the rills #2

thanksgiving part 1

2011-11-26T12:47:00.000-08:00

almost the whole Christiansen clam was together for thanksgiving up at covenant point Bible camp, an awesome place for awesome fun. Here are some high lights from the week. The are not in order and actually they go in reverse order so if you want to start from the bottom, enjoy they are great!

Jon's roller disco party

dress up breakfast on thanksgiving which has become a tradition for us

this is how we ate every meal together

celebrating these two birthdays has also become a tradition on thanksgiving

bi-annual turkey trot

my baby is 7 what an great day he had
packet pick up for the big race

worship time thanking God for this year
I love this one

B washed every single load of dishes this entire week, he is the master of the Hobart.

some new visitors

2011-10-20T07:48:00.000-07:00

we had some friends and their kids drop by yesterday. it was a welcome treat for my kids who because of their horizontal mom hasn't gotten out much. liv pulled out a craft, as a good Christiansen can, and they loved it! thanks for playing guys!

chopped on Melrose

2011-10-19T16:22:00.000-07:00

Another day with mom in bed, liv had a great idea to have our own chopped (she loves the show) We had 2 rounds the appetizer and main meal.

at our chopped no one actually gets chopped

our kitchen was a mad rush of deliciousness

and being the judge was very yummy, my kids are great chefs!

a science day on melrose

2011-10-17T11:22:00.000-07:00

were having turkey for dinner and our bird had 3 packs of "guts" score for home schoolers!

David explained the parts to them but with his weak stomach he had to step out

another proud day for this mom

2011-10-15T22:33:00.000-07:00

as I type this I am a little overwhelmed with emotions, how did my baby get taller than me, am I really old enough to have this high schooler, actually the biggest thing is that i remember David right here in this spot more than 20 years ago and it makes me remember all the times we talked about having kids, would we have a runner, a girl or a boy... and here we are today

my boy finishing 10th in the catholic league which makes him All Conference AS A SOPHOMORE! Everyone knows how crazy I am about my kids but today was a little bit more he is always special to me and now the conference knows how great he is too. I know a true bragging mother, guilty.

the memory so maaaaany years ago included this man and here he is again I love Gods fun surprises!

our 3 varsity runners finishing in the top 10 making them all, All Conference. I will enjoy this for a while before I start thinking of next weekend, oh hope my blood pressure can handle it.

If you have been in Davids life for a long time you will understand the beauty of this photo, men who shaped David life now shape our sons. God has great ideas!

our newest back yard "field"

2011-10-12T08:39:00.000-07:00

we have our own grid iron here on melrose street.

birthday in peoria

2011-10-01T17:34:00.000-07:00

it has become a tradition that we give the boys gifts for Davids birthday.

always fun in the pool

this girl is something, two years ago she entered her first pool and today she practices her breathing... wait and see what is to come from this girl

birthday smiles

15:48 from B was a bonus gift for coach

the boys all gave the coach PRs

spirits were very high today!

we celebrated a little more with some wings, happy birthday David with more birthdays together than apart I know that a birthday starting at a hotel and ending with a great fenwick race was nothing short of a perfect birthday for my man.

a slice of encouragement

2011-09-18T20:55:00.000-07:00

everyone who follows this blog knows the trails I have raising Gray, well today I saw hope in his future. This week we made a stop at the Christian book store because gray has been asking to buy Bibles. He said "I want to be a missionary here so I think I better have a stash of Bibles to hand out" great, right? so at the book store he picked out 6 tiny 2x3" Bibles which he said "were perfect". so today we brought a friend to church for her fist time and as we were going to drive her home gray ran in to the house and came back out with a Bible and told her " here this is for you. keep it in your purse so you can read the Bible anytime you want" she was very touched and showed him that it went in her purse. he fell asleep before we got home but I can't wait to talk with him tomorrow about it and tell him he really is a missionary now! suddenly all his troubles don't seem all that bad...

B's first 1st place win (plus a PR)

2011-09-10T17:58:00.000-07:00

ugh I don't know why blogger is having issues in order but I do know I am not the only one ANYWAY the meet was in joliet, such a long drive, but worth it since my boy came in 1st in frosh/soph running 16:32. as you see he won with a large lead. "a proud mama day" as one of the parents said, so true, so true...

another boy in the family

2011-09-08T17:06:00.000-07:00

here is the oldest and the youngest great grand kids. and we have 20 more in between

big sis gets stuff too

hooray for new cousins!

2011-09-02T13:20:00.000-07:00

as you can see we had a great day on wed. meeting the newest Rill. as well as seeing what gray picked out for her, you can never go wrong with mickey and minnie

I think she is admiring the amount of mei's hair here

food always a good thing

yes as you know it's not to hard to get liv to smile anytime there's a baby around, especially when that baby is family liv never stopped smiling all day!

great day with cousins

a bit more fun

2011-08-30T15:22:00.000-07:00

fishy races at the fun fair at grace cov.

mei's first ride down this zip line

gray is finally big enough for the dew swing and he proved it 11 times that day

tarzan swing

a taste of our time in the U P

2011-08-30T00:52:00.000-07:00

in no real order you'll get the idea

ok we went in to Eagle river as we always do and we ate at this pizza place. David and I had eaten here many times as teens (like 26 yrs ago) while on vacation with Daves folks and NO KIDDING it is exactly the same ! carpet and all timehas stood still in eagle river I guess

thank goodness the go kart track has gotten better

david had to go home and work some. these are so long pics

mei had her first pasty and loved it!

we play very hard

I think everyone knows I love it up there at hagerman lake, actually I'm addicted how can you not be with a situation like this one?

can you believe this... well yes you probably can

2011-07-25T22:27:00.000-07:00

we were out quite late tonight and sky (the man of the house today) was helping G get out to walk in the house. This is how far G got from the suburban before he layed down and fell back to sleep. luckily "snaps" always has a camera ready. we really were laughing so hard it took us probably 20 minutes to actually get him in the house. One of those moments I hope I never forget!

Bible school 2011 complete

2011-07-25T21:31:00.000-07:00

so this year our theme was DRIVE and Motorman Mark was our leader. he entered everyday in his high speed racer

the kids were mystified all week at where his power came from. note I didn't post this until after Bible school.

this was sky's first time leading on this stage and next to dad, how sweet is that?

every year in Bible school we have a fund raiser for a mission and whoevers bucket weights the most gets a pie. Out of the 4 gym (boy) helpers who had the heaviest bucket?

yep my boys and a far and away 54 lbs. A total bonus is that pastor Rob got to have the pleasure of giving the pie this year instead of getting one!

5 pies you say? yes we put out a challenge if the kids could raise over 100 lbs all 4 guys got it AND if they got over 140 lbs Motorman Mark gets one too (we love mixing fun with everything) our kids raised 161 lbs which transferred into $591 to buy Bibles in macau which can be freely given out in the town square there. God gets all the praise this week, David and I were not capable of putting on this awesome week together. it was only because of Gods grace that it turned out at all and He did a stellar job! take a peak at the daily videos at bethelcommunitychurch.org

a wonderful day to celebrate adoption.

2011-07-10T05:20:00.000-07:00

children's hope which is our adoption agency had their midwest picnic yesterday. Over 400 people all families who have adopted through CHI (not only China all countries). It was such a beautiful sight to see all the "colorful" families like ours. right away we saw a family we had traveled with to China whose baby was now 3 and so big! when we sat down at the table we quickly met a family from Arkansas who had adopted 5 kids from 3 different countries 1 who was from Mei's very orphanage! (if mei tells you that act excited she"s VERY thrilled at that info)

these two pictures are important women who helped in bringing Mei home. Melody on top works in China CHI and mary on the bottom is director here. It was so awesome to meet the voice we spoke to on the phone and emails so so many times. What awesome jobs they have right?

one of the activities was a martial arts demo. these pics turned up out of order but you get the idea, at the end of the show they let all the kids come up to break a board and they got to take it home. It was really cool for the kids, except now my living room has turned in to a Kung fu gym.

mei had a great " ha yah"

celebrating with the Rill's

2011-07-10T05:07:00.000-07:00

FYI it is my opinion blogger has a mind of its own and has no feelings on what order I want pictures in! I love big guys (yellow shirt) face in this one, pure delight at the thought of a toasted marshmallow. He made some for me to so I had the same smile on!

Davids folks had their 50th anniversary and we had big fun

the weather was great and most the family was there, Dave rocked the BBQ and Kathie's new fire pit was the cats pajamas.

Finally~ here is the real fun

2011-07-06T20:43:00.000-07:00

these two were total buds

little love (i'm all about nick names if you don't know) and I sat in the sun tent and she loved my hat, I does look fetching.

the weather did not give us as much time as we wanted at pilgrim pines so we rode right over the first day to squeeze in as much as we could. here they are trying to catch fish with cheezits

this baby loves the camera, my kind of girl!

at camp they have this huge water slide which I'm sure would have been much more fun had there actually been water on it, as I always say, you can find fun any where, even a waterless water slide

B had the energy to take on J

bed heads

the took us to this yummy ice cream place and this is their kids cup

needless to say we all got kids size

ice cream lunch, nothin better

a self portrait, so cutie

a stop at the candy shop

we brought our bikes, as always, and they got a lot of use

I love this one! here we are at the bowling alley, another rainy day activity

this is at Yankee candle in the winter room where it snows every 4 minutes. really fun

I was thinking this may be a Christmas card pic but as you see its a big NOPE

this candle said it would take 7 years to burn down

the kids made their own candles.

looks like great music right? none better

this baby got plenty of attention

if you know these two you know this is picture is sooo perfect. J there will be 1 in the mail for you soon!

because of the crummy weather we had an indoor picnic

we stopped in at camp to say see ya to jimmy c

on the way home we had a jaw breaker contest Gray came out victorious and got the prize

B's fathers day gift for Dave

2011-07-06T09:46:00.000-07:00

B used his own $ to fix up D'S dads old Schwinn for fathers day. he had no idea and was so surprised. surprised too about how great a ride it was.

B also had Dave's old bike fixed for himself. He is very proud to be riding his dads bike from when he was in high school. Rudy at our bike shop said these were great bikes and was very happy we never got rid of them.

some high lights from our time in VT

2011-07-02T10:27:00.000-07:00

this is why I love vacations, coffee on the balcony

tons of games played

the is plenty to do even on the side of the road

the river behind the condo, daily fun for the kids

the boys smiting the mountain

the summit pose

visiting ben & jerrys was very delicious

milk/cream &sugar delivered daily!

we found a town fair and had maple flavored cotton candy

wrestling is always on our agenda

a bike ride for fathers day

flea market fun

a stop at a open market

art along the bike path

a stop for a cool off in the river

another fun thing we found on the side of the rode

gray jumped first

G played a song for D for fathers day

the perfect gift from gray

"we are so blessed"

2011-06-30T21:53:00.000-07:00

liv walked in the house today from playing outside with the neighbor smiling from ear to ear.
"what?" I said. "I love having so many people to play with all the time, Jr. has no brother or sister, we are sooo blessed" If that doesn't fill a moms heart with praise ...

A BIG BIG day for G!

2011-06-30T21:33:00.000-07:00

we flooded last year July and G's mattress was one of the things to be put in the trash. He has been bedless and sleeping here and there all year "poor guy" you are saying I know. Well I am happy to say he has a permanent bed now. One that can not fall subject to basement water! we surprised him telling him he can pick out any sheets and blanket he wanted for his new bed and he went crazy in excitement. You see here what he picked out. in fact when I took this picture I showed it to him and he said "mom you didn't even get Mario"

so here is the next photo

3 of my babies all together. I love to think of the late night chit chat that will be had in this room

B went in to check on G and with his whole new bed he is snuggled up in the corner. I love when I see my kids this happy!

liv turns 9 in vermont

2011-06-30T20:42:00.000-07:00

enjoying her new bike seat

this cloud had a rainbow on it really cool, we figured that was good birthday luck

this is g's "joker" face... hum, ok?

a jump in a pool (not our pool) with your clothes on is always fun

we took the gondola to the highest peak in VT. it was 54 degrees up there burr

...and many more!

another kid in double digits

2011-05-31T20:05:00.000-07:00

mei turns 10 and as last year we spent it at millennium park
after a while we walked over to "bucking bull" fountain

since it was so windy I knew that on the hour the kids would be in for a surprise!

I love bringing my kids to things that I grew up doing! none of them, even David, had never done this before they danced in the spray the full 20 minutes. we ALL ended up soaked. It was just as fun today as it was 35 years ago with uncle Gladdy.

we came home to find more fun

what a perfect last picture for my china girl!

found these on my camera today

2011-05-11T21:16:00.000-07:00

he makes me nuts but I am crazy in love with this guy.

fun times

2011-05-11T20:13:00.000-07:00

so I walked in on G eating lunch. what a health nut

we have a lot of dance parties at our house. we even have live music, dancin to skillet here
a visit to the fire house a little exercise

some camp games

not sure if his minds in to the game

and KB comes to play. pogo sticks are all the rage at our house

he's so tricky

really G? where does he come up with them? I tell you I laugh every time I see this

happy Easter day!

2011-04-25T08:19:00.000-07:00

we are so happy to have little A home especially since we get to see liv clothes again

cheeks is my "best medicine" and boy i needed it today!

I can never have enough pic's of this girl

the tye dye twins

this pic is a must have since she ends up on his lap every time she sees him

so happy to have the uppers here

cheeks was the talent show

poor jon was sick so he enjoyed it from here

yea i was on the couch or I would have stopped gray from hunting in his socks

what a great family day praising Jesus for the greatest act of love ever done.

a funny stories

2011-04-23T20:12:00.000-07:00

so we were waiting at the international terminal today and here comes out our friend like this pushing this huge kart with loads of luggage by herself so funny it was several minutes before the rest of them followed along
and then on our Easter egg hunt to even the field we made the big guys wear winter gloves

sky taped his bag to his glove so he wouldn't have to hold it, it made for a fun hunt.

we celebrated a lot today!

2011-04-23T18:57:00.000-07:00

we were quite proud of our kids today, this morning they were given a choice to go to church for the Easter egg hunt or go to the airport to see some of our favorite girls come home, you see which they unanimously chose

yes, more family home in the USA!

and thankfully we could enjoy the great weather

hum I found these two on the swing had to get a picture

no need to worry about the kids when livs around

they were "rock stars going to the rock star show" G was humming a tune and baby A was copying him humming the same tune it was so cute they are best buds

we left that fun to have coloring egg fun

favorite eggs

ready for the basket hunt

gray found all his clues that led to his basket

lookin good

and then gray lost his second tooth~ toothless joe

what do we do on good friday?

2011-04-23T00:02:00.000-07:00

craft naturally, yep there was a craft day organised and aunt betty, one of the craft queens planned out great projects
we actually are simple to please. Give us some beads and juice pouches and we can sit together at a table for hours, grandma gail would have loved today, so glad her sisters have taken over the fun

me? i played with cheeks I tried to teach her how to text but I think she needs a few more (hundred) sessions with me!

if you've been to Melrose in the last 80 years...

2011-04-22T23:49:00.000-07:00

you will recognize what has left the building. yep the ever loved un-tuned piano has made it's final exit. family came from miles away to help
before you get all teary eyed know this, we loved the piano but our family is getting larger, in size not number, and we need to extend our dinning room table to accommodate us all and in the history of this house people always mattered more than things so it was time for it to go. Do know this- a scrapper has already come around to make a different use of it reduce-reuse-recycle.

how 4 minutes &58 seconds made today great

2011-04-22T23:37:00.000-07:00

B had a race this week on Thurs. "the Don relays"
the big smiles on every ones faces is because B broke the 5min mark for his 1 mile. This is a very big deal even more so for a freshman runner and total bonus he had a cheering section! Thanks shawn &suz for braving the unseasonable weather you guys are the best!

sparky fun fair 2011

2011-04-20T20:11:00.000-07:00

and wa hoo we had more cousins in town and you know how we love our cousins!
I was sooooo proud to see my 2 sparkies in 1st and 3rd place

sadly we were missing one cousin who had a high fever

and here is our newest cousin

I am more than thrilled to have my baby working in sparks carrying on a long tradition

we have cousins on both sides, nothin better

me and my newest little babes and we are both sad because she was leaving to go back home to the east coast.

generations of Gods faithfulness

2011-04-18T02:07:00.000-07:00

today was a great day the kind that doesn't come along often. Our entire family is in town and minus uncle Bill we were all happy to smile around the amazing woman who leads this family the complete great grand children picture, well until #20 comes in Sept. God is so great

here we are thanking him for our food and family camp style- so perfect

"Take a picture mom. I'm the dad and these are my sons"

the weather was such a blessing a beautiful day for celebrating palm Sunday

finally I get to hold "cheeks" a 6 hour drive keeps me from kissing those cheeks as much as I'd like

one thing that is true - we love to have fun together, it just happens we can't help it

cousins make the best buddies

more big f-u-n

I feel I hardly need to sum this post up but I enjoy every opportunity to give God the glory.

There once was a man who fell in love with a beautiful woman and together decided to devote there lives to Jesus and see what He had in store for them. Guaranteed it has not been as fun as today we have trudged through devastating blows have even lost some along the way, well not lost we know where they are and because of those 2 godly people we celebrate the love we have for each other in a way that is only possible for those who follow the hero of palm Sunday.

my boy turns 15

2011-04-07T20:23:00.000-07:00

the day started sweet as always

lunch at the pool

a gift by the hot tub

dinner at this delicious BBQ place, oh my I wish I could have some now!

I say it every year, everyday! how did he grow up so fast? We just praise God we have been the ones who get to raise him. This year has been a big one for us and we grow more and more proud of him all the time

and instead of a birthday cake a mickey mouse premium ice cream bar what could be any better

the 34th anual sparks banana split

2011-04-07T20:13:00.000-07:00

yes it's that time of year again for the super duper banana split. As uncle Gladdy was trying to describe how long it was to mei he said " it's 5 Kyles long" "WHOA that's huge" she said. once again it did not disappoint

the next day

2011-04-06T21:09:00.000-07:00

it was chilly but no rain so we took a great bike ride. riding on the beach could it be any better?

ok you can't really tell but here we are by alligators hangin around the ponds. the fenwick family we ate with told us about it and score we saw some. it was really scary to be standing there with my babies, I was making escape plans in my mind the whole time

this is the front of our beach house

as always got to stopped at the firehouse

we made it back to watch the sun set which was great since we hadn't seen the sun most all week

wishin this one turned out better it just may have made the Christmas card. This was a great day in fact it was some of the kids favorite thing we did! if you know me you know family bike rides are my natural high so yes it was my fav too

the best day of the year!

2011-04-01T07:23:00.000-07:00

liv has a unique style at horseshoes

we tried to see how close we could get to this huge bird

there was a crab in the pool and all the kids were freaking out so naturally my girl walked over caught it and became the hero to all the kids at the pool

then for dinner we went over to that fenwick family's rental. who couldn't have fun with 10 kids around?

they even made me a birthday cake it was really fun to visit with them

at the end of the day the kids gave me 40 kisses, way better than 40 spkankins

well we've had some rain here

2011-03-30T15:51:00.000-07:00

what ya gonna do except make your own fun

another good day

2011-03-29T20:13:00.000-07:00

they have activities here so the kids got in on some messy science the pool is the big fun, we found out they keep it at 85 degrees which explains a lot

after dinner we went to the beach which is not 85 degrees, it was chilly we didn't last very long but the waves were cool

a crazy thing happened yesterday worth mentioning, david got a text in the morning asking,- coach are you in hilton head? my dad thinks he just saw B running?- So how crazy is that? after 18hours of driving away from fenwick we are at a resort across the road from two of our runners. we are supposed to have dinner with them later this week, how wierd is that? crazy I say!

just like that it's cold again

2011-03-29T05:27:00.000-07:00

we lost 26 degrees since yesterday, burr but that didn't keep us down we just put extra layers on and out they went before dinner these crazies went swimming, there was steam coming off the pool but I must say they were not the only ones in the pool

every days an adventure in this family

our first spring break ever

2011-03-27T18:35:00.000-07:00

so this is what we looked like on the road, the boys called it "the ghetto roller" one guy actually hung out the window to take a picture of us, we turned heads from chicago to SC ah but doing this makes it worth it all swimming today,I can hardly believe it myself

shadow is quite famous here and today we got to visit with him

a great day one

some days you can hold Gods answer to prayer in your hands-today was one of those days

2011-03-22T21:57:00.000-07:00

God not only protected our family in Japan He also brought them home to us safely. If I could have stood there squeezing them for an hour I would have, we have been praying so often and so hard, to hold the answer of all those prayers will keep me going for a long time!
God is so good! to see those smiles together again nothing less than awesome
that lousy "regular" school schedule kept B from the airport thankfully he still got to enjoy the blessing at the welcome home party at 4027
so Chad has broke his nose twice, we've had pictures of the two of them Grays whole life BUT now it's a little different

oh yea family's the bomb

how much better does it get? well except for adding more cousins!

I wish I could put their first picture ever taken right under this one. as always so cute

maybe I have it all wrong

2011-03-17T21:20:00.001-07:00

So I've been thinking lately about how our family survives by just hanging on, sometimes by a very thin thread. We are going on 4 years of a very painful life one that truthfully has no sign of turning up. So as I lay flat I have been thinking, does God like when our life is just hanging on? rather than cozy on the comfort of life? We are still managing to serve him, to raise our kids in a godly home, even help out needy kids who have nothing resembling a good home, life gets lonely when you spend so much time at home but it gives us a heart for hurting people. My kids know how to help and recognize people in need. my house is not fancy, new or even orderly, but is this what God is looking for? I'm not so sure. maybe he wants us uncomfortable, I have seen so much that doesn't make sense and is really uncomfortable and it happens to the godliest of people. my pastor does always say" God doesn't call us to be comfortable just obedient to Him" so should I continue to pray for healing or just the ability to hang on? which will please God more?

some sunday night cousin fun at the golden arches

2011-03-13T20:23:00.000-07:00

this was last minute after church fun some of the best kind

mark and sky cheer on the Bulls

2011-03-13T12:30:00.000-07:00

mark gives sky guitar lessons, the awesome thing about it is that we have known Mark since the day he was born so it is so great that he"s the one who is teaching him to lead worship.
mark loves the Bulls and knew to go early and get to see the players

he got 3 autographs and 5 high fives

this picture is a testimony of generations of Gods faithfulness. This is why I really love Bethel and adore the body of Christ

the tickets we got were high up but the boys said they were great and the expensive boxes were right over their heads so they must be good right?

this was an important game because they had a special ceremony to honor the 91 team so all the greats were there, M J, scotty pip,horace grant... they said it was so loud they couldn't actually hear the speaker but luckily we DVR ed it and they got to enjoy it all over again by the way, the Bulls spanked the jazz which put us in 1st

a godly man investing time in my son? priceless

this weeks fun

2011-03-12T12:04:00.000-08:00

crazy hat night
and yahoo we had 3 book finishers in the fam in as many weeks! why the home-made ribbons you ask, awanas junkie and we haven't gotten our order yet, grrrr

a total find at the thrift! sames cousins

one of my favorite events of the year is an ADA benefit we attend at soldier field. This year our host payed extra so we could tour the stadium it was really cool. a fun fact ; I asked the guide and this spot was where me and mom would watch the bears from, it was where the wheel chair section was in the old stadium super cool

here is the $1,000 view, yep the sky boxes have this amazing view it was spectacular. no wonder aunt betty loves her bears job

for the first time we got Lovies autograph we brought a ball and had him write all our kids names on it and he and his wife maryanne both signed it. It was my favorite thing I took home that day.

Annihilation of Brixton-check it out

2011-03-05T15:25:00.000-08:00

a tiny update

2011-03-05T13:16:00.000-08:00

some of us girls went to a mom/daughter night
it was a fun and special time for me & liv. and the session was on modesty and loving how God designed you, which as you can imagine it was a needed reminder for all of us girls. it is called secret keeper girls if your interested in checking it out

sky and his great ideas, this week was fondue week, total yum!

winterfest 2011, so much fun in only a few days!

2011-03-01T09:33:00.000-08:00

so when we go to camp I tell the kids I don't care what they wear as long as its warm enough. this is what G came out in on day 1. funny thing is that no one really noticed it was just like, oh yea its gray.

so I told the kids they could pick one thing from the snack counter. our smart kids picked this 1 cup (full of candy and chips) smart kids hua?
this is the high light of David's year playing in the band at winterfest

you see baby A loves her sled the kids pulled her every where- even inside

bear/ninja/hunter game

dancin girls. they both hear music and start shaken

i guess the foyer was to messy for her

first broom ball game, B made the first goal followed by cody and eventually a Bethel win!

I was the privileged one who got to hold the traveling trophy during the games. every year the winner adds something to the trophy last year we made it in to a lamp, cool but Brooke and I think aunt lynn should knit the shrunken head and nice hat and scarf, just an idea since we have it another year- yeah!

notice who's on the stage and the screen, yep G! since he had the worse injury so far, a broken nose, he got to be a guest drummer for 2 songs!

what a great prize

fresh northern icicles

another bear/ ninja/ hunter. looks like a tie (you die) to me

mei was more than happy to pull baby A any where she wanted to go!

the end of winterfest. it will come in instalments

2011-02-28T09:42:00.000-08:00

awesome shot

bethel wins! 2nd year in a row

the best friends are church friends!

Abbie I thought of you when I took this one! you will be home sooooo soooon!

gray and cody have a great relationship 9 times out of 10 you will find gray with him

as they began to slide mei said "I have to find someone to jump on" funny she found frank who already had liv on his lap already, also there were about 20 people in this train. can't pass up the best!

ah frank loves every minute of it!

I think this pic is so cool yes all every member of my family is on there and notice shawn filming on the way down

gray found this drum and asked shawn if he could play during worship, he said yes and gray was in heaven! look how the two of them are watching him, so cute!

NO JOKE! he layed down during the rowdy set and almost feel asleep!

my boys, couldn't be prouder. (sky just practiced didn't play the sessions...yet)

when they were practicing they began to sing mei's favorite song-mighty to save- so suz let her sing along, I adore suz, the kids do too obviously

it was pitch black when I took this photo I'm so happy with how it turned out, mike even got in on it

so cool right? the leader/student game was at 11pm

love this one, these are the memories I love

these boys asked over 20 friends to retreat with over 20 NOs. pray they keep asking!

I think we have this same pic since liv was born, it was a must have

I love that my kids are growing up with kids who grew up with us!

it never gets old- the old spin and walk, stumble. they all had tons of fun with it. even baby A cried when uncle dave had to go practice. NOTE suz face on the bottom pic, that says it all

the icing on the cake co-mvp's. a freshman and a senior a good combo

sky's birthday part 2. chicago auto show...

2011-02-16T12:50:00.000-08:00

here is mei favorite car of the show this year D tool the kids on one of those rough rides, they loved it! there were 3 of those real tracks this year that's how huge it is

there's way more to do than just sit in cars

we were so happy to hear mater was there!

D and G both had their cars shirts on, perfect

state farm defiantly had one of the best exhibits

Jeep had the kids track again. gray was recognized for being an exceptional driver

also JEEP

our other fav was Army! It was really fun and they were all so nice

she doesn't look that scary with that big smile on

this was cool too you got to take a pic as a band. sadly B wasn't in the picture they gave to you or it would have been the rills album cover

at this one you decorate the car with static clings. I think this was one of our best years at the show. they had so much for everyone to do. I'm glad the car industry is looking up!

On a bad ending we went to R.J. Grunts for dinner ,used to be one of our fav's, and we walked in asking for a seat for 8 and they straight our told us they wouldn't seat us we were to many or would have to split up, I said we couldn't only 2 of us are adults, could we wait for a big table? the hostess said "no we have no room for you here" ugh guess what is no longer our favorite place? we ended up at uncle Julio's where they had wonderfully nice hostess and were open for a large family, and so delicious! Sky's lucky he actually got 2 birthday dinners.

a good old fasion Sunday at grams

2011-02-14T17:01:00.000-08:00

yea, baby A wears Livs valentine dress. I love seeing our things being used again!
our family, minus 9, for lunch at grams

ah cozy chair

good thing this is an old. well made couch, guessing a newly made one wouldn't hold up to our family

an awesome surprise to get Colby here too. He got a grand welcome when he walked in. And the brace free smile is beautiful!

this is one of livs favorite places to sit

as always when my grandma shushed us all for prayer through her tears she praised God for this family. It is true God has blessed this family for so many generations. It is so incredible we all love to be together, no hate, arguments, we have lived through so many horrible situations together, we all live to follow Jesus and have a TON of fun when we are together. God is awesome!

and another few inches fall...

2011-02-12T21:30:00.000-08:00

indoor track 2010 has begun

2011-02-12T21:19:00.000-08:00

B sporting the zoom Mamba shoes, oh yea

a little pose for the camera which is good to show he's more comfortable racing

we have 2 teen agers YIKES!

2011-02-12T20:11:00.000-08:00

this birthday was a bit different than our usual. since it's a Saturday we had a track meet so we got out of the house quick and brought the gifts along
OK well these ended up out of order but what better birthday lunch than Kenny's BBQ, recommended by someone who knows where things are way south

"uncle rod" has the same great birthday as sky!

sky loves sparkling grape juice and gray gave it to him with a cup, when I took the picture I didn't realize it was so funny

birthday-gifts-track meet

my teenagers, and their dad who acts like one, this wasn't the greatest celebration ever BUT don't worry we are going to really celebrate (minus gifts, plus sticky buns & cake) on Tuesday the way we do every year at the car show which the news has said is great this year. I will say it again God is good! we were so happy when we had sky that God had given us 2 boys when the Dr.s had said we may not be able to any kids.13 years ago at 9:43am we heard "it's a boy" and God knew I needed sky he is such a blessing to me everyday always willing to help me out

this is what 22" of snow looks like

2011-02-11T13:29:00.000-08:00

our mt. Everest

no our roof did not last against the 60 mile an hour winds it peeled back like a banana. we are wondering how far our roof traveled?

this is just to show how deep he snow is compared to the van

Again to show how deep it is here, almost over jr.'s fence.I haven't really got to many pictures, A. because they built a fort and are almost always in there, playing uno, having snacks... B. I just don't want to trample out there. I certainly has brought hours and hours of play time which makes me happy since I totally remember doing the same thing as a kid.

Happy Chinese new year!

2011-02-11T12:35:00.000-08:00

as you see it's a big holiday at our house and a total bonus B had a snow day so he got to party too

we braved the snow, hooray for 4 wheeled drive, to eat at a so yummy restaurant that Ye recommended. wow it was so good

got to have dumplings

it was family style on the giant lazy sue just like in China, so good

the dim sum menu had pictures to help you pick. Mei looked and was so excited saying "I made these in China!" (in foster care) so of course we ordered them and they even tasted like China! we all agreed we love this place and every scrap was gone.

for those of you who don't live close

2011-02-11T09:14:00.000-08:00

liv and mei got their first hair cut in a shop. here is her first shampoo, very exciting
tia has become our kids hair cutter, they really like here

ahh first time sitting under the hair dryer

now M"s first wash. she looked through the hair style books and found a new style!

yep she got bangs. A big day here. Mei didn't want me to blog it at first so she could surprise everyone.

look at all that hair on the floor

oh yea she gets the dryer too, I love the dryer!

if you are looking for a hair cutter for the kids tia's a good choice

my two beauty's

what have we been up to since it"s to cold to play outside?

2011-01-23T10:07:00.000-08:00

some of this weeks high lights are- our yoga class
pledge+wood floor sock skating

and last night we went to build-a-bear. our cousin gave them a gift card for Christmas we had a really fun time! in order from L to R are mei mei-(girl)- her favorite friends name in China, Penner(boy) and monkey (boy)- gray always has such creative names. they all went at church this morning too, what a good start for them! thanks guys for the gift cards they loved it, only could have been better if you were there with us. love you.

they are all smiling but inside we are sad...

2011-01-23T09:44:00.000-08:00

our family gets split by distance again but we don't say goodbye it's always, see you later (alligator)
g made a cake to bring over it was yummy

I think this pictures shows just how much we love little A and Es.

"this is the best surprise ever" liv

2011-01-19T22:25:00.000-08:00

so thanks to finals and Martin L K jr.Fenwick had a long weekend so we surprised the kids and went up north to one of our favorite spots in the US.

As you can see we got to spend time with one of our favorite babies too and it's never to early to start her on running or sporting the shield! she looks happy with the idea right.
wonderful friends of ours let us use their cabin, we have never been her in the snow so the kids, who are quite inventive, made a sledding hill down the front of the house

as you can see it is not you average sledding run. In fact they warned me "mom you may not want to come see this one" so I mean with a warning like that I had to go down right?

no worries only minor injuries.

we were totally lucky since camp had a huge retreat we got to babysit baby Char two whole days, the kids were all so happy to take care of her I hardly needed to do anything for her. in this picture K&J got an afternoon break from camp and came over for a visit.

one of the reasons I love it up here is because things move at my pace. we just hang out, play games- a lot of games, play around the house and just be together. Char was an easy addition as you can see she was sky's lucky charm in Disney apples to apples (which I highly recommend as a kids &adult game)

aunt lynn called one day and said "there is a 25 ft ice castle in Eagle river, so we dressed warm and headed over. It was really cool, and extremely cold!

my favorite part was the trees frozen in to the ice as decoration and that some of the ice had sea weed frozen in to it.

as you will see, no baby spends much time not being held in this family

at our candy store stop G picked out matter teeth- sucker.

so everyone who knows us knows it is easy to list the things that we love and I was so proud of Char when I laid 4 toys in front of her and she choose Mickey mouse, ugh what a smart girl!

this boy has dedication, burrrr! awesome picture though

one day I set up a scavenger hunt outside

sky and Gray won the game but it was huge hit. in fact several of the kids mentioned it at our ," what was your best thing", ritual. Good old fashioned fun that's what makes this place so great. As liv said " this was the best surprise ever"!

living by Ohare certainly has it's perks

2011-01-10T10:30:00.000-08:00

Our boy Chris, as we call him, was in on a 9 hour lay over-awesome! they day began as it should, with sticky buns
we are always happy when we get to see Chris. It is so cute the kids literally run up and hug him. Just like in the movies.

it was great to play at home but I was really happy that Sky and Chris got to have a mini jam. I walked up the stairs to hear the 3 of them singing worship songs.

sadly David was on shift so we headed out to the fire house for a visit.

as we always do we got a new family picture

and the must have Chicago pizza for dinner before heading back to Ohare to fly across the pond. 9 hours-we'll take every minute we can, love you Chris next time lets do 9 hours on the beach okay?

We are so blessed!

2011-01-10T10:17:00.000-08:00

I am at home and what just happened fills my heart with blessing. One of our friend just picked up my 2 older boys to take them out for pizza, the awesome part/ this friend is also our pastor. also joining them is another Friend and pastoral intern/ youth leader. Imagine my teenage boys totally excited to go out to eat with 2 upright Godly men, what mom could ask for more? you all know who read my blog, I adore the body of Christ and if you are not in a church that your pastors are totally available to any age, I would tell you that you are really missing out! My heart is so blessed right now that these words don't even do it justice. I pray my boys will continue growing to become men of God and today is a great and fun way to witness what a one looks like. Praise God for my blessing of the day.

who can believe my daughter did this?

2011-01-06T20:31:00.000-08:00

we are always telling our kids, including Mei, what side of the family they got things from. for example, you play the guitar great-must be dads side of the family or your so creative -must be the Christiansen side or the famous- you're having such a bad temper, well that's both our German sides, sorry. but Mei showed up with this today and I was like WOW honey no one in our family has ever done this before, so we all know which side the etch a sketch skill comes from- the Chinese side. Oh by the way this is a travel size etch a sketch about 3" tall, boy how kids amaze you hua?

pitiful I say

2011-01-06T17:03:00.000-08:00

so this year we got our tree at home depot as we always do for their great price but this year , although she had character, which I loved, she sure ended up very bear. Just plain pitiful
note the pile of needles under the tree. Thank goodness we have wood floors for easy clean up.

There is an old grandpa Meister story that involves my grandpa and granny keeping their Christmas tree up for valentines day. I guess I do have Meister blood in my veins but there is no way this ugly thing was lasting to see cupid!

the grand opening of the RILL ARENA 2011

2011-01-05T14:15:00.000-08:00

you have probably noticed that since we can't get out much we bring our sports here. for example- mt. melrose or rill stair luge/toboggan runs- pillow high jumps- blow guns/archery to name a few. Well we have expanded ...
broom ball and ice skating/ hockey have arrived at 5125

"this is the funnest thing EVER" sky told me today. yep we do make our own fun here, grandma gets the cushy box seats , wouldn't grandpa had gotten a kick out of this one?

big yooper fun

2010-12-30T18:34:00.000-08:00

more friends arrive
skiing is a big thrill up here for the city kids

the Jr. biathlon

it began to rain today, sad, so we had cabin time with our buds

so if liv is our super nanny, mei is our ultimate big sister

this year an added bonus is that the kids have their own table. If it seems we are having a BLAST you would be right

yesterdays news

2010-12-30T07:51:00.000-08:00

livvy and lauren M. best buds
this year they have supplies out to knit scarfs for kids in town without warm cloths. very many people learned how to knit this week

our broom ball team. go Jesus freaks!

my buddy J, he is so easy to take pictures of

cousin time!

we had baby C for dinner tonight

this is a sweet perk of camp- family and friends...

a glimps of Christmas camp 2010

2010-12-29T10:18:00.000-08:00

so a few weeks ago Mei asked "mama am I Norwegian to since you are?" to which I naturally replied yep!
another first- ice fishing

these guys got the shanty

the massive snowball fight!

the beginning of the week began with jumbo cranium game I'm almost sure the rill team won

so I wonder, when you shop for your tree do you find you son under the stack of trees or am I the only one?

2010-12-16T21:48:00.000-08:00

was he looking for the perfect tree?
there she is our perfect tree.. this year

I have no idea who took this one of from where

almost everything in this house is entertainment

yes this is how I "decorated" the tree yippee

thanks to a Rill tradition B made his famous fudge and it was 90% gone before the end of the night. what a tasty tradition decorate tree=fudge!

David and I are both moving slow this season. Me, well I'm always moving slow. D because of a knee surgery. BUT the beauty of it is that we are taking it easy just loving the season. No hectic schedule, not much actually needs to get done so we are spending a ton of Christmas family fun together. I was actually thinking what a blessing it has been to have both of us down at just the right time to be sure us Rills remember why we celebrate Christmas anyway.

as long as I'm bragging...another son following in his dad's foot steps.

2010-12-16T21:35:00.000-08:00

last Sunday was the fenwick cross country banquet, it was my 7th time going to it. However this year I had a little more interest! My boy was getting awards, and wow he was well awarded for his season! B walked away with his freshman numerals, sophomore letter and a varsity letter having competed on all levels this year. He also was voted by all 3 coaches as the JV MVP. Can you even believe it? I tell you what if I wasn't the coaches wife I would have been standing on the chair yelling hooray! To hear David standing there telling what a great season "this runner" had could not have been better what an honor for David. I'll say it even again to use the word proud is an understatement. God has so blessed us with these awesome boys. Awards or not I think he's really great.

proud is an understatement

2010-12-15T21:28:00.000-08:00

My boy sky made is debut tonight playing his guitar during worship tonight. I wasn't really ready for how good he was. Hearing him here at home is great but to see and hear him up there playing, beside his dad, so awesome, and Jeff and frank two other Godly men. A real band, people singing to my sons music, him sounding so good. I think taking the pictures kept me from crying. I was standing there next to the great man who taught him to play the guitar so blessed by the unity at church. A boy buys a guitar, never played before, his cousin lets him strum and peaks his interest, one leader offers to give him lessons, then a short few months later another leader says "your great want to play worship on Wednesday?" A plug for myself and Dave, we were all of those boys leaders in high school, I love the body of Christ working together to teach the young to grow up and teach others to worship and serve God. which leads us to this great night. seeing him up there and playing worship songs to our God, like I said proud is an understatement, I wanted to shout "yeah that's my boy!"
if you could see the whole stage in this picture you would see things just as they should be, 4 generations learning from each other and serving God side by side. God is so great!

Ark christmas 2010

2010-12-15T21:05:00.000-08:00

this year I had 2 girls in ark. liv and mei performed this past Wed. and Sun. and did an awesome job.
another first for mei

a first for Ari too. I love seeing them together. Sunday night we had 3 girls from China at church and I was really over- come thinking about the new life they have been given, sitting in a church, in the USA able to be what ever God has in store for them, it's almost to impossible to believe when you sit and think what could have been...

my baby is 6...

2010-12-15T00:07:00.000-08:00

excited for sticky buns, yum
and a day at the bowling alley.

he loves this little cooking show on tv so we gave him the proper cooking garb

so birthdays are a really big deal at our house, so gray got to choose the activity's. which included bowling of coarse- fun, pizza hut for lunch. then to Disney store and target, now keep in mind his birthday fell on black Friday this year, ya fun. home for play time and dinner at an all you can eat buffet. so I guess i should be thankful he is easy to please. it just cracks me up that his perfect day, in Chicago included mostly everything we do all the time, with the exception of bowling that is a special treat. and the buffet, ugh no we don't do that I don't know why the kids like it. ANYWAY it was fun and all gray all day. God had great confidence in us when he gave us G. He is just so Gray, and we are loving the uniqueness of him, he is fun, so Witty, brilliant, he can snuggle with you one minute and be karate chopping you the next! it has always been our prayer that he would give his whole life to God because with his, Grayness everyone will hear about Jesus. I am in love with this boy and wait everyday what he is going to come up with next!

our thanksgiving 2010

2010-11-29T10:56:00.000-08:00

we were back at grandmas this year with the smallest table ever, the noise level however seemed just like normal
i think it has to do with the amount of teenagers we have now

B &A stopped over for dessert

which was awesome! for the second year we have had a mini party for gray on thanksgiving. he thought it was great and so far doesn't mind that his birthday is on a holiday

no I did not make the cake- a girl from church does them and G was excited to get a deluxe cake again. I figured since his birthday is at a crazy time of year he needs a special treat for it

the only other thing he wanted was a pinata which we did in grandmas living room so she could watch it was a blast

gram did mention "we would have never allowed this with our own kids" but giggled and loved every minute

after many hits it still wasn't cracked so Josh got on the job and took care of things

and left just enough so the birthday boy could finish it off

we all agreed that great grandchildren defiantly get way more slack, even gram agreed

(stupid blogger) it was totally great having colby home!

the loot

and them time for dessert. I think we all know how much he enjoyed this!

and the gifts, a buddy and a blanket can it be any more gray?

one guess who picked this out for G, if you have a hunch its probably correct- go bears!

fun in chicago

2010-11-29T09:02:00.000-08:00

this ones for the out of towners, Wrigley transformed for northwestern football it was really fun to see everything in purple.
and the "great tree" a pre-thanksgiving tradition for us

everyone got to make a wish

even big boys get wishes

its a music theme this year and they conductors baton lights up it was fun.

when I ask for a family picture this is what I get

once in a while I get this. thanks to herb and mer for starting this family tradition.

an early Christmas gift

2010-11-29T08:44:00.000-08:00

we took all the kids to the winter wonder slam with Toby Mac and Skillet, the little kids first concert.

ready to rock!

these are 2 of our families favorite bands and I love that me & D are not to old that we don't still love our kids music, even the loud stuff!

I'm quite sure she didn't learn to "put your fists in the air" in China. it was so fun to watch all the kids jam

well believe it or not gray did fall asleep during the concert, I guess he's still to young. yes they did wear ear plugs I am still a responsible mom. but Friday night concerts do go a bit late.

Skillet has a violinist which is very cool and we were able to see him after. evidently mei played the violin some in China and was playing an air violin rocken with Jonathan here. I wanted to ask him what his folks think of all those lessons ending up here but I didn't have the guts. it was cool to that all the bands made it clear who they rock for and it was great to know my kids heard that!

a wonderful day for a wonderful man

2010-11-29T08:14:00.000-08:00

it began with everyone staying at camp having our traditional "chuck brunch" and naturally we started the meal with a grace camp style, the iron man for those of you who know-chris & abbie

then on to chuck and Jane's church

it was beautiful, chuck would have been embarrassed by it all I think not being the upfront type of guy but today was all about him and the God he served

and we capped it off with what I think was the best time, worship camp style in the tab

there was singing, dancing, sharing & remembering

now this is more chucks style, this I know he would have loved a party for him it was perfect!

the next time we go to camp it will not be the same a piece will be missing. the "rhythm "of the camp will be off. things will look familiar but a bit of love will be gone. I John 5 tells us- we know for certain that the son of God has come and has giving us understanding so we can be certain of the truth. Chuck knew and lived the truth of Jesus his cross changed everything. If you read this and aren't certain of the truth please let us explain it to you it's what chuck would have wanted.

keeping busy helping out

2010-11-29T07:47:00.000-08:00

being at camp and helping was so comforting to all of us
everyone had a job to do

getting ready for the "Chuck brunch" and the funeral lunch at camp

liv did her best work right here. she also took care of the babies during the service at church which was a real blessing to the moms there

everyone loves Dave I always say. she was laughing she just did the dear in head lights thing for the picture

everyone needs a little fun too. pass up a wrestling match with Colby? no way!

after it was all said and done so many people thanked and even praised us for the work , I was perplexed of course we would help it's why we are here its what you do. David reminded me that our family is not the norm, Reggie taught us you just jump in with 2 feet when someone needs help. there was a lot of work to be done there at camp and we are so happy we got to come early because many hands make light work and we bring 14 of them. As I think back on it even my 5 year old helping I am so thankful for the blessing we have in our godly heritage we live out and praise God even Reggie's great grand kids are following his example, God gave us hands and feet let's use them!

one of my favorite places on earth isn't so beautiful today

2010-11-22T08:04:00.000-08:00

we finally made it up to camp and although it seems dim and sad knowing something- someone is not here. I guess I have to remember it's not just the beauty of God nature why we love it here it's the beauty of God's people, my heart feels warmer here. being in this place brings me comfort like a big needed hug. you look outside the snow is falling, and several of Gods people jumped right in to action, furniture is being moved, floors cleaned, cooking done. preparation to get everything just right. it is good to be productive to see my kids jumping in knowing that they have grown up here. known just as "camp" to us no other explanation needed. it has become so much a part of our lives. praise God he let Dave have the day off work so I didn't have to get here alone, ah so many feelings I'm trying to get out it's not so easy...
one by one the first time you see this chair empty it cuts right through your heart. one man who touched the heart of so many. makes me wonder how many people have I touched with the love of Jesus?