Hello everyone!  Sorry for the radio silence on the blog lately, that doesn't mean it's been quiet around here. We have had plenty going on to keep us busy.......Dennis had an important birthday.

We have had some snow in January and some seasonal days to play outside (although Jack will play outside in any weather, the cold doesn't bother him one bit!)

The boys were very disappointed the Steeler's didn't make it to the Super Bowl this year, especially poor Jack, he's been sooooo into watching football.  He cried when they lost in the play-offs.  It's so cute to watch him and Dennis enjoy watching football and tossing the ball together.  Jack is pumped that it's team spirit day at school this Friday and plans to wear his Big Ben jersey.

........and a random moment too cute not to share.....these two are best friends one minute and in a huge brawl the next, such are sibling relationships I guess.  They are also warming Mom & Dad's hearts one minute and driving us absolutely crazy the next, I think a little bit of both at this moment.

 Stella playing with her baby brother on a very cold winter day we spend at home keeping warm.  While playing with Reed this morning she said to me, "Mom, can we get another baby.....I just loooove babies!"  Me too honey, me too :)

 and what blog post would be complete without a Reed update!  Here is is at 3 months - he'll be 4 months in a week.  He is such a happy, smiley little guy.....and very strong!  He can roll from tummy to back and is soooooo close from back to tummy!  He's an active boy already, he loves to jump and kick.  Reed is also teething already, he can't keep his fingers out of his mouth and he needs a bib a lot of the time to catch all the drool.  We got an early Christmas present - Reed's first laugh on December 23rd.  He's very ticklish and if you get the right spot he will belly laugh and giggle.  Reed is the only one is the house that no one gets mad at - there's only love for this little man and we're soaking it up while it lasts :)

Well I guess that's all for today  - Reed just had a blow out and spit up all over his outfit (and mine) - so I'm off to give him a bath and change.  Happy Monday friends!

Churness Christmas 2014

The beautiful Churness Christmas tree &

Stella photo-bombing the picture

There's a tradition in our family that one person would wears a Santa hat and pass out all the presents each year, it was usually the youngest, so Loren got stuck with the job for a long time.......he has since passed the baton onto Jack and I don't think he minds giving up his Santa's helper duties one bit :)

elf Jack

and maybe the baton will get passed onto this little cutie one day

Jack got a folder for his football cards, and had them in there all organized in no time flat.  It is fun how into watching football (and sports in general) he has gotten this year.  My only concern is that I will also have to strap the blood pressure cuff on him one day (if you don't know the story behind this, just ask Dennis next time you see him!)

Happy birthday Grandma - the Big 6-0!!

Stella has worn her new robe almost every day since she got it, she would wear it to school if I let her....we can hope for a pajama day I guess.

playing with Jack's new Simon game, this was huge when we were kids and brings back nostalgic feelings having one around again and hearing it's beep, beep........beep, beep, beep 

and of course the sweetest little baby on the planet, our smiley and cuddle bug Reed.....he was a champ through all the hustle and bustle of the holidays.

We had a great time having our Churness Clan Christmas.  We traveled to Durand the day after Christmas, which is also Grandma's birthday, so we had double duty celebrations.  We feasted and opened gifts and the kids completely destroyed my parents house with all their new toys.  The next day we had a fun little bowling outing complete with a present stealing, white elephant type game.  We had a lot of fun and props to my parents for coordinating this fun activity for everyone.

And this officially concludes the holiday posts!  A big thank you to all our family for your generosity and great company throughout this wonderful season.  We are slowly moving through the house tackling one area at a time cleaning things out and finding a home for all our new toys.  Because I like organization projects, I actually like the month of January because it's my "get organized, out with the old, in with the new" month.  It always feels good to freshen things up around the house, find some new go-to recipes and get motivated for a fresh start and a new year!

Here's to a great 2015 everyone. Stay warm!

Christmas 2014

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and your new year is off to a great start!  Temps are dropping quick, so staying in as much as possible and a lot of homemade soups are in order around here!

We were joined by the Vogel clan this year for Christmas and we had a very fun,relaxing and low-key holiday.  Christmas Eve we went to church and came home and had a big fancy Norwegian feast, complete with lefse, meatballs and brown goat cheese.  Speaking of which, Stella is obsessed with brown goat cheese (not to be mistaken by the much milder white goat cheese) which makes complete sense for her as she always likes the most random things for a kid.  We opened our family presents, set food out for the reindeer and milk and cookies for Santa and called it a night.

Christmas morning we watched the kids open their presents from Santa.  The joy on their little faces just radiates the magic of Christmas and believing in something special.  We proceeded to have brunch in our pajamas, played in our pajamas, watched Home Alone in our pajamas, ate some more, played with the kids some more and topped the night off with watching Christmas Vacation and a competitive Farkle championship.

CHEERS EVERYONE!

Reindeer food and carrots......check.  Milk and cookies.......check.

I guess this means the kids were good this year.

 movie cuddles

Hope you all had a merry grinchmas!

Christmas Programs

We're playing catch-up here with a few more Christmas moments that are too cute not to share.  Jack's school Christmas program - he's the shepherd rocking the bowtie :)

And here are the two cutest spectators around, Simone and Stella there to support their big brothers.

Here are a couple pictures from the kids Sunday school Christmas program; Stella the star & Jack, once again a shepherd.