Jen

Jenna has grown so much in the past few months. She potty trained herself (just like her big sister). She is drawing pictures of people that you can actually tell are people. She is getting her letters and sounds down. The list goes on and on. But the thing that really hit me hard was when she went to Sunbeams 2 Sundays ago. It was one of those moments when i was in shock. My baby wasn't a baby anymore and I wasn't ready for that.

So I stood in the back of Primary with tears filling my eyes...trying to fight them the whole time. It was no use, no matter how I felt and no matter what I could do, she was/is growing. Time waits for no one. And my desire to keep her small just isn't going to happen. So in honor of my growing baby, I share with you the picture of her on her way to church as a Sunbeam.

Reagan picked out matching outfits-from the dress to the boots. (Reg had her coat on.)

What Jenna is into: She gives kisses and hugs constantly....and I mean constantly. She also loves to tell you that she loves you, at least, 30 times a day (I love it myself). Jenna loves to dance around and pretend that she is a princess ballerina. She loves to pretend to cook and wants to feed everyone. She is a big helper in the kitchen. Jenna loves to play with her big sister. The picture below is of Reagan and Jenna pretending to be Tiger Lily (Jen loves Peter Pan). Reagan made them both matching costumes and headpieces. They had so much fun doing that. Jenna loves singing and doing arts-n-crafts. And she has a great love of books.

She is such a fun loving little girl. We are so blessed to have her in our family.

Now if anyone knows how to get her to stop growing, please tell me your secret!

A Very Merry Christmas

Let me begin this post by bringing up last Christmas' post. Last year, I had planned on putting up a series of posts so as not to overwhelm the reader. Well, I only put up 1 post in a series of 3. I was disappointed with the fact that I never got it done. So this year I decided to overwhelm you with a crazy amount of pictures. I know that this is the only way I'll get it done (because if you know me, not only am a procrastinator but I am also constantly filled with good intentions that never happen). So brace yourself, this was our 2008 Christmas.

My family came to our home for Christmas. It was so wonderful to be with them, just us girls...and Daddy and Ian (those poor/lucky guys).

Reagan and Jenna (or shall we say I) decorated Christmas stockings for everyone.


We started Christmas morning off with the stockings. --I am still trying to get used to these things because in our Panamanian home, stockings were such a minor thing with only one small gift inside.--

Then we headed to the tree.

I know that this picture is fuzzy but Reagan's face was to perfect not to share.


Jenna loved her violin. She always wants to play her big sister's but is not allowed to touch it, so now she has her own.


Every gift was so exciting to the girls. Jenna wanted to play with every gift the moment she opened it. Needless to say, it took her quite a long time to open her gifts.


Anita got Reagan "Hungry Hippos". We always wanted one as kids (my parents never knew). So we went crazy playing a few rounds.

Jenna was exhausted after opening gifts, and it wasn't even 8 a.m. yet.

Later that day, we grabbed a neighbor for a family picture.

The "Traditional" Kemple family picture.

In the evening, Reagan finally lost her first tooth. She was so excited. She has been waiting for this day for months!

And then the next evening, the 26th, Reagan lost her second tooth.

Jenna wasn't feeling very well due to a cold. Luckily, she had her Auntie Anita to read her stories.

And she only wanted her Papa to hold her and make her feel better.

I loved hanging out with my sisters, since I hardly get to see them.
Ya'll seriously need to move back to the motherland.
(Texas was once it's own country, therefore, it can be referred to as "the motherland".)

We celebrated my parent's 38th Anniversary while they were with us.

We loved having everyone with us but knew that our time was almost up. The excitement of Christmas was perfect. And we can't wait until we are together again.

I do have to say that even though Ian Claus spoiled me to an amazing degree this year (which I absolutely loved), my favorite thing was and is feeling his love for me and the girls (which we feel everyday), and having time with him (and that is definitely not something that we get everyday).


Everyone, except Heidi, headed back home after a wonderful couple of days. Heidi stayed with us for one more day before flying out (it really helped make the whole family leaving thing a lot easier for the girls...and me too).

We had a very Merry Christmas! I hope that you all had a wonderful one too.

Parents' Day at Ballet

Yesterday, Jenna's ballet class had Parents' Day. It was so fun seeing her in action. It was funny how the girls would pay attention occasionally and then go off into their own thing (they were pretty distracted with parents there). I loved it and thought that it was the cutest thing ever!

A bit of Thanksgiving in the month of December

Yes! I realize that this is a bit behind and all but I am putting the darn pictures up.

We spent Thanksgiving in Corpus with my parents and Ian's parents and brother came down too. It was great spending time with all of our family there. I didn't take many pictures and have actually taken none since this day but I am going to try and make up for it soon.

Jenna with Papa (my daddy).

Reagan with Grandma Lori (Ian's stepmom).

Us with the Roberts Family. Boy I sure am short next to all of them. Oh well.

Like I said before, it was really nice being able to spend time with everyone while we were in Corpus. It had been over a year since Ian had been. The girls kept on asking me if Daddy was really coming with us. I think that it was a miracle that he was able to come. It was wonderful being there as a family and having that time to relax with him. Now Christmas...we still have our fingers crossed that he will be work free for more than a day.

Thanksgiving Feast

This last week, I was able to help with Reagan's class Thanksgiving Feast. It was so fun to see my little "Native American" sharing a poem and song, with the rest of the Pilgrims and Native Americans in her class. It was also fun to see the kids gobble up the feast. The traditional Thanksgiving donut holes were a big hit. :)


We are looking forward to spending time with our family this Thanksgiving....and eating way too much pumpkin pie.

Violin Recital

On Friday, Reagan participated in her first violin recital. She played "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star". She was the first to perform, and she did a great job.

Here she is pretending to play because I didn't take a picture of her while she was playing (I didn't want to distract her).

Here she is with her teacher and several other students.

And of course, Jenna was very proud of her sister.

Disneyland Trip

We didn't think that we were going to be able to do it (because so many before us have not), but we were able to go on a family trip that included our lawyer/daddy. I put lawyer first because we have heard many a horror story where a family plans a trip for months. And then last minute, the dad can't go because of work. So we beat the odds and took a FAMILY trip to Disneyland. We met Liz (Grandma) and Brooke (Ian's sister), Evan, McKenzie, and Brynn at the happiest place on earth.

While at Disneyland, we saw "The Mouse"! For us, Minnie is "The Mouse" because she is a female and females rule our roost. So the girls were excited about that.
***Sorry Mickey. I do acknowledge the fact that we saw and took pictures with you. And that was very special and all. But Minnie (and the Princesses) are what Disney is all about to these ladies.***



We rode a ton of rides. There were NO lines to stand in our first 2 days. It was perfect. But of course, now I will be expecting no lines anytime we go to Disneyland or World. (This was not only our girls first trip but mine also.)

We had breakfast with some characters. You can tell from the family photo above, that Jen was a bit nervous. And it is pretty darn obvious from the bear picture, that Reagan was about to burst with excitement.

So I had to through this picture in because this is how our life is (like many of yours'). Husband involved in family activity, meal, in bed, you name it and he is with his mistress Madam Blackberry.

We met a few fairies during our visit. (Jenna is starting to warm up to the characters.)

We spent some time with Princess Minnie.

We met just about every Princess. But our time with Ariel was probably the highlight of our character experience. She talked with the girls for several minutes and even played a bit. They loved it so much. It was worth it to stand in that line, just to see how excited and happy our girls were.

Another highlight for the girls, was spending time with their grandma and cousins. McKenzie and Brynn are their only cousins and we don't get to see them very often. The girls loved every second of their time with their family.

This picture of our last night together perfectly illustrates that despite the kids desire to live at Disneyland, it was time for them to go home. (Well, maybe Reagan and Brynn were up for Disney living but the other 2...they are a different story.)

We had a wonderful time with family at Disneyland. The girls are ready to go back. And I am ready for another vacation.

The President

Between falling asleep and being waken by my husband, I watched the votes come in. It is amazing and hard to really grasp the reality of a President Obama. I am excited to see what our country's future holds. I hope that he will bring prosperity and peace to our country and the world.

As a side note, McCain's speech was beautiful. He was very respectful and classy. And he understood the historical impact of such an election.

Being biracial, and just a minority, I feel overwhelmed. I now truly feel that no matter what your skin color or whether you are a woman or a man, you can be President. And that is a wonderful feeling for a mother of 2 little girls that have not only European but also Panamanian blood in their veins. I feel blessed to be an American. And I feel blessed to have witnessed this historic event.

Election Day Thoughts

In honor of Election Day (by the way, we voted the first weekend of early voting), I thought that I would share an article written by a regular over at Times and Seasons. I am sharing it because of several reasons.... 1. I am shocked to see an article written by someone who is LDS, that doesn't line up with what most of "us" think. 2. I am a staunch Republican. I have always agreed with everything that the Republican party has stood for. Well, that is until George Bush screwed up our country in so many different ways (and yes, I did vote for him both times. But I have decided that if something just isn't working, you need to try something new. And yes, I am still a Republican despite these feelings). 3. Years ago even before John McCain ran against Bush, I couldn't stand him. I have always felt that he is a Democrat in Republican "clothing". Ian and my parents could tell anyone that I have never liked the guy. 4. I soon discovered after Sarah Palin was added to the Republican ticket, that I knew more about politics than she did (I am talking about pre debate schooling). If I wouldn't trust myself (with the knowledge that I have on International and National dealings, laws, etc), how could I trust a woman that looked so sadly pathetic during simple interviews.

I know that being LDS, we have many values that line up with the Republican party. And I definitely still have those values. But I feel like our country just can't take another 4 years that are similar to the last 8. I think that the Republican party needs a shake down, and if voting against it is the only way to get us back to the old, or shall we say Reagan, Republican party, then so be it. Oh and let it be known that if Romney would have been the nominee, I totally would have stood by the man that would know how to fix this economy. I would have even possibly, just maybe, even voted for McCain if he would have chosen Romney as his running mate. But alas, he did not. So here I am, saddened by the party that I call my own....

Below is the article that I fist referenced. I hope that it will make you think rather than just react angrily. I found it to be very interesting and enlightening to read this from an LDS perspective.

9 Reasons I Love Halloween/October

I love the month of October. So much has gone on, that I haven't been able to blog about everything. But I did figure that I could share some things that I love about Halloween....


1. Dressing your kids up in fun costumes, makeup, and a crazy amount of hairspray. (Reagan is a Rock Star. Jenna is Ariel.)

2. Getting to dress up as an adult and go to parties that don't involve the whole family.

3. Church Halloween Activities. Who doesn't love a bowl of chili, one too many cupcakes, and some Trunk or Treating!



4. Work Halloween Parties (where we saw a lot of people from our Church Activity).




5. Group Violin Lessons -- Halloween Style




6. My Birthday (I don't like getting older but I do like all of the attention).
7. My Dad's Homemade Pumpkin Pie (It is literally the best you will ever try).



8. Pet Costumes. Bear is sporting a spider costume. I love it!



9. Family Visiting. (My Parents came to visit us for Jenna's birthday and my birthday. Who could ask for anything more...)

Happy Halloween Ya'll!