{Not So} Lately In The Bjorkhood

I'm Baaaaack! That's right. Try and pretend like you didn't miss me! The happiest thing happened a few weeks ago--I discovered a huge chunk of pictures that I thought were completely gone after our computer crashed last summer. Oh happy day! And lucky you (I'm so happy there are a still a few of you left still reading my blog!) now get to endure a years-worth of random moments in our lives!

Let's get this party started with an oldie, but goodie. So, did I really forget to mention the time I had a family reunion backstage at "The Killers" concert alongside the Sister Wives?

Well, it would be fun to just end it with that, but I suppose I could explain. My cousin, Lisa, is married to the drummer, Ronnie, so my Aunt Robin hooked Adam up with some tickets and Tom and I were lucky enough to get invited along with the extras. We got these yellow wrist-bands that ended up being kind of magical. A guy in a suit escorted us passed the huge line of people and we eventually ended up watching the concert back/side-stage. We felt pretty special. A lot of my cousins were there, and randomly so were a couple of the Sister Wives with their husband, Kody. Good times were had by all.

The girls had a couple of fun dates with their Daddy.

Daddy-Daughter Dance at school... 

And a night out at the stock show/rodeo. Yeehaw!! (Both of these events have now happened again this year. Can't believe I've gotten this far behind!)

A very scientific Groundhog's Day experiment was performed.

Yep, definitely a shadow.

I turned 33 (I'll be 34 rather soonish. :/ ). Tom made one of his famous (to me) ice-cream cakes. This one had some slight, not-setting-up problems. But I like to partially melt my ice cream in the microwave anyway so it ended up being right up my alley.

The messy children, however, were not.

Tom started a new job in April. (Girls with a "congrats" sign)

His old job was going just fine, but he was ready for the next step in his career. He was really excited about interviewing with a company called Inovonics for a Controller position. After several interviews they told him that they really wanted him, but the head company didn't think he had enough experience. :(  Well, fast forward 2 months later when on the VERY day he was deciding between 2 other jobs he wasn't nearly as excited about (both on the third + interview), Inovonics called to tell him that a couple things had changed and that they still really wanted him if he was available! Say what?! Could the timing have been more nuts? We were so beyond happy and know that it truly was a huge, fat blessing!

Everett had his first dentist appointment and was so super cooperative!

The kids and I endured many a doctor's visit to check on Baby Leah...

Dr. Claire broke the news to Reese that she was having triplets. When Reese expressed concern about how she was going to nurse 3 babies, the doctor reassuringly told her not to worry because she would "now have 3 boobies!"

This was also the year of scoring a couple of great, free items:

A piano off craigslist...

And a swingset! A friend in the neighborhood who was moving called one day to ask if we wanted theirs. Of course I said yes, and this was all the while thinking it was going to be a cheaper metal one. I was overjoyed when I found out it was wooden. Sure, it could stand to be re-stained, but that's currently pretty far down on my list of things to do. It really did save me over the summer when I was pregnant and not wanting to chase E Tom at the park.

It's of course not getting quite as much use now that it's cold outside, but I'm hoping that my Blankey Superheroes will return again once spring hits.

The kids discovered the joy of a lemonade stand one summer day. Reese and Claire ran it alongside us during our neighborhood garage sale. It really was cute to watch them slowly come out of their shy little shells and eventually start asking people if they wanted to buy lemonade.

Many of their supplies were eaten by the Lemonade and Cookie Bandit....

But we were actually pleasantly surprised that they each ended up with close to $5. Not too shabby!

Their love of earning a quick buck didn't stop there. Soon enough, Tom and I found ourselves paying for homemade puzzles and even rocks at The Rock Store. "Why, yes. I would like to pay you two pennies for a rock from my own backyard."

Speaking of backyards....a streaker kept randomly appearing in mine. Never knew when he was going to strike!

Our kids were cute on either Mother or Father's Day. Let's go with Father's Day. And I'm guessing their Dad was pretty cute on that day too.

We were lucky enough to have visits from a few members of the Bjorkman clan:

Oh how my kids love Aunt Andrea! Tom and I are convinced that Andrea has some sort of voodoo control over all children because they are ALL instantly smitten with her! She is pretty darn great!

Day at the Water Park

We also got a visit from Tom's parents before they headed off to teach English and Law in China. They sold their house and most of their belongings, and after they complete 2 years in China, they intend to go on mission after mission. I dare you to find more humble and faithful people!

"Full House" became all the rage in the Bjorkhood this past year. All it took was for me to record one episode and the girls were hooked. Some powerful life lessons are packed into those short little 25 minutes, I tell ya! "I'll be Becky" and "You be Uncle Jesse" regularly made it into their make-believe. And I am regularly accused of being like Danny Tanner because of how much I "love" to clean. Ha! Requests for "Full House" youtube slide shows were also abundant.

I took Reese & Claire out to The Cheesecake Factory for a much needed Mommy-daughter date. I was a bit worried that they'd be disappointed when they saw that the "Cheesecake Factory" was not an actual factory filled with cheese like Claire was picturing. But it turned out not to disappoint.

It was pretty much the cutest date I've ever been on and was filled with adorable conversations like:
Claire: "I can't believe we're going into the city! I've been waiting for this my whole life!"
Me: "You're whole life, huh?"
Claire: "Yes! For FOUR years!"
Reese was pretty darn cute too when I saw her leaning back in her chair with her hands behind her head looking around in a "Aw, this is the life" sort of way. On the drive home they told me the most exciting part of the whole night was when I let them ride the escalators up and down for a bit. It's moments like that that make me feel pretty good and reassured that I must not be spoiling them too bad.

And finally, I'll leave you with one of my all time favorite pictures I took while driving home from church one lovely day...

"Chuck the Water Man" has somehow reached celebrity status in Tom's eyes.

He's gotten so excited the couple times he's seen Chuck at a store or out and about and always comes home to tell me about it. It really makes me laugh and I asked Tom if he thought maybe I could become a celebrity if I were to plaster a picture of myself on the side of my van along with "Rachel, the Mom." I'll get back to you with those results.

And that, my friends, is a pretty good dose of random, 2013 moments in the Bjorkhood!