Summer!

Dog for hire!
Oscar is officially ready to studded out. He is AKC certified and has his hip clearances.

(Not quite sure what I was doing in this picture but I had seen other people do it so I thought it would be a good idea to take a pic like this)

Our Oscar is an incredibly loyal Dog (he reminds me so much of the dog in UP). He has lots of energy but is still very obedient and easy to train, and if I do say so myself he is really beautiful!

We love Oscar!

We have officially declared Wednesday to be park day in the Mortensen home. We started this week. James and I got to play some tennis while the kids chased the balls, the kids got to play while I fed the baby. Then we went for a little walk and checked out the tadpoles in the creek. It was so fun, I love just being together as a family and enjoying the blessing that my children and my husband are to my life.

Royce loves the swing




The local library offers a free story time at the water park in our area. The kids get to hear a couple of stories and then get a 45mins to play at the water park free of charge. The kids really love it and I love not paying an entrance fee.

We bought passes to the state park again this year. Its such a fun place, the kids beg to go there almost daily and luckily its only a 10 minute drive from our house.

Royce's favorite part about going to the beach is when Mommy let him go skinny dipping, he got so excited!



My new to me stroller, I have been wanting a snap n go for a while but couldn't stomach spending the money and low and behold I found one at the local thrift store (sweet!) I love it so much. The stroller is awesome its small and easy to maneuver, has tons of storage and is very stable (it doesn't fall over easily)

Another thing I am loving is the storage in the back of the minivan its is seriously amazing. I love it so much!

Getting organized! I have been having a struggle with laundry lately and so I have been trying to get creative to make it easier on me. First I went through all the kids clothes matched them into outfits. Each child has 10 warm outfit, 10 cold weather outfits, 10 jamas and no more than 10 pairs of shoes and church dresses. Then I put them in the drawers folded together. That was working great but Ms. Bella likes to play dress up with her clothes. Sooooo, I moved everyones clothes and shoes into my closet, I am also hoping that it will make my life easier when I am sorting and putting away laundry. Each child has a basket and at night before they go to bed they get to go and pick out the outfit they are going to wear the next day. So far so good, I might have to tweak things a little here and there I will keep you posted!

Homemade baby food. I got another great idea from James cousin Jessies blog. You make the baby food, freeze it in the ice cube trays and just take out a couple cubes at a time as needed. We tried out food on Royce today, he hasn't slept through the night since Sunday (He usually sleeps from 8pm to 7am) and I wasnt sure if it was because he was hungry or if it was because he was congested. To say the least he took 2 bites and was not interested. We will try again in a few weeks. Hopefully he gets over his little cold soon, poor baby.

Frozen Grapes. Yummy little healthy snack we have been enjoying while they are in season.