Spring Training!!!!!

Teage and I have had a dream of taking the kiddos (well, the boys specifically) to Spring Training down in Arizona for a few years now. What an awesome opportunity to see some Mariner games, players up close, and all in the sunshine! And let me tell you, it was AMAZING!!!!!!!!!! Once we got past the craziness that was our flight down, the whole experience far exceeded our expectations! :)

Teage's old boss, Dean, and his wife, were so sweet and let us stay at their house just outside of Pheonix while we were there. They had an extra room, and three adorable dogs that the kids just loved. We would stay with them at night, and then go to games during the day, and have a ton of fun in between!

Our first full day in sunny Arizona was EPIC!!!! The boys got SEVEN autographs from Mariner players, including the amazing Felix Hernandez!!!!!!! They also were able to get Lucas Luetge, Tom Wilhelmsen, Danny Farquardt, Logan B and more! It was beautiful outside, 85 degrees all day long, and the highlight of the day: Teage actually caught a homerun ball on the fly!!! CAUGHT IT! We were sitting in the outfield and he got up to go play catch with the boys, when we heard the crack from a home run by DJ Peterson, look up, and Teage just sticks his glove out there and catches it! It was awesome!!! He lifts his hands into the air, gets pats on the back from all of the guys around him, and is just grinning up a storm! I loved watching the whole thing! That night we swam and ate pizza, and had an overall amazing day!

 Lucas Luetge signing a ball for our Lucas.....he thought that was pretty awesome to have the same name!

 Teage's home run ball!!!!!! He was so proud of himself, and so was I! :)

 All of their signed balls from the day! We never imagined it would have been so many!!!

Second day of paradise was waking up to this smiling little face:

 Eating some fresh oranges and grapefruit from the trees right outside our friend's home,

 And swimming for the bulk of the day! Tutu and Dale were able to drive over from Texas and meet us (woohoo!!!), and thankfully, they were staying in a hotel with an amazing outdoor pool!!!! We took advantage of that pretty much every single day we were there! :)

That night we tried to go to the Mariner/Dodger game at the Dodger spring training stadium, and it was a bit of a nightmare. This was the only night game we tried, and unfortunately, it didn't turn out fabulously. The Dodger fans were super rowdy and drinking a ton, just not a great environment for the kiddos. We still had fun watching the bullpen warm up though!

Some funnies from that day:

While passing the Cardinals Stadium on the freeway, Emery looks over and shouts: "HEY MOM! It is angry birds!!!"

The three kids were playing paper, rock, scissors.....they all "show" and Lucas says "Emery, what do you have?" Emery- "A lion!!!"

Dylan- "Mom, do you have any finger nail clipper?" Me- "Yes!" Dylan- "Good, because I have a long nail on my thumb on my foot!!"

Softie and More

I love how each of my kids have their own unique personalities and favorites. Even the boys, identical twins, and whom some just assume will act the same all of the time, have their own quirks/strengths and weaknesses. I love to see their personalities come out! 

Emery right now is in love with her softie. She can not go to bed with out her four special things, her softie, her "Baba" (a little bear), her "Baby" (a little penguin), and her "Doggie Blanket" which Aunt Bonita made for her when she was a newborn. Without this combination, watch out! :) And she loves her softie so much that she tries to take it everywhere with her. I have to really crack down on softie time outside of her bed, because there have been many times when Teage and I are frantically searching the entire house before bedtime with a cranky girl upstairs!!

 And of course everything is more fun when Daddy is around! This happened randomly the other night while watching a movie and I had to capture it! I love that Lucas didn't even flinch while Emery climbed up there!!

Bowling!

One of the activities my children have always loved best!!! And according to Emery, it has to be done a certain way...."No Mom, you have to sit right here while I am bowling!!" or "Mom, you have to stand back here when you throw the ball like this!!" :) Always something going on in the Christensen household!!!!!!!!

T and E Birthdays

Teage and I both had amazingly fun birthdays in February!! The kids were really sweet and wanted to make it special for us, and my mom also came up for my birthday to make it extra special as well! We all had a great time on both occasions! 

Though there were certain aspects of Teage's birthday that did not work out as planned (a pipe bursting perhaps!), we still had a wonderful day. After the pipe fiasco, we took Teage out to dinner at his favorite sushi restaurant and had donuts for dessert instead of a cake! We had also planned to decorate his car at work (something else that didn't happen because of said pipe), so we decorated his chair at home instead. Not a perfect solution, but fun none-the-less!!! 

 For my birthday the boys planned a scavenger hunt for me, which they put together all on their own. Super adorable! They had clues all throughout the house with words of the next area I had to travel to, and then had one of my favorite desserts at the end as the prize. I loved it! Then that night I got my favorites for dinner.....sushi, raspberries, and my mom's famous chocolate cake! A fabulous day!

Valentine's Concert

These adorable boys had an awesome first grade concert at school for Valentine's Day/President's Day. All of the first graders dressed up, memorized about 5 songs, and performed in front of all of us family and friends for an evening concert! It was pretty much the cutest thing I had ever seen, I was grinning the entire time!! The boys were pretty excited as well, especially since they had practiced and practiced and practiced pretty much everyday! They even had Emery singing all of their songs....pretty darn adorable! I just love how serious they are about everything they do, they are all in, and I adore them!

 The boys with their sweet friend Sydney!

And bonus, Grammy and Auntie Lindsey got to come too!!! YEAH!

First lost teeth!!

Dylan lost his FIRST TOOTH on February 28th 2014

and 

Lucas lost his FIRST TOOTH on March 3rd 2014

Yep, only 3 days apart!! Every first milestone has been within days of each other.....I love it! :)

Dylan lost his first one while we were riding in the car on the way to chess class, and just told me calmly that it had fallen out. "Hey Mom....I just lost a tooth...." Though he was super excited once I yelled and screamed for a minute! My oldest just lost his first tooth! An amazing event! :)

Then three days later, we were eating dinner at Red Robin, examining Lucas' almost lost tooth. He didn't want me to pull on it, so I left it alone. Just a few minutes later, I asked him to show me one more time, and it was already gone! Oops, he had swallowed his first tooth!!! At first he was pretty upset because he couldn't put it under his pillow, but after I explained to him that the tooth fairy always knows when a tooth is lost, whether it is there or not, he felt better. And of course he wrote a note explaining exactly what he wanted. :) Just like him!

Oh this girl....

Today while I was trying to put Emery down for a "nap" she said to me...

"Mom, I want you to go downstairs and pay some bills"

Translation:

"Mom, go downstairs so you can't hear me get out of my bed and play, and definitely NOT take a nap!" :)

Dancing with Daddy

MELT MY HEART!

Poor Uncle David!!

The kids absolutely love it when Uncle David comes around....though I am not sure Uncle David is such a fan by the time he leaves! This is pretty much what happens the entire time!! :) Thanks for  being such a great sport Uncle David, the kiddos love you!

Preschool Christmas party!!!!!!!!!!!!

It has taken a really long time, but I finally uploaded all of the Christmas pictures! :) The adorable preschool kids came over and had a little party with crafts, games, and a few little presents! These kids are so adorable, I have been very grateful to help teach them this year!