Cub Scouts

I officially have two in CUB SCOUTS! Wow!

Matthew is just finishing up his cub scouts as a Webelos. He will move out of Cub Scouts in April. Christopher is just beginning in the Cub Scout program as a Wolf. Christopher has looked forward to his 1st den meeting for months if not years. He is especially excited to finally race a car in the pinewood derby race this Saturday.



You know Christopher has a lot of determination! His determination has gotten him where he is today which is a good thing. Well, Ryan bought him his Cub Scout Wolf book and gave it to him during the Winter break. Christopher was so excited to have it! After his birthday he wanted to work on it every waking moment. Well, needless to say he has almost completed the requirements to earn his wolf badge.

I cannot believe this kid! He has such a passion for all he does!

Start your Engines!

The boys love their race cars!

They love to race them around the dining table.

Under the chairs is the pit stop.

MAX Loves Snow

Max has LOVED playing in the SNOW! He can play in the snow for hours running and jumping and chasing the snowflakes. It's been fun to watch him!

Christopher's Baptism

CHRISTOPHER was BAPTIZED on

January 2nd in the

Goose Creek Chapel in Leesburg, Va.

Christopher asked Matthew several months before his baptism to give a talk on Baptism. Matthew did a power point presentation. He did a FANTASTIC job! Several people commented on what a great job he did and how wonderful it was to have Chris' brother speak. I must say I was a proud mommy! (The things these kids are learning in school now days is amazing.)

I gave a talk on the Holy Ghost. Christopher's 1st choice was Grandma, but in the end I ended up giving the talk. I also think in the end Christopher was happy since I related the Holy Ghost to a football game. I even brought all of his football jersey's to use in my talk which were a surprise to Christopher. Christopher LOVED it!

Grandma & Grandpa Marcusen flew out for the baptism. We had a good turn out for the baptism by our ward family/friends. After the baptism we ate YUMMY cinnamon & orange rolls in the gym which were requested by Christopher.



Doesn't Christopher look HANDSOME?

I love capturing a picture of my children right after their baptism. They always have a sweet glow about them.

Happy Birthday, Christopher!

Two days after Christmas we celebrated Christopher's 8th birthday. Since his birthday fell on a Sunday this year, we went to his favorite restaurant for dinner Saturday night. His favorite restaurant is Cici's Pizza. It is an all you can eat pizza buffet. The boys love it because they can help themselves to as much pizza as they like. But if truth be told I think their favorite thing is the all you can eat Cinnamon rolls they get.



Sunday after church, I made Christopher's Birthday Cake.



He requested a football cake. No surprise since that is what his love and passion is right now.



When he saw the finished cake, he was one happy boy!



For his birthday he got two football jersey's. His favorite team is the Colts. His favorite player is Payton Manning.



Christopher is a very passionate boy and with that passion comes a lot of determination! He is a very social boy and liked by everyone. He is also very compassionate! He is always the first one to give up something in order for someone else to not have to go without. He is my pickiest eater. He is one smart boy, who learns things rather quickly. Most of the time you will find him with a football in his hands. He loves to play baseball. Have play dates with his school friends. Play the wii. He enjoys reading chapter books. He can spend hours playing with his brothers.

What a joy it is to have Christopher in our family! He adds a lot of spice to our family mix! I am grateful to have him in our family! What a blessing he is! I'm excited to watch him grow and see where his passion and determination take him.

Christmas 2009

We spent Christmas Eve together as a family in our home! We enjoyed our BIG Christmas dinner of Ham & Cheese Potatoes along with homemade rolls. Matthew made a 3 layer Jell-o salad. For dessert we had homemade Pumpkin Pie! Umm, it was all super yummy!

During the evening we decorated a gingerbread house, read the Nativity from the scriptures and just enjoyed some quiet family time together.

The boys kept watching out the window for Santa's elves. They wanted to catch them in the act of dropping off their jammies. Much to the boy's dismay they didn't catch any elves this year!

Right before bed, we sprinkled reindeer food in our front yard. Brr, it was cold!

And right before we climb into bed, the boys put out some homemade sugar cookies and milk for Santa.

Why the empty glass picture? Well, if you look close enough you will see a line made out of tape. The boys are getting smarter and smarter every year. They quietly put the tape on with out Ryan and I knowing. They wanted to see if Santa really drank the milk. You can see that Santa drank the whole glass of milk! Well, those boys are smarty pants and I guess knowing how much Santa drank really wasn't their point in putting the tape on the glass. However, I didn't know their real intentions until later on Christmas day. After breakfast the boys were eager to help load the dishwasher which really isn't a surprise since we usually all help load the dishwasher after our meals. What was unusual was I didn't have to keep reminding them to help. I didn't think anything of it, except what helpful boys they were being on such a special day. Well, as soon as the dishwasher beeped it was done, the boys ran to the dishwasher and pulled out the glass. They quickly pulled off the tape and low and behold they discovered a finger print and not just any finger print, but it was SANTA's fingerprint. They were very pleased with themselves, when they discovered the finger print since that is what they had wanted to do all along.

Pump it Up Birthday Party

Christopher had a birthday party at Pump it Up. We were a little insane and invited 25 of his friends. I know BIG number, I can't say will do it again. As we sat down to talk about who we should invite, Christopher kept giving name after name. Christopher loves his school buddies. He is usually the one in the center rallying them all together for a game of football during recess or to wear a certain football jersey to school on a certain day. He has made some great friends this year at school along with a few others from previous years. Of course he also wanted to invite all of his church friends. Not to mention the neighbor friends. Thankfully Pump it Up has a 25 minuimn attendees for birthday parties. So if I was going to have to pay for 25 we might as well have 25 children there, right. I also let Matthew and Joshua invite one friend each.

Christopher was in his glory for 2 1/2 hours as he ran around with 25 of his favorite friends. All of which were boys except for one. I did make him invite one little neighbor girl who is actually Joshua's age, our two families play all the time together.

The boys played in the two different rooms with the inflatable slides. Afterwards, we went into the party room sang Happy Birthday to Christopher and had cake.

Afterwards, we had a little time left, so Christopher opened up his birthday presents.