Just Dance

So this weekend we got "Just Dance 2" for the Wii. For those of you who don't know what it is, it is a game that you have to dance like the person on the screen. The better you at mimic the person's moves the more points you will receive. We (yes even myself) love playing it. It is such a great family workout. Olivia was having so much fun dancing to it. Here is a video of her showing off her dancing skills to "Barbie Girl."

Olivia's New Look!!

Yesterday, Olivia, Charlie, Talia and I went to the Mall of America and met up with my mom and Reed. We had a blast. While we were there, Olivia changed her look a bit.
Can you tell what is new (minus the blue lips)?





I'm sure the red ears were a dead give away...she got her ears pierced :) She was so excited and just thinks that she is the coolest girl around!! She will also tell everyone that she didn't cry.


Here we are just before the excitement.


Charlie watching his big sister get her ears pierced.

After this, we walked around a bit and met up with my mom and Reed, went to lunch and headed to Nickelodeon Universe. Olivia also got to ride on her first roller coaster ride.
According to her, it was so "awesome" we had to go twice.


Olivia eating her cotton candy while waiting for Talia and Reed to get off of a ride.

We also got to meet Sponge Bob. Olivia was all excited to meet him until we actually got up close. She didn't cry, she just didn't want to get too close.









After all the excitement of earrings and rides we walked around the mall for a while and then headed to Underwater Adventures. We like to visit the aquarium often. Luckily, because I am a teacher, I have a Lifetime Membership to the aquarium, so we can visit it as often as we want.






Charlie loved it!! He had just woken up from a nap in the stroller, so he was super excited to see all of the big fish. Olivia on the other hand, was a little bit tired. She traded places with Charlie and actually fell asleep for the last 5 minutes.



Hanging Out at the Mall

Charlie's New Shades

Updates!!

Jack has to be a part of everything!

Sorry for the long time between posts. We have been running around like crazy and our little man has not been sleeping, which means neither have we :(

I'll start with an update on Charlie. We have had three long weeks of Charlie being sick. He has had such a rough winter. We have been to many doctors and specialists and finally we have some answers. It looks like he is going to be having his adenoids removed and tubes put in his ears. He has been having a lot of fluid in his ears, which is causing the congestion in his nose/throat, all of that with an enlarged adenoid is not a good combination. They are starting him on an antibiotic for a month, hoping that will clear the fluid. We will go back to the doctor mid-February and see how his ears are looking. At that point they will probably schedule the ear tubes. They do not like to remove adenoids before one, so sometime after his birthday he will have his adenoids removed. He also has a follow up appointment with the Heart Center next Tuesday. He still has his heart murmur. I believe they are planning on doing an echo-cardiogram to make pinpoint the type of murmur and they are suspecting there is a small hole in his heart, but apparently that is pretty common.

Other than that, Charlie is doing great. Despite the lack of sleep and him not feeling the greatest, he is still a super happy baby!! He smiles all of the time. He loves that he can get around and get into anything he wants to. He is not quite crawling, but he is scooting and rolling to whatever he shouldn't have. He does get on his hands and knees and rocks, but just isn't quite coordinated enough to take off. It is so funny how I can already tell the difference between boy and girl. He is WAY busier and needs to be playing with the loudest and noisiest toy he can get his hands on. Remotes and phones are his favorite. Be careful if you are holding him and your phone rings :)



He loves being naked!!


Smiling all the time :)


Jesse made me take this picture.
There are so many pictures of him and Olivia sleeping when she was little and he hardly has any with Charlie, so he insisted I take a picture of the two of them sleeping.
He loves cuddling his kids.


Now on to Olivia. She has been busy playing Barbies, Babies, House, Daycare and everything else that little girls play. She is such a little mommy and loves trying to boss her little brother around. She loves school and she recently started Awanas and loves it. She a busy girl with an agenda of her own. I love all of the projects she comes home with (I just wish I knew what to do with all of them). She is obsessed with writing the names of our family members. She does a very good job and I love that she loves to write :) When she is hanging out in the office with Jesse, I usually find a pile of envelopes with our names on them with drawings inside of them. There is nothing like a "love" letter from our favorite little girl.


Proud mom...I had to take a picture of her using her "finger spaces."
I know I am ridiculous, but as a kindergarten teacher, I am proud!!


Finished product!


Olivia wanted this picture taken. She said she was dropping her 4 kids off at daycare and getting ready to go to work. These are apparently her "work" clothes.

Olivia also recently celebrated her "half" birthday. We have never made a big deal out of her half birthday, but this year she made a HUGE deal out of it. I guarantee if you ask her how old she is, she will tell you 4 and a half :D It is our friend's girls real birthday the same day as her half birthday, so that is how she knows it is her half birthday.

We gave in a little and bought her this cute little round cake and she thought it was the best thing ever.

Charlie's First Christmas

It is hard to believe that Christmas has come and gone once again. We had a wonderful Christmas, despite the snow, and Jesse having to miss out on some Christmas parties.

I have to confess, I did not do the best job taking pictures, but I do have a few :)

Our first Christmas party was the Larson Christmas. As always, it was a blast. There was lots of food, fun, and laughs. Charlie had so much fun opening his first present. In fact, he did a lot of it himself. The video isn't the best, but Jesse was able to capture him opening it.




Charlie sporting his new Christmas sweater.


Olivia getting ready to open her very first Christmas present this year!!


Jesse received his most favorite Christmas present. It is a shirt with a picture of my sister-in-law. She had a shirt made with her picture on it that says "my favorite family member." It was pretty funny!

Jesse had to work most of Christmas Eve. We went to my mom's for brunch with my step-brother Matt and his family. The kids had lots of fun. Charlie played with Grace (Matt's girlfriend's grand-daughter). She is 2 months older that Charlie.



After my mom's, the kids and I went to Church with Jesse's parents. I love the Christmas Eve service. I must admit that I love singing Silent Night at the candle light service. We came home from church for yet another Christmas party. This time it was with the Babler's. We had lots of fun and we even had a special visitor come to our house. The kids were so excited. The kids loved seeing Santa.


Olivia and Jesse's face as Santa walked into the room.


Santa passing out presents for the kids.


(Charlie doesn't look so sure, but he didn't seem to mind)


Jesse opening his gift from Olivia.



Miss Ava in her pretty Christmas dress.

After a late night, we went to bed and woke up to more presents from Santa. I am not a very good mom...I did not take pictures of the kids opening their gifts. Olivia did get exactly what she asked for, a Barbie Mermaid, along with some clothes, goodies, and lots of Hello Kitty stuff. Charlie got some blocks, pajamas, and baby food.

We quickly got the kids ready and went to Christmas at my dad's. Olivia and Melanie loved opening their gifts together. Olivia is all set to be a cowgirl. She got a Cowgirl shirt, a Cowgirl watch, and her favorite...Cowgirl boots. She wears her boots EVERYWHERE!!! Charlie got a couple of toys that make NOISE. He loves anything and everything that makes noise :D And as you can see below, he also loves wrapping paper.















Once again we packed up and headed to another Christmas party. We went up north to Jesse's Aunt's Cafe in Clarissa for Christmas with the Whiteford's. It is so fun to see everyone up there too. It is amazing how much all of the families have grown since I started going there. The Cafe was full of little ones. I forgot my camera, but I assure you the kids had a very good time. Charlie got an awesome blanket from Grandma Joan and Olivia's eyes lit up like stars when she opened her horses from her. We were able to stay much later this year, which was so nice. We were actually able to visit with everyone and not rush out of there.

All and all Christmas was a success. We had such a great time seeing family and friends. We are so fortunate to have such great people in our lives and so many people to share such a wonderful day with.

We hope that all of you had a very Merry Christmas!!