Growing up is hard to do!!!

Just a few days before Annika turned 2 she sat in the baby swing for 2 hours with her pacifier, (she never used one before), but now she has her own. She is so independent that sometimes I forget that she may still want to be the "baby"!

Brady is 1 month!

There is my little man, 1 month old already! It is going fast! He is such an exceptional baby!

Home Preschool- Letter of the Week!

Luke misses the dead line for preschool by 1 1/2 months, so I decided to do preschool myself. Luke and Annika both love it! I was going to just do it twice a month, but last week we did 4 times. We are focusing on a letter a week and a color. Our letter this week was L. Luke can spot L's while driving down the street now.
Our preschool last about 2 -2 1/2 hours and so in the middle we have a snack. I try to either include items that start with the Letter of the Week or the color. Luke's favorite color is purple, so he was thrilled to have a purple lunch!
I try to have an art activity everyday, this time we just did a purple collage.
Luke is 3 and can draw unbelievable animals. This picture literally took him 5 min.
Here is our finished L's! They are little lambs.
I do give them free time or play time while I set up snack, and is it any surprise that Luke draws?

We also do puzzles, reading, scripture time, songs, exercise, file folders, ect.

13 years of marriage!

We have been married 13 years now. And let me tell you, they have been 13 years of HAPPINESS! Well Mark took me out to dinner the weekend before our anniversary, and he was gone on the actual day, so he sent me roses! Which I was excited to receive. Annika would not get off the counter... I took her off numerous times....
and while I was changing Brady's diaper.....ooops....Annika broke my vase and most of roses stems. I admit I was very sad!! Annika will be Annika!!!

Just me and the Little Ones!

Well the big girls are at school, so now I get to give my little ones some attention! Infact, I am going to teach a little preschool to Luke this year. (Of course Annika also) For now I just want to spend time with them. So we decided to break out the paints. My kids all love art, I could not believe that a 1 yr old and 3 yr old could paint for that long. They literally painted for about an hour. I was able to get all kinds of house work done.

After mixing all the colors together, and they were all Black....she decided it was just as easy to just use her finger. She mostley painted, but she did do some tasting as well. It must not have been to good, since she kept the tasting to a minimal!
Then they wanted to play with water outside, well it was about 65, so i thought it was a tad to cold. As typical 1 and 3 yr olds they did not understand "NO", so I brought in 2 big buckets, and filled them about 5 inches with warm water. They gathered some toys, and tupperware and there they played for another hour. I loved it. I am telling you this will be a regular this winter. I could see them and clean all at the same time! Loved it! Try it!

School Starts!

Here is Brooke and Chelsea's first day of the new year! They are both very excited and ready. We at home will miss them.

It was very hard on me to say bye to all my helpers! Life will be a little different, it will take some adjusting!
Luke and Annika did not want their sisters to leave them, they stayed real close until the bus came and then they wanted to get on the bus.... so I had to step in!

We Always Love Visitors

Aunt Kaye came and visited us! The kids all love her!! She came to see our newest addition to the Jorgensen Family....Brady!
While she was here Luke and Annika decided to go swimming in the rain water that was left in the seat of a lawn chair. I tell you Desperate Times call for Desperate Meaures. If I had known that was all they needed to call it "swimming", trust me we would have had lawn chairs filled up with water daily.

Annika did start to drink this super clean water....YUCK!

My Big Helpers!

Brooke and Chelsea have absolutely been amazing! They have helped me without complaining all summer! I am really going to miss them when they go to school!
Thanks Girls For All Your Help!!!

Trip to NOWHERE!

We did not get to plan a family vacation this summer, because we had a better treat.... Brady! But Dad always pulls through. On Saturday we woke up and he said, "Let's get out of here and go on a family vacation!" We had no plans, no destination, no hurry, just a TRIP TO NOWHERE! Mark and I like to drive the country and talk and the kids are so good to us, they sit patiently in the back of the car for their time. They like to stop at parks, cool sights, and hotels. Together we always have a BLAST! Here we stopped in Jefferson City, MO to see the capital building. We always like to see history and capital buildings are always a hit.
Check out the size of this door! It is absolutely massive!

Of course when the kids have been in the car driving for hours all our stops have two purposes. One to let them have fun and, two to give physical activity. (In hopes of them feeling calm for the next hours of driving) So Dad and the kids ran 5 quick repeats of the stairs.
The kids favorite part is Hotels. They love to stay at hotels, and they truly make the most of their stay. They just play together, make forts, design their own spaces, ect. But of course the pool is the best part.


Especially with Dad!


First thing I do when we get in the hotel room is disconnect the phones, or else Annika would call the whole Hotel.
Restaurants are more for Mark and I. The kids would just eat chicken nuggets everyday. Mark and I try to eat something unique to the area. So Brooke and Chelsea have decided they like it better if they can have their own table and order their own food and feel specail.
Or I couldn't forget to post the monkey pictures of Luke.. No matter where we are Luke gets lost in his world of monkey's.

How cool is this.... We drove 30 min. out of the way (if there was a specific way) to take Chelsea to the town of "Chelsea". Now all the kids want us to find a town for them.
Brady 2 weeks old. He has a double chin already!

This house is so cool, But the owner was even cooler. I wanted to take a picture of his house, so I asked permission and he invited us in , and let the kids play with his dogs and run around his yard. I can't even imagine what the world would be like if everyone was this nice!

Brady's first visit to the zoo!

Getting the family zoo pass was the best thing I have done in a long time. I did not realize how nice it would be. Since it is 1 mile from our airport (maybe 2) it makes it convenient. Aunt Kris was suppose to fly out at 8 am but they cancelled her flight and her next one was at 6pm. So I loaded my 5 kiddos up and we headed to pick Aunt Kristina up. Since we live an hour away it makes it hard to just drive home. So we went to the zoo. Brady was only 10 days old for his first visit.
Every baby must have the tongue out picture.

Annika is halarious. Here she is telling the Wallibee to "come here". (Like calling a dog)
"Why is it not coming?"
We are so glad that Aunt Kris was here, the kids just love her. Luke calls her "The big kid"
Here is the favorite animals for this visit!


The zoo had a huge slip and slide so the kids had a blast. Except Luke, who would not go on it. He said "I am berry okay" and refused to do it. A couple of times he took his shoes and shirt off to go, but then chickened out!