Christensen Family

Blueberry picking

2016-06-26T12:53:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we went blueberry picking in Pine Mountain. Traditionally we went every 4th of July in Mississippi and are happy to have found a farm here in Georgia. Soren absolutely loved picking-too bad for those child labor laws...

I told Tommy we were going to a farm. It didn't occur to me to specify the type of farm. When we got out of the van and he realized this was a blueberry farm he was no longer excited. In fact, he was absolutely furious. Tommy didn't pick a single blueberry and ate all of Lucy's snacks!

Lucy loves eating blueberries and LOVES being outside.

Have you ever skinned a blueberry? It's extremely tedious but less frustrating than swiping a baby's mouth for blueberry skin. I'm not sure if that's blueberry or dirt on her face. She enjoys both equally.

We stuck Soren on a bush and he picked it clean. My favorite part is Soren making me eat his biggest blueberries. He wanted me to know that his blueberries tasted better than mine!

Between all of us we picked 10 pounds of blueberries in little over an hour. We'll be going back for the fourth of July and pick more for our BBQ.

Lucy looks cute and that's all that matters ha ha. Not sure what the boys are up to...but 1 out of three seems to be the norm!

Callaway Gardens

2016-04-14T12:23:00.001-07:00

Last weekend we drove out to Pine Mountain (45 minutes away) to see the butterflies at Callaway Gardens. There were a few times when Tommy turned around and found a butterfly flapping in his face, but other than those surprising moments the boys loved looking at butterflies!

I love Tommy's minion hat, ha ha. Thanks Aunt Kaylee!

Whenever Todd and I are holding Lucy we can't help but to constantly kiss her face!

It was so nice to enjoy the spring weather because pretty soon the only place to go outside will be the pool!

Easter

2016-03-29T19:12:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! So it's been awhile since I've done anything on this blog. Once I became pregnant with Lucy I just laid on the couch or went to the pool and didn't feel like doing anything (and yes that included typing)! After seven months of having three kids and a random ACL surgery, my life is somewhat stabilizing. So here we go...Easter!

The boys received Easter baskets with a coloring book, hot wheels and chocolate wrapped like bumble bees. Lucy however, received a basket with empty eggs and was just as happy.

I may consider putting animal ears on Lucy all the time!

Thumbs up for jelly beans and rainbow slobber.

We decided to "hide" the rest of the candy in Easter eggs around the house Tommy's head almost exploded when looking for eggs. He didn't know where to go and which eggs to grab.

I really wanted a good picture of all the kids in their Easter outfits. I consider 2/3 smiling as a good picture. Turns out the more kids I add to the equation the less I care... Lucy had a wardrobe change. Not because I was excited to dress her up, but because she peed all over the first one. Fun fact-Lucy has peed more out of her diaper than either one of the boys ever did.

Tommy enjoys screaming- A LOT.

Two out of three ha ha. Soren wouldn't stop complaining about taking pictures so we took them anyways.

We had such a great Easter! One of my favorite parts was watching Soren sing at church. He didn't know a single word and spent most of the song checking out the piano, except the one time he looked up to waive at us! I hope everyone had a great Sunday and was able to to reflect about the meaning. If you ask the boys it's about the restrection, eestrecton, resection of Jesus.

A few of their favorite things

2015-04-06T13:54:00.001-07:00

Soren turned 4 this year and became a sunbeam! Crazy how the time flies. He has endless energy and loves just running in circles. Soren is super polite, especially when he doesn't want to do something. Example:
"Soren please eat your mashed potatoes."
"No, thanks"
"You can't leave the table until you take one bite."
"I said NO THANKS!!"
The best is when you ask Soren to do something he likes.
"Soren, want a bite of cookie?"
"Yes thanks."
Here are some of Soren's favorites at the age of 4.

Soren's favorite

T.V. show: Rescue bots
Movie: Penguins of Madagascar
Food: pancakes, apple jacks and jello
Drink: chocolate milk
Song: I am a child of God
Toy: "Sparky," the wood dog he pulls around with a string
Game: Hide and go seek. "Dad, mom I'm under the bed..."
Pastime: running around the living room making weird noises
Animal: really wants a kitty cat (sorry Soren it's never going to happen)
Way to annoy Tommy: shoving
Phrase: Yes, thanks.
Chore: dusting
Color: calls most colors yellow, so it must be his favorite
Friend: Dad
Book: Goodnight, Goodnight construction site

Tommy is 2 and he turned terrible a few months before his birthday. We like to compare him to a sour patch candy, really sour but super sweet. I don't think he's ever turned down a kiss when I've asked, but he also slapped my face and tried to bite my nose at the grocery store. Here are some of Tommy's favorites at age 2.

Tommy's favorite

T.V. show: Paw Patrol
Movie: Disney's Planes
Food: Pizza and fruit snacks
Drink: chocolate milk
Song: Jesus wants me for a sunbeam
Toy: his stuffed dogs and hot wheels
Game: Hide and go seek
Pastime: Reading
Animal: Dogs
Way to annoy Soren: repetitive screaming
Phrase: "Get out!" and "What's that?"
Chore: vacuuming
Color: orange, it's the only color he can identify
Friend: Dad
Book: The Digging-est Dog

Birthdays

2015-04-06T07:00:00.000-07:00

With the boys' birthdays being only a day apart and the grandparents in town, we decided to celebrate them on the same day. This isn't my favorite idea because growing up birthdays were a big deal (it's still my favorite day of the year) and combining two birthdays feels like I'm robbing my kids of the only day of the year they have to themselves. If you think I'm crazy, so does my husband.

As you can tell Tommy loves legos.

I didn't feel like using an entire roll of wrapping paper on these trucks, so the fleece blanket worked out. As you can see, it makes peeking rather easy.

I should have dressed Tommy in some normal clothes. Rather I left him in his nap time pants which happen to be 12 months. They're looking more like karate pants these days!

Grandpa Karl and grandma Lisa bought the boys construction plates and utensils. I love these because it gives Todd and I about 5 minutes of uninterrupted eating at dinner time. After that it's the normal chaos of forcing boys to stay at the table and actually eat. I know it looks like they're eating below, but Soren is eating jello and Tommy is playing with cheese.

Time for cupcakes!!!

Tommy needed a little help from dad.

Eating some birthday candle.

And now trying to eat Soren's cupcake. As you can see Soren doesn't share ANYTHING!

The boys received the coolest cards from grandma Velma. They sang and put on a light show.

Tommy loved his card so much he kept licking it.

Happy birthday boys! Being the only grandkids it was Christmas all over again. Time to buy some more storage bins!

Christmas 2014

2015-02-26T12:49:00.000-08:00

We had Christmas in OUR new house!! I remember growing up and taking family Christmas pictures in front of our fireplace, so the tradition carries on. Next year there will be one more child in front of the fireplace-that's right, baby #3 is coming August 11.

This Sunday was one of our first attending our new ward. The nursery workers didn't know the boys' names and when calling them to the door they yelled, "We need Owen and nutcracker sweater." I had to scrapbook Soren and Tommy's nursery pictures with their new names.

Santa brought a train table! Can I just say Toys R Us is the worst store on the planet. We have never left that store just casually walking out. It's with one screaming in my arms and they other screaming while being dragged by the hand. Thank goodness for Amazon prime!

Tommy is obsessed with dogs and my sister bought him this life size golden retriever. I'm glad he's out in the open now because hiding him was a bit terrifying. I can't tell you how many times Todd or I jumped, screamed, or punched when we walked in our closet forgetting the dog was in there!

Tommy loves his new dog. What do you do with a dog this big? You jump on him, feed him trains, bite his nose and knock him over.

Creepy dog.

We can't do Christmas without decorating sugar cookies.

Tommy loves the sprinkles. That's why he gets the cheapest bottle. Make it rain!

That pretty much sums up our Christmas. When dad was home it was a lot of fun, all the other days I laid on the couch feeling sick while the boys ran around me screaming and eating fruit snacks. I realized, and so did the boys, when I feel sick I don't care how many fruit snacks they eat.

Happy Halloween/moving day

2014-11-18T19:23:00.000-08:00

Halloween was sort of an after thought this year. With Todd being gone in Texas, a wedding, packing up my house and actually loading the Uhaul on Halloween, October was a busy month. I bought Tommy a $15 dinosaur costume and tried to take Soren to pick out his own, but he refused and ended up wearing Halloween pajamas. We did do some trick-or-treating, but it was last minute and I didn't care to take pictures since I just packed/cleaned and entire house so here are some pictures from the ward Halloween party.

The Cat in the Hat with "some bones." Best friends.

We encouraged Tommy to go play a game and he had a melt down so I took a picture.

Wrap the mummy.

The point of the game was to wrap and unwrap your mummy as quickly as possible. With 2 three year olds doing the wrapping/unwrapping we found ourselves stuck in a giant knot.

Won ourselves a cupcake doing the cake walk.

Trying to open wide enough to get both cupcake and frosting...

we've all been there!

Third member of the best friend group, the hobo!

The "Freaky Fishing" game that gave us a toy no one knew how to play-went straight into the garbage.

Here's our little dinosaur/lizard/alligator depending on who you ask.

Next Halloween we'll be settled and I can actually spend time on all the fun things in October. Get ready, Halloween 2015 will be EPIC!

Cedar Hills farm

2014-10-23T19:39:00.002-07:00

We drove out to Cedar Hills farm today to pick out our already-picked-pumpkin. The boys wanted nothing to do with pumpkins, but only wanted to play in the sand box and slide. I did, however, snap a few typical fall pictures.

Soren went down the slide a zillion times with endless energy.

He even raced Kaylee and it's clear who won.

Tommy even took a trip down the slide, but wasn't as thrilled as Soren. It might have had something to do with me screaming all the way down and starting sideways. . .

I traumatized Tommy and he stayed frozen for a little bit.

After seeing the boys play in the sandbox, I've decided Todd will build one for us. Unless that means we have to live on a farm, then the plastic crab sandbox is just fine!

Tommy pushed those trucks over and through everything.

When we told the boys it was time to leave, Tommy took off with a truck trying to get away.

After we caught up to Tommy, he wasn't happy.

Either was Soren.

Happy Fall?

One game season

2014-10-07T13:41:00.000-07:00

This pretty much sums up our brief soccer season. I was so excited for Soren to play, I thought it would be a fun activity for us while Todd is gone. I was HUGELY mistaken! The first practice was insanely hot, well into the 90's and Soren walked off the field and refused to play for 10 minutes. I can't blame him, I was dying in the heat chasing Tommy around. The next couple of practices went fine. There was the occasional swinging from the goal post while everyone was taking shots, or walking on the sideline like a balance beam during a scrimmage. All of that I was ok with until the first soccer game...

Everything started as normal, Soren listened in on the team pregame strategies. . .

He sort of participated in warm ups. . .

Sat on the sideline waiting his turn to play (Tommy loves to copy Soren)...

When he went in, Soren chased the ball around. . .

And then he fell down! This is where our season nosedives.

After the "traumatic" incident, Soren refused to play. He must have had his head stepped on while I blinked because I can't figure out why he stopped playing.

Luckily, this happened right before half time so no one really noticed Soren just standing. The half time huddle seemed to enliven his spirits, at least so I thought...

When Soren went in second half he didn't last long.

Where is everyone? Down on the other end still playing a soccer game!!!!

And now we're code RED! Soren stayed in this position for 6 minutes. The coach even picked Soren up and put him back in the midst of everything, but everyone ran after the ball and Soren stayed behind.

I know this narrative doesn't seem so bad, yet. After Soren's little group was subbed out, Soren wanted to go home. I reminded him if he wanted his special drink and snack, he needed to watch his team and go back in and play. Soren agreed, but when I walked him over to sit on the sideline next to his team he threw a tantrum. Crying/yelling the whole works. Soren and I had another talk by the fence and he agreed to go play to earn his drink and snack. During this time, subs were being made and everyone was waiting for Soren to come on the field. Anyways, Soren walked over as if to play but tricked me and refused to play crying/screaming all over again shouting, "no soccer, no soccer!"

I. Was. Done. He asked for it, so I gave it to him.. . we started walking to the car. The team mom handed us his drink/snack, but I I gave it back because I'm not rewarding tantrums. So thanks team mom for making the problem worse. Soren then began screaming, "drink! snack! play soccer!"

Imagine this scene. The diaper and camera bag slung across my chest, soccer ball in one hand and Soren in the other hand with Tommy lagging behind us. In between muttering angry death threats to Soren, I had to keep turning around encouraging Tommy to keep up. Soren refused to get in the car and tried running away across the parking lot, so that was another battle. He also screamed his guts out all the way home. I just kept thinking to myself, "If you don't hurt him, you can have snicker pumpkins and Dr. Pepper tonight until you're sick!" That's the story of why we quit soccer. My dad gave me the best words of comfort, "he's too young to learn any life lessons, let him quit." Done. No more soccer.

July randomness

2014-08-03T20:05:00.001-07:00

Random pictures from July that I think everyone should see because Soren and Tommy are the cutest kids ever. Soren likes to put himself in containers: laundry hampers, baskets, ottomans, whatever will hold his skinny body.

When you go to Michaels to buy model paint with dad you usually come home with cheap toys. I had to keep attaching the rudder thing and Tommy's tail thing snapped off, but the boys were so happy in the car!

You might be thinking, "Wow, she potty trained Tommy already! Someone buy her a mini van." But I'm thinking, "Maybe if we sit Tommy on the potty Soren will feel competitive and want to sit on the potty himself." What actually happened is Tommy sat on the potty till his legs hurt and Soren never looked up. And yes I've tried bribing Soren with EVERYTHING but he refuses to wear underpants and sit on the potty!!

Tommy loves sucking his thumb.

Tommy also loves putting on our socks and shoes. While Todd was taking pictures I thought to curl in a ball to get out of the shot, but that was an obvious fail.

Hamming it up for the camera.

Whenever we take pictures the boys want to get closer and. . .

closer!

Tommy's always judging you.

Even if I tried I wouldn't be able to make such a manicured ice cream goatee, mysterious toddler talent.

First matching outfits, pjs!

There you have it, some random pictures and thoughts. Seriously though, any ideas on how to potty train the most stubborn toddler? I'll do anything!!

Blueberry Picking

2014-07-30T20:47:00.004-07:00

Kaylee visited and just in time for blueberries. It's astonishing how good she is at fruit picking considering growing up she always tried to avoid working. She even ties her bucket around the waist like a pro.

Let's be honest. No one is surprised at Todd's high skill level of fruit picking. He's bragged many times about cherry picking on the farm just as fast as the seasonal workers.

Kaylee passing down her skills to the next generation.

Soren, however, just wasn't into it this year. I should have realized he was going to be up to no good when Soren insisted on wearing his new minion hat.

Trying to untie dad's bucket. This is after he was shaking blueberries off their bushes.

It looks like his vision is impaired, but Soren is really using his minion eye.

We ended up being rained out, too much lightening going on. However, we still picked a gallon of blueberries and Tommy couldn't be more excited.

It's pictures like these that make me want to squish Tommy's face and squeeze and kiss him. I feel as crazy as Agnes in Despicable Me 2!

4th of July

2014-07-19T19:39:00.000-07:00

We had the best 4th of July! It all started with the kids' parade sponsored by the library. All walkers met outside and marched to town hall-just around the corner. We were led by police escort and followed by 2 firetrucks and an ambulance. I seriously had so much fun, I'm pretty sure it's the first parade I've ever marched in.

Seriously Tommy, why do you hate parades?!

Thank you JoAnn fabrics for having this patriotic visor in your dollar section.

Tommy didn't feel like walking or holding his flag, which allowed me to waive it-woo hoo!

Perfect treat after parading.

We kicked off the 4th of July with the parade and ended it watching the Memphis Redbirds (triple A). Tommy really knows how to look like he's bored out of his mind.

When Tommy wasn't forced to take a family picture, Tommy ate and clapped and ate and clapped and ate and ate and ate... you get the idea.

Don't even think about touching his BBQ nacho.

At one point Tommy even clapped while I was giving him a drink.

And then there's this guy. . .

Soren doesn't want to share dad's lap with Tommy and is trying to push Tommy away with his head. Fun fact: Soren uses his head more then any part of his body to bully Tommy.

I think everyone enjoyed fireworks. Tommy sat there watching with no emotion and Soren hid behind Todd peering over his shoulder once in awhile.

The fourth of July is becoming one of my favorite Holidays. What other day allows you to be in a parade, go swimming, eat BBQ, attend a baseball game and watch fireworks? Hope everyone else had a great day.

Slip n' slide

2014-05-29T11:37:00.000-07:00

Memorial Day was awesome because we did nothing, but slip n slide in the the backyard. Have you ever felt like just lying down all day? That was me, so we stayed home and ate oatmeal for dinner. I know that doesn't sound like fun, but to me it was great and the boys enjoyed just playing with mom and dad. I seriously took hundreds of pictures of the boys slip n sliding so consider this your warning as you scroll down.

Tommy's all ready to go play!

Dad was the first to break in the slip n slide. He really set the bar high with with his intensity and barrel roll.

And now Soren who channeled his inner Jordan by sticking his tongue out.

Tommy wanted to take the monster truck down the slide

And just a few more... actually a lot more.

I also went down the slip n slide, but as you can probably guess from my entry the rest of the slide was an embarrassment. Since I have total control of this blog I'm omitting the other pictures.

Tommy felt sorry for me and at least gave me a 1/10

And then Tommy showed me how it's done

Tommy's last slide. Dad really had him going fast.

And there you have it, a slippery holiday. Hope everyone had a great Memorial day and reflected for a moment everyone who has passed serving our country. If you're looking for something to watch this summer there's a 3 episode series on the History channel called The World Wars we highly recommend.

GRADUATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2014-05-15T20:05:00.000-07:00

We made it!! Fours years and millions of dollars in student debt, it's over!!!! The boys were considerate and let me stay seated just long enough to watch Todd walk across the stage and then we were out in the atrium.

In case you couldn't find Todd (dead center) above, I zoomed in for you. Turns out being overheated can make any celebration into a nightmare. As I recall Todd compared his robe to a turkey roasting bag.

Woo-hoo! Dr. Christensen!!!!!!!

Meanwhile in the audience. . .

When commencement finished the boys were ready to go, but we had to take family pictures, our favorite activity. . .

We decided to ditch the kids and take one picture without anyone crying!

And then pictures with all our friends.

And then there's Soren and Jackson. Mississippi buddies for life. The great thing about Jackson is Soren can push him and Jackson doesn't go crying to his mom, but pushes back and then they're bffs again.

They always start off on good terms. . .

but then someone gets to close,

and Jackson gets smacked in the face with a giant diploma!

Happy graduation, we're so proud of you Todd.

Easter in the ER

2014-05-13T20:24:00.001-07:00

It definitely wasn't a typical Easter this year. We spent 3 hours in the ER with a child who cried almost the entire time about his wrist. Rewind 3hours ago right before church started. Soren was walking around with Todd helping him get some things ready before Sacrament began. When it was time to begin church and sit in the pew Soren melted into a puddle on the floor. Todd grabbed him by the wrist to pull him up and must have tweaked his wrist a little bit. Soren acted like his hand was pulled off and after deliberating for a few minutes we took him to the ER (first time parents).

I'm sure you can guess he's fine. At one point I saw Soren sitting on his hand looking at youtube videos like nothing ever happened! That's when I knew he might be overreacting. The doctor put a splint on Soren and recommended taking him to a pediatric orthopedist, but when Soren started hitting Tommy and everything else with his splint I decided to let this one go and cut the splint off.

Yay, the movie Planes!

Tommy's loves books. He carries them around the house all day, so we had to put on in his basket.

We had a church Easter activity and the boys loved the little petting zoo.

Tommy was pulling the rabbit's fur through the fence and the rabbit didn't seem to mind. Wish I was that patient while Tommy is pulling hair from my neck.

The Easter egg hunt however, was really disappointing. All the children 5 and under were gathered together and once they were released there were no eggs to be found! Apparently the older kids picked through the eggs and if you found an egg most likely the candy was gone. Soren was lucky enough to find 1 egg with candy! Thanks to the help of Todd and his optometry eagle eyes.

Lastly, our gym had an Easter bunny for the kids to take pictures with and some baby ducks to hold. Neither one of the boys wanted to touch the duck, but they loved the creepy Easter bunny!

Hope everyone had a good Easter and was free from injury!

Staying Home

2014-04-24T11:39:00.000-07:00

I have a new goal not to leave the house unless I ABSOLUTELY have to. Tommy is always slobbering and shouting and Soren runs like his pants are on fire so it's hard to keep up with both hoodlums. I will say I go to the gym everyday and get to work out for 1 1/2 hrs with 2 of my best friends, not to mention my kids are in the gym daycare the entire time, so I gladly get out the door for that.

Anyways, what do we do all day? Play. Well mostly the boys, while they're outside playing in the sandbox I'm inside cleaning and making dinner. The sandbox is seriously the best thing we ever bought them.

Tommy is getting rounder and walking/waddling everywhere. I can't help but give him everything he wants, look at that smile with those crazy teeth!

This pic captures Soren perfectly. Always running and up to no good.

Soren is a big time photobomber. Tommy can never have the attention of both parents.

Ready to go to school just like dad. As long as you have your business shoes, who needs a shirt?

And then the sibling rivalry. Soren is in timeout by the door while Tommy cries on the floor after being pushed.

The downside of staying home is the mess. Tommy takes everything off shelves, out of baskets, bins and cupboards. He doesn't even feel bad about it.

I would definitely consider this playing together. If the boys are near each other and no one is crying, it's playing!

Sometimes you need to sit in a laundry basket full of hot wheels. You're probably thinking, aren't they're playing well together here? Don't let the pic deceive you. Soren is actually pushing hot wheels into Tommy's leg and Tommy is about to smack Soren's face.

Yay! Everyone's best friend, dad!

So there you go, our life in a nutshell. It's a little crazy, but I'm pretty sure it'll just get crazier...

Spring Break

2014-04-08T10:01:00.000-07:00

With Todd graduating in May we just had our LAST spring break. I guess we have to be like all the other adults now and start taking vacation days. We journeyed back home to Washington and it was a journey. Even if we were on a 1 hour direct flight, traveling with kids is always a journey. There was one time flying home, after being up since 3am, that I started laughing hysterically to keep myself from crying. Since there were other people in our party crying I didn't want to contribute, but in the end I looked like a crazy mom anyways. Other than that 1 hour of craziness when Todd threatened to squeeze Soren, the boys did great.

This was so bizarre. Within seconds he went from talking to completely passed out.

Soren never allowed his window cover to be up, but enjoyed looking out the one in front of his, high maintenance flyer.

We visited Grandpa Bob's farm and Soren was able to ride in a tractor. Probably the best day of his life. There were a few puppies around and the only kid they followed was Soren, which is crazy because he right hooked one who had nipped at him. Soren also slapped a cat in the face who scratched him and kicked a golden retriever in the bum. We'll have to work on that before we own a pet.

Granpa Karl and Tommy eating one of their favorite foods. Also notice Soren's photo bomb, he never holds still.

After visiting Todd's family in Richland we drove across the state to Silverdale where Tommy became a Poulsbo viking which can be confused with the Seattle hipster (uncle chase).

Every time grandma Ramona is around there's always a trip to Chuck E Cheese. Tommy wasn't super thrilled about this ride.

We went to my most favorite bakery, Sluy's! Of all the things to choose, Soren picked a frownie face cookie.

Lastly, I asked my dad to take some family pictures. As we all know from previous posts they never go well.

Soren choked himself in about half of them. . .

With spring break over and graduation coming up we have a lot of exciting things to look forward to like moving to Fort Benning, GA! If anyone wants to vacation a little farther south, come visit in the fall.

The Big ONE

2014-02-22T22:36:00.000-08:00

Baby Tommy is one today!! We had so much fun at his birthday party and I was thrilled to have a party theme that wasn't planes or trains. A construction theme is perfect for Tommy, he demolishes any food in front of him and Tommy likes to wreck all of Soren's train tracks. I should have noticed earlier that Soren saw Tommy as a wrecking ball into his happy life without siblings.

On to the party!

These Home Depot bags we found on clearance for 50 cents and they're huge. It's about to become our new library bag!

And here's the birthday boy, ready for his party. Actually if Tommy looks tired it's because his bedtime is 6pm and he's on some drowsy medication. Nothing can stop us so let the party begin!

Best present for a one year old, a box of tissues. He pulled them out so fast.

Sucking his thumb while opening presents...ready for bed.

Our attempt at a family picture.

I just need to say that 3 year olds are way harder than 2 year olds for a few reasons. 1. They run faster and 2. you can understand them better. When I heard angry jibberish is wasn't nearly as frustrating as, "no way, Tommy mine" and "go away."

Soren is having a hard time because he didn't want to take the picture and when we tried to take one without him he wanted to be in the picture. Seriously, I can never win!

On to CAKE!

I was a little disappointed in the cake part. Tommy, who will eat anything, didn't take a single bite. Instead, he smooshed it between his fingers and called it good.

He's so ready for bed and a little confused about the whole cake thing.

Todd and I bought the boys a sandbox for their birthdays and while Soren loved it, Tommy could only tolerate brushing his hands over the sand.

Lastly, Tommy wanted a group picture with all his baby buddies.

Happy birthday Tommy, we love you!

Happy Birthday Soren, Choo Choo!

2014-02-15T19:20:00.001-08:00

Can you believe that this little baby turns 3 next week? Seriously, it went by SO fast!

Due to my children having birthdays a day apart we decided to have Soren's birthday party a week early. Downtown in Memphis there's the coolest train museum staffed by old man eagerly sharing train facts. I don't really care too much, but Soren is OBSESSED with trains and loved every minute of the party.

Of course there was some setting up to do. The positive of going somewhere for a party is you don't have to clean your house. The negative, you bring your whole kitchen with you.

The kids loved these PB&Js we cut out with a train cookie cutter. I'm going to start cutting all of Soren's food in the shape of a train.

Props for the cake goes to Chase. We ran out of time/stopped caring, and the m&m's didn't make it all the way around.

Soren really didn't eat too much because he was excited about train displays, but he downed his juice barrel. I don't think he's ever had anything like that and I gave away all the extras because they gross me out.

After lunch all the kids went out and played with trains. Tommy playing with the big boys.

Yes, Tommy's t-shirt was intentionally chosen.

No time for girls when you're driving a train.

Best smile of the day, haha!

Cake and presents! Soren actually blew out his candles early...

when it was time to blow them out for real he froze with a really cheesy smile.

Sisters

I tried to sneak in a picture with Soren and I look like a floating head.

We ended the afternoon riding the trolley, which makes me super cool because it's a train to Soren!

Happy birthday Soren. Because of you I'm way better than all the other moms at sound effects!

Valentine's Day

2014-02-14T12:51:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day!! So far it's been a great start, Kaylee flew in today so now I have 2 babysitters and I'm taking full advantage. Todd and I will be partying all night and having a romantic evening of sushi and bowling. I have a feeling one of us will get sick (Todd) and the other will strain a knee (me), but at least it will happen together!

Yesterday we made the daycare ladies from the gym sugar cookies. We figured since they watch our kids everyday for 1.5 hrs and actually look like they enjoy it, we own them a huge thank-you.

This morning the daycare ladies passed out Valentines to all the kids and Soren was very excited, mostly due to the picture of the dog and less with the sucker.

Tommy started his Valentine's day by trying to eat all my nail polish. Luckily, Soren likes to take everything away from Tommy so no one was poisoned.

Our church mother's group threw a little party and we frosted sugar cookies, made cards and took pictures at the photo booth. I was really excited about the photo booth but neither boys wanted to participate. Soren didn't even try to smile and when I moved him to another activity there was a tantrum.

Side note: Soren's new phase is, "yes means no and no means yes."
For example, "Soren do you want to brush you teeth?"
Soren, "No teeth!"
Mom, "Ok let's get off the counter."
Soren, "teeth teeth, brush teeth!"
It drives me crazy and is applied to every situation possible!

Anyways, the photo booth was a disappointment. Here's Soren's best picture.

Tommy seemed to enjoy photos a little bit more than Soren.

Then we tried putting the 2 together and I quickly abandoned the idea.

After photos we frosted sugar cookies and everyone went home a lot happier than when we arrived. Soren mostly just ran his fingers through the sprinkles.

Happy Valentine's day!

Soren and Tommy do Christmas

2014-01-03T20:03:00.000-08:00

We've had the best Christmas break! It's got a little cold, Todd baked a million good things, and we played trains nonstop. Our family kicked off the Christmas festivities with the annual Southaven parade. It was terrible, but that's why we love it. Our ward even had a float and to the astonishment of everyone took 2nd place.

The next 2 pictures are the same float. This church had an actual choir singing and an electronic billboard that kept flashing, "Jesus is Lord of the earth."

We had a truck pulling a trailer with a nativity scene and someone's giant wreath on the back.

On to Christmas! The boys received a lot of gifts this year and we debated about saving some for birthdays in February, but of course we didn't. You know your child is spoiled when he runs by Christmas presents without noticing and asks for chocolate milk. That's what happens when you have the only grandchildren.

At storytime the week before Soren told the librarian he wanted a green garbage truck from Santa and he got one! It was his favorite present.

Tommy's favorite present was his little xylophone. He goes crazy banging the mallet.

Boys playing in their respective spheres. When those spheres combine Soren loses his mind and Tommy's head gets pushed into the floor.

My mom woke up at 5am to watch the boys come out Christmas morning and open presents. We're so lucky to have skype!

After playing with toys, Tommy went on an eating spree.

About halfway through Christmas morning (we still hadn't opened a single present) Tommy became tired and had to go take a nap. It's so hard to be a baby sometimes.

About 4 hours later all the presents were opened and toys played with leaving this mess behind.

Thank you everyone who helped us make this Christmas so much fun for the boys. They loved every toy, movie and game they received. We're lucky to have family that knows so much about their interests and picked them out great presents. Next year who knows where we'll be spending Christmas. We look forward to 2014 and graduation from optometry school, woo hoo!

Sunday pictures

2013-12-15T12:27:00.000-08:00

Soren and Tommy looked so cute this morning for church that I wanted to take some pictures of them by the Christmas tree. Soren was actually willing to participate and even put his arm around Tommy. However, Tommy decided to harass Soren by grabbing his hair and face and we ended up with the following.

No wonder Soren doesn't want to hang out with Tommy. I would react the same way if someone was invading my personal space too.

It's the holla-days

2013-12-11T13:17:00.001-08:00

December has been so much fun and thanks to southerners for being a bunch of winter pansies, we've had a few days off to spend together. Seriously though don't close my gym unless there really is ice on the road.

While we were "iced" in, we did a lot of baking and crafts and even combined the two.

Soren trying to smile. I want to believe he'll get it eventually, but I've seen some family pictures and the guys are still struggling!

I wore my JT concert shirt 2 days in a row. I'd wear it everyday, but I don't want to wear it out.

The finished product.

When it's cold outside you've got to take a nice relaxing bubble bath.

Since the gym was unnecessarily closed, we had to get our wiggles out and went for a run. I'm pretty sure our entire neighborhood thought we were bad parents.

This was our first year putting up Christmas lights. I of course helped by holding the ladder while Todd climbed to 20 feet. If the ladder really started moving I don't think me "holding" the ladder would save Todd, but whatever gets him to the top of the roof I'll do.

Todd wanted proof of how high he was and sacrificed the security of my hands to take this picture.

Even in dangerous height situations he's a jokster.

Lastly, we went to a Christmas tree farm and didn't buy a Christmas tree. Apparently Southaven, Ms can only grow over sized shrubs, plus they were crazy expensive. We took pictures and left for Home Depot to pick up our Fraser fir.

Soren hugging a tree. He'd rather hug something pokey than Tommy.

Riding out to the "Christmas trees."

Now that the tree is up with some presents underneath, Tommy is on the attack tearing off bows and ornaments. Not to mention slobbering all over the wrapping paper.

Well, that's what we've been up to for the past few weeks. Hope everyone else is enjoying the holidays. If not just listen to NSYNC's "Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays" song, it always works for me!

Thanksgiving

2013-12-04T12:20:00.001-08:00

We had the best food in the history of mine and Todd's Thanksgiving this year. It was just your basic stuff but made even better than usual. Everyone should subscribe to America's Test Kitchen online and your food will be amazing too. Kaylee and I refused to look at the camera because we were annoyed at each other. What's a holiday without a little family feud?

Tommy and Soren helped out by banging cookie sheets around. Although looks like Soren wants to smack the sheet on Tommy's head.

Black Friday was also Kaylee's birthday and while we were out shopping, Todd and the boys put up decorations.

Soren's train!

The best part of Thanksgiving...the leftovers!

I'm pretty sure Tommy will always remember 11/28/13 as the best day of his life.

Lighting of Graceland

2013-11-23T11:23:00.000-08:00

I can't believe this is our third year attending the Christmas lighting of Graceland. Our ward was having a talent show the same night and I didn't think twice about skipping it. I mean we HAVE to get our picture with Rock n Roll Santa!

When we first arrived there was some guy singing from the TV show Nashville. My friend said he played Deacon and she was going crazy over him, but I had no idea who he was so we walked around and looked at lights.

Side note: Saw Justin Timberlake in concert Monday with Todd and my life is forever changed. Apparently I just stood there smiling with my mouth open the entire time, but seriously the best concert I've ever been to and will ever go to until I attend another JT concert. The next concert Todd will have a job so I can spend a ridiculous amount of $$ to get closer to Justin.

Back to Graceland...

No one told me were doing "the-harcore-look."

Tommy channeled his inner tiger hat and we were growling.

Soren still has his hood on. I had to fluff up his hair with water from the drinking fountain to get it ready for our Santa picture.

Grabbing Santa's beard just to make sure he's the real one.

Soren wasn't too sure about Santa until he received the candy canes. He was suppose to give one to Tommy, but Tommy didn't even get a lick!

And the finale, drum roll........................................................

Tada...Merry Christmas (But really Happy Thanksgiving) from Graceland!