The Hensley's are Growing!

Please feel free to share the link below or post for us.

http://ourjourneyjohn1418.blogspot.com/

**Before checking the blog, scroll down to the bottom of this page and pause the media in the playlist.

Poor Toby!

We sent Toby to get a haircut on Monday. Our fluffy little dog left in the wee hours of the morning and returned in the evening like this. I'm a little sad, eventhough I know it will grow back. We asked to stylist to keep it "fluffy", but she must have misunderstood me. The worst part is that he is cold. Our little guy that used to run away from us, now really doesn't even enjoy the outside. Poor guy! I need to dig out his puppy sweater. I'm sure it will fit him now.

The Best $1.00 Activity

I bought a "make your own" calendar at the Dollar Store. It has been the best $1.00 purchase for two reasons. 1. Great learning experience for the kids to complete. They have to place the month sticker in the correct place, as well as all the numbers. Then, they can choose from a variety of stickers to represent their "things to do" for the month. 2. Now when they ask how many days until something, they can look themselves and enjoy it. We cross off each day when it passes and they can decide how many more days until their next sticker appointment.

It has really saved me answering the "how many more days" question, a lot already.

Love my kiddos!

Elijah enjoying Chuck E. Cheese. He is quite afraid of Charles E. Cheese. In this picture, he is seated far away from the big mouse.

Gracie loves playing games. I'll be sad when she is too big to enjoy it. However, her Dad did celebrate his 18th birthday there. So...I think I have some time left to enjoy it.


Ava is probably the biggest Chuck E. Cheese fan. I had to wake her up to go. To get her up I bent down close to her crib and whispered "Chuck E. Cheese" 3-4 times. She opened one eye and shot up. She also loves to dance and clap and dive for tickets when the big mouse throws them. She even follows him in the conga line. What a trooper...she was sick, but it didn't get her down.


Eating icicles. Oh...to be a kid again.

Just hangin' out!

Bowling fun!

I think the ball is as heavy as him.

Ava didn't get to bowl. As you can see, she and I stayed home while she blew her own nose. She wasn't feeling the best with her double ear infection! Ouch. Although, I must say the new A-B eardrops are wonderful! Instant soothing for her.

Our society, urrrggghh!

This morning Grace put on a new pair of pants. I thought they looked just fine. Well...to get to my frustrations, Grace found me moments after putting the outfit on to tell me she thought her pants made her look fat! She was upset. Of course, she looked great! Urrrggghhh! A first grader saying this just kills me. This isn't the first time shes commented negatively about her own appearance, so I guess that is why I'm so bothered. She worries about her hair, freckles, and other things too. I'm sure this is normal to a point; but I do blame society a bit for emphasizing material things so much.

I don't want her to place so much emphasis on clothes and looks! We try so hard to teach our kiddos that clothes don't matter and money is spent better elsewhere! Making memories and spending time together and treating people nice are the things that do matter. Don't get me wrong, I love a cute outfit now and then. However, I don't want my kids to worry about what they look like or have clothes effect their opinion of themselves.

Okay..I'm done ranting!

Too funny!

Tonight I asked Ava if Barack was our president. She looked at me and said "No...Jesus".

How do you respond to this?

A picture is worth a thousand words...and then some.

Our week in Pictures

Mr. Toby has decided that he will go outside without us (Thank goodness)! Sooooo, this shot was taken from our warm and cozy sunroom. It is so great to avoid the low temps! Ava loves to warm up in her bath! This smile quickly turns into a scream this past couple of weeks if you wash her hair. She is so much like her dad...she prefers to not wash. (just kidding)
Uncle Jason performed another tooth-pulling job for Grace a couple of days ago. The tooth fairy left her with four whole dollars!


With 3 snowdays this week, Grace and Addie were able to spend the night together. Here they are performing cheerleading stunts with Ava.

Addie and Grace enjoyed making snickerdoodles (I haven't made them since 7th grade home economics. It all just came back to me)

Here is the baking mess I started with the kids, but quickly realized I was alone to finish our 8 dozen cookies and clean-up.

You can see lots of little hands pretending to baptize Jesus here. This week we learned about Jesus' baptism.

Brian made homemade pizza with the kids. Yeah Daddy!!

A closer look. (I love Ava's tongue)

Daddy and Eli decided to play baseball outside. FYI...Eli won.

Eli has been waiting a long, long time to put this up in his room. We had to let the paint dry for at least a week before sticking it to the wall. He is quite proud...and shy about it.

The next few pix are from our latest "milk bubble-blowing" contest. We create great habits here at the Hensley's.

It looks like a tie to me.

Notice who is sleeping so nicely in our bed. FYI...Brian has learned how to use my camera. I'm so excited.

I need Africa more than Africa needs me

As some of you know...I dream to adopt from Ethiopia. Here is an inspiring video. (Scroll down to the bottom of the page (all the way down) and pause my Playlist media in order to hear the video)

2008 Highlights

Click the Link Below to see our year 2008.

(I would change the speed on this page to "fast". There are many pictures)

http://s248.photobucket.com/albums/gg192/hnsly24/2008%20Highlights/?albumview=slideshow

or

Click the Picture of Grace below to see the pix in a page layout. This is probably quicker!

I went a little overboard with pictures.

2008 Highlights

Click Picture to see our 2008 Highlights