The Lauritzen Family

Rustic Peacock Giveaway

2012-02-06T16:11:00.002-06:00

I'm so excited! Ashley over at Mommy by Day...Crafter by Night is hosting my very first Rustic Peacock GIVEAWAY! Head on over to her blog to read all about it! Back tomorrow with more family updates...

Hall Bathroom Make-Over

2012-02-03T16:46:00.001-06:00

The last major redo we did was the master bedroom (which was last June) so here we are in January and boy were we feeling the itch. This gold bathroom of mine finally got the boot! It was one of the last rooms that still had our original reds and golds in it so we decided to give it a fresh new look with the Home Depot gift card that Brad got from his parents (thanks so much Mark and Joan!).

This is my yellow hall bathroom before.
(I had already taken down all the decor but think of roosters and letters and such)

And here it is after.
(and sorry for these pictures, there is just NO right way to take pictures of this bathroom!)

1st item to go was the octagonal mirror that hung under these lights. It was such a weird shape and we were happy to get rid of it.

So we priced out framed mirrors and came to the quick conclusion that it's sooo much cheaper to frame it yourself. So we bought a square, beveled edge mirror and framed it with thick chair molding (which we painted black).

Goodbye Gold!

Hello Blue! This is actually called "azure" and it's a Behr Premium Paint (found at Home Depot). It's the same color that Chelon has in her kitchen which I've always loved! Good blues are hard to find but this one is exactly what we wanted (thanks Chelon!). And in case you're wondering, I got the square metal signs at Hobby Lobby and the hanging shelf and plant from Ikea. I am a little obsessed with those hanging systems they have (I used one in the playroom next to the kids' craft table) but I thought this would be the perfect way to store extra toilet paper.

What in the world do you hang in a bathroom?? Is there etiquette for this?? I had the hardest time finding the right thing to hang on this wall. I went down the picture route and the clock route but nothing seemed right until I saw this giant pinboard. You never know what to do with those 4x6's laying around so I pulled some favorites from our picture box and made a collage. The hall bathroom is now one of our favorite rooms in the house all because of this picture collage. Such great memories on there...
(The handing iron things are from Rod Works (in Utah) by the way, oh and another btw, it would sure be nice to get a Tai Pan, Rod Works, and Quilted Bear down in these parts...just sayin.)

Brad even finished it off with some nice thick crown molding.

Besides the bulletin board the hanging toilet paper holder has got to be my favorite item in this bathroom re-do. Now if we can only remember to back-up the back-ups...

{p.s. I didn't note this above but the quarterfoil rug seen in the first picture was from Target but was a seasonal item so they're out of them at most stores}

Thanks for checking out our Bathroom Re-do! Have a great weekend!
(And keep scrolling to read all about Brad's 30th Birthday Celebration!)

Brad's the BIG 3-0!

2012-02-03T16:21:00.001-06:00

A couple of weeks ago my darling husband turned the BIG 3-0! If you know him you know he's not into big deals so instead of a big old shindig we decided to go out to dinner with a few friends. We went to BJ's Brewhouse to celebrate this monumental birthday pizookie style!

Matt was also turning 30--Brad and Matt are only 3 days apart so we celebrated their birthdays together!

Brad and his Birthday Pizookie! If you're not familiar, it's a cookie baked in a mini-deep dish pizza pan (hence the name piz-ookie) topped with vanilla icecream and it is sooooo stinking good!

We wen't out on Friday night for the boys' birthdays, but Brad's real birthday was on that Monday so this is when we celebrated with our family. (Sorry, Tyson is hardly ever in clothes these days.)

It's puny but one of our birthday traditions is to wake up to streamers in the living room.

Then for our final birthday celebration the boys and I took Brad to the Arenacross tour that was coming through the Austin area. I saw tickets for this back in November and noticed that it was for the weekend after his birthday so it was perfect! Thankfully my mom came up to babysit Reagan so that we didn't have to take her. It was sooo weird just being the 4 of us again...I didn't like it but it was sooo loud and stinky in there I was glad she was at home safe and sound with Nana. Before the dirtbike show we went to one of our favorite family restaurants. (P.S. Do you see that smile on Tyson? Nana has been working tirelessly on that smile and I think it's finally starting to stick. We refer to it as the "cute" smile.) We used the gift card that Brad's Grandparents sent--thank you sooo much Grandma and Grandpa Hall!

Here we are getting all settled into our seats. The boys (all 3) were beyond excited!

Such a fun family memory for Brad's 30th birthday!

Boy was it loud in there.

We had the perfect seats and were right by the big jump. It was pretty awesome!

They didn't know I was taking this but I'm thinking they were pretty enthralled!

Happy 30th Birthday Bradly Boy! We had such a fun time celebrating with you. This was our 7th birthday to celebrate together--we can't believe we've been together that long already. I love getting older (and wiser) with you babe. You are still one smokin' hot 30 year old and I love you very much! And I know he'd want me to thank everyone that called, texted, and left sweet birthday messages for him on his big day. He appreciated all of the wishes and especially the yummy birthday treats (thanks Chelon!). We had so much fun going out to dinner with our friends and Brad loved all the birthday cards and gift cards! Thank you so much to everyone that help make this birthday so special for him!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRAD!

January's Family Service Project

2012-01-30T17:32:00.000-06:00

One of our 2012 Resolutions is to do more service as a family. So for January's service project we made 'Blessing Bags'. I mentioned these before in a post but for those who missed it, I received an email from a gal in our ward who was passing this idea along.

First, I went to Dollar Tree and gathered our items:
toothbrush/toothpaste
thick socks
facial cleansing wipes
hair brush
razors
bar soap
hand sanitizer
and trail mix.

Next, Brad and I gathered the children to talk about what we were doing and why we were doing it. Chase and Tyson are both very aware of the people they see on the side of the road holding cardboard signs. In the beginning they would ask why they were standing there and what they were doing but over the past few months they've come to realize that these people are homeless. Chase suggests all the time that we give them a ride somewhere or bring them back to our house since we have a guest room, which I think are both GREAT ideas, however I'm a ninny and while these individuals are harmless I'm sure, I'm just about the biggest chicken I know. I'm the type that doesn't even let the kids play in the front yard due to "strangers" driving by, much less inviting them in my car and inside my home. My Dad showed us a lot of 'stranger danger' videos growing up...I guess they stuck. Back to the bags--we explained that these people are having a hard time in life right now. We told them that we want to give them these bags so that maybe we can put a smile on their faces, for maybe a small moment. Although it's minuscule, we hope these bags will brighten their day and give them some hope. In each bag we also put a scripture, Proverbs 3:5-6: "Trust in the Lord with all thy heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct they paths."

And then we started filling our bags, talking about the usefulness of these items.

They were happy to help!

Quick side note--Ty is obsessed with bandaids. He wants a new one everyday. No, he did not hurt his head. This was just the particular place he wanted the bandaid this day. And we're still working on that smile....

Do you know how much I had to beg him NOT to pose for this picture?!

The boys really took this project seriously and we've got the bags in the car ready to hand out! It is our sincere hope that these bags go farther than any couch cushion change could go. We also hope that the boys learn to love one another and remember that we are all God's children just trying to figure this life out the best we can. Thanks Cindy Serna for the wonderful idea--we plan to pass out all of our bags and do this again once we run out. This was a great way for our family (with 3 small children) to serve. If you've got more ideas of service projects that young families can participate in please let me know!

Rae 6 Months!

2012-01-30T00:31:00.004-06:00

On the 11th of January Reagan celebrated her 1st HALF Birthday! I cannot believe she's already 6 months old. We have here the best half-birthday present a parent could ever give a child at this age--SOLIDS!
What do you think is happening in this picture?

One would probably think her parents are torturing her into eating food--but NOPE, she's screaming her guts out because I hadn't put the next bite in fast enough. She's a snippy one! Would you ever guess this girl is ALWAYS hungry? At her 6 month appt with her Gastro. we learned that she is indeed 22 lbs. (of pure, love-able, cuteness) but we also learned that the Dr. wanted us to cut her formula intake in HALF! Yep, the girl's first diet. How sad is that? Happy Half Birthday Rae...you're going on a diet! Lame. Lame. Lame. But he did say she could eat as much baby food as she wants since it has zero fat grams. She sure loves her baby food and is the best eater I've had thus far. She'll eat anything, which is a far cry from how (especially) Chase and Tyson were at this age.

She also learned how to hold her own sippy cup! Don't worry Dr. Easely, that's only HALF juice, HALF water...geez.

There's nothing sweeter than watching your baby achieve major milestones in their life.

She is the sweetest 6 month old around.

And in case you were worried--we're still ON the charts. We're riding at 98th percentile for height, weight, and head circumference, but seriously she is such a happy little girl. She is always smiling and loves to laugh. We also just moved her into her nursery upstairs. She seems so far away now. I hate it. But she was ready...we just lay her in her bed and she falls right to sleep...no more swaddling, no more swinging the bassinet from side to side...no more waking up to eat in the wee hours of the morning. I'm sad to see all of these special things but its so fun watching Rae grow and become more and more aware of her surroundings and her *people*. We love you Rae! Thanks for warming all of our hearts on a daily basis.

Rustic Peacock Got a Facelift!

2012-01-12T01:02:00.004-06:00

I am so excited to announce that I've updated all of my temple portaits on the Rustic Peacock blog! I've been working around the clock to give my pictures a fresher look. Go check them out and see what you think! Here's a sneak peek:

Thanks for stopping by!

2012: A Breath of Fresh Air

2012-01-10T22:30:00.004-06:00

2011 came and went. Why does time do that? Go so quickly when you want it to slow down, and go by slowly when you wish it would speed up. I'm not sure of the answer to that question but I do know that I am sure grateful for EVERYTHING that 2011 had to offer me and my family...the good, the great, and the not-so-great. In my last post I went through the year and counted just a few of the many blessings last year gave to us. I love that phrase, "Count Your Blessings". It's such a good reminder and puts everything in a more eternal perspective. In writing this post I looked up the words to that hymnal and wanted to share them on here so I can come back and read the words frequently:

Count Your Blessings Hymn #241

1. When upon life’s billows you are tempest-tossed,

When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,

Count your many blessings; name them one by one,

And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.

[Chorus]

Count your blessings;

Name them one by one.

Count your blessings;

See what God hath done.

Count your blessings;

Name them one by one.

Count your many blessings;

See what God hath done.

2. Are you ever burdened with a load of care?

Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?

Count your many blessings; ev’ry doubt will fly,

And you will be singing as the days go by.

3. When you look at others with their lands and gold,

Think that Christ has promised you his wealth untold.

Count your many blessings; money cannot buy

Your reward in heaven nor your home on high.

4. So amid the conflict, whether great or small,

Do not be discouraged; God is over all.

Count your many blessings; angels will attend,

Help and comfort give you to your journey’s end.

When you read those words it's hard to feel anything but joy and comfort. Which brings me to my outlook and goals for 2012. It's said that if you're ever going to accomplish a goal you have to write it down and be accountable for it. So here I am writing it down, so that at the end of 2012 I can go back and see if I achieved what I set out to accomplish.

I know this is personal, but this is my journal afterall, so forgive me for getting real for a minute. I know I kid around alot about my birthday being on December 31st but it really does have its rewards. I'm able to turn another year older just as a fresh new year is about to begin. It's like turning the page in a great story. This year's story has been amazing, but I'd be lying if I said there weren't chapters I'd want to change in it...or myself for that matter. There's moments I'm not proud of (which is embarassing to admit) but thanks to my Savior I'm able to ask for forgiveness and move forward feeling peace in my heart, knowing that I have the opportunity to "try a little harder to be a little better" (Gordon B. Hinckley). I have so much to learn and I look forward to growing over the course of this next year.

My 1st goal is to MAKE my family my first priority...ALWAYS. It's so easy to get caught up in things of this world that don't really matter. Those things may seem fun and important at the time but when push comes to shove and the going gets rough the things in your life that deserve the most attention are the things/people waiting for you at the end. My sweet little family is always here for me, no matter what, and they deserve all the attention that I can possibly muster. Don't worry, I'm not talking about going intro-vert or anything (I do enjoy being social afterall) but I do think it's high time for me to move out of the immature stage and BE the person I want to become now, instead of waiting to be that person "when I'm all growed up." It will be a game change for sure--it sounds funny because I am a mother of 3 and have been married for almost 7 years, but looking back I've still been acting like a teenager (again, very sad and embarassing to admit ;) But if there's one thing I'm good at--it's analyzing (the heck out of) a situation, really stewing over it, and thinking about what I should have done differently. They say "hindsight is always 20/20" right? Well I think I'm good with the "hindsight" part and now it's time to look forward.

My 2nd goal is to do more service. I want so badly to get my children and husband involved in this and have been hoping and praying for opportunities to come along. I received an email the other day with the perfect service opportunity for people with small children. The first thing on our list for service this year is to make 'Blessing Bags' for the homeless people on the side of the road. Chase is always wanting me to give them money but I rarely have cash/coins on hand. These blessing bags will help them way more than a couple of bucks. What you do is assemble gallon size bags with all sorts of helpful items inside: like a toothbrush/paste, pair of socks, comb, body wash, granola bars, hot cocoa mix, other snacks and maybe a $5/$10 gift card to Starbucks, etc. and perhaps an uplifting scripture for them to read. When you see them on the corner you just give them the bag, instead of digging for change. The kids help you assemble them and then they'll probably be with you in the car when you give them out. What a neat way for your children to learn to be kind to ALL of God's children. We hope to do a service project (big or small) every month this year.

My 3rd goal is to take some time out to focus on my sweet husband. 2011 was a growing year for us. Challenges arose but we will forever be grateful for the trials that brought us closer together. I'd love for us to go on another couples getaway so I can shower him with the attention he deserves. It's amazing when we look back at the people we once married, seeing all that we've been through, good and bad, and really look at the adults that we've grown into. We've changed so much and will continue to change as we humble ourselves and work hard on our imperfections. We are sure grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who allows us to make mistakes time and time again, but yet he gives us a brand new day to start over and (again) "try a little harder to be a little better".

So those are the big ones. Family comes first, service, and growing even closer with my husband. I'm so thankful for everything that I learned in 2011 and can't wait to see what 2012 has in store for me and my family. Happy New Year Everyone!

Love, Holly

{A Year in Review: 2011}

2012-01-10T20:16:00.000-06:00

I'm finally caught up to January so before I begin 2012 in the blog book, I want to look back and review what a wonderful year 2011 was. We're counting blessings, that's for sure!

JANUARY

We started the year by changing our rarely used "formal" dining room into a home office.

It was a big project but so much fun and we love the new space.

In FEBRUARY it snowed! Yep we got a few inches right here in central Texas. The kids (and I) loved it!

Then in MARCH we went with Nana and Papa to Destin, Florida for Spring Break!

But we were sad coming home because we found out that my Grannie Annie was sick in the hospital. She passed away a few short weeks after that. We sure miss her and pray for her daily.

And we can't forget getting our turtles, Rocky and George, in APRIL.

Family Easter Picture

We also finished Reagan's nursery in April.

This is my favorite room in the whole house, mainly because of that super cute vinyl Chelon did for me.

Then in MAY we started going to the minor league baseball games in town.

And Chase finished his 1st year in pre-school!

We also met Cousin Zeke in May.

And had lots of bouts with asthma too.

Brad also finished teaching his Seminary Class in May. He was sad to say goodbye.

And and how can we forget the skin cancer scare in JUNE?! Although I'd rather NOT remember this I am very thankful that we caught it before it turned into melanoma. It's a huge hassle going to the dermatologist every 3 months but I'll it's definitely worth it.

We officially welcomed Lucia to the family in June as well. It was a beatiful sealing we will never forget.

And I guess I've forgiven them for making me take wedding pictures at 37 weeks pregnant ;)

We also did a Master Bedroom Make-over in June.

And we celebrated Brad being the BEST DAD in the world in June.

We also went on a couple of date nights in June, before the little miss got here.

(This is 38 weeks along)

JULY finally came and on the 11th day we got to meet Miss Reagan! All 9 lbs. 7 oz. of her in there. Makes sense now why I was in so much pain towards the end.

It was a glorious day!

I am eternally grateful to this man for giving me 3 beautiful, healthy children. We can't believe we have 3 kids sometimes.

The first "family of 5" picture.

In JULY we ewwed and awwwed over this little angel.

In AUGUST we met these people (the Fitch family) and have had fun with them living right around the corner!

In SEPTEMBER we had a blessing.

And Chase started Pre-K with Mrs. Pam!

In OCTOBER Tyson turned 3!

And some of our favorite people came to visit (the Vanchiere family)!

Then Nana and Papa came to celebrate the boys birthday around Halloween time and got us all season passes to Seaworld!

Then we went punkin' pickin'.

And celebrated Halloween!

In NOVEMBER we had a PiRaTe PaRtY!

And celebrated Ty turning 3 and Chase turning 5!

We also got her ears pierced!

In NOVEMBER we went to Weimar for Thanksgiving and took some family pictures.

And in DECEMBER we got a month long visit from Buddy the Elf!

We also made over the kid's playroom upstairs.

Of course we saw Santa in December as well.

And then we had our cousins over to visit!

And my sister, whom I love!

At the end of December we had many wonderful family Christmas celebrations.

Looking back, 2011 was nothing short of an extemely blessed year. It's amazing how when you focus on the positive and count your many blessings all of the trivial matters and challenges of the year seem to just melt away. We are so grateful to all of our many wonderful family members and friends who made 2011 such a special and memorable year for us! Here's to many more memories in 2012!

My New Year's Eve Birthday!

2012-01-10T08:49:00.000-06:00

For my 28th birthday, my parents drove all the way from Katy so that Brad and I could go to Chelon's house for a little birthday/New Year's Eve party she was having for me. And it was WORTH the drive Mom and Dad! Chelon, Lisa, Jeannie and Nancy spoiled me ROTTEN! Do you see that CAKE?! They're so good to me. It was my favorite, Tres Leches.

Chelon didn't have any candles so we made due with a lollipop stick. Although it was slightly a fire hazard it worked perfectly and I was able to make a great wish for 2012!

Ya, I know, awesome picture of me. But this was after I peeked in the bag and saw what they got me. These ladies know me so well. I've been friends with them for years and they have always taken such great care of me. I'm so lucky to have them as friends. I'm definitely like the little sister they never had... ;) I swear, I learn something new from them everyday. These are woman that I look up to in so many ways and I'm so grateful for their friendship!

Yep, they got me all of my favorites...Sweet Potato chips (my snack of choice at the moment), Scentsy bars, spray, and a car scent, and last but not least--PAJAMA JEANS! I love that they saw these and thought of me. I went right into the bathroom and threw those suckers on. They are seriously so comfortable yet stylish at the same time. They have a drawstring yet they're fitting in all the right places. Yes, pajama jeans, I'm a believer!

Chelon had put together an amazing spread with White Chicken Chilli (with Cilantro)--another favorite, wings, lots of treats and a super yummy punch. These ladies sure know how to make a girl feel special!

And so do these guys. Love them!

(Sorry Nancy--this was the only pic I got from the 5 of us ;)
Seriously, a big thank you from the bottom of my heart for all of the thoughtfulness on my birthday. We had a wonderful time playing games (my favorite past-time) and eating yummy food (another favorite thing to do) and oh ya, LAUGHING! Its always a good, uplifting time when I'm with these ladies.

And at midnight I got my kiss while the older kids did sparklers in the backyard.

It was the perfect birthday filled with all of my favorite things--my family, Seaworld, my friends, my favorite foods/games, and my sweet hubby who was either rubbing my back or playing with my hair the entire day. I sure felt loved...thanks everyone for all of the birthday wishes as well! It was seriously the best day ever and one that I will remember for a very long time. Love you guys!

A Seaworld New Years Eve!

2012-01-10T08:25:00.001-06:00

This year for my birthday my parents came to Round Rock to celebrate with us! They got here on Friday and immediately treated me to my traditional Red Lobster birthday lunch. Then later that night they babysat the kids and let Brad and I go on a date night to the movies. We saw New Years Eve (appropriate) and snacked on popcorn and drinks--we splurged on the over-priced concessions for my birthday (thanks Brad!). Then on the 31st we went to Seaworld! Brad was off for my birthday so we loaded everyone in the mini and headed to San Antonio. We were so excited to show Brad all the cool stuff at Seaworld since he hadn't been theer before. First stop--Beluga Staduium!

{Papa and the boys}

{Brad and the boys}

I love Tyson's expression in this picture. Mouth open in amazement with the map in his hands like he was really studying it. So cute.

I think the boys were most excited to take Daddy on the Shamu rollercoaster, a favorite from last time.

Not too sure about this.

Everything was still decorated for Christmas and all of the shows had a Christmas theme as well. We loved seeing all of the fun decorations. It made the boys antsy for next Christmas. I told them we'll start a paper chain.

Gotta love Shamu. It was standing room only in that stadium, so yes, to answer your question, it was a VERY busy Saturday.

Family Chrismtas Picture at Seaworld

This is Texas afterall.

We liked the walking Christmas trees and the tall nutcrackers that were always walking around. The boys were wondering where they were going. They didn't really stop to say hi or take pictures with anyone so it's like they were walking to their next station or something. It was slightly weird but neat to see.

Reagan was a happy camper (as usual). Whats not to be happy about. She had Nana to herself all day and she loved it. I'm sad I don't have any pictures of my mom from this day. Its probably because anytime I was able to take pictures she was either taking a kid to the bathroom or feeding Reagan or somehow helping me watch the kids. That Nana...always so helpful :)

She's sitting up on her own these days so I let her ride around like this most of the day. She is just short enough to chew on the snack tray when she gets bored. It's great and one of her favorite things to do. Until she sneezes. Poor baby.

Brotherly love!

We were waiting for my Mom and Brad to ride this ride. Yep, I chickened out. The last ride I went on just about shook my brain out of socket and gave me a headache the rest of the day so I wanted to see if this one would do the same thing. My mom felt bad that I made Brad ride alone so she went with him ;) Both my Dad's and my jaw about hit the ground when my mom said, "I'll go with ya Brad!" Go Nana!

The boys loved watching the ride whiz by.

Here they go!

Lots of fun decorations the boys loved!

We went to see the penguins this time and it was just like Happy Feet. Well almost.

We also went to the SeaLion show. Amazing and funny as always, that dang Clyde and Seamore!

A knee-slapping good time!

If you haven't been to Christmas as Seaworld you're missing out. It was December 31st and I believe it was 73 degrees outside and clear blue skies. It was the one day I was thankful that we don't get snow down here. It was a beautiful day!

The park opened at noon and then we had to leave at 5:30 to get back in time for my birthday party (woot woot!) That's the next post. But we had a wonderful New Years Eve (day) at Seaworld as a family. It couldn't have been a better birthday.

A Crafty Christmas!

2012-01-07T08:18:00.001-06:00

This year for Christmas I decided to get a littly crafty.

I got my BIG Christmas/Birthday gift early (thanks again Mom and Dad) and I'm thankful I did because it meant that I was able to make these. I printed out my vinyl stencil using my new Silhouette and got to work. I've said it once (or twice) and I'll say it again...I'm not very creative, but boy can I sure copy great! I found a tutuorial for this board here and I love how they turned out!

I love how the stained wood background really pops.

And then I found these online and HAD to have one. I liked it so much that I decided to make 17 more just like it. There wasn't a tutorial (I saw these on ETSY) but it was simple enough, again using vinyl as a stencil (thanks Chelon), painting the letters and inking the edges.

Then I saw the ruffle Christmas tree floating around. It was seriously a $2 craft (thanks Lindsey for rounding up the supplies!). I love a good cheap craft!

I've been searching high and low for the tutorial I used to make this and can't find it on Pinterest or on my Google Reader and I can't remember the name of the blog I got it from so if anybody knows, leave me a comment so I can give credit where it's due. But basically, all we did was print the Chrismtas music background, and then fold different lengths of Christmas scrapbook paper, gluing it down to resemble a tree. Stuck a glitter star on top, painted and sanded a cheap frame and there you have it!

Again, thanks to my new vinyl machine I was able to make this sign for my Dad's office. I'm kind of addicted to using vinyl as a stencil and painting the letters on. It's kind of my favorite thing.

And it's hard to tell what these are, but again, thanks Lindsey for the idea. These are 4x4 inch Travertine tiles with black and white pictures mod-podged to the top. I added little felt dots to the corners on the backside and sprayed a coat of poly to the top, to resist water. I made one for each of my family members with favorite pictures of them and their spouse/children. It was so fun scouring everyone's facebook pages to see which ones I wanted to use. This was probably my favorite Christmas project! My friend Erin has a tutorial for how to make these here (though I just used regular pictures instead of printing them on tissue paper...it was easier for me to just print them using Walmart Photo.com).

Christmas crafts are probably my favorite things to make. There are always so many good ideas online that are so fun to replicate. Thanks for all of the inspiration this year, blog world! I owe ya!

{Weimar Family Christmas}

2012-01-05T16:06:00.000-06:00

Part 3 of our Christmas Festivites!
The Gebauers and Neisers went out to Weimar for Christmas day with Grandma Gladys, Grandpa Glenn, and Uncle Jay. Luckily Great Grandma Gladys was awake when we got there so she got to love on Reagan for a few minutes.

She wanted to hold her so I plopped Rae on her lap. After a few minutes though Rae got a little heavy and a bit too squirmy for Grandma but at least we were able to get a couple of pictures of them together.

We had a Tex-Mex lunch with yummy Tamales, authentic Mexica Rice (thanks Lucia!), charro beans (thanks Mom and Dad) and all the right fixins (thanks Aunt Linda and everyone else involved!). Of course, another kid table picture.

There wasn't enough room at the adult table so Brad and I sat with Jason, Alisha, and Aunt Linda at the 'teen' table. It was awesome. And Jason LOVES when people take pictures of him eating. This is how he CHOSE to pose for the picture so he can't be too mad at me for posting it :)

The adult table (missing a few patrons)

Gebauer Family Christmas 2011

The whole Winkler/Gebauer/Neiser/Lauritzen/Hartshorn Clan

We spent the afternoon pretty much inside...it was another cold and rainy day but we kept busy by opening gifts and playing numerous rounds of Bingo. We LOVE Bingo in my family and have been playing it (with the same cards) for YEARS. We didn't get anymore pictures from the day but we sure did enjoy ourselves over there. We're so thankful that we were able to spend Christmas day with all of the siblings, cousins, parents, Aunts, Uncles, Grandparents, Neices, Nephews--everyone on that side. We sure missed Grannie Annie and Grandpa John but we know they were with us in spirit.

And just to bring you back--Bingo has been a Christmas tradition for as long as I can remember. This was taken when I was probably 5 at my Grandma Gladys and Grandpa Glenn's house in Houston. It was 1988 and my Aunt was helping me with my cards. What a fun family tradition!

That wraps up all of our days at the family Christmas festivies. We are so grateful that we were able to spend Christmas with you all. But most importantly we're thankful for Christ's birth and the opportunity that gives us to be with our Heavenly Father again. We hope your Christmas was very Merry and spent with lots of loved ones as well. Merry Christmas to all and to all a GOOD NIGHT!

{Christmas Eve and Morning 2011}

2012-01-04T16:15:00.001-06:00

After partying at Aunt Linda's we came back to my parents house to finish out our last few Christmas traditions before Santa came. I found cute printable online and made these sacks of reindeer food for all the kids and cousins.

Dad and the boys with their reindeer food.

We weren't going to let a little rain and cold weather hold us back.

Chase sprinkled his little by little while Tyson just dumped his on the grass. But I don't blame him, it was raining so we were in a hurry.

And lo and behold Santa found us that night, even though we were at Nana and Papa's!

And he brought LOTS of the new Cars 2 cars. He had to search high and low for all of those...and I mean really high and low. Gosh that Santa must love them.

He also brough Curious George DVDs.

What a wonderful Christmas morning! After seeing what is in our stockings we got ready for church and enjoyed a beautiful Chrismtas program in my parent's ward. It was the perfect way to begin Christmas Day. We love celebrating Christ's birth and are so thankful for a loving Heavenly Father who sent His Son to this earth to make it possible for us to make it back to Him someday. Merry Christmas Everyone!

{Aunt Linda's Family Christmas 2011}

2012-01-04T15:29:00.000-06:00

We had Christmas Part 2 the next day at my Aunt Linda's house. I always have very fond memories of my Aunt Linda's Christmas celebrations and this year did not disappoint! This is how the kids started their day...soooo enthralled on the LeapPads, it was a quiet first 5 minutes.

You have to have the classic kid table/adult table pictures.

Because you'll never know when they're going to creep up again ;)
(This picture was me and my Dad at Christmas or Thanksgiving Dinner at my Grandma Gladys' house when I was 2 or 3 years old.)

Note: We've been having those same delicious rolls for AT LEAST the past 25 years. I tried to shake it up a bit at Thanksgiving this year and add yeast rolls to the mix but it just wasn't the same. And is that giblet gravy I see?? We're creatures of habit, what can I say!

Adult table

And Miss Reagan's table

{Family Christmas picture, take 1}

{Take 2, apparently Brad didn't get the memo on the red}

Reagan really loves her cousin Jason and that scruffy beard of his. She's always trying to grab on it. Jason really likes her too--especially when she spits up on him. And look at those cute Christmas jammies Rae has on (thanks Grandma Joan!). We've been having lots of wardrobe changes due to the extreme amounts of spit up we've been having.

{Jason, Rae, and Alisha, Jason's soon be to fiance who's as nice as she is beautiful}

Some cousin love!

More party-goers...we basically sat around the treat table for the duration of the day. It was more convenient that way.

{Leti and Rebekah}

My Dad bought this icecream maker ball thing that you have to roll around to churn(?) the icecream. It was indentured servitude at its best. You had to work for it if you wanted any. The kids sat there and rolled it for at least 30 minutes before reaping it's benefits. Another valuable lesson taught by Papa. If you want something bad enough, you have to work for it--Big Kahuna.

{Aunt Linda and my Dad showing some brotherly/sisterly love}

{Brad, Brian, and Wendy}

{We ran out of burp cloths so Aunt Linda let us use a hand towel. That Reagan girl is no respector of persons--doesn't matter who you are, she's gonna spit up allllll over you if you aren't careful. Aunt Linda is always great at being prepared.}

And last but not least our Country Apple Dumplings just waiting to be eaten. My dad will be proud of me for taking this picture ;)

We had such a wonderful Christmas Eve over there. Thank you ALL for making this such a fun and enjoyable family Christmas! The kids all LOVED their presents and hopefully soon Leti and Brian will forgive me for getting John Paul that marshmellow gun ;)

{Gebauer Family Christmas 2011}

2012-01-04T14:54:00.000-06:00

This Christmas we drove down to Houston for the holiday weekend. We were super busy going from activity to activity but we wouldn't have it any other way ;) We got there Friday afternoon just in time for our traditional Christmas lunch at our favorite Mexican Restaurant--Vida Loca.

{Papa with his Reagan girl}

{And Wendy with her favorite niece}

After getting stuffed on some awesome food we came home to open presents! The kids were all SPOILED ROTTEN this year!

{Kylie Sage, 7 1/2 years old}

Tyson had gift piles all around him and was in heaven!

So was Hunter (he'll be 4 in Feb.)

Reagan got to go first--Nana and Papa got her a super cute pink exersaucer. She's always wanting to sit up and be a part of the crowd these days so this came at a perfect time and couldn't be cuter. Thanks Mom and Dad!

Chase said his favorite gift was the skate park. Not sure what his expression is doing here but he was super excited about this. Thanks Tio Timmy and Tia Lucia!

Kylie's favorite gift had to have been the Heely's she got. Her reaction was priceless!

The boys got so many Cars 2 gifts this year which they love!

Tyson needed a little help staying "in line". We open 1 present at a time and go youngest to oldest. It would take a good 20 minutes to get back to his turn so he was all out of sorts for the time in between. Making a 3 year old "wait" to open a mound of presents is trickier than you think!

My sister got me this super cute Lauritzen Christmas rug. As always all of her gifts were very thoughtful and most of them personalized. So cute!

Chase was most excited about giving this gift to his Dad. Earlier in the month him and Tyson made some pictures for Brad to take to work, so I framed then for easier display. Chase was explaining what his was. He loves drawing sweet pictures for us these days, most of them have big hearts and people holding hands saying I love you...he's a sweetie and VERY into relationships at the moment (his own included--post on that topic later).

Brad LOVED those gifts from the boys!

Timmy (and apparently Lucia ;) were pretty excited about opening this one...

I'll say it again--these two are sooo cute ;) This was Lucia's first Christmas with us and we loved having her there. Our little family is complete. Well sort of, once they start having babies then we can revisit that statement!

Wendy was pretty excited about this one--this picture sums my sister up perfectly ;)

My dad with his gift from Brad and I. I love my new Silhouette Cameo and had a lot of fun with it this holiday season (it was my Christmas and birthday present from my Mom and Dad, thanks again!) So, my Dad refers to himself as "The Big Kahuna" and one of his dreams is to open a Bait/Surf shop and teach kids how to fish and surf when he's retired. The quote on the bottom is from our favorite movie, North Shore. It was either that quote or "he bust his stick, he shred so bad." It was a toss up but I thought this one would make more sense to the untrained eye.

Ty loves his Lucia!

Chase helped Lucia open her gift from Timmy (with a little help from me).

SCENTSY!! Yes!

And the annual gift of socks and a Hurley sweatshirt from my mom. Brad seriously looks forward to this EVERY year.

My cute brother

We got both the Lauritzens and the Gebauers family calendars this year.

And Wendy got the boys personalized books. Super cute and the boys love reading them with their name in it.

We got Hunter the Original Bed Bugs--a favorite of mine growing up.

By the end, Brad and Rae were pooped!

My mom totally spoiled ALL of us and got us a Flip Camera--it so small and convenient to carry around and it has a usb on it so its super easy to upload videos now.

One happy guy. He also got a Home Depot one from his parents so he was in HEAVEN!

Funny stuff. My brother has a "thing" for Taylor Swift. I'll leave it at that.

Reagan was such a trooper through it all.

She loved watching all of the commotion.

But by the end she was one tired baby. She always rubs her eyes like this when she's tired, which makes it really easy to tell when she's tired vs. hungry, fussy, etc.

This was funny. Timmy was taking pics with my camera and he caught Chase with his arm around Lucia.
Then Timmy got his attention and Chase knew he was CAUGHT!

My dad loved his new fishin' bucket from Wendy.

And the last present was the candied pecans I made for my dad, which we immediately made him share with all of us ;)

Later that night the kids got on their Christmas jammies from Nana and Papa.

And got to open one last present before bed. Their BIG present this year was a LeapPad!! These were seriously impossible to find. They were sold out everywhere! But we finally tracked 4 of them down! An EXTRA special thanks to both Nana and Papa AND Grandma Joan and Grandpa Mark for chipping in for these learning systems. The kids LOVE them and if it keeps them off my iPhone then all the better ;)

Things got much quieter after this...all of the kids retreated to their own corners.

It was lovely...and quiet...and lovely...and quiet.

And Reagan loved her light up Bunny from Timmy and Lucia. Its hard to get a 5 month old gifts but she loved all the little dolls and bunnies she got.

Thanks Timmy and Lucia!

It was a very MERRY Christmas Eve Eve. A big thanks to all of our family members to making this such fun Christmas!

And we missed you Lauritzen family, but THANK YOU so much for the sweet package in the mail! We weren't expecting anything because we knew they had pitched in for the LeapPads but of course I got a knock on the door from the UPS man there was a box full of nice outfits and jammies for all of the kids. Thank you ALL so much for everything you've done for us this Christmas! We wish we could have been with ALL of you.

The Allen's Christmas Party 2011

2011-12-22T11:07:00.000-06:00

This year we were invited to the infamous Allen Family Christmas Party! It was a 'tacky sweater' party so we all dressed the parts and came in our tackiest Christmas garb.

{Jared and Mark}

{Justin and Travis}

{Treva}

{Julie with her amazing food table, and Mary and Travis}
Julie is another one of those "hostesses with the mostesess".

{Jenny (38 weeks pregant aaaaaand, you can't even tell she's expecting), Jenna, and Julie}

{Sheri and Me}

{Brad and I, cozying up by the fire}

Ya know, just a normal night hanging at the Allens.

Brad LOVES it when I take pictures of him. He humors me. Don't you LOVE his sweater and turtle neck. Thank you Wal-Mart plus size WOMEN'S section. Brad was just 1 vote shy from winning the sweater contest but Trever ended up winning.

We did a gag gift exchange but Brad and I ended up brining "real" gifts. I hate spending money on useless stuff so this year I decided I wanted to give presents that people could actually use, but with a $5 or $10 limit you're kind of limited on what you can give. Midway through the game Travis and Lindsey ended up with our gifts but sadly they were stolen. I didn't get a picture but we actually ended up with both of the Fitch's gifts--zoom nail clippers and a signed 8x10 of Travis Fitch. The game took a lot of twists and turns but all-in-all was a great time, even though Travis exploded when someone stole his UT snuggie. I love it when people are worse sports than I am--really takes the spotlight off of me for a moment...cuz I am the ulimate poor sport! (right Timmy?)

A group shot of the girls in the Allen photo booth.
Top--Sheri, Jessica, Jenny, and Jenna
Bottom--Me, Lindsey, Julie, Juliet, and Mary

Rockin the ugly sweaters!

Thanks again Allens for such a fun and memorable night! The food was amazing, the games were super fun and the company was even better. We had a blast!

Fort Lauritzen!

2011-12-22T10:43:00.000-06:00

We did LOTS of fun things with our cousins this week, even though it did rain half of the time they were here. One of the rainy day activities was building a fort! The kids loved it (for the first half of the day ;)

I set up a computer and let them watch a movie in there. Kylie and Chase look asleep here but they're not...just smiling and watching the movie.

It was a pretty rad fort if I do say so myself ;)

We LOVE cousin fort days!

My mom, Wendy and the kids left yesterday and I can't get over how quiet it is. Although the younger kids fought a lot I know we all thoroughly enjoyed being together this past week. As usual, we should have taken more pictures, but so much of our time was just spent hanging out and letting the kids play. We did brave it one day and took all the kids to Casa Ole, TJ Maxx, and Target, but after that we were good to just keep them all inside and let them be as crazy as they wanted to be. Chase and Kylie did great but Tyson and Hunter sure did butt heads. Two hard-headed 3 year old boys...what are ya gonna do?! Despite some major 3 year old meltdowns we loved being able to jump on the tramppoline all together and go and play on bikes out in the front yard. We sure do wish our cousins lived closer!

Cousins Cookie Decorating!

2011-12-22T10:16:00.000-06:00

Yeah for cousins visiting! My mom, sister, and neice and nephew came to stay at our house this past Friday-Wednesday. We had sooo much fun and the kids did too ;) First item of business on Friday night--cookie decorating!

Hunter did great and was super careful.

Chase and Kylie had a competition to see who could make the highest mound on the top of their cookies. It was pretty gross.

Tyson again, was very careful with those sprinkles.

Wendy played photographer so she didn't make any but she sure enjoyed eating Hunters.

Kylie (7) and Wendy (34)

After cookies Wendy gave Reagan her 'first Christmas' present.

It was soo cute, a little pink stocking that said Baby's First Christmas and 'first christmas' ornament with her picture in it.

Thanks Aunt Wendy, for the always thoughtful gift! Wendy is the queen of meaningful gifts and this, like everything else, meant a lot to us. Thanks Wen!

Framed Christmas Card Holder

2011-12-15T23:42:00.000-06:00

I saw an idea for this on the Shanty 2 Chic blog and wanted to do it in my home.

I am loving Miss Lindsey for giving me this big chunky black frame. Totally up my alley. I added chicken wire to the back and clipped the Christmas cards we've been getting.

We've gotten a lot more cards since this picture was taken last week and have LOVED seeing updates from so many of our friends and family. I plan to keep this up all year but will hang up family pictures after the holidays. Thanks for the idea, Shanty 2 Chic! (p.s. if you don't read that blog you're missing out. That is one of my MAJOR sources for inspiration. I love her style...it's very modern but rustic. Super cute, check her out if you're looking for some great home decor/craft inspiration).

Chase's Christmas Program

2011-12-15T23:39:00.000-06:00

Santa came to Chase's preschool again this year, and visited with each of our kids.

Santa with all of the Lauritzen Kids

Merry Christmas! (and hook em horns?!? I don't know why he always feels the need to put the horns up in every picture. And we're not even Longhorn fans?! Drives me semi-nuts, but when you grow up in Austin I guess it's just par for the course.)

After visiting with Santa we went to see Chase's Christmas program.

He did much better performing this year than he did last ;)

Neighbor Gifts

2011-12-15T23:36:00.000-06:00

Each year we try and make something to take to our 4 awesome neighbors, two on the left and two on the right. The boys are constantly going and knocking on each of their doors to say hi and sometimes we're over there asking for a cup of sugar, a sitck of butter, cup of millk, you name it. They are all so giving, and we're all constantly looking out for one another. We have been blessed with some truly amazing neighbors, which we are so grateful for. So this year, the boys decided they wanted to decorate cookies to take over to them.

Tyson was pretty excited!

How quickly the mood changes. Ty was down and out for a minute while Chase happily downed some of his frosting.

Chase with his masterpieces.

And Tyson with his. You can tell so much about their personalities from the way they decorate their cookies. Chase's are kind of crazy and all over the place while Ty was very detailed and careful while decorating his. Chase has always been our loud one, the performer of the family, while Tyson is more of the gentle giant type. Well, not the 3 year old Tyson, the 3 year old Tyson is kind of a scray monster, but deep down inside we know he's more gentle and timid compared to his boisterous and silly brother.

See what I mean? He's always "on".

The finished product!

We caroled as we delivered the plate of cookies.

And this just in, a few days after we delivered the cookies, our favorite neighbor (and honorary Grandpa) Joe came over to deliver presents to all of the kids. He picked out a racing ramp thingy and kid guitar for Chase, a laser "shooter" gun and fire truck for Tyson and lots of cute girl clothes for Reagan. And yes, he did all the shopping and wrapping himself. Isn't he the cutest? He came over when my sister and her kids were here to give our kids their presents and he felt sooo bad that he didn't have anything for Kylie and Hunter that he went out that night, got them gifts and brought them over the next morning. We love our 'Grandpa Joe' and like I said, we're so grateful for our neighbors who inadvertently meet so many of our random needs throughout the year.

Playroom Facelift

2011-12-15T23:34:00.000-06:00

Our latest mini-project--updating the playroom. I don't know what it is but it seems like the boys are ALWAYS downstairs (and usually bored). Maybe it's because I'm in the kitchen half the day making meals or feeding the baby, but at any rate they NEVER play in the gameroom. It drives Brad and I bonkers. So we decided to renovate it a bit to see if it will attract more attention. So first step--we moved the elliptical I put up there into my bedroom. I love that machine but it it's an eye-sore just about anywhere. With the new open space in the corner of the room we decided to make a "Reading Corner".

What do you think about those shelves? Only $5 a piece! How did I get them so cheap you ask? Well that's because they're gutters! I know, weird, but this idea has been floating around Pinterest for a while and I've just been waiting for a place to put them. And then I went to my good friend Jenny's house and saw them on her wall and said, okay, I've got to do this. In looking more into it, I guess studies show that children are much more likely to sit and read a book if they can see the cover of it, vs. just seeing the spine. I'd believe it, because this week we've read more books than we ever have before!

This was another little update we did. We scooted the art table against the wall, and got this rack and the buckets from Ikea for super cheap ($8 for the rack, $3 a bucket).

And then I used my new Silhouette Cameo (thanks Mom and Dad for the early Christmas/Birthday present!) to make the vinyl labels.

I love the smiley monster font for all things kids!

It's amazing how utilizing the wall space really opens up the room. We've never used this space to it's fullest potential. For the almost 5 years we've lived here we've never known what to do with those half (balcony) walls. They're too short to really put anything on, but this seems to have done the trick.

This feels so much brighter and way more inviting.

And we LOVE Ikea for all things organization. Since moving the kids books out of the toy organizer I was able to put 3 more totes in those spaces, to add room for toys.

We so needed the extra toy space! I was tired of the kids dumping each of the totes out because it was so filled to the brim they couldn't see what was on the bottom. Now each bin is only filled half-way as to promote light sifting ;)

Seriously, this is all they do now. It's awesome! I think Chase relates to it more now being in Pre-K. They have a reading nook in his classroom that I always find him in when I pick him up, so to have one in his own house is a pretty fun treat.

Loving my Silhouette! Making signs is such a synch! I'm really into "stenciling" my boards and signs right now, vs. just slapping vinyl on. It takes about 10 times longer to do but it's worth it if you're going for that more "rustic" look. I love these fonts too--(my new fave) Lobster for Reading Corner, and again Smiley Monster for "grab a book..."

Just to give you an idea--this is what we had before.

Ugh! Toy clutter everywhere! I feel like I can breathe now up there, and I can tell the kids feel the same way. So when's the next playdate??

Going...Going...Gone!

2011-12-15T23:27:00.000-06:00

This is what happens when Mom's on the elliptical and Dad's in charge of the kids--
GOING...

GOING...

GONE!

That little toy has no idea how grateful her noggin is for the support. Gotta love Dads!

The Polar Express

2011-12-15T23:25:00.000-06:00

Last weekend our local Barnes and Noble put on a fantastic reading of the Polar Express. This is one of the boys' favorite Christmas stories. B&N really went the extra mile with this one--here are Tyson and Chase waiting for the "train" to leave.

Of course they couldn't leave until they all got tickets.

The conductor even hole punched them like they do on the movie.

Then they got hot chocolate and cookies.

Ty's favorite part...that boy LOVES hot chocolate!

It was cute--after the reading of the story the boys got to make these cute reindeer ornaments to take home.

They sure are cheap dates (um, free!). I love the holidays when so many local business put on special programs like this for the kids. I'm sure they'll remember this night for a long time.

Brad's Beauties

2011-12-13T21:17:00.000-06:00

This post is a little shout-out to my sweet husband, who really is the handy-est man I know. He's been working so hard to make a little extra money ever since Reagan came around (p.s. girls are expensive ;) He loves building things, especially decks and pergolas, so that's what he's been doing on his days and mornings off. He sent an email out to our HOA letting our neighborhood know that he does this and within the first month he got 2 jobs. We miss him while he's away but we sure appreciate ALL of the hard work he does for our little family.

Impressive, right?

Seriously, there is nothing this guy can't do or figure out. Our family has been so blessed by all of his handy skills. We decided that we really "upped" our creativity level since being married. Neither one of us were that into building things, doing crafts, decorating, etc. but over the past few years we've really been working together to make all of our projects come to pass. He's such a team player and I love that about him--especially when it means he's outside in the dark cutting 54 pieces of wood for my craft project. He is such a hard worker and I LOVE that about him. He genuinely loves doing all of this, which makes it easier for me to say goodbye to him in his precious days off. It makes him happy, so in turn, it makes me happy. I love you Brad! Here's to many more years of craftsmanship to come!

{Buddy the Elf}

2011-12-09T17:14:00.000-06:00

The day after Thanksgiving we heard a knock on the door.

These were on our front door step.

Chase and Tyson showed some mighty fine teamwork getting the big one in.

And were SO excited to see what it was.

"Who did it come from?" the boys asked.

Santa was nice enough to leave rhyming instructions so we would know exactly what to do with the content inside of the box.

Finally--time to crack it open and see what's inside!

(We got the "pretty smile" down, but now it looks like we need to work on the eyes. Always something ;)

Gasp!

Books! Lots and lots of Chrismtas books! 30 to be exact. One for every night from the day after Thanksgiving til Chrismtas Eve.

It was hard not to sit right then and there and read all of them but we packed them back in the box and have been following Santa's instructions and reading them one at a time.

Time to open the 2nd present!

Yeah! Our very own Elf on the Shelf fresh from the North Pole!

If you haven't heard of this new phenomenon, then you must be living in Orofino, ID! Haha, just kidding sis. Seriously though, it's pretty popular right now. The book tells you exactly how important your elf is to Santa. He's a scout elf sent to your family to watch the kids and report back to Santa each night after everyone goes to bed. He comes back the next day and finds a new place to take notes. The kids LOVE waking up every morning to find him. They named him Buddy (after Brad axed the name Rudo) and Tyson calls him Gubby (for some reason that's what comes out first when he's looking for him..."Oh Gubbyyyyy--where are youuuuu?" So cute!).

Chase and I were reading about Buddy while Tyson decided to keep a close eye on him.

We put him on the mantle so he could watch us that day.

I know some people think he's creepy but the kids love him and really take the whole thing seriously. It's funny hearing them talk about Buddy and how he will tell Santa if they are being naughty.

After reporting back to the North Pole for his first day of duty, he took up residency on the candle holder the next day.

Since then we've found him sitting on the curtain rod, hanging down from the fan blade, in a basket on the counter, fishing (he was holding a pen with fishing line going into a cup of goldfish), in our holiday village, and many more fun places. We love our Elf on the Shelf and can't wait for him to come back every year!

A Weimar Thanksgiving

2011-11-30T16:13:00.000-06:00

This Thanksgiving we went out to my grandparent's house in Weimar, TX (about an hour west of Katy). We truly love going out there and this time was no exception. The older my boys get, the more fun they have there. My grandparents live on about 54 acres of land, and the old oak trees are absolutely gorgeous, so we had Timmy take some family pics of us.

{The Lauritzen Family 2011}

We also managed to get a few group shots...though we're missing my Dad, Glenn, and Grandma Gladys in this one (and hi, Tyson--we're up here).

There will be more of {these} pictures to come. Just a sneak peek.

This pretty much sums it up. Love this family!

{Reagan with her Auntie Lucia}

Lucia has such a way with kids. I can't wait for her and Timmy to have some of their own one day!

We love them and couldn't be happier that Lucia is in our family.

Cutest newlyweds ever.

During the day we went out to see the neighbor's turkeys. Mr. Goode came over and asked if we'd like to see them because they were out walking around. I was a little hesitant at first, you know because of the fact that we'd be eating on of their dear friends in a matter of minutes, but the kids wanted to see them, so we went. On the golf carts of course...walking is so over-rated.

We were going about 5 mph, but Brad sure held on tight. Never can be too safe. Uh-oh, I'm rubbing off on him.

That plus Timmy was behind the wheel, and we all know the {mailbox} story...

Happy Thanksgiving, with a really mean bull behind them!

Uncle Jay is the best tour guide when it comes to everything Weimar. We love him!

And as always, Nana is the best at getting Reagan to sleep...and eat. It actually kind of ticks me off how good she is with her ;) She lets my mom hold her while she's eating and put her to sleep like this...WITHOUT even rocking. It's just not fair ;) But I'm thankful for the special bond they have and that Reagan is able to go to other people without a fuss.

Naptime was over so Reagan wanted to practice her sitting. She's almost got it.

Got it! Not really, she's propped up by the back of the couch but cute smile nonetheless!

Time for more Golf Cart fun!! Even Reagan participated.

Not sure how these got out of order but back to family pics--would you look at Reagan's cheeks? She looks especially adorable because she's sucking on her top lip, which really gives the cheeks an extra little bounce. Love it!

Not sure if this one is going to make it on the wall, but this is our life and we love it. I'm seeing this picture with a sign above it that says, "We may not have it all together, but together we have it all!"

Gebauer/Neiser/Lauritzen Family Thanksgiving 2011
We sure missed Brian, Leti, and the kids, Jason and Alisha, and Wendy, Jeff, and the kids! But Christmas is right around the corner! We can't wait to see all of you again in just a few short weeks!

{Gebauer Family}
My Dad is going to be ticked that he forgot to take off his glasses.

{Chase with "his" Lucia}

Brother pictures in my Uncle Jay's 'secret garden'. This place really is cool. He made a path through a thicket of trees and put a bench in there so that he can read and take a breather every now and then. Everyone needs a quiet place in their life. Although Uncle Jay's definitely takes the cake. The boys loved it in there.

Until we noticed the line of HUGE ants making off with that bird food from the feeder. They were gigantic. Click on the picture to enlarge it in another screen and zoom in to see those ants carrying big old pieces of bird food away.

These boys crack me up. We have certain pictures (or poses) we take each year so that we can look back and see how much they've grown. This is one of those shots. And it totally captures both boys' personalities. Chase, Mr. Personality and Tyson, Mr. Firecracker.

This is better.

Me and my handsome boys.

After lots of fun outside we came in for our traditional game of Bingo. Reagan was completely enthralled in all the action...can't you tell? Yes, she fell asleep sitting up.

After about 5 rounds of Bingo (thanks for the prizes Mom and Dad!) we went back out to play on the golf carts. We had so much fun seeing all of the land on the golf carts. Isn't it beautiful out there?!

Such a poser.

You know what they say...the family that plays together, stays together.

Before the sun went down we wanted to get some pictures of the land. It's just so peaceful out there. This a picture of the church in front of their house that my Grandpa Glenn has gone to since he was a little boy.

And you just can't buy trees like these.

Ahhh, Weimar. Breathe it in.

Can you see my dad and Uncle Jay? They were running a hose out to the old horse trough. The cement on the trough reads 1920 or something like that. This was the house Glenn grew up in and has been in his family since the early 1900s.

The sun set and the kiddos were tired from not taking naps. Another reason they love Weimar...no naps ;) Reagan was falling asleep and everyone and anyone who would hold her that day.

I was sad I didn't get any pictures of our delicious Thanksgiving spread, but we were so hungry there was no time for pictures! My dad snapped a few on his camera but he's in the Western Caribbean sipping Pina Coladas with my mom on the beach right now, so I couldn't ask him for them. It was a wonderful Thanksgiving, full of great food, great family, great Bingo games, great family pictures and FUN, and great bonding time. We can't wait to see all of you at Christmas! Only a few weeks away!

a little bling

2011-11-18T17:40:00.000-06:00

Here's a story about a little girl who begged and begged her mother to let her get earrings. (She twisted my arm, what can I say?) We got to the mall and all was well...

"Who's this guy? He looks interesting," she thought as the man behind the big, black, square-framed glasses got her attention with his rubbery gloves.

Just a little mark here...

And one more over there...

A little pinch...

And voila! It wasn't so bad, was it Reagan?
She only cried for the first few minutes but was totally fine after that. She sure was a trooper!

Daddy was at work that night, so we surprised him when he got home. He loves her pierced ears as much as I do! The next day we snapped some shots of them in their Sunday best.

Wrapped around her little finger!

Would you look at those baby blues? Like Father, like daughter. Just beautiful...

We chose the 3mm, 14k white gold diamonds (cz's, but don't tell Reagan ;)

She looked so cute on Sunday in her new pink ruffle skirt from Grandma Joan (thanks Joan)!

And then she was done taking pictures.

The end.

(Special thanks to Nana for being mine and Reagan's support system at the local Claire's. I was way to chicken to go by myself. I wouldn't have been able to do it without her. I think I needed someone there to tell me I wasn't the worst mom in the world for doing this to my poor little baby. I decided though that 4 months was the perfect age...not too young but not old enough to where I'd be worried about her tugging at her ears. It's almost been a week and she hasn't messed with them once, so I think my theory's holding up. Thanks Mom for "holding my hand" through this! Phew! Glad I don't have to do this again.)

a PiRaTe BiRtHdAy PaRtY!

2011-11-13T21:54:00.000-06:00

HUGE disclaimer: This is definitely the LONGEST blog post I've ever done, so consider yourself warned.)

Also, I'm quite detailed in this post because I'm hoping this will help anyone else that would like to have a pirate party. It's so much easier to know where people got their decor or how they made it all in one place...but I might have missed something so if you still have questions or would like more of these printables leave me a comment and let me know...I'd be more than happy to help you, because I know how frustrating it is not to know where someone got something or how they did it.)

aRgH mAtEy! This past Saturday we celebrated both Chase and Tyson's 5th and 3rd birthdays! This year's theme: PiRaTeS! So pretty much the boys love anything and everything pirates, so I asked them if this year they'd like to have a pirate party and of course they were thrilled with the idea. I got to looking at some blogs for inspiration and thus IT began. I have to give major credit to the Fickle Pickle blog for the wonderful inspiration and am so grateful for people who share their ideas with us so that we can try and pull the same thing off. I had NO idea how far I was going to get sucked in though. After 3 weeks of hardcore planning and lots of "pinning" this is what we got:

These were the invitations (from Oriental Trading Company). Each bottle came with a "message" (invitation), eye patch, skull ring, and real sand! (I made my own personalized invitation in Photoshop to put in there instead of the one that came with the bottles.)

Little did I know, the invitations were the easiest part. I then decided that we should make dress up items for all of the kids (24!) at the party. I saw an idea for these mustaches on a stick so I started tracing, cutting, stitching, stuffing, and gluing. It was intense and perhaps the most labor intensive part of the party prep.

Another fun idea--a bunting banner in the party colors. These are all the rage right now on blogs and Pinterest so I decided I could make one too. I love how it turned out and since I sewed it (vs. gluing it) I hope to be able to use it for many-a-parties to come.

This is the sign I made for the dress up table...which meant I had to actually provide all of these items, but most of it I found at stores like Hobby Lobby, Oriental Trading, and Target.

Here's the printable if you'd like to use it:

Some of the "treasures" the pirates got in their goody bags and on their treasure hunt.

X Marks the Spot Treasure! (more on that later)

I designed this topper in photoshop, dropped a handful of chocolate gold coins into a cellophane bag and stapled it all together. This was my favorite part of the party favors.

(printable--just insert name at bottom

24 Mustaches-on-a-Stick!

These are the treasure maps that I made in photoshop and singed all the edges for. Yep, I had a horrible stomachache the day after I did those and I think it was because of all the ash that I inhaled...no joke. It was bad. But come on, it wouldn't be a treasure map without authentic burnt edges!

This is what my room looked like the night before the party--it was finally all ready to go!

And finally--Party Day! We had the party at a nearby neighborhood clubhouse. First and foremost I have to thank my parents, brother, sister-in-law, Aunt, and of course the hubby for helping me actually pull this off! There is NO WAY I could have done this without all of them...they were all God-sends and helped with the entire process, so thank you family for helping all of this come together!

{Front entrance to clubhouse}

{Pirate Garb Table}

(Pirate Hats-Hobby Lobby, Bandanas-Oriental Trading, Swords-Target, Mustaches--Handmade, printed a mustache I liked and used it as a stencil to trace onto felt, stitched the edges with embroidery floss, stuffed it, then added a wooden dowel (Wal-Mart or any craft store) before making the last stitch.)

{Treats if you Dare}

Major props to Brad for building my sail. We didn't quite know what look we were going for but this totally gave it a pirate ship feel. He cemented an 8 foot long 2"x2" in a bucket and attached another 6 foot long piece to the top. I draped fabric over, gathered it together and tied it with jute to finish it off.

Someone wanted to show us his pirate face...he snuck in on this one.

These were their party favor bags. Again, thanks to blog inspiration, we went on a treasure hunt to collect all of their treasures (party favors).

Party Menu: Uncrustables, Cheetoes, Grapes, and "Deadman's Punch" (Squeezable Kool-Aid) for the kids and Fiesta (Corn) Dip and Rootbeer for the adults No close up of the dip but I had more than a few people ask for the recipe so here it is: 3 cans Mexicorn, 1 cup mayo, 1-16 oz. Sour Cream, 1 tb diced canned jalapeno, 2 cups shredded shredded sharp cheddar, 1 bunch green onion (diced). Mix all together, chill, serve with chips!

Ahhh, my party photographer (one of them, my Dad was the other ;) Thank you soooo much Timmy for always being so willing to take pictures of our family gatherings. You take such great pictures. I did this party for the memories, so thanks to your pictures we will be able to look back and remember all the fun we had this day! Love you brother!

{the Plank!} One of the games we had was a relay race where the kids "walked the plank" and "swabbed the deck!" (you'll see...) The plank was made from a 2"x12" (8 feet long). I put my letters on there with a pencil and painted over them with a foam brush. Then we tied it to Sterilite Storage crates (Wal-Mart) to give it some height.

{The party table}

I used red, plastic table cloths, red plates and pirate napkins from Target on top of a treasure map place mat (Oriental Trading), lined the table with crunched up toole (Hobby Lobby), and sprinkled crinkled brown paper (Target) with gold coins (Oriental Trading) down the center. The pirate ship in the middle of the table was bought at Kohls regular $50 for $20 (it was on sale for $30 and then I used my $10 off Kohl's coupon to bring it down to $20. It was a surprise for the boys and worked perfect as the centerpiece.

My friend Jeannie let me borrow the mason jars--bought from Target--(thank you!) which I stuck some Jolly Rogers (Oriental Trading) in to line to the table with.

The boys loved the pirate ship!

{the Cupcakes}

Special thanks to Cottage Industrialist for these printables. But instead of using toothpicks like she did, I used sucker sticks (Hobby Lobby) to make these sails sit up higher.
{Drinks}

After taking pictures of all the decor we had a few extra minutes to take some family pics before our guests arrived. We all got into character and put on our piratey-ist faces!

{pirate brothers}

{a family affair!}

Yep, that's Captain Hook and his pirate wench! (Mike and Amber, recognize the costume??) Thanks Vanchiere's (and Fitch's) for letting us use your costumes for the event. Even Reagan wore her black and red to celebrate with us.

{My cute pirate family!}

{aArRrGh!}

A few of the people that helped me out sooo much--Aunt Linda, Papa, and Lucia with the birthday boys!

They sure love their Aunt Lucia! She's a professional party planner and after this party I wondered in amazement at people who do this on a regular basis. She acted like this was no sweat while I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off. I told her at the end of the party that I'd leave the party planning business up to her...this was wayyyy to exhausting for me!

She was in charge of the dress-up table and rocked the mustache!

So did Aunt Linda!

And Nana!

And even Reagan too! (Special Thanks to my mom for taking Reagan under her wing this day. I honestly didn't even get to see my poor baby for the first half of the day. But I loved not having to worry about her. I knew she was in good hands, and as always, Nana did a great job of keeping her happy.)

Timmy made me stop, take a deep breath, and smile for the camera.

Looks like he tried to make Chase do the same thing. I think he was just concerned that none of his guests had arrived yet. But he got to the party really early so he didn't understand why no one was there yet ;)

I loved dressing up the party guests as they arrived. I think the kids enjoyed it too!

{aRgH!}

One of our first guests! Chase and Tyson couldn't wait to show Shane their new pirate ship!

{PaRtY tImE!}
Captain Hook made his appearance after a handful of little pirates arrived!

Captain Hook was the real deal and spoke in a gnarly pirate voice the entire time! I really am so thankful for such a supportive husband--he really committed to making this memorable for the boys and it was so cute listening to the boys say, "did you see my Dad?! He's Captain Hook!"

{Pirate Games!}
We split the kids in half and had them divide and conquer. Half of them went to the Treasure Dig where they dug in these big buckets of sand to find washed up treasures like necklaces, diamond rings, and gold coins!

I could NOT pull this one away from the buckets. When I did he lost it. So he stayed here for the next hour.

The other half of the kids "swabbed the deck"...

And "walked the plank!"

Gabe swabbed the deck!

Eva swabbed the deck!

and Parker did too!

He also walked the plank!

And so did Bivy, with a little help from Captain Hook!

Drake did a great job swabbing too!

Next game--The Treasure Hunt! We handed out all of their maps and studied them before we left. It was so cute to see Chase and Simon planning the route they would go.

Gabe got in on this too!

I loved that they took this all so seriously. It made all of those pounds of ash I inhaled from burning the edges ALL worth it.

Captain Hook took them through an enchanted forest to find their loot!

They found things along the way like Diamond Rings (Ring Pops), Compasses, Telescopes, and mini Pirate Beach Balls (all from Oriental Trading), before making their way back inside for the real buried treasure (the chocolate gold coins that said "Thanks for coming to me pirate party, from Captain Chase and Captain Tyson).

Our Treasure Hunters (missing a few stragglers)

Then it was back inside for lunch. It was semi-crazy trying to feed 22 little ones at the same time but to my surprise they all did great as long as we got the food on their plates fast enough!

Chase loved the Deadman's Punch!

And so did Tyson!

Feeding this many kids was a walk in the park for the cute King Family ;)

We sang Happy Birthday and passed out the cupcakes. Tyson gave us his best pirate face!

And then we opened gifts from all of our wonderful friends! Thank you all SO much for all of the thoughtful gifts for the boys! I know it was super chaotic while we were opening the gifts but just know that after we brought them all home the boys ripped into them and have been playing with all of them nonstop since we've been home!

I think this is two thumbs up from my cheering section!

Even our neighbor Joe came to the party. We were so glad he could be there to celebrate with the boys!
And how cute are Timmy and Lucia with Reagan. I can't wait til they have a little one of their own, but they've only been married for 4 months so we'll give them a few more months before we hound them about it ;)

Finally one of my Dad! This was before the party (see the clean floors ;). He was so helpful, adding the finishing touches with all of his fishing nets and ropes. He also took a ton of pictures for me, which I really appreciate! There would be no memories if it wasn't for my brother and Dad that day! Thank you, thank you!

All-in-all it was a terrific pirate birthday party!! Although it sucked nearly all of the life out of me, it was so worth it after seeing how happy it made the boys. We've had much of our focus and attention on Reagan since she's been here the past few months, so it was my way of saying to the boys that I didn't forget about them.

Thanks for coming to our Pirate Party Everyone! And thanks again to everyone that made this possible, my little family, my extended family, the Fickle Pickle Blog, the Cottage Industrialist and, of course, I wouldn't be here today without Oriental Trading. (haha, sounds like I won an Academy Award doesn't it?

I now leave you with one final pirate AaRrGgHh!!!!

HaPpY HaLLoWeEn!

2011-11-03T16:06:00.001-05:00

In usual holiday tradition, a few days before Halloween a package arrived on our doorstep with this inside...

No, not the kids...but the super cute Halloween Pj's from Grandma Joan! (p.s. I love how Reagan is the only one looking in this picture but it looks like she's showing her brothers what's up.)

Thank you so much Grandma! The kids LOVED wearing their 'spooky jammas' the night before Halloween.

The Saturday night before Halloween we went to our annual Ward Trunk-or-Treat, only this time at the new ward building here in Round Rock. No more driving 23 minutes (yes, it was down to a science how far in adavance we would need to leave to get to Sacrament on time). Now just 10 minutes away is our beautiful new building! We had potluck soup and desserts and had so much fun spending time with our ward members. Reagan was a kitty cat (she slobbered off her whiskers) and I was...wait for it...MYSELF! I know, awesome.

And my sweet Jenna and Liana, aka Minnie Mouse with a little creeper (Mr. Fitch) in the background. Thanks Trav! Jenna, you could crop him out and frame this one of you and Liana--so cute!

lAuRiTzeN fAmIly
TrUnK-oR-TrEaT 2011
(Reagan was sleeping, hence the laying down position)

Rae and I were in charge of handing out candy this year, while Dad was in charge of taking the boys around and taking pictures.

Looks like Travis was in charge of the candy too. Loving the facial hair btw...ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, Brother Fitch!

So this was Brad's idea of taking the kids around--recruit one of our Young Women to help. I love how ingenuitive he his. The boys love Kylin and so do we!

Chase aka Black Spider Man

Leutinant Tyson, ready for duty!

Thank goodness Chelon left me with extra candy because we barrelled through our 2 big bags in a matter of 20 minutes. Tyson was checking out his future bride, Biv, aka Ariel the Wedding Pricess (or something like that...sorry Chelon, we don't watch too many girly movies over here so I can't remember what you told me she was!)

Halloween Night we went trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. Joe came over to take this family picture of us. Mom, Dad, a police man, a kitty cat, and black spider man.

We didn't dress up for trick or treating but we did dress up for our Adult Halloween Party over at the Kings'. Can you guess what we are?? For more about that party you can go to Lindsey's blog to check out all the fun we had here. It was seriously the best party I've pretty much ever been too, dang that Jenna knows how to do it!

Back to trick or treating--

Brothers

Tyson was saying, "yes sir!" in a really deep voice, our favorite part about wearing the police man costume.

Brad and his happy little kitten

We went next to Joe's to trick-or-treat. Looks like we got tricked!

It took Tyson a minute to understand that was our super sweet neighbor Joe under that mask...

This is what Grandpa Joe really looks like...one of the nicest guys on earth. The boys love him!

We went down our street and back--of course we had to stop at the best spooky house on the block!

Those zombies were laying in the cemetary and would get up and walk around...the boys knew they weren't real but were still a bit concerned.

This house's decorations get better and better each year. Most days the boys would make me stop at the corner while we were driving so they could look at everything.

One of our last stops--

We met up with the Fitch family along the way (we are sooo spoiled with them living around the corner from us), so the boys got to trick-or-treat with their best buds.

We had a wonderfully sPoOky Halloween! Hope you did too!

Tubby Time!

2011-11-03T15:09:00.003-05:00

Had to share--every baby loves a bath!

Especially this one! Bath time is one of our favorite times of the day...even if it does take me an absorbatent amount of time to clean in between all the fat rolls. I mean really...tricep creases, really?! (funny if you watch SNL.)

Princess Reagan 3 1/2 Months Old!

2011-10-27T09:45:00.000-05:00

(This post is dedicated to all of our out-of-town family who doesn't get to see Reagan very often. It's a Reagan picture overload, so consider yourself forewarned!)

Can you believe this little girl? To say she's growing so fast would be an understatement...where has my newborn gone? I took her to the gastroenterologist yesterday and she weighed in at 17 lbs.! Oh how we love our pink little chunky monkey!

There sure is something to be said about chunky babies--they are sooo happy. She is much more content than Chase or Tyson ever was as a baby.

She lights up when she sees her Daddy. He lights up when he sees her too!

Chase wanted to take this picture of me and I'm glad he takes these random pictures because I don't generally ask Brad to come take a picture of me rocking the baby. But yes, this is where you'll find us a few times each day. I still rock her to sleep...and I love it.

They are so smitten with each other.

After church on Sunday Brad took these pictures of us because he noticed we were matching.

Me and my happy little Reagan girl.

Like Mother, like Daughter

Tyson didn't want to be left out. I love his face in this one. Argh!

Back to Rae, she's a spitter. She has reflux and spits up a lot. But she's what they call a 'happy spitter'. It doesn't seem to bother her too much. I love how it's pooled under her chin...can't get under the rolls.

Did I mention that she's always happy?

Most of the time she's smilling like this with her hand in her mouth.

Attention grandparents: this one is printworthy. Just sayin...

Told ya, happy spitter.

Another printworthy one.

Clearly I could not decide which pictures to post of her from our front porch photo shoot today, so I'm posting them all. She just has so many different faces, so many different looks.

Look at those arm rolls. She has rolls everywhere! We love kissing on her because she's sooo squishy.

By the end of our photo shoot she was tugging on her shirt, showing off her cute little tummy.

She has started sticking her tongue out a lot and of course we think it's the cutest thing ever.

Chase is pretty smitten with her too. She has no idea how much this family loves her. We're so lucky that she's ours.

We still haven't gotten over those baby blues. We keep waiting for them to change brown but at this point I think it's safe to say they're staying blue!! I love her eyes because every time I look at her it reminds me of her daddy. Cheesy, but true. We love Brad's blue eyes, so it's an extra little treat that he was able to pass on to one of our children.

You wanna kiss my cheeks, don't you?

I love watching her soak in this new world. She loves looking around and taking it all in.

Print it ;)

Those cheeks!

Showing us her belly again!

The wind helped her out.

I love how her little belly fat rolls over the waistband. Those are 6 month leggings...

Oh how we love our Reagan girl. Despite some reflux issues we're having she's such a good baby. She rarely cries and is only awake a handful of hours each day. She now only eats 3 (maybe 4) times a day. She wakes up around 7:30, eats, goes to sleep around 9, sleeps til 12 or 1, eats again, goes to sleep around 2 or 3 then sleeps til about 6 and eats again. Goes to bed around 8 and doesn't wake up til the next morning. Too good to be true, right? That's what I'm thinking. What baby do you know that at 3 months old is only eating 3 (maybe 4) times a day? But also, what 3 month old do you know consumes 8 oz. at each feeding? Since she doesn't love eating (shocking I know) she likes to eat a lot at one sitting then be done with it for a while before she has to do it again. Dang reflux. And she's quite particular on her naps nowadays. When she's tired you better be ready to put her in her bed to sleep. She hasn't been napping so great in the carseat so errand-running has taken a back seat. Unless she gets her full, undisturbed 3 hour nap she kind of turns into a monster. We like her best when she's a smiley baby, so basically she rules the roost. My sister said that's how girls are...high maintenance! But she's so happy and easy otherwise that it doesn't bother me. We're so blessed that this little girl was chosen to join our family. We love her so much and feel so blessed to have such a happy healthy baby girl.

The Pumpkin Patch 2011

2011-10-26T17:31:00.000-05:00

This past week for Family Home Evening we went to the Pumpkin Patch.

I love these handsome little boys...even if one in particular has a hard time smiling the right way. What's the right way to smile anyway? This is his idea of a fun smile.

Brad and I sit in amazement as we look at this picture. Ya, we have 3 kids at the Pumpkin Patch this year. We're officially outnumbered but we love it. And yes, Chase was struggling to hold his 17 lb. sister up. She nearly took a spill right after this. I was then done with "let's hold your sister" pictures.

So instead, I took one with her.

Yep, this pretty much sums it up.

Brad was on the HUNT for our five family pumpkins. They all have to somehow represent us. We have a baby one for Rae, a medium one for Ty, and a teen size one for Chase. The two adult ones: one is tall and skinny and the other is round and fat. You be the judge. But be kind, I just gave birth to a 9 1/2 pounder 3 months ago.

I asked Chase to take a picture with our pumpkins. He did about 3 pictures with different gang signs each time. So I asked him for the last one to "please just smile...".

Apparently smiling is boring.

And now for a walk down memory lane. We love this Pumpkin Patch and have been coming the past 3 years.

October 2008
Chase was almost 2 and Ty was fresh out of the womb and in the stroller.
(Excuse the poor picture quality! But as you can see it really does pay to have a nice camera...these blury ones are making me cross-eyed.)

Only a few weeks old.

October 2009

Chase was almost 3, Tyson was 1

October 2010
Chase was almost 4, Tyson was 2

Seaworld Adventure 2011: Howl-O-Scream

2011-10-17T22:25:00.003-05:00

This past weekend Nana and Papa came to celebrate Tyson's 3rd Birthday with him. Of course they brought goodies! Ty was pretty excited about it--

The next day we went to Seaworld to celebrate! Chase had been to the one in San Diego before but when we was less than 2 so he doesn't remember it. Both boys were completely captivated the whole day. First stop was the dolphin tank...

We were kind of running around like chickens with our heads cut off that day. There was sooo much to see and not enough time to see it all and catch all the shows, but before the Shamu show we had a few minutes to spare so we went to the Shark Tank...

The boys could not believe there were actual sharks right in front of us. This was a little boy's dream come true.

The first show: Shamu's One Ocean

The boys loved being this close to a real live "Willy". We watched Free Willy before we came, which kind of defeats the purpose since the point of Free Willy is to get this whale out of the theme park and back to his family. But when this whale is dancing and showing off in front of you, sadly you tend to forget all that. Anywho...here's Shamu!

The next show was something Azul...I can't remember but it had crazy divers and trapeze like acts alongside beluga whales. It was like Cirque de Soliel but over water. My favorite show of the day...

We took turns staying with Reagan at the top because she was always either sleeping of needing to eat and since this is an auditorium you had to stay in the handicap section at the top if you brought your stroller in. That's why there is never a group shot of us, so thanks Mom and Dad for taking turns with Reagan so I could come down and watch too!

Baby Beluga

Can you see us? The line for this kiddie shamu roller coaster took us forever to get through but it was so worth the wait! Chase was deathly afraid to go on it but I begged him to try it once...

Look at this cute little ride! It did 2 laps around and that was it. Just enough to give you a few butterflies in your stomach.

(Click on this picture to see Ty's priceless expression--back row)

This is hands down, my favorite of my dad from the day. He was really liking the shamu ride!

Of course Chase loved the ride and wanted to go again and again, but we had to keep moving because there was so much more to see! After lunch the boys got their wiggles out in this little park--

I swear I was carrying someone all day long...I should have brought the single stroller too so that everyone could ride along. I only had the double stroller so Chase and Tyson took turns riding and resting their legs. Next time we're bringing both strollers, because carrying Tyson across the entire park just about broke my back. I tried the bjorn with Reagan but she wasn't much lighter ;) She's a full-grown chunk these days, but the cutest one I ever did see!

This month at Seaworld there's a halloween theme so everywhere you go there are cute Halloween decorations. It was time for a family pic. (We missed Brad going with us this day because he had to work but we bought him a ticket so we could all have the season pass and it was sooo worth it...we can't wait to go back with him for Christmas!)

The boys LOVED all of the pirate skeletons!

Of course we had to get a picture with the Shamu bug.

Seriously the decor was soo cute!

Of course we had to hit up the Count's UnHaunted Castle...

It was super cute and perfect for young kids.

It was like reading a story...a different page to read at every corner.

And little activities along the way!

At the end of the day we decided to see if the line had gone down to feed the dolpins, and we're so glad we checked because it was the last feeding of the day. Thanks Linds for telling us this was a "must" because it was the perfect ending to a great day.

Unfortunately the auto-focus button got switched off so of course our family picture was blurry! Sorry guys! It would have been a great one! And thanks again Nana and Papa for the Shamu stuffed animals--the boys LOVE them and sleep with this every night!

Oops these got a little out of order--here we are with the Count in his castle!

And pics from the SeaLion show--enlarge that...this walrus thing was a little hard on the eyes...all that flubber about made me sick!

Thanks Nana and Papa for such a great day at SeaWorld! We can't wait to make more memories with you there!

And more memories with these guys too!

Besides all of the walking (and whining) the boys loved it! It was so nice to be able to buy a ticket for the day and get the rest of this year and all of 2012 for free. We were able to see most of the park but didn't have to worry about rushing to see it all because we knew we'd be back. With 3 kids under 5 who all nap religiously we were pretty done by 5 o'clock.

This is what makes it all worth it. That look on Chase's face is priceless!

Simple Felt Bows

2011-10-10T16:44:00.003-05:00

Seriously, isn't she the most adorable thing you ever did see? (besides your own children, of course.) Oh, I just want to squeeze her. She is such a sweet baby girl. I saw a tutorial for these bows on one of my favorite blogs--I {heart} Naptime--and thought they would look cute on Reagan. I have a plethora of felt in all different colors so I got to work!

That's my smiley girl!

These are NO SEW bows, which means they take only about 3 minutes to make, no joke. All that is required is felt, scissors, hot glue, and an alligator clip.

So sweet.

Yesterday she wore the bright pink one.

I love all of her different faces.

If you have a little girl you've got to make these bows. They're great for older girls too because instead of putting them on a headband you can just clip it in her hair.

It's just three strips of felt, a little glue, and an alligator clip. So cheap and easy you can make one for every outfit.

Chase sure does love this little girl.

And so does Tyson (and his pretty smile).

Oh and just to throw this in there, on Saturday night Amber, Lindsey and I had a little girls night over here while our husbands watched the BYU Game and UFC fights over at the Fitch's. Thanks to Chelon we made these super cute Family Boards, that Lindsey found an idea for on pinterest.

I love this primary song and I hope that once my children can read they will see all of these signs I'm making and take comfort in their words. I'm so grateful that we are a forever family.

Tyson's Third Birthday!

2011-10-10T16:38:00.002-05:00

Saturday night we had a very quaint little birthday celebration for Ty. We decided to hold off on a big shin-dig til early November when we have the boys' combined birthday party. But we still wanted Ty to feel special on his big day so we baked him a cake and opened his presents that Grandma Joan and Grandpa Mark sent (plus a couple from Brad and I). Here's Brad bringing out the cake as we all sang the birthday song to Ty.

Making big wishes!

Thanks Grandma Joan for my awesome new Toms! I can't wait to wear them!!

Party Guests: Jaxon (Vanchiere) and Boston (Fitch)

This was pretty much how present opening went. Everyone was more than eager to help him open the next gift. Party guests: Boston, Jaxon, Savannah, Belle, Chase, and Colston. Thanks friends for helping Ty celebrate his birthday! He was so happy to have friends there to make him feel special!

He LOVES his Transformer mask too! Grandma Joan sure knows how to pick the right stuff. Tyson had been eyeballing this mask every time we went to Wal-Mart and I kept telling him, maybe for your birthday...all that waiting sure paid off!

Brad and I got him this police man transformer. He's really into Transformers right now if you can't tell.

Party Guest: Colston (Fitch), so tough!

Amber waited in the wings and watch all the madness from the couch. And can I just take a minute to tell you how much I LOVE this girl. She's my Utah Chelon ;) When we lived in Utah I came to her for everything. She was never too busy to sit and chat and always listened to my first-time mother concerns. She was back then and continues to be an inspiration to me not only on the parenting front, but on the wife and friend front as well. You can learn a thing or two from this one, I tell ya. She's amazing and I'm so lucky I get to call her mine. To many more years of friendship Amber! I've missed you while being down here in Texas but am so glad that you're only a hop, skip, and jump away in Dallas now. And p.s. isn't her haircut HOT?! She chopped it all off last month and kept telling me how much she looks like a boy, but if that's the case she's the prettiest boy I've ever seen. She's a hairdresser too folks (yes, she does it all). I would say you could book her for one of the weekends she comes down but to be honest I really don't want to share her ;) I'd want every minute to soak up all the Amber I could get!

Tyson with his birthday loot! (Can you tell we've been working on a prettier smile?)

I tell him to do the pretty smile and this is what I get. Hey, at least we don't have the neck fangs anymore. I know, his eyes are a little squinty but it's much better than the scary smile he's had for the past year. I'll take it!

All we need to do now is get him to open his eyes a little more. Oh how I love my big three year old!

Grandma Joan and Grandpa Mark, thanks so much for thinking about Tyson on his special day! He loved all of the Transformer gear you got him and also the Toms and clothes from Gymboree. You guys are always so thoughtful on these special days for our kids...thanks for still thinking about them and making their day special even though you're far away. He loved all of his gifts!

And to Aunt Linda--thank you so much for the wonderful birthday card! We checked the mail today and found a little surprise in there for Tyson. Chase helped him read it...

It was a racecar card from Aunt Linda!

With a surprise inside...

He was so excited to get 'monies' to put in his wallet to take to the store.

Thank you so much Aunt Linda for thinking about him on his special day! You too, are always so thoughtful when it comes to all of our birthdays. Our children adore you (as we all do) and are very grateful for your kindness. We love you Aunt Linda!

If you notice in the above picture he had a great smile but I had to keep asking him to look at the camera. Tyson got rather annoyed with me, can you tell? Back to scary smile.

And then he gave me the pouty face and called it quits.

Oh how I love this little 3 year old boy!

Some of Ty's favorites as a big 3 year old:

Food: Apples, oranges, bananas, cheeseburgers, lasagna/spaghetti

Color: Green/Yellow

Toys: Transformers, anything type of police/fire truck

TV Shows/Movies: Phineas and Ferb, Curious George, Megamind, Princess and the Frog

Favorite thing to sleep with: Brown and White blankies and his "stord" (sword).

My favorite thing about Tyson: His caring little heart. Though most of you know him as a rambunctious, slightly crazy little 3 year old, I get the amazing opportunity to know a softer side to him. He's my gentle giant and is very concerned for my and Reagan. He is always asking "baby okay mom?" and "you happy Mom?", all the while telling me things like "I like you Mom, see my eyes, I'm happy, you my best friend". He melts my heart on a daily basis. Happy Birthday Ty-ty baby! Your family and friends LOVE you!

Thank you everyone for making this such a special day for him!

(P.S. More birthday surprises from Nana and Papa to come...we're celebrating with them next weekend! Can't wait!)

A Very Van"cheery" Weekend!

2011-10-10T16:30:00.002-05:00

This past weekend we had a little Vanchiere/Fitch/Lauritzen Reunion! Mike, Amber and the kids came into town on Friday night. We hung out for a bit and let the kids play and then Amber got to work on Lindsey's hair, which then took us into the wee hours of Saturday morning. No joke, we were up til 2:30 but oh the memories that were made 110 foils later ;) Love ya Linds, and Amber you're seriously a champ.

Saturday morning we decided to try out the Chalk Walk that was held on Main St. Here's Chase, Travis and Tyson giving the artwork a big thumbs up!

There were all sorts of vendors on the sides and Miss Amber was determined to get her little Colty boy a balloon. We were on a mission and found them at the 102.9 fm tent. Pure joy on Amber's face. Mission accomplished.

Since we were there the kids wanted to give the old wheel a spin to get a prize. You never can have enough Spirit 102.9 keychains ya know.

Trav and Linds

There were some pretty impressive pieces of art we walked past.

And here is the whole reason why we went down there--to see Sophie's artwork (Sophie was one of my old Beehives and I'm also friends with her mom). Come to find out though about 30 minutes after this it started pouring and all of the chalk was washed away. So sad, but great job anyway Sophie!

Before the downpour we introduced Kawaii's Shaved Ice to the Vanchiere's. It was so hot and muggy before the rain came that we needed to cool down.

{The Fitch Fam}

{Brad and the boys}

{The Vanchiere Fam}

{My angel baby Reagan, who just sat there and eventually fell asleep without making a peep}

{Brad chose this fru-fru strawberry shake that Tyson decided was way cooler than his sno-cone}

{The Lauritzen Fam}

After shaved ice we went to the Round Rock outlets which shortly after arrival we decided probably wasn't the best idea with 9 children. We left pretty soon after and headed home for a very welcomed nap before Tyson's birthday party that night (separate post).

Donuts with Dad

2011-10-10T16:26:00.001-05:00

Yes, this post for Chase and his Dad but I had to throw in a picture of my little girl in her new spacesaver high chair. It was on clearnance at Target and in the next few months she'll be needing it to fit at our new (to us) table. I love it thought because it has 3 different positions, one of which reclines, so she is able to sit with me in the kitchen while I cook or clean. She likes it and I love the extra company.

And back to the blog post, this past Friday was Donuts with Dad at Chase's pre-school. Although this isn't a great picture of Chase I wanted to put it on the blog so that he could remember Ella. If you're part of the family I'm sure you've heard about miss Ella. She's the one that Chase said he "fell in love with" after she said she liked his monster truck at show and tell. He says he's going to marry her. Little kid crushes are the best...until they get to be older and then I won't be so enthusiastic about it.

Donuts with Dad!

One of Chase's many silly faces. We see this one a lot.

He loves doing Longhorns, though we're rootin' for BYU over here.

Chase and his teacher, Mrs. Pam.

Chase loves his pre-school and loved having Daddy go with him to his class. It was a special morning for Brad and his boy. What a fun little memory.

Halloween Clutter/Decor!

2011-09-29T17:13:00.003-05:00

It's time to get out the Halloween Decor! I'm kind of torn though because I just finally got my living room how I wanted it and now it's all cluttered up but you know, sometimes you just gotta do it for the children. They love Halloween and get so excited when they see the decor so for them I will step outside of my OCD comfort box and clutter things up for a bit.

I have a great little craft group that really gets creative during the holiday months. Making your holiday decor is so much more fun than just buying it at the store, and most of the times cuter too (or at least I think). Here are some Spooky blocks we made a couple of years ago at a Ward Enrichment. (The other side of the blocks says Harvest, so it's a two-fer, my favorite.)

Candy Corn Garland (that I got on clearance last year at Marshalls) that I made into a wreath.

2x4 pumpkins that I copied from Chelon ('cept hers are cuter and have embellishments on them)

This was one of our new projects this year and it's my favorite pieces for the Halloween Season.

We also made these...

And made smaller versions to give to the sisters we visit teach. (If your not familiar, in the LDS church we have what is called the Visiting Teaching program where women of the ward (congregation) are assigned other women in the ward to visit with each month. We check on them and see how they're doing, share a spiritual message with them and then ask them if there is anything we can do to serve them.) If I visit teach you, then close your eyes ;) and I'll see you before the end of the month!

The white framed subway art was a piece that we copied from the House of Smiths blog last year, and then this year I printed that free 'trick or treat' printable and framed it.

There was a space I needed to fill on the mantle so I put scrap pieces of halloween scrapbook paper together and framed it, super easy.

And just this past week we made these Boo Blocks that we saw on Pinterest. A big thank you to Nancy, Jeannie and Chelon for cutting all of these letters. I know it was a lot of hard work but they sure did turn out cute!

Happy Halloween!

My Snuggle Bunny

2011-09-29T17:09:00.001-05:00

I don't get too many pictures of myself on here (because I'm always behind the camera) but I wanted to remember my little snuggle bunny Reagan at this age. I'm gonna let you in on a little secret...I rock Regan to sleep. I don't usually do this with my kids because I know it creates habits that are hard to break but geez, let me live a little! You know me, I'm by the book, a rule follower, so when I read that you need to let them learn how to fall asleep on their own I completely agree...but some rules are made to be broken, and that's just what I'll do.

Rules schmools. Nothing beats snuggling with this little girl. Nothing.

Scroll down to see my latest post!

2011-09-29T16:30:00.002-05:00

Sorry, I switched blogger interfaces then switched back to the old one and for some reason it has put my Dewberry Farm post above my newest one about my Dad's 58th Birthday Celebration...so scroll down past the Dewberry Farm one to see the post about his b-day. Sorry about that, but there's some cute pictures on there so I promise it will be worth the scroll ;)

Dewberry Farm

2011-09-27T22:43:00.001-05:00

This past weekend we went to Katy to be with my Dad for his birthday! We drove down Saturday morning and met my parents and Timmy, Lucia, and (her little brother) Justin at Dewberry Farm in Brookshire, Texas. It looked super cute on the website and it did not disappoint! We had such a fun time--see for yourself!

My angel baby Reagan. She is seriously so content all of the time now that I switched her to formula. I maybe hear her cry a couple of minutes out of the day but for the most part she's just happy to be with us, doing whatever we're doing or sleeping. She's easy to please, that's for sure. It's like she knew I already had my hands full when she was coming down here so she decided to give me a break by being a good baby. Reagan, I love your for that!

Here's the gang at Dewberry Farm! (Wendy and fam, we missed you!)

This is a map of the the farm and all of the fun stuff there was to do there.

I took this one for my little nephew, Zeke. It' says Zeke's Bar-B-Q and made me think of him. Oh how I miss seeing that smile on a regular basis.

The farm was divided up like a little town, with dirt roads and all of these old rustic buildings like you would see in the good old days.

There was 'Fort Dew Hickey'

Reagan hammin' it up in the shade...

Rollerslides

Rope Swings

Buoy Swings

Tractor Rides

Inflatable Jumping Mat...

Pedal Carts to race

Or hitch a ride on...

Hay rides (but without the hay and on a covered wagon)

a Pumpkin Patch

Animals to feed...

Geese to chase

Pigs to race

A barn full of animals...

And one happy little baby, who didn't make a peep all of the hours that we were there...in the blazing hot heat.

I'd say we had a pretty great day at the farm!

Thanks Mom and Dad for taking us to the farm and for all of the fun activities we did while we were there! Tim and Lucia, thanks for joining us and for bringing Justin along for Chase and Tyson to play with. It's something I hope we could do on an annual basis, but maybe next year we'll look for a cooler weekend to do it on. Dang this Texas heat!

Dad's 58th Birthday Celebration!

2011-09-27T10:20:00.004-05:00

This past weekend we loaded the kids in the mini-van and trekked down to Katy to be with my Dad for his 58th birthday. To celebrate, on Saturday we went to Dewberry Farm then Vida Loca (one of our favorite Mexican food restaurants) for dinner and then Chase and I took my dad on a date to the movies to see Dolphin Tale. Then on Sunday, after church, we went to my Aunt's new house for my Dad's birthday party.

Finally, a picture of all five of us. I think this is our first official family picture, as a family of five.

This day was all about my Dad and we were happy that he was able to take a load off and relax...he doesn't get to do that very often.

Timmy enjoyed taking a load off as well.

My Aunt cooked an amazing lunch (per the birthday boy's request): oven fried pork chops, mashed potatoes, 2 kinds of gravy, corn, rolls, and even saurkraut. It was delicious! Wish I could have some right now. But here's Jason cleaning ALL of the dishes. You'd think he was forced to do this, but nope...after every family function for as long as I can remember he goes straight in there and scrubs all of the dishes, without even being asked. You can try and step in to help him but you might get shoved right out of the way. Such a good helper Jason!

After dinner Brad and I were in charge of making the desserts, again, requested by the birthday boy. Brad, the master architect, worked on the fruit pizza...(oh, and thanks for the smile Jason)

I asked him to try again and this is what I got. Always such a jokester.

This is what we all pretty much do after one of my Aunt's amazing meals...we're always stuffed to the gills and you will find people randomly sleeping all over the house.

Like here. I thought it was so cute, I asked Lucia to check on Reagan and then about an hour later we were looking for Lucia and found her here. I'm sure Reagan enjoyed the snuggle time as well ;)

While most people napped Nana stayed up to entertain Tyson. He loves playing games on Nana's iPad.

What a cute couple! We just love having Lucia in the family. She fits in perfectly and is such a delight to have around. Lucia, we love you and hope you have felt our welcoming embrace. Timmy really couldn't have found a better woman to complete him.

This is where Chase and Justin (Lucia's little brother) played most of the day. It was awesome. They played great together and I hardly heard a peep out of them. But do you blame them...look at all those toys they have to play with at Aunt Linda's!

And the woman behind all of the magic, my Aunt Linda (with her little boy Jason)...I've said it before but I'm so lucky to have her as MY aunt. If you know her you'd agree. I say 'little boy Jason' because the relationship this mother and son have is something pretty special to see. He sure holds her up on a pedestal and it's so endearing to watch.

Back to the party: Brad and the fruit pizza he made. Beautiful and tasty as always.

I was walking around taking pictures when I stumbled upon this...

Chase and Justin suckered Jason into joining their play-doh party. It was so cute to listen in on their 'guy talk'. Chase was telling him about his girlfriend Ella while Justin was telling him about Isabella.

Here's the whole gang minus Reagan who was sleeping.

We sang the birthday song...(I love the look on his face, like a little boy waiting to make a wish blow out the candles).

And then he opened presents.

Here's another super cute couple: my cousin and his girlfriend Alisha, whom we sincerely hope joins our family in the very near future ;)

Wendy, here's the shirt you got him...he loved it!

And a gift from us to any of the Pappa's restaurant.

He seems to be enjoying himself...like my mom reminded me this weekend, who doesn't like to open presents?? I agree...it's pretty fun.

Tyson got a little sidetracked while Papa was opening presents...he thought it was more fun to play sharks with Alisha.

At the end of the day Reagan finally decided to grace us with her presence (she is an awsome napper and slept most of the time we were there), and Uncle Timmy finally worked in some snuggle time.

And giggle time...

Reagan sure loves her Uncle Timmy.

Hope you had a wonderful birthday Dad! I know we all enjoyed getting together to celebrate with you. And thank you soooo much Aunt Linda for hosting yet another wonderful venue at your beautiful new home. That woman sure knows how to put on a great celebration doesn't she? Happy 58th birthday Dad! And many more...

New Hobby

2011-09-27T09:49:00.001-05:00

I've got a new hobby! One that finally doesn't have to do with changing rooms in my house! I'm slightly addicted to making felt flower clips for Reagan's headbands.

This one is my favorite, although she doesn't have many outfit choices in goldenrod.

These are so easy and only take about 10 minutes to make. If you're interested in making some just google 'felt flower tutorial' and I'm sure something would pop up.

The only thing I'm not a fan of is the mess it makes that I have to clean up.

Let me know if you ever want to make some felt flowers and I will always kindly oblige. I'm loving this headband thing, I'm not gonna lie.

A Girls Night with Gladys

2011-09-27T09:45:00.002-05:00

Last week I was lucky enough to score a ticket to the Saints' Unified Voices which is led by the one and only Gladys Knight (thanks Jeannie!). We made a little girls night of it and before the concert we went to eat at Texas Land and Cattle in Austin.

Love these girls--Lindsey and Chelon

Nancy and Me

It's never a dull moment with these silly ladies--Chelon, Jeannie, and Melinda (miss you Mel!)

So when we got there, there was a line a mile long, wrapping around the entire stake center. We had to park about a half mile away (at the Payless) and then wait in line for a bit before we could go in. Here's Melinda running to catch up with us in line, otherwise she would have had to go to the end and then we would have never found her...there were sooo many people there.

Anxiously awaiting...

The concert was amazing--interesting--but amazing. It was like nothing I've been to before, as far as church productions go. My favorite part of the whole night though was listening to Gladys Knight bear her testimony and talk about her conversion story to the church. I was kicking myself that I didn't bring a non-member friend to share this experience with, but of course it made for a very memorable night sharing this with my sista-friends. Can I get an amen?

FHE at the Park

2011-09-27T09:41:00.002-05:00

{Me and Reagan 10 weeks old}

Last week we went to Old Settlers Park for Family Home Evening. We needed a change of venue and with the cooler weather we've been having the kids were able to play without getting dangerously close to having heat exhaustion.

Such posers I've got.

And for the life of me I can't figure out how to convince Tyson that its not scary to go down the slide on your bottom.

Don't mind the lion's mane, it was a curly hair kind of day...don't ask. Reagan loves when I put her in the bjorn or my mobe wrap. What baby doesn't?

Again with the posing...

Chase took this one of us at the table. We brought Taco Cabana to the park and had a short lesson on how to be obedient (it's a recurring theme around here ;)

And this is Tyson saying "cheese". You want him to do a better smile then you come over here and take some pictures of him...this as good as it gets people.

I love this little family and am so grateful for Monday nights when we get to talk about this gospel and how much we are loved by our Heavenly Father. We are truly blessed.

Reagan's 2 Month Check Up

2011-09-18T20:21:00.002-05:00

Reagan and Mommy after church on Sept. 11th, when Reagan turned 2 months old!

She had her check the following Monday morning. Here are her stats:

Weight--13 lbs. 15 oz.--96%

Height--23.5 in.--92%

Head--16.25 in.--99.6%

She was pretty happy with the results.

Tickled actually. She thought it was so funny that out of 100 babies her age she has the biggest noggin of them all. Hahaha!

And then she got a complex.

Then she said, "nope, I ain't gonna let nobody get me down!" And started laughing again.

She laughed so hard she scared herself.

But resumed happiness shortly thereafter.

Clearly I can't get enough of this gummy smile. There is NOTHING better than when your newborn starts recognizing you and lets you know that you're doing an okay job.

She is seriously the best baby. At 5 weeks old she started sleeping through the night, meaning she eats her last meal around 8 pm and we don't hear a peep until close to 6 am! This is a schedule I could get used to. She eats a 6 oz. bottle 5 times a day, at the same time each day, like clockwork, which is awesome for planning purposes. She has learned how to nap better, and takes about a 2 hour nap after each feeding.

She seems pretty happy doesn't she?

We sure do love our blue-eyed girl!

Now here's to hoping she can stay healthy. She's already had a cold for the past couple of weeks but just last night Chase spiked a fever of 102, along with a pretty barky cough. Say an extra prayer for us that Reagan doesn't catch this nasty little bug, or Tyson either for that matter, with his asthma and all. Poor Chase will have to miss school tomorrow and he is not happy about that. Off to sanitize door knobs...

Chase's First Day of Pre-K!

2011-09-07T15:37:00.001-05:00

On Sept. 7th Chase went to his first day of Pre-Kindergarten! He loves going to pre-school and has asked the entire summer when he would go back to school. The day finally came and he was super excited!

Brad and his boys in the school hallway! Smiles all around.

Chase looks so old here...he will be 5 in November. Can't believe it!

Family Picture (minus Reagan, she was sleeping in her carseat) And how do you like Tyson playing with the outlet?! I didn't know he was doing that til I saw this picture.

Me and my big Chasey boy! Tyson started calling him Chasey this summer. It started after we brought Reagan home and I think it's Tyson's way of babying his brother. Chase answers to it and doesn't really mind it so of course Tyson keeps doing it. It has a bit of a girly twist on it but I kind of like it...I catch myself saying it too. Brad doesn't really approve of it though. He says, "that's where nicknames get started...do you really want people calling him that in high school?" Yikes, I don't know about that one.

He loves that there is play-doh out every morning. Look at that squirrelly grin. This is also where Tyson had his melt down. He was not about to walk away from a full service play-doh station.

Poor guy. He so badly wants to be at pre-school with his brother. Brad had to pick him up and hold him sideways so that he wouldn't get kicked while Tyson threw quite possibly the biggest fit we had ever seen upon leaving the school. The ride home was nothing short of a tragedy. Tyson continued to cry out for his "Chasey" the rest of the 5 hours Chase was at school.

This was a couple of weeks ago but now I think Tyson has learned to enjoy the time that we have together while Chase is at school. There are still times however that he will walk over to me sadly and put his head in my lap and say, "I want my Chasey" or other times where I find him laying in the grass just looking up at the sky, bored stiff without his partner in crime, but for the most part we all enjoy the days that Chase goes to school. He's made a lot of new friends there and has already learned a lot of new stuff. I enjoy hearing about his days and he can't wait til its Monday, Wednesday, or Friday so that he can go to school again! I think this is going to be a great year for him.

A Little Living Room/Kitchen Facelift

2011-09-07T15:32:00.004-05:00

It all started with this blasted rug. I found this at Target and it was on clearance...and then the wheels started turning. I have been wanting to take the red accents out of my living area for quite some time but didn't even know where to begin. I follow the House of Smiths Blog and have been begging Brad to let me re-paint the downstairs the nice blue/gray color she's got going on over there. I'm glad he said no all of those times because I've accomplished what I wanted to without all of the hassle of painting. So here she is...the rug that changed my life. Not really, but you know what I mean.

I cleaned off my counter tops and started over fresh. Whatever had red in it went to the "attic" pile, and whatever was neutral (or a shade of green, blue, or yellow) stayed. I found these white roosters at Ross on the clearance aisle for just a few bucks each. I couldn't figure out why they were clearanced until I turned them around and found the old lady rose and butterfly that were painted on the ceramic. No biggie. Just keep those bad boys turned around and no one's any the wiser. If you come over you should check out the back side though--horrific I tell you.

I got rid of the red simplify sign above my pantry door and replaced it with this old window frame I found at the Antique Mall here. I added a wooden star from Real Deals and it instantly "rustified" the whole kitchen. I love it. And yes, that's a word. Oh, and can you see my rusty metal dinner bell by the pantry door? Added that too. My kids love it, if you can imagine. The newness will wear off soon right?? Wait, what's that? I can't hear you because of the constant ringing in my kitchen. Ugh! It's cute though, so it stays. The price we pay for home decor.

Here I just added a picture of my cute Reagan in her bird's nest in a chunky Hobby Lobby frame and kept this existing bird house around to go with the birdy theme. Also, how do you like the etched glass on my box windows? Get this, it's actually vinyl that looks like etched glass that I got from my good friend Chelon over at Chattywalls! You can do so many different things with this etched glass vinyl...in fact, Chelon has a a bird sitting on a branch on her great big living room window right now. It adds a lot even though it's just frosted glass. Chelon can do anything, so you dream it up and she'll make it happen! Love that lady! Thanks Chelon, it's exactly what I was imagining.

Looky there, I spot another clearance Rooster. And more etched glass vinyl as well.

I also got adventurous and made a new breakfast nook curtain. Bay windows are sooo tricky to do curtains for. In the past I've just had little cafe valances on all four windows but I got kind of sick of that look. I'm not sure what you call this but it's basically a big rectangle piece of fabric that I hemmed the edges off with 2 fabric straps pulling up each side and sewn in place. I love this new fabric that I picked out from JoAnn's. It's called Waverly Modern Essentials Pom-Pon Play (in spa color).

My handyman Brad built a little box that we stapled the fabric to and hung above the window. No curtain rods necessary.

This is my favorite piece from the {mini} transformation. My big old antique window frame (also found at the Antique Mall). In true House of Smith's style, I added a white pip berry wreathe to it with some gold ribbon and it instantly transformed my whole living room. Before we had a big yellow clock up there and seriously we feel like we're lost now, never knowing what time it is but like I said, it's a sacrifice we were willing to make. (And yes, I have a mouse in my pocket because Brad hates that we don't have a clock anymore.) Back to the mantle, this is basically all the same stuff, just moved around and spaced differently since I took down the red plant.

Under the TV I replaced the 3 frames I had down there with this planter box that Brad built for me. Super easy, 3/4 in. mdf that is 6 inches deep, 5 inches tall, and 42 inches long. I stuffed it with tea-stained geraniums that were on clearance at Michael's. I also replaced the glass candle holders next to the TV with these bulkier, wood and wrought iron ones from Hobby Lobby.

I used to have 2 stars on the wall, but I replaced the lower star with this Family Rules Sign that Chelon and I came up with. I think the dimensions were about 18x36, so it's quite big but perfect for this space I had on the wall. I love how it is personalized with our last name, initial, and year we were sealed in the temple.

I did mine with an antique white background with dark brown letters. We used Chattywalls vinyl as the stencil and painted over all of the letters. We peeled off the vinyl and voila! I then ran my sander over the whole thing, giving it that worn look and used my amazing 'Distress Ink' from Hobby Lobby (vintage photo color) to antique the edges.

I love how my "new" space feels. Even though I only changed a few things it sure helped freshen and brighten things up in here.

Thanks Brad for always entertaining my home renovating whims...you're the best and I appreciate how supportive you are of me not only as a 'decorator' but as a person, a mother, a daughter, a sister, and a friend. Thanks for supporting me in ALL that I do. I love you.

Spidey

2011-09-07T15:30:00.001-05:00

I walked into my living room the other day and this is what I found...

Chase said that he was babysitting Reagan for me.

Then Tyson came downstairs to "protect" his little sister too.

Reagan's Super Heroes!

And now you know what they're going to be for Halloween this year. I love the masks and how Chase always says, "look mom, I'm smiling" even though he knows darn well I can't see his face. Squirrely boy. Sure do love my spider men!

Labor Day 2011

2011-09-07T15:18:00.001-05:00

Hooray for 3 Day Weekends when Daddy is home! Labor Day was a blast. Brad had off work and our friends, the Polsons, hosted another great holiday shin-dig. Seriously Jenny, your parents are the best for always inviting our crazy clan over for these festivities. Not only do they offer up their lake house or this time, their backyard, but they deck it out with kids activities and food galore. They sure know how to host a party and spoil us (and our kids)!

First activity--sliding down onto the slip and slide (loved by all). And look at Robert supervising our children. He's such a good grandpa and I'm pretty sure all of the kids have adopted him as their own.

Not too bad of a set-up huh?

Go Boston! (sorry Linds, there are shadows on all of these pics)

This was Lindsey's youngest, Coleston doing a pretty gnarly flip. He was an animal on this thing.

Chase stuck with the "surf" theme.

And little Savannah looked as cute as can be...as usual :)

It looks like here Julie was manning the fishing station with Miriam and Jenny's twin boys.

Justin was watching the fishing from the pool.

And while I was taking pictures these two made a love connection. Thanks Travis for holding this tank for me for a bit. She gets heavy, if you can imagine ;) but she looks pretty comfy on Mr. Fitch.

Oh, there's Brad! He was actually able to relax and enjoy himself since all the kids were in an enclosed area where we could see them at all times. Especially that Reagan, you gotta keep an eye on her.

Thanks Mark for playing the designated Dad in the pool area. Chase loved jumping off the diving board!

All of the boys loved fishing in the hot tub.

The hostess, Jenny, with her boys! What a cute clan this is. Jenny I can't wait for the little Miss to get here, and hopefully she comes on your due date, New Years Eve, so we can celebrate our birthdays together!

And now Lindsey was spoiling me, giving my arm a break. You'd swear the Fitch's were ready for another with how much they like to hold Miss Reagan ;) You guys are the best for always making sure I get a break. Although I could stare and hold Reagan all day she does get a wee bit heavy at times.

Cute Savannah, doing a little pose for us.

And Coleston loved this alligator see-saw thing.

Jenny and Justin, thank you so much for such a fun Labor Day celebration! You guys are the best for always putting these things on! We love you!

And please tell Julie and Robert thanks from us as well. (And yes, that is a full-service sno-cone station behind them. Ya, they rock.)

As usual we had a delicious dinner spread that everyone enjoyed...even the kids! Madelyn, Preston, and London all look pretty happy about it!

Coleston, Jaxon, and Tyson look pretty excited about it too. (p.s. Tyson's a goober...in case you didn't know that already.)

Chase and Boston chose to eat their dinners inside the playhouse.

While the Allens opted for a picnic in the grass. What a cute little family!

And that's Travis eating all of our chicken. I guess the hot dogs they brought weren't cutting the mustard ;)

Me and Linds

So it was actually a really nice day, but since us Texans aren't used to a breezy day my boys were both freezing when they got out of the pool. It was probably 80 degrees but their little bodies didn't know how to react. Their lips were purple and Tyson needed to be wrapped up ASAP, he wouldn't even let me take the floaties off first.

Jenny and Julie with Reagan and Mim. All such cute girls! Jenny logged in some Reagan time as well that day.

And Julie with Liana and Jenna. Jenna, you are a superstar for bringing all 6 of your kids to a backyard pool party. I never do and never will understand how she does it, although I did hear a lot of counting coming from her and Trever. Those parents though are like well-oiled machines, they sure know what they're doing! Jenna you will never cease to amaze me! We're so glad we were able to celebrate with your guys as well!

What a great group of girls this is. I thank my lucky stars for all of these ladies in my life. Brad and I always talk about how blessed we are to have such great friends. They really are like family to us, and we love them!

Again, thank you Jackson family for having us over to celebrate this Labor Day with you! You definitely know how to throw a party! 'til next time...