Only Seven Wake Ups until Christmas!

The kids are counting down the days until Christmas. We had an awful blizzard over the weekend so we spend Sunday inside with a fire in the fireplace and Christmas music playing. The weather outside was indeed frightful! The kids loved decorating the tree. (With all the ornaments hanging precariously from one branch!) We read Christmas books and got into a box of packing peanuts. (Which, as you can see, I am still finding everywhere!)

Drew's new trick is saying "Cheese!" every time he sees the camera. We have been getting some cute and "Cheesy" pictures of him!








We had Will's Christmas program at school on Tuesday night. The kids were all so cute in their Christmas outfits. He has been practicing this song at home for the last month. Here is a little video from the program!

Risky Business

We were trying to get some pictures of the kids for our Christmas cards which is almost always a painful process. Nobody sits still, looks at the camera or smiles nicely. You would swear that Will & Lauren were competing to see who could annoy Drew the most.

Every year I think that the Christmas pictures are a little misleading. You see the smiling children in the photo but what you can't see is Josh & I yelling at them to "Smile nice!", "Put your hands down!" ,"Look at Daddy/Mommy.","Sit still!", etc. At the end of the 20 minute process we were all crabby.


Here are Will & Lauren in their awesome capes from Superfly Kidz (Etsy). We have playing "Wonder Pets" quite a bit these days. Lauren's cape has a crown and jewels on the back so it also serves as a princess cape.

Drew has been climbing everything in site. I find him on top of the coffee table, dining room table and kitchen table all day long. I remove him, we have an ineffective chat "No Drew! No Climbing!" He smiles and repeats. My first two learned the meaning of "No" a little quicker. Here is a rare picture of him on the ground and standing relatively still.

October at a Glance

So it has been a busy October at the Christianson house! Josh has been traveling most of the month which doesn't leave me much time for updating the blog. (It's not like I have been all that great about keeping it updated anyway!)

Lauren and I picked apples from the neighbors tree and made apple bread. Of course we had to make a heart cake with her special baking equipment!

Josh took the kids to a UND Aerospace pancake feed at the airport. The kids loved to see the airplanes up close. (Some of Josh's colleagues kiddos are in this picture too!)

Drew is beginning to show more interest in books. He likes to read with Will.
For Halloween Will had to be "The Hulk" after he saw his cousin James' costume and Lauren wanted to be a butterfly. Here they are in the "Hulk" pose.

I opted for the skunk costume for Drew because........well, I'll just let the pictures do the talking.

He did cheer up when he was given his first "Tootsie Pop"! Maybe we should have given him one at birth. (You know we love you Drew! You are just a little "sensitive" and maybe even a little bit"spoiled".)

A Penguin Party!

We celebrated Lauren's 3rd birthday on Sunday afternoon. She was so excited about her penguin cake. She requested a pink penguin "Snowflake" from the movie "The Adventures of Scamper the Penguin". (Be warned -this movie is addictive for children and has been known to drive parents insane.) She would invite the guests in the front door to come look at it in the kitchen and scream with excitement all the way to the cake.

What penguin party would be complete without olive penguins? Thanks Jim & Trish for assembling this little army of penguins. (I'm sure you talked about how insane I am all the way home.)

Kendra and Lauren with olive penguins.

In other Lauren related news, she started ballet a couple of weeks ago and it's not going all that great. She loves to talk about ballet class and dance for us at home but at ballet class she will not leave my side. My mom was watching Shirley Temple dance in a movie with Lauren last week and she asked, "Do you dance like that in ballet?". Lauren replied ,"No Grandma, I just sit." She looks super cute though!

She was getting over a mosquito bite which caused the fluid around her eye to become infected.
Josh thought she looked like Sloth. (from "The Goonies")

Back to School

Will had his first day of preschool at St. Michael's last Thursday. Even though I sent him in the wrong uniform for Thursdays (who would think they would have Mass the first day? They have to wear red shirts and black pants to Mass.) he loved it. I don't think I did any permanent damage by sending him in the wrong uniform but time will tell!

I had fresh chocolate chip cookies waiting for him when he came home. I'm hoping he will remember the cookies and not the uniform.

Happy Birthday Drew!

We celebrated Drew's first birthday on Sunday with family. It was a beautiful summer day! The kids loved the slip and slide and pool in the backyard and Drew loved his first taste of cake.

Thanks Uncle Nick for bowling the kids down the slip-n-slide. They had a great time!

Party Animals

We have had lots of birthday parties in the past few weeks. Here a some pictures from the big events!


Lauren with cousin Mamie Katherine (Jill & Jeremy's) at her 3rd birthday party. Love the cheetos on their faces!

Will couldn't get enough kayaking. Grandpa Mark was nice enough to take him several times. He kind of had the hang of it by the end of the day.

My friend Whitney and I made a cake for Will's friend's party. We think he turned our pretty cute!

Will's friend's party was at the zoo in Fargo. The kids loved the carousel and of course all the stinky animals. Frankly, I was a little concerned about my children's sense of smell. They didn't seem bothered at all! The zoo did a special animal presentation for the kids at the party so they could pet some of the animals. E. Coli here we come! (Yes they used hand sanitizer but still I am grossed out.) Will & Lauren thought it was awesome of course!

One last picture of another birthday cake. This is the cake Whitney and I made for her daughter Nora's 5th birthday party. For those of you fortunate enough not to have small children obsessed with "High School Musical" this is Sharpay's golf cart. This weekend we will make a monkey cake for Drew's 1st birthday party. It should be fun!

Drew Turns One! (and other happenings)

How can our baby be one already? This year has gone by so quickly. I don't know what it is about first birthdays but they are rather bittersweet for me. I find myself remembering the day he was born and trying to remember every detail. Like holding on to all the little details of the day will keep him small.

Today I was digging in the kids art supply closet and a tower of coloring books fell out. I didn't have time to be irritated because Drew laughed so long and hard about it that I had no choice but to laugh too!

He is in constant motion. We are amazed at how quickly he crawls around the house, up the stairs, into the bottom of cupboards, coffee tables and end tables! We have decided that "Dash" is a fitting nickname for him.

We will celebrating his birthday in a few weeks so he'll have to wait to try that first bite of cake!

In other happenings all three kids had tonsillitis while Josh was out of town. I brought Drew in at 4:00 on Wednesday and the doctor was hesitant to let him go home. After promising I would bring him back if I couldn't get him to take the antibiotic that night, my phone rang. My friend that was watching Lauren and Will called to let me know Lauren had a fever of 102. A quick call back to the doctor and I had another prescription for Lauren.

After profuse apologies to my friend Whitney for the illness her family would soon endure, I noticed Will had a fever. Another call to the doctor and another trip to the pharmacy. (That is three prescriptions for antibiotics and three trips to the pharmacy in three hours. ) I decided that the pharmacy should have a "Buy three antibiotics, get a bottle of Valium or Xanax free".

Needless to say it was a rough few days and nights. I am so glad that my parents were around to help me out! We are all starting to feel better.

A Great Vacation!

We just returned from Crosslake, MN having spent a week with my entire family. The weather was beautiful and the kids were in the water or fishing almost every minute!


Our niece Kendra (Trish & Jim's), Lauren & Drew enjoyed a "ride" together.

Drew's first boat ride was a little less than pleasant. I think he hated the life jacket! He cried for the entire 30 minutes we were on the boat.

Lauren and Grandpa on a jet ski ride.

We went to "Crafts & Cones" - the best place for ice cream in Crosslake(where else can you get licorice chip?) -the crafts -not so much! Drew shared a ice cream cone with Josh and I and it turns out he is a licorice chip lover too! (or just not all that picky-who knows?)

Lauren requested "Princess Ice Cream".

Will and James (Trish & Jim's) opted for "Superman Ice Cream" which is an acutal flavor but the colors don't seem very "Supermanish" to me.

Wax on, Wax off karate Kendra.

Kendra and Lauren in their 4th of July finery!

Trying to get a quick shot of all the kids together. Yes that is me handing out candy. It worked!

Will found lots of interesting things in the lake. The best thing in his opinion was a clam that Josh cracked open and Will carried around in a bug jar filled with water (which he wore from his neck) until we made him dump it out. The other "amazing " thing was a crayfish exoskeleton he toted around for a day. Here he is hunting for other "creatures".

The best picture we could get of our children together. Seriously. Notice Drew crawling away.
We are all exhausted but we had a wonderful time. Thanks so much Mom & Dad for the wonderful vacation. We had lots of fun and made many special memories!

It's Finally Summer!!

It finally got warm enough to take the kids to the splash park today. Will & Lauren were especially excited to wear their new swimsuits from Granpa Mark & Grandma Loni.

Whitney's kiddos joined us for the morning. The girls loved this red bench. Nora is on the left and Ellen is on the right.

Drew loved to splash in the water too! He couldn't stop giggling.

Will Turns Five!

Will turned 5 on June 5th. We celebrated with family and friends on Sunday. Will decided he would like a humpback whale cake. Thanks to my friend Whitney for your mad cake decorating skillz. We had a great time putting it together and Will LOVED it!

I think everyone had a great time. Will loved all his presents and enjoyed playing with his cousins and friends.

More books with animals of any kind were a huge hit with Will. They tend to make Josh and I a little sleepy at bedtime reading. "What kind of whale is this? What does he eat? How big is he?" There isn't much of a plot.

Will got a hammerhead shark bike from Grandpa Paul and Grandma Terri. Uncle Nick thought Drew should give it a try.

Nick and Kailey taught Will and Lauren how to "sneak" frosting off the cake.

We had to take the whale away when Will started licking it.

Happy Birthday Will! I can't believe you have been in this world for five years and I can't remember what life was like before you made us a family. I am enjoying watching you grow. Thank you for allowing me to rediscover the world through your eyes. You always amaze me! Love, Mom

P.S. I hope your therapist tells you I did the best I could.