Master Chief Jensen?

Yes! Mark has officially made the cut and will promote to Master Chief!!! Can I brag for just a moment? Good... I just have to say that my husband has advanced on first attempt the last several times now, and I am so very proud of him. ( that doesn't just happen in the military, in case you didn't know) We do not yet know what this will mean as far as transfers and such go, but it does not matter. God has brought us to this point and I know we can trust Him to bless us through whatever lies ahead in our Coast Guard adventures.

3 years old today!!!

Happy 3rd Birthday Maddie!

Our sweet Madeline turns 3 tomorrow, but we celebrated her birthday this past weekend. She had a simple little party with just us and loved it. We brought her cake out to light the candles and sing to her and as soon as Mark lit the firt candle she blew it out. We explained to her that she needed to wait until we lit them all and then make a wish. So, she waited for Daddy to light the 3 of them and as we started singing she blew them out quickly. The boys asked her if she had made a wish when we finished singing. She said "yes". Zach asked her "what did you wish for?" She replied, "the cake!" Well, I guess that is one way to make your wish comes true! We are so thankful for these 3 years that she has blessed us and pray for many more!

More Children Tidbits

I find the imagination of children amusing. Yesterday the boys were playing in the back bunk before starting school and I overheard enough to figure out that their bunk happened to be their plane. It was also in trouble. It had somehow managed to loose all it's flying capabilities, and yet according to their play...it was miraculously still in the air. To top it off they could not parachute out because they were flying directly over a volcano. Must have been one large volcano, that or they were flying circles over it! They are too cute!
Children are also little geniuses! Zach was growing tired of his schoolwork late the other afternoon. He had done a few extra pages in one of his subjects and it put him behind schedule. Then he ran a plan by me..." if I do extra in all these subjects can I have the day off tomorrow?" Cute and maybe even smart....but it didn't work. Also, we were at the park yesterday evening and there was a little boy there playing on one of those slide bars.( the handle that slides along a bar from platform to platform) He was maybe about Zach's height and not as old as him. He slipped off the handle in the middle of the bar, leaving it just out of his reach even with a jump. He glanced around for his father, who was too far from the playground to see his dilemma. As I decided to start in his direction, to see if I could help him, I noticed that he had figured it all out. He gingerly removed one shoe and used it to reach the few inches he lacked to slide the bar back to the platform. Good one!
Madeline has a new found love of stores recently. We were dressing them for an outing last week and she commented to me, "these are my shopping pants." Fortunately for her we were heading to a store. In love with her cuteness, we asked her the next time we were going shopping if she had her shopping pants on. "yes" she replied, "I want to shop til the sun goes down!" Now don't ask me where she came up with that one, we are not exactly the shopping lovers ourselves. I think we could be in trouble here though.
Andrew has been having a hard time adjusting to all the recent changes in his life. His sensory issues make this even more challenging for him. We realized the need to discuss this with the older boys who had not been as compassionate with him as they could be. When we finished explaining that his special toys from home were comforting to him and they needed to be more sensitive to that as well as not be competitive with him they agreed to try to help out with him. They are sweet boys and they do want to see Andrew progress in his development, though they may lack a little patience. Zach asked me after,"will he outgrow this?"
Samantha (Sam Marie to Maddie) is growing up too fast now. I love this stage when they start to talk and develop their own personality, but I also miss the sweet infancy too. The other day I called to talk to my mom, who happened to be at work. Sammie noticed I was on the phone and wanted to talk. "hone, Dada." she said. I told her it was not Daddy. "Nana" ,she said. "No, it's Papa." I told her. Now, she has not said Papa before as she called him Op Op before we left. I handed her the phone to say hi to him though and when he began to talk to her she looked up with a big smile and said PAPA. It made his day!

Random Information

Remember that letter that was finally submitted from the guy retiring from his Master Chief position? It was approved. It's not yet official but things are looking really good for Mark to make Master Chief this next year.
So, we have these 40 acres up in Montana. A few of you have seen it. It needs allot of TLC yet. It also needs some construction started. We have contacted a contractor in the area who does additions and we are hoping that he can give us some info and estimates that may allow us to make some necessary decisions for this property. We would definitely appreciate prayers as we seek the Lord's direction in this matter.
We are hoping to get down to the Simi area for Thanksgiving this year. It will not be a real long trip but we always love a chance to see our family and friends there!
We are also planning a trip to Texas in December that will extend into January. The kids and myself will be returning to Montana from there for at least a couple of months. We will wait to see if the military has any definite plans for Mark yet before planning the next visit to CA.
That's the info we have for you all right now. Things are still going pretty good for us here in the travel trailer. It is really nice to enjoy time together as a family for more than a week at a time.

Funny Kid Qoutes

For those of you who are not on Facebook, I thought you might get a kick out of some of the funny things that my children have said. I have been trying to post one daily on my facebook recently and it is nice to have them written down. Kids grow up too quickly and I want to hold onto their sweet curiosity and humor as much as I can.
A couple of weeks ago I was sitting with Maddie and getting some sweet snuggles in. I looked at her and asked her if she was my princess. She said "yes". I asked her, " Is Sammie the queen?" She said "no". I asked her, "Is she a princess?" She replied,"no, Sammie the maid."
The other night Mark was out getting a few groceries for us. Maddie knew that it included the cake mix for her upcoming Birthday party. She knows her special day is soon and she is just sure that each day must finally be "the" day. As she sat there coloring at the table she paused and looked up at me and said, "something not perfect with this party...where the presents and the cake?"
Last night Andrew had written on himself and he knows that is not allowed. I don't think he has quite understood why it is not allowed though, since he came to me sheepishly and asked me, "I gonna die now?"
We take the kids to the park almost every night for some release of energy time, seeing as how we live in a 30 foot travel trailer right now. Last night in the park Ethan came running up to me and had a joke for me. " What crossed the road when the road was busy?" I said, "I don't know, what was it? He said "cars, they always cross the roads." Not to bad for a joke made up by a 6 year old.
Today at nap time I put Sammie up on my bed beside me. ( I was finishing up on the laptop) She leaned over and said,"mommy, I wuv me?" I giggled and said,"Yes, Sammie I love you!" She said "awwww" and gave me a big hug.
Not every moment with 5 children is quite this sweet and fun, but these are the moments that make everything worth all the work. When they smile and laugh and make us do the same.

More Recent Pictures

Just a Lot of Little Things

So, the weekend is done and we are back to our school routine today. Friday night we went and rented several videos with the children. Daddy felt generous and allowed them each to pick one, so we came home with 5 to watch over the weekend...repetitively. ( that's how it goes with toddlers ya know.) Saturday we took our trip out to Pt. reyes to do laundry again. It went well for the most part. Nice sunny day, good pizza, friends to play with, a game of pool, the only bad thing was that one of us gets carsick every time we go on those darn roads. We are still working on getting the smell out of the van. Yucky! Anyways, Sunday we enjoyed service at Church @ Petaluma and then we went to a new park (new to us) here in town. We all hiked and ran around and played on the playgrounds for quite a while. Monday we drove out to Sacramento and visited the IKEA there. The kids really liked it. The girls were a bit tired and cranky seeing as how we managed to overlook the fact that we would be there right during nap time...duh parents! But, overall we all had a pretty good time. ( no carsickness either!) The best part??? In and Out Burger for lunch!!! WOO HOO! OK... not everyone felt quite that way about it, but I was definitely happy. It is one of the few things I actually miss about CA. That, some great people and the ocean. Then last night we went to Pioneer park again and encouraged our children to run laps around the paths there. So that is the update for now. No big plans this week. Unless you consider grocery shopping big plans. Please pray for Mark's brother and his wife as they travel to Germany this week. I'm missing my mountains a bit now. These brown rolling hills are just not the same. More later!

Yay.. The Weekend Approaches!

I have to say that I am quite proud of my children this week. They are adjusting very well to living in the trailer and they had a great week of school. We had a quiet week for the most part, other than the ants getting in on Wednesday. We bought spray for the jacks and they have not been back. Tonight is Friday night movie night for the Jensen family and we are waiting for Dad to get home to take us to rent something new tonight. We get to share a 3 day weekend together as a family and it will be nice to change up our routine for a few days. We are thinking it might be fun to go check out the IKEA in the area on Monday. We haven't been to one in quite a long time. I am going to try to remember the camera on Sunday so check back for more pics soon. Tomorrow is laundry day out at housing again. The kids love being on the playground out there too. It also means pizza lunch at the Galley! Our oven is not big enough for pizza right now so that is definately a treat. We did bake some shortbread cookies in it this week though! The biggest news of the week.... the retirement letter that needed to be submitted for Mark to have any chance at moving up was submitted. Looks like we could have a Master Chief on our hands soon!

Some Recent Pictures

So...This is Trailer Life.

We are starting our first full week in the trailer here today. Thursday was our first full day and it went really surprisingly well. The kids started thier new schoolbooks and they were excited about the changes. Our school routine lasted until about 3 in the afternoon and then I let the kids play out in the rocks outside the trailer for a little bit. It quickly led to time to start dinner and Daddy arriving home. Friday was pretty much the same and then of course we had friday night movie night which the kids look forward to all week. We watched The Apple Dumpling Gang and the girls got a Strawberry Shortcake DVD to enjoy too. Saturday we went out to Pt. Reyes to do laundry at housing there. we got to see some old friends and eat lunch in the Galley there. It was a nice day though the drive out there does set well with all our tummies. Darn winding roads. We were all ok though. Sunday we went to our church here, Church @ Petaluma. We enjoyed seing some more familiar faces and we took the kids to a local park after naps in the afternoon. Overall, the trailer seems to have most of the comforts of home. It is of course a bit tight on space for the 7 of us at some times more than others. The kids are playing with each other even better lately though and they are sleeping well. We have a blue rug at the entry which has become the timeout spot. It works. The hardest part is getting them some run it off time...I will likely frequent that park often for now. I love that it only takes me about 15 minutes to clean my house from top to bottom though! More later!

Our Trip to California

On Sept. 29th we headed out to Calif. to spend a few months together as a family in our new travel trailer. It is sure to be a grand adventure for all of us. We decided to split the kids between the two vehicles to improve everyones chances at remaining somewhat sane for our 3 day trip. Mark had Ethan and Andrew in the truck, pulling the trailer. I had Zach and the 2 girls in the van, following the trailer. Our first day went pretty smoothly. We arrived at our destination in Twin Falls in time for dinner. The kids played on the playground briefly before it began to get dark. Day 2 of the trip was a bit longer. We had to stop to have the tires on the trailer looked at that morning. We had one that's tread had worn on one side. The guy assured us that it had enough tread to make our destination in Reno. However, we had to stop again later that day to actually have it replaced, as it was bald by that point. THis added to our already long day. My body ached from never having driven for 2 days straight and the kids were a bit keyed up by now, but we made it to Reno/ Boomtown before dark. We passed through the Craters of the Moon National Park and snapped a couple pics from the van. We also passed close by a wildfire in Nevada somewhere. We attempted to snap a pic of that as well, but they didn't turn out. At Boomtown we took a shuttle over to Cabela's which turned out to be the highlight of the trip for the children. They loved walking all over the huge store and seeing every "stuffed" animal and fish they had there. They also enjoyed the live fish. Then we walked back to the KOA just to be sure they had thier fill of excercise for the evening. Overall, the trip went better than I thought it would and we are safely in Novato RV park now. I will post more often now that we have internet access so stay tuned... love ya all!

Saying Goodbye for Awhile

We had a last family BBQ before we headed out to California for a few months and I used the oppurtunity to snap a picture of all the kids together. So here are the Weiss, and Jensen kids plus our little friend miss H.