Ode to Elvis and the Vanderbilts . . .

Anyone who knows me knows that I am very sentimental, particularly when it comes to memories and pictures. Well, here I go again. Two years ago this month, our little family made the long trek from Philadelphia to Dallas for Dale's internship at Bain. On our way, we broke up the long trip by stopping at various historical sites along the way. These are two of our favorite stops . . . the Biltmore Mansion in North Carolina (home to the Vanderbilts and the largest mansion in the USA) and Graceland, home to American icon, Elvis Presley. We enjoyed both places immensely and recommend that if you are ever in the area of these two places, you should stop and take a look. The pictures above are of me in front of the graves at Graceland - it is amazing to witness, first hand, the following that still exists amongst Elvis fans. The graves are cleaned off each day and without fail, more floral arrangements arrive the following day. The other picture is of our family in front of the Biltmore mansion. The tour took 2 hours and that was expedited due to an impatient 2 1/2 year old (I'm sure she was bored stiff). The mansion is HUGE!

Fourth of July Parade

Our development sponsored a fun children's parade celebrating the 4th of July. Laurel and I decorated our family wagon with red and blue balloons, glittered banners, and red crepe paper. Anyone who knows Laurel knows that she loves any type of craft/art project, so she had a great time decorating this wagon with me. As always, Andrew went along for the ride without much complaint. Our community police and fire departments led the parade through the neighborhood. Although it was brief, the activity was fun and culminated in some great treats, drinks, and festive pin wheels for the children. We also made a stop at Sonic for some ice cream and drinks - we love "happy hour" at Sonic!

Carousel

We had a special family date tonight with a carousel. Laurel has been begging me to take her to the mall near our home so we could ride the merry-go-round. As luck would have it, Dale got off work early tonight so we decided to make it a family event. Laurel enjoyed her ride, but Andrew . . . well, not so much. It was his first time and honestly, I'm not a huge fan of going around in circles while bobbing up and down, so I completely understand. You can witness his disdain first-hand in the posted video. We also enjoyed "Dippin' Dots" ice cream and found some great clearance deals on kids clothing. All-in-all, we had a great evening.

More swimming with friends . . .

Today we enjoyed swimming with the Clarks and Stanworths. We met these great families in Philadelphia while our husbands attended MBA school at Wharton. The kids had a great time and so did the mothers - it was a great way to escape the Texas heat.

To the left is a picture of Laurel and Savannah - the two princesses of the pool. These two have a lot in common.

To the right is a picture of Laurel with her buddy, John. Laurel and John spent a lot of time together during the summer we were living in Texas for Dale's internship. John is one of the cutest boys and I just love to be around him.

Looking backwards and forwards

First of all, I've had one of those days where I must ask myself if I'm being the best parent to Laurel. Laurel is a really great kid, but sometimes I struggle to know how to reach her little heart. Maybe it's my heart that needs to be reached . . . I'm just not sure. Nonetheless, there are those moments when you come to the end of the day and you wonder if you disciplined your child appropriately. Was I too hard? Did I give her the benefit of the doubt? Sometimes I must remind myself that she's 4 1/2 and maybe, just maybe I'm expecting too much of her. It's difficult to know. As I've been pondering this tonight, I've looked through some of her baby pictures and I came across this picture of Laurel with her NICU nurse back in Mountain View, CA. It was the day before Thanksgiving in 2003 and we had MUCH to be thankful for that year. On this particular day, Laurel was discharged and this wonderful nurse just asked if she could hold Laurel one more time. I, of course, said yes. I watched as this nurse looked into Laurel's eyes and with tears in her eyes, she told me how lucky I was to have a daughter. She was never able to have a daughter and she had always wanted one. She then told me how much she had loved taking care of Laurel and how she would miss her. I knew she was not going through the motions of saying goodbye - she meant it.

So here I am, 4 1/2 years later and feeling overwhelmed with the nature of my job as a mom. I get frustrated - I get angry - I feel sadness - I wonder how I could do it better. I feel everything that I'm sure every mother or father has felt since the beginning of time up until the present. But this wonderful NICU nurse and the memory captured by this photo remind me that I have much to be grateful for. I have a daughter who is smart, sassy, darling, and so full of love. Yes, she's full of mischief at times, but more than anything, she is full of love and I am glad that I can feel that tonight.

Two things about Laurel today that just made me smile happened while filling out a "getting to know you" form for her summer day camp. Under favorite food, Laurel told me that she loves "big Germany hot dogs (Bratwurst), red cabbage, and bread". Clearly, she comes by it naturally and we couldn't be more proud! Secondly, according to Laurel, her favorite books are, "The book about Jesus" and "Fancy Nancy". I couldn't be more thrilled! Looking forward, tomorrow will be a better day . . .

9 Months!

Andrew, today you are 9 months old! Your dad and I can hardly believe you're growing up this fast. It took us such a long time to get you and now you're growing up way too fast. Somehow it doesn't seem fair, but at the same time, it is such a fun process to watch how you change and grow each day.

Here are some of your new achievements this past months:

Food: you love spinach mixed with your sweet potatoes and carrots. You also love sucking on frozen mangos and strawberries with the new special gadget mom found at Babies R Us - I wish Laurel had had such a gadget when she was your age. It really helps with teething!

Words: Ma Ma (yeah!), na na, oh oh

New accomplishments: you're finally rolling across the room! Your physical therapist, Miss Kristen, is thrilled with your progress. Your torticollis is looking so much better.

Sleeping: you're losing interest in your morning nap, but enjoy sleeping 2-3 hours in the afternoon. Nighttime is difficult with your teeth all coming in at once, but hopefully we will all get through that together.

We love you - we love your smile - and most of all, we love the spirit you bring into our home!

Swimming with Friends . . .

Today we had a great swim date with our friends, the Millers! We know the Millers from Wharton and Bain and we sure enjoy getting together with them. Here is a fun picture of the kids - Sara-Jane (2) Christian (5) Andrew (8 months) Laurel (4 1/2)

Ma Ma and more swimming . . .

Today was a big day of "firsts" for our household. For Andrew . . . he finally said "ma ma"! He's said it before (as he's played around with sounds), but not with the intent to gain my attention. As I was cleaning the upstairs bathroom, he sat on the carpet outside of the door patiently watching me. After 10 minutes of that, he was exasperated and waved his hands in the air saying, "ma ma"! It was music to my ears. I sure love my little man.

Laurel has a big first as well . . . she finally gained enough courage to put her entire head in the pool. This was a huge feat for Laurel as she has been scared of water for some time. I took video, which I will post, but it doesn't show her putting her head completely under the water . . . the big event happened moments after this video. Nevertheless, the excitement in this little girl's voice is quite obvious and she knows, unequivocably, that she has accomplished something great.

I think there's a part in all of us that wants to shout from the top of the mountains when we conquor one of our fears, but unfortunately we conform to society and bridle the joy we feel. Wouldn't it be nice if we all could be childlike and truly savor and rejoice in the miraculous things each one of us conquors each day? Just a thought . . .

For the love of Dallas . . .

Yesterday as we were running errands, I asked Laurel if she loved living in Dallas. She said she did and I asked her why. "Well" she said, "the sun is warm on my skin and I like that. It's also great that we have a post office and Wal-Mart . . . I LOVE Wal-Mart mommy!" Sounds like I need to explore this city more, doesn't it? Too bad she doesn't remember all of the cool places we took her in Philadelphia and San Jose! Here is a picture of Laurel (5 months) in Philadelphia back when we were exploring MBA schools - little did we know that we'd live in Philly for 2 years!

Ocean City Surrey

I was looking through pictures tonight and found this fun memory. Last May, Dale's parents flew to Philadelphia for Dale's graduation from Wharton. We spent the week touring NYC, Philadelphia, Gettysburg, Hershey, and Ocean City (Atlantic City area). This is a picture of us on a surrey we took for a spin on the real "boardwalk". We had a blast!!! I'm so glad that my mother-in-law was so insistent that we do this because I never would have done it on my own. Such a fun memory for us, especially Laurel - I will definitely do it again someday.

Rainy Day

Our day started out at the gym - I'm trying to go several times a week so that I can regain strength in my back and my abdominals. If I don't work out, I tend to have back pain. I went to my first spinning class (bike workout) since Philadelphia and I loved it. My instructor in Philadelphia was the best and I miss those workouts. Today was good and I look forward to regaining some of the strength I lost during pregnancy.

When we got home, I quickly got Laurel ready for swimming. She was so excited to go! It was a beautiful day with blue skies, so it came as quite a surprise when I looked out the window moments after getting home only to find severe thunderstorms moving in. The weather here in Dallas is some of the craziest I've ever experienced. As I listened to the wind howl, I knew that swimming would be canceled. Within moments, there was a downpour. Poor Laurel - she was devastated. I'm glad we were inside during the storm. The weather was severe enough that it blew out windows in the lobby of Dale's office building in Las Colinas!

I quickly pulled out some white chocolate, pretzels, and sprinkles in an attempt to salvage a little girls afternoon. The three of us dipped pretzels and talked about everything under the sun. My ploy was successful and a smile returned to Laurel's face. Andrew seemed to enjoy the activity as well. I've never been more thankful for pretzels and white chocolate!

Father's Day

I think that Dale had a great Father's Day. He woke up to breakfast-in-bed and Laurel singing, "Happy Father's Day" using the birthday tune. The kids loved sitting in bed with dad while he ate. I made a really good cranberry pecan coffee cake, thanks to my sister-in-law's recipe.

After church, we grilled some ribeye steaks and had salad and strawberry shortcake. After dinner we presented Dale with his cards and gifts, which went over quite well. It was a fun day and we're glad we could honor our dad and husband. He's one terrific guy - as I've told Dale many times, I seriously won the lottery when I met him. Laurel and Andrew will know soon enough how lucky they are to have such a great dad - I think Laurel's already figured it out!

I'm also grateful for Dale's dad and feel fortunate that he is a part of our lives. He is a great guy with one of the biggest hearts and a fun personality. He'd do anything for anyone and we love him for it. We hope you had a great day, Dad/Papa Christensen!

I also want to honor my dad and thank him for everything. As I thought about him today, I remembered how he was always at every performance, recital, soccer game, etc with his camera in hand. He coached my soccer team one year and we even won the championship . . . go Chargers! Dad has been and always will be a great dad to me. My dad lost his father when he was a young boy and I've often thought how difficult that must have been to lose your dad before the age of 10. Dad is a strong man and I'm so proud of all that he's accomplished in his life. Leaving Germany at 17 with no family and few possessions could not have been easy. It truly is a tribute to the type of person my dad is . . . he has lived the American dream and along with my mom, has raised 5 children who contribute positively to the world. Thank you dad for being such a great example and for always being there!

Symphony and brother's birthday

I've tried for several days now to post pictures and video, but for some reason it won't work. I think it must be the website - if anyone else has experienced this and knows what to do, please let me know. For now, I'm going to go ahead and record, then add some pictures later.

To begin with, my brother James had his 36th birthday on the 12th. James is a great brother. As children, he was 4 years older than I so we often fought and had our differences. I can now admit that I was an obnoxious little sister at times, but in all honesty it was because I liked him so much. And there is so much to like about James. Now he's a grown man with a wife and 4 children. He's one year away from finishing his residency in anesthesiology. We're all so proud of him. He conquored cancer at 21 and has gone on to accomplish much. He currently lives in Coralville, Iowa where all the floods are happening - we are grateful that his home is still standing. Hope you had a great birthday, James!

On Saturday night Dale and I attended a Dallas Symphony concert. It was so much fun! They performed 5 or 6 pieces, but my favorite was Tschaikowsy's 1812 Overture. It took our breath away. It was also so great to be out on a date, just the two of us for the first time in a long time.

For me it was a magical night because I felt as if I stepped back 15 or so years when I was in high school and attended the Utah Symphony on a regular basis. As a member of the Utah Symphony Youth Guild, I regularly performed piano solos in the foyer prior to the concerts. As nervous as I was at times, I really enjoyed the opportunities I had to perform the pieces I had learned. After my performance, I was able to attend the concerts with my parents. It is such a happy memory for me.

As I walked through the beautiful concert hall here in Dallas, I thought back on those days. I'm grateful that I had the drive and discipline to study piano and enjoy the many opportunities I had to perform. I'm also grateful for the time and financial means my parents expended to allow me the chance to develop my talents. Back then, my teacher was a professor at the University of Utah and she charged $35.00 per each 45 minute lesson! That is a lot of money now and it was definitely a lot of money then. Mom and dad, thank you for the sacrifices you made so that I could have such wonderful opportunities.

As I left the concert hall with Dale, I told him how important it is that we introduce our children to good music. I look forward to Laurel and Andrew choosing an instrument, whether it be piano, voice, etc, and learning how to play beautiful music. We're looking forward to purchasing our first piano this summer - I can't even express how excited I am. As I've tried to decorate our home, I've told Dale that there is just something missing. Recently, it finally occured to me that it was music and that we needed a piano. I would take a piano over any piece of furniture, nick-nack, etc. Good music is good for the soul and in this day and age, we need all of the peace and joy we can find. Music is a great place to start.

Update

We've had a busy week, filled with activities and sickness. My little man came down with an eye and ear infection last week - he was miserable. I took him to the doctor and they put him on penicillin - by the way, he's now 17.25 pounds. The next day, he begins breaking out in rashes all over his body. I thought it was something I had eaten, until I realized that it's probably the medication. So, as of today, no more penicillin! He's also teething and miserable, so he has a fever of 102 and a runny nose. I'm not expecting to sleep much tonight . . . it's a good thing I think he's so cute.

As for Laurel, well, she's been in great form this week. Where do I start? Well, to begin with, she came into my office a couple of days ago and said, "Mom, I'm so smart it scares me!" Well, she's right, but I never expected that phrase to escape her lips. Indeed she is smart - I don't think I ever said things like that as a kid. She's learning to do chores around the house. She makes her bed and is good at cleaning up messes. She also enjoys setting the table.

Dale's busy with work, but I have to say that we have fun when he's around. He had a great review last week, so we're happy about that. We enjoyed a family date last Friday night. Dale took us out to dinner and a dollar movie - we saw "Horton Hears a Who" and really enjoyed it.

I'm of course busy with the kids, but have a few other things going on. I'm trying to get geared up for my thesis. I'm hoping to complete it by December, but I have a lot of work ahead of me. I have a faculty sponsor and am pretty close to choosing a topic. As of tonight, I'll be writing on German internment camps in the United Stated during WWII. Many people assume that the Japanese were the only internees, but that's not the case. Crystal City, Texas had one of the biggest German camps - I'm hoping to visit Crystal City. One day I'll look back and be glad I did this, but right now it just seems like a huge hurdle.

Swimming lessons

Today marked Laurel's first day of swim lessons. We are fortunate that the pool is part of our subdivision and just a quick 2 minute drive down the road. Thanks to the hot Texas weather, we plan on spending lots of time at the pool this summer

Laurel enjoyed her lesson and appeared fearless. This was a much different response than when I took her swimming last week. I could hardly convince her to leave the steps! Ah, the power of strangers. I remember doing things for teachers at school that I wouldn't do at home for my parents . . . now I know what it feels like. Sorry mom and dad!

Laurel learned how to monkey crawl and breathe in the water, just like a motorboat (according to her teacher). I'm thrilled that Laurel finally has the chance to formally take lessons.

Primary Water Activity

Today we had a fun children's activity with our church. All of the children in our congregation met at the local park for a water activity. As one of the leaders, I was responsible for one of the water stations. My activity was the sponge relay. The children placed a wet sponge on top of their heads as they ran to a bucket, squeezed the water from the sponge into the bucket, and then ran back to hand the sponge off to the next in line. It was a fun activity and the children enjoyed their heads getting wet because it was so warm. Here are two pictures of Laurel running in the sponge relay - she had a great time!

Going Private

Just a reminder - if you're interested in keeping up with our family, please let me know so I can send you an invite. I'll hopefully be doing that in the next few days.

The things children say . . .

As Laurel was getting dressed in my room this morning, I had the cable music station playing some 90's music. The next song was a Michael Jackson tune from 1992. She was listening to his voice and looking at a picture of him on the tv screen. She says, "mom, is he a boy?" I didn't respond because I'm not exactly sure what Michael Jackson is nowadays. After a minute or so, she says, "mom, it's a boy and a girl!" Honestly, I couldn't have said it better! My thoughts exactly. I tried not to laugh outloud.

It reminded me of taking Laurel to the doctor several months ago. When the new doctor walked it, Laurel asks in the LOUDEST voice possible: "Hey mom, is the doctor a boy or a girl?" Seriously, if I could have hidden underneath the largest rock possible, I would have. To be honest, I wasn't exactly sure if the doctor was male or female until she spoke (for old SNL fans, Pat is alive and well). She had a boy haircut and looked rather masculine, but at my age I know not to ask such questions. The innocence of children is such a breath of fresh air.

I've posted a picture of Laurel at 18 months. I found this the other day and I just love it. We were at Lake Tahoe with Dale's family, playing outside of their condo. Children are so innocent and pure, and this picture of Laurel captures that for me today. We love your guts, Laurel!