Jasmine started swimming lessons today. As I mentioned in the last entry, she has no fear. She is difficult to instruct in the water because she just wants to jump off the side or hang on the wall. She loves singing “The Babies On the Bus Go Up and Down.” Whether she is in the water or not she is singing that song (along with Barney’s I Love You . . .) and doing the up and down motions with her body.

Her vocabulary is incredible. She says her number 1-10. She tells us the color of her crayons when she colors. She tells Kadin to eat, says hey when daddy pats her on the bottom, asks for candy first thing in the morning, says “daddy work". If she can’t get you to understand what she wants, she will take your hand and show you or she becomes very animated and tries to act out what she wants. She throws the best fits and she does it quite often, like every time she doesn’t get her way. We think she is a vegetarian, since she refuses to eat most meats. We have lucked out a few times and have noticed if we season her meat with extra, extra seasoning she eats it. Just like she loves salsa until she screams because it is burning her mouth.

My mom is loving it because she says Jasmine is just like me when I was little. Yikes!

Beautiful Wisconsin . . . we spent the last 6 days in The Dells. Wondering why would we go somewhere colder than Colorado for a vacation? The indoor waterparks, of course! We had a ball. Every time we would leave our room Jasmine would get excited and say “swimming". Kadin rode the Hurricane with Jason. Four people sit in a raft and are dropped straight into this funnel shaped part and the riders are thrown up one side and down the other while crazy music is playing and lights are flashing. Kadin kept saying “boys rule” but refused to go on it again. The first day we went to the waterpark and on the first ride, which was the lazy river, Jasmine decides to bail off the raft and into the water. Both Jason and I dove for her and luckily caught an arm. Our little dare devil testing us again.

The children woke to presents wrapped in white paper with red ribbons from Santa. After the first 15 minutes Jasmine was worn out from unwrapping and just wanted to play with the few new presents. Kadin enjoyed playing with a lego set he received from his cousins and rolling around the living room on his new skateboard. Jasmine hopped right on her bouncing pony.

My mom, grandma, and Rex spend the afternoon with us. We had every intention of playing games all day, but instead ate ham and took naps.

Kadin called Santa today. He left a message for him asking if Santa could bring him a Tales pet and a Bolt pet (new Disney Movie). It was very cute to listen to. He said, “Hello Santa, this is Kadin Ogren. For Christmas could you please bring me a Tales and Bolt pet. Thank you.” Santa sent us a copy of the message.

We celebrated Christmas at my dad’s house tonight with Dad, Joyce, Uncle Shane, and Aunt Jennifer. We played Wii Bowling and ate my dad’s rocking ribs. For a Christmas present I received my dad’s special spice mixture to make my own rocking ribs.

We took the kids to the Greeley Mall today to see Santa Claus. Kadin sat on Santa’s lap and told him his Christmas wish for the first time. Well not technically the first time, just the first time without a fit. When he was a baby I sat him on Santa’s lap and we have a picture of him screaming and crying. So this year was a milestone - he sat and he didn’t scream or cry. Jasmine on the other hand would only stand next to Santa. And I think the only reason she didn’t cry was because she saw her brother content sitting on his lap. How great it is to have a big brother!