Snow

 i should have taken a picture before Brett shoveled....it was terrible.

Well it is the 20th in Iowa and it finally decided to snow. It made up for lost time though. Everyone is cursing the snow now. Adalie didn't have school today. Brett didn't have work. Brody's Dr's apt got canceled due to the snow too. Everyone has been super sick with this stupid sore throat and terrible cough. It is lingering with poor Brody however...but he still will give you a super cute smile.
 
We were all stocked up and ready for the worst. Poor Brett did have to valet tonight though but at least the worst seems to be over. Sunny skies all weekend. Just in time for a trip to CO.  I have been packing since last Friday....I am pretty excited for the vaca. The kids wanted to play in the snow so we bundled them up and threw them out there. Cason came in after 2 mins, but them saw that Adalie could hack it and gave it another go. The enjoyed themselves, even in the terrible wind. They have been praying for it to snow since Halloween.

This Time of Year

Sometimes I feel like motherhood is a slow decent into madness. Its probably sad that a daily goal of mine is to not scream at my children. It's hard. I'm still working on it after having three kids. I will still be working on it by kid 4 and 5...possibly 6. Who knows!?! Motherhood is a reason I am thankful for repentance. I am pretty sure I have to say sorry to my kids, and the Lord multiple times during the day for not so nice things or thoughts when I am super frustrated. Sometimes I feel really bad for my hubby who probably didn't ever imagine he would end up with a crazy, hormonal,  chubby, mean lady for a wife. But when crazy things happen in this world and evil seems to strike another blow, I am so grateful for the gospel and that I get to love my husband and children eternally. Sometimes I wish I was perfect, but perfection wouldn't be very fun. The Lord knows His plan for me. He knows what I need and He can help me become who He knows I CAN become. I am so grateful for this time of year and the reminder of the wonderful gift of our Savior's birth.

Hello there!

ok sorry to those who have already read this...just switching things over so I can still have my original blog page =)
So just going to start by saying, The BIG, thick black glasses everyone seems to be wearing today??....don't get it. I totally would be so freaking cool if I kept my 2nd grade glasses and wore them now.

Anyway! We had our ward....errr Branch Christmas party this last Saturday and it was so fun! We had breakfast burritos, breakfast treats, and hot chocolate.  AND we got to wear our PJ's. This was awesome since i spend most of my life in stretchy pants and pajama bottoms. Brett bought me an awesome pair just for the occasion.

They are actually quite comfortable and keep me pretty toasty =) And yes you can laugh...fatty in cow pjs is pretty funny.



It was lots of fun! Everyone did an awesome job!

Kids got to see Santa!! Cason actually sat in his lap this year and Brody didn't scream when he sat down on Santa's lap either.....just looked super confused.


I got a new calling in church today. Ward Choir director. I think they think I am more musically inclined than I really am. However, I am sure it will be fun. AND it is kind of like a kick in the pants for all those years my own ward and or stake tried to get me to join the choir and I never did. I will now be the annoying lady who goes to everyone and says "You should be in the ward choir!!" and I can't get mad when people say no or don't show up because I never did. Karma people...karma.

testing

just checking if adding brett as an author worked for more photo space....

HERE we are!!

So I wrote a post about Thanksgiving. but haven't gotten the pictures uploaded yet so I am a little out of order on my post. But at least I am finally posting about something right?!!? Anywho, we have gotten Christmas ready at our house!! FYI, I started getting ready while it was still November. We did wait until after the 1st to decorate the tree though! All the Christmas shopping is done. Just a few crafts and homemade gifts for family left to do! I have been feeling a little inadequate and down in the dumps lately, so all the Christmas decorations are helping me smile!! We tried to get a picture of all the kids, and a dog, before the tree was all up and decorated....ya we took like 20 pictures and no one would cooperate at the same time!!


 
We brought the prison tree back again this year. Cason still feels the need to touch everything on and under the tree and Brody is also another challenge this year since he seems to be a Cason Jr. when it comes to mayhem and destruction. It has proven a success yet again so far!! I cannot beleive Christmas is here. I feel like this year has just flown by! I mean it is Brett's 3rd year of medical school! I remember getting here like it was yesterday thinking it would take forever to get where we are even now. AND we had a baby!! A baby who is almost a year old!!! OH my goodness!!

I am so excited for the holidays, however. We get to go see a ton of family in Colorado. Everyone will be together...hasn't happened in at least 2 yrs I think?? It's going to be so fun...and exhausting. BUT good exhausting haha.

 Oh the finished product....without the gate around it just yet =)

 I got the boys dressed tonight in their matching pjs.
 
 Reminded me of this picture. 
 
Adalie and Cason in the same matching pjs two yrs ago...

Wow...time really is flying...my babies are growing so fast

here and now

So lets see....gotta post about something else so you stop voting. haha. So ya, Romney lost. Sad, but i am not surprised. The world isn't ready for a semi-honest man to run our country just yet. Anywho, whats been going on here you ask??

Well, sickness still resides in some form here at the BandL Sorensen house. This time it is vomiting. It is only lasting 24 hours for each kid, so hopefully we are getting all the sick out before we go see Grandma and Grandpa next week in Colorado. We are SO beyond excited to go! It will be a short trip but completely worth it.

Brody has been pulling himself up on anything and everything. He is doing the same thing Cason used to do. Cason would push a little chair all around the house when he learned how to walk. We do have a walker, but Brody still only goes backwards in it. The chair seems to be working nicely for him. We have had quite a few spills on the hardwood floors, but he has been tough and keeps on truckin'. He is so stinkin cute!

This week has been stressful. On top of a sickness, Brett is in the process of getting his 4th year rotations all figured out. I am freakin out about it! THIS is the worst for me. Not only will i not get to see my husband for 4-6 mths, he will be surrounded by strangers in a strange place. He finds out his list today....I just really hope it all works out the way we want it to. This is going to be a doosey....I am missing him already and he isn't even gone yet.

Not much else is happening really. Oh, Adalie did inform me the other day that she has a boyfriend named Mathew at school. She said to me yesterday, "Mom, I know I am not supposed to have a boyfriend because I am too little, but I do have one. his name is Mathew. I just love him so much!" I asked her who he was and she asked if I remembered that boy she told me about a few weeks ago that said some bad words to her? It was him. Great, she is already lovin' the bad boy type?!?! Although on further inspection, he does not know he is her boyfriend. She also told me she would stop calling him her boyfriend...until she was sixteen, then he could be her boyfriend all SHE wants. haha

 Today I voted. First time ever. I know, I am pathetic and unpatriotic. But living in a state like Texas, my vote is rarely needed. It is a very hard core republican state so I just never bothered. Well, Iowa needed my vote so I registered and voted. Hubby Is so proud. So even if Mr. Romney doesn't win, I at least have the right to complain if the other person does since I did my part. Tomorrow is going to be quite the interesting day. Lots of happy and mad people all at the same time ALL of the US of A. I will say this though, I cannot wait for all the political add and talk to end. It has been very annoying. And Brett has become very obsessed with Fox news. I am tired of the political station on the TV...and the radio. Hurry up and win already Mitt!!

22 Mins

 All three kiddos playing together. No screaming, hitting, biting, bickering, shoving, or name calling....22 minutes of sharing toys and smiling faces.

I'll take it.

New Car!!

 So we got a new car....about a month ago maybe? It's your typical LDS, 8 passenger, Toyota sienna. Seriously, I feel like everyone has these cars but they are SO nice for the money!! And they last FOREVER. Way to go Toyota!! We got an AWESOME deal on it and couldn't pass up the 70,000 miles it had on it either. PLUS 4 new snow tires on their own rims for the winter.....sweeeettt! Seriously, that's like 1,200$ on its own right there, easy. Anywho, i love it. It's white, not my favorite color for a car but it is just so.....nice!! Right now we have the front middle seat out in the garage so we have the bucket seats in the front. We will put it back in when we travel so we can have lots more room in the back with our stow and go seats....another awesome feature. Something else I love, it has a luggage rack. Not that we need it too terribly often, but its nice to have the option. The dodge did not which i thought was pretty odd for a van. OH! And it has a back up camera. Comes in pretty handy in our neighborhood where there are a million kids and it puts me at ease to see exactly whats back there when i am backing up. Anywho, thanks for letting me brag about our new car. Its like a freakin' luxury limo for us =)

 Oh, and now we are cool because we have those family stickers on the back of our car too...even one for little Cooper there!! Ya right - Brett wishes he had that much hair and I wish I was that skinny.... haha

 And just so this post isn't ALL about our new car, here are our adorable children all dressed for church. Brody still has some rash left so he and i stayed home. Cason actually ended up staying home with us too because of a huge tantrum in the car right before he was supposed to leave with dad. The issue????

He was exhausted. I started a movie and about 5 mins into it he fell asleep in his little Cason sized recliner. Thanks a lot daylight savings time for that one! Waking up at 5:30 am is no fun for ANYONE in my opinion.

Being Thankful

 Its what this season is all about eh? Well to get the kids in the mood we made ourselves a "I'm Thankful for..." tree. Each day we get a leaf and write something we are thankful for and add it to a branch.

 So far there are things like, cars, rocks, family, cooper....Brett already wrote the b ones down which i am sure will get repeated. I tend to save all the big ones for last so now my thankful things like Drs and modern medicine seems ridiculous next to Jesus Christ and a loving wife. Way to one up us all Brett... Sheesh =) The tree will look so much better when it has leaves all over it hopefully.

Anwyho, I am doing the Day count thankful thing so here it is so far...
Day 1: I am thankful for baby tylonal. Brody has had a terrible 2 weeks. Ear infections, horrible cough, rubella....absolutely terrible. Baby meds were a life saver and they made him feel so much better.
Day 2: A hardworking hubby. Brett does so much for our little family and does it all without a single complaint. Medical school, a job, 3 kids, a cranky wife, and he still folds laundry and does the dishes. He is in so many ways...amazing.
Day 3: My in-laws. I married into such a wonderful and accepting family that are so easy to love. I know a lot of people aren't as lucky to love their in-laws like I do.

Pumpkin Carving

 How did i forget to post this one?? The Monday before we carved our pumpkins for our Family Home evening activity. Cason and Adalie painted theirs of course, and Brett started on ours. We made pumpkins seeds like we do every year and used your recipe Carrie....YUMMY!!! i usually put butter on mine but adding the sugar was a very nice touch, and not rinsing them off?? Smart!! Somehow I forgot to get a picture of Brett's pumpkin. It was really cool. A witch kitty next to a pumpkin and some bats. Sorry i didn't get it on record babe, but you did GREAT! Anywho, sorry about all the picture post but they are more fun to look at anyway than just words =).

 Cason decided he was not finished during the middle of bath time and got out of the tub in all his glory to add a few more colorful strokes to his pumpkin =)

Halloween Festivities!

 LOTS of pictures just for you Grandma and Grandpa-rado!! And Grandmama and Grandpa Texas if you ever get on here...
 Well Halloween around the B and L Sorensen house was a success! We visited the Pumpkin ranch where we attempted the corn maze for about 15 mins before the kids where like "whats the point??"
 
and rode on a tractor ride to pick out pumpkins.
 
 
 
 
The kids loved picking out their own little pumpkins and seeing all the rotting ones....gross.
 

They had fun on the playground, ate some popcorn, and enjoyed some hot apple cider.
 
 I am a terrible mother who thought we would be ok without jackets since it was quite a beautiful sunny day - but runny noses proved me wrong.

We had a few opportunities to wear our Halloween costumes this year. Our great friends had a wonderful Halloween party. Brett and i looked terrible as vampires, but costumes were required and so we tried.
 



 
 Adalie was a Black Bride, although she kept telling everyone she was a black mom....haha had to stop that quick with all the looks we got. Cason was Spiderman - he has been obsessed with him lately. His favorites episodes are the old ones...like from the 60s and 70s. Really funny stuff.
 
And Brody was....
 
 
The rubella virus. You might need to click on that picture to get the full effect of the rash although even the pictures aren't nearly enough to show how horrible it really is.
 
haha just kidding, he was a Monkey, but a few days later we had quite the scare with this horrible rash.

 I seriously thought he was going to die. It went from being chicken pox, to an allergic reaction, to rubella. Anywho, we are quarantined until the spots go away. But he is as happy as can be spots and all!!

 
We also got to wear our costumes for our Branch trunk or treat. We had it at our old neighborhood and it was sort of a missionary effort thing inviting the whole place. I was the one who sat in the car this year and was a Nazi about handing out the candy. Pet peeve-- older kids who bring a grocery bag, no costumes. and try to come by your car 4 or 5 times and think i am stupid and won't recognize them. Ya, so what I am mean. Sorry

And finally we got to go trick or treating. Twice!! Here in IA we have beggars night - when the kids go out on the 30th instead of 31st (which is a mommy and daddy holiday). This was Cason's first year and he quickly became a pro. Running from house to house and grabbing handfuls. he kept saying "More houses!!!" all night. Adalie took things nice and slow and let everyone here her joke (also required for beggars night) "How do you get a tissue to dance?" you put a little boogie in it!  Brett stayed home with Brody who was infected with who knows what at the time. on the 31st, Our apts had the kids go around here, where we got more needless handfuls of candy. We have more candy than i know what to do with. I have given bags of it away, kindly setting it on peoples cars during the night =), and have even thrown some in the trash. I am pretty sure the kids are starting to think Candy is one of the main food groups around here...

 Halloween 2012 was fun and exciting. Each year someone has been sick on this holiday which is a tradition I hope ends with 2013. Hope everyone had a spooky ooky marvelous Halloween!! I am so extremely excited for the family we get to see with Thanksgiving and Christmas coming soon!!