Christmas Letter

For those of you we missed, here's the link to our Christmas Letter! Hope this Christmas season finds you all merry and bright!

http://jorgensenchristmasletter.blogspot.com/

A Florida Thanksgiving

We spent our Thanksgiving Break in Florida this year with ou friends, the Raymonds!!! Oh what fun we had! I bravely drove down on Saturday with the 4 kids by myself. We were origianally all going to go together on Tuesday when Bryce would be home from his confrence in California, but I just couldn't wait that long! So, we arrived a few days early to "help" out with the new baby! Ok, Ok, I just really wanted to see the baby really bad :). We did try to help as much as we could though. The weather was absolutely perfect the whole trip - lower to mid 70's and sunshine all the time! The kids spent a lot of time outside, mostly playing in the black Florida dirt/sand, but also catching little frogs and working all day making up "parties." Bryce flew in Monday night and we were glad to have him join us! We spent the rest of the week going to the beach, touring the church ranch (picking oranges and wild-life watching), and playing in Orlando. We visited Downtown Disney (which was really quite amazing!), and we road the monorail around to some of the Disney resorts and to the DisneyWorld park. I was hoping that Bryce would catch the Disney fever and have an overwhelming desire to take us there next year. I think that did it. Anyone want to join us next summer?! We are home now and still trying to get settled into our tiny home. It seems that everytime we visit someone with a home, our apartment seems to shrink! We had a fantastic trip and it was so good to share the holidays with people we love. Happy Thanksgiving!

 

 

 

 

The Big Day

Happy 3rd Birthday James!

I know, I know, everybody always says the same thing, but . . . I can't believe my little baby boy is THREE!!! November 21st, 3 years ago our sweet James joined our family and it hasn't been the same since!
He is such a sweetheart and has made us smile from day one!


I will always remember feeling what an amazing spirit you were even as a teeny-tiny baby. You always try to make people laugh and you are so loving.


You have always been so content with simple things - just being outside, a small bouncy ball, or cuddling with mommy!


You have a fantastic imagination and love to "change character" daily (batman, superman, peter pan, captain hook, pirate, kywauker (luke skywalker), monsters, or daddy are your favorites right now).










We celebrated James' birthday on Monday and I apparently didn't get any great shots so I will try again tomorrow. We opened presents, played with balloons and had ice cream cake for dessert. He really loved being the special one for a day! What a cutie.


We love you James!

Off with the Old

Old Couch




New Couch



After being married for eight years, we decided it was time to upgrade and purchase a new couch! We are ever grateful for the years that we were able to spend with Grandpa and Grandma's hand-me-down, but it is now time for it to serve in a different happy home. Hoorah for us!

Tagged

Ok, Ok, I'll do the tag. I had to post the 4th picture in my 4th picture file or something like that, so here it is. I love primary! This was a picture we took in April. Don't really know why my folders are organized the way they are but it works for me! I'll tag: Lara Brown, Jen Seeley, and Lisa A.

Fort McJorgensen

My kids absolutely love mopping day because I put all of my kitchen chairs into the family room and they get to make a "fort" out of them. It makes a mess of our front room, but they totally love it! It brings back memories of turning our kitchen chairs growing up into a long "choo choo train." Anyway, so my kids are really good at making forts now. The other day they developed a new base for their fort - Annabelle's saucer, and just thought it was so great. So here's a picture. Oh, and my new curtain is in the background. :)

The Sweetest Thing

 

 

 

Annabelle is 4 months now! She is always so happy and she just makes us all smile! We went in for a check-up and she weighs 12 lbs! I took these sweet pictures yesterday and had to share.

Fall Fun

I always say that summer is my favorite season, but everytime that autumn comes along, I get so excited to do "autumn" things! A friend gave us a bunch of apples that Lucy, James, and I took ALL DAY to peel and cook (well, it felt like all day - but it was still fun!), which we eventually turned into applesauce! It was so yummy! The applesauce didn't last very long in our house because it was so good. :)



My visiting teacher left us a pumpkin lantern this week. I think she made it from an old spaghetti sauce jar and painted the inside orange. We put a candle in it and had a lot of fun making a spooky haunted house!



And this last picture is just my kids all playing together this morning when it was too cold to go out and play. I caught them spinning each other around on the exeresaucer. I said, "Where's Annabelle?" as they were spinning at top speed past me. "Oh, she's in here!" was the nonchalant answer as the saucer came to a hault. She had a big grinn on her face and was obviously really enjoying the ride! As long as everyone's having a good time, right?

Thank Heaven for Spontanious Visits from Friends!

It started off being a pretty typical Monday morning . . . getting Caleb off to school, packing up the 3 kids to catch a minute of exercising at the church. Then, just after I had pulled into the driveway, I was greeted with a familiar white minivan with our good friend (who has since moved to North Carolina) at the wheel! How fun! It was so good to see Lindsey and Parker for a bit, and so glad that the kids could play together again! Just like old times. If we could have random visits from friends everyday, what a wonderful world this would be! Thanks for stopping by!

Cousins!

We just had a wonderful visit with Melanie's sister, Lisa, and her family: Ward, Audrey, Max, and Hannah. What a wonderful birthday treat! We spent the notorious 10-4 attending the virginia tech football game, confrence, and pumpkin cookies! Sunday, Monday and Tuesday were filled with the kids playing together making secret hide-outs, haunted houses, paper airplanes, "sledding" down the hills, playing at parks, picnic at the duck pond, riding the bus around Blacksburg, and horseback-riding. Despite a few getting sick, our car breaking down, and bad Thai food, we still had an absolutely wonderful time! Thanks so much for coming you guys~ we love you!

School Days

Since I never posted the First Day of School pics, here they are! Caleb loves first grade and even really loves having homework! He made up a homework assignment yesterday for Lucy explaining that she didn't have to do it perfect because she wasn't in first grade yet, "Just try your best," he told her. Lucy loves going to Joy school with her friends and always brings home all sorts of fun crafts and new songs. Today she came home with an "I Can Obey" badge which I have to say, she really has been quite good at lately!

RRRRAAAARRRRR!!!

James and I were shopping at Walmart today when he found this little dinosaur hat and wouldn't take it off! Everyone in the store kept smiling at him and saying how cute he was (which is much better than the usual, "You've sure got your hands full!" comments). So, of course I had to buy it! He hasnt taken it off yet! Two year -olds are so fun.

Temple Trip

So, apparently I did not take enough pictures this weekend, but here are a few, anyway. We met our awesome friends, the Parkinsons, at the DC temple this weekend. It had been a while since we had seen each other, so it was fun to get together! We stayed up way too late friday playing settlers (Bryce and I won, by the way!); then Saturday Heidi and I spent the day with the kids shopping at Ikea and hanging around the temple while the boys were busy getting trained to be veil workers. It was such a great day and sad to say goodbye. Lucy cried in the car for a long time after we left. Hopefully it won't be as long before we see them again!

Science

So, about 7 years ago, a dear friend opened my eyes to the world of growing wheat grass (thanks, Maureen!), and its been probably that long since I've grown any. So I bought this cute pot in Louisianna this summer and it sat empty until about a week ago when we decided to do an experiement with wheat. First, we soaked it over night. Then we planted it on some soil and covered it up. We watched as the next day it already began to sprout! Within 3 days it was like 3 or 4 inches high! The kids are so excited watching it grow and love taking care of it. I think they even eat it sometimes! Anyway, I think it looks fun and fresh - a good way to keep things green all year long!

Here Comes Trouble

I've hesitated posting this for fear that I would run the risk of making my sweet daughter look like a crazy, ruthless, disobedient child. But I realized that most kids go through something similar, so I might as well commiserate with all the moms and dads who have been through it too, right?

So, I'm not really sure what triggered this series of events - maybe the new baby; maybe Caleb starting school, soccer, and piano; maybe a change in Lucy's friends. Whatever it was, I hope we're past the worst!! So, my sweet little princess Lucy had evidently been starving for attention or something. Every time I went upstairs or outside to do something, Lucy was getting into trouble. It started out with things like sneaking a scoop of brown sugar, or hiding in the cupboard feeding James chocolate chips. Then it progressed to "hugging" Annabelle too tight, or pouring milk on James' head (he really thought that was kind of funny, luckily). Then, she wanted to throw a piece of paper out of the boys' bedroom window, and decided that cutting a hole in the screen with a sharp knife was a good idea. I really tried so hard to discipline her in every way I could think of (short of beating her, of course!), but nothing seemed to really work longer than 20 minutes before she was doing getting into something else. By Tuesday, I was just worn out! I put a movie on in the afternoon for Lucy and James so I could lie down for a 30 min. nap while Annabelle was asleep. Just as I had dozed off, Lucy comes in the room and says, "Mom, the phone's for you!" I took the phone and hung up because I was too tired to talk to anyone. Two seconds later, the phone rings again.

"Hello?"

"Yes mam, we received a 911 call from your residence, and we were just calling back to make sure there was no emergency."

"LUCY!!! Did you call 911?!"

"Mam, uh, its ok. Was she just playing on the phone?"

"Yes, I'm so sorry!"

"Really, mam; no harm was done. Have a good day."

After I hung up, Lucy probably wanted to call 911 again because I was sooo mad! She spent the rest of the day in her room (mostly because that was the safest place for her to be)!

So, I have posted a picture here of Lucy and her sidekick, James (who I'm sure was forced into it - :) ), drawing all over our house with chalk. I am happy to report that since the 911 incident, things have gotten much better. I'm not sure if its been the overwhelming positive attention she's been getting, or the fact that she started joy school and gymnastics, or perhaps it has something to do with me not letting her out of my site! Whatever it is, it seems to be working. Let's just pray it lasts for more than a week!

Summer Slide Show

Back in the Saddle Again . . .

I know, I know, its been forever since I posted anything! I think it might have to do with the fact that our forever long marathon trip this summer is way to overwhelming for me to blog about each little thing we did. So to spare you a travelogue of a billion posts, we'll suffice it to say the following:

We had an amazing trip! We totaled 6500 miles all over the US. Yes, we drove in our car, yes, with our 4 kids, and yes, that includes our 2-week old baby! It was actually a great road trip, and the kids were fantastic. Caleb kept making comments like, "oh man! We're already there? I wanted to stay in the car some more!"

Or Lucy: "How long is this drive?"

Me: "Oh, today it will be about 6 hours."

L: "Oh! Today is a short drive!"

The car quarrels were kept to a minimum with the DVD player (thanks mom and dad!), but we had our occasional moments. I love this shout of frustration from Caleb, "Mom! James is taking my money and he's going to use it to buy those trailer over there!" (referring to a trailer park we were passing in Nebraska!)

We visited family and friends in Indiana, Idaho, Utah, California, Arizona, and Louisiana. We had tons of fun swimming, hiking, playing games, watching movies, jet skiing, river rafting, Scandia, riding motorcycles (bryce), and just being together! We look forward to the next time we can see everyone again.

I'll post a slide show soon of a few pictures that show our trip's greatness! (hopefully coming soon!)

Island Park

Jorgensen Family Reuniun in Island Park! We actually had the WHOLE family together for the first time in who knows how long (minus Brian - we missed you!). We had a great week together in Idaho hanging out together.


Some highlights were: Rafting the Snake river (Caleb tubed it - I'll post a raft picture of us later)


Yellowstone Park

And Boat racing!

The kids (and Bryce, of course!) had a ton of fun designing their own Styrofoam boats to race down the snake river. I was so amazed with everyone's creativity! We also spent some time swimming in the Island Park reservoir, watching movies, playing games, eating A LOT of food, and just enjoying perfect weather in such a beautiful spot! The kids just loved being with their cousins (once they got over being shy) and really did not want to leave. Can't wait for the next one!

Annabelle's Blessing

Westward Ho! I've had really good intentions of blogging all along our month-long trip out west, but here we are with only one week left and just now posting! Oh well, I guess it is just a good sign that we've been busy and that we've been having a great time! Our second stop along our way was Utah to bless our cute little baby girl (first stop was Indy to visit our wonderful friends, DeOliveiras)! It was really nice to be able to have so many from both mine and Bryce's families there. Annabelle is beautiful and Bryce was able to give her a beautiful blessing.

Blueberry Picking

This was 2 days before Annabelle was born, but I had to post it because this is one of our family's favorite traditions! We tried out a new patch this year and we loved it! I think I might have eaten more than I picked, but that's half the fun in going, right?

Welcome Baby Annabelle!

We are so blessed to have Annabelle finally in our family! She arrived July 2 at 5:25pm. She was 7 lbs 1/2 oz. and 20 inches long. Once she decided it was time, she came quickly!! She loves looking around and listening to her loving brothers and sister dote on her. We are all home now and enjoying our own beds (at least I am!). We will try to get more pictures up soon!