February 2015

Dear Friend,

We hope you had a wonderful Valentine's Day!

 This month we read a lot of books,  

 enjoyed sunny days at the park,  

 treasured some awesome Family Home Evening moments,  

 and loved every minute of our lunches with Daddy.  

 The kids have been real characters lately.  They have been playing really well together for the most part.  Smith is such a ham and Summer can get him to do practically anything (including pulling his pants up really high like Grandpa Peter).   

Boyd & Summer rile each other up and can run around the house in a fit of laughter for 20 minutes straight.  

All-in-all, these three are pretty good buddies.  

Boyd & Smith have become real partners in crime.  

Where one goes, the other is likely to follow.   

And when one has an awesome idea, the other wants the same.  

 

One morning I clearly didn't serve them breakfast early enough so they took action into their own hands. 

This is what three unsupervised minutes and an unlocked pantry looks like.  Props to them for getting bowls though, right? 

 Elias is still as awesome as ever!  I did have to tease him on more than one occasion though because now even his casual clothes have collars.  What a man!

Smith has been cracking me up lately! He is my best little helper when it comes to laundry and unloading the dishwasher.  After every meal he promptly goes back and buckles up all the empty highchairs.  He has the patience to think things through and figure out how they work.  

 

 Time and time again, he will put on something, and then come and find me just so we can laugh together.  

 The nose glasses have been our favorite lately. 

Summer is theatrical.  This is her "Gaston pose".  She has fallen in love with the Disney princess stories, but only the books; she finds all the movies to be far to scary and has no interest in them.  Seriously...a dramatic snore when someone is sleeping is enough for Summer to turn off any show.  

 But we love our little pure-of-heart girl.

She is always challenging herself to do new things, 

and she loves lipstick way too much.  

 

Boyd's personality is a riot.  He loves rough-housing and playing with his siblings, but he also likes his alone time.  He has actually learned how to crawl out of his crib, but enjoys sleeping so much that it hasn't been a problem.  But once Smith learns how to crawl out, I know we'll be kissing the cribs goodbye.  

Boyd always wants to walk instead of ride.

And if he had his druthers, he would always be carrying a cell phone around.  Boyd will randomly take off his clothes and after learning that he has to pick up any food that he throws off his tray, he now tucks anything he doesn't want to eat down by his hip.

 The highlight of the month was welcoming my baby sister Hannah home from her 18-month mission in Vancouver Canada for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  We are so proud of her! (She's the cute one on the right!)

 

 All 7 original Christensens were there to welcome her home and it was a blast to spend the day together.  

 Elias had a conference in Vail the next week so we enjoyed time with Hannah and my parents.  

Summer and Grandpa Peter made lots of snow angels. 

 Boyd and Smith scourged the condo for any electronics they could find,

and enjoyed attention from everyone.  

 I even got to sneak away for a night to go up and join Elias in Vail.  He's my favorite!

One highlight happened right before I left for Vail.  When I was saying goodbye, Hannah said she would miss me and Summer surprised us all by singing her an original song, "If you miss somebody, just play with her kids."  It was pretty awesome.  

On the other hand, the boys are proving to be a bit more challenging when it comes to travel. We were staying in the condo right next to my parents, which was extremely convenient, except for the fact that by walking from one condo to the next, you can view the elevator for the building and the boys can reach the elevator button.  More than once the boys snuck out for an elevator ride giving me a heart-attack.  Luckily the building is pretty quiet during the day and once inside the elevator, the only button they can reach is the emergency button.  The elevator emergency line was extremely patient with us that week.  Yeah...

We were blessed to be able to bring Hannah home with us for a few days!  Elias had to leave town for San Francisco so she hung out with me and the kids.   

 We love her so much,

and were sad to see her go. 

Love and miss you all!

Always, 

Elias, Brittany, Summer, Boyd & Smith