Moving On

This probably isn't a surprise to most people but after the Christmas Holiday, Karl and I decided to move out of our house in Saratoga Springs and move into the basement of his parents.  We staged the house with some of our furniture and moved with the hopes of it selling quickly.  Luck, and prayers were on our side as we received an offer on the house the day after New Years.  We are so excited to be moving on and begin the process of building our forever home.  Closing date is scheduled for the first part of February.  I am so glad that things look to be working out for us.  I was really worried about moving my kids from the area they loved with no potential buyer.  We are so grateful to Karl's parents who have let us move in and overrun their house with noise and laughter from our three crazy boys. We are missing our friends and neighbors but are looking forward to meeting and making new friends.

Sadie, Sadie

We sure love this silly overgrown pup.

Christmas 2015

I'm a bit behind on this post, but I've been super busy.  Anyway here are some fun recaps from our Christmas.  It was a bit bittersweet as this was the last Christmas we would spend in this home.

 On Christmas Eve we met up at my parents for our annual Christmas Eve dinner and PJ opening party.  The kids always love seeing everyone's Pajamas.

 This years PJ's for my boys were all sports themed.

Fischer REALLY wanted to catch Santa so we set up a spy camera in hopes of catching him at the house.  Wouldn't you know...we got him.  Check it out.

To say the kids were excited is a total understatement.
That morning the kids got up and opened the gifts that Santa had left for them.

Drake was more interested in eating the wrapping paper then the actual gifts

Griffin was excited about each gift he recieved

Fischer enjoyed playing with his new toys. 

My Mother was nice enough to make this Coca-Cola blanket for me to give to Karl. 

After gifts were open we braved the winter storm and went to my sister Lisa's for breakfast.

All the kids talked and showed eachother what they received.   One of the gifts that my sister's family got was Jelly Bean Roulette.  Of course most  everyone decided to play.

Basically the idea behind the game is that you spin a wheel that tells you what color jelly bean you try.  Each of the jelly bean colors had a "good" flavor and a "bad" flavor. (example: Blue-blueberry or toothpaste, speckled was tooty fruity or dirty sock, brown: pudding or dog food. etc.) You didn't know which one you were going to get.  I didn't play but Karl and the kids did.  I wish I had taped more of the reactions of each of the jelly beans.  It was funny to see everyone try and stomach some of the more disgusting beans.  Griffin definitely received the stomach of steel award.  He choked those beans down and kept the gross ones in his mouth the longest. 

The video below was of the black bean.  It was either black licorice or skunk spray

After, the kids decided to play another game that used whip cream and you had to click the handle to see if you got smacked with it.  They got a good laugh out of it.  Karl decided that Drake needed a turn.  He was not happy about it (which you'll see in the video)  After words he actually loved licking the whip cream off his hands and face.  (The things we do to our kids.)

Later that night the kids and Karl went to the Christensen's for Christmas Dinner and a gift exchange.  I didn't make it as I ended up getting sick that afternoon and was unable to keep anything down. Luckily for me it was a quick bug and I was fine the next day but I missed out on some fun times and pictures.  We are so grateful we live so close to family and we can share in these traditions and memories.  

Wrestling with Dad

The kids love it when Daddy is around.  Their favorite past time with Dad...Wrestling.

Fischer's Birthday!

I can't believe this amazing boy of mine is 6.  He is the sweetest, kindest, loving kid I could have ever asked for.  Fischer is a GREAT big brother and tries so hard to please everyone.  He likes to be right about everything.  This bike riding, sport loving kid brings so much light and laughter into our lives.  He is the first to give a hug and remind me that everything is okay. Don't know what I would do without this kid.
For his actual birthday we decided to keep it low key and do something fun as a family.  We celebrated with his friends earlier in the year and got together with some family over the weekend.  The morning of his birthday he opened his present from his Dad and I.

I didn't realize that the batteries for this toy would need to charge for 5 hours before using. Fischer could hardly wait to try out this new toy that could drive in snow, water, and dirt.  Luckily for him we did get quite a bit of snow so he was able to test it out.
Fischer wanted to go to the arcades to play a bunch of games, so once his dad got home from work we went.  There we had dinner and played a bunch of games.

Drake enjoyed checking out the sights and sounds of the place.

 All the kids seem to enjoy themselves and I was glad we were able to go do something fun on Fischer's special day.  We love you Fischer.  Happy Birthday!

Football Game Day

The Christensen's always like to get together to watch BYU football  but that is especially true when they play Utah.  With the Christensen's getting together to watch the game we decided to make it a game/birthday get together for Fischer.

I made this cake to share and celebrate with Fischer.  I wanted to try a new frosting transfer technique that I hadn't done before.  It was really easy to do and a fun way to jazz up a birthday cake.  The cake was chocolate with a caramel pecan filling.

 The BYU game was a bit rough in the beginning.  Griffin's body language as Utah kept getting touchdown after touchdown was a perfect representation of what most of us were feeling.

 Grandma Joyce decided to cheer things up by surprising each of the kids with BYU shirts.

Just after half time we sang to Fischer and had some cake

 Some of the kids decided to take a break from the game and play outside on the tree swing. Kinsley is always great to play with Fischer and Griffin.  They all seemed to have a great time.

School Christmas Program

Fischer's school did a Christmas program where each of the age groups came and sang 1 to 2 songs.  I loved seeing Fischer up on stage singing his little heart out.  He did so great.

Little Birdie

The other day the dogs found this bird in the back yard.  I thought it was dead at first until Gus decided to nose the thing and it started flapping around. I knew it wasn't doing very well but I didn't have the heart to just leave it freezing face down in the snow.  So Griffin and I made a little bed and brought the bird inside to warm up.

This is how I found the bird

Griffin didn't want to leave its side.  He sat their talking to the bird and telling it that he was going to make him all better.  He even grabbed a medicine syringe (without medicine) and tried sticking it in the cage to see if the birdie would take his "pretend" medicine.  

Sadie wasnt' really sure what to think about having a bird in her dog crate.  Being a bird dog she wasn't about to leave it's side and sat by the crate all day.  

 Unfortunately the bird didn't make it. We did our best but it wasn't meant to be.

Seeing Santa

Kids had a great time seeing Santa today. Fischer couldn't wait to tell Santa what he wanted, Griffin just wanted the candy he got for sitting on Santa's lap, and Drake was fascinated by Santa's beard and kept trying to pet and grab it.

Children's Party

Karl's work does a Children's Christmas Party.  This year they rented out the Living Planet Aquarium.  Each of the kids got their own Coca-Cola stuffed penguin.  We also got to see all the animals and wildlife before it was open to the public.  The kids loved seeing everything.

Look Whose Moving Now

Drake has been doing the cutest little army crawl to get around but today he figured out how to do the typical baby crawl. With three little ones now mobile I've got my hands full.

Drake's First Tooth

Drake got his first tooth just in time for Thanksgiving.  We sure love this one tooth little grin of his.

Our little wiggler

When I went in to get Drake this morning, this is how I found him.  When he went to bed he was completely clothed in his PJ's.  Sometime during the night he managed to wiggle out of them.  The PJ's were still zipped up and untouched.  Not sure how he managed to get out of those.