Eli's First Primary Talk

I can't believe that I almost forgot to mention that Eli gave his first primary talk,

on Valentine's Day.

He was asked to speak about, "The scriptures teach Heavenly Father's plan."

Here's his talk...

I love reading the scriptures with my family.

We read about prophets.

We read about Jesus.

I love Jesus.

I love the scriptures.

The scriptures make me happy.

And here's a video of him giving his talk...

Update on Ruby's Walking and Talking

At the end of February, Ruby turned 15 months old.

In the middle of March I took her in for her 15 month check up.

I can't find my paper anywhere that says how big is was. 

I just remember she was 60% for height and weight.

She got several shots.

She of course screamed but stopped after I held her.

She's a brave girl.

...

At her check up her pediatrician was asking me routine questions about her development.

At the time, Ruby had only been trying to take steps for a few weeks 

and could only take a few at a time.

Also, she wasn't really saying many words.

And the words (sounds) she was saying didn't mean anything in particular.

The words weren't assigned to objects.

Dr. Gould was concerned about both her walking and talking.

I told him that there is a history of speech problems in the Christensen family.

He told me to watch Ruby and keep track of what she's doing and saying.

And he instructed me to call him back at the end of April.

If she hasn't made much progress by then she'll go get check out by a developmental specialist.

...

I have know that Ruby was pretty quite. 

She definitely hasn't been talking as much as or anything like her older sisters.

I have just assumed that was just because of her personality.

So far she's been pretty mellow and laid back.

But after that appointment, I started to wonder if something was wrong.

...

Well I'm happy to report that two weeks after her check up, Ruby started walking exclusively.

The day after she turned 15 months old (February 26th) she took her first steps

and the day after she turned 16 months old (March 26th) she learned to stand up unassisted 

and started walking exclusively.

She doesn't crawl anymore.

...

Her speech has improved but I still think she might be behind.

Now she says, "da da." And she knows Sean is da da. She'll say that whenever he walks in the room.

She says "ba ba" for babies and small kids. She also says "ba ba" for the bunnies.

And when she wants to go outside she says "ba ba" for bye bye and waves her hand.

She says "nigh nigh" (night night) when I lay her in her crib.

She uses some sign language. She signs eat when she's hungry and signs all done when she's finished.

She signs milk when she's thristy.

...
Here's some recent videos of Ruby's walking...

Our New Bunnies - Honey and Dotty

After Olaf and Sven died, we told Lexi that we'd get bunnies again 

after we got our backyard finished and fenced.

We also told her that she could get baby bunnies this time.

Since her bunnies died she's been sad and there have been several times when 

she'd just start bawling and then tell me that she misses her bunnies.

It's been hard to see her so unhappy.

...

We've been watching tons of YouTube videos of bunnies.

And we have been looking at the classifieds to see what bunnies are for sale locally.

Right before Easter, a ton of baby bunnies were for sale.

We found some lionheads that Lexi got really excited about.

Sean said we could get them.

Our yard wasn't fenced in yet but we bought a six foot tall professional dog kennel.

So we think our bunnies will be safe.

...

So Lexi knew we were getting the bunnies but we told her that we would be getting them until Easter.

Well the week before Easter Sean had a three day weekend.

That Friday he had off. He told Lexi that he'd be setting up the new bunny pen.

She was excited to come home from school and help decorate it.

When she got home she was surprised to see the bunnies.

Sean and Eli had picked them up and brought them home that day.

Lexi's eyes got all watery when she saw the bunnies.

She was over the moon excited!

It was like Christmas at our house that day. Maybe even better.
...
Here's the video of Lexi seeing the bunnies for the first time.

For about the first two weeks we had them they slept inside their cage in our laundry room.

For the first week, we'd bring them outside during the day.

But the second week, we got lots of rain and some snow, so the bunnies stayed inside all day.

...

In this next picture, Lexi is on the phone telling my parents that she got her bunnies.

The bunnies first night at home, Lexi read them a bedtime story.

Here's our neighbor Trenna holding both bunnies.

The bunnies were born on February 8th. And we're just a few days shy of 6 weeks when we got them.

They are sisters.

Their dad was a double mane lionhead and their mom was a single mane and a quarter dwarf.

One bunny has a white dot on her nose. Avery named her Dotty.

Lexi named the other Honey.

Honey is slightly darker, a little bit bigger and has a bigger mane.

Honey is a little more shy.

Dotty is a little more friendly, curious and energetic.

I love Honey standing up in this next picture.

Avery warmed up to the bunnies very quickly.

Here's a picture of her holding Dotty. You can see the dot on her nose.

I couldn't believe that Dotty fell asleep in Avery's lap like this!

Lexi put a flower in Honey's mane.


I actually have a lot more pictures of the bunnies. But this seems like enough for now.

Ruby's First Oreo

A few weeks ago we gave Ruby her first Oreo.

She's had desserts, chocolate and frosting before but I've documented all of my kids first Oreo's.

So I had to do the same with her.

She loved it. We weren't surprised.

I think she's the cutest and have the hardest time narrowing down which pictures to share.

Yes, this isn't all of the pictures I took.

And here's the video.

 

Ruby Smiles

One week ago, Ruby started smiling.

She was 6 weeks and 2 days old.

And it was the best day of the year so far.

Her smile is amazing!

A week later it still melts my heart and literally brings to tears of joy to my eyes.

When she first smiled, I just enjoyed that precious moment.

Then I texted Sean.
Then I immediately tried to get her to do it again while trying to get a picture.

These are the best I got with my phone...



 

 

Then I tried to take a video of her smiling and lucked out.

Her smile is infectious! I felt so blessed that I was able to record it and share it with Sean.

I feel bad that he misses out of things like this while he's at work.

 



New Years Interviews and Resolutions

We had a Family Home Evening lesson about making goals.

I challenged the girls to make some goals for the new year.

...

Lexi's goals are:

 Read more information books

Make more friends

Memorize a new scripture every month

Read from the Book of Mormon

Be nicer to her family

Clean the toilet every week

Lean how to draw better

Improve her handwriting

Save money

...

Avery's goals are:

Start to read

Write all the letters

Learn her friends' names

Follow the Golden Rule

Hug and kiss her family more

Clean her room

Use an inside voice

...

Our Family's Goals are:

Take turns teaching FHE every week (Now the girls each get to teach once a month too)

Read a column out of the Book of Mormon every night

Teach the girls the stories in the Book of Mormon so they can tell them

Eat at least five big bites of your dinner

Do secret services for each other

Call one extended family member a week

Have family prayer everyday

The kids spend more time with a babysitter while we go on more dates

...

I also interviewed the kids:

 

 

 



Avery's December Field Trip - Christmas Caroling

I love that Avery's preschool does monthly field trips.

Last month, they went Christmas caroling to the Beehive House.

It's a retirement home near us.

We actually went trick-or-treating there this past Halloween.

Avery's teacher does such a good job with the kids. She's amazing.

And I love all the songs and actions she taught them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I'm so excited that I am now able to share videos!



Recent Videos

I've created my own YouTube channel.

I will uploaded my videos to that. 

I am still working on uploading recent videos.

So far, I've uploaded videos from Lexi's orchestra concert and the girls' dance recital.

I uploaded all my videos as "unlisted."

Which, I believe means that you can search for it, you have to have the direct video link.
It also means that you can't just go to my channel and see all the videos.
You have to have the direct link to each individual video to see it.
It's either that or making my videos public or private.
...
When I told Lexi that I was uploading her videos to YouTube she got so excited.
"Really? I'm going to be on YouTube? I'm on the internet!"
Haha. What a funny girl.
...
Here are the videos I've uploaded so far.
In the future, I'll just post the links or videos in my blog posts.

I also plan on going back and adding these videos to my previous blog posts.

Lexi's Christmas Concert

The week before Christmas, Lexi participated in the orchestra and band
Christmas concert at her school.
She had been sick all week and was tired but she went and did great.

Sean and I had decided that after the concert we were going to stop orchestra.
It was a hard decision to make.
It was just too much for Lexi and for our family.
It was hard to get all the kids up early to get Lexi to orchestra.
And it was difficult to find time to practice at night.
And Lexi was one of the youngest in the orchestra and was having a hard time keeping up.
She really needed a private tutor.
We've decided that in a few years, we'll try piano.
For now, just going to school all day, learning Spanish and going to dance and homework is enough.

Before the concert started the kids were tuning their instruments and warming up.

But Lexi just smiled at us from the stage.

 



Her Lexi is with her orchestra teacher.

UPDATE: Here are the videos I took at the concert...