Joseph's Baptism

Saturday was Joseph's baptism. It went well. He had a cold and panicked just a bit going under the water, but all was well in the end. Travis's sister Tracey and two of her boys came up from Vancouver so we had a nice little group to support him. He was super cute in his white jumper and had a fit that he had to sit through a song and a talk (Travis's dad gave an excellent talk on Baptism), before he could get baptised. Here are a few pictures of the day.

I'm kinda mad at Tracey for hiding behind Chris (are you reading this Tracey??), but she's in there. The other boy is her youngest, Jared. Can you believe that he was a 2 year old when we got married, and how he's old enough to date?!

I fixed Joseph's favorite, four cornered spuds, for dinner and we had cake. We did it at Grandma and Grandpa Nelson's house. It was a good day.(o:

It's Not Fair!!!

It's really not fair that Joseph has gone from this....
to this....

and all I did was blink! It's just not right! I'm not prepared for my little boy to be so big. Although, I can not fathom the alternative. So, I'll be grateful that he is turning into such a fine young man. This picture was taken of him on his way to the church to be interviewed by the Bishop for his baptism that is this weekend. All are invited who would like to come. It's Saturday at the Kent Stake Center at 2pm.

I'm not alone!

For all you parents out there who think that their kids are just plain difficult and ornery, you are not alone in the world. This first one was sent to me just today and so I had to share.


And I REALLY love this one!!! It's been my favorite for a while. Enjoy!

George and Connor

Now, usually when you see the two words George and Connor together you think Curious George cause Connor worships that monkey, but today we have a different George. I was going though Travis's billions of books looking for a signed copy of a Brian Tracy book he needed and I stumbled upon this book... "When did we get this book?" I asked. "A couple of 4th of July's ago when I was feeling patriotic." was the response. (My husband is a bibliophile. He is addicted to books and the written word. He loves being surrounded with good books.) "Did you read it?" I ask. "I started it, but never finished it."
"Um, do you realize this is by Joseph Ellis? Why didn't you mention that you owned a book by Joseph Ellis when we were reading his other books?"
"I forgot I had it. But it was pretty good from what I remember."
See, several months ago, we bought and read Founding Brothers together. It was an absolutely fascinating book. I really liked Joseph Ellis's style of writing. Very intellectual, but was able to explain things in a way that I understood and could picture. So, I went to the library and got another one of his books, American Creation. Another excellent book. Of course I started right in on His Excellency this morning and it does not disappoint! As I was reading I just couldn't help but be extra grateful for this great country that we live in. It is so easy to see the hand of the Lord in the creation of this nation. I'm so blessed to have been born here. So, if you are looking for a great historical book to read, I highly recommend any books by Joseph Ellis. Sage, did you ever know him? I read that he taught at Mount Holyoke. Anyway, I was looking for a good book to fill the time before Brisingr comes out, and I found one. I was just excited.

On to the next topic. This was just something that I thought was really cute. Connor climbed into bed with me this morning after Travis went to work. He laid on his dad's side being very quiet for minute and then yelled, "The clock changed it's numbers!! What is that say Mommy?" I looked and he was pointing to the last two numbers. "Ten." I answered. And so it went. Every single minute that went by from 10-42 he asked me what number it was, or what was next or tried to guess what he saw. Of course he recognized his favorite number which is 3. He's a funny kid because he can count to 20 no problem, but doesn't recognize most numbers that he sees. We are working on it, and I feel this was a great lesson for him because he enjoyed it and asked me to tell him what the numbers were. It was pretty cute how excited he got at every number change. And he made sure that I kept my arm around him the entire time. It was a good little bonding/teaching moment with him, plus I got to lay in my comfy bed with my eyes closed for an extra 32 minutes.

I do believe that finding out what the baby is going to be and giving her a name has caused just a bit of ...um...I don't know...I guess uncomfortable-ness? Connor wants to be snuggled more (he's always been a mama's boy), and the other two are more interested in spending time with me. I think they understand that my time will be taken away from them a bit when Elizabeth is born and so they are trying to grab up as much now as they can. Believe me, I'm not complaining! (o:

It's A....

GIRL!!!!!! Everything looked perfect. She looks perfect! She will be named Elizabeth Rose. We are thrilled!

The Day After

Well, Joseph made out like a bandit on his birthday. He got everything he wanted plus more. He got his coveted lego car wash that he has wanted forever. He actually has been saving up for it, but Grandma Teese got it for him, so his money will be going towards accessories and vehicles, I'm sure. His other Grandma got him some lego cars to go with it. He also got lots of things for his baptism. He got a new suit, new shoes, scriptures and a handy scripture carrier, a baptism book and towel, and a new CTR ring. Oh, and he got a couple of new outfits too. Plus, he got a Nephi figure guy that replaced his old one that lost its head. Nephi is his favorite Book of Mormon Hero and he wants to be brave and strong like Nephi. So, that's what we got him.

Grandma and Grandpa Nelson came over and we had Little Caesar's pizza and chocolate cake and watched lots of college football. (BYU was quite the blowout and so was UW, except the UW got blown out) All in all it was a great day! Especially for mommy who spent 3 hours helping assemble all the lego stuff. (o:

Happy Birthday Joseph!

Happy 8th Birthday to my sweet Joseph! We thought we would never have children of our own, and then along came Joseph. He is an awesome big brother and a great help to me. We love you Joseph!

This is Joseph the day we brought him home from the hospital. In the womb, he laid on his right side for most of the pregnancy, so when he came out, his spine was (temporarily) curved to the right and his face kinda drooped. I thought it was pretty cute!

Happy Birthday to Me!

34 years ago I graced this planet with my presence. (o: Okay, you know I'm not that vain. But, it is my birthday and I wanted to say how grateful I am for the life I have had. I'm grateful for the super fabulous, wonderful, amazing parents that I got lucky enough to have. If we chose our parents in heaven...I chose very well!!! I wanted to post these pictures because I was such an adorable little baby...and to laugh at my parents a little. Dad, dude, what's up with the hair? And Mom, how about that gigantic collar? But notice my mom's outfit. That style is actually kind of in style right now. This last year or so my boys have gained several of those shirts that have the short sleeves on top of the long sleeves. I just wish I had Mom's hair. It was gorgeous (and natural!)

So, Mom and Dad, thanks for having me. I've had a pretty great first 34 years and I'm looking forward to another 34 plus some! Love ya!

Laundry

I would like to throw a little fit today, if I may, about my laundry. The above picture is not from my home, I stole it from Google, mostly because I am too lazy to go in and take a picture of my own laundry room, plus it's just down right embarrassing, but just look at that picture and double it and you will know about how much laundry is in there now. I do believe that laundry comes from another planet. You know, the plant of Multiplifier? I swear that my laundry pile grows in the night. Oh, wait, except for the socks. I'm quite sure there are little gremlins that steal one sock from each pair, just to be cruel. Otherwise, the rest just doubles itself every night while I am innocently sleeping.

All joking aside, I do know how my laundry grows. Yesterday my middle child who shall remain nameless, changed his clothes 4 times. Yep, 4 times. And the worst part is that they were dirty in some way so I couldn't just hang them back up. He's a boy. He plays and plays and forgets to go potty when he should, so a tad bit of leakage happens...new clothes. He's eating jello and a drop decides to jump off the spoon, no, excuse me, "wiggle" off the spoon and land on his shirt then run down to his pants. Oh, and of course if we change the pants, we must change the underwear, otherwise it would "not be fair" to the underwear. Not quite sure what that means, but that's what was said.

Now, let's move on to my oldest. He does the exact same thing for pretty much the same reason. The thing is, I don't see this all happening. Otherwise, when there is dirt on the shirt, I would take a wet wipe, clean it off and tell them to move along because no one can see them but me at the moment and I think they are cute no matter what. But that's not how it works. They change, then go about their business in the playroom or their bedroom and after a couple of hours I notice and ask where their blue shorts went and why they are wearing a winter sweater in July. They give me their perfectly reasonable explanation and that is how my laundry piles up.

But wait! I haven't mentioned my youngest. That child refuses to wear clothes while at home. He runs around in his underwear and occasional pull-up if he can't find any clean underwear. This is not too bad, at least he's not changing his clothes all day...but...every time he goes potty, he must change his underwear. I've almost gotten him broken of this habit, but I'm still having some difficulty keeping up with his underwear washing.

So, why am I blogging and whining about laundry? Didn't I just say I have an entire laundry room flowing with the stuff? I'm stalling, of course. Trying to get out of going in and starting the whole process again. Don't get me wrong, I love washing the clothes. It's the sorting, folding, hanging, and putting away that I hate. The boys help some. They hang their shirts and put away their underwear (you do realize that every time I type underwear, the little boys reading this rant laugh hysterically), but it's still a lot of work. Especially hunting down those darn gremlins and wrestling my socks back.

There you have it. My latest rant. I'm sure that nobody out there can relate. (sarcasm) I wish you all well, and I'm off to go clean the skids out of 4 boys shorts. (o;

Pizza

Tonight as part of our cooking lessons and I suppose science too, we made homemade pizzas. They helped with the dough and everything. They did a great job and were they yummy!

School's Here!

So, yesterday we had our first day of school. It was a resounding success. If you want to know more about the specifics of our day, go to http://nelsonboysacademy.blogspot.com. But, I had to share some pretty cute pictures of the boys from the day.
Since they don't get to ride a bus or walk to school everyday, we decided for the first day that we would put on our backpacks and walk around the block so that they could say they "walked to school". Here we are on our way out the door.

Joseph~Mr. Second-grader.

Spencer-Mr. First-grader. I couldn't decide which picture to put up. The adorable one of him smiling at the camera with no teeth showing, or this one. That tooth has been gone for 4 years! He as at least another year before it is supposed to come in.

Connor the Preschool Man!

After the class time, we took Daddy and headed to a section of the Soos Creek Trail and walked it for a while, observing nature. The boys each got a leaf from the Large-leaf maple tree. I say they should be called the gigantic-leaf, but I guess large is okay.

And of course, Travis has this thing where if we are out with the family and the camera is handy, we must take a family photo. Much to my dismay. I got up early to have school ready and then taught school and didn't think much of, oh, I don't know, combing my hair, putting on make-up, wearing nicer clothes. You know, that kind of stuff that most normal people do when they go out with a camera and a photo happy husband. Oh well.

So, there you have it. Some pretty darn cute pictures of all my men. (and then me). That reminds me. I appreciate all the comments from friends and family that they are all "thinking pink" lately. I do believe my co-worker is going to explode before the 16th. She wants to plan a baby shower and can not wait to see if her "predictions" of me having a girl are correct. (she's 20 and not a mommy) (o: We will just have to wait and see.