What have we been up to??

I don't know where this year has gone! I can't believe it is already almost April! So...what have we been up to the last few months...LOTS!!!

Nathan has been making new friends...this is him with his friend Grace. Grace plays at our house a couple days a week and Nate plays at her house a couple days a week. (We trade babysitting while we work!)
Savannah and Jessi were in the Science Fair. Savannah did a project on which gum blows the biggest bubble...Bubble Yum in case you were wondering!

Jessi did a project on which kind of string attracts the most sugar crystals in a super saturated solution (yarn...in case you were wondering).

We've been selling TONS and TONS of girl scout cookies! Between Jessi and Nan we sold over 500 boxes! This is Jessi at a cookie booth that her troop did. She is taking a bite of the cookie!! Silly girl!

The kids and Brennon went up to the Cities and attended a Timberwolves Game. Nate and I stayed home. They all had a really great time and the best part...they got to be on the jumbotron!!! (Thanks to Jessi's fabulous dancing!!!)

Lastly, Savannah had a dance recital. She did a really great job and really knew her stuff!

I can't get the video to download because it is about 5 seconds too long...so if you want to see it let me know and I will email it to you! It is a cute dance!

We are glad to see that our snow is finally starting to melt and we can see the sun again! Now if only it would get above 35...Hurry up Spring!

Pictures

We have a very talented photographer in our ward...so when I realized that we've never gotten all four of the kiddos pictures taken together...she kindly consented to doing a photo shoot for us. Here are the fabulous results! (Don't worry we have the copyright release!!) PS-Thanks Jolene!

Merry Christmas!

Checklist for Christmas:
Presents bought....check
Presents wrapped....check
6 feet of snow...check (and we're NOT kidding)
Christmas treats made...check
House decorated....check
Put up the tree...check
Visit Santa...check

We noted that this is the 10th year that we've had our picture taken with this same Santa! It has been every year since 2000. Hard to believe. We decided to post our favorite old one! Its a 2002 classic...Savannah is running away and Jessi is looking mighty concerned...plus Santa looks a bit disgruntled!!!
Look how far we've come!!

Merry Christmas everyone! We are sure excited! We hope you are too!

The Olsen Elves

We had fun making this so I hope you have fun watching it! Merry Christmas!


http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/r8h57l1xP3B3suItDiDB

The "New"s

We've had a lot of "new"s lately so we thought we'd share a few...
First of all...we had to buy a new car. Our poor little reliable Mazda truck blew up on us, so we traded it in for a Honda Accord. We are loving our new little car! It is fabulous! It fits our family better than the truck did anyways, plus its not rear wheel drive and the kids really love that it has windows that they can roll down (you must have your priorities!!!)

Next, Zach lost his tooth...sort of...ok, well he had to get it pulled...but he has a fantastic window right in front now! His tooth got an abcess and we had to get it pulled so it didn't infect his big tooth! Unfortunately, the big tooth really isn't that close to coming in...so we will have a window in the front for a while!

We've been remodeling and redecorating our house! We finally finished the spare room in the basement. Drywall, carpet and a few layers of paint later, Savannah has a new room. It is cute...we still have a few finishing touches we need to put on it...but it is livable and she is loving having her own room!

More of Nan's room!

We also redid the boys room and moved Jessi into it! Here is the before picture...

...and here is the after picture of Jessi's new room. She is also enjoying having her own room...though Nate is still sleeping there because we haven't finished the boy's new room yet!

We are redoing the girl's old room in the basement for the boys. We have moved Zach down there but haven't gotten in repainted yet...so we will post pictures when that is done! Needless to say...it has been a busy little bit! In final news...Nathan had an appointment with the cardiologist and his VSD is gone...we are soo happy! No open heart surgery. He still has a murmur, but it is a Still's murmur...also known as an "innocent childhood murmur"! Counting our blessings! Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

Look Who's 2!!

We can hardly believe that it has been two years since Nathan joined our family. He is a constant bright spot in our busy lives! We have been asked my multiple people if he is ever grumpy because he is ALWAYS smiling! He is turning into a fun little boy! He loves to play with his brother and sisters. He is talking more each day and becoming increasingly independent! We are sure glad he decided to be a part of our family!!! Happy Birthday Nathan! We love you!

Zach's Birthday Train Ride

For Zach's 6th Birthday he decided that instead of having a party this year he wanted to go on a train ride. So, yesterday we drove about two hours to Osceola, Wisconsin to ride the train. We took a train ride down the St. Croix River. We saw deer, turtles, and beautiful fall leaves. It was a fun trip! Here are some pictures.
All Aboard! The kids loading up on the train!

This is our train arriving into the station. We were waiting to board when it pulled in.

Zach and Jessi standing by the railroad crossing sign! He was so excited!!

Everyone standing by the old caboose.

Waiting outside the train station for our train to arrive.