Easter Celebrations

 Easter was a great day, fun was had by all and the kids were crazy maniacs until all the eggs were found. The bunny hid baskets in our bungalow in the back and hid a bunch of eggs in the back garden. Luckily the kids found the eggs before it started to rain. When Taylor and Brennan ran off the bungalow porch to race to an egg it ended with a basket down. Taylor was devastated as she looked on in horror to her basket thrown everywhere. We were able to get everything up and she pressed on in good spirits.

 We had a fantastic night colouring eggs on Saturday. I had boiled 4 dozen eggs, cracked 3 eggs in the cooking process--or getting out of the pot process. We actually had 3 cracked while colouring that we couldn't salvage, and a few others suffered some fractures. Overall, it was fun to have the kids enjoying themselves and making messes. A positive note is we only spilt one cup of colour this year! That is an improvement.

 I love that Mike was posing for this picture and Mason was giggling while licking the eggs.

April Showers

You have heard the phrase, "April showers bring May flowers," England is taking this to a whole new level this year. In fact, we were in a drought, they banned the use of garden hoses. Mother Nature responded with a few rain storms, and decided to show us all what she could do with not stopping. These pictures were taken a month ago, when the kids thought it was fun it was raining. They don't have that same enthusiasm now a days. Apparently this is the wettest April we have had for over 100 years.

Catching Memories

Audley End --rewind post

Mike finally downloaded his phones massive amount of pictures onto my computer, so you might find a few rewinds on here in the next few days. This is just a church we passed on the way to Audley End, and we stopped on the way back home to get a few pictures and because Aunt Kellie loved these churches. I can't lie--they are one thing I am really going to miss about England.

Audley End House and Gardens, however, we were only able to do the gardens because the house was still closed for the season. There was a demonstration about side saddle riding that was very interesting and the kids loved. I think Grandma loved it even more!

We were able to go into the stables and meet the horses, which were HUGE! We didn't get a picture of  the outside of the stables, but let's just say those horses and any horses that have graced the presence of Audley End are very spoiled. Taylor dressed up as a little servant so she could pretend to muck out the stalls and decided that she wasn't going to like that job.

Audley End had its own fire crew and the boys were loving the old firetruck!

Walking around the massive estate and enjoying the beautiful English sun!

I just had to include the picture of Taylor screaming, I think she is still trying to find her fit into the family dynamic.

Visitor Farewell

All good things must come to an end! Thanks to Grandma and Aunt Kellie for all of your help and the fun memories we get to keep from your visit! I do love that Taylor is more worried about her toe in this picture than looking at the camera. :) She had stubbed her toe on her door running away from spiders she saw in her room and basically ripped the skin at the base of the toe WIDE open. If it wasn't for the location then stitches would have been needed, but apparently they won't put stitches in the crease of your toes--who knew? I also just realized that Mason is covered in all his lovely drool of the day as well! Well, no one can peg me for one of those people who need everything looking perfect all the time! :)

The more the merrier

In a household with five children one thing is for sure, you are never without a helper in this house! Sometimes the helpers are very eager to step up to the plate, other times they need a little bribe. It is so fun watching each of the kids and how they react to Cameron and all his little needs throughout a day. Taylor did get a little surprise when she opened that diaper and pee was coming right towards her, good thing she just laughed about it!

Brennan and his bike helmet. I love it, he wears it a lot, and I mean a lot! He did insist that for some reason he needed the straps over his eyes to take the diaper to the bin.

As much as Carter helps with Cameron, I realized that we hadn't taken a lot of pictures with him doing so. Carter loves to feel like a big kid and doing things that the others aren't allowed to do, like take Cameron up and down stairs etc.

So much love!!

Blessing Day

Cameron decided he should look and smell his best for his big day. He absolutely loved the bath, and the other kids thought it was silly we were washing him in the sink.

People look grumpy because the sun was in their eyes and they were just irritated in general, so although not the best family picture, we are one happy family of 7 people now!

Finally found a shady spot and the kids were a bit happier about pictures being taken. The Christiansen Brood of children--and what a brood it is!

March 25, 2012 Cameron Argyle Christiansen was blessed by his daddy and we are so grateful for his precious spirit in our family. We all can't wait for the years to come to get to know him and his ever growing personality.