happy birthday.

It's totally birthday season in our family.

Today Erin turns 34.

We love having her with us.

Even after a year, we haven't even gotten sick of her!

She's pretty great.

Hope your day is a good one, Erin!

We love you.

Don't forget that.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TO YOU!

happy birthday

{sorry, Erica, I always steal your pictures from your blog! I don't have many recent pictures of her...and I really liked this one. Don't hate me! }

Today, my grandma, Myrt, celebrates the day of her birth. She is such an amazing person. She has been so influential in my life. There isn't anything to not like about her! No matter the circumstance, she seems to always have a positive attitude, and is someone who you just want to be around all of the time. Sadly, I haven't even seen her for an entire year! And I miss her very much! {And her apple pie, chocolate cake, chocolate chip cookies, sugar cookies, rolls, turkey dinners, that salad dressing they always have...I could probably go on forever}

I hope your day was great! You definitely deserve it. I so wish we were there to celebrate with you. Maybe next year?

We love you, Myrt.

oh my...

For the record...

It is 11:05 AM on September 27th. It should be Fall, right? Yeah, no, it's 100 degrees. Yes, that is right. 100 degrees!! We're going to the beach.

cast?

Next time you see Jacob, ask him where his cast is. He'll look at you with a smile and probably look a lot like this:

And then he'll say, "Where go? All gone."

We are all sure glad to be done with the cast. Jacob especially.

Macie's Disneyland birthday

{September 16}

We have Disneyland annual passes. Yeah, we're that cool! ;-) But, since we live further away than we used to, we don't go that often. But, we got a killer deal on the passes, and I can't pass up a good deal. I decided that I would take Macie by herself for her birthday. She has been tall enough to ride the "good" rides for a while, but hasn't been able to because I've just gone with the kids, and I couldn't leave Jacob in the stroller! So, we woke up on her birthday, sent Noah off to school, and took Jacob to a friend's house. I was a little nervous about that, however. And he did great! We didn't get to Disneyland until around 1, but it really wasn't too crowded. It was hot, and Macie wore her Alice dress that my mom had made and sent to her. She looked adorable, the perfect Alice.

Apparently, when you have a pass, there is a special magical sound when you go through the gate. They told me to go to City Hall and get her special message. And then, of course, people thought she looked pretty darn cute. We got to City Hall, and surprisingly, they already had her birthday button made up with her name on, and the girl said, "Happy Birthday, Macie! We've been waiting for you. We have a special message for you." Talk about personalized service, I was pretty impressed. They handed Macie a phone, and she listened to a birthday message from Goofy. She loved it. As we were leaving a lady told me that they would be having a game of Musical Chairs at 2:30 and Alice would love to have Macie there. Perfect. We weren't going to miss it. She asked if we were for sure going to be there. How could we not?

We went on a few rides and headed back to the Coke Cafe. We waited a little bit and drank our $3 soda, and all of the sudden we hear the Mad Hatter say, "Are you Macie? I'm looking for Macie." He asked a few people if they were Macie. I couldn't believe it at first. Was he really saying my daughters name? It took Macie by surprise as well. And yes, he was saying her name! Alice and the Mad Hatter came over to wish her a happy birthday and invite her to play, but she refused. The Queen of Hearts was there too, and she was a little scared. So, we watched. The game seemed to last forever. But, finally after about 40 minutes it was done.

Toward the end there was a long line of people wanting autographs and pictures with Alice. But when they were ready to leave, Alice said, "I only have time for one picture. And that's with Macie, the birthday girl." We got our picture, and they were off. Talk about Disney Magic. It was so cool, and we didn't even have to pay extra! It pays to dress up sometimes, I guess!

We had a fun time, though. She got to ride Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain and Soarin'. And, of course, the Tea Cups, Alice, Dumbo, and many others. We left around 6, but it was a very funfilled day!

I set the bar pretty high, however. Noah is looking forward to his birthday next!

day 3.

On the third day of Carol/Mom/Nana's visit we shopped a little, hung out a little, did a mini photo shoot of Macie because she asked, and played a lot.

We played a game of red light green light, and then headed to the park near our house. It may have been in the 90s during the day, but it was pretty cool in the evening. The kids love going to this particular park for a few reasons. One, Macie loves watching the skater boys. Two, the tire swing. {we all like that actually, and we all take a turn.} And three, Noah loves climing the rocks and feels quite accomplished when he gets to the top all by himself!

an adult?

{I have much to blog about...but I didn't want to forget this!}

Macie turned to me with a look of pure disappointment and said, "Now that I'm 4, I can't play with my toys anymore," and she shook her head. I asked her why she couldn't and she replied, "Mom, I'm a big girl now. I'm four. I'm an adult. And all adults do is get married."

Hmm...four? Really?

Macie is 4.

Four? Is my baby girl really 4? If you have ever had a conversation with her, you would agree that she acts much like a 6 year old...at least! She is quite the little girl! We love her so much! It just seems so strange that four years ago we brought our little girl into this world. I remember her cheeks, and how round they were. She was definately not the 5 pound baby the doctors prepared me for! Funny though, she had lots of "extra" skin as a newborn. I didn't think she'd ever grow into it. Little did I know, three weeks later she'd be 12 pounds and quite the chunk. And she didn't stop. On her 1st birthday she weighed in at 34 pounds! Now, 3 years later, she has only gained 6 pounds!

Macie is such a wonderful little girl. She has so much spunk, so much sweetness, and so much humor. She's worried that when she's in Kindergarten, her class "won't get me, like understand me." She likes princesses and wants to be a skater girl, she's her own person! She's a very mature 4 year old, but we wouldn't have it any other way!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MACIE ALIDA! Here's to another great year! I love you, baby girl. I always will.

{Per Macie's request, she gets a mother-daughter date to Disneyland today! How's that for a birthday? Gotta love living in California and annual passes! Hey, she wants an Alice in Wonderland birthday, so we HAVE to ride the Tea Cups, it just makes sense! ;-)}

Back To School Night

{August 26th}

I was so excited to go to Back To School Night. It was our first one. I felt like such a grown up! It was going to be perfect, Noah went with us, and the other two stayed home with Nana. We ate dinner, got ready and were there by 6:25. It didn't start until 6:30, so we were good. We got up to the door, and we totally missed it. Apparently, when you miss school, you miss out on information. Since Noah missed school the previous day to go to LA, we missed the memo of the Kindergarten Back To School Night starting at 5:30. Oh well. We did get to talk to the teacher afterwards, and get a little "late parents exclusive tour."

I guess I'm not as grown up as I thought! But, I'm sure I'll make up for it in the future. I'm afraid I have way too many Back To School Nights left...

grandparents day.

On August 3, 1978, President Jimmy Carter signed the proclamation to make the first Sunday following Labor Day, National Grandparents Day. Making it a day to "...honor grandparents, to give grandparents an opportunity to show love for their children's children, and to help children become more aware of strength, information, and guidance older people can offer."

We are very grateful for our grandparents. All of them: Grandma Jensen, Grandpa Jensen, Myrt {aka Grandma Ludlow}, Grandpa Ludlow, Grandma Helen, Grandpa Tommy, Grandma Frankman, Grandpa Frankman, Momo, Pa, Nana and Papa. Each one of the grandparents in our lives has made a difference in the Christensen family. WE LOVE OUR GRANDPARENTS!

HAPPY GRANDPARENTS DAY!





{older people really can offer a lot of strength, information, and guidance...thanks! ;-)}

{I thought this would be a safer way to get a picture on here that you all actually like!}