Merry Christmas!

Mia 22 months, Mindy 6 years, McCall 4 days, and Makayla 4 1/2 years

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

The Girls were so excited to put up the Christmas decorations. Mindy woke up Monday morning and the first thing she said was "is tonight family night so we can put up the Christmas stuff?"
Mia kept putting the boot stockings on her feet and walking around in them. She loves shoes :)
The girls really enjoyed putting the ornaments on the tree. We decided to just let them put them wherever they wanted and we would fix them later. It worked great. They were happy and didn't fight and they got to put them any where (including on top of each other).
Putting up holiday decor with kids has always been really stressful for me. I can't stand it when they just open up boxes, get stuff out, then throw it on the ground and find the next thing. It seems like they always end up running around because they are so excited and driving me crazy. I told Monte I wasn't going to yell at the girls this year. They were really good and I just kept reminding myself that they were excited. I did really well....I only lost it once when one of the girls took a super dusty lid off a box, put it on the ground, then stepped on it.....all while I was telling them not to!
I felt so happy as I watched Monte take a picture of the girls in front of the tree. We really did have a good time. I am so grateful for my family....can't wait for baby #4!

Primary Program Sunday

My Mom and sisters came for the primary program today. I put sponge rollers in their hair last night so they looked so cute in their new Sunday dresses from Aunt Jude and their curly hair. Makayla and Mindy sat next to each other on the stand and Makayla just couldn't keep her fingers to herself. Mindy was really patient with her. Monte and I kept making eye contact with Makayla and then we would fold our arms to remind her to keep her hands to herself and every time we would do that she would give us a grouchy look and point at us! The little stinker :) the girls did great and Makayla even had her parts memorized.
Right now all the girls are having fun playing with play dough together. They love it when they get to play with their aunts!

Halloween

We had 3 princesses this year! Mindy was Merida from Brave, Makayla was Rapunzel, and Mia was Snow White or according to her "pincess Mia"
Makayla fell asleep on the way to Wichita and Mindy took her wig off after 3 houses. No one had a clue what princess she was. Mia was good about letting us push her in the umbrella stroller. One of us would go to the door with the older two and the other would push Mia to the next house and get her started towards the front door. So Mia only went to every other house and got half the candy but she didn't mind one bit. Makayla was done after about an hour of trick or treating so Monte took Mindy around to some more houses while the rest of us headed back to the car. The girls had a great time and are still enjoying their candy'

Pumpkin Carving 2012

I love carving pumpkins! I love the smell of carving them the best. It brings back memories of carving as a kid. We decided to go to the "Walmart pumpkin patch" this year.
As always the girls were so excited to do their pumpkins this year. We had a lot of fun and Mindy and Makayla loved staying up past their bed time :)

Boise State at Southern Mississippi

It took us a total of 14 hours to get to the game. It was in the 80s and all of us got a sunburn! Poor Mia had a long sleeve shirt on when we got there and by the time the game was over she was a little immodest ;)
The girls laid down under our legs during most if the game playing on Monte's iPhone and Granny's iPod. It was kind of a boring game and a riot with the kids but we had a good time!

The Beach

After the game we headed south to Gulfport Mississippi. The sand was very fine and light yellow and the water was actually warm. It was 90 degrees when we got there. There was a lot of stuff that was washed up to shore. They said it was from hurricane Katrina. There were like shirts and junk. It was kind of weird. Mindy found a milk crate and carried it all along the beach picking up every single shell she found! Makayla loved running and sliding hands first into the sand. Mia loved being in the water. She would pick up sea shells and throw them in the water (she loves to throw rocks into water at home). She was funny because she didn't care that she was getting her dressed soaked. She was having fun! We took a family picture and it looks like we have a bunch of orphans kids! They look so ragged but we all had such a blast! By the time we were ready to leave Mindy had quite a collection of shells. We somehow got her to narrow it down to 7 of her favorite ones. She also got a water bottle full of sand. All the girls were covered in sand...my car is going to have to be vacuumed more than once to get all the sand out! Mia had to ride back to the hotel in just her diaper. I'm so glad we decided to go to the coast. It was Makayla and Mia's first time. Mindy was only 5 months old when we went to the beach in Florida so it felt like the first time for her too. We had a great time and are exhausted after a long day!!

Ready to go!

All ready for the long drive to Mississippi for the Boise State game!

Student of the Month

Mindy was student of the month on Monday. She didn't know anything about it. I called my mom and she left her house at 5:45 am just to make it in time. They had a little assembly at school and announced her name. She looked so cute up there. She is a good student and is making lots friends. She had a bit of a hard time adjusting to being away from home and family at first but is doing good now. We are so proud of our little kindergarten girl :)

No front teeth!

Monte pulled Mindy's tooth out this morning so now she doesn't have her two front teeth. She said its hard to talk :) I think she looks adorable!

Sunday Walk

I love going on walks on Sunday. Mia said "a walk" right after we started going and would not stay in her stroller. Our little Sunday walked turned into a long Sunday walk because we had to walk Mia's pace...very slow! It was fun though. The girls picked some sunflowers and we went to our usual walking spot: the train. The girls love to clim around on the train and find all sorts of metal treasures. Monte put Mia on his shoulders for a couple of minutes and when he put her down she cried and cried because her legs fell asleep. I am so grateful for our little girl family.

Saturday Fun

We had some great weather on Saturday so we went and checked out a local park. It was at a lake but the toys were a little to big and there were no slides. We had lunch, Monte fished for 5 minutes, and the girls threw rocks in the lake. We decided to go to another park. It's got lots of great toys there. After we were done playing we went to Braums for some ice cream. Yum!

Mindy's First Day of School

I've been wanting to post something about Mindy's first day of school. She was excited and scared. She woke up in the middle of the night because she was afraid that she wouldn't be able to stop sucking her thumb at school. She looks so grown up in this picture.

 

We all loaded up in the car to take Mindy to school :) When we got there I took her inside to her class. She gave me a hug and said "Goodbye Mommy, I love you" then turned and walked off to start the day. I didn't want to leave my baby!! I turned and struggled to fight back the tears until I got to the car. I cried all the way home!

Her first day she got off the bus with the biggest grin on her face. Makayla and I made cookies for her and the girls were so happy to see eachother. It was cute to see them give lots of hugs to one another.

 

Makayla had a wonderful day at home. She played so happy with her "mini stuff" ALL DAY. She doesn't miss Mindy--she loves being her own boss!!!

Monte takes Mindy to school every morning and she rides the bus home from school everyday. She is always making new friends and for the most part likes school. She says her favorite thing about school is P.E. and Recess (what kid doesn't say that!!) It has been such a big change in our lives to have Mindy in school.

Boise State vs Michigan State game

So i finally figured out how to blog on Monte's phone. Its kind of hard and it takes me FOREVER to type!! The pictures are out of order too but I have no clue how to fix them. ...so bare with me :)

Monte and I went to the Boise state game in Michigan. We got mindy out of school early on thursday and headed down to oklahoma. My family watched the girls for us for the weekend   

we flew out of okc on Thursday afternoon and arrived in Detroit that evening. The next morning- Monte's birthday - we headed to Lansing. We went to lunch and then hung out at our hotel until dinner time. We of course went to red robin for dinner. Monte wouldn't let me tell them it was his birthday though. After dinner we still had some time to kill so we just started driving towards the stadium. When we got close there were a ton of people walking toward the stadium so we decited to find a parking spot and get over to the game. We got our tickets through stubhub and so we sat in the middle of the Michigan state fans, next to the student section, and up at the top. When we were walking up to find our seats the students were coming in and they were soooo rude! They kept swearing and flipping us off right in our faces. One group of kids surrounded us and were swearing and stuff and one of the kids pushed Monte's shoulder. I was really worried about being in the middle of the Michigan section. The "non-students really were not bad at all though. It was fun to go to the game together but I would rather go in a group. I think It's fun to cheer with a bunch of people. 

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 Saturday we went back to detroit and went to the ford museum  it was huge and pretty neat  i love to go slow and read everything and monte is opposite-browse and be done...so I did some speed reading while trying to keep up with him! On Saturday night we went to dinner with the "Christensen bros" to the Sweetwater Tavern in downtown Detroit. It was so good. This is the plate monte and I shared. Behind me is Bryan. We had a good time with them.

Monte and I hanging out before the game. We hada great time together. It was fun to just hang out and be together with no kids :) 

Monte's New Car

Since we moved in August Monte has not had his own vehicle to drive to work. Most days he drove the van (which was awful for me to not have a car!) if he didn't take the van, he drove the big work truck-but that was really costing us a ton of money for gas. So he finally got a new car last week. Its a 2002 Volkswagen Jetta. Before he had even driven it 100 miles the check engine and other lights were on. He took it to the dealer we bought it from and they said they would pay for half of the repairs. When they plugged it in they found 9 things wrong with it!! Gurrrr..... $280 later it is fixed. Unfortunately, now we are sitting here at the office because the van is getting worked on! It has been shaking really bad on the interstate so we thought it needed an alignment.....nope-it needs the tire rods replaced and 3 new tires......Monte loves it when we hang out in the office (NOT!)

Mia is ONE!

Mia 1 week old

Mia on her 1st Birthday

We went down to my parents house for Mia birthday. We went to Red Robin together to celebrate Mia's birthday. Brookelynn had a formal dance to get ready for so afterwards we went to Aaron and Kim's house and got to see baby Kellen. Later that evening we went back to Granny's house and ate some yummy rainbow cake and opened presents. Mia was so cute eating her cake. Everytime somone would come up to her she would reach out and try to share her cake with them.

First lost tooth

One morning about a month ago, Mindy told said "Mom, I have a loose tooth!" I find myself saying "You're too little to _____" so often! Mindy is growing like a weed and I just can't stop it. I just cannot believe how fast they grow. This year she will be starting school too.
On February 1st I asked Mindy if her tooth was getting any looser and she opened her mouth and her tooth was completely flat on her gums. When I told her we needed to get a string and pull that tooth out she balled!! I myself was such a chicken when it can to pulling teeth so I had some sympathy there! We tried a few times with a string and it just kept sliding off. So, I grabbed it with a dry wash rag and it came right out without her even knowing! She was so proud and SOOOO excited to put it under her pillow for the tooth fairy! Sure enough the tooth fairy came (and Mindy said she had a dream that night that her tooth fairy was pink with purple wings) and she left her a dollar! She is one lucky girl!

Valentines Day 2012

The girls got a package from Granny on the 8th. It had a Pinkalicious Valentines Day book, candy, and some winter hats and gloves for each of the girls! They loved it all! Then on the 10th we got a special package from Aunt Judy---Strawberries!!! They were so big and yummy! Such a fun and delicious treat!

On Valentines Day we had a tea party with red juice, scones, and sugar cookies. Its always fun to dress up and party together! Later we had a yummy dinner then played toy story Yahtzee. When the girls went to bed we laughed and stayed up late playing Settlers of Catan with Judson.

Mia is going to be 1 on Saturday and I cannot believe it!

Some pictures

I had a minute to update the blog at the office today so I thought I would post a couple of pictures. The laptop is fixed and I have finally downloaded some pictures!!

This pic is from October-I love it! After scriptures and prayer Monte always gets to be a horse :)

Here is Mia on Dec 1st all bundled up and ready to go outside!

The girls in their christmas jammies from our friend Dana

Makayla loves to help me in the kitchen. She is helping me make homemade noodles. Such a good and happy helper!

Little Miss Mia with her one top tooth! So happy and ADOREABLE!

The girls playing with their present from Uncle Alex and Aunt Stephenie. Its a play do ice cream maker -- and it sure makes a mess!! The girls love it!