highlights of 2013

 the only resolution i made this year was to get more pictures of all four kids

and connect with each of them on a daily basis

i think i did pretty well on both accounts

 at the beginning of january noah started martial arts

i took a quick trip to washington to see my family during a trying time for one of my siblings

olive went through a real busy phase....

in february michael and i got a feeling that there needed to be a baby #5

at the end of march eleanor outgrew her milk protein allergy and then  turned one the next week

a few days later hazel broke her finger at preschool

and then noah turned 7 and had a sweet party 

 michael and i said goodbye to the office

luckily our relationship survived it! 

hazel turned five

olive turned three

 and a few weeks later we went to disneyland

 and came home and found out i was pregnant like the next day

olive got her first haircut (gulp!)

noah started 2nd grade 

hazel started kindergarten a week later

i got some of my favorite pics of all four kids

we went to washington for my grandma's funeral in november 

a few days after we got home, we found out baby #5 is a boy!!! 

we went on a babymoon the next day

while grandma and grandpa olson watched the kids

we had a nice thanksgiving at home

as well as Christmas

it has been a great year

a few things we're looking forward to in 2014 are....

having our baby boy

michael graduating

noah getting baptized

getting a job

moving

and our kids turning 8, 6, 4, 2, and newborn

i'm nervous and excited all at the same time

it's going to be a huge year

but we're ready for it!

eleanor's best kept secret

eleanor has such curly hair

that you would never know how long it is!
it goes down to her shoulders in the back

where on earth did these curls come from?

Christmas!

last night the kids set out some milk and cookies for santa 

(fyi: i have bluntly told them in the past that santa is not real when they've asked

and they still choose to believe in him anyway so we go with it)

olive and hazel woke up several times in the night anxious to open presents

the longest i could hold them off was like 6:30am

 they're so tired and so excited 

 i didn't put presents under the tree until last night

so they were scoping them all out first thing

 we had them open their stockings first

 eleanor was allllll about the candy

all day long she kept saying, "open, open"

 then we let them open their presents from santa

 noah's remote control helicopter

 michael has been eyeing a silicone beater blade for making cookies in the kitchen-aid 

but sadly this is for a small kitchen-aid and ours is large so we'll have to return it
i also got him a little computer to program, a swiss army knife, and a watch

 oh olive and your love of tiny toys

 michael got me the prettiest calendar and some make up i wanted (and LOVE already)

and we made hopefully a new tradition of writing funny names on each other's tags

 eleanor didn't have enough arms for her new doll, ball and bottle 

she kept dropping one and needing help
eleanor also got a big plastic bus that all the kids love

 taking his helicopter for a spin
he also got a few ninjago sets, the book ms nelson is missing, a scooter
and pajamas

 we got hazel this cute dress and she loved it

but michael didn't love that it made her look 16
hazel also got a knock-off american girl doll, junie b jones books, a writing journal

 for breakfast we made reindeer pancakes 

 michael also bought me this pretty robe

i looove it

 olive loves her new elsa dress

 she and hazel wore their frozen dresses to see the movie again

noah and ella wore christmas jammies

and we all enjoyed seeing it again

we came home and made christmas dinner

we had roles, asparagus, sparkling cider, egg nog, scalloped potatoes, roast, and jello

 noah was so grossed out in the next two pictures of olive and eleanor 

putting their fingers in the whipped cream

and eating it 

 his face is cracking me up

it was a really nice quiet Christmas at home

michael and i are both super tired

but we pushed through and un-decorated a bit

and even went through the kids toys so we aren't completely overrun by them

MERRY CHRISTMAS! 

Christmas eve

we planned on going out to breakfast at our favorite restaurant

but it was closed

so we went to mcdonalds, DI, and target

and then home to drop me, noah, and ella off 

while michael, hazel, and olive went and saw free birds in the dollar theater

noah didn't want to go, he likes to be home, and ella needed a nap pretty bad

i enjoyed the downtime to clean

tonight we let the kids each open one present

new jammies i made and slippers they picked out at costco

 eleanor didn't look too impressed

maybe it's because she didn't get slippers...

in our defense, they were all too big for her

 cutie pants

 i think this is where i told them that they got Despicable Me 2 from my brother and his family for Christmas

and that we would watch it tonight

 pretty baby

 now we're going to eat pizza and watch the movie until bedtime

when michael and i get everything all ready for tomorrow

Merry Christmas Eve!