We were hanging out this week when Sam hit her head on an open kitchen cabinet door. Ever the optimist, she said “Well, at least I’m tall enough to hit my head!” Talk about a silver lining. That’s my 2.0. And I love her.

First, I think I’ve never met a 13 year old boy who’s cool enough to want his old lady sister to come help out on any field trip. Second, I’ve never met a 13 year old boy who’s cool enough to hang out with his 5th grade sister AT the same field trip. AND skate with BOTH OF THEM out on the roller skating rink. In FRONT of all his friends.

Those seventh grade girls TOTALLY swooned over him. And why not? Any smart girl knows that a man will treat his wife the same way he treats his mom and his sisters. (Well, there will be a few key differences, but don’t make me go into those here. Please.) Wade’s definitely got a few things figured out. I love him. TONS. Trust me, everyone should have a Romeo in their life. Or at least a brother like Wade.

My MOM is the baddest bad apple in our house. Since she wasn’t born a Christensen, I can still claim to be the baddest bad apple of the Christensen family. (Like that argument? It’s a little flimsy for a lawyer, but I’ll argue it anyway.) We all love her. You want reasons? We’ve got them. And much like the Alisha post, this is from everyone.

• She dances in the kitchen.
• And in the living room.
• And in her studio.
• And anywhere else. What can we say? She’s got rhythm, and when she hears a good song, she can’t help but move. It’s a trait she passed on. Everyone dances at our house. Except Dad. Obviously, he was not so lucky to have Mom pass on that gene to him. It just doesn’t work that way.
• She’s fun to sit on.  In fact, this is Reece’s favorite thing to do. I’m not positive that it’s Mom’s favorite thing, but she humors him. She even tells him he’s her favorite child. That is, of course, a lie. *I* am her favorite child.
• She’s a rockstar. Especially after she gets her hair done. And yes, she can totally do the headbanging moves. If you’ve ever seen Alisha or Cassie, this is also a genetic trait.
• She let us have cake on Sunday for breakfast when I was growing up. You know, so we’d look forward to Sundays. Since we couldn’t play outside or do other weekday sort of things, it was definitely a bonus. Sometimes we’d have ice cream instead of cake. And sometimes we’d have both. (And sometimes we still do that sort of thing. We love Sundays at our house.)
• She’s an excellent painter. And she’s used us for models for a lot of her paintings. Except for Logan and Reece, who are not quite as beautiful as the rest of us. Or they just won’t hold still long enough. You be the judge.
• She’ll stay up all night talking to us. Or she’ll stay up all night working on a project. She’s a night owl. I definitely did NOT get that gene. Samantha and Reece, on the other hand, definitely got it. Jealous.
• She loves our Dad. Like crazy. We know, who wouldn’t?

You can see, there are all sorts of reasons that she’s the baddest bad apple. We could keep going, but we’d be at it all day. And since it’s Mother’s Day, we’re trying to spend a little bit of it with her. We love her. What more can we say?

• “What are those, pigs?” – Mom, the country girl. Not. We were driving past a field with a lot of GOATS in it when she asked the question. Granted, Mom was driving. But how do you get PIGS confused with GOATS?
• “I see all the cow faces and it reminds me of Barry.” – Jessie (19), the REAL country girl, aka NOT Mom. Jessie works at a dairy (where she sees cow faces) and Barry is her boyfriend. Barry’s on a two-year mission in Fresno, California. Maybe he should be worried if Jessie’s reminded of him when she sees COWS. PS – Barry is not nickname-protected because Jessie has his real name on her own blog. Plus I don’t know what nickname we would use for him. “Jessie’s COWboy” would maybe work, given that she sees cow faces and thinks of him.
• “You are not even CLOSE to a cow.” – Reece (16), the king of compliments. You know him as the Cowboy Casanova, but he can have more than one title. I was trying to figure out how much our cows weighed… when I said 125 (which is what I weigh) he informed me of the above “fact.” Oh – and at the time I said that, our cows weighed probably 300-350 lbs. Maybe 400 lbs.  Maybe I have a misconception about how 125 lbs looks. (And maybe Jessie should take a cue from Reece so that Barry doesn’t cry when he realizes that Jessie thinks of him when she sees cow faces.)
• “When you turn 25, then you’ll be an antique!” – Samantha (11), commenting on my upcoming birthday in August. I wonder what that makes Dad (who hit the big 5-0 last October).  How do you get better- or older-  than “antique”?
• “Dad, when you’re too old to remember, I’m going to sell the house and buy an RV. Then I’m going to take you all sorts of places.” – Cassie (almost 10), when talking about her “assignment” as the youngest child. That assignment? She’s taking care of them in their old age. We all voted, and she got the job. Maybe Dad should rethink that one. Unless he wants to go all sorts of places.

Can you see why I’m always laughing? Oh. Maybe you didn’t realize I’m always laughing. Trust me, it’s hard to stop with a family as fun as mine. I totally love them. And I’ve gotta admit – it’s a real relief to know that I’m nothing close to a cow, even if I’m going to be an antique soon.

Let me lay it out for you – Reece, Wade, and I versus Logan, Jessie and the 2.0s. We had a definite strategy on our team. (Of course, laying it out here might put us at a disadvantage for next time, but I’m pretty sure that they caught onto what we were doing.) Basically, I guarded OUR flag and the boys went after THEIR flag. And we captured their flag three times. It was when we varied from that strategy that we ran into problems. (It could have had something to do with the fact that Jessie wasn’t around for the first two games either, but Logan and the 2.0s should have been able to take us.)

You see, I’m not faster than Logan. Have you seen that man? What was I thinking? Of course, at the same time I was thinking that I could be faster than Logan, Wade also thought he was faster than Jessie. And most of the time Wade is. But somehow Jessie caught him. (Don’t worry Wade, I’m sure it was a fluke.)

Enter Reece’s last stand. Surprisingly enough, he lasted for quite awhile against the four of them while Wade and I watched. Finally I got up and took a few pictures – totally against the rules, but really, what were they going to do about it? He did look a little crazed by the time they were done with him. See his picture above if you don’t believe me. And see the rest of our pictures to see how much fun we all have together. (ALISHA, this is reason number 2491.)

PS – Notice that Sam and I ARE really close to the same height.

I’ve always been jealous of that light eyes, dark hair combination. My 2.0 got lucky with some gorgeous hazel eyes and hair that’s getting darker as she gets older. Me? I’ve got Boring. Brown. Eyes. Such is life. My mom was a sucker for brown eyes – said she could just get lost in my dad’s. Guess that’s part of why I got so lucky. I can hardly complain. After all, it’s nice to have parents that like each other, and since she’s still getting lost in those eyes, I’ll deal with my own. Besides, my hairstylist says they’re my most captivating feature. I’m not convinced – either way though, Manuel Garcia at Naturally Salon gives a great haircut and a fantastic head massage. So barring a way to make my brown eyes blue, I’ll settle for silky hair. Kind of like these puppies.

At first we said we’d have a “girls night plus Wade.” He quickly corrected us – we were going to have a “girls night plus THE MAN.” And we did – a little popcorn, a movie, cupcakes and some nail polish. (The Man skipped out on the nail polish.)

This isn’t the first time this week that Wade has cracked me up. Mom and I were hanging out at the table while all the boys were being their usual crazy selves.  I said we needed to think of a word to describe them – without skipping a beat, Wade had one. “Sexy.” And then he walked out of the room.

Can I just tell you I love my life? Really, how could I not?

My first memories of Valentine’s Day involved special Valentines on our kitchen table surrounded by great treats. (Thanks Mom!) For a couple of years, I didn’t realize that Valentine’s Day was a “romantic love” sort of holiday – I just thought it was a day where everyone made sure to tell the people they loved that they loved them. Really, you should be doing that on a pretty regular basis – how sad would it be if you saved all your telling for one day a year?!? I know that I’d never have enough time to make sure that everyone I loved knew it.

In the spirit of the holiday, this Monday night my siblings, mom and I spent the night making hearts for each other. (Dad is in Brazil, or he would have been making them too, don’t worry. He still likes us. Why on earth do you think he goes to work every other month?) We put them up on the doors in our house so that we’d all remember how much we love each other. (Kind of like texting - except better.)

Here are a few of my favorites…

Is it any wonder I heart my family?

One thing that Sam and I both love? Spa treatments! Yes, it starts at an early age. She turned eleven this weekend and she wanted a spa day. We brought it to her. And if she ever says that Mom, Jessie or I don’t love her, I’m going to show her pictures of us scrubbing little ten year old feet for pedicures. Who would do THAT if they didn’t love her? PS – I’m just posting happy pictures. No need to relive any feet-scrubbing if we don’t have to.

At Church this week, the speaker talked about how happiness is a byproduct of gratitude. It’s really made me focus on all the things I’m grateful for – after all, I LIKE being happy! It’s totally worked. It’s been a good week.

I started to write a list of all the things I’m grateful for. It got too long. Like, crazy long. So instead of boring you with all the details (like how grateful I am for the brilliant blue bathmats I have in my bathroom, complete with matching towels), I thought I’d share some thoughts I’ve had about the things I’m grateful for.

I realized that the things I am most grateful for in my life can’t be bought. They actually aren’t “things” at all. They are people. And people are irreplaceable. There is nothing that beats being able to be the big sister who comes home on the weekends to curl your 9 and 10 year-old sisters’ hair. Or being able to play cards with your crazy family until midnight and not even noticing the time. Or being able to watch your brothers grow up and learn to be men. It’s fantastic to have girlfriends who you can laugh (and cry) with. It’s so nice to have guy friends you can dance with (and who will move furniture for you). It’s amazing to have professional associates who will send you examples of things you’ve never done before. People rock.

Things are just that – things. Even though they might make life more enjoyable sometimes, they don’t love you back.  And yes, I hear some of you saying your Audi loves you back. Trust me – it’s got nothing on the people I know.