Mini Photo Shoot

We decided to try a mini photo shoot with Emery while she was still a newborn so we could get some good shots with her big brothers. I was a little worried about how she would do, but this girl was amazing! She was calm the entire time, even when we were shifting her around all over the place. And some of the pictures turned out great! I am so excited about them!! And these boys are so good with her....I feel so blessed!

She's Here!!

Introducing

Emery Grace Moana Christensen

Born June 8th 2011

7 lbs 2 oz, 19 in long

What a sweet blessing this girl has already been to our family!!

The boys and I on the morning of....ready to go to the hospital!

I went in on Wednesday the 8th for a scheduled c-section of this little girl. When I got there I found out that I was actually having contractions about every 4-6 minutes, so it looks like she was ready to enter the world anyway! The surgery was pretty perfect (as far as surgeries go anyway), and my doctor was wonderful. I was more alert this time around, so I just chatted with my doctor and Teage through the whole thing, and even got to look into a mirror as she was being born. The minute she entered the world I felt like I recognized her....she was perfect. Everything went so smoothly that once she was washed up, Teage was able to hold her and bring her right over to me so we could decide on her name. We went through each and every one that we were thinking of, and Emery was definitely the one. I couldn't imagine her name as anything else. :)

Little E has been so sweet and mellow since the very beginning. Even right after her birth she just opened her eyes and looked around the hospital room for almost 2 hours, not saying a word. She just wanted to check things out. Her brothers adore her, and only wanted to leave her side in the hospital when we announced that the Mariner game was starting. :)

We stayed in the hospital for 2 nights, for which I am actually very grateful. The boys were having a slumber party over at my mom's house, so Teage and I had a great opportunity to bond with E all by ourselves. It really was a special time for us, and I am so thankful. Teage is such a wonderful and caring Daddy, I am so blessed to have him in my life.

She has been wonderful at home so far. The whole transition has definitely been hard on the boys, but I guess I would be worried if it wasn't. All of us are trying to adjust to this new schedule, etc. The boys absolutely love her, but it has been hard having Mommy's time taken away. We will adjust. We are all just trying to soak in each moment with her as a baby and not forget a single thing.

We love you Miss Emery "Skittles" Christensen!

The "Suite" Life of Dylan and Lucas

It is no surprise that being the only grandkids so far on both of my sides, the boys tend to get spoiled from time to time. :) I usually overlook this, considering it is so much fun for all grandparents involved, and both of them really are good boys. :) And every so often, Teage and I get spoiled as well. :)
This last weekend my dad's family rented a suite at the Mariner vs Yankee game, May 28th 2011. We had done this one other time last year and had so much fun that they decided they wanted to give it one more go. And we are so thankful they did! Such a highlight for my little family! We absolutely LOVED it!!!!!!!
Now this is the life.....you get your own private suite, with food and drinks, 20 seats for your close family and friends with an amazing view of the field, someone who pretty much waits on you hand and foot, and a personal visitation from the Mariner Moose! Plus, the game was amazing, and we beat the Yankees!!! What could be better then that??????
My whole family, aunts, uncles, cousins, siblings, parents, got to the ballpark super early because we were all so excited. So, we took the boys down to the field to see if we could get any autographs and watch batting practise. Well, it turns out that David Aardsma was there signing autographs, so the boys got to meet him and give him a high five, as well as take home his signiture. They loved it. When we were turning away from the line, the person behind me says "You should have him sign your tummy....when are you ever going to wear that shirt again?" At first I thought that could be a little awkward, but then decided just to ask for the heck of it. Well, David Aardsma thought it was a little weird too, but he did it for me anyway with a smile on his face. What a good sport! So, Skittles got her first Mariner autograph too! :)

Both of Dad's brothers and their families came up for the event, which was really fun since we hadn't seen them in a year or more. We even got to play our favorite family game of Knock while they were staying! Something that is one of my very favorite things to do! Both of Lisa's siblings and their significant others came to the game as well, so we had a lot of family, and a ton of laughs. Everyone really got into the game as well, yelling and screaming for the Mariners! I love it! Dylan was sitting with my Dad pretty much the whole game, being his little buddy. He didn't even want to leave after the 10th inning, when it was almost 11pm! He was having way to much fun! Lucas had a great time too, hopping laps and eating hot dogs....and neither one even fell asleep on the way home because we were listening to the end of the 12th inning on the radio. Amazing.
One random (and interesting) thing that happened during the game that I had NEVER seen before......we had not one, not two, not three, but FOUR people run onto the field!!! And one of them was a streaker. I couldn't believe it. It just looked like everyone was feeding off each other, and kept daring someone else to hop the fence and see how far they could run. The second guy was hilarious though. While the three Mariner outfielders were all in center field during a pitching change, he ran out there and just stood in front of them totally star-struck, and was then completely tackled by a security gaurd from behind, linebacker style. I had to laugh at the Mariner faces too....they weren't phased at all and actually looked bored at the guys' performance. :)

Overall, we had a wonderful time and were so thankful to have been able to go again this year. We really loved the time we got to spend with the family, creating more memories, and cheering for our favorite team.
Thank you Grammy and Papa!!!!!! We had a blast!!!!!!!!!!!

Goodwill Run

Teage and I were able to go on a date yesterday, thanks to my wonderful mom. She came over since Teage had the day off, and let us have one last outing before baby. And what do T and I do? Go to Goodwill of course! We are such nerds, and suckers for a good deal. It was Memorial Day, so everything was basically 50% off, and lots of clothes only 99 cents. I had to show off the haul beacuse I am so proud of it! :)

Here is what we bought (don't be scared)....

For the boys:

4 shirts

1 sweater

1 track jacket

1 pair of jeans and 1 pair of nice khacki pants

2 authentic baseball jerseys

For Skittles:

10 pairs of pants (jeans, cords, Adidas)

10 dresses

1 nice shirt

For Me:

2 skirts

2 work out jackets

2 shirts (Abercrombie)

For Teage:

2 pairs of work slacks

8 nice button up shirts (some Nordstrom, Kenneth Cole, Tommy Hillfiger, etc)

AND a Huffey bike for the boys!!!!!

GRAND TOTAL for everything (drum roll please!): Only $80.00!!!!!!

One of Teage's shirts all by itself would have cost $80 brand new in the store! And all of this stuff is nice or like new. We are super proud of ourselves!!!! :)

Skittles' Nursery

We have finally completed the room, and I absolutely love how it turned out! These pictures don't give it justice! :) My friend Candice did the painting for me (she is amazing by the way.....Fuller Interior and Design, UTFullers2@aol.com). Now we are just waiting the one more week for Skittles' to arrive! We can't wait to meet her!

Swim Lessons

The boys had the opportunity to do a second round of swim lessons these past few weeks. They were a little timid about the whole thing at first, but when they found out that their good buddy Sydney was going to be in the same class, they definitely perked up. They had a wonderful teacher this time, who unfortunately couldn't finish off the class with them because of an injury. But, all who worked with them were great. At this age, I couldn't tell if they were really understanding much or getting any better, but by the end I could tell that they definitely felt more comfortable in the water. Dylan even puts his whole head in with no problem, which is a huge feat for them. :) Here are some fun pics of their time in the pool:

I love this picture! It is a perfect representation of all three of their attitudes towards swim lessons. :) Sydney was always so excited and raring to go, Dylan had fun and in the end really did enjoy himself, and Lucas was always a little timid about the whole thing....

Skittles' in the spotlight

I have such wonderful friends and family....I am thankful for them everyday of my life. Extremely grateful. Everyone has been so good to us, especially concerning this little girl on the way. So many wonderful wishes, presents, showers, thoughts, and prayers. We are so excited to finally meet her in a little over a week. It is funny also, because I feel so ready, yet so unprepared at the exact same time. :)

Skittles has been the center of attention for a few weeks now. :) The boys are so excited to have her in our family.....almost every night they pray for her and that she will be with us in "two weeks!" It is adorable. Some of my family and friends have also had some baby showers for her, in helping us prepare for some pink in the house! :) My mom's side of the family had a beautiful shower a few weeks ago, and then my wonderful friends celebrated with us a week later as well.

I was so excited to have a girls day, and catch up with all of the females in the family. :) We had so much fun! My mom even ordered M&M's with Skittles name on them and her expected due date. It was adorable. We sat and talked, opened some presents, and just laughed and chatted together all day. It was wonderful!

My mom got out my little dress that I had my 1 year pictures taken in. It was made by my grandmother, who was also at the shower. They gave it to me as a present for Skittles, so we can get a picture of her in it as well. It is so precious, I absolutely love it!

Easter

Unfortunately we were all a little sick this year during Easter, myself more then others. With this nasty virus going around, I didn't want to infect my dad and others, so I didn't go to our annual breakfast with the Pfiefer family. Which, by the way, was a huge bummer for me because it is something I always look forward to. We did get to celebrate with my mom's family a little later and have an Easter egg hunt and dinner, which was a lot of fun for the boys! They also did one other Easter egg hunt with some friends up here on the Ridge, which I also wasn't able to attend, so no pictures. :( Overall, I think the boys had a fun holiday though it wasn't quite was Teage and I expected with sickness, etc. I am sure the candy helped a little with that.......and we were so grateful that Mom was ok having us over, germs and all. :)

S-P-O-I-L-E-D :)

We have been so fortunate lately, and spoiled! We have had so many opportunities this season to go to Mariner games....and not just any seats either, AMAZING seats thanks to some wonderful friends and family! The boys have been in heaven and we have had some really wonderful times together!! It still blows me away how the boys can sit for an entire game, no complaining, no whining, just excitement and fun. They absolutely love being at the stadium, it is such a highlight for them!First game of the seaason for us, right next to the field! The boys even got to meet the Moose and give him a high-five. A definite high for them!

Our game number two.....sitting in the Terrace Club thanks to some amazing clients from Teage's work. We love that area! The food is close, it is a little more secluded, and the view is amazing! Plus, they got to have a picture with "Ichiro" on the outside of the stadium, which they thought was fantastic.Game number three was thanks to my wonderful Aunt Cathy who has season tickets way down front! I don't think they boys have ever gotten to sit so close to home plate before! They kept talking about how close Ichiro was, and that they have to have their mits ready to catch a ball and protect Mommy. It was adorable. This pic of Ichiro wasn't even with a zoom lens, we were that close to the field! The seats were amazing, THANK YOU AUNT CATHY!

When our friends the Waggoners came to visit a few weeks ago we decided to go to the once a year Husky baseball game that is played at Safeco Field. They only open part of the first level for seats, so we were just behind home plate. College games are fun also because it is much less people, and more audience participation. Dylan even got a shirt that was thrown up into the stands, and he was SO excited about it!

Then last night we just went with my Dad's family to a suite! Mariners vs Yankees! More on that to come......