Joel, Kendra and Travis!! 11.24-29.2011

Joel and Kendra, It was so wonderful to spend some time with you again!! SUCH a joy to meet your little love, Travis!! Loved watching the kids play together! It didn't feel like it had been 2 years since we had been together, but already feels like forever since we have seen you! Thanks for coming to visit us! We so appreciate it! Here is to getting together sooner next time! 

 Play-doh and waffles! Yes :)

Amazingly, we have had a ton of sunshine this winter (knock on wood!). After breakfast we headed out on a walk ...

 Uncle Joel got daddy and Carson going on this sweet elevator move! All kids, even Paislee have now perfected it!

 It was pretty cute how Austynn was taken with Uncle Joel. Guess he reminded her of her daddy!

 Grandpa and Mimi came on Saturday for another Thanksgiving meal! Mimi brought these fun hats for the kiddos!

 Somehow Joel often ended up sandwiched between Travis and Paislee, both who often had very sticky fingers!

 Carson and Austynn got to go to the motel with Grandpa and Mimi on Saturday night (thanks!), so the babes enjoyed some free play time!! Nice style, huh :)

 And this was our typical sleep situation with Austynn, who wanted to be right by us. I had to go pick the babe up from the motel at 12:30am, as she was SCREAMING for her mom. She is strong-willed in her own little quiet way!

 We ate at Qdoba after church on Sunday

 Sunday afternoon we put the babes down and enjoyed some Bronco football! We are LOVING getting the games lately, as they have been winning. The kids are into it, too. They say "Go Tebow!" "Don't get hurt Tebow!" It is pretty funny! Carson says "the Broncos have won 3 in a row, right dad, right?" Mitch says, no 6 Carson! 

Travi was more happy sleeping in mom's arms than in the crib!

 A sweet smile for mom, who took this pic!

 And this is Monday afternoon/evening as people are awaking from naps :)!! Joel and Kendra, this is what we love about you - we can just relax, chill, hang out, and enjoy each other.

Here are a couple videos of our fun times!

Thanksgiving Festivities! 11.23,24.2011

We had our annual taco feed on Thanksgiving Eve! :)

 Nana and Papa made a Hallmark Christmas book that recorded their voices on it for the kids, so they are enjoying that after waking up from their naps :)

 Austy got a bday flamingo puppet for her bday - Mitzi was quick to check it out! :)

 On Thanksgiving we headed to Corvallis for some yummy food! And then Mitch and I got to go to PDX, solo!, to pick up Joel, Kendra, and Travis, who came to stay with us!! Thanks for watching the kids dad and mom! My bro took this shot of us when we walked in the door :)

 Quite a group they had at their house! Liked how the tables were set for us all to eat together!

Daddy time! Nov 22, 2011

We are enjoying having daddy home for an extended period of time this Thanksgiving! His first day off was Tuesday, so we took the kiddos bowling :) This was a first and it was really fun!

But first...here are our little Bronco/Tebow fans, on Friday, after they beat the Jets in their Thursday night game!

 Paislee wanted to kick it and would kick and lay down to get the ball down the lane :)

 Carson really got the hang of it and would run up, drop the ball 3 ft and let it roll - it was great! I didn't get a video of him after he caught on, but have a couple of the girls.

 We came home, had lunch, put Paislee down and the kids got to work outside with dad all afternoon!! They loved it and SO DID I!!! Agghhh, a mental break and I got a lot of cooking done!

 All the kids were tired, but the girls really wanted to fight sleeping, so we got them up and they helped daddy make turkey cupcakes :) I had to change Paislee's jammies, as she ended up w chocolate all over her!

 Nice work daddy :)

Austy Pie's 3rd BDay Party! November 12, 2011

Austynn decided she wanted a princess cake for her birthday, so of course, Mitch delivered with this adorable crown/castle cake combo! Such fun!! Nice work daddy Fransen!

 We did breakfast items for our meal this year, and here is Austynn eating a LOT of oranges before everyone arrived :)

Our meal included a bunch of Grandpa's famous blueberry muffins (thank you!), scrambled eggs, bacon, tortillas (to make a burrito with), twice baked breakfast potatoes, fruit, OJ, and coffee - yum!

 Here is Austy in her chair, waiting for her presents, that Carson decided he would deliver to her ...

 ... well, you can see who was into the gifts - both! Carson has been crazy excited about Austynn's bday and party! Austynn finally showed some excitement Saturday AM when she knew people were coming over. So interesting to see such different personalities shine through! On Monday, when I was giving them their brk, she informed me that she should get hers first bc she was the "birthday girl" :) Ok, she got into it and stayed into it! I had to explain that she is now 3 and it isn't just her birthday anymore :)

 Austynn enjoying checking out her new camera, wearing her new slipper/shoes!

 Oh, and our Carsman got a camera, too! :) Pretty cool, bud!

 Poor Pais, feeling so icky! Papa and Grandpa got Austynn's new bike put together. Time to hit the bike path!

 Cake time for Princess Austynn! 

Ohhh, for my video camera during this sequence of pictures! I found a variety of candles, not knowing what we might use, and these were sparkler candles, which I thought sounded fun, plus they are tall. I did not even read any further than that (or I would of had my video camera handy!). They were the kind that re-lit themselves. However, only the one was doing it. It was sooooo funny! Maybe even more so, as none of us knew it was going to happen!

 Serious business now; she has the stick going (who knows where this came from!).

 Everyone pitched in to help her! :) I got a good laugh out of this!

Happy 3rd birthday, Austynn Faith! I am amazed at how big you are acting and looking. You are such a beautiful princess on the inside and outside! We love you!!

Mom brought a turkey craft for the kids to work on! Fun to hear what they were thankful for, though we did give them some scenarios, as it was getting late :) Thanks for your help with all the kids over the weekend, mom!

 And, we will end with our Paislee girl :) She was either laying on you crashed or throwing a fit! Man, she is another strong-willed little cookie. She didn't have a clue what she wanted or didn't want, so she would just throw this huge fit! I finally just took a picture of the poor babe.