Ice Ice Baby

We got a lot of ice and snow last night. Enough that they called school. Jeff just left for work and is afraid it will take a good hour to go ten miles.
It is treacherous outside. But at the same time it is so incredibly peaceful. The house is silent this morning. There are very few people outside. The kids all slept in (even Tank). We are in our robes--for most of the day I hope. Why is the saying "the calm before the storm?" I think it is the other way. Or maybe it is not the weather related storm, but right now is the calm and peace before my children go wild with being inside and Santa arriving tomorrow.

Hmmm. I better go enjoy my coffee and maybe a little scrapping quick.

Sugar Frenzy

We have been a bakin' and a makin' in the Nelson household. There is sugar everywhere and my kids are full of it. The white kind, the brown kind, the powdered kind and the little lovey sweet kid kind. We made the traditional Nelson caramels. Oh my they are good. Peanut and Princess Sparkle are obsessed with them. They helped Daddy make them and then they wrapped almost every one. They ate a couple.

Jeff is making the butterscotch, pecan, oatmeal GMAC favorite tonight. Glad I got that recipe out in Utah. He had better make enough to leave a few for Sparkle and myself so we don't have to fight over them. 'Cause he won't be bringing home leftovers.
We made these little cutie patooties for Sparkle's kindergarten class party (the girls did all of the decorating). Thanks go out to the Family Fun website (recipe) and my mom (you were right... green vanilla frosting will turn brown with enough food coloring paste). So you know if you try these...the website needs to tell you that the pretzels are supposed to be the big ones, the twizzlers the rope kind, and the black on the m&m eyes must be gel. We used cherries instead of the lollipops. I think we made some pretty cute Rudolph's even with our substitutions. Sparkle loved them and that is what matters.

Sparkle is OBSESSED with The Nutcracker. She listens to the soundtrack every night before bed. She has watched her Barbie version, The San Francisco PBS version, and dances her own version constantly. I wish I had a photo, but they are all blurry. She has a nutcracker she dances around with even. Peanut likes it too, but not to quite the same degree. You should see her try to do that Russian bounce on the floor and kicking out a leg thing.

Wigglebuns. Smoking a crayon. Actually he just likes to suck/chew on anything tubular.

Santa hits our house tomorrow night/Saturday morning and then we will be traveling for the week. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

He's Done!!!!!!

Jeff emailed his FINAL paper and homework for his FINAL master's degree class tonight. YAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So proud, so happy, so ready. And that's just me. Can only imagine what is going on inside him.
Off to enjoy a glass of wine with him. Oh yeah, and internet C'mas shopping. almost done there too.

Getting in the Spirit

The girls are the best ever for helping spark that holiday spirit. Even with all of the pressures to get stuff done, one more person/gift added to the list, or just being tired they help me remember what it is all about. Letting family and friends know how much we care and recognizing the magic in all the traditions we do, religious and secular. We've been talking about Christ's birth and how special it was. How we should show love as much as we can. Singing carols. Their belief in Santa is so strong. I have come across them conversing several times about Santa, his "seeing" abilities, what they want, how the sleigh works, etc. We decorated the tree. All plastic icicles and snowflakes and lights. Nothing Mr. WB can destroy. And I actually like it better than my regular tree. We made this gingerbread house. Yes, it is a kit. But it sure is cute, especially the walls that would not pass Cliff's engineering inspection. They loved making it. Peanut told her librarian at story time that, "We'll make cookies. Mom has a tube in the fridge." I had been planning to make some from scratch, Tank just makes it difficult. So that afternoon I let him be Mr. Wigglebuns and let him empty all of the safe cabinets and we made four different kinds of cookies. HA!
Or did she know what she was saying and doing with that little challenge/comment?

Sparkle took this photo of Peanut with the snowdude they made. Isn't it adorably funny?

And here they are eating the snow. Two inches and they were in heaven. They keep asking when more will come.

And then the big reason for the season (besides Christ of course)...family. This is mine at Mom and Dad's 35th wedding anniversary dinner. And this is Jeff's mom with the kids. Love, love, love these two pictures.

Keepin' Up?

Are you keeping up with us? Because I know I'm sure not. Well, just barely. So here's a recap just so I can remember what's up. I'll post pics another night.
1. Peanut is now 4. The Diego birthday was a smash hit--especially the Baby Jaguar scavenger hunt and freeze dancing (thank you Amanda!).
2. The gates are up to contain Tank, and he can bulldoze through if he wants to. And he's cruising and standing up constantly. And he is cutting his top two front teeth. And he is cranky.
3. Princess Sparkle has her C-mas program Tuesday. Fancy (dress-up) Friday at school was a big hit. Anytime she has an excuse to wear a crown, heels, and a ring on every finger she loves it. Conferences went as expected. Sparkle was quite annoyed that her teacher let out the secret that she is reading and writing way more that she wanted us to know about.
4. We got a couple inches of snow so the girls built a two foot tall snow dude in the front yard. And they figured out how to boogie board down our yard on their sleds. They definitely have Daddy's Scandinavian heritage in their blood.
5. Our new cabinet came for the kitchen--so I finished painting and took the scaffolding down finally. Just short of a month later. Tank can no longer empty my macaroni.
6. Thanksgiving went well in both states.
7. The Christmas tree is up sans anything glass and with nothing on the bottom foot of it.
8. I remember nothing from the lithotrypsy on the stones--I was just tired the next day and not even sore at all. X-rays in January at my check-up will reveal more.
9. Jeff got moved to a new department, but that is going well so far. Glad he has a job.
10. Jeff and I went on a real date while Grandma watched the kiddies. Dinner and a movie. We ended up at Role Models (which was actually choice #3), but I would recommend it. Definitely R rated, but we laughed a lot. And we both really needed those laughs. Felt good to actually talk and laugh with my honey, and not about diaper or preschool humor.
So there you have it.

Kickin' it Up a Notch

Mr. Wigglebuns has kicked it up a notch into high gear...he is in full throttle move mode. It is a strange hybrid of army tummy crawling and up on his knees. Depends on how long it has been since he lost balance and face planted. But it doesn't matter which way, he is getting FAST! And he is into EVERYTHING. Here is the very reason I ordered a real pantry. He is headed for the macaroni box--his favorite thing to dump.
Trying to get to Mommy and the camera as quickly as possible so he can try to grab the camera from me. Or settle for grabbing and pulling my hair.
He pulls himself up now. He really likes textures and will pet/rub/smooth upholstry for long periods of time. What do you think of that physique? He is even losing weight and getting longer with the exercise.
Did I mention he thinks he should be able to climb stairs? We haven't put the giant fence in place yet. He just stands there, for now. Feeling up the carpet.
And this is how the girls keep me busy. As I follow Mr. WB around I am living in a constant spelling bee. These are actually by Peanut. Phebers doesn't ask as many questions because they are learning invented spelling in K, so she writes me sentences and books and then reads them to me.
Tomorrow is the big Diego party for Peanut's 4th. Thursday I go in to have my kidney stones obliterated. Friday we are traveling for a short trip to Iowa. Parent teacher conferences and family photos next Tuesday. Thanksgiving. Scrapbooking with the sisters. And I work every other night this week and next. Might be a while before the next post. But I will be back.

Nelson photopalooza

So you ask, where have you been the last week and a half? Oh, my loyal followers, I have much to fill you in on. I will use photos to illustrate the high points for the kiddie-os. Jeff and I have basically been working our tushies off. Jeff: the usual GM sob story --is it going to exist tomorrow--and for him it does. I almost wish they'd severance him out so the poor man could move on already. He's been studyin' up a storm. Me: they have me helping menopausal women who can't match colors and don't know how to glue paper to paper without guidance over twenty hours a week and Tiger got sick--which means neither of us sleeps. And just trying to keep up with the other two.
We ordered a pantry cabinet for the kitchen. Tiger is now CRAWLING and has figured out how to empty the makeshift table I have. He really likes to empty the macaroni box. No pics of him, because he just sits back when I try to take his photo. Soon I will be successful. He can pull himself up now also and loves to stand.
Thought the cabinet would take a while, but will be here possibly next week, so had to paint the kitchen today. And have been planning Peanut's 4th birthday party next week. Oowhee.


Sooo, here was Halloween. Sparkle Princess broke tradition and was a fancy witch. yes those are birds on her hat. Peanut was Elmo. This is not just a costume to her, it is now pajamas, and everyday wear if allowed. It is, "Toasty wawm in hewe" according to her.
This is them waiting for trick or treaters. They were out yelling for people to come and get our candy an hour before it started. Tiger was supposed to be a farmer, but the hat didn't fit. It was gorgeous (70's) and the kids loved it all as usual.
Except Tiger was slightly bored by the process and annoyed by the attention he got.

We enjoyed our first Build a Bear excursion. Princess chose a pink and white bear named Twinkle with a pink and white leopard print shirt. Peanut wanted a dog (named Supah Dawg) and a Harley Davidson tshirt (it was orange, c'mon). Definitely no pink chromosome in her. That place stressed me out, but the girls can't wait to go back.

The colors last week were fabulous. We have this gumball tree in our front yard and it was 20-69 different colors. Sadly most of them have blown away now. But I laid under it and gazed into its beauty and felt peaceful.

Peanut made a painting of it and her raking --that is the rake at the bottom with her pile of leaves.

Here they are in action making the biggest pile of leaves we could to jump in. I think I raked (while prego) this pile last fall in Ohio about 100 times. And we didn't own a tree. LP has this big vacuum truck, like most cities, that the girls think is absolutely horrible.

This is Princess Sparkles version of the tree in our backyard and the wind blowing.

We have discovered that Tiger's favorite food is potatoes. Any preparation is acceptable. But he really likes when Jeff makes homemade fries. He will yell and scream for them. and then hums with the delight the entire time he is eating. MMMMM MMMMMm MMMMMM

Chili cheese fries and a good beer. YUM. Jeff went all out and cooked for me from scratch (chili and fries) last week. Actually one of my throwback faves from the Michigan days. I craved these from Skip's my first pregnancy (minus the alcohol).

And the Strega Nona fest. The girls are obsessed with these stories by Tomie DePaola. We made three trips to the library last week to get more of the series. I try to read them with the Italian accent I have been hearing here (and on tv). I'm sure it sounds to them like some whacko mutt accent--part Midwest, MN, MI, southern, italian, whatever. But they get a kick out of it.

Check her cute pigtails. Cutie patootie.
And Peanut spent a good hour screwing a towel rack to our kitchen island/pantry last night. She said, I quote,"It takes a lot of practice to be a good screwer. And I'm a good screwer." Seriously. I can't make up stuff that funny.