Christmas Time

The cousins wearing matching pj's! (we need Caden here!..
and you can tell Cavin was loving the pictures!)

Ella was the angel in the nativity :)

Madi was Mary, John was Joseph, Ella was the Angel,
and my dad was the donkey :)

Ella's dollhouse

I can't believe how much time you spend preparing for Christmas, and how fast it comes and goes! I feel like you build and build for the special holiday and then it is over so fast! This year we had a fun time with the kids, because they get so excited about everything. Christmas Eve we went over to my brother Corey's house and his family did a nice turkey dinner and then the kids did a talent show and reenacted the nativity. It was a fun night. The kids love being with their cousin and were really excited about their matching pajamas! Christmas morning we went opened presents and Ella loved her dollhouse and Cavin his train set from his oma and opa. Maybe he will have his love of trains like his Opa Hellmut! We spent the rest of the day with my parents. They bought us a wii so we have had fun playing together. We have had a fun holidays together. We are glad Marisa and Ethan could come to share it with us as well. Maybe next year everyone will be able to be home!

Merry Christmas!

We just wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! I hope you are able to remember Christ and the reason we celebrate this wonderful occasion and that you are able to share it with family and friends. Have a very merry day!

Christmas is Coming!!

We are so excited for Christmas this year. The kids are at such a fun age and I will love watching them open their presents. We took a few pictures before church that we wanted to share. There aren't many of Cavin because we have 12:30 church and we woke him up to hurry and leave, hence the crazy hair and untucked shirt! I wish I would have had these before I ordered my Christmas cards! Merry Christmas!

Ella and Cavin look like twins to me in this picture!

This is my very favorite! I love how she lifted her leg!


What we are always doing! Twirling!

Winter

I'm proud to announce that Winter does exist in Houston, Texas. This is now the second time I have seen snow here in Texas. Now, it won't last long, tomorrow is going to be 50 and I'm sure the temperature will go on back up, but one day is fun! I do not miss what seemed like everyday in Logan!

A Wild Weekend!

It's not really like me to not post for two weeks, but things have been crazier around here than I'm used to. On Wednesday afternoon I took the kids to the park to play and Cavin was grumpy. I was trying to cheer him up so I decided to go down the slide with him......well that is when the weekend mess began. He rode down the slide with me on my lap and his leg got caught on the side and he started crying and I just thought that he was just still being grumpy, so we just left the park and went home. Then he kept crying and saying owie and then started being weird. I knew his leg must have hurt a little, but then he started drooling, his eyes kept dilating, and he wouldn't stay awake and wouldn't eat (which as you know is NOT Cavin), so I decided to take him in to the ER and see if he was o.k. and if something was wrong with his leg. He kept pointing to it and wouldn't walk on it so I thought on the slide something that I didn't see must have happened. Anyway, long story short, they said he might have a fracture they couldn't tell from the xray so they sent a grumpy old woman nurse in to splint it and I had to go to the Orthopedist on Monday for further review because that is the earliest time one would open. SO..... I had my pediatrician prescribe something more for the pain because the ER doctor just told me to give him Tylenol and then sent in a grumpy old woman to splint it. The nurse was also more concerned that he wouldn't stop crying than his leg....he is 19 months old for heaven sakes! So we had a sad son all weekend and worried about Cavin having a broken leg, but the Orthopedist said it doesn't look broken but because of the improper way she splinted it his heel is the concern now and we will have to have in rechecked next week. So now we have to take care of an injury that the grumpy old nurse caused by her worrying about his crying more than his leg! I'm am definitely questioning the care we received at the facility. As soon as the splint was off, he was happy again and clapping and growling and he ate a cookie almost whole when I got home and two bowls of macaroni! Darn thing, I should have just taken it off! Anyway, I am SO glad it isn't broken and I hope his heel heals soon! Poor boy!

As for the rest of the weekend, between trying to soothe Cavin we tried to do some fun things. We went over to my parents for Thanksgiving and we had my parents, Corey's family there, Natalie, Stephani's sister Camella's family there, and my Aunt Jana and her three children! It was a nice day and the food was great. I'm just sad Cavin missed out in the fun.
On Friday we tried to put up the Christmas tree and then went to the Rockets game with my three best friends Cameron, Ben, and Stacey and Cam's friend Amanda. Just Ragnar and I went and it was so fun to be there and to see them.

Then on Saturday my mom took the girls out to the Nutcracker! It was my mom, Natalie, Stephani, Madison, and then Ella and I. We went to Red Robin before and then to the Nutcracker downtown! I wasn't sure how Ella would do, but she sat still through the whole thing and loved it! It was a fun experience.


She loves her cousin Madi and they had fun with the binoculars!

Grandma and Ella

All in all it was a long weekend and I am glad it's over, but we also had some fun memories as well.

Our Free Dance

Here is the website for the video of our "free" dance from Ella! Do you think we have a dancer on our hands? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tTAqptaC58

A Rocket Filled Weekend!

Do you want to buy tickets?

Ella working with Daddy!




It has been a fun week. Ella has particularly felt special as we have been doing things for her this week. Aunt Stephani, John, and Madi took Ella on a secret "field trip" to the Build-A-Bear workshop where she created a bunny named Ella (she only has three names for her animals/dolls...Madi, Ella, or Lily, so we have lots of doubles). She loves her bunny and they even took her out for ice cream afterward. She had a great time and loves having them close. On Friday night Ella and I had our monthly sleep over and we played games, made sugar cookies, made a fort, you know the usual. She seriously talked me to sleep, she LOVES to talk and never stops! I definitely don't get lonely anymore when Ragnar is gone! On Saturday she got to go on a date with dad to work and play at the Toyota Center for a few hours and then have a picnic! Then when she got home we went over to a friends who was having a birthday party! They had "clutch" the Houston Rockets Mascot as their special guest and Ella was excited! She was pretty tired without her nap, but we had fun and were grateful they invited us.
It was a fun weekend, Cavin never stops saying "cars....cars.." or "shoes??" and Ella is always full of fun. She says she wants to be a dancer, so she danced for us tonight and tonight, our dances were "free". Wow, who knew I would have to be paying soon!

Halloween 2009!

Our Football Player and Tinkerbell!

Aunt Natalie a.k.a Snow White

John (before he was dressed)

We had a great Halloween! The weather was great and we got to go trick or treating with Grandma and Grandpa, Aunt Natalie, Aunt Stephani, Uncle Corey, and John and Madi! Ragnar had to work at the Rockets game, so we went over and trick or treated in Corey's neighborhood. Ella was loving it! She kept saying "I'm so excited....I can't wait to say trick or treat again!" We loved going with the family and the donuts and cider after! I hope you had a happy Halloween as well!

Mr. Cavin

So as I was blogging about Ella a couple days ago, I was feeling like I couldn't leave out Mr. Cavin, so here is a little bit about the little (or not so little) guy!
He just had his 18 month appointment and is 32 pounds and almost 34 inches. He is thankfully not just big, but also tall! People pick him up and don't expect him to be so solid!
He is so sweet and I love his curly hair!
He loves loves loves to eat! No surprise for someone in our family!
He calls any drink juey (for juice)
He is not so coordinated and trips over nothing, but he can palm most balls, so we will have to see which one out weighs the other.
He is a very easy going and to himself baby.
He loves to "boing a boing" or bounce.
He is always talking to Ella to try and wake her up!
He always is trying to do a head stand for some reason.
And one more thing....he must and I mean must have his shoes on....He LOVES them!
He is a happy silly kid and we love him!

My Little Ella Belle

I was thinking today about how fun three is with Ella and I wanted to write some of the silly things she says that make me laugh just so I wouldn't forget (they aren't really that funny to most of you, but with her cute voice, and because she is mine, I love it).......
1. That's bumbelee
2. Lets read scripers mom!
3. Mom you are struggeling me!
4. You're crazy!
5. Mom it's o.k., it's just a joke
6. Mom you look like a princess in that "rella" dress
7. Mom guess what...I slept lots!
8. This is NOT my favorite thing
9. It's delicious!
10. That's silly momma
11. Mom I need to hear your secrets
12. She's snakey!
and my favorite, but also the sadest... when I tell her no to something..
13. Mom, you are breaking my heart

Happy Birthday Mom!!!

I just wanted to wish my lovely mother a Happy Birthday! I sure am lucky to have a mom who is always so thoughtful and supportive of me. She is always there to talk to and I love being able to just call her when I need someone to listen. She has taught me some of the most important lessons in life, from a testimony of the church to something as simple as my love of sports. Thanks mom for everything...I hope today is a wonderful day, you deserve it!

The New Place

So here are some pics from our new condo. We are in Eagle Springs and are renting this place for a year until our home sells. These are just a few, but who wants all the bathrooms, 2 car garage, and laundry room and such??!

The Kitchen

Dining Area

Part 1 of Living Room

Part 2 of Living Room
Then you go upstairs and have...

The Master Bedroom

The Master Bathroom

The Playroom and our reading bed!

The kids' room

The kids Bathroom

The Study
And then I had to have a picture of Ella and Cavin included! This was our first Family Home Evening in our place! Ella is supposed to be Mary, the mother of Jesus (I know we are a little early on Christmas, but she loves dressing up) and Cavin is just being his mischievous self!

Where to Begin....

So I couldn't decide whether to have one REALLY long post or several small ones of the last few weeks, so I think I will just do one to recap Germany, Ragnar's birthday, moving and everything in between. So, it may be an overload, and there are a million pictures, so these are just a few, but here we go. (I'll post pics of the house later)

We left for Germany on September 10th and arrived the morning of September 11th. This was a neat experience for Ragnar because exactly 10 years earlier he arrived home from his mission on September 11th at the same airport, so he was having fun with that.

Anyway, we SOMEHOW survived the flight. I absolutely despise flying and especially with 2 children and my anxiety issues! It was long and hard, and good thing we love Ragnar's parents because if they weren't there we would definitely not be going that far with small kids for pleasure!

It began by Cavin tripping by a window at the Houston airport where he was looking at the planes and falling directly on the edge of the big window and splitting his head open. This happened 10 minutes before boarding and I was sure we would miss the flight. Somehow, we got on the plane, his head stop bleeding fast, and we made it to Atlanta and then on to Germany. I won't go on with the awful details of having Ragnar hold Cavin in the bathroom for 45 minutes because he was screaming too loud, or on the way back having a 4 hour delay in Atlanta and Ella screaming for half of the flight home. Oh man, what we do for family! Needless to say, I am glad I have other memories than the flight and I hope in time they will carry more weight than the memory of the flight!

(Here is his head a few days later...much better)

The trip in Germany was wonderful. The weather was nice, we got to see the entire family and celebrate his mothers upcoming 60th birthday, and just enjoy one another. We didn't see a whole lot because between children and naps, it's not worth it to me to be too adventurous yet, our time will come. We will be back many times and when the kids are older, we can do that.

We did have a good time though. We met Ragnar's best friend Kris and his wife Christina and went bowling and chatted. My German is coming along. I understood more and more and I feel like if I keep working on it, it is an achievable task to learn the language. When we got home Ella said a German word to me and asked if I knew what it meant and I said yes and told her and she goes..."oh mom that's great, you are learning!" So my daughter already thinks she is smarter than me, AT THREE! We had a nice time and I love just sitting and chatting and we were glad we were able to go.

Uschi's party

Cavin and Kris and Christina (Ella was too grumpy to come over)

Daphne and Rags

The train that goes around the whole backyard

Bowling with Kris and Christina

The Frankfurt Temple and some of the crew

Ella and Daddy fixing the train!

Hellmut and the famous train


Ella and Aunt Naomi

Cooking with Oma

Cavin...eating as always!

The cousins

As for the move, I think we were crazy for moving two days after we got back, but we were jet lagged and started the day at 3:30 (thanks to our children) anyway, so we just went ahead and moved. We now live in Eagle Springs and are about 40 minutes from my parents. We are excited about our new place and our ward feels like a high school reunion because I already know half of them, so it's funny. Things are set up and we are doing well.

On to even more exciting news, Ragnar turned 32 (I know old man!) and with his birthday was a late present. He was promoted in the Houston Rockets Organization to Full Time Season Ticket Sales Rep. I think it sounds awful to sell all day and yet, he loves it! It is like a dream job to him, so I am excited for him. He got to have lunch with Carl Dukes of ESPN radio last week and he just loves being a part of the sports world.

So all in all, we are well, things are looking up and we are excited about the future. It has been an really hard year, but I hope that we have learned some lessons and that we can move forward. The kids are liking the new place and adjusting well, but they do miss living with Grandma and Grandpa and playing with Aunt Natalie and Maggie. We can see them often though. I hope all is well with you and now that we are back online...I will keep posted on how things go...until next time!......