March 2012

The Month of March was a beautiful month! We sure did enjoy having nice sunny weather earlier this year!  And of course this month is our Birthday month! We celebrated birthdays and it was made very clear that birthdays are only fun for little kids! No matter how spoiled and how well treated you are when you are an adult it just isn't the same! Patrick turned 29 and I turned 25 this year. Patrick was so amazing and bought me a Dyson Vacuum. Something I've wanted dearly since the first day we were married! I finally got it and I can say it's amazing the stuff that thing can pick up! I told Patrick I was disgusted with the filth we have been living in this past year after using the vacuum! Patrick got the book by Elder David A. Bednar  Increase in Learning as well as some foam pads to stand on while either exercising or for the garage while wood working. Although I've found great use for them in the kitchen...while they are patiently waiting to be used by  none other than the man himself! haha 

Porters birthday was the highlight-We felt really bad b/c we gave him all the toys in the world he could imagine on Christmas so we spoiled him with some much needed clothes on his birthday. He didn't seem to mind at first, but then present after present that was an article of clothing his face seemed to show a little disappointment.

 

 But we did go a little over the top and bought him a fairly used bike at Deseret Industries! He was pretty excited about it and we immediately got to work with riding the new bike! He was stoked, very nervous and yet tons of excitement and pride all balled into one little 4 year old!

 The kids love to go bowling so we took them bowling for Porters birthday! They had a blast! They teamed up and produced some pretty good scores for their 2 games. I am super proud of my bowling scores! I mean... I was bowling with practically 2 bowling balls. 1 stowed away in my tummy and the other more traditional one that is actually OK to throw down a lane! (tee-hee)

We had a "Cars" Lightning McQueen cake for Porter and he was super excited! He took Thomas the train cupcakes to Preschool that morning to share with his friends and then he got a Cars cake for later! He couldn't have asked for more!

 And The two kiddos enjoyed the padded mats for a picnic while watching Barney for lunch that day! It was wonderful!
And here is a questionnaire thing I asked Porter on his birthday while we were eating Cake and Ice Cream. It was adorable to hear his answers! I LOVED it!


Name: Porter J Munson Age: 4 Years Old
What is your favorite color? Blue
What is your favorite toy? Lightning McQueen
What is your favorite fruit? Banana
What is your favorite T.V. Show? Thomas and Friends
What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Sandwich PB & Honey
What is your favorite outfit? Shorts and yellow shirt with cars on it(anything soft)
What is your favorite game? Chutes and Ladders
What is your favorite snack? Fruit snacks and Graham crackers
What is your favorite animal? Dog
What is your favorite song? Thomas and Friends
What is your favorite book/story? Goldilocks and the 3 Bears
Who is your best friend? Korbin
What is your favorite cereal? Marshmellow mateys
What is your favorite thing to do outside? Ride my bike
What is your favorite drink? Chocolate Milk
What is your favorite holiday? Snow
What do you take to bed with you at night? Mickey (but really it’s his blanket)
What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Toaster Struddel
What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Red Noodles
What do you want to be when you grow up? Big boy that plays(basketball)

February...Already?!

Well our January month seemed to fly by yet it also has seemed to take FOR-EV-ER to pass along! I hate those times. I can't even remember much of what we did this past month. So bear with me while I try very hard to let you in on what might be new or anything special that has happened to us this past month.
I've already told you about Kinley's birthday! She is definitely a 2 yr old now!

They taught the kids to Stop! Drop! and Roll! And to crawl out of the building !

Sitting in the ambulance! He was a little nervous at this point!

Actually got him to sit in the Firetruck!! So Brave!

Porter had a really neat preschool field trip to the fire station! He was so excited to go! He kept telling me he was going to be brave and he was really excited to see the fireman come down the pole! Of course while we were there Kinley freaked out and was totally scared and when I went to take care of her so others could hear the tour...Porter got nervous and wanted to stay by me the whole time. Needless to say my kids were chickens and wimps and cried while I MADE them get close to the firetrucks and see the lights flashing and all that stuff that I thought was SOOO cool! I understood Kinley's point of view but Porter was old enough he should know everything was neat and awesome there! Oh well!

Kinley's coat isn't the one Grandma gave her, At this time it was just a little too big! Now she's out of this one and into her new one!

Grandma Christensen got the kids some snow outfits for this year! THANK YOU! We've gotten quite a bit of snow where we were out shoveling our drive way about 3 or 4 days in just one week. They have enjoyed having warm clothes to wear so they can be outside.
Patrick has been putting his woodworking skills to use and has built us a closet organizer shelves for the toy room! A much needed project that I'm happy is finally over with. All I have to do now is go and organize the toys and put them where I want them.

We've been adjusting to the life of having Dad gone a little more for bishopric things. And things have changed a little at his work with schedules and such. I'm anticipating  the time when work really hits him and he has to start staying later and working saturdays. I know it is just around the corner for us.
I taught an Etiquette night for combined Young Mens/Young Womens one mutual night this month. I was nervous about it, because there is so much you can teach and you don't know what might be too simple for one kid and yet way over the top for others. So I kept it simple had fun with it and I think the kids really enjoyed it! They were laughing and asking questions! For once in my life when I was up infront of the youth teaching I actually felt like I was the only leader in there and all that mattered were those kids. They felt like they were anxious to learn and have fun with me! So I felt good about it! And I have to say most of it was a success  because of 2 people. 1- my husband for brainstorming with me and helping me put it all together. and 2- my sister Jenae for letting me borrow her buzzer set! The kids loved being able to play the game and hit the buzzer.
I've also had 2 Doctors appointments. I'm 14 weeks along with this pregnancy and finally getting my energy back. The doctor asked if I wanted to try and find out what the gender was last week and he took a stab at it, but he wasn't sure enough to give me a good solid answer.  The kids are really getting into it and understanding more and more each day that there is a baby in moms tummy. Kinley is getting good at practicing being a big sister with her dolls.  She has a doll that makes sounds and it cried yesterday and she got the most sad worried look on her face and said.."Dad! She's crying! AWWW!" She gave the baby a hug and kiss and tried to take good care of it. She is for sure going to be involved and a great little helper to mom!

Christmas, New Years, Kinley's Birthday and More!

Christmas 2011---The week before Christmas Porter's preschool had a christmas program that they put on for their family and parents! He was so cute being himself on the stage and singing and dancing! I loved every minute of it!

We have pictures of the kids opening presents Christmas morning--Lacy took them for us..so we are waiting to get them

Then Actual Christmas--We enjoyed it by spending about a week with family. Most of the holiday we spent relaxing, especially since Porter and I came down with a 24 hour bug. Patrick had been sick earlier that week and I think we both caught it. Christmas night Porter would not go poop on the potty, because we didn't have the right potty seat for him. and I believe that is what set off the yucky sickness. I woke up the next morning and went through all that. Lucky for me I had a wonderful husband who stayed up all night with Porter so I could rest, and an amazing grandma who was willing to help with the kids and clean up after them and make us food! I enjoyed sleeping most of the day and both porter and I recovered quickly. ( cross my fingers--Kinley has not yet gotten it) We spent our Christmas eve and day with the Munsons this year and then on our last day we went to see Grandma Christensen. We really did just enjoy our time with the family and the relaxing time we had. The kids LOVED opening their presents. I was shocked because they didn't want to play with them after they opened them. They just went back for another present that needed to be opened until all were opened.

Then over New Years, Mom Dad and Kels came up our direction for the weekend! We had fun going out to eat and showing them the town. Then all day saturday Dad and Patrick were out getting Patrick's new Table saw and wood shop all set up and building things. While Mom and I did cricut stuff. They wanted to know what they could get Kinley for her birthday and I really had no clue and then we came upon the idea that Kinley's room hasn't been painted yet and she would love to have her room done! So we went and bought paint! And Mom ended up doing one painting project that night with the same paint! It was AWESOME! I didn't have to do any of the work! I sat back and watched and laughed when dad came in and said "That's not Kinleys room!" as was guess would have been said.  We enjoyed our time together, watched some movies, ate some food, and Kelsey joined in the fun with me this year with the french tradition of stuffing grapes in your mouth for the count down to a new year! It was fun!

Kinley's birthday was a wonderful day! I've taught the children well with what happens when we have a party! They know there is balloons, cake and presents involved! So on her birthday we went and got a cake, and some balloons and the kids played with the balloons all day! It was terrific! You ask Kinley how old she is and she will tell you 2! So proud of her! She was stoked to open presents! Her favorite was the purson (a.k.a Purse)  with the car keys that make honking noises and locking noises. We had yummy dinner and then cake! She did well with blowing out the candle and we all really enjoyed eating the cake and ice cream! She is getting so big and I'm so happy to watch her learn and grow. I will be sad when she leaves this age and stage. She has been such a JOY and happiness in our home! She is so sweet, silly, and adorable. She really knows how to show someone she loves them and isn't afraid to share it! We love her so very very much!


And on another note... since Kinley is getting older...I think it's time for this...

Just had our first Dr. Appointment this morning. Babys heartbeat is healthy and strong, seems to be growing right on schedule! Baby due AUGUST 8th 2012!

December update

 Well you know Christmas is around the corner and you find your kids hiding in the cupboards.(a.k.a  from Christmas Story) Yep! Porter and Kinley's favorite place to be is in their bathroom cupboards. They love pretending they are hiding from Monsters in there and they will play in there for a good half hour sometimes.

We started this month off with Patrick's work party at Ruby River and we were allowed to order ANYTHING we wanted! I was in heaven, when my jumbo coconut shrimp came to the table! We then played a version of white elephant trading with about 100 rules, BUT it was lots of fun! We were told by others to buy something you would want to go home with cuz you might end up with it. Sure enough we ended up coming home with the very 2 items we showed up with! One by choice and one by chance! It was lots of fun and I really enjoyed getting to know Patrick's work buddies better.

Then the next morning we helped my mom make most of the grandkids gifts(which I can't say what they are until after christmas) And later that night was our ward party. I knew Santa was going to be there so I had practiced with Porter before we went how the whole sitting on Santas lap routine goes. So it was our turn for Porter to sit on his lap and before Santa could even say a word of "have you been a good little boy? or What would you like for Christmas?" Porter sat on his lap and immediately exclaimed "TRAINS!"  He then wanted his candy cane and got off. He was done! haha As for Kinley we got 3 feet from Santa and she FREAKED OUT! Now I tell you... I have NEVER..EVER...seen Kinley this scared before. She was digging nails into my shoulders and screaming with terror. She wanted nothing to do with Santa. So I took her out in the hall thinking out of sight out of mind. Right?! well after about a minute she looks at me and says "Mom! Santa Fine! I see Dad now!" So we went in and once we got over to our table by Dad, Santa was waving goodbye to everyone and yelling MERRY CHRISTMAS!  So now whenever we see santa Kinley gets scared(but not as freaked as she was that night) and she looks at me when it's all done and says "Santa Fine"
The 3rd week of this month we were gearing up for all our family parties and we were super excited for them! They were on the weekend one on saturday night and one sunday down in the Salt Lake area. But then we got called into the Stake Presidents office and he called Patrick to be the 2nd counselor in our wards new bishopric! Well that changed plans a bit, because they were making the change the same sunday as our family party. Seeing that Dad and Grandparents needed to be here to ordain Patrick a High Priest that sunday anyways we decided well we'll offer our house for the sunday party. It all worked out and we were able to do EVERYTHING that weekend. It was a little stressful and hectic that weekend, but totally worth it! We went to the temple saturday afternoon, then the williams family party that night. Drove home with 2 coughing sick kids. Woke up and went to church Sunday...that day was busy and crazy and then that night all the munson family came our way and we had a riot sharing talents and playing games.
We love this time of year and would have been super bummed if we would have missed those parties! We are now super excited for Christmas to come and hope you'll come back to hear all about it!

And here is a cute little video of Kinley. Lately she has been amazingly cute when she tells you she loves you! She says it ALL the time and she can't pronounce her "Ls" very well. And we had been wanting to catch her counting 1-2-3-Sick! And I can honestly say that this video of her doing it is the last time we have heard her count like that. It was so adorable and we miss it... but now she is a smart girl who can count 1-2-3-4-5-6-8-9-tenleven. Super cute!  Enjoy and MERRY CHRISTMAS!! P.S. she just woke up from her nap so she looks pretty rough!

November 2011

This month Patrick and I started it off perfectly! The first weekend we were blessed enough to be able to go to a stake toy exchange/swap.  We were able to get almost everything we wanted to get for our kids and more than we ever dreamed of. So we were finished with our christmas shopping! how awesome is that? Ok not completely finished. I still had to get a few more and yes exactly 3 more things for the kids for chirstmas and we were done. then all we had to worry about was our neighbor/friend  and family gifts. Not bad right?  Then on sunday we made sugar cookies and the kids LOVED frosting them and of course eating them!

The second weekend of the month it snowed. So Patrick worked on our neighbor gifts and Porter and I went outside and played in the snow, while kinley took her nap. It was Lots and lots of fun! The snow was perfect for snowman making and Porter was really involved in building the snowman.
The third weekend, my mom came up to stay with us. There was a friend of the family getting married that weekend and we enjoyed a fun night that friday driving to the reception in the snow and visiting with friends. Then saturday we enlisted help from mom to set up Christmas. We were itching for the christmas season to come. For many reasons of course but 1 being we are in a new home for chirstmas this year and I was anxious to decorate it with our christmas things. 2nd of many reasons being last year we moved 2 days before christmas so I didn't set up christmas at all last year. I was missing decorating for the holidays and that fun spirit that is brought into the home with the warm christmas tree lights and the magic of santa and the thoughts of our Savior and others in our hearts.

Then the next week followed with a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. We spent Thanksgiving with the Christensen side this year. There were only 5 of us kids and our families there though. The 2 others were very missed, but it was also nice to be able to visit with the others and play games, which seems to happen less and less everytime we get together as a family because our family is getting sooo big! We enjoyed the memory name game that we played most of all.

Also over Thanksgiving weekend we helped mom with here beautiful cross stich works of art that she donated to the festival of trees. She asked us to help with making the frames. Didn't Patrick do a great job? And that is porter next to the kids tree in our basement.

Ever since coming home from that nice break and being with family we got to work on finishing our Christmas tree. It consisted of a few nights staying up til 12 to finish projects, but we finished it within a week and WE LOVE OUR TREE. We chose to make a theme for our tree this year. The theme we chose was a "music tree" We made ornaments that look like notes and a treble cleff, music books, bells, sheet music rolled up as scrolls, piano keys and christmas music words such as noel, rejoice, hallelujah, sing, etc.. It's beautiful and we really love it. So things like that have consumed our time this month other than the normal work, kids and callings. :\
All in all we really enjoyed the month of November! Hope y'all did too.