BEESTOCK 2010

The Bee's enjoyed their annual Girls Weekend the same week in Septmeber as usual! Olivia and I made her debut trip and left Isabelle to enjoy some one-on-one time with Ben! She was sorely missed and although she and her dad played and played and went to the Zoo, etc, she declared she would not be missing the girls fun next year! We inducted two new members of the Bee's this year too! (It pays to join this family!)



Long live the Bee's!

Generations

Ben's grandmother Nathala, who likes to be called Mamacita, was too ill to join us for the Meldrum wedding at the beginning of the year but is thankfully healthy now, so she travelled to Texas to pay some of her family a visit! She flew in and out of Houston but made the trip to San Antonio for the weekend to visit Isabelle and meet Olivia. Grandma Ruth of course came along with her from DFW and even Ben's Aunt Martha joined us from England for the fun! We spent time at the Alamo and enjoyed lunch on the Riverwalk, we played with the girls and chatted when they were in bed, and we even enjoyed a real English Tea Party on a tea set Martha packed for us all the way across the ocean! It's beautiful and I can see many tea parties on real china now in my future! It was a fun and busy weekend and I am glad Isabelle and Olivia were able to get to know some more of this ever-growing loving family!

Time to learn and time to play...

I have been fearing this day for 4 years but alas, the time has come...Isabelle has started Preschool! She and I both fretted about it too much, ever since we signed her name on the dotted line for the Stone Oak Presbyterian PreK Class last spring. I understand that she is ready to learn more and I know that she needs to get her feet wet before she is thrown into Kindergarten every day next year, but that didn't make the decision to drop my little shadow off every week any easier. I consciously never let Belle hear the anxiety in my voice and I made sure I rejoiced each time we drove past her "school" in the car all summer long but she too was anxious about being away from mom and insisted several times a week for months that I sign her up for the shortest class possible!

A week before school began we attended a "meet the teacher" night and when it ended with Jelly in tears I worried that this was going to be even tougher than I had anticipated. As we left that night Isabelle yelled across the parking lot to her little girlfriend Madilyn that we signed up with, Bye Missy, I'm not coming back! We celebrated the upcoming change and bought some Twinkle Toes for school as well as a backpack and lunchbox, and carried on the Christensen Tradition with a Back to School Fashion Show where Isabelle cried as she strutted her stuff in her new school clothes. One her first school night, after a comforting blessing from Daddy, Belle was tucked in her safe little bed with her bag packed and clothes laid out for the big day! I got out all of my sad tears about her growing up too fast that night as well so I was fresh faced and ready to go in the morning!


Our little prayer was answered when morning came and everyone in our home was excited for Isabelle's new adventure. She quickly got dressed and ate breakfast and we were on our way to drop her off at school. Ben, Olivia and I all three walked her to her classroom and found her cubby and seat and then she smiled and said goodbye! I listened for my phone all day but it never rang! Grammie drove over as quickly as she could from Houston without Belle knowing and surprised her when she was there to pick her up from her first day of school. Isabelle was all smiles and was so proud of just how brave she was, especially since when we arrived the kids were all sitting in the dark as the power was out due to Hurricane Hermine!

Now Isabelle spends her Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:00am to 2:00pm at school and has already been a line leader and has taken show-and-tell for the letters A, B and C. She loves to see her teachers, Mrs. Ashley and Ms. Pat, and loves to play with Missy, Caleb and Gavin. So far she makes me promise each school day that I will come and pick her up AS SOON AS SHE CALLS me because she never plans on staying the entire day, but I have never received that phone call yet. Of course in true Isabelle fashion, she immediately came down with a bug and was too sick for her 2nd day of school but thankfully the enthusiasm was still alive on day 3.

Olivia wonders why it is so quiet during her morning nap and loves when she hears Isabelle's voice at the end of the school day. I have quickly learned to enjoy running errands with only one little helper, and we have finally found the benefit to Belle being a VERY early riser, but I am so grateful that Isabelle has a day at home in between class days! For now, we are going to enjoy Belle spreading her wings just a little bit and not even think for a moment about Kindergarten next year.

One of my absolute favorite books to read to Isabelle has been Llama Llama Red Pajama because Jelly is EXACTLY like the little llama in the story! I often quote lines from the book to her all day such as "Llama llama what a tissy, sometimes mama is very busy..." so it was too perfect when just days from school starting we came across a new treasure titled Llama Lama Misses Mama. Little Llama starts school and it has quickly become our new favorite book to read together each night.

Llama finds out something new -
He loves Mama...
and SCHOOL, too!

She likes to move it, move it...

Olivia is doing her best to try and keep up with Isabelle and reach every milestone long before we are ready for her to. Just like Belle, it was just days after she turned 5 months old that Livi began sitting up all by herself and I am not sure who has enjoyed her being up-right and able to "play" more, Olivia or Isabelle. At her 6month well check, she weighed in at a wee 14.4lbs but continues to grow and develop as quickly as she can. She is very proud to hold a MumMum and feed herself a snack and loves jumping in her jumper each morning while I shower.

So far there are still no teeth in sight but again if she is on Belle's track we won't have to worry about those for a few more months. Olivia is moments from crawling and can get up on all fours and rock back and forth before she falls to her tummy. Isabelle can't wait for the day when her little sister can chase her around the house, but I am less excited about the "baby proofing" stage and constantly having to watch the stairs. Livi says MAMAMAMAMA although I am not sure she yet knows what it means but she has started waving bye bye occasionally after we encourage her. Isabelle and I are left wondering what we did all day before little Olivia joined the party?!

Just tonight I gathered up a few things around the house, namely the Bumbo, Boppy, Swing, etc, that we no longer use every day to place back into the closet for use in some other life. It is astonishing how much a little spirit can learn in such a short amount of time and like all good mother's out there, I am left wishing my baby would stay my baby for a bit longer!


*I forgot I needed to hold my camera right side up for videos! Why is it immpossible to flip them once they are uploaded?

Phone

I recently bought a new smart phone, which so far seems a lot smarter than me, but before I could say goodbye to my previous cell phone, I had to quickly download over 100 photos that I couldn't bear to lose. It always seems like the best pictures are the ones you capture when you aren't actually prepared with your nice camera, but rather grab your phone out of your pocket and shoot. It was amazing to see how much both my little girls had grown up over the last few months and for journaling purposes I wanted to post some of my favorite candid shots!

Hot Summer Nights...

was the theme for the 2010 Salem Days, although for us it was a break from the never-ending scorching heat of South Texas. Like years past, Isabelle waited all summer for our visit to her Great Grandma Joan's house and had talked about all the fun she would have in Salem long enough that we even convinced Ben to take a few days off work to join in the celebration. Lucky for us too, Aunt Alee and Uncle Nick headed that direction for a Vernon Family Reunion at the same time so we got to enjoy the Hot Summer Nights with even more family than usual.

Both Isabelle and Olivia travelled like champs yet after a delayed flight and a long day for both girls, we were all glad when we finally arrived at Grandma and Grandpa's house Friday evening. Isabelle woke up early the first morning excited to play on the soft Utah grass, but after opening the door she quickly ran back inside screaming that it was FREEZING! She actually claimed that it may even snow! Of course, it was only 60 degrees, but to her bare arms and legs, it may well have been winter. We spent an entire week playing with my cousins little girls, riding grandpa's 4 wheelers, walking to Fast Gas, jogging around Salem, playing Chicken Foot with grandma, "harvesting" in grandpa's garden, meeting extended family for lunch dates, celebrating Grandma Joan's birthday and so on. We all couldn't get enough of the beautiful weather and little Olivia smiled from ear to ear each time we placed her in her stroller for a stroll.

Salem Days soon began and after reading about the Baby Contest in the newspaper we spontaneously entered sweet Olivia in the contest! The contest was judged by Miss Salem and her Attendants and Isabelle was so proud of her little sister as she talked and coo'd at the "queens." There were multiple categories that Livi had to be judged in and after she made her rounds and posed for a photo, we were off with a giant bottle of bubbles and a balloon! Isabelle was thrilled to decorate scooters and bikes with her cousin Zoey and participated in the Children's Parade down Center Street. We were surprised when we heard someone yell to Ben as he helped Belle down the parade route and found our sister-in-law Heather's parents who were new Salem residents cheering Belle on. It's always fun to see someone you know and they got to meet little Olivia even before her Uncle Sam and Aunt Heather, who live in Boston. The parade ended at the park and Belle and Zoey were excited for a popsicle as their reward for making it on their bikes. Under a tent they were announcing the Baby Contest winners and when they called Olivia's name we were shocked. She won the title of Biggest Flirt, or what I like to call Miss Personality or as Isabelle likes to say...She won the smiling contest! We were presented with an 8x10 of her winning photograph as well as a gift basket with hugs/kisses, a toothbrush for her smile, a picture frame, a hairbow, etc. She was invited to ride on the Baby Contest Winner Float in the big parade on Saturday, but we decided it would be more fun to watch the parade and cheered instead when the float went by with her name on the side!

The Family Fun Run began at 7:30am Saturday morning and of course it would be the one morning of the trip that I had to wake both girls in order to get us all dressed and at the starting line in time. After her 7th place finish in the 1 mile last year, Isabelle was determined to get a medal this time and was lucky to have her dad registered for the mile race with her. When Officer James sounded the siren, Isabelle's legs were off running around the Salem Pond as fast as they could carry her. The last few tenths of the race were up hill and Ben was shocked at Jelly's competitive spirit when she pushed it even harder on the incline to pass a few more racers. She crossed the finish line at just over the 12 and a half minute mark taking over a minute off her last year's finish time. When I ran to congratulate her on her amazing race I could tell she may have pushed it a bit too much as her little body was dry heaving from exhaustion as well as the elevation change. (Running in the dry mountains is much different than the humid Texas plains.) By the time she made it through the shoots with all the other tired runners she was back to her old self and was thrilled when they handed her her time card which revealed she had earned the SILVER MEDAL! She placed 2nd in the Age 5 and under category and was so proud of her accomplishment when they called her name and placed the medal around her tiny neck! Grandma, Alee, Nick and I all ran the 5k next and again cheered for Grammie when she too won a medal! Afterwards we enjoyed a pancake breakfast in the park served to us by the Mayor, just like Curious George, and then rushed to shower before the big parade. Isabelle loved gathering up all the candy that was tossed her way with all the other kids and to this day has still only seen two parades in her lifetime...Salem Day and Walt Disney World. (From one extreme to the other.)


Our Hot Summer Nights vacation ended too quickly like usual and it was soon time to board that airplane and head back home to the real heat again. Like years past, we greatly enjoyed the break from our fast paced lifestyle and really took in the easy going living of Grandma and Grandpa's quiet home. I am sure Belle will talk about the fun all year long and when summer time rolls around again, we will buy some more airfare for a break in our own little City of Peace.