What I Got for Christmas

I don't know why I never take any pictures of myself or my Christmas, but it must have something to do with how excited I get when I see the kids and Mark open their Christmas. So here is the run down of the Chirstiansen Family's Christmas, minus Mom (who swears she was loved and taken care of Ü).

  After much searching Caitlyn perfect gift was a telescope.

 Reagan learn 2 songs on her 1st day of having her own keyboard.

 Austin rocked out a lot better after she got the needed cord for her amp.

 The chair wasn't bad, the ihome was helpful, but Uncharted 3 was the gift of the year.

Lastly I blew up this beautiful picture (taken by my niece Kaylie) for Mark.

We all felt spoiled, loved and a little tired. (Just like Christmas should be.

Mom's PJs Mix Up

I don't have the best history with getting sizes right when I buy Pajamas for the children on Christmas. Remember the PJ Fiasco of 2009? But this year was another first. I messed up who's package was who's. Colin didn't seem to mind. In fact her thought it was quite funny. Caitlyn just wanted her PJs back unharmed.

Caitlyn Attempts Humor

Caitlyn wrote us a song to honor Thanksgiving...
(Song to the tune of Praise to the Man)

"Death to the Turkey"
Death to the turkey. He died and we'll eat him.
He will taste great as the main course for Thanksgiving.
For he died, we'll cook him and use his fat for gravy.
Then we'll serve him to missionaries a month and day before Christmas.
Death to the turkey. We ate him on Thursday, November 24th
right before Black Friday.
I don't know where we got him, I think his name was Bobby.
Death to the turkey, he tasted mighty fine!

I think she might just be the next Phoebe Buffay.

What Good Grades Will Get You

Did you know Crispy Creams Donuts well give your children a donut for every "A" on their report card? This quarter me made the pilgrimage to Crispy's and each of the 4 older kids turned over their report cards for this yummy loot.

Happy Halloween

Truck or Treat

We were excited this year to attend the Church Truck or Treat as a family. Caitlyn was able to have a friend from school attend with her. Mark was the grand master of our Van Spider Toss.

What a group of cuties! When Mark was asked who he was for Halloween, he wrapped this belt around his neck and called himself "Hangman."

Good bye Ugly Light... Hello Bright

Do you remember this awful kitchen light?

Well after my hot husband and cute son ripped it out of the ceiling, we had a friend come over and rewire the new recessed lights.

He even brought his own ladder.

And after almost 3 months of living with this...

 We were able to remove the sign ...

 And have these beauties. (Ignore the bat. Ü)

Don't Pick the Cherry

Last fall I bought a cute cherrywood clock for only $35 from a member of our church. I was so excited, BUT then my sweet children were playing around it and knocked it over, leaving it in three pieces. I was so sad and asked my husband to just throw it away. Mark knew I was bummed so he collected the pieces and put them up in one of our attic spaces. This summer while the kids and I were on vacation he went to work gluing the clock back together. He was so proud and couldn't wait to show me all his hard work.

Now I was excited to make the clock more of my style.

(I am not a big Cherrywood fan.)

So check out what I did with the help of my sweetheart and my friend Beth.

  

I'm loving it!

Baby Shower For Mariah

We have been blessed to have our very good friends Mariah and Robert in town this past weekend. They made a special trip all the way from Mississippi, so we could throw Mariah a baby shower. This is their first little one and it was a blast to celebrate with them.

Mariah is decorating her little girls room in pink and brown ladybugs (Natalie's Nursery), so I tried to coordinate the decorations with the room. It was a lot of fun coming up with different size ladybugs. 

We can't have a baby shower with out tons of cute poms.

Mariah's friend Trang (with a little help from Mariah) made these cute Ladybug cupcakes.

Congratulations Robert and Mariah!

Saving Money ... One Fix At a Time

This weekend Mark and I have been blessed to have our great friends Mariah and Robert visiting us from Mississippi. We threw a baby shower for Mariah, went to the Lakeway Goblin Glow, stayed up late talking and playing games, enjoyed a large lunch (provided by my amazing husband) and Robert and Mark fixed our dishwasher, which had been out of commission for almost 3 months. YEAH! THANKS GUYS!

Goblin Glow

We were lucky enough to be able to attend the Lakeway Goblin Glow for the 3^rd year. Every year the city brings in Hot Air Balloons and lights up the park with the balloons. The kids get to go trick or treating to the different balloons, while we listen to a live band and enjoy all the Halloween activities. This year we met up with the Sinicrope and Case families, which was added fun. 

The Giant Slide was a totally worth the wait.

Hallie's Birthday

(As told by Hallie)

I am 5!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is so cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I got to wake up and ate pancakes made by Colin (yumyumyumyumyumyum). Then we went to a movie about a dolphin. I got to bring Flipper, and he was quiet until mommy hit him on accident. Then we went to get milkshakes, and I got a new outfit. Then we went home and I got to make cupcakes. Then we ate spaghetti and I got a lot of presents!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They were my favorite!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then we ate cupcakes and strawberry and chocolate and vanilla ice cream. I went to bed and had a really good dream.

Decorating for Halloween

After working for over a month on a few house repair projects I sat back and enjoyed how great our Family Room was looking … for about 2 days and then it was time to pull all our decor down and decorate for Halloween. The kids put up their ghost and bats (the same ones we've been hanging from our ceiling since before they were born.) I made a new sign for the mantle and printed off some Subway Art, but for the most part it is just fun to pull out our old favorites.