So Long to 2015

We have no overall complaints about 2015, but we look forward to a special 2016.  We ended the year with a little jalapeno popper dip!

Surviving Kroger

I've always said no to the terrible car on the cart thing at Kroger.  I finally gave in.  When first starting out I always stopped immediately as driving that thing around is about 10 times louder.  It was worth getting over the loudness though - shopping with a 5 and 3 year old is WAY easier with the car!  It took some getting used to though - I bumped into a lot of things forgetting my size. 

Changing of the Rooms

With Baby Schlenk coming soon, the office had to go.  Easier said than done.  The plan is to move Mae and Anna from the Purple Room to the newly named Pink Room, Brooklyn to the Purple Room with the crib (and toddler bed when she's ready), and Baby Schlenk would then have access to the Blue Room when she's ready.  OH the office - marrying a school teacher comes with a lot of literal baggage.  Love her!

Centering the best we can

Stuff - just lots of STUFF

Ready for the Office turn Pink transition

Christmas 2015

Another very nice Christmas.  Canter must have given good reports because Santa did come to our house.  We always seem to forget to take pictures but we had a very lovely (and noisy) Christmas Eve with the Spjut's and Curioso's and a nice Christmas afternoon with the Schlensker's.  Pictures aren't required to say it was overall a very nice Christmas.  The only weird thing was it was like 60 degrees.  Not so Christmas. 

Pretty girls, man

Pretty girls with ALL of them without a paci

 

Oh my - she's already grown out of them



Stockings always gets me a little razzled - it's a little too unorganized

 

Okay who's on cleanup?

This is the kind of face that makes Christmas magical, right?

Boogers...err...burgers from my girls

Christopher!  It's Kristoff!

Cookin' up somethin' nice on my new griddle

 

Umm - I thought trampolines were from jumping?

 

Merry Christmas Sent to El Salvador

As a Christmas gift to Grandma and Grandpa on their mission, our girls memorized a paragraph from The Family: A Proclamation to the World.  Of course when we went to film it, Anna was wired. 

 

 

 

Grandpa Schlensker

It was a very bittersweet day when we said bye to Grandpa Schlensker.  It's always sad to see a grandparent pass away, let alone your last one.  Grandpa was ready to move on which made it a happy day of remembering him and being with family.  There were many sweet moments during the day with seeing family, hearing beautiful songs, and touching words.  There were also moments of questions and answers from our kids and the "bye Grandpa Schlensker" calls from the back of our van as we drove away from the cemetery.  We went to Grandma and Grandpa Schlensker's house afterwards since Lindsey and the girls have never been there and they were treated to a drive down my Memory Lane as well as Papa D and Uncle Dale's. 

The great grandkids in attendance

A couple songs sung by the kids

Families Can Be Together Forever

At the gravesite

Brothers

Together again - you could almost hear Grandma barking his name

Our sweet girls each after getting a flower from the casket

One last goodbye to Papa Scahta (how Mae used to say Grandpa Schlensker)

This picture has hung here for forever

It's a little surreal to see your own kids walking through the rooms of such fond memories

So many happy memories in this room

And this room

Santa Lu with Mae, Brooklyn, and Princess Anna Lu

Santa Lucia Day had everyone in their white robes and crowns - sort of.  Anna had a different vision of wearing white and a crown.   

White robe and a paci

Our sweet oldest - humoring us with a smile so we can get closer to eating cinnamon rolls

Ummm...?

Well at least two of them were dressed in the traditional attire

A little too close

Not the best timed picture I've ever taken

At least you're smiling Brook

We'll go with the previous one - well done though, Mae

Baby Schlenk #4

So the videos were too long to post, but we did find out and announce the gender of Baby Schlenk #4.  To the surprise of no one (or at least me) - we'll throw one more girl into the mix in April.  The nurses comments, "I don't remember the last time I've seen a baby THIS active."  Well that's just great. 

 

 

 

Putting the "Star" on Top

Mae was determined to be the one to put the "star" on top.  We told her okay, but next year we'd have Anna do it, etc., etc., and it would be 4 years before she did it again.  She was fine with that - at least in the here and now.  It's always a good feeling putting that "star" up - when that happens the decorating is pretty much done!

Will I still be able to do this when she's 17?  13?  9 maybe?

Nailed it

Happy (this year)

Well hey, we'll just lift everybody up here

And that's what we did

Annual Bushes Photo Shoot 2015

Our Annual Bushes-Bush-Bushes family photo shoot.  The bush on the left is slowly growing back - look at that!  It didn't go so bad this year - we only really had one person per picture mess it up. 

I didn't make it in time

What are you looking at, Brook?

Is it on the other side now, Brook?

Really, Anna?

So close

The best we got