Morgan's First Pedi!

So, after a long day of walking around the marsh, and the zoo, I decided to treat Morgan to her very first pedicure while the boys were off at a birthday party. I think I did a very bad thing. She LOVED it!!! It was so cute though, she kept giggling, but hid it behind her hands, so the guy who was working on her feet wouldn't see her laughing at him tickling her.

Calling daddy to tell him how much she loved getting pedicures, and how she wants to this at least once a month now. Of course she can't go by herself, so I'll have to make the sacrifice of accompanying her.

Morgan's hot pink she picked out, and my french. (please ignore the hair on the floor, our big dumb dog is blowing his summer coat, and I'm going to go shave him bald if his boy owners don't do something about it!)

Notice the cute flower on her big toe. SO CUTE!

A change...

If you have driven by our house recently, you may have noticed a change. For the last, oh, almost 7 years, our front has looked like this.
Nice, I think, the cherry bush is growing nicely, (thanks to Morgan's watering skills) and it looks very Americana, and all. But, I have been ready for a change. Not a big one, just a statement. So....... Tada! I had a nice, hot (for Alaska) sunny afternoon one day. The kids were all in school, and I headed to the store for some paint. I went back and forth between red, and black. Red made me nervous, because there are so many shades. So I went with the safe bet. What do ya think?

Personally, I am in L.O.V.E. with it. (that, and my red tin star I painted just for my new black door)

An afternoon with the Christensens

I just wanted to take a second, and thank Renae and Jeremy for putting up with this amature photographer. I'm not a pro, like my other SIL Jayme, but I have this fancy new camera Matt bought me last year, and I really enjoy taking pictures, editing them, and seeing what I can do. It was a beautiful afternoon, and Jeremy actually had an day off for the Holiday weekend, so we took advantage of it and hopefully got some good pictures for my awesome brother and Sis in Law.


I think, this was actually one of Renae's favorites. My favorite, in color.

I think Carson was showing Renae his "egg" which turned out to be a little round, hard, mushroom. Hey, fooled me.

This is one of my favorite. Carson has a piece of straw (or grass to the rest of us) in his mouth, Clayton looks worries, Jack is looking down, and Renae just looks beautiful. Classic.

I love this nurturing shot of Renae and her oldest. So cute! When I think of pictures I would have liked to have of my own mother, something like this is at the top of the list. When I originally suggested taking this picture, in front of an ugly garage door on a green utilities building at the park, Jeremy gave me a funny look.

I think Renae said this is one of his favorites now.

This shot is so these two, its not even funny. Love Renae's new hair.

Another one, I think Renae and I agreed on. LOVE IT!!! Look how gorgeous Renae looks, and the smiles on Carson and Clayton are priceless. And, bonus, you can barely see Jeremy's tan line on the side of his fave from his sunglasses! Yeah!

I think this one was a favorite of both Renae and I. It just screams "Families Can Be Together Forever", don't you think? Clayton was probably the most cooperative kid that day. (I think he kind of likes his picture being taken...he's just at that age)

These two are so cute together. I love brother shots where you catch them in a candid moment, just being buddies and playing together.

Purse Shopping.

I made a cake for a friend's birthday this week. I was busy, and had about 4 hours to bake, frost, cover, and decorate it. Oh, and did I mention she requested a Coach Purse Cake? Pink? Well, I decided to go give her "mostly" what she wanted. I made the cake out of Rice Crispy treats. Covered it with pink and black fondant, (sorry, no Trademark C's- like I said...very busy week) Then I baked a couple of 1/2 sheet cakes, decorated and covered them to look like a gift box that we then put the purse on top of. (sorry, no picture of that)
But...here is the purse part of my cake. What do you think?

EVERYTHING on the outside of this cake it 100% fondant. I had no idea how easy black fondant was to make. SO much easier than black frosting. Have you ever tried to make black frosting?

Alaska State Fair...the sequel, with a camera this time.

We headed to the Alaska State Fair Thursday night after work. The kids were excited, it was our second trip to the fair this year, and they knew exactly what to expect. Unfortunately, we were a little spoiled the first trip and had a Premier Parking pass my boss had given us. We're talking AWESOME parking. Right behind Raven hall, in the middle of all the action. No walking for 30 minutes from your car to the ticket gate. But it was a one time only pass. Sooooo, as we're driving up, Matt decides to foot the $25 for another pass....
I highly recommend it. SO worth it. Especially if you have little kids and might be making more than one trip to the car to drop off fair goodies, or go back for jackets and stuff. We got there about 5pm, and hit the ground running, going straight to the rides. The kids couldn't wait. Chandler gives us a thumbs up...he's ready for the first ride of the night.

The secret to Gabe surviving rides? He closes his eyes. I guess this makes it less scary, and he's less likely to scream like a girl.

Chandler's favorite ride I think, was the Hanglider. But really, he's like his dad, and will ride just about anything.

The boys stagger off the Graviton, and head towards their next adventure.

Me and my buddy stand in line for the Farris Wheel.

The kids on top of the Farris wheel.

It was buddy night at the fair, so Gabe grabbed his little buddy, and headed to the ride of her choice. Sweet, hu?

The kids stopped to enjoy some cotton candy in between thrill seeking rides!

The kids devoured this Brick of Fries in about 5 minutes.

We stopped for a while to watch the Bird Man from Las Vegas do his little show. It was funny, and interesting, and the kids had a ball.

Morgan could not wait to hand Rosie some money. That's her hand there, with the dollar bill, handing it to the pink bird.

You'd better believe, that as soon as someone said "donate, and condors" in the same sentence, Chandler was the first one jumping up and grabbing money out of his pocket to donate to the animal fund. This kid is the one that tries to donate money to anything on the counter at the grocery store. (he is the little liberal in the family---I have no idea where he came from!)

There was an underwater exhibit that was decorated to look like an underwater coral reef.

The youngest thrill seeker in our family. Morgan will ride ANYTHING you through at her. (granted she's tall enough...the only thing holding her back)

POST fair. Our little one, passed out in her bed, face still painted, and hair extension still in. One tired little kid.

g

r

Blueberry Season!

Blueberry picking at Hatcher's Pass. Its a ritual we all participate in every fall here in Alaska. If you haven't, your definitely missing out. Not only for the berries, but the whole experience of it. The picturesque drive, the mountains like something out of a movie. Everything is just so amazing.

This little guy, I would like to steal away from my brother and sister in law, and keep. He's so adorable, and fun, and happy. Thanks for coming blueberry picking with us Jense!!

First day of school.

Chandler, 5th grade. This is one awesome kid with so much personality and potential. I wish everyone would take the opportunity to get to know my eldest. He is so smart, would do anything for you, and the kid always has his mom's back. Gabe, 4th grade. He's definitely my red child. (Chandler's blue/white, just like Matt, and Morgan's so yellow its frightening). It's funny, cause red's also his favorite color. Gabe is excited about 4th grade this year for lots of reasons. Mostly, because he can now do all the after school sports. He wants to try EVERYTHING!! Gabe plays the piano, and is my middle child peace maker.
Morgan is now in 1st grade, and says that since she's no longer a baby kindergartner, she's going to "rule the school". I was also informed by her gym teacher today, that Morgan has told all the teachers to call her 'Rosa' until further notice. ????? Yeah, one of these days we hope this kid comes out of her shell.

Sunday was so beautiful after church, and I'm quickly learning to take my camera with me everywhere, so we made a few stops on the way home. I LOVE this one of Morgan. Matt took this one, he's actually getting to be quite the photographer, hu?

OK, so if Gabe looks like he's in pain, its because he is. I had originally posed him leaning against the tree, not realizing there was a nail in it. He starting sliding, and completely scratched his back up on the nail. Poor kid. Bad mom.

As we were leaving the lake, this car? pulls up. No really. Its a car. Not a wagon? Nope, not a wagon. A car, dressed up, to look like a red wagon. Cool, hu? Complete with handle and everything. Check out the cute little old men driving it. They were so fun.