Speedy Wins Again!

Rob has quite a roll going with the Pinewood Derby! He won first place his first year; second place his second year; and first both last year & this year! As you can imagine, he's pretty stoked! It came to a race-off between him & his buddy Tucker, but he inched in for the win. What a fun time!

Tooth Fairy Time

Jaclyn has been talking about loose teeth since summer time, but they just never got loose enough to wiggle out. This weekend, she mentioned it again & I couldn't believe my eyes when I looked - her permanent teeth had grown in behind her baby teeth. Apparently this isn't all that uncommon - who knew!?! A few yucky chemicals to numb things up & a couple of yanks - oops, "wiggles" - big enough to make mom's stomach churn & those baby teeth were out! She was so very excited!!! Thomas said, "Mom, I don't think I want my teeth pulled out." I completely agree! He asked her to stop talking, it just sounds too funny...she does whistle a bit, but it clearly won't slow her down any.

We've got WINNERS!

Of course, we've always told the kids they're winners, but now they really feel like it.
The first semester awards assembly was last Friday & all three of our school-aged kids were recognized for something.
Robert, being the oldest & wisest (or so he'd tell you ;) ) was recognized for earning all A's & B's during the first semester.
Thomas, Mr. Roll with the Flow, was presented a Personal Success Award for accepting the diversity of his friends (yea, there's a reason for that) and he also earned a good citizen award in his class.
Not to be outdone, Jaclyn was awarded the sportsmanship award for her class and a Personal Success Award for learning all capital letter names, all letter sounds, recognizing numbers 1-20, and couting to 154! She, too, earned a good citizen award in her class.
What a great group of kids God has blessed us with!

Two months already!

That's right - hard to believe our little guy is already two months old! I've been trying to take a picture every Friday & this is the most recent one. He's 9 weeks old! The kids & I worked quite a while off & on to get this shot...lots of funny faces & two dozen shots later, we finally got one of him smiling! Gotta love digital cameras!

Ben seems to be doing well & going strong. I took him in for his two month check-up last week & believe it or not, he's 10 lbs. 4 oz. and 23 3/4 inches. Doc was so pleased, he actually said we don't have to go back until it's time for his 4 month check...after having been every week since he was born, that's quite a stretch! Hopefully everyone will remain relatively healthy so we can actually make it! We love the good doctor, but enough is enough already!

Now, on to the bathroom...the walls are done, electrical run, shower base & back walls in, flooring about 3/4 done & toilet about 1/2 done. Progress is so good!

Happy Birthday Mommy!

New Year's Eve brought a great excitement for being able to stay up late and also to celebrate Mommy's birthday. This year the plan was to go down to church for the year in review photo show that Jo had worked so hard on. We enjoyed the day of resting and giving gifts (and struggling with the decision if we were going to church that night or not with the blowing snow). After grilling steaks for supper and enjoying the meal, we decided to pack up and head to church for the gathering. When we showed up we almost doubled the crowd there (and as you can imagine we weren't any too early in getting there) so the group decided to watch the overview while snacking and then head home. We returned home just in time to celebrate the New Year and head off to bed. It was another great day and evening filled with play, rest and enjoying family time.

Christmas with Papa

The holidays have taken us out of the loop of getting updates on regularly, so we'll make an attempt to catch up and get back on track.

Christmas was a wonderful event this year for the Janssens. We simply enjoyed the day with new gifts and spending time together. Games and activities which involved many of the family were again a hit and continue to be. Accessories for the PlayStation were much appreciated, but the Pirate Dice and puzzles made an even bigger hit it appeared.

Last weekend Jody's dad came to celebrate Christmas with us. It was a great weekend of visiting, watching movies and just plain having fun as usual.