You call them Logan, Reece and Wade. At the house, we call them “Wolverine” (have you seen Logan’s chest? it’s totally like Hugh Jackman’s), “Cowboy Casanova” (cuing Carrie Underwood this instant), and “GQ Romeo” (who should need no explanation, but if you’d like one, look here).

My brothers keep me grounded. In fact, they’ve got their own nickname for me – “Average Sue Leila.” Sounds kind of weird, huh? I mean, I’d heard of an “Average Joe” before, but I’d never heard of an “Average Sue” before they came up with that genius. We were out having burgers or something, when I told them they needed to work on their manners. After all, I’m a classy lady and they were out with me. They took the opportunity to let me know that at that moment, I wasn’t a “big time city slicker lawyer” – I was just a regular “Average Joe” out with my brothers. Then they thought that “Average Joe” didn’t really fit, being that I’m a girl and all, thus “Average Sue” was born. My name was added to prevent any confusion. So if you’re looking for a big-time city slicker lawyer, don’t look for her when she’s out with these boys. You’ll be looking an awful long time.*

*This is, of course, assuming that they are not in trouble themselves, in which case, you will totally find the big-time city slicker lawyer out with them. A girl’s still got to watch out for her family, don’t you think?

Reece summed up our collective feelings on man night the next morning when we were cleaning up the carnage. ”I heart man night.”

Me too, Reece. Me too.

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?

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.

My brothers are some pretty bad apples themselves. Flat tire? Logan’s got it changed in five minutes. (This happened about a week ago.) Files to carry in? Reece meets me at the car when I pull in. (This is more of an everyday occurrence.) Ice water needs? Wade’s all over it. (I never even have to ask.) And no, you’re not missing Wade in this picture. He was inside working hard when we were outside (goofing off) working hard. We’ll get him to pose another time, I’m sure. If you can’t tell, the “poser” gene is alive and well in the Christensen family.

It’s so nice to be part of a family that LIKES each other. Reece said it best the other night when we were hanging out making up our own version of Nickelback songs until 11 o’clock at night. “We pretty much won the lottery when we were born. We got OUR family, we were born in America, and we’re members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.” I agree. I’ve got everything I need right here. With all my bad apples.

PS – Ask Reece to sing for you sometime… he totally rocked his own version of Nickelback’s “Never Gonna Be Alone.” In all fairness though, you should really have Logan and Reece sing together. One of these days I’m going to record them when they’re not paying attention. Then I’ll blog about it – no reason to keep that all to myself!

Yesterday, they conducted yet ANOTHER interview. I think this makes the third round. And don’t ask me – I don’t know how many more they’ve got in store for him. Thank goodness T2 is a great sport. Besides, the 2.0s ask some fantastic questions. It’s probably in MY best interest to let them keep interviewing him.

In yesterday’s interview, Cassie was particularly impressed. When she asked if T2 thought I was gorgeous, his response was that “Leila is MORE than gorgeous.” Cassie reported that to my brother Wade this morning. His response?

“Well GOOD, he’s not blind.”

I swear I have the world’s greatest brothers. And T2? Well, he’s a pretty great boyfriend.

• Cassie will give you a puppy. Dad will throw in a full-grown dog.
• Wade will sing “Happy Birthday!” to you every day.
• You could camp on Mom & Dad’s couch and save money for a down payment for your Victorian House – Dad says you could get one for around $400 a month! You could maybe even skip the camping out on the couch with all the programs to try and get people in houses.
• Free food on the weekends (per Mom).  No, she is not committing to weekdays.
• Reece. Is. Here.
• We can sing together – no one plays the guitar as well as you.
• Cassie will do your chores.
• Sam will paint your nails.
• We love you.

Just promise you’ll think about it. Because we miss you. And Happy Birthday!

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?