Thursday, November 27, 2008

What we're thankful for...

This is Ingrid's list of things she's thankful for:
1. Elijah
2. Julia
3. Nicole
4. Papa
5. Mama
6. Rowan
7. "Me (Ingrid starts with I...)" (direct quote...)
8. that I can dance
9. that I can make this sound "bbbthhhh"
10. "twirl, twirl, twirl" (again, a direct quote...)

11+ Yesterday, she said she was thankful for "all her family in Minnesota". Awwww....
She also said that she was glad that Jesus had a house (churches) that little kids with no warm house could stay in when it snows. AWWWW....!

This is Rowan's list of things he's thankful for (and these are also direct quotes...albeit with a little coersion...):
1. "Papa"
2. "Mama"
3. "Bellbow" (Elmo)
4. "Bob-bull" (bottle)
5. "nigh-nigh" (night-night)
6. "mmmmo" (more)
7. "please" (well, this one was signed...)
8. "hewoh" (hello)
9. "baw" (ball)
10. mwa! (kiss)

11. Yesterday, Rowan told his sissy "taan-tou" (thank you) when she gave him her sippy cup. Awww....

My list of things I'm thankful for:
1. a warm house
2. smart, healthy kids
3. the bills paid (for the time being)
4. health insurance
5. family so close (and those so far away...)
6. a loving husband who is the best father in the world!
7. food in the cupboard and the refrigerator--and it's not all just mac and cheese!
8. a healthy, working body
9. a sound mind (most of the time...)
10. a good imagination for when things get difficult

11. A loving God who gives me hope through Jesus

The Nelson Family


Happy Thanksgiving
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Tuesday, November 18, 2008

The Girl Effect

Check out this website or watch the video at the bottom of the page. An interesting solution to the world's problems...

Monday, November 3, 2008

Trick or Treat!


I can't believe the difference a year makes! Here are my two kiddies a year ago on Halloween:







And here they are this year!


We had a puppy and a kitten as we went trick or treating. It was really fun, too, because Anita and Phil took all of us in Dad's suburban (Julia, Elijah, Ingrid, Rowan, Anita, and Phil--Andrew had to work late that night, so we met him at the farm afterward...we missed him...) and we all went together. I got quite a workout, though, getting both kids in and out of the big suburban with bags of candy--in the dark! :) Anita, Julia, and Elijah helped, though Rowan wasn't a fan of Anita with her ugly man mask. Every time he saw her go toward him, he jumped and started to climb up the front of me! :) We had Julia help with him most of the time...


Ingrid was loving it this year. She went up to every door without hesitation and said, "Trick or Treat!" By the end of the evening, she had a lot of candy. We spent the whole 2 hours making the rounds in Aurora...all of the same spots we used to go as kids. I couldn't believe how "un-shy" she was (she's usually pretty cautious around new people, though I wouldn't call her completely introverted)! I guess the reward of more candy in her bag outweighed any fears she could construct in her head. There was only one house where they had a "scary CD" playing and she had to really talk herself out of being afraid. When I told her it was just a CD, she repeated that a few times and bravely walked to the next house...


She didn't want me to paint her face this time. I think she was too tired to deal with the identity issue (she had just come from preschool, and that usually wipes her out!). She also said she didn't want her face to be sticky. :) That was OK.



Rowan didn't have a costume, so on my way to pick up Ingrid, I stopped at Wal-mart and got him a little puppy costume. He didn't get a first birthday party, and I didn't want him to not have a costume too, so I bought him one! And he was sooooo cute! You don't see in the pictures here, but he wore cute little paw mittens, too, for a while. He had a lot of fun, too!



At first, he was just confused when we started going from house to house. He couldn't figure out why we weren't going into peoples' houses. At one point, he actually tried pushing past someone into their house before I finally got him! It was OK, though, because we knew everyone we visited, and this lady happened to be an old teacher in the area. She would have invited us in anyway, but I said we should go. ;)



My favorite part of the evening was when we got out and walked around Aunt Sue's neighborhood. Houses are spread way apart in Aurora...and of course, there are no sidewalks...but in Aunt Sue's neighborhood, there are about 7 houses in the vicinity that you can walk to, so I let Rowan walk at that point. I had been telling Elijah to stay out of the snow (there was a little bit left from our snowstorm last week, though it was in the '50s that night) where he was making snowballs. Rowan started to catch on and started yelling after Elijah!



"lijah! 'Lijah!" Just giving him the business! It was soooooo funny! He does that to Bella, too sometimes because we're always yelling at Bella not to bark. This was the first time he had transferred it to Elijah. It was great. :)



Afterwards, we went back to the farm and Ingrid dove into the candy and Anita had fixed an amazing dinner. We all stuffed ourselves and laughed around the table. Rowan went to bed pretty early, but Ingrid proceeded to eat candy. We tried our best to keep her from eating the chocolate, but I think she got at least one chocolate bar in... We succeeded in keeping her out of most of it, though!



It was a fun night, though we wish Andrew had been able to join us. So, Happy Halloween to all! Next holiday: Thanksgiving!



Post Script: Happy Birthday to little Eva Sophia Malone (Gina and Rodney Malone's new baby girl--hopefully, they'll have a new post up soon with pictures!), born at 8:18pm on Halloween! She was born 6 weeks early, but both mom and baby are doing well and both may be home within a week! Praise God!