Three Little Words I've Heard Three Times

Spitting, the cutest habit ever!

2008-11-10T16:45:00.000-08:00

I know spitting is a nasty habit, but at 5 months I think it is the cutest thing. Here is a clip of Sophers showing off her new talent! (Don't mind the background noise. That would be my oldest daughter yelling my name from downstairs. I am trying to teach her the importance of coming to me to talk instead of yelling my name to get my attention). Needless to say we are still working on that!

Hawaiian Chair

2008-11-09T11:00:00.001-08:00

I got this from my cousins blog. All I can say is HILARIOUS! Check it out for a good laugh.

Maddie Mayhem

2008-11-03T10:34:00.000-08:00

Here is Maddie, our "happy I'll give you a smile anytime" little girl. Notice her right pinkie in this picture. Maddie's Mayhem occurred the day before this picture was taken and instead of this beautiful smile, we had many o' tears. Maddie gave the van sliding door a push from the back (not the handle side) and got her pinkie completely shut in the door. I'll spare you the details. I'm sure your imagination can give you a detailed vision of the situation! We spend 5 hours at the doctors (waiting time, x-rays etc.) Maddie handled this horrible situation like a champ...get better soon Maddie!

Halloween 2008

2008-10-31T22:35:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful Halloween. It was fun to watch the excitement on our kids faces and they put their costumes on and held tightly to the bag that would hold the mass amounts of candy they would receive in a matter of minutes. However, it didn't quite turn out as I expected. Most children run from house to house as fast as they can on Halloween night. Basic logic tells us that the more houses you go to the more candy you will receive. Right??? Madison understood this very well and loved knocking on doors, saying trick-or-treat and holding out her bag to receive candy. Kiley on the other hand was a different story. She lasted 10 houses and then said she was ready to go home. She said she had enough candy and wanted to go home to pass out candy to the other children. I was shocked! Madison of course wasn't finished with her candy collecting so Kiley, Sophie, and I went home while Anders took Madison around our neighborhood. I have never seen someone so excited to pass out candy. Kiley got more and more comfortable as the night went on. By the time the last visitor came to our door, Kiley was a pro. I sat on the couch and watched Kiley work her magic. It went something like this:

(knock, knock)

(Kiley opens the door with one hand while balancing the bowl of candy in the other hand)

Kids: Trick or Treat

(Kiley proceeds to place 1 piece of candy in each bag)

Kids: Thank you

Kiley: Your welcome. Happy Halloween! (shutting the door with a huge smile on her face).

Kiley taught me a great lesson. Sometimes giving is truly greater then receiving!

Trunk or Treat

2008-10-28T22:35:00.000-07:00

Gotta love Trunk or Treating at the church...the sweet eating begins!!

One Down...19 More To Go

2008-10-26T22:31:00.000-07:00

Kiley has wanted a loose tooth ever since she saw Kiley Benner's two missing teeth a year ago in preschool. Three weeks ago her wish was granted. Kiley was eating and complained that her tooth hurt. I figured she had some food stuck in between two teeth and asked her which tooth was hurting. She pointed to her bottom front tooth. I looked in her mouth and didn't notice anything unusual so I touched it. Her tooth moved every so slightly so I informed her that she had a loose tooth. She jumped for joy looking like this:

After wiggling and pushing her tooth for two weeks it was finally hanging by a thread. We were at Grandpa and Grandma Sandberg's house when the big tooth pulling event occurred. Aunt Leslie captured the moment.

Kiley is prepped and ready to put her tooth under her pillow for the tooth fairy to find.

Kiley woke up the next morning saying, "I got a coin Mom, I got a coin from the tooth fairy!" One down...19 more to go!

Breakfast in Bed

2008-10-10T08:18:00.000-07:00

On a rare occasion, Sophie will sleep in later then the girls. In these instances, Kiley or Maddie will come into my room and wake me up. I quietly whisper to them that Sophie is still sleeping and that mom is still very tired. I proceed to let them know that they have two choices. They can either lay in bed with me or quietly go downstairs to watch a cartoon. Today they decided to watch a cartoon. As I snuggled back in bed I fell asleep in 2.2 seconds. After a few minutes, I heard loud noises coming from downstairs. As I put on my frustrated "I'm trying to sleep" face on, I got out of bed and headed for downstairs. In the hallway I could hear voices at the bottom of the stairs. I looked over the edge to find Maddie and Kiley, each holding an edge of a cookie sheet tray. Placed on it was a spoon, glass of milk, and a bowl of multi gran Cheerios. I started to head back to bed to pretend I was still sleeping until I heard Maddie say, "Oh the glass of milk is slipping". I decided I better intervene before we had milky carpet issues. I helped the girls carry the tray up to my bed. What started out as a frustrated "I'm tired" face turned into " the biggest smile ever". Thanks girls for that special treat!

High School Sweethearts

2008-10-08T14:51:00.001-07:00

Per my sister Carrie's request, I went to www.yearbookyourself.com to see what I would look like in an assortment of different hairstyles during different time periods. After doing so, I must admit that I hadn't laughed so hard in a long time. However, I couldn't stop there. I needed to see what Anders and I would look as High School Sweetheart. Have you seen anything cuter???

From 1958:

From 1960:

From 1966:

From 1994:

4 Months and Growing

2008-10-06T18:55:00.000-07:00

I can't believe Sophie is 4 months old. It seems like yesterday I was busting at the seems anxiously awaiting my due date. She is such a bundle of joy. It has been fun watching her smiley personality and developmental milestones emerge these past few months. Here is a look back at how she has grown. We are so thankful that Sophie is a part of our family.

Sophie May Bjorn was born June 9th 2008 at Good Samaritan Hospital. She weighed 7 pounds 15 ounces and was 20 inches long.

This is Sophie at 1 1/2 months. She began to smile at people and it wasn't just because she had gas!

Sophie is discovering the different sounds she can make. I love the high pitched squeals. At 2 months Sophie weighed 12 pounds 10 ounces and was 23 3/4 inches.

I'm a big girl! I love sitting in my saucer overloaded with stimulating toys.

Can chunky rolls on knees possibly be cute? Yes!! I thought Sophie was going to be my smallest child, but my assumptions were wrong. She is chunky like her sisters were and I love it! She is now 16 pounds! Sophie has discovered that her hands can hold toys and she has started to gut laugh. Boy it's contagious!

Maddie and Mom

2008-10-06T14:17:00.001-07:00

Kiley goes to school everyday and Sophie naps quite a bit, so Maddie and I get to spend some one-on-one time together when she isn't at preschool. We love to do puzzles, go to the library, read books, and color! Maddie is a bundle of joy and makes me laugh 24/7. I love you Maddie!

Soccer Season Begins!

2008-10-06T12:30:00.000-07:00

This is Kiley and Maddie's first year participating in soccer. They have never played before so Anders has been playing soccer with them in the backyard to get them prepped and ready. The girls got the idea of kicking the ball into a goal, but couldn't resist trying to touch it with their hands. A hard concept to grasp! The girls were so excited to wear there shin guards and soccer socks. Kiley kept falling on her knees because she felt invincible with the cushion and padding the shin guards provided. It was fun to watch them giggle and laugh with their dad.

The girls has a lot of fun during their first practice. They started off by sitting in a circle and introducing themselves and their favorite treat to their teammates. Maddie went first and told the group her favorite treat was salad. A mothers dream! Kiley said her favorite treat is gum. All the kids nodded their heads in agreement that gum was good. They had fun learning the fundamentals of soccer.

State and National Champs

2008-09-15T14:36:00.000-07:00

Anders loves softball! He had the opportunity to play this summer with lots of his buddies. This year they won both the State and National tournaments....Go Hotspot!

Dad's Biggest Fans

Check out more team pics here!

Puyallup Fair

2008-09-11T14:50:00.000-07:00

We had a fun-filled four hours at the fair. Our first stop was the animals. In route to our destination the kids were in awe as they looked around at all the noise, lights, and people. As we walked past the game booths both Kiley and Maddie looked up and saw the Extreme Scream ride and their faces looked like this:

We continued on our way to the animals. The girls had fun seeing and petting the animals.

Kiley Milking a "Pretend" Cow. I don't think she would touch a real one.

The girls couldn't wait to get on the rides. The Merry Go Round and the roller coaster are a couple of their favorite rides.

Anders and I have a tradition of playing at least one game while at the fair. It's not because we are dying to win a stuff animal. It's our competitive nature! I must say my track record is a bit better then his! I tried the horse race game and won a small stuff animal. Anders tried the hoop shoot and won a dog, which was the size of a grizzly bear! Luckily our adventures at the fair were coming to a close and Anders didn't have to carry it very far.

Puyallup Fair 2008

Second Day of School

2008-09-09T13:00:00.000-07:00

Strike 2!! Kiley didn't come off the bus for the second day in a row. She saw a different bus driver (which was the right one this time) as she entered the bus to come home and started to cry saying "this isn't my bus." The principal took her to the office. Meanwhile, I was at the bus stop awaiting Kiley's arrive with my camera in hand since I didn't get a picture from the first day. I couldn't believe it when she wasn't there a second time. Just then I got a call from the office telling me that Kiley was waiting for me in the office. When I arrived at the school and Kiley saw me she broke down in tears saying "I don't want to ride the bus anymore". What started out as being her most treasured and exciting dream of riding the bus became her worse nightmare. Kiley and I talked that night regarding the school bus. She now knows the importance of bus #10. Her third day of riding the bus was a success!

Kiley's First Day of School

2008-09-08T20:28:00.000-07:00

Kiley has been waiting for this day to come for about a year now. She loves the idea of homework, having a backpack over her shoulders, meeting new friends, learning how to read, and most important riding the yellow school bus. The morning of her first day Kiley was giddy with excitement as she put on her new outfit and "super fast sneakers". At 11:20 the crew headed off to the bus stop. The bus came and all the kids lined up to get on board. Kiley turned and with a wave of her hand she was gone. My little girl is growing up!

We headed back to the bus stop to get Kiley after school was out. With my camera in hand, I stood on the corner waiting in anticipation for Kiley to get off the bus. The kids filed out one by one and half way through this process I realized that Kiley wasn't on the bus. I talked to the bus driver and she radioed to the other buses to see if Kiley had gotten on a different bus. She received no answer, told me to walk over a block and see if she was on a different bus, and off she went. With Maddie in one hand and Sophie in the other we trudged on over. We waited for a couple minutes and sure enough Kiley was on that bus. (She had been given the wrong bus route). I called the office and got everything straightened out. Kiley had a great day at school and wasn't even frightened about this bus experience.

Banks Lake Camping

2008-08-20T11:42:00.000-07:00

Our first camping experience with all 3 girls was a success. It was a tight fit in our tent due to the pack n' play, but since we played so hard during the day we all crashed at night and didn't notice a thing...even Sophie!

Maddie loves does, especially Duke. She loves to pet, hug, and talk to him. I caught Maddie sitting on Duke like she was riding a horse. She did this many times that week. Poor Duke!

The girls loved taking rides in the canoe and playing in the water. Everyone else enjoyed the water too...it was in the mid 90's all week!

Kiley and Maddie are not "risky" when it comes to anything adventurous. They must get that from their dad! To our surprise, Kiley mentioned at the first of the week that she wanted to try to ski. Anders took her out in the water with all the other kids waiting in line. Kiley waited for a couple of minutes and then decided that she wanted to try it another day. A couple days later Kiley again mentioned that she wanted to try skiing. After watching successful attempts from the other children and clapping and cheering from the adults watching, Kiley's interest and bravery was peeked once again. Anders took her back in the water to wait in line. Kiley waited until it was her turn then at the last minute decided she didn't want to try it just then. On our last day at Banks many of the families had packed up and left, so there was only 2 kids waiting in line. Kiley again went up to Anders and told him she wanted to try to ski. Anders took her out to the water. Kiley started to get a little apprehensive so Sister Bergeson took Kiley by the hand and had Anders stand back suggesting that she would more likely go with someone other then a parent. Kiley's turn came and up she went on the ski. I got in the boat to take pictures of this momentous occasion. I think I was more nervous then Kiley. Sister Bergeson and Brother Jones held the board out of the water and in a matter of seconds she was skiing!

Kiley after skiing for the first time. Way to go!

Anders had a blast skiing, surfing, and wake boarding all week long.