Catching up with the Christensens: August 2012

Friday, August 31, 2012

Fun with Evelyn and Trae

With Talon back in school it leaves time in my day with just Trae and Evelyn ... and we've had some fun! After being a first-trimester-sick-mommy this summer and keeping things low-key ... we tried to pick up a little bit and get out and enjoy parks, etc.

We had to go to Disneyland a few more times before our passes expired (the prices went up this year and they are WAY expensive and not worth it with a baby on the way).

We had fun joining our Christensen cousins on our last trip to Disneyland.

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Talon Starts First Grade!

Talon started 1st grade! We were so excited to find out that his Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Anderson (whom he LOVES), is moving up to first grade and is going to be his teacher again.

The night before school starts we had our annual Back-to-School-Feast.

Talon picked the meal : pizza and brownies ;)

He woke up so excited to start school and use his new backpack!

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Lemonade Stand

At the beginning of the summer we made a bucket list ...

Talon told me the #1 thing he wanted to do was a LEMONADE STAND.

So ... here it is.

It was the last Saturday of the summer,

and I FINALLY helped him do the lemonade stand.

I feel like a slacker mom, but I was not up for the undertaking (which I know wasn't much)

and this last few weeks was perfect because the weather has been scorching ...

perfect lemonade weather.

The kids had a lot of fun (we did it while Trae napped,

so we wouldn't have to chase him into the street!)

and although we had only a few customers it was still an awesome summer memory!

Hero Camp

Talon and Evie just finished an AWESOME week at Hero Camp.

They loved everything about it - learning about heroes from the scriptures,

dancing, crafts, service projects, and being with friends

They were so lucky to be with three other Williams' cousins ...

(dressed up for PJ day)

... and their Christensen cousin, Kelsey!

They loved seeing all of their buddies too!

(Mallory and Evie ... DeDe- she looks SO much like you right here!)

One of the days I volunteered I was able to follow Evie's group around ...

... and another day I was able to follow Talon's group around.

The first day DeDe and I team-taught the lesson on David vs. Goliath - it was

so fun, but tiring after teaching it six times to all the groups.

I loved watching all the kids and how they were taking everything in ...

I'm so grateful our kids had the opportunity to be a part of such a wonderful experience!

I think Evie's favorite part was the dancing :)

and Talon's favorite part was that after-party at the Santa Ana zoo! :)

Talon is SIX years old! (and lost his first tooth)

Our sweet boy, Talon Michael, turned SIX years old this month!

Where has the time gone?

We couldn't ask for a more loving son - he is our sweet, sensitive, smart and observant boy.

Every day I see something in him that reminds me of Michael,

and that couldn't make me more proud or happy.

At six years old here are some of his favorites:

ANIMALS

(toys, books, puzzles, zoo trips ... anything with animals - he loves)

READING

CHOCOLATE

(takes after his mommy)

COUSIN / GRANDPARENT TIME

BEING A BIG BROTHER

SCHOOL

(he starts first grade this week)

I have to write down this cute story before I forget ... it definitely describes Talon's thought process as a "thinking" six year old. My college friend was in town visiting and we had on a DVD of Jake and the Neverland Pirates. My friend was talking to the kids about it and asked "Wouldn't it be neat if we had pixie dust?" Evie answered, "Oh yeah! That would be neat." Talon was chewing the rest of his lunch but we could tell he was thinking. When he was done my friend asked him the question again ... he thought for a second and then said, "Yeah - that would be neat ... unless the ceiling fan was on!" Haha - I don't know why but that totally cracks me up - it's just an example of how Talon thinks about things! :)

On Talon's birthday morning he picked donuts for breakfast!

Lucky boy!

(haha - not a great picture - hey it's hard to smile early in the morning!)

He opened gifts from my parents and us ...

mostly animal books, dinosaur legos, and a few animal puppets :)

Hey - this kid is easy to please!

Here is one of his LEGO dinosaur creations from his bday

One of the most exciting parts of his birthday was losing his FIRST tooth the night before!

Since I didn't own a tooth fairy box and since i had seen a million cute ideas on Pinterest I knew I wanted to do something fun for him. I made this little box out of an old Altoid Tin ...

he loved it and I'm so glad he'll have something special to use over and over as he loses his teeth.

(There's even a chart inside to record when he loses what tooth)

Anyways - it was a SUPER fun birthday morning because he woke up to his tooth being gone and two dollars left by the tooth fairy :)

Wednesday, August 01, 2012

Announcement ... :)

Well - talk about a L-O-N-G blogging absence!

Over two months ... yikes!

I think I have an excuse though ....

That's right ... Baby Christensen #4 is coming in February! We couldn't be more happy or excited - it's such a huge blessing and we can't wait for baby to get here.

This definitely has been my "sickest" pregnancy as far as nausea goes and my energy was already low considering I chase around three little kids all day! But - things are improving and the kids were SO excited when we told them the news.

It definitely is 99% of the reason I've been absent from blogging ... I haven't really felt like doing much of anything. But I needed to catch up because this blog has been such a great way to journal and capture our family life. I kept looking up at my stack of blog books and kept reminding myself I need to keep this up so I can have a record this year! Hopefully I'll start feeling better here in a few weeks and will be back to my regular posting.

The rest of July

Here are some more fun things we did in July ...

Riding the carousel at South Coast Plaza ...

... playing with the neighbors dog (which is actually a miracle ... we saw this dog every morning walking to school last year and my kids would never touch her or go near her. all of a sudden they couldn't get enough of petting her - so funny) ...

... trip to Zoomars Petting Zoo in San Juan Capistrano with Celene and kids ...

... going to Ice Age 4 ...

... backyard camping with Daddy ...

... date night at the Angel's game ...

... making crafts ...

... and picking out our free books at the end of summer reading at the library (with cousins Chase and Cora)

Christensen Family Reunion

We also had the Christensen Family Reunion in the month of July. It was right here in Orange at the Boy Scout's Outdoor Education Center in Irvine Park. It was SO much fun ... we love always catching up with Michael's extended family and the kids were in heaven at the grounds ... throwing rocks, playing in the dirt ... just being kids!

Here's a view of the cabins the families stayed in ... since we only live a mile away we stayed in the comfort of our own home (mostly since our two year old didn't wake everyone else up at 5:30am!)

The reunion theme was The Olympics and every family was asked to make a flag ahead of time ...

and there was even an Opening Ceremony! Here is Talon running with the "torch!"

One of our favorite things was the zip-lining. We figured we'd go watch other family members do it for a little bit and that maybe Michael would get a chance. Next thing I know, my reserved-cautious-nervous Talon grabbed a helmet and followed Michael up to the zipline start. I couldn't believe it. He gets strapped in on a line parellel to Michael and off they go. He is FIVE years old people! I couldn't believe it! He loved it so much he went again! Maybe it's a good thing I didn't expect him to do it because if I actually had time to think about it I think I would've freaked out that my son would be flying over a deep ravine suspended just by a rope!

Here they are after taking off ... Talon is on the left and Michael on the right.

Trae was tuckered out every night after all of the family fun!

It was so special to have all eight Christensen grandkids together for the first time!

Aren't they cute?!?!

One day of the reunion was at Balboa Pier in Newport Beach ... the kids loved it!

Sunday was the last day of the reunion and the four Christensen girls cousins wore their matching dresses! Too precious!