Catching Up!!

Mason Before his first school Christmas concert.

Below, Dawson holding his baby cousin Maia.....she stayed with us for the whole weekend....wow....what an adjustment....especially for "OUR" baby....Dawson didn't really like having a baby around!!

Mason and Morgan telling Santa what they want for Christmas!!

All the grandkids before the Lensing Thanksgiving/Christmas....we were so thankful this year to be able to spend the holidays with My grandpa Lensing.

Morgan on a hayride in November

Halloween

Mason the pumpkin

Morgan the princess

Dawson the Chicken

Mason, Morgan and I on our traditional walk in Camden....we go every year in early October for Grandpa Kors birthday

Birthday and Chucky Cheese

The above pictures are of Dawson's 2nd birthday. When it came time to open presents, he opened the first one and it was cars, he refused to put them down to open the next present. Needless to say he ended up sitting on Great Grandma Marilyn's lap to open all presents and we had to eventually pry the cars out of his hands so he could open each present. He got LOTS of cars, trucks, tractors, and trailers and has had a blast playing with them ever since.(Note: Rylie is in the dragon costume, she found it during the party and wore it the rest of the time)

October 11th was Dawson's 2nd birthday, so we took the kids to Sioux Falls and did family pictures and Chucky Cheese. Family pictures took way longer than we thought they would and the kids were getting VERY crabby, as well as Joe!!! Despite the long wait at pictures the kids were excited to get to Chucky Cheese. Above they are waiting for our pizza to come. Mason told me to stop taking pictures because we just did them!!

Dawson was fascinated with the mouse on the wall, he kept going up to it and putting his face right up next to it.
As I have said before, Dawson LOVES Cars and Trucks. There were a few of them that he spent lots of time in. This particular car had a man sitting in it and he was just loving him up!!! He would sit in the cars and I just kept putting coins in, he got really upset when other kids wanted to have a turn as well.

Needless to say the kids were worn out by the end of the day. Dawson was out in less than 3 minutes, and Morgan made it about 5 minutes!!

Remembering Molly

This is Molly. Joe and I got Molly 8 years ago and she became our baby. I remember when she was a pup how she used to run behind us and try to bite our toes and how she used to chew on everything, including socks, shoes and other unmentionables!! As a pup she would whine all night because she wanted out of her kennel. Eventually we gave in and let her sleep with us occasionally. She always laid by us when we would watch tv, she loved to be close to people. Molly was always very hyper, she would bark at people outside and she would jump on people inside, but as she got older she calmed down a lot....people didn't always see that because she would still get very excited when people came over. But she usually just laid around all day, running away from the kids.

She was there when each of the kids came home from the hospital. She would sit by them and guard them from anybody who was visiting, like she was making sure nobody was going to harm them. She has been in a lot of family and holiday pictures through the years.

On September 26th, 2008, Molly died. She was always running around town if the kids left the door open to long. On this particular day she didn't get across the street fast enough and a car hit her right up the road from our house. It was very hard on Joe and I, we loved her like a child and it is hard to forget someone who has been there everyday for 8 years. Not a day has gone by since she died that I haven't thought of her. For the sake of the kids we told them that she got old and went to sleep. I know that someday they may read these blogs and they will wonder why we lied, but it was so hard on us and we didn't feel that they needed to know how it happened only that it did. We didn't want anyone blaming the others for letting her out in the first place.

I am writing this blog more for my kids than anyone else. I want them to know about Molly someday, because she was a huge part of our lives and she is missed very much.

Cheap entertainment!!

A few weeks ago, Joe brought home a large box from work.....the kids turned it into their fort.....it is just amazing that we buy them all these new and expensive toys and they want to play in a box!! Three kids inside was a little crowded so the older two kept kicking Dawson out, and he was having none of it. Mason even went so far as to write a note and put it on the door of the fort, it said, "only two people inside." Did he really think Dawson could read or that he even cared about Mason's rules? Oh well, Morgan got bored with it fast enough so Dawson and Mason could play in it by themselves.

These are a few of my favorite things

Pssst....Hi everyone, it's me Dawson!!! My mommy is busy and she is always on this thing, so I thought I would see what it is all about.

This lady here is my mommy.....she was my first love. I love her so much that I would hardly go to anyone else when I was little, even my daddy!!! Daddy always tried really hard to make me come to him and love him as much as my mommy, it just wasn't gonna happen, mommy's the greatest!!! I have lots of favorite things, but mommy is my all time favorite!!! I love to just sit on her lap or have her carry me around, although mommy says I am getting to big to carry, thats just cause she takes such good care of me that I keep on getting bigger and bigger.

This here is my blankie. Now, I love this blankie almost as much as my mom and dad...it's so soft and I love the little fringes on the outside edges....my mom says I wouldn't even go to sleep if I didn't have my blankie with me. I used to hold the fringes up by my face when I was little, but I'm big now, so I don't do that anymore. (Well, maybe sometimes!!) I love to cuddle on mommy and daddy's lap with my blankie, mommy says I am the most cuddly of all us kids!!

This is my daddy!!! It may have taken me awhile but he has become one of my favorite things in the whole wide world. Mommy says I was 20 months old before I even said "daddy." This really drove daddy nuts.....sometimes I wouldn't say it just to see how he would react....he tried so hard. My favorite things about daddy are his truck, his trailer, his truck, our wrestling matches, did I mention his truck....I really like his truck!! My daddy calls me "Thor." I guess it's because I am so big!!!

These are MY trucks....actually they are Mason's but I took them as my own. We have lots and lots of trucks at our house!!! I LOVE trucks, cars, and trailers that hook to the trucks!!! Wow, they are so much fun. Mommy gets a little crabby when I constantly ask her to "fix it", I have a little trouble hooking up the trailers. She also gets crabby when I sit on her lap with ALL my cars and trucks, but she lets me because she loves me soooo much!!!

This right here is another of my favorites....my cup!! I don't go very far without it, and I lose them in the house or outside lots and lots.....mommy is always wandering around looking for my cup.....it's really funny when I hide it really good and she doesn't find it for a few days.....she makes a really funny face when she puts it in the sink to wash it!!! You know I think I heard her say something about taking it away soon.....I don't get it, why would she do that?

This is molly!! She doesn't really like me much.....I think it may have something to do with me chasing her around the house with my 4-wheeler, or maybe because I really enjoy hitting her, especially with my cup!! I have lots of fun with molly!!!

Well, I think I hear mommy coming, I better go. OH.....Don't tell her I was using the computer...she gets really upset when I touch the buttons!!! See ya!! Dawson