Elf on the Shelf 2013

I know many of my friends have taken on the Elf on the Shelf tradition, while still others have decided against it. Several years ago, my best friend in the world brought this little guy into our lives. The kids look forward to his arrival every Black Friday and are sad to see him go on Christmas Eve. This year, after weeks of prayers, We had a little girl elf join our family. I know some people don't take the time to do something extensive with their elves, having them just move from one location in the house to the next...however, I really get a kick out of finding fun and exciting projects for our elf to do. It makes me smile to hear the kids get up early in the day and look for him (them). 

 

 

Arrival!

I think a little baking is in order

We had magical double duty in the house this night. Our resident tooth fairy gave our little elf a kiss on the cheek and folded the dollar into a peacock. Quite talented!

Countdown to Christmas is on. Chilling in his bath robe, reading this naughty and nice list.

Remembering Pearl Harbor Day with a little friendly competition

Why take the bull by the horns when you can take the ram?

Snowball fight with a snowman! Sure, why not?

Keeping company with princesses. Even elves get lonely at night.

Our artistic little guy

Tonight, after many prayers for an elf of her own, Baleigh's elf "Violet" showed up to keep Leif company on the long winter nights.

Date Night

Cirque De Soleil

Playing Dress up

Come on ride the train.....

More acrobatics

Packing peanut igloo, made for 2.

Leif taking good care of Violet when she was sick.

Cookie thieves! 

Leif came to visit at mommy's office. Minds were blown on this stunt.

Candy Throne!

Gingerbread village. They assembled all the houses for the annual gingerbread decorating contest. Such fun.

Dry run for Santa - needed to make sure the chimney was clear!

Yay! Baby Jesus is here!!!!

Saying goodby to our little elf friends. Tonight Santa will take them home with him, so they didn't need their magic.

Nielsen Kids 2006-2013

                                                     Thor's First Christmas! Ft. Carson, CO 2006

                                          Baleigh's first Christmas New Lenox, IL 2007

                                              Christmas in Indianapolis, IN 2008

                                              Christmas at Ft. Leonardwood, MO 2009

                                             

                                                Christmas at Ft Hood, TX 2010 (Pershing Park Community Center)
                 

                                          Christmas at Killeen Power Sports 2011

                                        Christmas in Lena, IL 2012

      

                                                Christmas in Lena IL 2013

2nd Thanksgiving

After our early Thanksgiving with Grandma Diane, we had our big Zimmerman family get together at my parents house. We all take a side dish, but my dad still cooks up the turkeys (yes, we have several with a crowd as large as ours is), and makes his delicious stuffing, and amazing never to be rivaled gravy. We all crowd around the tables and have a wonderful dinner together.

After we have cleaned  the tables and the dads have succumbed to their respective food comas, the kids take seat at the kitchen table and we bust out the bingo game. My aunt Judy calls for us and there is a mound of dollar store prizes to be won sitting in the center of the table. You would think it was a pile of gold with how excited they get....ok, I get excited about a box of mike and ikes too.

In the late afternoon we headed home and spent the remainder of the day watching Christmas movies.

This year I opted out of going with my sisters and sister-in-laws for Black Friday shopping. We have recently started at no spend 30 days where we only buy things that are absolutely essential to daily life. Its amazing how creative one can get when just cooking out of the pantry and freezer. We have bought some fresh fruit and veggies as well as bread and milk. However, that is pretty much the extent of our expenditures lately.

Instead on Friday we did some yard work, and Baleigh and I went over to my mom and dad's to pick up some reclaimed barn boards for a few projects I have in the works. She really loves working with me on projects involving power tools and paint. I am so proud and happy that she likes working with me on things. These will be valuable skills as she gets older.

Saturday we had a lazy day of hanging out in our cozy house. It was nice to have a long weekend with Jake home. We so rarely get the opportunity to have a long weekend together and it was just what we needed. We watched TV and snuggled on the couch and baked cookies and loved every second of it.

Saturday evening was my mom's extended family gathering. We went to the potluck and I got to catch up with cousins I have not seen in a few years. I really love some of the people my cousins have chosen for their spouses. Not to mention the delightful children that they have created and are raising. Some days it is fun to be part of such a big clan.

Sunday we lamented the fact that our "vacation" from real life was coming to an end. I put a roast in the crock pot in the morning and we had a giant sunday dinner that turned into leftovers for the lunch the next day. Overall it was a wonderful 4 day weekend and now we are looking forward to a fun filled Christmas season.

Christmas Came Early - Along with Thanksgiving!

This past weekend, we had the pleasure of spending time with Jake's mom Diane. She came up on Saturday and we started the day off by going out for burgers. We have since decided that we will eat at home from now on because it is impossible to get good service AND good food anywhere in the greater Lena area. The price we pay for living in the country - we are ok with that though, because living here means we can raise our kids in a great 1950s style community.

That night we watched White Christmas and holed up in the house with a big pot of chili to keep us warm on the coldest day of the year so far. About 6 PM Baleigh asked if we were going to decorate the Christmas tree.... so we brought in the boxes of ornaments and the kids took a trip down memory lane. Its funny to hear them reminisce about when they got a particular ornament, and how they "remember" it from when they were "little." Since grandma came with a trunk load of Christmas surprises we decided to give them a little bit of the holidays early. After they were snugly dressed in jammies we told them they could open a couple presents. They both got some beautiful new outfits and Baleigh couldn't wait to wear them.

Sunday we had a big turkey with the trimmings lunch so it felt like a true holiday. We ate early and then most of us took a little nap to make the day truly perfect. Grandma headed back home mid afternoon and we just hung out watching Christmas movies until bed time. I am fully in the holiday spirit and look forward to a nice long weekend that we have coming up. :)

Happy 6th Birthday Baleigh

This time 6 years ago I was up and realized we were going to have a baby. We still didn't know if we were going to have a boy or a girl though. I was supposed to make pies for Thanksgiving dinner at the Nielsen's but called and told them I was not feeling up to it that day. We spent the day hanging out with family until dinner. I was determined not to make the rookie mistake of going to the hospital hungry. I ate my fill and by then contractions were just a few minutes apart. Jake and I headed out to the hospital leaving our little 1 yr old Thor with peepaw and his uncles. About 3 hours after getting to the hospital, we had our dark haired, outspoken little girl. She hasn't stopped talking since she was born. She has never met a stranger and she can talk your ear off if you give her the opportunity. She's a take charge kind of girl that reminds me of myself in many ways. She tends to be a bit bossy with her brother, but at the end of the day they still love each other very much. I relish the moments after they are in bed and I hear whispers and go to check on them.. only to find them huddled together in one of their rooms reading books and whispering conspiratorially. Happy birthday to our little Baleigh Evelyn Angel Nielsen - can't imagine our world without our little BEAN.

Parent Teacher Confernces - Baleigh

I have been dreading parent teacher confrences for some time now. I never know what is going to come out and I strive so hard to keep our children up to speed in all things academic. Last night we had Baleigh's meeting with her teacher Mr. Blakely. He was nothing short of gushing on how awesome Baleigh is in class. He said that he has challenged her with reading in class that he said most of his students won't see until next year. He also said she excels at math and is one of the class leaders. In her areas of strength he wrote, "-Always working hard + participating  - Plays and works hard with others  - Helps all of her classmates   - Great role model!"  We could not have been more proud. I will get back to posting about Thor's conferences later.

Family Photos

Family Pictures by https://www.facebook.com/JillVPhotography - First one we have taken in years! Can't thank Jill enough for such a beautiful job! It take a ringmaster to corral all the Nielsen's in one place these days. It also takes an artist to make me think I looked good in a photo- and I think I look great here. :)

Second family photo we have had taken in just a few weeks. These were with my family out at Lake Le Aqua Na State Park. I love the lighting in this one, and the fact that it shows us having a little more fun than the more formal one above. Both pictures will be displayed prominently in our house!

Craft Fair

             Pink Penguin

Wine Cork Nativity

Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus

The California Snowman: Peppermint Playdough, felt top hat, google eyes, scarf and pipe cleaner arms.

Bottle Cap Tic Tac Toe

Bottle Cap Magnet Snowmen

Saving Money Like a Boss

This is an old dresser that my co-worker was going to chop up and burn. She dropped it in my garage about 3 weeks ago.

I applied a citrus stripper to remove the old damaged finish

Another Stripper shot

I stained it a light cherry and then sealed it with a polyurethane clear coat

The almost finished product. I decided to keep the original hardware but they were badly damaged. I applied a hammered black paint and installed the hardware after we moved the dresser into Thor's room. One of the runners was broken so my dad showed me how to fix it and make the drawer stable and easily usable again.

Finished Product! Since Thor was a baby he has been using a rubbermaid plastic dresser. Now he has a real dresser!

Thor is born... and is turning 7!

7 Years ago today, Jake and I were living in Colorado Springs. We had a tiny apartment off of Pikes Peak Avenue, went to at least 2 movies a weekend, and had just said good-bye to all his Army buddies as they had left for another deployment. Jake was in physical therapy for his ankle, and our future in the military was uncertain. Top that with the fact that I just gone into labor, and it made for a pretty busy week. Wednesday morning I woke up with contractions about 5 minutes apart, but decided I wanted to wait until my doctor's appointment later that day to go to the hospital. Jake came home to go with me and away we went. My doctor told me we would be having a baby that day, and sent us up to labor and delivery. I would just like to go on record as saying... we did not have a baby that day, or that night, or even in the wee hours of the next morning. Our mighty little  red-head (yes it was red when he was born) did not come out to meet us until 22 hours of labor, 4 hours more of pushing, and the threat that we would be having a C-section if I did not get him out in the next 20 minutes.

I was drugged, starving, exhausted, and ready to see our son. We had still not decided on a name. The nurses had asked us when we came in and we said we were just calling him "Thor" because he had such mighty punches and kicks. By the time he was born we still had not chosen a name. When we saw his pretty red hair and perfect porcelain skin, we knew he was a Thor. The newest Nielsen man was born. He was the first grandchild born to Jake's family, and the 4th in mine.

7 years later, he still has that perfect white skin, but the red hair has faded and is now an amazing blond, with just hints of strawberry. Since he was a little guy he has loved, dinosaurs and wildlife of any kind. He collects bugs and reads books on animals whenever he gets the chance. He will sit for hours and watch documentaries on flora and fauna. He is the sweetest, most thoughtful little guy. His favorite subject in school is Art and his art teacher Mrs. Amendt loves having him. She stops almost daily to tell me little stories of things he has made for her, or shown other students. His favorite animal is still the orangutan. He has had a mild obsession with them since he was about 3. He can tell you all about their disappearing habitat in Borneo, and their diet and lifestyles. Jake and I are proud to be parents to such a tender hearted, thoughtful little man.

                                                  

8 Years And Still Madly In Love

This fall has been full of weddings for our family and friends. My best friend in the whole world got married a couple of weeks ago and this past weekend was the wedding of another close college girlfriend. We still have several family weddings to attend in the coming weeks, so it has given us a chance to think about the years that we have been married.

Eight years doesn't sound like much time, but when one considers that it is nearly a quarter of our lives it seems more significant. We still love spending every night together and miss each other deeply when we are separated. I never "got" those couples who took separate vacations or loved going off for extended weekends to "get away" from their spouse. My favorite memories are Jake and I spending time together going places, and sometimes just staying home and doing projects together. I really believe that one day we are going to be that old couple who still holds hands at the movies and who could never imagine their lives without the other person.

Every year gets better and better and I am looking forward to what marriage is like in the next decade. Happy Anniversary to my wonderful husband and partner of 13 years. We must be doing something right.

Auntie Katie's Perfect Wedding!

Baleigh and Maggie waiting patiently for the day to begin

Sister of the Bride and Flower girl

My baby girl and I looking all fancy

Ring security. They were too freaking adorable

First kiss

Ra-hole and her lady friend Jen

Mandy and her man John

Cutting the cake

Bob and Katie

My funny little kids