Baby, Don't Hurt Me

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Oh, what a day it's been.

After a not so great night of sleeping with 2 sick little coughing machines, I woke up to find a teenager with a fever and severe congestion. I asked him if I could leave the babies sleeping while I ran to Walgreen's to get some humidifier parts we needed. Well, I pull out of the garage as the radio announcer reccomends not going out onto the roads unless you have to. I figure that I have to. I put the car in 4Wheel drive, brave the snowy streets and then pull up to Walgreen's to discover that I didn't bring my wallet. Nice. So, I head back home, check to make sure the babies are still sleeping, grab my wallet and head back out. This time, as I'm rounding the corner at the less traveled portion of my subdivision (a shortcut to Walgreen's), my car locks up and I start sliding into the light post and mailbox post. BAM! I hit the mailbox post. Now, I have a nice dent in the front of my car. Yeah, I'm still going to go to Walgreen's. As soon as I get in there, my cell phone rings and it's Carter with a screaming little Chloe in the background.

The housing market is so slow that...

... apparently our subdivision's architectural committee has fallen asleep! Nope, this is not an apartment building.
I took these photos when I went to photograph the mailbox pole. It will be interesting to see what this 3 level home ends up looking like?
And, gee didn't these colors turn out lovely?

Yeah, I know it's late

It's really late and I should be in bed, but since my little one is having a rough night, I am doing my typical "nursing" routine of blogging. I am going to treat this post as a "journaling" opportunity to express miscellaneous things that have been going on with myself, family, around the house, etc.
1. I feel like I am in a brain fog. I am sure that this occurred postpartum with the others, but I don't remember it being this bad. I forget things I'm saying mid-sentence. I am always tired and feel like I can't keep up on anything, let alone get ahead. I hope this goes away sometime soon. I ran into some people from my previous ward and they asked how I was liking my new home and ward and which ward I was in? I could not remember what ward I was in. So, they wanted to know which Stake. I had no idea. Not until I was driving home did it come to me. This is just a typical example.
2. Chloe has been sick for over a week. I took her to the Dr. after a very difficult Thursday night sure that she had double ear infections. Nothing. Her ears were perfect. He said she may be teething. I guess so, because she has been having a hard time. It breaks my heart and wears me out.
3. I got called to be the Bear scout leader 2 weeks ago. I was that for the last 2 years in my old ward. I had gotten kind of burned out on it. Since I have gone without a calling now for 4+ months, I have a little enthusiasm. I need to get more.
4. After reading my cousin Annee's blog, I started reading Pillars of the Earth. It's pretty good. I've tried a couple other Oprah selections before and only kept up with East of Eden. I don't usually like what she chooses. Since Annee liked this one, I'll give it a shot.
5. I think I've turned into a dessert lover. Unfortunately, I'm still a main course lover. I make these really good oatmeal chocolate chip pudding cookies that Laura turned me onto. I only eat the dough, because they just become officially fattening once they are real cookies. I wish. I also made a chocolate cheesecake pecan pie out of the Lion House cookbook that was unbelievably decadent. I need to get obsessed with veggies without Ranch.
6. I am always wanting to go on a vacation or go out to eat at a fancy restaurant.
7. Not all Christmas gifts are that exciting at first. An example of this is the statehood quarter collection books I got for the boys. I also put some statehood quarters in their stockings. Sometime over Christmas break they put their quarters in their books and never really looked at them again. As I do laundry or find loose quarters around, I have been savin g all the state ones. Larry apparently has done the same in his truck cup holder. So, we pulled them all out and gave them out as rewards to church related questions. Now these quarter books are hot items. We have a lot of Utah and Idaho quarters that we need to change for some other states. We have one Wisconsin quarter that is in high demand, along with the New York. I got the books at Barnes and Noble.
8. Due to excessive contention, I took away the PS2 and said it could only come out on Friday after school if all homework and responsibilities had been taken care of during the week. I then take it back on Friday night, and bring it back out after chores are done on Saturday. Sundays there will be no PS2. Every day since doing this, indoor "real" football is going full force upstairs. The sounds of things banging and bumping around up there are really stressing me out. Boys have a lot of energy.
9. Oh No! I can't remember what I was going to write next.
Good Night!

A fond farewell

We have officially entered into a new phase of life and must say farewell to what once was. Starting this last Saturday, and for the next 19 years, we will have a teenager in our family. As hard as it is for us to believe, our oldest child has become a teen. He is now over 5'8" and size 11 shoes are getting snug. We feel very blessed to have this wonderful young man in our home setting such a great example to all of us. He is very responsible, intelligent, and creative-- and despite occassional moments of teenager-ness, is a blast to be with! Happy 13th Carter!

Chloe, It's time for you to learn the finer points of the game...

Does he really think I'm going to remember any of this?

Thanks, Ariel.

It's so nice being in line behind my cute girl cousins. Aunt Lisa sent this adorable outfit that Ariel once wore and now it fits me. I wore it to church and we had to get some photos of me in it. Thanks for passing it on, Aunt Lisa and Ariel!

Look at our mouths! We've got the same expression.

Chase's Football Party

Chase and friends.

The kind of cake for guy who doesn't like cake. Thanks Krispy Kreme.

The Meridian Aces flag football team played the Colts. Carter served at QB for both. You can take a wild guess at which team name he was most influential in choosing.

In between playing outside ball in the snow, they would come in and play it on the PS2. I think sometimes they would play indoor arena football, too. We've got some paint touch up and picture frame repair work to do.

Random Pictures

Chloe got all dressed up as a cheerleader for Chase's party, but then she fell asleep. We got this cute picture after the guests left.

Chase took this picture of me. I was cleaning up and there were a couple of doughnuts left. I figured if I played around it would keep me from eating them. One of the party favors was Big League Chew gum. Man, that stuff is good for blowing BIG bubbles. This one is so whimpy compared to ones I was blowing.

Chase enjoyed playing with a cool remote, twisting-turning vehicle that lights up. You can't see that Chloe is sitting in her Excersaucer just beneath where I am taking the photo being thoroughly entertained by the action.

I get all kinds of comments about how much the kids look just like Larry. However, once in awhile I'm told that Chase looks like me. We took this picture of ourselves, and I can see the resemblance. What do you think?

Tickled by Elmo (slippers, that is)

Last Saturday, a day before Chase's actual birthday, I got a call on my cell phone.
"Mrs. Christensen? This is Matthew, Chase's friend.", said a rather young sounding voice on the other end.
"Oh, hello Matthew. How's it going?", I replied, surprised to be getting a call from Chase's friend.
"Good. I was just wondering what time Chase's birthday party is going to be?"
Well, it turns out Chase planned on having a "friend" party and told all of his friends but not his mom. Later that evening when I saw Chase, I asked him if he wanted to have a party, and if he did that was fine but I needed to know so that we could send out invitations and actually make a plan. He agreed. His real birthday came and we had his "family" party, which turned out great (see post below). Chase never mentioned the "friend" party again, and I forgot about it (really). Well, this afternoon (a full week later), a different neighbor boy comes over to find out what time Chase's party is going to be. I told him that we hadn't had a chance to plan it, but would bring an invite by later. A little later I get a call, this time from Matthew's mom wanting to know what time the party was going to be? She said it was the second birthday Matthew had been invited to without an invitation and thought maybe it was an "Idaho thing". (They just relocated here from Texas.) I guess like playing tetherball, Rex-kwon-do, and side ponytails are Idaho things, too? Anyway, I figured since Chase had now extended invitations verbally twice, we better actually plan one and get real invitations out.
Luckily Monday is a no school day, and we can throw the "friend" birthday party then. This next weekend is Carter's birthday. Chase wants it to be a football themed party. Taking advantage of Chloe being asleep, and Larry being home, I decided to run to Target and see if they still had the football stuff in their dollar section. Luckily they did. Now normally I am not a fan of anything Character for kids--but, I saw these Elmo slippers in Chloe's size. They were worth every cent of the $1.98 that they cost. I am tickled just looking at her in them.
We'll let you know how the party goes on Monday. FYI: Target has some really cool football stuff in the dollar section.

Happy Birthday to Chase!

It's hard to believe that 11 years ago we were at UVRMC cuddling our new little baby Chase. It has been a wonderful 11 years with this happy, positive, peaceful boy.

Chase isn't a fan of cake so he opted for pie and ice-cream instead.

11year olds like electronic gadgets. It was kind of nice when action figures were his sought after gifts. In addition to techno-gadgets, a good ol' BYU Jersey brought a big smile to Chase's face.

It was fun having family nearby to celebrate with us. Chase also loved all of the phone calls and mail he received. Thanks guys!

Grandpa, you're funny!

Chloe was getting a kick out of Grandpa.

This photo was taken over the shoulder of Grandpa as Chloe continued to laugh at him.

Girl time

Chloe had a lot of fun bonding with some of her favorite females.

Clockwise from top left: Cousin Ada, Grandma, Aunt Haley, and mommy.

Aren't cousins great?

Caleb loves his cousins. He was able to spend a lot of one on one time with Gavyn the first week of the New Year.

Here they are with guns they made from tinker toys and backpacks because they are pilots and need parachutes.

Caleb enjoyed every second he was able to spend with Gavyn. Cousins are great.

Chillin' with the Hill's

Caleb was so happy to have his friend Grant Hill and his cousin Jayden Hill come over for some fun in the snow. They spent a great deal of time outside making snowmen and snowballs. After ice started formong on their eyelashes, they came in to warm up with some hot chocolate and went back out for more. Chloe sat in her bumbo, watching all the action out the window.

Sledding

When we got to Utah over Christmas break there was a lot of snow. We couldn't resist putting on our snow clothes and heading up the canyon for sledding. Cousins Gavyn, Emma and Ada joined us, along with Grandpa Hawkes, Uncle Dave and Dad. Fun times!