A funny little story

Just a quick little story. It's about Connor, which should come as no surprise because that kid is so active that I could tell stories about him all day. My other two boys are wonderful children that generally play nicely with each other and do a pretty good job at staying out of trouble. Connor, on the other hand, lives for finding trouble. He is not a malicious child and doesn't mean to do naughty things, it's just his nature.

Well, this story is actually not a naughty story. (although it does contain nudity) Connor is very observant. He especially loves watching his father. The other night, he and Spencer were playing some sort of game "using their imaginations" as Spencer put it. They were in the main bathroom. I went to check on them because I could hear Spencer laughing and Connor talking and I was curious. I go in there and don't see Connor right away. Then I hear him making a pretend water sound in the shower. I look down on the floor and see all of Connor's clothes. "What are you guys doing?" I ask Spencer.
"Connor is pretending to be Daddy. I'm just keeping him company while he pretends."
"Oh, what are you pretending Connor?"
Connor then peeks out behind the shower curtain and says, "I'm being Daddy and I have to get ready for work to make money for the family!" Then he shuts the curtain and continues making water sounds.
I ran and got Travis to come see. We peek in and there is Connor, naked, scrubbing his back with his dads back brush, having a ball. Then he climbs out and starts drying himself off with his dads towel. All the while telling us that he really needs to get going to work. I asked him if he worked at Kohl's too, just like Daddy, and he looked at me like I was crazy.
"No! Mommy, I work at McDonald's, remember?!"
"Oh, sorry. My mistake. How could I forget."
He got himself dressed, got his toy truck and pretended to go off to work. He took Spencer with him. I don't know if this sounds as cute as it really was. Seeing him mimic his dad and having the desire to "earn money for the family" was just so sweet. He was soooo super serious the entire time too.

Anyway, I thought it was cute. And it was nice that he wasn't doing anything that would ruin anything. Last week he peed in his desk cause "it was a silly thing to do", and then he colored the entire bottoms of his feet purple and walked all over the house before they dried, so I had to clean purple footprints out of the carpet. He's a turkey! But he has a huge love for life and his family and he's dang cute so I think I'll keep him...for now. (o:

Christmas Day and Snow (still!)

So, Christmas was quite a success. The worst part of the whole day was that Grandma and Grandpa Nelson were snowed in and couldn't come over for Christmas dinner, and Grandma Teese and Grandpa Clair refused to drive up from Atlanta, but otherwise, we had a really great day. Thank you to all who sent gifts. Here are a few pictures of the morning and also of the SNOW. Travis took lots of pictures of the snow because he could not remember ever having a white Christmas before. On the news last night they said that since 1891, this is only the 10th!!!! white Christmas Seattle has had. Pretty amazing, eh? So, anyway, enjoy the pictures.
Joseph was beside himself with excitement. We had to make him stop tearing into things and go wake up his brothers.

Spencer was so excited to get his Mega City. He sat and studied the box for a long time.

Connor got his firetruck. (and yes, they make lots of noise)

The good daddy helping free the toys from their boxes.

Joseph's police car. He says, "he doesn't want to actually be a policeman when he grows up, but he likes police things because he admires the police and that his Uncle Nate is a Deputy Sheriff, which he thinks is pretty cool."

Grandma Teese got everyone their own movie. We've never seen Kung Fu Panda. Spencer was excited to get it though. If it teaches my boys to be any more wilder (adding karate to our home), I'm sending them to you, Mom! (o:

We haven't seen Wall-e yet either, but Joseph really wanted it. They are out there watching it right now. Joseph is coming in and giving me blow by blow action reports.

Connor and Joseph love their loud, fancy new vehicles.

Ugh. This is cute of the kids. Not so cute of my 5 chins and gigantic belly! But, we had to include Elizabeth somehow. Right? I'll be so glad when next month arrives so she can arrive!

Elizabeth got her own box of adorable clothes and blankets. Thanks Mom!

Joseph helped Spencer assemble the Mega City in their room. They played in there together for literally hours. Connor was allowed to go in and watch, but not touch.

These two are really best friends!

And then, there is the snow....

This is a tree in the parking lot behind our apartment. Pretty isn't it?

This is our parking lot. There is ice under all that snow too. See Travis's cute little red '86 Ford Escort? That thing is falling apart, but is a workhorse! Gets him where he needs to go~even through all the snow.

That concludes our photo story of Christmas morning. All of us are sick with colds except Travis, but we were still able to enjoy the holiday because we were together. I made a turkey and we ate until we all nearly slipped into a tryptophan coma and just enjoyed each others company. I believe it was one of the best Christmas's ever!

It's Christmas Eve!!!

Christmas is here! It seems like it came really fast this year. Maybe it's because I wasn't ready this year, so I was kind of dreading it. Things you dread always happen much quicker than things you want to have happen. Right? Well, needless to say, it's here and I think I am pretty much ready. The snow has caused some major upsets in our home. We were supposed to have Grandma and Grandpa Nelson over for Christmas dinner, but it's looking very not promising for that now. They live on a hill and we live on a hill and there's this big old valley in between us. Valley=slippery hills. Just don't know about them driving on that. They say it's supposed to be warming up soon and melting all the snow. Hooray for rain! Snow was nice, but I prefer my cold Seattle rain. (o:

So, anyway, I thought I would post a couple of pictures since I haven't done that much picture stuff the past few days. Here they are for your enjoyment.
Connor has a bad cold. He's not sleeping very well at night. He NEVER naps during the day. (he stopped when he was one) But, yesterday, he was watching the Christmas movie, "Small One" and this is what happened. He heard the camera and started opening his eyes. But...
It wasn't long before he looked like this. He slept for about an hour, and because of that hour, he was up last night 2 1/2 hours past his bedtime. Just look how sweet and innocent he looks.

Everyone seems to be putting a picture of their trees on, so here is a kinda blurry picture of ours from the night we put it up. It looks nothing like this now~what with Joseph and Connor constantly "trimming" it, and Connor rearranging all the ornaments. Oh, and Connor was playing with the lights and now one strand no longer works. Oh well. It's still a tree in our living room. (o:
Here is a picture of the snow we have been talking about. Travis wanted me to have at least a couple of pictures of it to document that it really happened. We have been breaking snow/cold records that were set a really long time ago. It snowed a lot more after this picture was taken. And let me tell you...Seattle sucks at the whole snow thing. They have 100 snow trucks/sanders for ALL of King and Snohomish counties combined! That's from here to Canada people. 100! No wonders the roads are horrible. But, when this kind of thing only happens once every 20 years or so, I guess it would be a waste of money to have more. I guess.

And here is the little video clip Travis told me to get of the snow actually falling. It looks like this outside right now as well. Just keeps coming. (please ignore the weather report blaring in the background. We were listening to it while I was filming and didn't thing to turn it down)

So, have a wonderful Christmas day tomorrow. There will be plenty of pictures in the coming days. Thank you to everyone for all of the love and kindness you have shown our family this year! We love you all!

I'm So Grateful!

If anyone out there really knows Southpark like we do, the title of this page would ring funny. For all the rest of you, I really am grateful. I was sitting on my couch this morning looking at the disaster that is my living room. Then I looked over at our poor Christmas tree that Connor "trimmed" with his school scissors, and then at my 3 little devils we lovingly call "Legion", playing on the floor amongst the mess, being so nice to each other and being sooo cute. All I could think of was a talk President Monson gave in the April conference where he said to enjoy the moment. There will be plenty of time to clean the house and worry about having a perfect tree in the future when all the kids grow up and leave. My mom has said this too. Watching my little boys be nice to each other, thinking back on their prayers last night at bedtime and how long the prayers are getting because they have so many people that they want Heavenly Father to bless. All the kisses I get from them for no reason. I really am grateful for these children that I was told I would never have. They are my greatest gift. Now I am just waiting to put the icing on the cake with my little girl. (we're getting so close) I don't know what I did in Heaven to get so lucky to have the family that I do, but whatever it was, I'm sure glad that I did it.

The snow is still out there and people are still sliding all over the place. Travis couldn't even get out of the parking lot yesterday morning, so he stayed home from work and went in early today to make up for the hours. I had things that I purposely saved for the last minute in my Christmas shopping, that I still haven't done because I don't dare go out on the icy roads. Travis said they aren't too bad today so I will probably try it out tonight. (wish me luck with that)

So, that's it for now. Everyone have a great day. OH!!! One other thing. I've been laughing at Travis lately because he's been pointing out all the gray hairs sprouting in his head. I don't laugh because of the gray, but because he was calling me into the bathroom to check them out after he plucked them. Then one day he realized that he would be plucking for a long time because he's getting so many. (but not as many as his big brother~right Jeff?) (o: I laughed until the other day when I was combing through my hair and I noticed a FEW gray hairs in MY head!!! What the heck? Not even funny. I told Travis he gave me half and the boys the other half. I will so be (at least) highlighting my hair after Elizabeth is born! I'm only 34 for heavens sake! I mean, I have been married going on 15 years and am no spring chicken, but seriously...GRAY!!

Anyway, have a great day!

Winter Weather

I don't think I need to post a picture. You have all seen snow before, right? If I were down in Vegas, then I would put a picture of the snow. (did you see that it really did snow there?) (seriously...global warming???) Seattle and the towns close to it were in what they called a "doughnut hole" yesterday. Everyone around us got lots of snow, but we had nothing. We took the boys into Seattle so they could see the giant star on the Macy's building and check out the window displays etc. We got home and there were reports of snow everywhere, but not in Kent. Got up this morning and there was a nice little layer of the white stuff. I'd say about 1/2 inch, maybe more. Enough for the Kent School District to poop their pants and cancel school. (can you hear the children cheering?) Travis headed to work at 6:30 this morning. He got there okay. Funny how he gets to work every time, even when it's snowing, and half of work can't come in. He's a dedicated man. Anyway, that's the really exciting news around these parts. It's been really really cold as well. It hasn't gotten out of the 30's, or even close to it, for almost a week now. I know all you Idaho/Utah people are laughing at all the drama here, but it's usually so mild here. They canceled school in Seattle yesterday cause they thought it would be snowy. (and it wasn't) We usually are happy with a couple of days of snow and the rest of the winter just looking at cold rain. My kids don't even own heavy coats with mittens and knit caps.

Okay, moving on. Yesterday I went in for my doctor apptmt. I am now about 34 weeks. (I lose track these days. It just feels like eternity!) All things looked good. Even my blood pressure. My OB/GYN is so awesome. We've had him since I got pregnant with Joseph. He's such a great doctor. He got married right after I had Connor and they are now expecting their first baby. She's 12 weeks along and he showed me his baby's first ultrasound picture! It was so cute. He's so excited, he's giddy. He told me that Elizabeth is for sure going to be more in the 8 pound range instead of little like Connor, but if I went a couple weeks early, that would be good. So, mid January, I'll be walking everywhere, and if you see a crazy person driving back and forth over the train tracks, pay no mind, it's just me. (o:

Gotta go pick up the place. My visiting teachers are coming this morning and it looks like an atomic bomb blew up in my living room. I would normally wonder if my guest were going to cancel because of the snow, but one of my vt's lives below me. So, everyone have a happy Thursday!

Ward Christmas Party and snow!

Tonight I took the boys to our Ward Christmas Party. Travis had to work (he's closing and won't be home until 1am), so I braved it and went on my own with the boys. Had I had Elizabeth with me, I would have stayed home, but since I'm still conveniently carrying her inside instead of outside, I decided we would be okay. I signed up to bring a salad and heat one of the hams, so I was forced into going and not allowed to back out. (o: The boys were very well behaved. When other little kids were running around, mine stayed close by me, just like I asked. They ate a lot of yummy food and desserts. We had a lot of fun.

After the party, we went outside to find a snow/rain/slush/whatever had fallen and was still falling. It was very cold and wet! We drove to Covington, and, as promised, I drove the boys through a couple of neighborhoods where the lights are always awesome. We sang along with the Christmas music on the radio (and they actually sang the right words to Winter Wonderland instead of the naughty version they heard on the radio with Daddy~you know, instead of walking in a winter wonderland, the song says, walking 'round in womens underwear~I KNOW! I was appalled myself!) But anyway, we sang loudly and oohed and aahhed over the lights then went to Kohl's to visit Daddy. Just as we were pulling in, he called me and asked where we were. When he found out we were there, he ran out to the car, hopped in, and we all got to go with him on a little trip to the grocery store. He apparently got elected to do a coffee/icecream run for the breakroom for the weekend. It was fun getting to go with him and help him spend the company's money. Then we dropped him off and slid all the way home.

Once we got home, we all dressed in our clean, dry pj's and the boys snuggled on the couch with their blankets. I turned out all the lights except the Christmas lights and gave them each hot chocolate. We watched "Mickey's Christmas Carol", and then they all went to bed. That is where we are at right now. They went to bed, so I thought I would come in and post the pictures of tonight before I did anything else. So, with that being said, here are some pics of tonight...
Joseph, I think, is very photogenic. He does a good nice boy pose.

I had to take about 10 pictures of Spencer before I got this one. It's fairly decent. He LOVES pulling faces and being goofy when the camera is out.

Connor is just cute! He had so much fun being there tonight.

Like I said, Connor had fun. Look at Connor closely. See what he is doing? While we were waiting for them to start, he played with the foam cups. Such a goof ball!!

People coming in for the party. We ended up filling the entire gym. Lots of people, good food, and fun.

The primary kids sang a couple of songs for everyone. Here they are waiting for the songs to start. Nice skinny tummy Spencer has, eh?I thought this was so cute! They were singing Away in a Manger and Connor had his arms folded while he sang.

Santa came. The boys recognized him as "Brother Ramsey"!! He is our neighbor and manager of our apartments. I had told the boys when we first got there that the real Santa most likely wouldn't be there because he was sooo busy at the North Pole, so he has helpers that dress like him to help out. (that was the explanation I got from my parents the first time I recognized George Summers impersonating the big guy!) Joseph thought it was pretty funny that Devin was being Santa. His wife took a picture of the three boys with Santa, so as soon as I get it, I will be sure to post it. (I couldn't get a good angle of them all together)

That's it. Long post but very worth it! It was a great night and I'm really glad I took them. I was very proud at how well behaved they were and all the fun we had together. This was definitely one of those...I'm so glad to be a mom...nights.

Christmas Crafts

Yesterday we worked on some fun Christmas crafts. We made pomanders, homemade wassail mix, glittery snowflakes, and glittery pine cones, and soup mix. (the mix will be a gift) The boys had a lot of fun. We made a huge mess with little pieces of paper and glitter and cloves everywhere, but it was a lot of fun and the boys were very proud of what they did. Here are some pictures of our projects.
Here they are making their pomanders. They poked the holes with big nails and then filled them with the cloves. Our whole place smelled great last night. (notice our poor table? That's what we get for having very creative kids that like to do art and also homeschooling at it. We are sooo getting our money's worth on that table)

Here are all of the final products. The jar of powder is the wassail mix. Very yummy! The bean jar is a soup mix for Travis's parents. They love beans in a crock pot, so the boys layered different types of beans to make them look pretty.Close up of the pomanders and the pine cones. Joseph and Spencer cracked me up because they had to make a face on theirs. They have the rest of the orange in the back covered in cloves, but the front have little faces. Connor was so excited that he showed me his orange after placing each individual clove. The pine cones are ones that Spencer, Connor and I gathered when we went on a walk back in September. They painted them with watered down glue and then glittered to their hearts content. I'll tell you, between the pine cones and the fancy snowflakes, our place sparkles!!!

Dear Santa...

This year could very well be the last year that Joseph believes in the guy in the red suit. He has a friend that has never believed and has been working on him lately. Kinda makes me mad, but what can I do? Well, actually, I told him that not believing was their choice, but our family chooses to believe. (even Mommy and Daddy)Then I showed him Polar Express. (o: So, just in case this is the last year, I wanted to document their letters to Santa. We bought special stickers just for the letters. Joseph and Spencer wrote theirs on their own. Connor dictated to me what he wanted said then signed his own name. I thought they were so cute! Our boys only get one thing each year from Santa. I feel very blessed that they don't get the "gimmes". They have never wondered why they didn't get more. (this may not last, but for the time being, I will appreciate it) So, without further ado...letters to Santa.
Joseph made a mistake and had to cross a word out. He was upset about it and wanted to start over, but I assured him the Santa wouldn't count it against him.

Notice how Spencer, our future engineer, has his letter in a perfect square in the corner of the page. And he took forever lining up where he wanted his stickers to go. So precise!

Connor tried to hold the pen while I wrote the letter, but gave up half way through.

Baby Elizabeth

Yesterday I went in for another baby appointment. I also had an ultrasound to make sure that she is growing properly. She is already 4 pounds 7oz. First thing the tech said was that she had hair. That made me very happy for a few reasons. One reason is because I was raised in a family where the babies all had full heads of hair. A bald baby just doesn't look right to me. I've had 3 children so far and only one didn't have hair. Well, actually, Spencer had a bit of hair when he was born but it fell out almost immediately. He was pretty bald for about a year. Joseph had tons of brown hair and Connor had black hair. I'm eager to see what Elizabeth has. The other reason is because it makes all the heartburn worth it. What? You don't know that old wives tale? It's 100% true. At least in my experience of 4 children. My nurse had never heard that, but said she wasn't surprised. If you have lots of heartburn when you are pregnant, that means your baby will have lots of hair. I've been suffering and now they say she has hair. See? I'm right about this. I remember not suffering much with Spencer. I'm telling ya, it's true.

So, her head looks good, heart looks good, lungs look good and kidneys look good. Relief! Joseph had cyst things in his brain and Connor had bad kidneys. All were told to us during ultrasounds, so it was nice to hear she is perfect so far. Phew! Now I'm about ready to explode from anticipation. I REALLY want to just skip this month and get to January! But, since I can't do that, I am having lots of fun doing Christmas things with the boys. We are going out today to buy a couple of cheap strand of lights so they can hang some in their rooms. That will be lots of fun. We are going to make a paper nativity scene for our art wall tonight as well. I love the boys Christmas spirit. I'm really lucky. They are not really into the material things like presents as much as they want to listen to Christmas music and bake cookies to take to friends and put up the tree and look at the lights. It really makes for a fun holiday.

Okay, better run. Connor just informed me he had an accident and it's getting all over! I love being a mom!!!!

This and That

This past weekend we had company. Yay for company! A dear friend from my high school days came and stayed a night with us. Jenny Hodge! Well, she won't be Jenny Hodge much longer, cause she's gettin' hitched! Then she'll be Jenny Van Gieson. It was so fun to sit and talk to her and catch up on, oh, I think about 14 years of stuff that we've missed. (can I just say that Facebook has been an awesome reuniting tool for me lately) The boys loved her. Especially Connor. She was forced to read "There's a Monster at the End of This Book" and to listen to all the great details of all Lego cars invented in our home. Travis finally took Joseph and Connor out for a drive so we could talk in peace. (Spencer stayed home and played SIM City) She stayed less than 24 hours, but it was a lot of fun. We love you Jenny Hodge!

We are finding that since I have quit working, they have been taking advantage of the extra nights Travis has open and using them. He has been closing a lot lately. (We are happy that he has a job and not complaining.) He isn't getting home until after 1am each night because Kohl's is open until midnight practically every night now. So, for all you shoppers out there that really like to go shopping after the kids go to bed, head on down to Kohl's. They are open. (o:

Lately, the boys have been really interested in vocabulary. That's all they want to do is read and learn new vocabulary words. They have been playing on PBS Kids a lot lately, particularly Martha Speaks and Word Girl. I can't believe how much these kids can absorb and then actually use correctly. Yesterday Travis was getting after the boys for knocking our nice headphones on from the computer onto the floor. Joseph said, "Oh Daddy, we are really sorry about that." Then he turns to me and says, "Daddy really appreciates it when we apologize." I thanked him for that information.

Then, this morning, Joseph and Spencer were trying to carry on a conversation using as many of the new words as possible (on purpose). The conversation went something like this...

Joseph: "Spencer, Bert (his guinea pig), is really adorable, but he can be quite vicious. (looks at me and says) Vicious means violent and mean."

Spencer: "He can be a little vicious, I agree. Thank you for clarifying that." Then looks at me and says, "Clarify, you know, to clear things up."

Joseph: "Both guinea pigs like to devour celery though." (looks at me and says) "Devour means to gobble down food."

Spencer: "I love to devour food! Especially healthy food. But right now I think I will go read my SIM City instruction manual and learn how to make a sea port and ferry terminal. SIM City is my thing you know."

Joseph: "Mommy, did you know that colossus means really big? Oh, and I'm now going to show you a commercial that I made up about expand and contract. Did you know that expand means getting bigger and contract means getting small? I think that is very interesting." Then he proceeded to reenact a little ditty from Marth Speaks about expanding and contracting.

And to make sure that I don't leave Connor out, the other day I gave each kid a cup of orange juice. I had just made it and wasn't really cold so I stuck an icecube in each cup. When Connor saw the the ice he said,"Hey, there's an ice in my cup. Ice is 'versible' change Mommy?" Joseph and Spencer jumped in and told him how smart he was that he knew that ice was reversible change and then told him that cookie dough was an irreversable change. I just sat back and admired how clever my children sounded and thankful that even Connor was picking up some stuff that I teach.

Anyway, that's all for now. I just got such a kick out of Joseph and Spencers conversation this morning. I love my boys!!!! Okay, gotta go.

Turkey Day

First of all, I didn't take any pictures yesterday. Neither did Travis. Not really sure why, but it was a pretty low-key, quiet day for the most part. Travis's mom came over (his dad wasn't feeling well, but asked for a liberal plate of dinner to be sent home to him) (o: The kids watched the parade and I fixed the turkey and stuffing and all that good stuff. The night before Joseph helped make the pumpkin pie. It was yummy!! Connor helped with the homemade rolls. They were okay too. We ate dinner and spent some time together talking. Then, Travis and his mom took the boys out on a drive to Seattle and I got to stay home and take a nap. Can't remember the last time I had a nap. But, the doctor told me I needed to start taking it more easy to keep my blood pressure down (funny joke, eh?), so a nap is what I took. It was nice. The kids had a lot of fun out driving with Grandma. When they came home we had our dessert and talked to each other some more and played with the guinea pigs. Then Grandma had to get home to Grandpa. We ended the day by watching the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving movie. Connor has never seen it and he laughed so hard. I had more fun watching him than watching Snoopy fight the lawn chair.

That's about all I have to report. We have a lot to be grateful for this year. Things have been tight for us lately, but I look at my family, especially my sweet little boys, and can't believe how lucky I am. Not to mention every time I feel the baby girl squirming around. She can be pretty active. (I keep asking if we can just skip Christmas this year and go straight to the end of January!) Thank you to all who love and care about our family. We are very lucky to have so many people to love in our lives. Hope you all had a great day.

Aaarrrgh!!!!!

No, I'm not impersonating a pirate! That is me being kind of mad! I said I didn't like change, didn't I? But, I thought I would be adventurous and try out a new blog background. Although the snowmen are cute, I hate it! They took away all my pictures and widgets. They made the text part all skinny. Now, I'm sure that if I were married to, I don't know, a computer whiz like Shauna is, this would not have happened, but since my nerdy husband (I love nerds, I think they are hot!) is more of a bookish type of nerd instead of a computer type, I did this all on my own. So, for all of you sweet people that used to be on my little sidebar thingy with your addresses, sorry. You got WIPED OUT! But not by me. I swear. I still love you all.

Okay, gonna go and clean out my fridge cause that's a change that I WANT to have happen. I'm sure the blog thing will grow on me. Just in time for me to have to change it when snowmen are no longer the correct season

A Week?

Wow, time does fly! I didn't realize it's been a week since I wanted to murder the guinea pig. He still lives and we still love him by the way.

Saturday we took hamburgers and hotdogs over to Travis's parents house and watched the Apple Cup. What a sad, sad game to have to watch. Let's see, Washington lost so they are 0-11 for the year and WSU won, so they are 2-9 I think. Whoopee! Barn burner! But, it gave us an excuse to go to Grandma's and play with her legos and eat bad food. (o:

Also this weekend we heard there was a little snow up in the mountains, so we took the boys up to Snoqualmie to play in the snow for a bit and just have a nice drive. We had to go all the way up to the summit to find the snow, but we had some fun for a bit. Well, Joseph and Travis had lots of fun. Connor enjoyed it for a while, but then started to get cold and Spencer loved it for 5 minutes. Then he got hit with a snowball (thanks Daddy!) and he hated the rest of the time there. He wanted to read his SIM City 4 instruction manual instead, so that's what he did in the car. First thing Travis did was take a family picture, though, so here it is.

This is when we first got there. Spencer enjoyed it at first.
Connor had Travis make him snowballs to throw. He was very proud of them all. Then he threw them at us. (o:I couldn't get a single clear picture of Joseph because he was running like a crazy person having a blast, so here are all of them having a good time. (glad we got the family picture at the beginning.)

Bert, Pictures, and Shots

Bert the guinea pig is not my friend! At least not today! We went out to the doctor and when we came home, he had this picture and the little homemade picture frame that I had made, in his cage and this is what my picture looked like!

Notice the bite marks at the top. The scratch marks on Travis, and the lovely water dots!!! I loved this picture. I'm not sure how it got into his cage. It was on the bookshelf above his cage earlier and probably just accidentally got knocked down into his cage, but couldn't he have just left it alone? Didn't he realize that this was a picture of a very important event in my life? This was our second date. We were at Ricks. We went to the Caberet formal dance thing. That's the night (we'd been dating a week), when I realized that Travis was the love of my life and I didn't want to be with anyone else...ever! It took 3 more long weeks before he proposed, but this night was it for me. Weren't we so cute? And young? And skinny?

Okay, I feel better. Now, on to doctor news. Joseph and Connor had their physicals today. Spencer went along so that he could enjoy a flu shot along with his brothers. Connor is very healthy and looks pretty perfect. He's in the 92% for height and weight. He's the size of a 5 1/2 year old and he's just 4, but that is pretty normal for our kids. The kidney doctor he has gone to for his whole life just retired, so our doctor gave us a recommendation of a new doctor we could go to, but they think that he is doing just fine. So, we will schedule one last ultrasound (we hope) for his kidneys and then call him 100% perfect! (except that he can be a turd once in a while)

Joseph was in the 55% for both height and weight. He's evened out a lot the last couple of years. He's more in the normal size range instead of being at the top of the curve. He was also quite healthy. The doctor wants to do x-rays on his back next year to see just exactly what is missing. They say he's missing one vertebrae, but the gap seems big, so we will have him checked. Doctor reiterated that sports needed to be limited to running and swimming. I also asked about Joseph's feet. They kind of turn in a bit. He said some people just have feet like that. Oddly enough, fast runners have feet that turn in. So, maybe this will be of benefit to him, since running is going to probably be his sport. (o:

All three boys got flu shots (thanks a lot mommy!), and Connor got 4 others. They were all brave and got treats from the treasure box when they were done.

Mostly For Me!

You know I am going to go crazy before July gets here...I have to post some of the new Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince trailers. Just found them. I don't believe that I am having to wait for something I thought would be here this month! My baby girl will be 6 months old when this thing is released!!! Okay, I feel a tad better. Watch and enjoy. Sigh.

This Weekend

We had a kinda busy weekend. For us anyway. Saturday Travis got called in to work for 4 extra hours. Yahoo! (Not overtime by the way, but still..) He went and did that and then when he came home we loaded the kids up and went to Seattle. Joseph has been asking to go inside the King Street Train Station for a while. They are fixing it up and seeing them do the fixing piqued his curiosity. So, we paid a dollar to park at a meter and took them inside the station.

It is in serious need for repair. There is some gorgeous work inside. Like the picture below, but it's all falling apart.

Anyway, we went in there and the boys got to see some trains. Then, since we had time left on our meter, we just walked around a couple of the city blocks, looking into windows of the shops. It was so funny to watch people watch us. Here in Liberal Wacko Seattle, the people acted totally shocked at our "gigantic" family. Three boys and a pregnant mom! We are going to burn! (at least that's what the Seattle people think) Then we got in the car and drove around, looking at the city in the dark. (cause by this time it was 4:30pm and the sun had gone down.) The city is so pretty at night!

Oh, and we took a family picture in front of our beloved (but sucky this year) Seahawks Stadium. (It's called Qwest Field)

After our trip to Seattle, we came home for a nice relaxing evening together.

Sunday was Travis's mom's birthday. It was also the Primary Program at church. Travis's folks came to watch the boys sing and say their parts. It was a really nice program. The boys did great. Connor was the first little one to speak. His teacher told him what to say and he got right up there and said he line, holding onto the microphone and speaking as clear as mud. (Travis said he was speaking in tongues) But, he got up in front of, what? 200 people? and didn't hesitate at all. Spencer got up, read his line loudly, and then added a nice loud "really!" to the end. He's the only kid that got a laugh from the congregation. (don't know if that's good or not) Joseph was towards the end. He walked up by himself because he was the only one in his class that spoke. He read his part, paused, looked at his dad and grandparents, gave them a grin and a thumbs up and then went back to his seat. It was pretty cute.

Speaking of cute...Connor, instead of singing the songs that he knows and loves, was busy most of the time trying to conduct the music to the congregation. We said it's a good thing he's cute cause otherwise, he's just a little turd!

After church we had dinner at our house to celebrate Mom Nelson's birthday. They stayed for a while and we had a great time visiting.

So far this morning I have already gone up to one of our local Elementary Schools and judged some art that is in the Reflections contest. One of our friends is on the PTA for that school and she called and asked if I could help judge. It was actually kind of hard, because I could see the effort that the kids all put into each piece. But it was a fun little thing to do.

I am now getting ready to go and teach the boys all about Squanto and do some spelling. Tomorrow Joseph and Connor have their annual checkups, so I'll fill you all in on how they came out tomorrow.

Baby Check-up

For those of you who ask...I went to the doctor today. Things are going well. This is the best my blood pressure has behaved ever in a pregnancy. I am going to go in for an ultrasound in 3 weeks to just check and make sure that she is getting enough blood and is growing normally, because people with history of high blood pressure can have small babies. Go figure that one. Joseph and Spencer were over 8 and they were my two worst blood pressure pregnancies, but Connor was only 7 and I had not near the bp problems. We'll see. He said that he figures it will go up my last month or so and then it will be a race to see if we can get her here before it goes up too much. Shucks, you might have to induce her a tad early??? Okay, if you insist. (o: But, he's very pleased with how it is all going. I haven't even gained very much weight. (she's feeding off all the extra that I already had) This surprises me since I have been a baking fool the past few months.

He determines that she will be more of a 7 pounder, which makes me happy cause Connor was lots easier to have than the other two. A pound makes a difference.

Anyway, there is the most recent update. I'm gonna go and fix the kids some dinner and do laundry now cause if I pause for more than a day on laundry...I'm sunk!

Homemaker

I know, I know, I've been really lame with posting lately. What can I say...I had nothing to say. I will say that I really love being a full time stay at home mom again. I forgot how nice it is. They money end isn't funny, but I love not being so tired and being able to do things around the house without having to worry about going to work. I love especially how often my boys, especially Joseph, comes up to me, hugs me, and then states that he is glad that I don't have to go to work. Makes it all worth it.

So, what am I doing with my new found time? Well, since I'm pregnant and don't have to weigh in at Weight Watchers (o; I have been baking and making lots of yummy homemade goodness for my family. Last night I made a homemade gooey yummy delicious lasagna! Then for dessert I made apple crisp. Divine. When my whole family gathers around the table (that is clean because I'm now home to keep it clean), and they all are raving about the delicious dinner and dessert I made for them, well, that is what life is all about, right?

We have also gotten back to a much more structured and formal schooling. Last month we did a lot of unschooling. The boys learned and we had fun together, but I am more of an eclectic type and though some unschooling is okay, I like to have a bit of structure in there too. Kids need it. I need it and like it. I will be posting some cool stuff we did about bats in the next couple of days for you to see.

Also, the boys and I moved their bunkbeds into the back room to start making room for baby Elizabeth. She will be sharing a room with Connor and Joseph and Spencer are now in the "old playroom". They did all the heavy lifting for me while I used my awesome power screwdriver to take it apart and put it together again. Travis was a bit mad when he came home and saw I had it all done. He was planning on helping me put it together when he got home because that's where the heavy lifting is involved, but the boys did a great job helping out and I didn't strain myself a bit. Their bed is from IKEA, so there were a lot of parts to the thing, but I love putting furniture together and actually enjoyed it. Here is a picture of it. Actually, this is not our bed, my boys don't believe in sheets and blankets like normal people. I stole this pic from IKEA's siteThey were thrilled to sleep in their new room last night. Plus, I let them do their own decorating so they were hanging pictures that they had drawn and drawing new ones. It was great. I felt so accomplished last night.

Anyway, that's all I have to share for now. I'm starting to get more and more excited to have our baby girl be born and join the family. I go in tomorrow for my 7 month check up. Hello! Already 7 months along. (which I feel like~Travis calls me "The Waddler". Nice, eh? Gonna go pick a room and start organizing for a while. Later!

I thought of something funny

Yesterday Connor drew a line on the top of his foot. Then he put a pink rubber glove on his foot, over the drawn line. Then, he hopped around the apartment for half an hour while he played. After the half hour, he sat down beside me, pulled the glove off and exclaimed, "Look Mommy, my cracked foot is all healed!" He had been watching the Curious George dvd where George breaks his leg and has to wear a cast. I couldn't get him to put the glove back on his foot (it was HEALED) so I didn't get a picture, but it was pretty cute and kinda funny. Connor can be my biggest challenge, but also my greatest form of entertainment.

Today we did a dry run for the Primary program that the kids will be doing next Sunday in Sacrament meeting. Saturday they are going to have a dress rehearsal of sorts in the chapel, but today it was in the Primary room. The kids didn't like having to sit still and sing the same songs over and over for two hours, but they did a pretty good job. I was so proud of Joseph and Spencer for getting up and reading their parts. They read very well. Connor did a good job repeating his lines as his teacher gave them to him. I can't wait to see how they are when they have the microphone and an audience. I know they will be okay, because my boys are very rarely shy. Plus, I am hoping that Grandma and Grandpa Nelson will be there. I'm more worried about them showing off than being shy. (o: So, anyone who wants to come is invited. I know you are all buying your plane tickets right now.

Not Much~Again

Just to let everyone know that we are okay and not dead. (o: Just haven't had much to write about lately. I love not having to go to work and I was a bit depressed about the outcome of the election, but it's like Travis says...we still have to get up every morning and go to work and live our lives.

I'll fill you all in when something exciting happens. (o:

Mr. Rogers and Halloween

First I have to start off with a picture I took of Connor the other day. He brought me one of his dad's ties and asked me to tie it for him. (yes, I know, I suck at tying ties) Then he put on his shoes and announced to everyone that he was ready to go. When asked where exactly he thought he was going in his underwear, tie and shoes that were on the wrong feet he replied, very matter of factly, "To Mr. Rogers Neighborhood!" When asked why he said, "Because I want to." Okay Connor, if you want to go there, be our guest. It's funny that he's my only child that took to Mr. Rogers. When I was in college one of my professors went to a conference and heard Mr. Rogers speak. She said he was the most kind, genuine person she had ever met. He was a rare one that's for sure. I always loved him, despite my mother's eye rolling. The best was my sister Jamie being in love with him. She would check out his records (as in vinyl) from the library and listen to him sing. Good times. (Jamie, remember "I really wanna marry my mom!"?) Anyway, I thought it was really cute and of course, we didn't let him go because, one, Mr. Rogers is dead, and two, he would have caught cold in his underwear. (o:Next, just a couple of pictures from the Trunk or Treat. Travis had to work Friday so we didn't quite make it to the chili part, but did make it for the dessert and candy part. (o: The boys had a cookie and ran around the gym with the kids for a while, then paraded around the gym showing off their highly original costumes. After the kid parade we went outside and loaded up on goodies. Then, we drove home, I dropped off Travis, three little boys, and three buckets of candy, and went to work. They did very well. We decided they could choose 5 pieces of candy and then Daddy put their buckets away. Didn't want anyone puking and the kids actually agreed to it. So, it all worked out in the end except I wasn't home with them.

Here they are at the church. Connor didn't like wearing the hat, but wore it outside cause he wanted candy and thought he had to be dressed up to get it.

Joseph and Spencer.

This was just a really funny picture. The missionaries were there and dressed up like the Blues Brothers. Travis told them they were his favorite. He said they never did anything like that when he was on his mission.

That's all I have to report. We had a good time, the kids got some junk food and time to play with other kids, and we can put another Halloween under our belt. I'm excited for next Halloween cause I will have a little girl to dress up. What will she be? A princess, a fairy, a witch? I can't wait!

Random Thoughts

Just a couple of random things that aren't Halloween related since I will have another Halloween post tomorrow with the Trunk or Treat pictures. Spencer, our 6 year old, has decided that he wants to be an engineer when he grows up and design roads and bridges, and possibly cities. He love doing math and is quite good at it. We will be finding some serious math programs for him in a couple of years cause Travis and I are math idiots. Probably something like Math U See. Anyway, we found a Sim City game that we bought a long time ago and had Spencer try it out. He loves it! He loves designing the city and the streets and seeing the stop lights pop up. He spends all the computer time he earns each day playing Sim City. It blows my mind how good he is at comprehending things that I would struggle with. He didn't even have instructions for the game. He downloaded it and just figured it out! Dang, I'm glad my kids got their daddy's brains.
My other thought was Connor. I've realized the past couple of days that I'm gonna have some problems with him when Elizabeth is born. Connor is a mama's boy. He loves to snuggle and have me sing to him. Just last night he brought all his ratty, smelly old blankets in, climbed on my lap, stuck his thumb in his mouth and asked me to sing. I sang his favorite Primary songs, and then of course, "So This is Love", and then he went to bed. He got up this morning, like most mornings, and wanted to snuggle in bed. He'll wrap his legs around me and get as close as possible. So, even though he talks about his baby sister all the time, I think there will be a bit of a transition period there. (o: He's been my baby for over 4 years now, so I guess I don't blame him.

I said the "So This is Love" part like all in the universe should know what I'm talking about. Sorry. Each of my kids has a particular song that I sang to them when they were babies. Just songs that they seemed to react to more than others so I made it their song. Joseph's is "You Are My Sunshine"~which I really couldn't sing to him at all the first couple of months cause I always started to cry-hey-he was the baby that I was told I'd never get. Then Spencer came along when Joseph was worshipping the Wiggles, so Spencers song is a Wiggles song, the Butterfly song. I don't know the actual title, but he loved it. Connor's song is "So This is Love" from Cinderella. Actually, when he was a newborn, he was on my lap when a Disneyland commercial came on and they were singing this song. He actually turned his head towards the tv during the music. So, I started singing it to him. I even recorded myself on video singing that song so that Travis could play it for him every night when I went to visit my folks in Hawaii. Anyway, I wonder what Elizabeth's song will be. I never planned any of these songs in advance, so it will be fun to see what comes up.

Okay, so that's all the randomness I have in my brain right now. I work tonight after the Trunk or Treat, so Travis will have to deal with post-party hyper kids and fight for their candy. Tomorrow night will be my last night of work. It's really going to hurt to not have the money, especially at Christmas, but I never plan to work outside the home again. At least not while my kids are small. So, I'm very excited for Saturday to be over. (o: