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.

Piano Recital and Nate's new word...

The girls had a piano recital on Saturday September 25th...of course they both did an excellent job despite claiming nervousness the whole way to the recital! They played individual pieces and duets with their teacher. It was fun to listen to! They are really making progress in their piano skills. Way to go girls!!

In other news...Nathan has a new word...see if you can guess what it is...

Did you catch it? Whee...whee...whee...! Cracks me up! Hope everyone is having a great September!

Bitten off more than we can chew??

So, today the "fall" officially begins in our house. It is once again back to school time. Not for the kids...yet...but for me! I started school...again...today. I have been dreading this, but feel like it is something I need to do. I am working towards my Nurse Practitioner. Ugh! Between that...work, Bren's work, Bren's school, four kids etc. I am starting to feel like maybe we have bitten off more than we can chew...again! I just need to keep reminding myself that we seem to do best under pressure and we will take it all one day at time. Everytime I go to the first day of class I feel overwhelmed. But I always make it through in the end. We can do it...just keep us in your prayers!

We hope everyone else is getting excited to kick off their own personal fall! I love, love, love fall! I get so excited for the cool, crisp nights, the pumpkin patch hunting, the holidays, the BIRTHDAYS...! Can't wait!