February

Here's Evelyn with her first pony tail. Evelyn has started using utensils when she eats. Some of the words she commonly uses are: coat, shoes, socks, yummy, cat, meow, dog, daddy, mum, baby, hi, no, yes, this, juice, and cheese.


Felicity has grown a few pounds and a couple of inches. She's more wakeful during the day and is sleeping for longer periods at night. So far her eyes have lightened to a purer blue. We have been amazed at how content Felicity is to lie on a blanket and stare at a mobile or stuffed animal.
Matt is continuing to look for a job. Most of those he's applied for have been local, but some are in other states. He will be presenting his first seminar soon. Clarisse keeps pretty busy caring for the girls. She is still in charge of the Young Mother's Club in her ward, and has recently started a fitness group that meets every weekday morning at the church.

I know my mom will be wanting to see some recent photos of Felicity, so here you go! She is about 8 pounds the last time we checked, and she is getting more active and less sleepy. She's a quiet one--she doesn't out-and-out cry much but prefers to make little grunts. The grunts sound like little chuckles.

Evelyn is learning new words every day, and she surprises us sometimes. When she tastes something she likes, she shouts "yummy, yummy!" It's her way of asking for more. I discovered it while sharing a milkshake with her last Friday.

I should mention that I love the new running shoes that so many of you collaborated to give to me! They are even better than the last ones (which are worn through in some places, so I really needed a replacement). I hope you don't mind that I didn't wait for my birthday to open them.

Another new development is that I have been looking for a job this past week. I really need to get out of academia and start a real career. There are lots of reasons why graduate school isn't working out for me, but I don't want to sound like a whiner. Please just remember me in your prayers!

As you have probably heard, there has been an addition to the Streeter family! Felicity Ann was born at 10 pm Friday, January 6th. Felicity was 7 pounds, 2 ounces when born and is 20 inches long. I am happy to report that Clarisse is feeling well and recovering quickly.
Little Felicity has lots of dark hair which is very different from the way Evelyn was as an infant. The picture above was taken soon after the birth, and you can still see some cheesy stuff on Felicity's forehead.
So far, Felicity seems to be mellow and easily satisfied. She sleeps pretty well...during the day. We hope that we will start sleeping at night as well!
Evelyn is sometimes interested in Felicity, sometimes indifferent, and usually jealous. She has been extra clingy and fragile since the birth but seems to be slowly adjusting. We try to still give her plenty of mom and dad time.
Felicity is sometimes wakeful, but most of the time she is just a curled up little ball of cuteness. Even though we have been through this before with Evelyn, it is still amazing just how small she is.

I hope you all had a merry Christmas--we sure did! This is our family after church on Christmas day. I should mention that Evelyn's dress was given to her by a secret Santa as well as some other very kind gifts. But I'm getting ahead of myself... Christmas eve first:
As you can see, we honored the Jensen tradition of making a Merry Christmas pizza on Christmas eve (just in case you can't read the bell pepper message on the pizza, it says Merry X-mas).
We enjoyed our pizza as well as popping Christmas crackers. Evelyn was willing to keep a crown on long enough for one picture.
Here Evelyn is on Christmas morning digging into her stocking! She is at the age now to get excited about gifts and seems to like surprises.
Here she is with a child-friendly nativity set....
This was my home-made gift for Clarisse. Forgive me for showing off. No drawing could ever be as cute as the real Evelyn. Clarisse's artistic side was manifested in Christmas dinner. It was a masterpiece! We wish we could have seen our families, but it was good talking to some of you on the phone. Love you all!

Evelyn is growing fast and seems more like a little girl every day. Here she is looking pretty in her Sunday dress. Her hair has gotten much thicker in the past few weeks.

Evelyn is starting to develop an active imagination and seems to give her stuffed animals some personality when playing with them. Her favorite is a stuffed rabbit (Thumper from Bambi).
Thanksgiving is old news by now, and Bekah has already posted photos on Facebook. I'll give you a quick synopsis, though. Bekah came down for a few days, and it was really fun spending time with her. It was also really nice kicking back a bit and letting Bekah entertain Evelyn (Thanks, Bekah! I hope we didn't take too much advantage of you!).

We took a little tour of sites in downtown Salt Lake, and our first stop was the Cathedral of the Madeline. We saw the inside for the first time, and it was AMAZING! I didn't take pictures because I thought it would be irreverent.

We enjoyed seeing the lights at temple square! It was worth braving the bitter cold. Below is the Christmas tree in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.

Last Saturday was the first snow of the season and Evelyn's birthday party. Evelyn didn't play in the snow for very long on Saturday morning before her parents got too cold and took her in.
Here is Evelyn's birthday cake made by Clarisse. The stars were cut out of fruit roll-up. Way to go Clarisse!
A lunch of meat loaf, cheez-its, and canned peaches was served at the party. This might sound like an odd combination, but the theme was Evelyn's favorite foods.
Here she is with some of her presents. I think that she's running for the nearest parent in this picture. She loves to have us read to her.
Evelyn's new doll goes very well with her shopping cart. Evelyn's favorite toy, however, was the doll's bottle. She likes to suck on it and sometimes offers it to the doll too.

Happy Halloween! We went to a ward trunk-or-treat yesterday, and Evelyn was a little monkey. Clarisse and I were lazy and didn't wear costumes. There was no trick-or-treating for Evelyn though; she's too young for candy. Instead, she had a good time showing off her walking.
Oh, I have a confession to make that will make my mom and sisters very upset: I buzzed my head last week! I was sick of dealing with my unruly hair and did it on a whim. There are some great advantages to buzzing, though. It cost $0 (if you borrow clippers, that is), and I never have to comb! I don't have to worry about the wind messing it up, and I can take my hat off without any fear of hat hair.

I also started a beard growing, so by the end of the month, I should be unrecognizable. The University of Utah is having a No Shave November competition, and I think I have a shot at winning. I had to enter the contest clean shaven and have my picture taken, and the judging will take place on November 30th.

For those who haven't seen it yet, this is a video of Evelyn walking. She is being lured by a teddy bear held by Clarisse.