Pinch Me Three Times

I still have moments where I stop and think to myself, I have three kids!....three healthy, beautiful, happy kids.....three little people that call me mom and depend on me to be there for them.  My heart is bursting with joy and it's overwhelming all at the same time.  I have moments that I'm driving and I have to stop and think, how many kids are back there? do I have everyone I'm supposed to right now?  It's a pretty big job being Mommy for these three, a job I take seriously, and am grateful for every day!  

Three kids........and one is going to be seven this spring, crazy!

Kid #1

Kid #2


Kid #3

the three amigos in their PJ's.... because you know, I have that thing for holiday jammies :)

Happy Tuesday Friends

Our Valentine's Weekend

We had a low key, family fun Valentine's this year.  Friday night Dennis, Reed and I went out to dinner while the kids enjoyed a fun night.... a lock-in at the school gym for Jack (where he apparently played kick ball for 2 hours straight) and for Stella her dance studio where she learned the cutest dance to the the tune of "You are My Sunshine."  Saturday we hit up the local roller skating rink where the kids went roller skating......Stella spent most of her time in the jumpy playhouse, but at least she gave the roller skates a shot.  I felt like I was back in middle school again being at the rink, they still have the disco balls, colorful lights, and flashy carpet walls, just like I remember.  After skating, we went out for a family dinner and headed home open our Valentine's and watch "a movie about love"......Stella's request.  

This little cutie was just along for the ride, and was so good.....he spent the whole afternoon napping in his seat while at the skating rink, and stole the show at dinner all decked out in his Valentine's outfit.  Since we had all three kiddos and no dinner reservations, the pickings were slim for restaurant choices, so we chose a venue that frequents a lot of, ahem, blue hairs, and being the kids eat around 5:30....it was prime time for little old ladies to stop by and admire the baby.....Reed ate up all the attention and flashed his big smiles. 

our little Valentine

Last night we topped off the weekend of love with "breakfast for dinner".....heart shaped pancakes with red and pink sprinkles.  I'm thinking of making this meal our Sunday night tradition since we don't have time in the morning because we usually go to 8:30 church followed by Sunday school, but who doesn't love a meal of pancakes, bacon and eggs anytime?!

It was great to spend some time together as a family this weekend, it seems like we've had a busy 2015 so far and things don't show any sign of slowing down anytime soon, so gotta soak up precious family time when we can.  And speaking of this family of ours, Dennis and I started our journey towards building our family 10 years ago this month when he proposed!  How fast time the time has gone since then.  Happy Valentine's all! 

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.