reason for this tantrum was that I wouldn't let her hold the camera.

Awesome.

Things got better once Janie caught on to the reason for the season.  CANDY!  She had a death grip on that pail all night, even though it got pretty heavy.  Although she allowed herself to be carried when she got too tired to walk, she was NOT accepting any help with her candy pail.

Mom and Dad came in town for the weekend and took a turn with the girls at the ward Trunk or Treat.

Here they are after the Trunk or Treat, hopped up on sugar.  My favorite part is the "fat kid" smile Janie gives to her sucker.

So Kate turned 4 the day after Halloween, and got to celebrate that day with her family and grandparents.  The following weekend we had a little princess party for her and she requested a Belle cake.  I decided to put a little effort into it this year because I am still trying to live down the "poop cake" that I accidentally created for her second birthday.  This was my first (and possibly last) foray into making homemade fondant.  My hands have never felt so claustrophic.  That stuff is incredibly heavy and sticky! 

Jane scored her very own beater covered in cake batter.

This bike was Kate's main present from us.  I found it on Craigslist and it was advertised as "ridden only once."  When I met the seller, he admitted that he bought it for his girlfriend's kid and then "things went sour."  Hmmm... so he just took the bike away from her daughter?  Poor little girl!  I felt kind of bad benefitting from her misfortune.  Kate does love it though.

Now I bring you... the evolution of my cakes!  Behold the poop cake:

(It says KATE on it.)  (Scott took this incriminating angled close-up to tease me.)

The following year was this panda cake.

And finally, the Belle cake.  A couple of my friends mentioned to me that they loved the cake-as-a-skirt thing when they were kids, so I decided to try that.  I had never heard of it but apparently it's a pretty popular cake style.

The party itself was pretty chaotic.  Ten little party guests, plus a needy Jane.  Luckily Scott was there to help, and my friend Andrea stayed to help too, which was a lifesaver.

This is an accidental video; it was supposed to be a picture.  It is about one second long but the three words that were captured sum up the entire party - check it out!

Craft time!  If you know me well, you know that I suck at crafts.  So I just bought all the supplies and put Scott in charge of making paper crowns for all the kids to decorate.

This was our princess wand fishing game.  Scott sat inside the princess hut attaching surprises to the end of the string.  Another fun game that I put Scott in charge of was the treasure hunt for the loot bags.  He created a series of clues, including tiptoeing past the "sleeping giant" (Scott), and ending in the backyard where they had to dig up the loot bags.

Cake time!  I decided to nix the ice cream because of the mess factor.  Nobody noticed. :)

How many kids does it take to open one present?

Group picture next to the Pin the Princess on the Castle game.

Switching gears a little... Last weekend there was a 10k here in Temple.  It was so much fun!  I signed up for it with these four awesome ladies.  This is the "after" picture; it was too dark and cold at the beginning to take a "before" shot.  I am so lucky to have great running buddies.

 

At the last minute, my dad decided to drive up and run it too!  He so crazy.

My friend Ashley, who ran track and cross country in college, placed first in our age division!  And my dad was first in his as well.  I was third in our division.  There were only 80 runners in the whole race, but it was still exciting to get a medal.  Ashley and Dad are my running idols so I felt lucky to be in this picture with them.

Late Summer Fun

We are all alive and well here in Temple, but have just been a little lazy about posting pictures.  So here's what we've been up to for the last several months.
Kate started ballet and tap, which is her dream come true.  I guess I'm officially a sappy mom because I got a little teary watching her on her first day - she was just so happy.

We went to Houston awhile back and got to celebrate Mom's birthday with her, Williams-Sonoma style.


Our girls cuddle together whenever Jane will allow it.


It's still a novel concept to us that Scott is the real deal now.  Sort of.


I am telling you, Jane is NOT short on personality.  She is extremely animated and enthusiastic and keeps us entertained constantly.  Fun facts about Jane - she can whistle (and I can't!), she is obsessed with books and carries one in each hand everywhere she goes, she likes to run away from me in public places, she has an excellent stinkeye and isn't afraid to use it, and she knows enough words to argue with her sister during car rides. (The arguments usually consist of each shouting their own name back and forth, or one yelling "yes!" and the other "no!"  It really doesn't take much.)


Speaking of Jane... she was so hungry at the grocery store while riding around in the cart that she actually gnawed this hole into the box to try to get to the cereal.  I was a little embarrassed to present it to the checker for purchase.


So it's August, the hottest time of year in Texas, and our A/C goes out.  It was only out for two days, but we were miserable.  Our girls survived by stripping down and drinking "icy drinks" in front of the TV.  I personally think Janie looks good enough to eat in this picture.


And she looks kind of like a boy in this one.


Our current favorite playground has some really creative equipment, including this elliptical spinner thingy that Kate loves.


Being goofy in Grandpa's study in Houston.

This is how Jane passes the time during her many daily diaper changes.

I love this picture.

We find these little geckos in our garage and sometimes our house.  Scott's proud that Kate is unafraid of holding them.

A recent end-of-summer highlight was a trip to Sea World San Antonio with Dan, Heather, and family.  Don't our girls look thrilled to be there?

Feeding and petting the dolphins was really fun.

Jane has been really into dolphins since this visit.

Kate liked them but was too shy to touch or feed.

Consulting the Sea World park map for our next destination.

We were about to get on this ride when it broke down!  Close call.  You can see the people exiting via the emergency stairs.

Shamu (XXVIII?)

Dressing up is all Kate wants to do.  Luckily her friend Mary feels the same way.

This is what Kate would look like if she were an Avatar.  (Allergic reaction to a bug bite between her eyes.)