The Moberg Family

Category: Family

  • Quarantine Cousin Camp

    Quarantine Cousin Camp

    So there we were, at the top of a mountain on our very last day of our big Moberg family ski vacation, and we got “the call.” All schools, churches, sports, etc. were shut down for the next 6 weeks in Pierce County. I’ll never forget my niece, with shock on her face, shouting, “Does this mean we’re going to be HOMESCHOOLED?!!!” Hahahaha! Although we were always planning on taking Grandma and Grandpa home with us, the rest of us had all been planning on heading our separate ways home the next morning. But that night after realizing the three oldest cousins had no commitments at home, we decided to take them home with us, too! Why not?!!!! The only problem was, we didn’t have enough seats for everyone! Thankfully we worked out a plan so that Taylor could fly in and meet us at home. The rest of us piled into the Suburban and we rented a uhaul for all of our luggage!  Here’s a little glimpse into our two weeks of Quarantine Cousin Camp!!

    The drive home from Idaho was, admittedly, slightly terrifying at moments. Just after passing Bozeman (where, P.S., we had a super fast but incredibly delightful meet up with Jenny, Clayton and kids!!) it started to snow and the roads got super icy. We passed more flipped cars than we could count and watched a guy roll in front of us. But, thanks be to our gracious God we made it through safely. Later, we managed to pop a tire on the uhaul in Wyoming. Good times.

    As we neared Colorado, the texts and emails started rolling in that Colorado was beginning to shut down. So as schools everywhere closed down, our Moberg homeschool enrollment more than doubled!

    We got settled on Sunday and Monday morning we hit the ground running. Needless to say, it was a BLAST. What a JOY to be quarantined with their cousins and grandparents!! Homeschool was way more fun with the three cousins added into the mix and it sure made acting out our history lessons a whole lot easier!! The kids played hard, learned a ton, had lots of opportunities to work through offenses (added bonus!!) and truly the whole time was such a gift from God.

    While they were here, my phone kept popping up with “this day 7 years ago” and “this day 8 years ago” photos, which I think were the last times these cousins were together during the month of March. So, of course, we recreated them real time :). Check these out…

     

     

    Still wearin’ those overalls. 🙂 I just love before and “laters”!!

    Honestly, I wasn’t sure how the kids would handle jumping into our routines, but it felt absolutely seamless. They are super eager and joyful learners and they fit right in! They stepped right into all of our learning–devotionals, scripture memory, poetry memory, hymn memory, history songs, nature study and painting, history, science, math, bible reading… Hailey even inspired Selah to learn how to crochet. The cousins read the books that Elliott and Selah have published and begged to write, illustrate and publish their own. And they did! The kids did a couple presentations and at the end of the two weeks presented all they had learned for Brian, Grandma and Grandpa. Seriously, such a blast!

    Did I mention the kids had lots of opportunities to work through offenses?!! 🙂 We spent a lot of time during our devotionals learning about friendship, biblical teamwork and ways to respond to each other in the midst of offense. (Don’t we ALL need these lessons and reminders?!!) It was so rich! I’m thankful Hailey and Taylor brought in the “hug it out” principle!! One of the things we do in our home is a “build up pyramid.” We’ve talked A LOT about building each other up in Christ rather than tearing each other down with words and actions. Each time I catch Elliott or Selah building each other up they get to put a lego onto a pyramid they’re working together to build. It’s served as a fantastic visual for them. We brought the cousins right into this and they built up the pyramid twice–once each week! To celebrate, we roasted s’mores each time. I think God was celebrating along with us–check out that sunset!!

    We were able to bring them to the Garden of the Gods on a gorgeous sunny day.

    And, of course, finally introduce them to our property where we played hard together!

    I honestly just kept catching them like this…laughing and snuggling and hugging!! There was an abundance of joy and laughter!!

    This felt like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I’m so grateful God orchestrated the world to give us these ultra special two weeks with cousins and grandparents!! If anyone else wants to come over and quarantine with us, we’re taking applications!! 🙂

  • Ski Vacation 101

    Ski Vacation 101

    I am convinced that a couple of stir-crazy kids invented the sport of skiing after being quarantined for a number of months. I mean, seriously. “I’m bored. I have an idea! Let’s go to the very top of a mountain where you could easily fall to your death with one wrong step. But let’s make it more of a thrill and go when the mountain is covered in snow. No, this isn’t enough. Let’s put long slippery pieces of laminated wood on our feet so that we can’t get a grip on the snow but will slide right along it, making it easier to fly off the side of the mountain.” Great idea, folks…great idea.

    I think anyone who knows me by now knows that skiing isn’t exactly my strength. Enter photo #1:

    Do you see that baby deer wearing a red jacket on the right side of the photo? Yeah, that’s actually ME the last time I went skiing, circa 1998. We were trying to pose for a photo but I couldn’t STOP! Because someone had strapped long slippery pieces of laminated wood onto both my feet!!!! There my friends are, laughing so hard at (with?) me as I frantically slid down the mountain. One of my favorite parts of this photo is the sign above our heads. Do you see it? “High Anxiety”? Case in point. Someone invented the sport of skiing after months of not thinking straight during quarantine. Case closed.

    Brian’s parents so generously invited the entire family on a ski vacation in Idaho and, to tell you the truth, I was actually pretty excited to give skiing a shot again. I mean, come on, grace and eloquence must increase with two decades of maturity and growth, right?? Well, let me just skip right to the end of my story: WRONG. Apparently thinking happy ski thoughts wasn’t enough. My sweet friend kept telling me before going, “It’s just like ice skating!” Yeah…ice skating on the side of cliff. Definitely a pastime of my dreams. But Brian loves to ski and the kids had never been, so we were eager to take our family’s very first ski vacation!

    And, it was truly a WONDERFUL vacation, despite the fact that apparently skiing and I still don’t play very nice together. The timing of the vacation was honestly so perfectly orchestrated by our great God as it was in one of the last states to shut down and we were there essentially the very last week before everything did shut down across the US. What a gift to have a big, fun family hurrah right before our country closed. Here’s a glimpse into our family’s very first ski vacation with the entire Moberg crew.

    We flew into Tacoma and drove with most of the family over to Idaho. Angela and Tony met us there from Oregon. We bundled into two cars and the kids got cherished car trip cousin time.

     

    We stayed in a great condo. We could hop right into a gondola from the front of the condo that took us straight up the mountain.

    Here is the entire crew (minus Grandpa, who’s taking the picture) at the beginning of the first day! This is at the top of the bunny slope. There was a conveyer belt that would take you back up to the top once you skiied down. Isn’t the view amazing?! It was breathtaking.

     

    We (and by “we” I mean “Brian,” the only competent skiier in our family) started both the kids off with a leash (I know, how embarressing, right?) because, if you’ll remember correctly, we dragged our children to the top of a snowy mountain and placed slippery boards on their feet. The least we could do is put a leash on them. After they had proven many times they could go down in a controlled way, we took off the leash and let them free on that bunny slope. Once we felt good about their bunny slope skills, Brian took each kid individually down a real slope with the leash. Once he felt confident they could each stop themselves from flying off said slippery mountain on their own, he let them go down sans leash. The kids really did AMAZING and were both very confident skiiers by the second day. They had an absolute blast and are in love with the sport of skiing. Did I mention they didn’t get that gene from me? Here is a little video I put together of their progress from day 1 till through day 5. Be sure to put on the Close Captioning if you want to see the captions I wrote in.

     

    At the end of each ski day, we headed back to the condo. We would play games and relax for a (very small) bit. By the way, here’s our resourceful engineer of a grandpa for you–no coffee filter? No problem. Use a a grapefruit!

    Each family unit took turns preparing a meal for the whole group. After dinner, we usually headed to the condo’s indoor water park. Because after a full day of skiing people apparently need to get even more energy out?!? It was a super fun little water park and everyone had a blast. So keep in mind, this is the very beginning of March as things are slowly starting to shut down in the US. While floating in the lazy river, the kids would throw a tube on eachother and say, “You’re quarantined!!” We had no idea that was only the VERRRRYYYY BEGINNING…..

     

     

    Here are a few more fun photos from skiing that week. At the bottom of the bunny slope the kids spent some time digging a couple tunnels into this mini mountain. What a perfect vacation!

    So the picture on the left is at the very beginning of the first day. A little scattered and hard for the kids to stand up. By the end of the first day they were SO much more confident but when we went to take a photo, both the kids accidentally slid down the mountain. (Upper right corner.) Thankfully Uncle Tony was there to rescue them. And we got the more composed (bottom right) picture…as long as the kids were hanging on. So maybe they did get some of my genes after all.

    This about sums up our week…hahahaha!! Thank you, Grandma and Grandpa for a most thrilling and fun vacation!!

  • Selah is 7! Let’s Paw-ty!!

    Selah is 7! Let’s Paw-ty!!

    Leading up to her 7th birthday, I cannot count how many nights before bed Selah would suddenly burst into uncontrollable tears while I was snuggling her. When I could finally calm her down enough to tell me what was wrong, she would sob, “I just want to stay little forever so I can snuggle you forever!! I don’t want to turn 7!!” #heartgush

    We had finally decided to make a little agreement that we would celebrate her birthday but she didn’t ACTUALLY have to turn 7 :). It would sure be fine with me!!

    But lo and behold, when October 8th rolled around, she confessed in a small voice that maybe she did, indeed, want to turn 7. So I permitted it. 🙂 That night, while going to bed, she confessed, “Mommy, I just wish I could still celebrate a birthday every year but only grow older every OTHER year. So I’d be 3 and 1/2 right now. That sounds nice.” I don’t know if I will ever grasp the incredible complexities in this little girl’s mind, but somehow my heart expands for her each day and I love her so much more with every sunrise. What a special little girl God made her.

    In this same vein of not wanting to grow older, for years Selah would “suddenly” turn into a baby. Literally, for years, we would be eating dinner, playing a game, or at the store and Selah would suddenly exclaim, “Mom, I’m a baby today, k?” And she would drop to all fours and start crawling around speaking gibberish. This year, that little habit transformed a bit. Now, at various times throughout the day, I hear: “Mom, I’m a puppy. A BABY puppy, k?” And, in like manner, she drops to all fours and begins to bark and beg. She asks (ahem, barks and motions) to have her food and water delivered in a bowl on the floor. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve found her lapping up water from a bowl on the floor. She is a surprisingly convincing puppy for not having spent much time around one and I am getting used to stepping over my sweet little puppy while going about daily life.

    She asked to have a puppy party this year and, of course, the ideas just started flooding in. We settled on a puppy adoption party and invited some sweet friends to come join in on the fun. The kids pulled out all of their doggy “stuffies” (as they are called by these children) and placed them in various places around the house as decoration. Selah wanted 3 waiting right in the doorway as people walked in. A few minutes before party guests were due to arrive the kids began making a banner that said, “Selah’s 7th birthday,” so that is what they are doing in that bottom picture!

     

    We set up our dining room as the party room and adoption headquarters. Fun fact: I learned that we can print 11×17 papers so I made posters for the first time ever! You can see the basket full of puppies “that we found abandoned on the side of the road,” the carrying cases the kids got to decorate, adoption certificates and a bunch of leftover Great Wolf Lodge ears for the kiddos.

    The kids’ eyes were HUGE as I explained we had found these puppies and they needed homes! I said they could each pick one and they just stared at me with mouths gaping and said slowly, in awe, “Do we…get to…KEEP…them?” When I said, “YES!” they just giggled with gratitude and joy and wonder. My goodness, I love this age!

    Here are the various stations, with instructions on the “Selah’s Puppy Adoption Center” poster. Choose your favorite puppy, take your pup to the vet, design a perfect collar, decorate a doggy carrier, and receive an adoption certificate. The kids each selected a puppy and we headed to the Vet’s office! Selah had set out clipboards with “Check-up” sheets attached and various vet supplies.

    I created this “Check-up” sheet after scrolling through several ideas. They were perfect for giving the kids a guide as to how to take care of their pets. I was fully expecting Selah to jump in and examine her puppy but, instead, she took on a teacher (or head veterinarian?) role and helped each friend one by one, answering questions and instructing them on how to fill out their forms and take care of their puppies. It was adorable. I was hoping this station would be fun for the kids, but I was surprised to see how FULLY engaged and “in it” they were. They carefully, diligently, and quite seriously inspected their little puppies with stethoscopes and examining tools. We weighed them and checked their eyes, ears, hearts, paws, and noses. We bandaged, provided medicine, or x-rayed them if necessary. When we were certain we had 6 healthy puppies, we moved onto crafting!

    I had purchased these gable boxes from Hobby Lobby and Brian cut a hole in the front so their puppies could see through. Then, I just pulled out every sticker, gem, and crafting supply I had that might work to decorate them. They made adorable little carriers for their pups!! I also set out pipe cleaners and various beads and jingle bells so the kids could decorate collars. I cut out little circles from cardstock so they could create a tag for the collar. It was fun to see their creativity!

     

    Once they had finished their carrying cases and collars, they signed an official Adoption Certificate!

     

    Selah was adamant about having an obstacle course for the puppies. She and Elliott had set up a little course in the backyard and once the puppies were “officially” theirs, they took them outside and ran through the obstacle course with them! Meanwhile, I set up for lunch inside.

    We, obviously :), decided to have a HOT DOG BAR for lunch, along with some “puppy” food. As we were talking about various toppings we could have out for hot dogs, Grandma suggested chili. I immediately got the vision in my head for our “Hot Dog Cafe”…Choose between a “Hot Dog” or a “Chili Dog,” (check out the picture below) and then add your various toppings!

    In addition to hot dogs, we had Paw-tato Chips, Veggie Kibble, and Fetch Sticks. Super fun :).

    We had a couple older siblings playing with Elliott while the younger ones paw-tied, but they joined us for lunch!

    For her birthday “pup-cakes,” Selah requested Mud Pie, which is the Moberg tradition. I made these individual Mud Pie pup-cakes and we decorate them with paw prints. The Oreo paw has mint chocolate chip ice cream inside, and the marshmallow paw has cookies n’ cream. Mmm.

    Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday, dear Selah!

     

    For her birthday, we got Selah three presents this year. The shirt you see her wearing (how adorable, right?!!), a bible of her very own, and…wait for it…a puppy costume.

    She basically hasn’t taken the costume off since and now we all feel like we really DO have a real, live puppy in the house! For her birthday breakfast she requested waffles with fruit. We had an amazing feast! That night, we celebrated with (more) Mud Pie! Little girl by day, puppy by night. We all laughed hysterically when she put her little head down in front of her birthday cake! Look at that puppy!

    She lifted her head, howled, and eventually blew out those 7 candles. So I suppose it’s official. Our little puppy is 7 years old!

     

    And as if all of that weren’t ENOUGH birthday fun, here is even more celebrating!


    Happy birthday to our dearest Selah Bethany. You may be 7, but you will always, always be my baby girl. And I will never stop reminding you that you will NEVER be too old to snuggle me. 

     

     

     

  • Elliott is eight!

    Elliott is eight!

    And it sure has been great! (For the past 5 months….)

    It seems like my life motto might be “better late than never.” Sigh.

    So before I go any further, you all know we moved about 6 weeks before his birthday. So, to answer the question you will all be dying to ask–no, I did not choose the orangey-beige color on the walls and yes, I DID let the kids paint the walls and write verses all over them to make absolutely sure that the walls got re-painted. Win.

    Our mighty man hit the big 8 and we had lots of celebrating to ring in the new birthday year. One of the more exciting things is that we had the honor of a visit from Aunt Paula and Uncle Joe!! They got to join us for Elliott’s Mauss family birthday party a couple of weeks before his actual birthday! What a treat!!

    Let’s just take a minute and talk about Elliott. Oh this boy is just so special. He still chooses to wear his Carhartts and striped blue/navy blue shirt (that I got him for his 5th birthday, I think??) almost every day. If you’re wondering how it could possibly still fit this growing boy and how it could possibly not have holes in it from this active little buddy…well, it doesn’t really fit (see the sleeves?) and the elbows are basically two big holes. He loves the Paw Patrol (even though he’s still never seen the show) and boy is he into “stuffies”! Selah got him this little Marshall stuffie last year for his birthday and they are inseparable. He is also just hopelessly infatuated with turtles. I love his heart. Here he is on his birthday morning, wearing a 3 year old shirt, in his birthday balloon chair, with his birthday stuffie from last year. I just love this child of mine so much!

    On his actual birthday, he had testing at school for the morning (which he was really excited about, mostly because they got to chew gum, lol). Grandma and Grandpa were here to visit so we all picked him up from school, played at the park for a bit and then hit Chick-fil-a for lunch. Doesn’t get much better than that, does it??

    We celebrated as a family with mud pie (obviously). And…I discovered that I somehow lost all of our candles in the move. Hmmm. And I still haven’t found them. I’m starting to wonder if there’s a group of baby turtles out at our lake having a hey day with these colorful wax sticks that burn fire…

    I regress. I found some matches (matches?? who still owns matches??) so they served as our candles. It was a win-win because I also couldn’t find our lighters, so we just lit a match to light the match candles and told Elliott to HURRY UP and BLOW THEM OUT!!! We opened some special presents, one of which was the “biggest Lego set I’ve ever had!!” from Grandma and Grandpa. He might be a little excited.

    A different night, we ALSO went out to dinner at the Texas Road House (first year he hasn’t picked Red Robin!) which was fun because they put him on a saddle to sing to him!

    And, for the final celebration…One of Elliott’s best buddies, Quinn, has a birthday just 12 days after him. Our families decided to go to Great Wolf Lodge together to celebrate our boys. We ended up with two extra bands so each of the birthday boys got to pick one more friend to join in for the day. They went down a million slides, swam hard, bowled and even got to play in the arcade. It was such an awesome birthday!!

    Elliott is SO BLESSED with incredible friends. These three boys are no exception. This a group of respectful and kind, yet wild and super fun boys that I would happily have Elliott rub elbows with for a long time! They are such a blessing!!

    These two. I’m always tempted to pull out the baby pictures. Maybe I already have! It fills my heart with such extreme joy that these two were bosom buddies, and were friends long before they were born. What a GIFT and treasure from God!!

    Quinn’s sisters made a delicious Star Wars cake that was devoured pretty quickly for sure!

    Yes, we were all there too. And Grampa and Nonna joined us for lunch and birthday cake!

    Well, that’s a wrap. I will end with this picture, which I think is my absolute new favorite picture of my boy. But seriously.

    Happy birthday to our turtley awesome 8 year old boy!!

     

  • Elliott’s 7th Soccer Birthday!

    Elliott’s 7th Soccer Birthday!

    I know you have all been up losing sleep at night wondering what Elliott did for his 7th birthday. Well, now that he’s near turning 8, I figured I’d put a post up about it so you could all get some sleep. 😉

    We had a soccer birthday party for him with a little soccer program that the kids had attended the last couple of years. It’s super FUN and this coach was their absolute favorite. He’s like a cartoon character. So when we heard he did birthday parties, we were all in!!

    It started off with a hilarious circle time and some stretches…

    And then some super fun games…

    A much needed water break… (The kids and I personalized these water bottles for the guests!)

    And, of course…cake time! We bought Elliott a new soccer ball and each of his friends got to sign it!

    Some of you have had the blessed opportunity to partake in the Moberg family birthday cake tradition of…MUD PIE. Oh my, this is probably my all-time favorite dessert and all the secrets of the trade have been passed down to me from my father-in-law. I decided to tweak the recipe a bit to turn the mud pie into mini mud pie cupcakes and, of course, turn them into soccer balls. YUMMMMM.

    It was a super fun time surrounded by friends and family!

    Happy 7th birthday, biggest man!!! (Okay, is it me or did this kid grow up SO MUCH this year?!!! He’s practically a MAN!!)

  • New Mercies Monday: Gratitude

    I started this post LAST Monday, and after a particularly challenging week it feels like the perfect day to take a moment to stop, pause, think about how great our God is…and finish this post!!

    The truth is, I fall asleep every night thanking God for so many victories every day…small things that I used to take for granted…but isn’t it true? It’s often only when something is taken away that you even realize it was something you took for granted. There a hundred mundane-to-the-world events that are taking place in my world every day that spur on such a deep sense of gratitude. What’s one example, you ask? Doing the dishes. A year and a half ago that was literally impossible for me. I’m so thankful I can do the dishes!!!

    A year ago, we gathered with these same dear friends on Thanksgiving and the walk we took after dinner felt equivalent to climbing Everest. This year, piece of cake pumpkin pie! Thank you, Lord!!

    So grateful for these friends, for dear Suz whose warm hospitality oozes from every aspect of the day, from the mouth-watering gravy to the beautiful table to the strong embraces; for OJ who keeps us in non-stop laughter; and for their precious children who delight our lives. So thankful for the gifts of these beloved friends who love us deeply, extravagantly and unconditionally, who spur us on, and who share their lives with us.

     

    And the Wallaces!!! Sound the horn! We haven’t seen them in years but they squeezed us into their busy in-town-for-a-short-few-days schedule. Such a joy to see their boys all grown up (sniff, sniff…I have a picture of me holding Nathan as an infant!!!) and to get to visit with them. Today also happens to be Amy’s birthday…so shout out to Amy for turning another year older and STILL looking EXACTLY like she did when I met her…what? TWENTY years ago???!!! Unbelievable. Please share with us your secret to the fount of youth!!

     

    Ooooh and my precious family. Look at these cousins. We are missing Cypher, Andrew and Courtney…but they were in our hearts and their artwork was on the mug all the grandkids made for my mom!! My mom prepared a fantastic Thanksgiving feast, as always, and turned a year older the same day. Have I mentioned how thankful I am to be near my mom? What would I do without her? Without her prayers, without her laugh, without her friendship, without her stuffing and apple pie?? Thank you, Lord, for this dear mother of mine.

    My parents have generously and thoughtfully taken all the daughters/granddaughters to the Nutcracker each year. It is a tradition that we all very much look forward to, but I will say that Selah CANNOT.STOP.TALKING.ABOUT.IT starting from about July! “When’s the Nutcracker?” is a question we hear for months around here! This year Aunt Melanie and the girls flew in for the win and now we are just missing Joanne and Courtney…so…maybe next year!! 🙂 Seriously, could the girls POSSIBLY be any cuter in those matching dresses???? GAH!!!

     

    Your turn. What about you? What are you thankful for? What new mercies has He given you today? I’d love to hear your comments!!

  • Elliott plays soccer!

    Elliott plays soccer!

    Raise your hand if you remember this kid!!


    OH MY…the kid whose first word was “ball,” the kid who was only motivated to start walking when his Aunt and Uncle gave him a soccer ball for his first birthday and he realized he had to walk to kick it, the kid who has now had TWO ball birthday parties…this child has always loved balls!!

    If you’re in the mood for some throw-back videos, check these out. The first one just makes me laugh so hard!!

     


    And this Fall, Elliott was FINALLY on his first official soccer team. Look at how big my baby boy is!!!

    And not only that, Brian gained a title that is every dad’s rite of passage to becoming a REAL dad….”COACH BRIAN.”

    God ordained an interesting order of events that landed Brian the title of “Coach” and our dear friend Trevor the title of “Assistant Coach.” (Kari and I might have had something to do with that…let me just say that some days I think we could take over the world if we wanted to…mwahahahaha….) Elliott was THRILLED beyond belief to have his daddy coach him and, although some might call me “bias,” I will say that Brian was the best soccer coach on the planet! He was so good with those boys–such an encouragement for their soccer skills as well as their attitudes and hearts. When Trevor wasn’t flying around the world and could be there to coach as well I can say with confidence that those two as a coaching team were unstoppable! We ended the season with two wins, two ties and five losses…but if we add things up the way I do math, we ended the season with 12 boys who had FUN, who were exhorted and encouraged by their coaches, who learned teamwork and sportsmanship, and improved on their soccer skills. It was a WIN all around in my book!!

    Elliott loves playing defense and goalie and it was fun to watch him improve over the two months of playing. His trademark is a strong BOOT to the ball to defend his team’s goal. (In the video below, he’s wearing a white shirt and he’s the one who boots the ball towards the other end of the field…)

     

    What a fun, first official soccer season!!!

     

  • Lady Selah’s and Sir Brian’s Birthday!

    Lady Selah’s and Sir Brian’s Birthday!

    Our Selah Beth…5 years old! My goodness, she continues to grow into a beautiful little girl–yes, with her adorable freckled face, but more importantly in her heart towards God and others. We are so blessed to be her parents!! She has thrived this last year. She is still loving gymnastics, learned how to ride her bike without training wheels back in June, and is reading wonderfully. She is pure joy.

    Six months before Selah’s birthday, she informed me, “Mom…I just REALLY want to have an olive birthday.”

    “I’m sorry…what was that?? An OLIVE birthday? As in…an OLIVE???”

    “Yes!”

    Although I think God has gifted me with a little bit of creativity, the creative olive juices just weren’t flowin’. Every so often for the next few months, she would bring it up and each time I would try to come up with alternate ideas for her birthday… A month or two later she suddenly said, “Mom, I just really would like to have my birthday with Daddy.” {heart melt}

    So in my spare time I tried to dream up what an olive joint birthday party with Brian could look like…Up until one sunny day in September when she said, “Mom, actually I think I’d like to have a princess party. With olive cupcakes. I want 5 olives on my cupcake since I’ll be 5. Well, make that 4 olives and a candle. Hmmm, maybe 3 olives and 2 candles…” Well alrighty then!! I had a little something to work with now!

    She then continued on for about 5 minutes (I have it on video!) of every detail of this princess party, including a two story castle that everyone could climb through. It was going to be a knights and princesses party and Winnie the Pooh was going to be there for cupcakes. Cupcakes with olives.

    So we settled on a Royal-themed party and decided to invite our close family friends who live in the city so Brian would have some friends there, too! My goodness, the party just came together quickly and splendidly… It will be a special memory forever…gathering some of our favorite people in one place and celebrating Selah and Brian!

    The invitation read,

    Calling all princesses and knights! Lady Selah has requested to celebrate her 5th birthday with her knight in shining armor, “Sir Daddy”.

    The morning of her birthday, Selah woke up to a present tied to 5 purple balloons. When she finally opened it, she discovered a (light up!) Princess Crown with a “5” on it!

    You all know Brian and how he is not the BIGGEST fan of being celebrated…but he was over-the-moon to share this special day with Selah. I should have thought of this years ago to trick him into being celebrated! 😉 Selah and I planned out a surprise for Brian and Elliott–armor that they could wear on the big day. Selah was thrilled to wear her purple princess dress (we got her that when she was 2! Ha!!) and she requested that I also wear a princess dress…and this was the closest thing I had in my closet! Here we are…the Royal Family! 🙂

     

    A princess with tennis shoes…that’s my girl :).

    Since we were entertaining a large group of girls and boys ages 3-13, we decided to fulfill Selah’s castle dream and rent a bounce house for the main party gig. Talk about bang for your buck! It was perfect for boys and girls alike of all ages. We had two crafts going on the side–shields the kids could paint (shout out to Grandpa Moberg for making these INCREDIBLE shields out of cardboard we had in the garage!!) and princess crowns that the girls could decorate. We also ordered inflatable swords for each kid both to joust with and bring home!

     

     

     

    We are so RICH to have all of these treasured friends of ours in the same city!!! 

    Look at all these awesome kiddos!!
    Amazing friends!!

    Selah really wanted to play “Pin-the-tail on the pony…no…wait…pin the tail on the…princess?” Hahaha! I suggested, “How about pin the crown on the princess?” 🙂 So I made up a Selah princess poster and then we surprised Brian with a “pin the helmet on the knight” poster! 🙂

    I have to give credit to Grandpa and Grandma Moberg who cut up all of the fruits and veggies for lunch–without them, the party couldn’t have happened! I made a crown cake for Selah (which she helped me decorate) and a shield cake for Brian. Then I realized we wouldn’t have enough cake for everyone so I made a batch of cupcakes as well!

    Then, just as Selah was putting candles on her cake, I remembered–THE OLIVES!!!!! Oh my goodness, I can’t BELIEVE we almost all forgot!!!! The pictures below are of me explaining to everyone why we were suddenly adding five OLIVES…of all things…to her birthday cake.

    The paparazzi:

    Brian got three candles. One for each decade of his life. 🙂 (And this may or may not be the last time that same equation would equal three…ahem…)

    Look at all the thoughtful gifts Brian was lavished with…he’s drowning in pink and purple and princess nightgowns and jewelry and baby dolls…all his favorites. 😉 Selah convinced him to share some of them with her…and he totally obliged. What a man! #realmensharebirthdayswiththeirdaughters

     

    The three amigos. These men and their families are our newest friends, and we are so enriched to have them in our lives.

    This girl and her faces!!!!!!!!!! Here are some of my favorites from the day…

     

    We were so unbelievably blessed to be surrounded by family and friends who love us. Such a special day!!

     

    Happy Birthday to our Princess Selah and her “Sir Daddy”!!

  • Christmas Countdown 2016

    Christmas Countdown 2016

    Enjoy our Christmas Countdown in pictures!!

    The kids could hardly contain their joy opening an envelope each day:

     

    Cutting down Finding the perfect tree at Home Depot and decorating it!

     The kids decorated their own Christmas apron to wear while crafting the rest of the month! They also made pretty cute handprint baby Jesus in a manger dough ornaments.

     

    Breakfast in Bethlehem!!

     Snowman pancakes day!!

     

    Play in the snow day!!

     

    Elliott and Daddy took a last-minute airplane/road trip so I sent the Christmas countdown activity with him. The show must go on!! And creative Daddy even brought Christmas lights to adorn the inside of the new truck they picked up.

     The kids’ first sewing lesson: Finger Puppet Nativity Set

     

    I hid 6 plastic bags filled with Nativity puzzle pieces around the house and the kids had to find them all and put them together. It was HILARIOUS watching them search. They even got a flashlight out to help them ;).

     

    No mess glitter stickers (those things are AWESOME!!!) that we turned into thank you cards and, of course, playdough cupcakes to celebrate Jesus’ birthday.

     

    Cookie decorating at our friends’ house!

     

    Christmas light tour, complete with a scavenger hunt list of things to find outside!

     

    Bass Pro Shop with cousins!

     

    Zoo Lights with friends!! Selfie with a giraffe? Check.

     

    FRIENDS!!! Oh the joy!!!!

     

    Search your stockings for new CHRISTMAS JAMMIES!!!!

     

    Super special presents from Erika!!

     

    Christmas Eve Day…Elliott and Selah both got to open one present and we also opened a family present: a new game to play!

     

    Christmas Eve Eve…Church and Teppanyaki!

     

    Christmas Day…We had a white-ish Christmas!

     

    Day-after Christmas with my family! Everyone is all together!

     Is anyone else already counting down until next Christmas like our kids??

    Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good year!

  • Merry Christmas!

    Merry Christmas!

    It’s a virtual Christmas card kind of year! It’s been such a joy having many of your Christmas cards roll in the past few weeks…here’s ours rolling in to your inbox!!

    Here is a snapshot of our family as 2016 comes to a close:

    SELAH

    Selah turned 4 this year continues to bring immense amounts of joy into each of our lives. Her heartfelt prayers take our breath away every time she opens her mouth. She is one thankful, thoughtful, caring little girl. Although she still wants to be a doctor, she’s recently added “princess” and “having a baby in her tummy” to the top career paths when she grows up. She adores babies, loves pretending to be a baby, and is not only constantly taking care of her “Bitty Baby” but also continually teaching me how to take care of her baby properly. She is a “smeller.” The child smells EV-REE-THING that she encounters, from paper to new clothes to food. I’ve worked hard to set parameters on what she should and should not be smelling (read: “placing a Sharpie near your nostril and breathing in deeply is NOT okay”) but I’ll admit that when I found her head buried in a public restroom toilet, I almost plugged her nose permanently. She will do just about anything to get you to laugh, including tickling you until you stop what you’re doing to tickle her back! She is loving gymnastics and also started ballet this year, and yet still is begging us to let her play soccer with her big brother in addition to those two sports! Fortunately for her, Elliott’s soccer coach has invited her to join the class a couple of times…and she’s always in her ballet attire…so that’s pretty cute :). Brian and I can hardly stand how adorable she is in that little pink leotard with a “knob” (as she calls it) in her hair! She has had two “mini” performances so far and has LOVED having her friend Stella in class with her! (And now if I can just get her to stop hanging on the ballet bars as if they were gymnastics bars!!)

    And here she is in ballet attire…playing soccer in knee high fuzzy boots. That’s our girl!

    Some of our favorite Selah sayings:

    “It’s pretty froggy out there!” (Every time it’s foggy outside.)

    “Oh your hair smells like it’s pretty hot!” (After giving me a hug directly after I had blow dried my hair.)

    “Mommy, I know three names for you: Mommy, Mom and Susanne. And I know three names for Daddy: Daddy, Dad and Sweet Face.”

    ELLIOTT

    Elliott turned 5 this year continues to keep us on our toes every minute that he is awake! He is a talker and a verbal processor and an explainer…so there is rarely a quiet moment in our house! He is also an official reader! Wow. This was the first year that I could not leave Christmas lists out. A few months ago I was typing an email and he came up behind me and just started reading it out loud! So I officially have to be careful about EVERYTHING… Multiple times a day I hear Elliott say to Selah, “Would you like me to read that book for you?” or “I can read for that you, Selah!” It warms my heart. He is still incredibly passionate about crafting and creates art constantly. He drew a picture a few months ago that he was so proud of that he asked if we could frame it. So he and Brian built a frame together and it is now hanging in his room! He has held firm to the birthday party plan (for the next 4 years) that he created 2 years ago. That boy…he’s a planner alright. And he is very thorough about EVERYTHING. After lots of pleading from him I finally taught him how to write his name in cursive a few weeks ago, and now we find his cursive name everywhere. He is loving playing soccer this year, loves his two days at school and loves his three days at home. Basically, the child loves life!

    A couple of our favorite Elliott sayings:

    “Kapends on what happens…” instead of “depends on…”

    Every type of invitation is a “valentation” to Elliott.

    “Can I shop her?” (wondering if he can push Selah in the shopping cart.)

    BRIAN

    Brian has a job that he LOVES, which is enough to take the cake for our entire year. He is basically working as an in-house consultant for a good friend who truly values his giftings and insights and has let him soar with his ideas. And soar, he has. He has pushed the company really far forward in just a few short months but the best part is–he loves going to work. He is also entertaining himself by buying and selling trucks which thrills him and absolutely amazes me!

    SUSANNE

    I am grateful every day that I get to do two of the things I know I was created for: being a mom and being a teacher! I am thoroughly enjoying my three days a week that I get to homeschool the kids. The two days of driving all over the state to get them to school and gymnastics aren’t as much my favorite, but I am so thankful that the kids are thriving on those days. Colorado is finally starting to feel like “home” (again!) and I am so thankful for the LACK of transition in the past year. This is the most settled we’ve been since we got married, and although I’m not counting on it to last forever, I’ll take it for now :).

    Merry Christmas to you and Happy New Year!

    Love,

    The Mobergs!