LaJeunesse Letters

Andrew's Birthday!

2010-08-05T11:52:00.000-07:00

I mentioned before I was really behind... here's proof. Back in June, Andrew turned 4. Here are a few pics of the celebration. Unfortunately, there was a flu bug going around, and Andrew and I were both sick on his birthday. Andrew was much better about it - he didn't let a little thing like throwing up keep him from enjoying his birthday! :) Thanks to Victor's herculean efforts, the day was a success!

He wanted a ladybug cake, so here's the grand result. Of course, we didn't have any of the strong food coloring paste, so it's a pink ladybug. Oh well, Andrew liked it, and that's what matters, right? I think Victor did a good job!

And of course, you have to have party games! Enoch was in charge of this - it's "pin-the-spot-on-the-ladybug."

Posing with a couple of his presents. Andrew really wanted a propellor cap and a "hoppity-ball."

And the big present: his new bike, complete with helmet and everything! Look at him go! Happy birthday!

Catching Up....

2010-08-04T12:48:00.000-07:00

Okay, I've been REALLY delinquent in my postings. But I've finally got the pictures off the camera and am ready to catch you all up on the recent LaJeunesse happenings. We'll start with the big news first.

We've finally done it. We've inflicted torture on our oldest son. As he said to me the other day, "You're ruining me, Mom!" I guess our work as parents is finished! I didn't think I'd hear that till teenage years! But, after a year of trying to get Enoch to break the bad habit of walking on his toes, we've had to resort to drastic measures. So here he is, the proud wearer of casts on both his feet:

Isn't the red with black stripes just stylin'? How fashion-forward my son is! Luckily, it hasn't slowed him down much. He's putting on the shoe things so he can go outside and play. He climbed the rock wall on the playset without any problems....

At least he's still smiling... Actually, he's been quite the trooper about the whole thing. No tears, no tantrums... Amazing! It's a little hard for me to watch him struggle doing things that are normally so easy for him. He has to crawl up the stairs, since he's not used to all that extra weight on his legs. And when we went to the library today he had to stop and rest in a chair. Poor guy! But he's doing well, and hasn't kicked his brother yet...

Happy B-day, Lynn!

2010-05-04T12:20:00.000-07:00

The big day finally arrived! Our little girl turned one last week, and we had a good time celebrating. We started out with pizza and soda - always a hit at our house.

Even Lynn loves pizza already - see how happy she is?

Here's the oh-so-glamorous cake. Victor is usually the cake decorator in our family - it's in his genes - but I figured Lynn is too young to care, so I took a shot at it. Lovely, huh? At least it's pink and flowery and girly...

And you can tell she enjoyed it!

All the kids after the feast. Of course, getting them all to look at the camera and look relatively normal is pretty much impossible, so I just got one of Lynn being cute!

On to the presents... I'm not sure Lynn actually opened anything, but the boys had a good time! :) Again, she's still too young to care about opening presents - she just wants what's inside. Especially if it's stuffed and can easily be dragged around the house.

Here's our beautiful little girl - happy birthday Lynn! We love you!

Easter and Legos...

2010-04-07T12:08:00.000-07:00

So I have to relate a hilarious conversation we had last night after dinner. A little background: The boys are really into Legos right now, especially the Lego Star Wars video game. (They've already beaten Lego Indiana Jones...) If you've never seen the Lego video games, anything that is hit or killed just breaks into little Lego pieces. If it's your character, you just reappear whole again shortly after being hit. Nice and kid-friendly.

Well, last night while I was doing the dishes and Andrew was (slowly) finishing his dinner, he said out of the blue, "Lego people are resurrected." It took a minute for that to register in my brain, and Victor and I chuckled - at least our talks about the real meaning of Easter were kind of sinking in! But trying to create a "teaching moment", we told him that real people will be resurrected, too, but it won't happen right away, like it does in a Lego game. It will take a long time until we are resurrected. Then Enoch, with his 5-year-old wisdom, said, "Yeah, it took Jesus 3 whole days!" Needless to say, we have a lot of teaching to go, but we had a good laugh about that one!

"Spring" Break?

2010-03-11T07:29:00.001-08:00

So Enoch is out of school for Spring Break. And this is how it looks this morning:

Kind of a misnomer, huh? Spring Break... makes you want to put on some shorts, have a picnic in the park, go fly a kite... I guess we'll have to settle for playing in the snow!

Christmas

2010-01-20T17:09:00.001-08:00

So, it's probably about time to post some Christmas pictures, huh? Enjoy... We spent a week in Tucson with my family and had a wonderful time.

Here are the boys and their cousin Sydney supposedly going to sleep on the couch. Didn't work so well, but they had a good time!

Wrestling with Uncle Mike and cousins.

My family has a tradition where we line up youngest to oldest in the hallway, and then head into the family room to see what Santa brought. Now it's our kids lining up instead of us, so here are my kids and some of their cousins. We missed the rest of you!

The LaJeunesse stockings laid out nicely on the couch. With 30 people there Christmas morning, we all just took what space we could find! And yes, I know Lynn has a ghetto, non-matching stocking. That's because every year I say I'm going to make the family stockings. Hmmm, maybe next year...

Enoch and Andrew enjoying their stockings.

Onto the presents.

And then on to playing with the presents. They found a corner to enjoy their Lite Brite.

And this is how Victor and Lynn spent the afternoon. Too cute! I love this picture!

Legoland!!

2009-12-21T20:12:00.000-08:00

I've been meaning to post about our family vacation, but it's taken me awhile to get around to it. So I've picked out some of my favorite pictures to share some of our fun times. Here we are at the front gate - everyone takes a picture here, don't they?

One of my favorite parts was the 3-D Bob the Builder movie. Enoch was laughing through the whole thing - he thought it was so cool! He kept reaching out his hand to grab whatever was coming out at him. Andrew, on the other hand, wasn't so sure about it. About halfway through he realized nothing was going to happen to him, and he started to enjoy it. The boys liked posing by the Lego Bob, but when a "real" Bob appeared (in costume), they wouldn't have anything to do with him!

Here they are watching the boats. I don't think they realize that they aren't actually controlling the boats...

With most of the rides we had to do the "parent-swap" thing, because Lynn was too little. So here's Victor and Andrew going for a ride in the planes. Enoch and I went next.

Here's a ride that Enoch could go on, but Andrew (much to his disappointment) was too small for. So here he is, galloping away on his noble steed. Off to the joust, Sir Enoch!

This is just to prove that yes, Lynn was with us, and she was having just as much fun as the boys! Isn't she adorable!?!

This was Enoch's least favorite ride. He is holding on to that lap-bar for dear life! This picture just cracks me up every time I see it!

The boys loved this part - it's just a huge outdoor playground with lots of tunnels, ladders, slides, and fun stuff to crawl on, over, and through. Victor's next project is to build an exact replica in our backyard. Full-scale, of course.

Part of Legoland is a tour of a miniature Lego-making factory. So the boys are watching how Legos are made and packaged. Pretty cool.

Attached to Legoland is the Sea-Life Aquarium, which I was pretty excited to go visit. But when you go in, they have you stop in this enclosed area and wait for a few minutes. Well, Andrew freaked out and screamed until they let us out. So he didn't want to go through the aquarium, and it took a lot of effort just to go through quickly. Oh well. At least they liked this part. You can put your head up in this bubble thing, and watch the fish swimming 360 degrees around you. It was pretty neat, but not built for big people, and not meant for all 3 of us at one time!

So there's the quick recap of some of the things we did. We had a good time, despite the fact that I was fighting a cold. The weather was perfect, we didn't forget anything important, and nothing happened to our car, so we call the trip a success!

What Happens When...

2009-11-06T20:35:00.000-08:00

...your legs don't go as fast as your upper body?

...your husband picks up a new welding hobby?

...there's a blustery snowstorm in October?

Just a few pictures I thought I'd share. The fence is a work in progress - I'll post another picture when it's finished. And Andrew's nose looks even worse now - it's a big bruise and a scrape. Too bad he missed Halloween by a week - he could have been Andrew the Red Nosed Reindeer. Ha ha ha - it's always good to get a laugh at your kid's expense! :)

Costumes? Who needs 'em?

2009-11-04T09:58:00.000-08:00

So I spent this Halloween season trying to rejoice in my kids' imaginations. I kept asking them what they wanted to be for Halloween, and the answer would change fairly frequently. So I just waited until the last minute. Here they are all dressed up:

It's completely obvious who they are, isn't it? Andrew is Indiana Jones. Clearly. He has the hat and a piece of rope as his whip. Spent hours on that costume. And Enoch? Have you guessed it yet? If not, you must not be a 5-year-old obsessed with all things Indiana Jones. Obviously he is Short Round, because he has a baseball cap on.

So this is how they went trick-or-treating. I admit, I was a little embarrassed to go out with them, so I sent Victor with them. I could imagine what all the neighbors were thinking... "What greedy children! They didn't even dress up! They just want candy! What kind of mother would allow that behavior?"

Sigh. So I rejoice that they have good imaginations, that they aren't begging for expensive store-bought costumes, and that they really AREN'T greedy - they didn't even go up the whole street, just a small part of it. Victor asked them to go longer and get some more candy, but Enoch's response was simple, and quite accurate: "No Dad, we have enough!"

The First Field Trip

2009-11-04T09:46:00.000-08:00

Earlier in October, Enoch got to go on his first field trip to a pumpkin patch. He was REALLY excited, and Victor agreed to go as a helper. He got some good pictures of Enoch and his class having a good time.

Here they are as they arrive at the pumpkin patch.

In the big tractor tire.

The pumpkin he picked out himself.

Victor had only a small allergic reaction to all the hay - those allergy shots are really working! And Enoch is excited for his next field trip in a couple weeks!

The Best-Laid Plans...

2009-10-20T13:16:00.000-07:00

Okay, so have I kept you in suspense long enough? I know, I know. It's terrible how lazy I am... So here's the story. We were all set to go camping that weekend. The weather looked iffy, but we had Plan A, a back-up Plan B, and even a Plan C. We were set! We were going to a place outside of Socorro, and we were going with my brother-in-law and his family, so the kids could enjoy some time with their cousins. We made sure Enoch knew NOT to ride the bus home - we were going to pick him up from school and head out. No sweat.

Well, Friday afternoon rolls around and we get a call from our relatives - they had strep throat, so they weren't going to make it. There goes Plan A. And since Plan B was staying at their house if the weather was bad, there went Plan B as well. Plan C was to camp somewhere closer to home, so we could pack up and come home if we needed to, and not feel like we had driven forever. So we decided to head out that way. About an hour before we were going to pick up Enoch, here's what we saw:

A nice thunderstorm headed just the way we were going! Figures! So after a bit of deliberation, we decided to bag the whole thing. We didn't want to disappoint the kiddos, however, so we compromised. We tried to set up our big tent in the family room, but it was just too big. We then pulled out the little tent we haven't used in a while and let the boys sleep down there. It was a good idea - the boys had fun, and I got to sleep in my own bed! Plus, when the baby woke up at night I didn't have to get out of a warm sleeping bag and get her!

The boys even made name tags for each of their cousins and aunt and uncle (who they also refer to as cousins) and had a stuffed animal proxy for each relative. It was pretty cute!

So we enjoyed an "electronics-free" evening - no TV, computer, video games or anything. The boys read books by flashlight and played until bedtime, and had fun sleeping in their sleeping bags. I was amazed at how quickly and easily they settled down. I had feared they would be up half the night, but it worked out fine.

Yeah, it was a little more work than just putting them to bed, but this is the stuff memories are made of, right? And this way, we averted all tears and tantrums! And best of all, we got to eat Smores...even if they were cooked in the microwave!

Saturday Is A Special Day...

2009-09-05T13:53:00.000-07:00

When kids are little, every day seems to be pretty much the same. Now that Enoch has started Kindergarten, we've begun to notice a difference between Saturday and every other day. We've tried to get out and do some fun things on Saturdays to celebrate!

So a few weeks ago we went to the Nuclear Science and History Museum. It was really interesting, but after about 3 minutes, both the boys were crying and saying they wanted to go home and get out of there! I think it was mostly due to the fact that there was a hands-on exhibit that kept making a REALLY loud noise. Then, thank heavens, they found the toys! A couple hours later, I was the one wanting to get out of there, but couldn't pull the kids away! It was a lot of fun to spend time together.

Victor set up a cool marble run to help entertain the boys. Well, that's his rationale anyway. I think he was just having too much fun...

Enoch was having a blast with the gears and seeing how many he could put together. Pretty fun!

Andrew enjoyed the blocks. (So did Victor.)
There were lots of cool things to do there, and lots of neat exhibits. Thumbs up!

Then last weekend we went to the west mesa and found a short little hiking trail to go on with the kids. It was only about 1 mile round trip, which was just right for the boys. And a nice view at the top. It was an old volcano, and Enoch kept asking me if lava was going to come out while we were hiking. He even found the hole at the top where he thinks the lava comes out! Ahhh, the way a kid's mind works is funny!

Victor and the kids. We forgot our carrier for Lynn, but had the stroller in the car. We did okay until the end when we had to climb up the rocky parts. Then we left the stroller and just carried her.

Me and the kids. Looking great! :)

The view from the top.

A short, but fun hike. And this weekend's outing deserves a post of it's own. Stay tuned...

The Prodigal Bike

2009-08-14T08:36:00.000-07:00

The never-ending saga with this dirt bike continues. It was stolen about 2 months ago. We filed a police report, but it wasn't insured because it was off-road only. Needless to say, Victor was ticked. Me, not so much - I was kind of glad to be rid of the thing. Well, we got a call from the police a few weeks ago saying they had found it on the west mesa. Hard to believe, but true! So Victor picked it up from the towing place (after paying the fee) and brought it home. It wouldn't start, and looked a little worse for the wear, but with some TLC and a few new parts, it's running again. But I think Victor is finally convinced that it might be better to sell it... Anyone interested? :)

The Green Machine - ready for action, more or less! Just some cosmetic scratches and a nice rip in the seat.

Enoch's 5th Birthday

2009-08-13T15:17:00.000-07:00

Enoch turned 5 last month, and I'm just now getting around to posting the pictures. But, in my defense, I do have to fight the kids for my turn on the computer... Anyway, he had a great birthday. The highlight, I think, was when he wrapped a present for himself (a single red lego) and looked really surprised when he opened it. He might have a career in acting... (NOOOOO!) Here are some random pictures of the occasion:

A Thomas the Train computer game

A Wubbzy book, and best of all:The Wubbzy cake! Victor did a great job with the decorating. Enoch is on a huge Wubbzy kick (if you don't know who Wubbzy is, you should consider yourself lucky!) and loved the cake! He also got a Wubbzy "doll" that he picked out. The doll came with a special code to unlock some games on the computer, and he and Andrew have been addicted to the computer ever since! Ahhh, kids these days....

Lynn's Blessing

2009-07-13T14:36:00.000-07:00

Lynn was blessed by her daddy last Sunday - here are a few pictures. We had a good time with family over the weekend - thanks to those who came!

All dressed and ready for church.

My boys are such goof-balls! They are distracting their cousins, so despite the 10 times we tried this picture, this is the best we could come up with!

And here she is today, taking a nap in the swing. She doesn't sleep there often - it's easier for her to nap in her crib. (Surprise, surprise with all the noise that is pretty constant throughout the day!)

And here is what the boys were up to. Time to start piano lessons??? At least they are happy, and the volume on the keyboard wasn't up all the way...

Random Update

2009-06-09T07:54:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I thought I'd post a few of the random pictures I've taken lately. Here's the family with Victor leading the boys in a rousing round of "Hi, My Name is Joe" - you know, the button factory guy! The boys thought it was hilarious.

And here is Enoch following dangerously in his father's footsteps - already perusing the Harbor Frieght catalog!

And here he is showing his "Price is Right" addiction - he made the money sign to wear on his shirt! He later cut out the letters of his name and stuck them on his shirt too. What a funny kid!

Here's Victor riding the tractor we rented to dig up our backyard. Unfortunately, it only worked for an hour before it quit on us and we couldn't get it started again! How annoying!

Lynn's first bath - ignore the bleach in the background - we didn't use that in her bathwater! :)

Last but not least in this little photo journal, Enoch and Andrew are having fun with some good old-fashioned favorites - old magazines, cardboard, scissors, and tape. They are making a house for their lego people to live and play in. Pretty creative, huh? They started running out of room and added another box for more room... If only home improvement were so easy!

Let Freedom Ring!

2009-06-03T14:40:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post to celebrate my recent, although small, victory! With three kids now, I have become somewhat of a hermit. I'm reluctant to go anywhere by myself with all of them, and just haven't mentally felt up to the task. I knew it was getting bad when I found myself looking forward to going to presidency meeting just to get out of the house!

So I did it. I got everyone out the door this afternoon to run a few errands. And guess what? We all survived! The boys did great, and Lynn slept through most of it, so I call it a big success! We were able to go 4 places and get a lot accomplished. (Well, "a lot" is a relative term!) And I didn't even get the kids out of the car for one of the errands, but that's okay. I feel like I can go places now and handle all three of them by myself! Next stop: Wal-mart! Okay, maybe not yet....

Fathers and Sons

2009-05-20T07:51:00.000-07:00

So here are some pix of the boys at the Fathers and Sons campout. They had a great time, and I enjoyed some (relative) peace and quiet. It's not just me at home by myself anymore! But we girls had fun without the noisy boys at home!

Setting up the campsite...

Out for a hike with Dad.

At the fireside...

After a good night's sleep. Well, that's debatable! And I love the fashion-forward hat Enoch is sporting.... On top of the hood! It'll be all the rage pretty soon.

The Prep Work

2009-05-05T15:06:00.000-07:00

Two posts in one day! Wow. Just thought I'd document our little trip to the mountains a few days before Lynn was born. The idea Victor had was to use his 4x4 truck to get some contractions going... An old wives tale, you say? Read on...

So we drove up to the Manzano mountains and on some pretty rough terrain. I'm sure that is not how Mother Nature intended labor to begin! But the boys thought it was great (all 3 of them!) and after a quick hike (and a potty break for me), I had a good time, too.

So that was on Sunday afternoon, and I went to the hospital on Tuesday. Was this prep work? Or coincidence? You make the call!

Here She Is!!

2009-05-05T14:48:00.000-07:00

So I guess it's about time I put some pictures of Lynn on here... Isn't she a cutie? Her first cry!

The boys had fun coming to visit Mom in the hospital. I had my own room, so at least they didn't disturb anyone else. Being quiet isn't one of their strong suits. But they are very cute with Lynn.

And here is the most recent family photo. For the record, we had just arrived home from the hospital, so ignore how I look. We'll get a better one someday soon... Of course, who knows when I'll get around to posting it....

There are about 10 of these pictures and in every single one Enoch is making some weird face. This is about as normal as we could get.

And here is Lynn in her little tanning bed. She had a bit of jaundice, so the pediatrician ordered this bili-light phototherapy machine for her. She hates it, and is constantly pulling at the eye protectors and face shield. Luckily, her biliruben count went down and she doesn't have to endure that (or the daily heel pricks to draw her blood) anymore!

2009-03-25T13:48:00.000-07:00

We're having one of "those" days... you know how it is - the boys won't stop fighting, they can't seem to play for more than 5 minutes by themselves, they're constantly whining at me, and my patience is at an end! So I put on a Blue's Clues episode and bought myself about 23 minutes of peace.... I figured it would be best put to use by posting a few more pictures and reminding myself of how cute my kids usually are...

So this is one of their favorite things to play right now - chef. It's nice to know the quick little apron and hat I sewed for Halloween is still being put to good use! They like to set up a table, complete with tablecloth, and invite "customers" to come eat. (They DO have plastic food, but they like to use Legos and pretend they are food, which is fine with me!) There is usually one customer who is designated "hungry guy" and sometimes the other ones get names, too. Lots of times I end up being "Hungry Guy," but it could be worse! :)

And of course, Batman and Superjump are still around. Superjump has mostly been replaced by Robin. Victor showed them a Lego Batman game on the PS3, and they at least wear clothes now when playing superheroes! And thanks to Grandma LaJeunesse, we have this nifty Batman jacket that Enoch obviously loves! The boys have also learned that Batman doesn't use guns, so they can't shoot anyone. The down side is that they learned that Batman uses "knuckles," so they often running around knocking things over with their fists. Great. At least they haven't hit each other yet!

These are my cute little guys, and even on "those" days, I love them to pieces!

Some Random Stuff...

2009-03-23T09:56:00.000-07:00

So, it's been a while, I know. Here are few random pix of the kids... Enjoy!

Here they are sitting on the air vents upstairs. Andrew prefers to sleep on the floor next to the "air" as he calls it, and we've had a tough time getting him to sleep in his bed! But now that winter is pretty much over, and the heater is turned off, it's not so bad...

Here are all three of my boys, enjoying computer time together. It's about the only time I get some peace and quiet...

And here is a picture of a typical Wednesday at our house. Wednesdays are called "Work Day Wednesday" at our house, because we knock out a bunch of chores that morning. One of the chores the boys have to do is pick up all their toys so I can vacuum the playroom. They take the picking up part REALLY literally, and don't put things away, they simply pick them up. But I'll take whatever I can get!

Cookie Monsters!

2009-02-20T11:27:00.000-08:00

So I've been wondering who in the world started the idea that making cut-out sugar cookies with your kids is fun. For Valentine's day, I decided I'd put the heart-shaped cookie cutters I have to good use. So the boys and I made up some dough, which was easy enough. My kids know that whenever the KitchenAid turns on, it's a good thing! They help me make treats often enough that that part was easy. Then the chilling... easy. So we get to the rolling out part. Now maybe I just don't have enough patience or something, or maybe my kids are a little young, but this was an exercise in frustration! They each wanted to roll, and we'd get maybe one successful cookie cut out each time. Meanwhile, my dough is getting stiffer and stiffer with flour...

So I break down, get out the playdough machine, and let them roll and cut playdough to their hearts' content while I get serious with the cookies. Baking accomplished! Now it's on to the decorating...

I mixed up a few colors of frosting and got out a few sprinkles. Pretty soon, Andrew had frosting smeared everywhere and there were sprinkles all over the table! This is even with Victor's help - one on one, and we still struggled! Again, we gave up doing it as a family, let the boys eat a few cookies, then sent them off to play while V and I finished up the decorating.

So, not as fun as I had hoped, but it was educational, I suppose! Now I know why I don't do cut-outs on my Christmas cookies plates... :)

The NEW Dynamic Duo!

2009-02-04T08:39:00.000-08:00

Forget Batman and Robin... we have new superheroes flying around our house! Here they are....

Batman and Superjump! I don't know where they came up with those! I don't think Enoch has ever seen Batman anything, but he likes to run around in his underwear with a blanket cape, so he has fun. And Superjump probably originated from jumping off the couch (which they are NOT supposed to do!) or something. I just think it's hilarious. And it keeps them playing nicely together for quite a while!

Our Hiking Trip

2009-01-19T12:28:00.000-08:00

We thought we'd take advantage of the beautiful weather on Saturday to do a little hiking. We went out to the West Mesa in Belen and hiked around for a little while. The boys love it, and we loved the quiet ride back to Albuquerque with two little guys asleep in the back of the truck!

Here we are at the top of the "mountain." Hey - it was hard enough for me and the boys!

Just Being Cute

2009-01-13T13:49:00.000-08:00

I caught the boys playing together on the computer this morning - and they actually weren't fighting over it! They are playing a game where you have to lay railroad tracks, so they put on their construction hats to play... Notice that it's Andrew who is really playing. He's our computer kid - and only 2 years old!

Jingle Bells Jig

2008-12-31T15:14:00.001-08:00

Click here to create your own video

Check out what Victor can do!

2008-12-31T14:43:00.000-08:00

Since we don't have a chimney, Victor made this cool stocking holder out of PVC pipe and some spray paint. He calls it redneck, I call it cute!

Jingle Bells Dance

2008-12-24T05:56:00.001-08:00

Okay, so we copied this idea from my sister's blog, but the boys love watching it so much that we had to do one! They could seriously watch it over and over and over....

Alright, I'm still learning how to use this blog thing, and erased our video from here -check it out on the Dec 31 post. I'll get better at this, I promise!

2008-12-24T04:52:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas! The LaJeunesse Letters are officially underway. Friends and Family are welcome to post to the site as well. Remember nothing too personal 'cause nothing on the internet is safe. Here's our Christmas card we were to lazy to mail out.

Shelley, I hope you like the site.