Was trying to think of some kind of clever reason why it has ben 10 months since we last blogger here. But that would be a waste of time...no execuse!
I think most/many of you connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc and get a view into what we are doing on a regular basis so hopefully you have been in the loop. Overall, the Seattle Jensen family if doing awesome. Continued to be blessed with great jobs, a great school community, healthy kids, and loving family.
Biggest recent highlights:
1) Maddie starts middle school - Hard to believe it, but she is a 6th grader!
2) 80+ Days of no rain - Yes, we are in Seattle still. Just had an awesome run of weather.
3) Steph and Mike are now inside of a year of being "over the hill" and turing the big 4-0
4) Kenzie has found her sport..Soccer!
We will definately try and keep this up to date more, but if you need to know about what we are up to, here are links to our other "social" networks;
https://www.facebook.com/mjensen73
https://www.facebook.com/stephanie.c.jensen
https://twitter.com/mjtwit
You can also find us on Instagram User: mjtwit
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
The Seattle Jensens - 2011 Year In Review
Unfortunately our family blogging has been a little less frequent then we would have liked. If we would have, then there wouldn't be a need for an “end of year” recap. But, oh well...here we are. Sitting down and looking through the 2011 calendar, one common theme that we saw was “New” - there was a lot of new things we experienced which kept us on our toes, and moving fast...just like we like it! So, month by month here is a short recap of some of the highlights from 2011.
January
We kicked off the new year with Mike starting a new job. After 10 years with Daptiv, it was time for change and on the 1st day of the new year, he started at R2integrated, a Digital Marketing and Technology Agency. Based out of Baltimore, MD they started an office here in Seattle and have been growing ever since. The most exciting part for the kids is the fact that their office is right above Krispy Kreme in SODO.
February
We celebrated Kezie’s 6th Birthday on the 18th. She is full of energy, loves school, and her friends. Her favorite game to play is “store”, where she scans and bags just about everything in the house. I think we have bought the same book a dozen or more times.
March
In addition to celebrating another birthday for Steph :-) the exciting news was that Maddie had the opportunity to put on the Hope School uniform for the first time by joining the 5th/6th Grade basketball team. They were a little short on girls for the team, so they invited some eager 4th graders to join in. This was a great chance for her to play for her school, with friends and get ready for this coming season.
April
Maddie turned double digits in April, the big 10. She is growing up fast...really fast. She enjoys all kinds of sports, enjoys her friends, school, church, etc. In April we also fit in a few of our favorites, with a visit to the Oregon coast for Easter, and then the annual kids fishing derby at Maggie lake. Both were fun, as always, and we look forward to them again this year.
May
The sports theme continued into May as Maddie tacked on her 3rd sport, softball. This is her last year before they really start playing by the rules. She is on the fence if she wants to keep going, so we will see. We were also able to get Kenzie back into soccer, as she joined forces with a friend. She was a little scared to get back into it, but we are glad she did. Her first game...3 goals!! It is now her favorite sport :-)
June
The girls wrapped up a successful school year...Kenzie “graduated” to 1st grade, and Maddie moved on to 5th grade where she is most excited about, you guessed it..having a locker. In June, Steph also changed her working status from contractor to employee with AnotherSource. She is still part-time status, which she loves as it allows her to get the girls from school and have some time to herself.
July
Hola...Gracias...Muy Bien...Adios....Tequila - Just a few of the words that we got very familiar with on our fist trip to Mexico. We packed our bags and headed to Cabo with our parents and Steph’s sister’s family for 8 days. We enjoyed a ton of quality time by the pool, with drinks in hand, and tried to just relax. It was a great time and we look forward to going again sometime.
August
We celebrated a big milestone, our 20 year High School Class reunion. Our class was pretty small (only 32) but we had a great turnout over a weekend with day 1 at Beveridge Place, and day 2 a family picnic at Lincoln Park. Great to see how everyone has changed, or for those lucky ones, NOT changed. In August, we also enjoyed a week with Ben and Lauren, who were visiting from California. They stayed with Nana and Papa J while Jeff and Amy prepped for the arrival of baby #3 (Nathan). The cousins had a great time together, with time on the beach, Mariners games, etc.
September
After a fun summer, the girls headed back to school. Maddie moving to 5th Grade with Mrs. Hood, and Kenzie starting 1st Grade with Mrs. Hartley at Hope Lutheran. It felt like we extended summer just a bit longer as Ryan, Stacey and the boys were here for a few days as well. Luckily the weather was still nice and we were able to spend some time at the Lake, enjoying the “relaxation station.”
October
After taking in our very first Sounders game around Mike’s birthday in September, we followed that up with our October highlight which was attending the US Open Cup final, which the Sounders won! It was their third straight, and it was an awesome experience. We are all now kind of hooked on the Sounders, so we will probably be going to a few more games in 2012.
November
The big milestone in November was the Hope Auction on 11-11-11. Steph co-chaired the auction and helped coordinate the biggest event ever for the schools. All the hard work over the course of nearly 6 months paid off, as the event raised over $100,000. It might be tough to get her to sign up for it again soon, but she did an awesome job! For Thanksgiving, we enjoyed a great meal with great friends, and played in the annual Turkey bowl. A tradition we started a few years back that has steadily grown each year. Fun times!
December
No doubt that we are truly blessed. Our family, our community, our health, our friends, our jobs. We are thankful each and every day. We pray that you, and your families have a happy, joyous, hope filled New Year!
January
We kicked off the new year with Mike starting a new job. After 10 years with Daptiv, it was time for change and on the 1st day of the new year, he started at R2integrated, a Digital Marketing and Technology Agency. Based out of Baltimore, MD they started an office here in Seattle and have been growing ever since. The most exciting part for the kids is the fact that their office is right above Krispy Kreme in SODO.
February
We celebrated Kezie’s 6th Birthday on the 18th. She is full of energy, loves school, and her friends. Her favorite game to play is “store”, where she scans and bags just about everything in the house. I think we have bought the same book a dozen or more times.
March
In addition to celebrating another birthday for Steph :-) the exciting news was that Maddie had the opportunity to put on the Hope School uniform for the first time by joining the 5th/6th Grade basketball team. They were a little short on girls for the team, so they invited some eager 4th graders to join in. This was a great chance for her to play for her school, with friends and get ready for this coming season.
April
Maddie turned double digits in April, the big 10. She is growing up fast...really fast. She enjoys all kinds of sports, enjoys her friends, school, church, etc. In April we also fit in a few of our favorites, with a visit to the Oregon coast for Easter, and then the annual kids fishing derby at Maggie lake. Both were fun, as always, and we look forward to them again this year.
May
The sports theme continued into May as Maddie tacked on her 3rd sport, softball. This is her last year before they really start playing by the rules. She is on the fence if she wants to keep going, so we will see. We were also able to get Kenzie back into soccer, as she joined forces with a friend. She was a little scared to get back into it, but we are glad she did. Her first game...3 goals!! It is now her favorite sport :-)
June
The girls wrapped up a successful school year...Kenzie “graduated” to 1st grade, and Maddie moved on to 5th grade where she is most excited about, you guessed it..having a locker. In June, Steph also changed her working status from contractor to employee with AnotherSource. She is still part-time status, which she loves as it allows her to get the girls from school and have some time to herself.
July
Hola...Gracias...Muy Bien...Adios....Tequila - Just a few of the words that we got very familiar with on our fist trip to Mexico. We packed our bags and headed to Cabo with our parents and Steph’s sister’s family for 8 days. We enjoyed a ton of quality time by the pool, with drinks in hand, and tried to just relax. It was a great time and we look forward to going again sometime.
August
We celebrated a big milestone, our 20 year High School Class reunion. Our class was pretty small (only 32) but we had a great turnout over a weekend with day 1 at Beveridge Place, and day 2 a family picnic at Lincoln Park. Great to see how everyone has changed, or for those lucky ones, NOT changed. In August, we also enjoyed a week with Ben and Lauren, who were visiting from California. They stayed with Nana and Papa J while Jeff and Amy prepped for the arrival of baby #3 (Nathan). The cousins had a great time together, with time on the beach, Mariners games, etc.
September
After a fun summer, the girls headed back to school. Maddie moving to 5th Grade with Mrs. Hood, and Kenzie starting 1st Grade with Mrs. Hartley at Hope Lutheran. It felt like we extended summer just a bit longer as Ryan, Stacey and the boys were here for a few days as well. Luckily the weather was still nice and we were able to spend some time at the Lake, enjoying the “relaxation station.”
October
After taking in our very first Sounders game around Mike’s birthday in September, we followed that up with our October highlight which was attending the US Open Cup final, which the Sounders won! It was their third straight, and it was an awesome experience. We are all now kind of hooked on the Sounders, so we will probably be going to a few more games in 2012.
November
The big milestone in November was the Hope Auction on 11-11-11. Steph co-chaired the auction and helped coordinate the biggest event ever for the schools. All the hard work over the course of nearly 6 months paid off, as the event raised over $100,000. It might be tough to get her to sign up for it again soon, but she did an awesome job! For Thanksgiving, we enjoyed a great meal with great friends, and played in the annual Turkey bowl. A tradition we started a few years back that has steadily grown each year. Fun times!
December
Finally, as we reached December we headed into “busy season” - with holiday parties, tree cutting, school programs, work events, Santa Visits and family in town, we had it all. We made a joke, but partly serious, about how we would love to hire a video crew to follow us around over the Holidays. So many experiences, laughs, etc that at times are tough to believe happened, but they did. Finally, we wrapped up the month and the year celebrating our 16th wedding anniversary on New Years Eve.
No doubt that we are truly blessed. Our family, our community, our health, our friends, our jobs. We are thankful each and every day. We pray that you, and your families have a happy, joyous, hope filled New Year!
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