Christmas with the Christensens

This year was our first Christmas away from family. It was just Emma, Luke, and I Christmas morning opening our mountain of presents. Our family sent so many presents and made sure that we had a very special and unforgettable Christmas here in Texas. After Emma opened her stocking she was completely satisfied. She loves and loved to open the presents but she needed a little encouragement from mommy and daddy to put her stocking toys down and open the rest of her gifts. Luke has taken two weeks off of work - YEAH! One down and one to go. We have had a lot of fun being able to spend so much time together. Emma and I may not let him go back to work...ever, it is too much fun with him home all the time! (You can click on the images to make them bigger.)

Santa Clause is Coming to Town

Emma loves singing! She knows all the words to "Santa Clause is Coming to Town." Luke and I caught her having her own jam out session after her and Daddy had been singing and playing at the piano. The second video is her and Daddy jamming out.

Cookie Monster

Caught in Action! Apparently Emma has been watching her mommy sneak some gingerbread cookie dough. I thought I was being sneaky. Like mother, like daughter, she knows what the good stuff is...

Baby Ultrasound Pictures

Here are some pictures of our baby from today's ultrasound. Last appointment, when we found out the gender, he did not want to cooperate and the Doctor could not get all of the measurements he needed. So, we had to have another ultrasound today. It is the fourth one we have had! We are sure lucky ducks that our doctor likes to do ultrasounds... I am sure these pictures won't be too interesting to most but for Daddy who is at work and grandparents here you go! You can click on the picture to enlarge it.

Santa

This year Emma is super excited about Christmas. All she can talk about is Santa bringing her presents and filling her stocking. She know all the words to "Santa Clause is Coming to Town." She has been super excited to see Santa and when I sat her on his lap she was completely happy for about 30 seconds until Santa tried to hold her hands down for a picture and then she lost it. She was holding onto my neck so hard! I would have to say her and Santa have a love/hate relationship. We have our ward Christmas party on Friday so we will see how she does with Santa then.

November Highlights

Sorry I have not been very good about updating the blog. Here are the highlights from November.

Our little Diva still loves wearing mommies boots.

Daddy turned 27 on November 20th. Emma thought it was her birthday, as she does most days. We also got to find out that we were having a baby boy on Luke's birthday.

We had a great Thanksgiving! Our friends the Reeder's came

over to celebrate. We had tons of yummy food just as if we were home for Thanksgiving. Of course we made way to much of everything but it was yummy! We had turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, green bean casserole, spinach artichoke dip, shrimp dip, 2 jello salads, yams, deviled eggs, and homemade rolls. For dessert we had four kinds of pies! We had pumpkin, chocolate cream, soda cracker, and out of this world pie. We also had sparkling cider and slush. Talk about a menu! We took the kids to the park after their naps. If was fun to see the two daddies play on the toys too. They are such kids at heart.

It's a BOY!

We found out this morning that we are having a baby BOY! He did not want to cooperate and was in a little ball at the bottom of my belly so we did not get to see any pictures of his face but he was still adorable!

Halloween!

Emma was a pumpkin and had a blast going "trunk-or-treating" and playing all of the fun carnival games at the ward party! We decided to paint eachothers faces at the face painting booth. Don’t we look good!

We went to the arboretum with Emma's preschool and had a blast!

Emma loves playing with and eating her candy!

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to.

Daddy took the day off for Emma's 2nd birthday and we had a fun day, minus a few melt downs... We took Emma to a Mexican restaurant and got some guacamole for our chips because Emma loves it! Well, she would not dip her chips in the guacamole. She had to eat right out of the bowl with a fork! We tried to take it away but that ended in melt down number one. We figured it was her birthday so let her eat right out of the bowl. We had a party jut with mommy and daddy this year. Emma loved opening her presents. It is fun to see your kids get older and enjoy the simple things so much! She wanted to try on all of the beautiful dresses her grandma Clark sent her and mid trying them on she had melt down number two. I am not sure what brought this melt down on but non the less this was the biggest of the day. We had yummy cake and ice cream and Emma loved us singing to her and blowing the candles out. We cannot believe we have a two year old and another on the way!

Emma's face is so cute in this video. She's so happy and then she touches the hot candle wax...

'Tis the Season!

Luke and I LOVE Christmas! We have a tradition of putting the Christmas tree up on Nov. 1st, the day after Halloween. We feel like the Christmas season is far to short! It is amazing what a different feeling and spirit your home has to it with the Christmas tree and decorations up. We have been listening to Christmas music for months now and are excited for the holiday season to start!

First Annual Christensen Halloween Party!

We wanted to start the tradition of having a big Halloween Party with all of our friends. We had a good turnout and a lot of fun! Costumes were "required" and everyone looked great! We sent our guests on a scavenger hunt all over the town. They had to go to the mall and completely eat a pretzel before the cashier would give them the next clue. They then had to get their picture taken with several different things in the mall, go to a store to buy a pumpkin, make a 3 point shot a a basketball court, etc. It was a lot of fun! We had yummy nachos and pie to top it off. The scavenger hunt winners were Amy and Kendell and the costume contest winners were Jeremiah and Alisha. They each won a $25 gift cards to Christina's Mexican restaurant. We all had a blast and are looking forward to next year!

Pumpkin Patch

Emma had a blast at the pumpkin patch last week. She absolutely LOVES pumpkins. I would definitely say they are a borderline obsession of hers. I have also posted the pictures from when she went to the fire station with her preschool group. She loved sitting in the big trucks! She didn't like the fireman with his mask on but with his mask off he wasn't so scary. We feel so lucky to have such great friends to do such fun things with! (You can click on the pictures to make them bigger)

Announcing...

Child number 2!

Due Date: April 8, 2009
Weeks: 14

We are trilled to be having another child as is Emma to be a big sister!
Mommy has been a lot more sick with this baby and hopes it passes soon!
We will let you all know when we find out the gender.

This is the Life

Cream puffs and six pairs of Elmo underwear. Does it really get any better than this?

Ant Attack!

Day 1

The bites were all puffy and red with a little white tip that looked like a normal bit.

Day 2

The bites look horrible today! They are like little white pimples all over her! I know it is gross to look at but I had to show you how bad she got it!

We were at the park yesterday and Emma came running up to me saying "hot, hot!" She was holding her hands up and it looked like they were all dirty but I knew right away that they were covered with ants. I grabbed her and tried hitting the ants off of her hands but they were all biting her and were hard to get off! Luckily my friend Melissa was there and helped me hurry and strip her clothes off because the ants were all over here! They were in between her fingers and everywhere! We got them of rather quickly but it seemed like forever just because I knew they were all biting her and wanted them all off! She has about 25 bites on each hand and like 20 on one of her legs. OUCH! She did not even cry, what a tough girl!

My First Day of Preschool!

Last Wednesday was my first day of pre-preschool! I learned about the number one, the color red, and the letter A. I also learned all about dinosaurs and sang fun songs. I made a dinosaur puppet and colored dinosaur pictures. I really like school! Sometimes I wander off but I am sure I will get used to sitting in a circle with my other friends soon.

"B" is for Boots, Boa, and Book!

I bought Emma a pair of boots on clearance at Walmart. They were only $5 and were the right size for her this Fall. Ever since I picked them up at the store all she wants to do, and does do, is wear her boots. She thinks they are the coolest. I try and tell her that her feet will get very hot if she wears them to the store but she does not seem to care. I also bought her a pink boa from the dollar store which of course she loves!

Daddy came home from Costco the other day and surprised Emma with a giant animal book. She loves it and looks at it every day!

Dolly the Dove

We have had a pet Dove, Dolly, ever since we moved in. She lays her eggs(2) and sits on them for about 2-3 weeks and then all of the sudden there are two cute little baby doves. Every time Dolly leaves with her new babies she always comes back a few days later to lay more eggs. "Doves are extremely prolific and can lay eggs every three to four weeks." She has been back 4 times now and has had 6 baby birds born! Two more are on there way. Every time we step foot outside Emma starts calling for Dolly and has to run over to her and say "Hi Dolly!"

Associate of the Quarter is...LUKE!

Associate of the Quarter - Luke Christensen

Here is some of what was said about Luke:

"Luke is always aware of what is going on in the audit room and makes it a priority to listen in to issues being discussed on other funds so that he can learn and applying what he learned to the fund he is working on. This is particularly helpful and important as we work on multiple funds at once and are able to leverage answers received on one fund to help complete testing of others without having to go back to the client a second time, but also we're able to ask the right questions earlier in the audit based on issues in other funds."

Congratulations Honey! We love you and are proud of you!

Video of Emma Talking

Here is a little video of Emma saying "Hi" to all of the grandma and grandpa and all of the aunts and uncles on the Christensen side. Pretty cute...

Our Garden is Growing!

Look how our garden is growing, less than three weeks later! We are excited to have pumpkins and squash this Fall. There are also radish plants coming up!

Emma's Swimming Lessons

Emma has been in swimming lessons the last two weeks. When we woke up this morning she was asking to get her swimsuit on. I think she will miss swimming every day! She learned to blow bubbles, kick, hold onto the edge of the pool, monkey crawl along the edge of the pool, go under for several seconds and hold her breath, this one was had for mommy to watch, jump off the edge of the pool, etc. She had a hard time at first with wanting to do anything in front of her teacher. By the second week she was a pro and loved it. They jumped off short diving board at 8ft into the teachers arms, after going under for a second, and she wanted to do it over and over again. My good friend Jamie and her daughter, Katelyn, Emma good friend, were the ones that had us do it with them. It was fun to do it all together and we were sure glad we did. Emma got her certificate and everything!

It's a Spanish Speaking Feast! Más

I love playing with all of my food and I love seconds. For several months now I have always been very good about saying "more" when I want well, more. For the last couple of weeks whenever I want more I tell my mommy "más" which means more in Spanish. She can still get me to say more in English when she asks but if I want more I say "más!" Mommy does not know where I got it but wants me to learn more Spanish. We have a chameleon, Diego, and daddy wants me to only speak Spanish to him and he wants me to only speak Japanese to our fish, Sushi. He taught me how to say konnichiha (pronounced as konnichiwa) which means hello in Janenise. I go up to Sushi all of the time and wave and say "konnichiwa Sushi." I have got my work cut out for me with learning different languages!

Fun in the Sun

Emma loves to play in the back yard especially in her pool or in the sprinkler!

Our Garden

We planted a garden last week and the plants are already coming up. We planted pumpkins, squash, radishes, and carrots. The Pumpkins and Squash are growing great and we can see the radishes coming up also. We are excited to have our own home grown pumpkins for Halloween this year. We were not sure if anything would grow because the soil in like clay here, but they came up! Let's hope they keep growing good!

4th of July Celebration

For the Forth of July we made yummy kabob's with peepers, onions, steak, and chicken and cooked them on our little grill. They were super yummy. We also made shrimp dip which Luke and Emma just loved! We had a nice meal and went to the fireworks with our friends. We watched the fireworks from a hill near our house and were able to see 10 different shows across the Dallas area. There were only two close enough to actually watch but we could see 10 shows! It was pretty cool. Emma loved watching the fireworks.

Look how golden brown these marshmallows are!

Yummy Smores!

Here is Melissa with the kids. Emma sure loves cuddling with Melissa and haning our with her friends Rachael and Owen.

Our New Patio Set

We were not in the market for a new patio set but this one kind of fell into our laps. We found it for 60% off and absolutly love it!