Christmas Card Preview!

Thanks KBH Photography! You're a miracle worker.

One of my very best friends is a very talented photographer and so we booked a mini session with her to capture the fam.  She did an awesome job!  So of course now I'm off to Shutterfly to order my Christmas cards!!!

I LOVE sending Christmas cards every year and sometimes I even make my own but the ones they have available are so great and save SO much time I'm letting someone else do the work this time. I've been browsing around at all of the Christmas cards Shutterfly has to offer this year and they are SO adorable! This year I'm going to frame our Christmas card and keep on display with my other Christmas decorations.  I think I may even order prints of the other Christmas cards we've used in the past and frame them too. 

On the Shutterfly website you can also order loads of cute, personalized Christmas gifts. Every year the grandparents get a photo calendar from us and I've already started creating it on the Shutterfly website--super easy (Now that I have three kids, I need to plan ahead!)  Act Surprised Grandma!

Grandpa David loooves to drink out of his personalized mug with the kids' picture on it.  So this year I'm thinking of the other Grandpa's in our lives that would enjoy one of those too.  And you can finish up your one stop shopping too!

Right now at Shutterfly, they're running a promotion where you can get FREE Christmas cards if you blog about them!  Go here if you want to do it too!

Too Cool for School

This is  Robbie's  his first day of Preschool, he refused to admit that he was still in preschool while his buddy Zach had started kindergarten so we decided to call it Pre-K.  He was cool with that.  Wearing the backwards hat and sunglasses were his additions to his first day outfit.  When I dropped him off he wouldn't even look at me when I tried to say goodbye.  I guess he's too cool for me already.  Isn't he a little young for that?  Sad.  He loves his school though so I'm thankful for that!

Baby Makes Five

Well, We have another one. Another little Laizure--Watch out world! Poor guy had no choice but to join the circus of screaming, yelling, throwing tantrums and he probably wants to go back to where he came from but that isn't an option!

William Keith Laizure was born on September 8th at 10:39 a.m. he weighed 7 lbs 8 oz and was 19 1/2 inches long. I was induced at the last minute, got the call at 5 p.m. asking if I could come in at 2 am that night and of course I said, "YES!!" I was 5 cm dilated when they checked me so the nurse didn't start the petocin until 6 am so that I would have the baby during the day when my doctor was at the hospital. The epidural worked and it was a super simple, no real complications, 3-pushes labor. Praise God! I did have to wear oxygen for the last part because William's heartrate kept going down during my contractions and thankfully, that helped and he came out healthy and perfect.

I have to admit that adding the third has been a little shocking. Going from 1 to 2 kids was really not that complicated in our family. Now at 3 weeks post-partum I feel like a normal person now so I'm going to start attempting to take my children in public--you know, to places like doctors appointments, church and the grocery store. We aren't ready for any real outings --maybe never!

Little William has been our easiest baby yet (so far), which is good because I definitely have less time to hold a crying baby! He sleeps at night 5-6 hours in between feedings, which is twice as long as the other kids were sleeping at his age. I think he's my favorite.

The Beach

This is a long-overdue post, I have no excuses. It just is. But, I'm making an effort to catch up and it's 3 a.m. and I can't sleep (which is usual at this point in my pregnancy) so I thought, why not catch up now?

This year, Rob has travelled a LOT. We miss him. He's been to China no less than 4 times so far this year and planning to go again in November for another 2 weeks. So when he was gone in May we planned a little family vacaton once he came home, which ended up being over Mother's Day Weekend. We borrowed my parents' camper and booked a beach camp spot in Carlsbad and went for 3 nights. We had such a fun time and decided this should be an annual event for the Laizure's. Our campspot literally looked over the ocean and it was just a short walk down a flight of stairs to the actual beach. It was a little complicated having Elise with us, because she still wasn't walking (sigh) so a little scooter on the beach makes life a little harder...and sand-ier. Overall though we had such a great trip.

Because this was our "vacation" on our own this year and we saved so much by camping we ate out a lot, which we LOVE to do but don't do very often. We found our favorite new place in Carlsbad, that of course I can't remember the name of but we got the most delicous and gigantic fish tacos ever. I think it might be The Harbor Fish Cafe? We also went to my favorite outlet mall and got some goods for the whole family (incuding a Coach bag for me! It was 50% off, plus an extra 20% off that day so wo can turn that down? It was Mother's Day after all.) Maybe we should just go to the beach every time Rob comes home from China?...

Don't Mess with Texas

This summer Rob's grandparents took the entire family on a European vacation for two weeks. It was so much fun and I promise to post pictures and blog about it later, but before we went Robbie, Elise and I went to TX to visit my sister and her family and to drop Elise off. Elizabeth and Steven graciously kept Elise for two weeks while we were gone (and kept the three of us for 5 days before that!). I so intended to be a great aunt/mom and do fun stuff with the kids and take loads of pictures to remember our trip. But, I didn't. Some things never change, what can I say? While we were there we went to the zoo, celebrated Toby's 4th birthday and did some shopping. I wish she lived closer. Or we lived closer. Their house is so adorable--a brick two story with a huge yard with lots of trees and a huge garden and they live on possibly the cutest street in the entire world. Maybe we should move there....

We had a great time and then she kept Elise for me for the two weeks while we were gone and then my mom went to stay a few days and flew Elise home to Phoenix for me. I am blessed. Now I want them to go on vacation and let me keep their boys--I love them!

On the plane ride there, of course I had arrived WAY early to the airport, in typical Laizure style. Turns out when travelling alone with two kids, you can get to the airport too early. Robbie angelically played with his ipod the entire time we waited. Elise was not so angelic. She wanted out of her stroller so she just threw a fit and threw food around and was generally disastrous. Then right as we were boarding the plane I gave her a tiny dose of Benadryl hoping to help her fall asleep. Thankfully she did fall asleep--right as we were getting on. Unfortunately there was some lightbulb that needed to be replaced so we sat on the runway for an hour while they screwed in a lightbulb?...and then when we finally taxi'd down the runway and took off, Elise woke up. And I can say without hesitation I can't imagine what she could've done to behave worse. I was the parent that everyone was staring/glaring at and wishing that screaming kid would shut up. (I agreed. I wished she would shut up too.) She hit me in the eye with her toy cell phone, hit Robbie, bit my shoulder, and generally was completely disobedient, disruptive, and develish. The entire flight I just prayed that she would be better for my mom when my mom flew her back. Of course she was better for my mom. She slept the entire flight with Mom, no crying-no issues--no fits.

Rob's China Adventure

This is not a high-quality picture. Stating the obvious here. But, it is so funny to me, I had to blog about it and since I haven't blogged on here in months and all of our other pictures are trapped on our PC which is "broken down" at the moment and I can't get any pics off....this is what you get. Feel free to write a letter to the editor to try to get me fired....

Anyway, in case you didn't know, Rob travels to China very often for work. He likes to say he goes about 3 times a year, but he's been at least 4 times this year already so, he goes a lot. This last trip his brother and sister-in-law went also and they're staying for three months to try to get some things set up in the dental lab so that Rob won't have to go as often but mostly so that things will hopefully run smoother and they will have higher quality crowns, bridges, etc..

During the trip a friend decided they should all go on a hike. Rob DOES. NOT. exercise. Period. I don't know when he would have time to exercise even if he wanted to. The poor guy gets up at 4 in the morning, leaves by 5 a.m. for work and doesn't get home until 6 p.m. This schedule does not allow for exercise. Although he does like to remind me that he gets some activity in walking to and from his truck--so there's that. Somehow I work out 3-5 times/week (normally. Not these days) and can't seem to get my size 10 back and he eats cheeseburgers and lots of coffee and can't seem to gain any weight. Life isn't fair, but I digress.

Anyway, the friend decided they should all go on a hike. Hannah and Jesse work out regularly so they had packed appropriate attire but Rob had to go out shopping in Hong Kong on a Sunday night at 8 p.m. to try to find athletic shoes for the big day. Apparently everything closes very early Sunday evenings in China so the only "store" he could find was an old lady in an alley having a "yard sale" on a blanket (who knows where she got the loot to sell!) and the only shoes available were these bright white velcro Nikes that were used and one size too small. So naturally, he bought them and went on the three hour hike in the shoes with the velcro opened and flapping around the entire time. This was a few weeks ago. He still has blisters & wounds. I have gotten several great laughs out of the telling (and then re-telling) of this story, hopefully you do too! Poor guy is obviously a trooper. I would've parked myself at the closest Starbucks and waited for the group to finish!

Camping Trip at Beaver Creek

In the beginning of April we went on a weekend campout with some "virgin" camper friends. We love to go camping, especially in a trailer, which is really a different class of camping. Once Drew and Cindy got there early Friday evening, I left all the picture taking up to her and her fancy camera so I don't have very many photos to show but I think the "headlight" pics say it all. The kids were really good and had a great time and we all ate great food so what else is there in life?

We did walk away with a few casualties, but nothing a couple bandaids didn't fix.

Pink Tricycle

Thanks for the adorable pink tricycle Mona Boo! Robbie really loves it!

A few updates

Well-just in case there are people out there that should know...but don't know--we're having a BOY! I have done a pretty bad job of informing people about this pregnancy in general. Firstly, it's my third. We are so excited for him and to finish up our family, but with two other kids to keep track of telling my news to everyone hasn't been the first priority! Sorry #3! Secondly, Rob has been travelling a LOT which is a big bummer, but necessary for business growth so when he's gone so much I'm doing the best I can to keep my head above water! After my ultrasound last Monday I had an hour and half to pick up my kids, feed them dinner, pick up a babysitter, and drive 20 minutes out to our community group bible study. So therefore, there weren't any phone calls made--even my mom got a text message about our news!

All that to say--we're so happy we're having a boy. Rob was very concerned that if we didn't have a boy this time that we would need to have more children until we provided Robbie with a brother...so whew! I'm off the hook--I think we'll be ready to call the child-bearing quits after this! Since Rob is in China right now and had been working nights all last week he was asleep when the ultrasound was going on. I finally got to talk to him as I was pulling up to our bible study to share the news with him. I didn't want to tell the group we were having a boy before Rob knew, but I also knew they would hold me hostage until I told! He is so excited he got emotional on the phone, I don't think either of us realized how much we (he) really truly wanted a boy until we found out. (BUT please don't hear me wrong, a healthy little girl would've been super exciting too!)

It's hard to believe that we'll soon be a family of five--yikes! In other news, I have let go of my pride and traded in my cute crossover for ....a minivan. You gotta do what you gotta do. I have to admit that I'm really loving it. It's easy to drive and easy for the kids to get in and out of! Who would've guessed?

Easter EGGstravaganza...

The judges


Gondola



Humpty Dumpty eggs

Stripper egg...this is why we celebrate after the actual Easter date...but it's too funny!

Jonah egg inside the whale

Cowboy/cowgirl eggs

Ski-jump egg

Astronaut (the face is an egg)

Shaun White on a halfpipe

The neighborhood Easter Bunny visit. Elise cried.

Waiting in line for the Suprise Stadium hunt

Easter is a big deal around these here parts. In fact it's so much fun but this year I realized the difficulty in making it fun for the kids but also making sure that they understand WHY we actually celebrate EAster...and obviously it's not because of the eggs. I may have possibly over stressed it because if you ask Robbie what Easter is about he'll yell "JESUS" in a way that sounds a little bit like "shut up" so I'll continue working on that. We did do the resurrection eggs with Robbie and he loved opening up all the eggs and telling us what each item meant (for example: a rose--has thorns and Jesus had to wear a crown of thorns.)

To start the weekend off right we hit the Surprise Stadium for the egg hunt...the kids had a blast but I think we'll skip that next year, it was pretty chaotic and too much potential for losing your own children along with your mind.

On Saturday afternoon my brother and sister in-law along with their two kids came over and we died eggs, ate lots of food and enjoyed a fun visit. Sunday was church, Sunday School, and lunch at the Pearson's for the annual hunt with the kids. I'm a bit concerned already about how we're going to continue outdoing ourselves on the prizes inside of the eggs for the kids...but they love it!

Then, just today (a few weeks past Easter) we did our annual egg competition at the Laizure's. I attached all the pictures at the top of the post, because seriously...the competition has gotten a bit fierce. I did the Shaun White egg (with the help of my friend Cindy) and I was feeling pretty confident about it...until I arrived at the Laizure's today and sighted all of the other eggs...seriously, I'm already concerned about what to do for next year. Every year it gets a little more competitive. Overall we had so much fun and are so blessed by all of the family and friends we are surrounded by. And mostly, the celebration of Jesus--and how much he sacrificed just by being human and then giving his life on the cross for us.