Happenings...

I feel like we have been really busy lately, not that I know exactly what we have been doing. :) These last weeks have gone by so fast with us getting the house ready, etc, while at the same time I feel like time is going at a glacier pace! :) Here are some things we have been up to:

The boys and I were able to go to the aquarium for the very first time with Tutu. Lucas was a little worried about some areas that were dark, but he warmed up after a while and both boys had a great time. I think their favorite part was seeing the HUGE octopus tank (it really was a sight!). I hadn't been there since they remodeled as well, so it was a fun experience for me.

We also just started swim lessons again (pictures to come soon)! The boys have a wonderful teacher and are learning so much every time they go. They even put their whole heads under water for the first time this week, which for them is an amazing feat!

Teage and I have been busy getting our house ready for new baby. Skittles room is almost done (YEAH!), which means that the boys got to move over to their new big boy room! I have been trying to prepare them for weeks, since my boys usually need some time to adjust to new situations. We also have new bunk beds, which I was honestly a little worried about. I am just kind of a nervous nelly when it comes to bunk beds, ladders, etc. But the boys have done an amazing job! They were SO excited about their new beds! Even with the option of sleeping in mommy and daddy's bed for a special nap the other day, they chose their own beds! I think that their Lightening McQueen sheets and Mariner blankets may have something to do with it. :) We are going to paint their room with a baseball theme, though that may take us a while. I also found a cheap dresser on craigslist and Teage took a ton of time to fix it up and re-stain it for their room as well, and it looks great!
Our family took the opportunity on one of our few sunny days to do a few pregnancy pictures with the boys. They are so excited about Skittles arrival and ask me just about every day if it is time for her to come out of my tummy yet. I think they really want to play with her. :) I hope it isn't a rude awakening when she just sits there for a few months! I wasn't so excited to have pictures taken of me at this point in the pregnancy, but I am thankful we got a few with my little men. Only 6 more weeks before we get to meet her! We are all pretty darn excited about it! :)

Disney!!!!!!

Back in January (yes, I know how far behind I am) we took a family vacation with most of the Christensen siblings down to California for some M-I-C-K-E-Y time! My aunt is a fantastic travel agent and found a terrific deal for all of us on a week long cruise on the Disney Wonder. We went a few days early so the boys could experience Disneyland for the first time, then boarded our boat for a Mexican adventure. I honestly wasn't sure how the boys were going to do, both on land and at sea, considering they are still only 3 years old, but they ended up having a blast!

Our whole family in front of "Mickey's house" as the boys call it. Every time they see it now on a movie they get so excited and say "We've been there!!" The second pic is of my three boys at the entrance to Disneyland. The boys weren't so sure what to make of the whole thing at first honestly. There were lots of people, hot weather, and scary roller coasters all over the place! Lucas especially was a little freaked out. We took the whole family on the Nemo ride at the very beginning of the day, thinking the little kids would LOVE that one. Well, most of them did. Lucas had a mini breakdown and refused to do any other rides for the rest of the day. :) He just didn't like the dark, and was scared of every building that we went in. So, him and I hung out a lot of the time considering I couldn't go on most of them either (thanks Skittles! :) ), while Daddy and all of the other cousins and aunts and uncles went on rides. We still had a great time though. And of course the best part for the boys was meeting Mickey and all of the other characters. They LOVED Mikey's house, and would probably have stayed in Toontown all day if we let them. :) Buzz was super fun too!
Finally by the end of the day, I convinced Lucas to go on the "car ride" with me (Autopia), telling him that the whole thing was outside and we wouldn't be dark at all. He finally relented when he realized he could actually drive his very own car and Mommy wouldn't help him at all. :) This was his face during the whole ride!!! He absolutely loved it, and that was all he wanted to do the whole rest of our time there. I was so glad that he had a good time as well, and he had me laughing hysterically every single time we went on the ride. He thought that every bump we hit was hilarious and both of us were crying laughing by the time it was done. :)
The last night of Disneyland, we splurged with the rest of the family and had dinner at the restaurant inside Pirates of the Caribbean ride. It was a really fun experience and we had a great time together. I definitely want to go back there!
On Sunday, we drove down to the cruise terminal in LA and boarded our Disney Wonder!
The boys weren't so sure what to make of everything at first. We had a tiny room with no windows, and there was water all around us! Kind of a new experience for them. :) Teage and I had never been on a cruise before either, so none of us really new what to expect.

Our week was really fun on the boat. We sailed down through Mexico with stops in Cabo San Lucas and Puerta Vallerta. We were supposed to stop in Mazatlan as well, but with all of the violence happening there, Disney modified our trip just a bit, which was fine by me. :) The week actually went by really quickly. The boys swam in the Mickey pool every single day, even when it wasn't the warmest in the world. They loved playing soccer and basketball on the top deck with Daddy, playing ping pong, watching the shows in the evening, and of course, meeting all of the characters. I have so many pictures of characters I could possibly fill three entries! I think that was their favorite part by far. They thought they were so special that the characters would want to come on "their" boat with them! There was a play area where we could drop the kids off for a while, but the boys didn't like it much, so we just spent every day together as a family (I loved it!). I love this picture of Teage with Captain Jack Sparrow......they were trying to intimidate each other the whole time. :) And the third pic is of all of the cousins together (minus 4 month old Mila) in the amazing Mickey pool. They all had so much fun together!

Of course the whole week we ate ourselves silly......a perfect situation for Teage and his siblings! :) These pictures were from the formal night we had on the ship where everyone dressed up and had a fancy dinner. I am so glad we got a picture of the whole Christensen Clan on the formal night......aren't we a handsome group? :)

During the last stop at Cabo San Lucas we decided to get off and explore a bit. I was thankful to get off of the ship for a little while, and the day was a really nice one. We walked around for a while and went to a few markets with Teage's family. Then Tawna's family, Sunni, and our family decided to rent a little boat and get up close and personal with the ocean life of Mexico. I am so thankful we did, I think this was one of my very favorite experiences of our whole trip. We saw sea lions up close, had a glass bottom on our boat to see all of the fish, and the boys absolutely LOVED it! I was worried they would be scared by the boat, but they had an absolute blast! Then the driver dropped us off on the beach for about an hour to hang out and play in the water. Dylan loved the ocean and was hooked the minute we got off the boat. Lucas wasn't so sure, but still had a great time on the beach with me. The third picture down is one of my favorites....Dylan being swung up in the air by Daddy on a beach in Mexico....love it! He had such a great time!

These last ones are from our very last night on the ship. We had a great dinner and said goodbye to our amazing server and assistant server (Line from France and Julio from Mexico) who we loved! They were so good to us all week and we had a lot of fun with them.....what good sports with all of our crazy kids! Overall, we had a wonderful week. It was fabulous to spend some time with the Christensen family, experience something new on our cruise, and just watch the boys light up with excitement every time Mickey came around the corner. Their adorable faces are priceless. Thanks for making our big family trip a successful one Mickey!

Start of the Season

Go Mariners!!!!!!!! First game of the season.....the boys are so excited that they are finally playing again!

Sports Class!!!

As most of you already know, the boys are slightly obsessed with baseball. Just slightly. :) I love this actually. I love baseball as well, so it is so much fun to share this love with my children. However, I did think that to be a good mother, I should probably introduce them to a few other sports as well, just to be thorough. :) So, we enrolled the boys in a "sports sampler" class at our local community center with one of their buddies last quarter. They spent three weeks playing soccer, three playing baseball, and three playing basketball. This is the first "class" that they have ever attended, so I was so excited to watch them go through all of the sports, as well as learn to better take direction, interact with the other children, etc. It was a really great experience for them. I think what I came out of the entire class with is the assurance that my boys don't just love sports, they are actually pretty good athletically. I was pretty darn impressed! Especially with Dylan's dribbling ability! We had so much fun watching them!!!

First weeks of soccer! Their little friend Sydney is the one that is crouching down in the first picture. The boys had a lot of fun with her! Second one is Lucas kicking the ball down the "field" and last one is Dylan doing his best to be a goalie. He was extremely serious about his job!

Their favorite, BASEBALL! It was hilarious because once the instructors found out that the boys had played before, they kept moving the tee further and further back so the boys wouldn't hit anyone!

First pic is Lucas doing his best to make a basket, and the second is Dylan getting ready to spring! Both of them were also very serious about "guarding" the hoop when the other team would try to score a basket....so adorable.

The boys and Sydney at the end of the session, with their instructors Coach Katie and Coach Joy. They were so patient and kind with all of the children, and the boys just loved both of them. We will definitely be going back for more!