Adri's 12th Birthday!

Adri talked us into giving her this awesome bike a day early.  On her Birthday she woke up at 5:30 a.m., got herself ready and headed out to ride her bike for a couple of hours before school started.  I think she likes it!

Adri started out her birthday on Thursday having a party with the Sorensen bunch.

Adri loved all of her birthday gifts!  These are big jawbreakers on a stick!

Her second party was Friday after school.

Her friends walked home with her and they immediately got busy and painted their own picture frames.  We had a picture of all of them sent to the one hour photo so they could have a fun reminder of the party.

After we finished the frames we headed up to Adri's grandpa and grandma's house to eat pizza and watch a movie in their theater room.

It was a fun day!!!  Happy Birthday Adri!
You're growing up so fast!

YES!!!

SCHOOL IS IN SESSION!
Bye, bye kids - mom loves you!!! :)

Tori - a mighty 9th grader! (she prefers 'freshman')

Adri - an awesome 6th grader

Justus - a sophomore in High School

New Toy for Adri

We came across this puppy in kind of a weird way.  We were at a party and one of Jake's friends heard we had kitten's and wanted to know if we would trade a kitten for a puppy.  UGH!  I was all against it, but the rest of the family wanted another dog.  Obviously I lost.  But he is such a cute mellow little thing you can't help but love him.  He was kind of sad the first couple of days and Adri had to sleep on the kitchen floor with him, but now he's doing great.  I also forgot to mention that they ended up taking 2 kittens, so it was a great deal!

 

Jasper and Chance, as the new puppy has come to be known, are finally getting along.  It took Jasper a couple of days to accept the intruder. 

Easter Weekend

Saturday we went to Jake's mom's for an Easter party and after a very rainy egg hunt we ended up with 3 baby chicks!  Our house is turning into a zoo!!!  Here's a picture of the kids holding their babes.  Justus has decided to build a chicken coop out back.  We'll see how that all turns out.

You can tell that Justus was woken up way to early Easter morning by a very eager Adri.  He got a new suit for church and he looks very handsome in it.  What's even better is he actually likes it!

Tori also got woken up too early.  She was trying really hard to show some excitement, but it just wasn't there.  She got a new Easter outfit to wear to church and a really cute necklace.

Adri was so busy unloading her basket she hardly had time for a picture.  She also got a new outfit for church and some summer shorts.  The candy seems to be her favorite though!

The Easter Bunny even brought us a waffle maker for breakfast.  That was part of the reason I forgot to get a picture of them in their Easter duds before church.  We kind of ran into a few problem making our waffles.  But after one trip to my mom's and a trip to the neighbor's we were finally able to fill everyone up!  Church was nice.  I taught the lesson in my Primary class and was so scared that the kids would be bouncing off the walls, but they weren't.  They sat quietly for the most part and listened to the Easter lesson.  After church we went to my mom's and had another great party, but I forgot my camera! :(

Spring Additions!

We've been busy over Spring Break adding to our family.  Our cat gave birth to way too many kittens.  Six to be exact!  Adri is in love and has named them all:  Napoleon, Kipp, LaFonda, Deb, Phoenix, and Fla-ex (?). Not sure about that last name, sounds a little made up to me and also LaFonda is one of the white kitties?????  Anyone in the market for a kitty?  Please!  They'll be ready in 6 weeks!  

It's Official!

Justus is an Eagle Scout!  He met for his eagle board of review last night and became an official Eagle Scout!  He didn't think he would survive all of the paperwork, but he did it!  YAY!  Now we just have to wait a few weeks for the paperwork to come back and he can have his court of honor.  We're so proud of you Justus!

~AND~

Adri graduated from the D.A.R.E. program.  Way to go Adri!!!  Justus and Tori are jealous of her cool shirt.  When they graduated D.A.R.E. their shirts weren't nearly as cool!  

Happy 11th Birthday Adri!!!

Adri designed and made her own birthday cards this year - she did an awesome job!  They were a lot of work for her and she was very glad to be done after making enough to give to family.

Tori made Adri's birthday sign.  LOVE IT!

Adri wanted to serve cupcakes for the treat since she put a cupcake on the invitation.  We also found a new treat that was wrapped in orange and had blue writing to go along with her colors.  If you haven't tried 'Reese's Whipps' you need to give them a try.  YUM!

 

Jake and I decorated the best we could. :)

Amber, Kade, Kevin and Grandma Sorensen

Kade, Cole and Tate playing with Adri's guinea pigs.

Beautiful Kacie.

Josie, Wendy and Mallory hiding away.

Hayes and cute little Addie.

Grandpa Mike, Grandma Bonnie, Emma, Taylor (she has the same b-day as Adri), Tori and little baby Allie.

Adri absolutely LOVES the game LIFE.  She plays it with Grandma Sorensen for HOURS!!!  So we decided it was time for her to have her own.

Adri also got an origami book that should keep her very entertained.  She received lots of fun presents and was a pretty happy girl.  Thanks to our family for all the fun gifts and for coming to Adri's awesome birthday!

What does Adri do in her spare time?

Baby the cat of course! Oh Adri! You are quite the girl!

I'm amazed at how content the cat looks in the stroller. Her eyes look a little glazed over. Maybe Adri put catnip in a bottle and fed her too.

Who knows with that girl!!!

Annual Gingerbread House Making!

Tori really gets into making her gingerbread house.  She always seems to take the longest, but her house always looks very precise and beautiful.  Adri made sure that Grandma Sorensen didn't forget about the event.  The minute she was home from visiting cousins in Ohio Adri got right on her about getting it scheduled.  Grandma didn't fail us!  She built 17 houses for all the grandkids and one for herself!  Justus is boycotting cold weather and refused to do a typical gingerbread house.....  see more below!

Here's Adri working on her gingerbread house.  This is very toned down for her.  Usually she's trying to put as much candy on as possible so she can snack on it later.  She did however insist on blue icing.  It came in handy for Justus' too.

This is Justus hard at work on his beach house.  Ha, ha!  The kid cracks me up! 

We do know how to build a mess!  This is Grandma, Wendy (working on baby Allie's gingerbread house, Adri and Codi.  See that tummy hiding behind the chair?  Codi is due in 2 days and insists that baby boy will come exactly on time.  We hope she's right!  We can't wait to meet him!

Tori, Mallory, Josie and Gracie are working hard.  Tate is being crazy! ;)

Tori and her beautiful house!  Great job Tori!!!  She has to have everything just so, right down to the pattern of cookies on her roof and perfectly aligned fence.

This is pretty much what happens to Adri's gingerbread house.  It goes within days!  Wonderful work Adri!!!  Maybe just a bit messy though!

And here we have Justus' master piece complete with ocean, thatched roof, surf board and palm tree!  Way to get creative Justus'!

All he wants for Christmas is a real good tan!