Busy December

I have been feeling crazy since December started!

 First I was asked to be in charge of our Ward Christmas party and that has been on my mind for a long time!
Then we finished up C-man's first, and great basketball season
We tried to cram some family pictures in before the weather got too cold...although it was 55 today.
Get neighbor gifts ready, it is a little weird living in a new place and not knowing how people handle holidays??
Christmas shopping, haul 2-3 kids around shopping or Amazon!  Lets say a large portion of our gifts were purchased from the comfort of my bedroom!
Got new tires to prepare for the "big drive" home!
Preparing toys and surprises to entertain kiddos during the drive
Preparing Christmas to make the long trek

But we have also found lots of time to read Christmas stories, make silly gingerbread houses, listen to C-man in the Stake Christmas Cantata, watch #2 in his super cute preschool Christmas program, and remember the real reason we love Christmas so much!

 Can't wait to for our Christmas vacation home to Utah!

One of our family picture attempts..FAIL!

Making plans for the gingerbread house

The finished product, including a reindeer pen out back with gumdrop reindeer!

#2 and his best friend after the preschool program.  His bestie is moving to Utah this month!   Boo-hoo!

What we miss

We went to the zoo on a great afternoon today!  **Picture has nothing to do with the post!**


We have been here a few months now and have started to notice that we miss some things.
1.  The yummy tortillas that you cook yourself.
2.  Mandarin Garden tiny spicy chicken
3.  Mountains
4. Lee's grocery store, and case lot sales!
5. Good "grocery store" white bread.  (No Grandma Sycamores, or Farm bread types, only Wonder bread..Yuck)
6.  Free Fostys with kids meals at Wendys!  Come on!
7.  I won't mention FAMILY and FRIENDS; too obvious!

We didn't realize we would even miss most of these things, funny list, huh?

Summer Surprise!

We had some big surprises and changes this summer...like moving to Kansas!  It wasn't something we planned on at all but it happened and we felt good about it.  Now that we have been here for about a month we are happy to be situated instead of bouncing around like we did the rest of the summer. 

 This is a random rest stop on the drive from Utah to Kansas.  We managed to make the drive several times over the summer!

 This guy could probably eat a whole watermelon if someone let him

This is called Keeper of the Plains and it is a big statue/monument by the river in downtown Wichita.  They light it up every night.  Anyone who wants to come see me can go to this!

Some of the things we are liking about Kansas so far:
1.  Most houses have these great big, open basements that are great for kids to play in.
2.  It is a pretty family oriented state.  There are just as many mini-vans and suburbans as I see in Utah. 
3.  It is fun to be close to all of the big city stuff, like the zoo, museums, great stores, etc.
4.  The QT gas stations!  They are huge and clean and have everything, plus they are everywhere!
5.  New wildlife adventures.  We have caught 3 frogs, a turtle, snakes, and all kinds of weird and huge bugs that we had never seen before. (Ok the bugs are a little gross and probably not on the LIKES list)
6. All libraries everywhere are free for everyone.  You don't have to live in a certain town to go to the library!
7.  Our new ward has a lot of fun families.

More later!

We're Still Alive!

We did manage to have some fun ice-skating!

We are still alive and kicking!
After a crazy December (full of regular Christmas stuff, Disneyland trip, multiple ear infections and some other stuff) I was feeling so motivated to start this year off all positive and put the last year behind us. Go figure that January started off with a bang.

In a nutshell;

1. Kidlet #1 got strep throat and started antibiotic #1
2. Kidlet #1 has an allergic reaction to antibiotic #1 and I get antibiotic #2
3. I think Kidlet #3 has an ear infection or strep and take him to the Doctor that is working the Sunday shift. (Said Doctor is a little ((a lot)) weird and has weird conversation skills and I leave feeling totally weirded out!....the ears have "fluid" but aren't infected, and no strep. Good-bye $85!
4. Kidlet #2 has a strange rash that I find out is strep! Start Kidlet #2 on antibiotic #1.
5. Kidlet #2 is very "strong-willed" and doesn't want to take the medicine. Told Bruce I could get #2 to take the medicine and kidlet #2 vomits all over himself and me!
6. Get Kidlet #2 antibiotic #2 (a chew-able) after a few more tries/fails with the liquid.
7. Kidlet #3 is getting worse, take him to see his aunt (a Nurse Practitioner) and find that his ear is now infected!
8. Get Kidlet #3 some medicine!
9. During all of the above there are a lot of extra days off, and extra half-days of school! Aaahhh!
10. Finally a happy ending, everyone has finished all of the above medicines and we are hoping we can stay healthy for month or two; and that school can stay in session!

What just happened?

Somehow I have un-invited myself (or something) to all of the private blogs that I like to catch up on! If you are one of those people, could you re-invite me puh-leze!
(This includes you Melissa M.!)

Thanks!
valerie(dot)christensen(at)gmail(dot)com

A little catch up

I have been a lazy blogger this summer, and now summer is almost over! Wow!

We had some fun at the fair,

Did a little swimming,


Had a few campfires,

And #3 did lots of this!

Our Summer Project

We had surprise visitors up in our porch this spring. The first day we saw the birds building a nest we actually tried to knock the meager pile of sticks down several times and within an hour or so it was all built back up; so we finally had a heart and left the nest alone.

My computer-savy husband put a webcam up for the kids to watch the birds live, and then he figured out how to stream it to the internet and update the picture online every few seconds. (He has a little extra time on his hands; being home from work after having back surgery...that is another story for later!) To watch the live shots go here http://www.bcinvent.com:81/
(The picture will change every 10 seconds. Right now there are 3 eggs and 1 baby. You can also see the father bringing worms back occasionally.)

Just a few minutes ago we noticed that the first baby has hatched! Maybe it is an indication of warmer weather?

Happy Spring!

A Big Birthday for a Big Guy

(Ok, I really can't call this little man Baby Brother anymore, but I'm still thinking of a great alias that fits his personality.)

He turned 2 last month and I can't believe how time flies. A few little things that make this boy a real charmer:
*He always does that scrunchy smile and says, "Cheese" when he sees a camera
*He is my best snuggler
*He cried every time we tried to get shorts out for him this spring (on the few warm days) until we told him they were his soccer shorts like C-man's and they would make him run fast and kick the ball hard! Magically he put them right on!
*He turns down things like donuts and cake for vegetables! There isn't a vegetable this boy won't eat! ...even red onions that I picked off my hamburger at the restaurant one night.
*He will say "mom, mom, mom, mom..." an insane number of times until I finally stop what I am doing and watch him 1)run fast, or 2)shoot a basket, or 3)ride his bike, or4)kick a ball, etc.
*He gives me a kiss every time I ask!

We are so glad he is in our family!

Our Newest Addition

Baby Brigham made it here earlier this month! We are so happy he is here healthy and safe; we are also so tired! It is so easy to forget how tiny and precious a new baby is!
Things are going well and (so far) are better than I had planned on with 3 little boys! One big brother is in deep brotherly love with the baby and the other "big" brother pretty much isn't interested at all!

A Spring Motivation

My sister in law told me about this great site. It has a lot of interesting information. Maybe now that Spring is here we will get a kick-start on our healthier eating.

Another Birthday

Recently our Angel Baby turned 3
Lots of donuts and balloons
Thinking and remembering
It gets easier each year

Your'e Never too Old, too Wacky, too Wild, to Pick up a Book and Read to a Child!

Did you remember that tomorrow, March 2, is Read Across America day? It is a day to celebrate Dr. Suess' birthday! When I taught school we always had a big read-a-thon party in class with lots of fun activites! Be sure to read to someone, or yourself tomorrow!

I thought these book lists were great, and a lot of the books are ones that I remember reading!
The Best Books to Read with your Kids
Five Ways to Make Reading Fun
Best Books for Preschoolers

It is Coming Soon!...I Hope

We are looking forward to
Spring! The warm weather is such a great change!
Leaves and Flowers!!
Playing Outside!
Our new baby brother coming around April 7!
We hope all of these things are coming soon!

A Helpful Hint

This post is a little random, but I am trying to pass along my excitement over a good deal!
Diapers at amazon.com are a super good deal and you can get them shipped for free! You need to check it out.

Basically you have to sign up for amazon mom (which is free) and then you also buy your diapers on subscribe and save (which means you get them automatically every so often; I set mine to 6 months) After you get the diapers, in 2 days, you just log back in and cancel your subscription!

Also in Parents magazine, Parenting, and American Baby they have coupons occasionally for an extra 20% off! The coupons look like this

Anyway, I won't get boring but it turns out to be like $0.14 a diaper for size 3 huggies without the extra coupon and $0.11 cents a diaper with the coupon! I thought they were a pretty good deal at Sam's club for $$0.18 cents a diaper. Lets just say we are stocking up!

After all of my rambling, here is a site that explains it all!
Gotta love a bargin!

Christmas-time

Christmas morning we were all excited!


Over the holidays we did some chocolate dipping!

Had a wonderful time with cousins! (Yes, Baby Brother is the puppy in the nativity)

And spent some time at Great Grandpa's Cabin!

We hope your holidays were as relaxing and happy as ours!

Mr. Postman

Today Mr. Postman brought me my first Christmas cards! (I got 2 today!) That means I better get busy and get mine finished! Dang, so much for trying to be finished by December 1st, oh well, what can you do! You are so lucky to get a little sneak preview at my picture shoot for the card!

By the way, the two I got were very cute! Thanks Carla and Kathy!

Have You Noticed?

Am I the only one, or have you noticed? The only good clementines are the "Cuties." I have tried other brands from the store and they aren't so good. This year I bought a bag of Sunkist "Smiles" thinking that Sunkist must be good. Nope, not as good as "Cuties." So this December I am renewing my vow to only buy the real "Cuties." Thank You!

First Snowstorm

This post is officially "old news" as soon as I post it, but...This was the first snow storm (about 2 weeks ago) we had with enough snow to stick! It was the good sticky snow that is perfect for a snowman. My kids could hardly stand it and had to go out side Sunday morning before church in their pajamas for a few minutes to check things out! C-man and dad made our first "6-ball" snowman that they were both quite proud of! I few times I thought I was going to have to go out and heft a few balls up on top, but they got it!

Hmmm..I remember when I was younger winter definitely wasn't this cold!
On a side note, I have no clue why my husband has shorts on?!

You Gotta Check This Out

I am just passing along an exciting message,

If you have a preschooler who will start kindergarten in 2012 (or after) you need to check out Utah Upstart. It is the free Utah online preschool. It is being tested and researched right now. You have to put your child on the waiting list about a year before they will be 4 or 5.

I put C-man on the list last July and they called this July to tell us we were on the short list and then we found out we were in. The program is really neat and is meant for the children to use independently on the computer. They will even loan you a computer for a year if you don't have one! You can use it while your child does another preschool, or in place of another preschool. Another thing that is nice is that once you are accepted, other kids at your house can also use the program.

The site is Utahupstart.org It is worth checking and signing up, then you can change your mind later if you want!

Kids Know this Stuff?

C-man is 5 going on 16 I think. He is always saying these things that we can't believe and usually we are trying not to laugh at. (Like every child I'm sure)

The other morning Baby Brother was brushing his teeth (this is his new obsession; any dentist would be proud) and playing in the water at the sink in the bathroom. I was partially encouraging him because it gave me an extra 5 minutes to get ready, but I was saying something about how he was going to use all of the water and the fish wouldn't have any more water in the ocean. I think I even mentioned Nemo and his dad.

C-man was in the other room and I didn't even think he was listening to us when he pops in to tell me, "That couldn't really happen mom, hello, it's called the water cycle!"

I guess I was wrong!