This & That

 Here are some pictures of a few things that have been going on around here lately.

 The other day Darcy was taking a bath and Ezra couldn't handle the fact that it wasn't his turn. In fact, he just decided to take matters into his own hands and dove right in! I was standing right there, but he dove in face first which gave me a heart attack. He did end up lifting his head right before it hit the water and he made a pretty smooth entrance. This was especially funny to us because there is some history here!

 

 This was Drew somewhere around Ezra's age with his brother Kevin. These boys just love the water I guess! (I have this picture on a video so I just took a picture of the TV. Some day I should get the original from Drew's mom and scan it onto my computer and put them side by side.)

 

 I got some curlers for Christmas and Darcy loves to get her hair curled with them. She loves to look in the mirror when they're in because she thinks she looks so funny.

 

 All curled and ready for church!

 

 The other day Darcy went and made her bed without any encouragement from me. It was so exciting!

 

 I thought this was a sweet picture of her from the side.

 

 The other day Darcy got in my makeup and put some mascara on her eyelashes all by herself. She actually did an amazing job for her first time, and for being 3! Her eyelashes looked soo long.

Ezra and Drew were enjoying watching motocross together the other day, and they both had the same blank stare on their faces with their eyes glued to the TV which was cracking me up.

 

Gotta love a sleeping baby!

Drew's 29th Birthday

Drew wanted to keep his birthday really low key this year, and for the most part we honored his wish. The night before his birthday he was in a tiny bit of a funk (very unlike him) about turning 29. He was just thinking he should have done something awesome by now. I assured him he really had done some pretty awesome things already (gone on a mission, married ME!, got a bachelors and masters, had two cute kids, got a good job, bought a house, etc...) and decided to try to make his birthday a special one.

- First I got up early and made him an omelet before he left. He said it was good, but I'm pretty sure it was the worst omelet ever made. Haha. Then I ran out and started his car to warm up for his drive to work while he ate.

- Later that morning I put a video of Darcy singing happy birthday to him on facebook.

- As a teenager his Aunt Daneen used to make him salsa on his birthday that is his favorite. I got her recipe from her and after Darcy's dance class we surprised him at work with some salsa and chips.

- As we left we put a candy bar and some homemade cards in his car for him to have another little surprise on his way home from work.

- We put a bunch of balloons up in the doorway, so he had to walk through them when he came in.

- That evening we went out to eat as a family and then came home and had some cinnamon roll cake and he opened his presents.

It was a fairly simple birthday, but after a few little surprises Drew was back to his chipper self and I think he did have a happy birthday after all. We love you Drew!

 Walking through the balloons. He actually enjoyed this more than I expected him to. :) He had to make an extra stop on the way home which I had forgotten about, so Darcy and I sat there on the steps forever waiting for him to come home so we could see him walk through the balloons and take a picture.

 Blowing out his candles. I think he will have to have 50 candles on his cake before he will have trouble blowing them all out. 

 For some reason Darcy thought it was so funny when Drew was shaking his presents to try to guess what was in them.

 Birthday kiss from Darcy, and some new shoes. 

 Drew knew about his presents, and I thought he needed at least one surprise, so we ran and got him a Seahawks shirt (Which we returned a few days later. Ha!).

Darcy took this picture so I had to include it.

Another picture by Darcy.

A few days after his birthday his big, and most exciting present came. His new wakeboard! And true to form, he chose the brightest one possible. Too bad he can't use it for months. But he will still enjoy looking at it until then. :)

Happy Moments

We have had some really great days this week and today was an especially great day. I just wanted to write down a couple of the funny/happy things my kids did today.

- Someone was coming to take pictures of Darcy's dance class today (it was an old man and she cried the whole time because she was worried about him being there) so I told her to try and keep her hair nicely done and not to lean her head back in the car. As I pulled away from a stop light I hit the gas a little harder than I meant to and it threw us all back in our seats. I was thinking it was funny, but Darcy gasped and said in despair, "Mom! You got my hair!" She was so sad about it. I hadn't even realized she was actually listening to my direction, but apparently she was taking it very seriously.

- Drew had to work late today, so I was trying to make dinner and keep Ezra happy at the same time and I wasn't doing a very great job. I sat him on the couch and Darcy said, "I can read him a book!" (She really amazes me with how observant, thoughtful, and willing to help she is.) So she grabbed a book and they settled in on the couch together. It was Froggy Learns to Swim, a book from the library we have read to her multiple times. She opened it up and proceeded to "read" the whole book to Ezra. She knew so much of the story, and just how some things were said I was so surprised.

- Not long after, while I was still making dinner, Darcy hung a scarf across the back of the couch and onto the sofa table a few feet behind it and sat the globe on the scarf to make it stay up. They were going back and forth under the scarf and Darcy was singing "London Bridge". Then she knocked the whole set-up over one time which made both of them laugh. So they started setting it up just to knock it over, over and over again. I have never heard both of them laugh so hard playing together, and I can't even tell you how much I loved listening in. A few different times Darcy said, "This is the best time we've ever had!"

- Every night when we say our family prayers Drew asks, "Is there anyone here who would like to say the prayer?" Darcy usually raises her hand immediately, with some competition from me sometimes just to keep her hopping. (She always wins though.) Tonight though, when Drew asked his question Ezra's hand shot up! It made us all laugh so hard, especially Darcy. So Drew told him he could go ahead and say it, and he folded his arms and bowed his head. We loved it! He didn't actually say anything, but at this rate I'm sure it won't be long until he is giving Darcy some serious competition.

These happy moments feel like magic to me.

Happy New Year!

We were thinking we would try to stay home for New Years because we had been in Mattawa so much, but then Drew's parents called and invited us to their party and we just couldn't resist! Ha! They had my family over and some other friends from home over and we played games, talked, danced, and ate. It was a great way to bring in the new year (although I think this is where a good number of all those party goers - including three from our house - got a really crazy flu bug). :)

 Haley is so good at coming up with fun things for the little kids to do. During this game Darcy got to experience a little static electricity!

 My dad always comes to a dance party with his best moves, and Darcy LOVED getting to be his partner.

 Ezra is becoming quite the dancer these days too! Although, as you can probably tell from this picture, he mostly just lets loose with his arms.

New Years day is my brother Nick's birthday which always makes the holiday that much more exciting. He is going to look pretty fancy in this new t-shirt we got him, hu? He was obviously SO excited.

Christmas 2012

Once again, we had a busy but wonderful Christmas. Darcy was so excited about Christmas this year and all the fun that goes along with it. It made it all more magical.

 Darcy was one of the angels this year, and I have to say she made the sweetest angel. Here she is telling Mary the news.

 The whole cast. In case you can't tell Ezra was a sheep. He wore Emily's jacket turned inside-out which was fuzzy on the inside. The past few years the wise men have really been coming up with some amazing costumes! :) Oh and Joseph had some really great hair this year.

 Ezra was excited to find his Cozy Coupe on Christmas morning, and so was Darcy.

 This scooter was Darcy's big present from Santa and she liked it enough, but it was not her first love. She had asked Santa for playdough and silly putty, and those were really the things she was most excited about. Santa should not worry about getting extras in the future. :)

 Matthew looking cute on Christmas morning, and checking out the amazing playdough.

 Darcy and Grandpa playing with the playdough.

 My parents gave Darcy this medical kit that she has used so much since she got it. I am going to be the healthiest person around with all the checkups I've been having!

 Drew got a book on CD called Men of Valor. Obviously he is excited!!

 I just thought this was a funny picture of Darcy trying to show off her new church shoes.

 My Grandma Jensen sent us all these things to quickly make egg McMuffins so that's what we had for breakfast on Christmas morning. They were delicious!

 My mom has a sign in her house that says "Believe" which my dad kind of makes fun of because he says we don't need to just believe everything. So, he made this "Consider the Lilies" sign to replace it which I think was supposed to be a joke, but we though it was actually really pretty.

 At Drew's parents' house Darcy got a hand mixer and I love how excited she is about it here.

 Grandma and Grandpa Christensen got Ezra this roller coaster and it is another big hit with both of the kids! So fun!

 Darcy ready for church in her new church dress.

Luke's Visit

My brother Luke came home for a visit before Christmas. It was the first time since my wedding (7 1/2 years ago) that we have all been at home together and it was so much fun. 

 The boys (or are they men?) :) had some fun on their motorcycles. This is Luke doing a wheelie. Cool, but always slightly scary for me. 

 Ezra had his first motorcycle ride! He was a little worried at first, but quickly changed his mind and enjoyed his freezing ride.

We had a little snow and Emily gave Darcy a few rides on the sled, which Darcy loved of course.

 Sunday after church we decided we needed some siblings pictures. I really do love this picture.

 I thought we needed to do some silly posing, and these pictures kill me! Nick's face in this one makes me laugh so hard every time I look at it!

 Another good one. I think the rest of us were trying to duplicate a funny face Ashley had made in another picture, but apparently Nick didn't get that memo. Once again, his face kills me.

I am just realizing the rest of my pictures are of Darcy and this post is supposed to be about Luke visiting, but I promise, he was here for these events. Haha.

 We were having some snacks one day and Darcy was seeing the big guys stack their meat and cheese a couple layers thick, so she decided to make this for herself. Ha! I would have liked to see her try to fit that in her mouth.

 We all went bowling and then everyone came to our house for dinner. This was Darcy's first time bowling and I could not get over how cute those little bowling shoes looked on her feet.

 Pictures just don't do them justice. 

I don't know why none of the rest of us thought to do this victory dance. :)