Shoes

Shoes.  Lexi loves shoes.

At any given point during the day, Lexi can usually be found sporting someone else's shoes.

She is the cutest little stinker.


For example, here she is wearing Ty's boots:

What?  You don't walk around the house without pants wearing boots and a hat?  Weird.


And here she has on Kenna's shoes and Allie's helmet:

Really?  You don't put shoes over your pajamas and then wear a helmet on your head?  Hmm.  That's odd.


It's a good thing Lexi wore Allie's boots to help Dad fix the kitchen table.  He couldn't have done it without her!

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We love you Lou Lou!

Valentine's Fun

Anybody who is anybody knows that during the week of Valentine's is the biggest, best, and most anticipated event of the whole year...

...(drumroll, please)...

.... the Farm Show in Tulare, California!  Um, there's a place in California called Tulare?  

Jacob and his dad had been long awaiting their big adventure, and headed out on Monday afternoon for the big show.  I really really wanted to go.  Really.  Being the loving wife I am, however, I decided to sacrifice and stay home with the kids.  You know, school and such.  So I managed to convince Mom Israelsen to ride down with Dad and stay with me for the week while the boys were off on their farming adventure.  Yay!

The girls always get so excited when Grandma and Grandpa Israelsen come.  Not only do they know they get showered with plenty of love, but Grandma always manages to bring a fun treat or two.  They certainly weren't disappointed!  One of the favorites was when Grandma planted some ju ju hearts and we got to watch them grow.  How do Grandma's come up with such great things?!  Here Allie is being ever so vigilant at watching them grow.  You can see some little hearts starting to pop up out of the dirt:

 
Sure enough, on Valentine's Day they grew into a heart sucker!  The kids were so excited:

We of course can't forget the many games they played with Grandma, all the books read, and the yummy sugar cookies they got to decorate.  I am so ashamed to say I didn't even get a picture of Grandma and Grandpa when they were here.  I guess I got so busy enjoying myself I forgot to capture any of it.  It really was so nice having Mom here during the week.  Thank you again!!  I think I can speak for all of us in saying we thoroughly enjoyed it.

Perhaps the Farm Show wasn't quite as anticipated by the kids, but Valentine's Day sure was!  Here are the girls sporting their Valentine's boxes.  Kenna got to make hers at home and Allie did hers at school with her class:

Ty even got in on some Valentine's fun with his preschool class on Thursday, but once again, I didn't get a picture.  Sorry Ty Man.

And I must add that the two pictures Jacob took while at the farm show are still on his phone.  Yes, two.  Neither of us scored on picture taking it looks like.

Thanks Mom and Dad for the great week!  It was a perfect Valentine's! 

Reward

For the month of January, we decided to make a family goal of having no soda (seeing as though over Christmas we all had more than our fair share).  We all came through with flying colors, and the girls even mentioned they didn't even miss it.  The reward for reaching our goal was a trip to the aquatic center, and the girls couldn't have been more excited for it!  What, hold still for a picture?  Oh please Mom:

At first Ty and Lexi were a bit water shy, but of course right as we were getting ready to leave they warmed up to it.  Guess we'll have to venture out to the aquatic center again.  The pictures of them didn't turn out, so just imagine two cute little wet kiddos.

Kenna specifically requested a picture of her under the water, so here she is sporting her amazing skills:

Way to go us!

January

Since January has been very...well....unJanuaryish, the girls decided to make the most of the mild weather to make a little money.  So we pulled out Grandma Israelsen's lemonade/cookie stand and got to work.  First step:  marketing.  It's important to reel in your customers with savvy advertising:

Next up, product development.  We all know the dough is actually the best part of the cookie.  And don't even begin to think anyone gets on the counter without Lexi joining in:

Then of course, the final step is finding the perfect placement for cookie transactions.  Location, location, location!

 


They made 5 bucks!  Not bad, not bad!  Way to go girls.

Thank heavens the girls are willing to throw in some service time as well.  They decided to help Dad out a bit and hauled some wood in.  They hauled in quite a bit of wood, too!  They were so proud to show Dad what they had done.  It was so cute to watch them glow with pride at Daddy's ongoing praise.

They really are sweet little ladies.  Even if this is what I found while cooking spaghetti for dinner.  It's a note from Allie:

"Mom I hate spaghetti!!!!"  Judging by the number of exclamation marks, I think she was serious.

And there you have it.  I AM ALL CAUGHT UP!! YAY!!!

The Great Flood of 2014

I should start out with the fact that I am SO grateful my handsome little Ty man is potty-trained. I really really am.  3 year-old diapers- well, they are nasty. 

You see the problem we have here is toilet paper.  Ty seems to need roughly a roll and a half.  Per wipe.  So what happens when you try to flush a large amount of toilet paper down that fairly small hole in the toilet?  Well, it clogs.  And what happens when your 3 year-old clogs the toilet?  Well, he just stands there in amazement as water pours off the edges of the toilet.  Until Mom gets curious when she hears a very quiet Ty and what she thinks is the sound of running water.  If only he was simply washing his hands in the aforementioned running water.  I promptly rushed in to plunge the living daylights out of the toilet to get the water going in the RIGHT direction.  Down!  Down to the sewer with you!

Insert problem #2.  Whoever built this lovely home of ours made a very serious mistake.  Very.  Serious.  I don't know if I can even type it.  It just hurts to say it out loud.

They put a heater vent right next to the toilet.

Oh I'm cringing!  The audacity!

A heater vent 

next to 

the toilet!

Seriously?  Who would do such a thing?  So now you can imagine where the water went.  Lots and lots of water.   Here is what I sucked out of the heater vent alone.  Please don't barf.

And let's not forget the towels.  I lost count at 8.

So what do you do when Mom cleans up your flood?  Well, you unroll toilet paper throughout the house:

Oh Ty.  Thanks buddy.  Thanks for that completely unanticipated cleaning opportunity.  Good thing you're so darn cute.  It redeemed you.


 
 

Christmas

Remember when you were a child and it seemed like Christmas would never come?  I'm pretty sure I have a new generation of little ones in my house who feel the exact. same. way.

But sure enough, right on time, Christmas did come.  And surprisingly, not near as early in the morning as I anticipated.  I considered it my very first Christmas gift.  Thank you my children!

Of course, stockings first:

Apparently someone didn't drink her cup of Christmas cheer:

Ty and Lexi engaged in an intriguing philosophical discussion:

Each of the kiddos had a great big box to open:

With the exception of Lexi.  Who really could care less.  Yes, we cached in on that.  Besides, after wrapping 3 big boxes, one more would have just done me in completely.  Not fun.



And in those big boxes were new bikes!  Thank heavens for a live-in handyman who can put all this schtuff together:

A Hello Kitty bike for Allie and a Monster High bike for Kenna.


Ty man gets the benefit of a little electricity with his "bike":

What's that?  Riding bikes on Christmas Day?  You betcha:

Sorry Ty, yours has to charge.  For pretty much the whole day.  That's okay, he still found out a way to pick up some hot chicks with his new ride:

Another wonderful Christmas down for the record books.  Hopefully we took as many, if not more, opportunities to focus on our Savior and His humble yet beautiful beginning throughout the season rather than the material aspect.  Because the Spirit of Christmas is just that- the Spirit of Christ. 

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is not complete without a reenactment of Luke 2. 

And it came to pass in the Israelsen home there were found two angels, a shepherd, and a toddler without pants who was too old to be baby Jesus:

Let us not forget two other beloved characters of the Christmas story; Mary and Joseph:

Perfect!  Now we are ready for Christmas Day!