Thanksgiving

I don't know why, but it always seems to take me a week to get my post up when we have something.  And this is no different.

For Thanksgiving we went to Bo's brother Sonny and Emily's home in DuPont Washington (near Tacoma).  It was a lot of fun although we had a few ups and downs.

First of all, the drive was long 13 and a half hours not including stops.  We were able to stay in boise to split it up so that helped.  When we thought we were only about 20 minutes away we got stuck in traffic and it added another hour and a half!!!  But, the upside was that the kids did AWESOME! I'm happy to travel with them anytime.

We had a great time getting ready and eating our feast.  It was delicious!!! Thanks to everyone who helped in this regard. :)  We were so tired though, everyone fell alseep on the couch before 10.  Crazy!!! (granted we were in the pacific time zone).  I think were fell asleep early every night we were there.  Not sure why.

 

Friday we took the kids to a beach (not sure the name) and it was my favorite part.  It was neat we saw tiny crabs, little jelly fish thingys, and a huge starfish.  The kids loved running around and the weather was really nice.  We are finally to the point where Brayden doesn't stick everything within reach in his mouth anymore, so I even got to enjoy watching him try to walk on the rocky beach.  We even got to stand on a bridge that goes over railroad tracks and a train came flying by.  It was pretty neat.

We took the kids to chucky cheese and then went to dinner after.  That was really fun.  But a few minutes after we got there the puking began.  About 4 people had a really rough night and following day, not including those helping with the mess.

Those of us that weren't sick went to Seattle the next day to do some exploring.  We went to pikes peek and walked around a bit.  Then went to the space needle (sorry no pics of that, it was getting too late).  The kids loved seeing the big city.  They thought it was awesome!

We drove back to Boise Sunday.  I was lucky enough to wake up sick.  And we have had a sick kid everyday since.  Another bummer!  But over all it was great.  It was fun to see family and eat delicious food.

Thanks Sonny and Emily for having us.  We are quite the large group to have for a visit.  The kids loved it!

Here are the rest...

I've been working like mad to get these done. And now they are. The kids LOVE them!!! I'l add more to the collection when I see that they continue to play with them.

Matching Peg Dolls

Here are the peg dolls I made for Hailey.  I wasn't going to make her any, but when she saw them she loved them.  Only two more sets to go (super hero and sesame street), plus I may make one of our family.  These are addicting!

 

Fun Craft

I don't know if I should say fun...these babies took hours to cut out. But, the kids love them. We made them for a Relief Society meeting. We also made some peg stacking dolls. I am still working on those. The kids REALLY LOVE them. I'll post pics when I'm finished.

Way Late Halloween Post

Here are the kids in their Halloween costumes. Conrad was his most recent super hero, Green Lantern. Jackson was Chuck the dump truck and Hailey was going to be Rapunzel, but ended up as a Dr.

Brayden and his two other cousins both about 18 months old were lions (not planned). But, how cute are little lions?!

Halloween was a bit different this year. Hailey woke up sick and we were a bit bummed. I felt bad for her because you only get a few parties at school and Halloween is one of the funnest. Plus, you miss out on trick or treating. Bo called me around noon and said he had an idea so Hailey could go trick or treating. He thought we could dress her as a Dr. and put a mask on her. She was really excited about the idea. But...

you can tell by the picture she just didn't feel good enough to go. :( But, we had fun watching a movie and handing out candy while the boys went.

Hailey's 7th Birthday!

Hailey turned seven on October 18. It was a fun day. The night before we were able to go to the store just her and me and pick out her cake and ice cream. The day of, I was able to go eat lunch with her at school, spend the hour with her, and meet some of her friends. (It's amazing how many friends you have when your mom goes to lunch with you in grade school.)
We ended up watching one of her neighbor friends for a bit after school and she ended up staying for our party. They had fun together. It was just a family party. My parents were able to make it. She loved her gift from them. It's the monkey jammies and sleeping bag for her American Girl doll (generic version). She sleeps with her every night.


I ran out of energy for the cake and realized that when I finally decided (the day of) what I was going to do, that I didn't have sprinkles to give it the look it needed. I didn't make it to the store. Oh well, Bo said it still tasted good and Hailey didn't care. :) She had chocolate cake, chocolate frosting, and two different chocolate ice creams to choose from. Can we say chocoholic. Hailey LOVES chocolate!

Hailey loves:
Arts and Crafts
School
Writing numbers (she wrote to up to 220 yesterday just for fun)
TV
Church
Riding her bike
Her Grandparents
Being the older sister
Helping out with Brayden
Dates with Mom or Dad

We love:
Seeing your smiling face every day
All of the help you give to us
Watching you grow and learn
Learning from you
Helping you with homework (most days)
Going shopping with you
Our Dates
Watching you play and spend time with your brothers
And Many More...

Wow! Can it be possible that we have a seven year old?! I can't believe how fast time goes by. I pondered a lot a couple of days before the feelings I felt seven years ago as we waited in anticipation for our sweet new baby girl. We'd be first time parents and I couldn't wait to be a mother and care for a precious new baby straight from heaven. We are so blessed. I am so blessed to be able to be a mom! These past 7 years have been the happiest, hardest, most amazing years of my life. So many happy, sad, tiring, exciting, nerve wrecking, Hailey teaching me memories that I wouldn't trade for anything. Hailey, I love you. You amaze me. I am so grateful for you and all you add to our family.

We love you!

One Hand!

Okay, so I have to post this before I forget.

Jackson loves proving to us that he can do many things with one hand.

• While saying his prayers, he only folds one arm

• While riding his bike he holds one hand on one handle and wraps the other arm around the handle being sure not to be holding the handle with his hand.
• eating with a utensil he says look, one hand
• holding or carrying something, especially groceries
• coloring too

He is also saying look mom, one foot when he jumps around the house.  This he can really do, it's just funny to have the narration.

I am terrible at making this sound funny, but it is hilarious.  He's so proud of anything if he can do it with one hand, even if he's the only one who sees it that way. :)

Brayden's One Year Stats

Brayden is growing on a perfect curve

Height: 30.5 in (60th percentile)
Weight: 23.5 (70th percentile)
Head: 18.25

He did great with the first shot.  If they would have left it at that he would have been fine.  But, three others and a finger prick was not his or my idea of fun.

SNOW!!??

Thursday morning I left our house early to make it to my parents in IF so my mom could watch the kids while I took Brayden to the Pediatrician for a well baby check at 9:15. Then I spent a few hours at my parents house with my mom. We decided to go check out Shopko's sale because I needed snow clothes for the older kids and the sale was just starting. Little did I know when we left in flip flops we would be coming home to this. Luckily I was planning on buying snow clothes anyway.
(Please let us have a Fall!!!!)

Hailey loving the snow. (Notice she lost her 3rd tooth on Tuesday.)

Conrad working hard on their snowman.

Jack hammin' it up like it's  nobody's business.

Here's their first snowman that they built all by themselves. I stayed inside with Brayden. I know I'm the most boring mom in the world. But, I just couldn't get excited for the snow. It has it's time and place. The week before Christmas and the week after :). I know, I know, I live in the wrong place....

I Can't Believe Brayden is 1!

Today is Brayden's first birthday. We had a little party for him tonight. Grandma and Grandpa Christensen joined in on the festivities with us. Brayden was extremely interested in his gifts, but you know he just couldn't quite figure out how to get them opened. We didn't have to worry about that. There were three other siblings there willing to help him out with that.

Here is everyone checking out what Brayden got.

checking out the book grandma and grandpa gave  him
Here's what he got

Here he is awaiting his cupcake. He can hardly contain himself.

His first little touch...

and two cupcakes later...

Need I say more. He loved it!!! (I think we have another Jack on our hands.)

At age 1
Brayden loves:

• to play with his brothers and sister
• when Dad gets home
• his mom any chance he can get
• starting to show interest in cars
• peas
• green beans
• wheat bread
• milk
• cheese is probably his favorite (excluding cupcakes)
• his puppy grandpa Porter gave him
• being outside
• riding in the shopping cart

We Love:

• his happy spirit
• his smile
• he goes to bed with no problems between 7 & 7:30
• the way he walks sticking out his chest
• how much the 3 older kids love him
• he is finally getting on a schedule (even though we will ruin it again running around with school)
• his personality starting to get stronger
• the way he lays his head on our shoulder when he's unsure of someone
• he's just so sweet

We have had such a great past year with you in our family Brayden!!! We love you so much and can't wait to see what the next year brings. (It doesn't have to go quite as fast as this last one though.)

Brayden's First Haircut

Brayden was in great need of a haircut. So, after cutting Conrad and Jacksons' hair, I decided I'd try it. I think he complained less the the other two. He seemed to really like it. YAY! Haircuts are a dreaded thing at our house, but if I can have happy kids while they are getting a cut I think that might change things. I like the new look. I can't believe he will be one tomorrow!!! Time goes too fast!

And we have a Walker!

Brayden is walking!  He took his first few step on August 15.  And has been walking really well since the 26. 

Here's some pics instead.  And yes that is sand all over his mouth.  I can't seem to keep anything out of it...

 

Way to go Brayden!!! What an accomplishment! We love you!

Back to School 2011

Today was Hailey's first day of first grade and Conrad's first day of Kindergarten. They were so excited and LOVED it. After three separate trips to school (we are too close for the school bus) it was a relief to have them come home happy and excited to go back.

Conrad was cute and told me he made a new friend. He said that his new friend had the same scissors as him and almost all of the school supplies were the same. Later at bedtime he told me that he hadn't actually talked to him (his new friend) yet but since they have the same scissors, that made him his friend. Funny kid!

I can only get a really fake smile or serious face.  The serious face looked better :)

Hailey has a friend (Kendra) from her class last year. She was excited to have someone to play with at recess...The first thing Hailey told me when we were walking out was, "I think P.E. in first grade is way harder than Kindergarten. We were all sweating."

After dropping Hailey off this morning we were walking back to the car and Jack said he needed his backpack because he had to go to school. He thought he was starting school too. Poor kid. He still has two years before he can start. We did make a trip to the library and got a game box to do together. He was HAPPY!