Swensen Sentral

This is the theme of today. (And this picture describes perfectly how I feel.) Not only is Sawyer still waking up ever couple hours in the night, but Chase had the stomach flu last night and was throwing up big time. I know I got up with him at least 3 separate times when he had to puke. I know what you're thinking, where is Rick? Well, he hurt his back a few days ago and hasn't been able to get around very well, let alone bend over a puking child, so he wasn't able to help. I seriously felt like I was going between nursing baby and puking child all night long. And then Rick wakes up at 5:30 to get ready for school just after I got the baby to sleep and wakes him up! Ahhh! I didn't know whether to scream or just start crying. So he takes Sawyer upstairs and puts him in the swing (which always puts him out) and then Chase comes and crawls in bed with me and then Amelie wakes up because she can hear movement in the house and is upset that Chase isn't in his be...

I got so busy that I skipped over posting Christmas! What was I thinking? Ok, I wasn't thinking. Here are some photos from a wonderful day. Saw The Princess and the Frog on Christmas Eve. Cute flick. Watch out for Spider-Jedi. Santa thought Amelie was good. Sawyer wondering what all the commotion is about. Dad's gift to Chase. You can see dad is having fun with them. Gingerbread houses at Grandma's. Amelie likes sugar more than building.

Last year, I decided to make 3 New Year's Resolutions. I'm a go-getter so I have a tendency to make way too long "to do" lists that I never finish, and that same tendency falls into making goals for myself and then I end up with so many that I can't focus and do well on any of them so I just stop making them....ok breathe! Keeping it simple with three worked pretty well last year so I'm going to stick with 3 again. It's always been my lucky number anyway. So here are the resolutions that I've come up with this year. 1) read the Sunday School lesson every Sunday beforehand 2) learn to play the hymns 3) build a 3-month supply of food storage There. That should do it. I'll work on the details later, but at least I've got them in writing. That makes them official right? Now wish me luck!

Rick blessed SAWYER JAMES SWENSEN on Sunday. We had a small group of family there to share the experience, and a brunch at our house afterward. It was a nice day and we are so grateful to have Sawyer in our family. Rick blessed Sawyer on Sunday. We had a small group of family there to share the experience, and a brunch at our house afterward. It was a nice day and we are so grateful to have Sawyer in our family.

Rick celebrated his Golden Birthday last week, turning 30 on December 30th. I wanted to make it a day to remember, so I planned a surprise party for him. After seeing Avatar in the afternoon (which we both really liked) we showed up for "dinner for two" at The Pizza Factory, which turned into dinner for 24. It turned out to actually be a surprise (which is hard to do with Rick) so I was very pleased with myself. Thanks to all the friends and family that came. Amongst the commotion I didn't take pictures of everyone, so here are a few friends that came.

Yesterday I was eating the last of the ice cream cake from Rick's birthday. (Don't worry, he gave me permission.) Amelie wanted some too so I gave her the last piece of strawberry, and took the last piece of chocolate for myself. I set them both on the table thinking she wouldn't notice the difference, and first thing she said when she saw it was, "I don't want this kind. I want chocolate. Chocolate's my favorite." "But I want chocolate" I replied. "No I do" she said. So I reluctantly cut mine in half and gave it to her. Happily, we both ate our cake. Later that day she found some chocolate candy on the counter. She popped one in her mouth and then came over to me and asked (with chocolate drooling out) "Mom, can I have a piece of chocolate?" "Ummm, don't you already have some in your mouth?" I said. "Yeah." she replied. "Next time please ask me first okay?" "Ok" Later ...

Tonight I needed a snack. I went upstairs and searched the cupboards. The Nutella caught my eye. I pulled it out and slopped it on two pieces of bread. Then I needed a drink to go with it. Hmmm...milk is good with chocolate...but even better than milk is chocolate milk. So I proceeded to make myself some chocolate milk. Mmmm, yummy snack, chocolate on bread and chocolate milk. I justify it as a "healthy" snack because the bread was whole wheat, and the chocolate milk was Instant Carnation, filled with vitamins and other stuff that's supposed to be good for you. I love chocolate.