October

This month is turning out to be better than September. I am finally starting to feel better. For two weeks I was pretty affected by Gastroenteritis, followed by another few weeks of slow body recovery. Am I getting old or is it pregnancy? Jared and the kids weathered it all with me, will little complaint. Thankfully both Hope and Bryce have adjusted and LOVE their preschools. That was a good decision to put them in preschools. Ethan gets dragged around a little bit but has adjusted pretty well, despite naps being messed around with. As October started both the kids had their first field trips.

Bryce’s class went to the Loomis Safety Fair. It was fun, but packed with people. He was able to sit in a fire truck, check out an ambulance and Police vehicles. He liked the Farmer’s market and Smokey the Bear. Grandma Forman babysat the other kids and I was pretty excited to take him by myself. But the class ended up being 45 minutes late to the faire and he seemed to miss Hope and Bryce. I felt a little deflated that he didn’t have more fun. Oh, and that is my 5 1/2 month pregnant belly in the background of the pictures. :)

The following week Hope’s school went to Bishop’s Pumpkin Patch in Wheatland. Mom was going to watch the boys so I could take Hope by myself but after the experience with Bryce I woke up in the morning and asked Hope if she minded if they came. Hope was thrilled to have them there. I suppose they find comfort in each other, although I feel they have and over abundance of fighting and teasing. Young Women in Excellence was just the night before and I was hurting and tired from the extra exertion so Mom came to the pumpkin patch, too. It was so cute and fun. Hope is the second girl to the left of the pink jacket.

I suppose I can’t get enough of the pumpkin patch because Jared and his family all met out there a few days later. It was fun, again, however somehow in our big group I lost track of Ethan and he was misplaced for 10 minutes or so. Jared and I thought he was with us, he somehow got separated and once we realized he was gone all of our sweet family separated like the wind to find him. Christian and Grandpa found him within a few minutes with a sweet set of Young Grandparents that could tell he was missing. They had stayed with him until we appeared. Dean grabbed him in his arms and wouldn’t let him go for a few minutes. Poor Ethan didn’t cry, but he laid his head on Papa’s shoulders and didn’t move. It’s amazing that as quiet as he is that we haven’t lost him more. We are working on him talking. Today in Church he sang the Sacrament hymns with us and I am really working with him to label and vocalize things. I am sure that if he is really behind at his 2 year check up that the Doctor will give us options. But, hey, supposedly Einstein didn’t talk until he was 3 or 4. :)

Cousins. :)

Last Saturday all the boys went Gold Hunting so the kids hung out at our house. It was wild, as 6 kids 4 and under can be, but fun. I guess Ethan and Wyatt were outside when I took this picture. Hope was ecstatic to help with baby Morgan and boy was she ever helpful. She was so awesome to hold her, feed her, play I am thinking that she will be a life saver to me when we have this next baby.

It’s only sparkling apple juice in the glass bottle, but it just didn’t look right when he guzzled it down. Sweet Ethan. He still isn’t saying many words. He can say words. He understands me. But he is still so quiet.

New Preschools…

Hope started at a new preschool last week. We are still getting used to our ward (it has about 400 active people in it) and last year she was with me or a Mom she knew. I left her teary every day for the first week and I felt so bad about it! It is a nice in-home school with two LDS teachers and everyone around here just raves that it is wonderful. She is just so, so sensitive (like her mother) and was so nervous. This week we did a carpool with a sweet boy who lives in our neighborhood and today she was excited to tell me that she didn’t have any tears! Every day she runs to me excited about making a new friend or having a fun time doing something. It is so great for her!

Bryce started school this week at a different, yet great,  in home preschool and literally pushed me out the door. He calls himself a “brave boy”. He paints every day, and has two other little boys in his class that he seems to enjoy playing with. I last minute decided to enroll him and it is a bit crazy in that both Hope and Bryce go on Wed and Fri at overlapping times, and in different cities, but we are making it work. I think it’ll be a good year for both of them.

Bryce’s Day

I have to record this before I forget. In the words of Flynn Rider, Bryce had “kind of an off day today”. In the morning he picked all the petals off the flowers in one of our flower pots outside. He played with the hose, amidst several admonitions from Mommy to stop, hosing not just the door and family members but ended up covering himself in mud. (see below) He squirted gogurt on himself, me, the floor, counters. Then refused to nap while tired, and then splashed water all over our bathroom floor and walls. He cried during dinner about not wanting to eat and just as we were all finished he decided he liked it and would eat it. Took a toy and scratched up Ethan’s tummy and face, and ran around wildly fighting us about brushing teeth, scriptures, and bedtime.  

But then as everyone left and I talked with him before bed he sent my heart into mushy lovey-ness. It all started with him telling me a story that went kind of like this:

Bryce: …..Joe……chocolate milk…….Grandma…….store…..juice……alligator…….bit Grandma……..elephant…..Joe…..(elephant sounds)……(giggles)……next day….next night…….(giggles)……….Joe………(oh, it was so cute and I am already forgetting it!)

Mommy: Bryce, close your eyes and dream about all these wonderful stories because it is time to go to sleep. I love you!!

Bryce: I love you EVEN MORE!

Mommy: Goodnight!

Bryce: Sleep tight!

Oh how different this day has ended since it began. And how awesome it is at the end of a day to have a Brycie-Boy to love!

A girls day.

For the first time ever, despite that the boys go yearly on a fishing trip, the Christensen girls got together for a girls day. We got people to watch our kids (Daddy for us) and went for some fun. Mom, Heidi, Mary and I attempted massages. Pregnant ladies for an odd reason could not be accommodated at the place we went to. Then a movie, dinner, mall, and dessert. Nice. I could use that  at least once a year!

The kids didn’t mind me being gone as our amazing Daddy took the Christensen guys gold hunting with Joe and Dan up at the Bear river. He carted the kids through a hike on a wagon, they played for three hours near the river and picking blackberries. Then Daddy masterfully went through the drive through for dinner, did showers, bed, and even had all the yucky clothes being washed by the time I got home. Wow!

Meet Russell Wayne Christensen

The other wonderful visitors that we have had this week is Mary and Tyler. It is so great to see them, too! Since they were coming we had a Christensen Family BBQ on Sunday at our house, which was also the day we came home from Truckee. Of great benefit was that everyone was so tired from the few days being gone that Ethan took a 4 1/2 hour nap beforehand and the rest of the family got a little nap too. Hannah and Adam came and introduced our newest precious family member, Russell Wayne Christensen. He was so precious! It was a new thing for us to host a big family get together at our house, but I was relieved that it went well. Maybe its just me being weird, but I have this strong longing to be connected to both sides of our families, and have this aspiration to be a good hostess and entertain. I suppose it is because both our Moms are amazing at it and I picture that in being a successful Wife and Mother.

We love Uncle Tyler and Aunt Mary!

Family Visits

Big Dan Denali Man came home to spend his break from BYU with all us. Which has been wonderful! Somehow the Formans etched out a few days that everyone in the family was free to go to Truckee for a few days together. It was going to be Lake Tahoe but with last minute booking and our good sized family we ended up in a custom home at Old Greenwood Gold Course. Pretty rough, I know. :)

It turned out that although we weren’t close to the Lake there was still lots to do and they had the best clubhouse. It was made for kids and families. Jared and I didn’t end up doing a lot of physical activities since our Ethan boy, who sleeps great at home, decided to wake up every morning at 3am and be randomly awake for up to 3 hours. However, we did visit a very fun learning and play museum in Truckee, ride the waterslide with all our kids, and Daddy got a round of Golf in. And not having to cook for a few days was delightful. Sweet Jared was so tender to my fatigue that he felt bad leaving to golf and picked up Hope and Bryce at hole 12 (the house’s back yard) in their PJs and let them finish the course with all the boys. I know the kids absolutely loved the whole trip! Just this morning Hope asked if we “could go back to the house in the mountains, that has the bears, and the fun waterslide, and play and play”. As for Daddy and I…..it is always wonderful to be with family, however, with a child younger then 2 years old it somehow always makes things a challenge.