Annual Nutcracker Picture

The girls and I went to our 2nd Annual Nutcracker performance on Sunday afternoon. We took a couple of pictures before we left.





I was really late ordering tickets this year, but thankfully found a production not too far from where we live and we got tickets in the 2nd row...it was awesome. The dancers were so good, and the little tiny girls in there were so cute. Avery and Alivia had a really nice time, and I'm glad we are able to keep the tradition going.

Cute Homemade Things

Alivia and Connor made some really cute crafts at their schools this holiday season. I adore them, and am going to be really sad when it's time to pack up the holiday decorations....but I so love bringing the bins out each year at Christmas time and finding these priceless treasures again.


The girls are really into writing notes to our elf, Buddy, and leaving him treats to take back to the North Pole each night. (They were super excited to get a note back from him the other day) Avery is trying so hard to believe, as I think she really wants to, but she's asking a lot of hard questions about it all, so I expect she'll be past the "Santa" stage soon...boo.

Here is a letter that she wrote to Buddy.


Here is a drawing that Alivia made for Buddy. She drew a picture of him, and labeled the "sky" (b/c that's how he flies back to the North Pole), wrote his name and signed her own name.

An ornament she made in preschool...so cute.

A Christmas Tree made out of her hand prints....LOVE IT!

Her Angel


Just a 3 year old cutie who wanted his picture taken..not sure where his pants are.


Connor's reindeer he made in school

Gingerbread Houses

Every year I say that I am going to buy 2 gingerbread house kits...one for the kids...and one for me:-) Well, this year, I came home with 1...and you would have thought the world was ending in our house. So, back out to the store I went and bought 2 more...so each adorable child could have their own. I'm so glad I did this. The kids did a great job working on their own houses, there was no fighting and they all had a great time.





Connor did a lot of this




Avery's finished house

Alivia's finished house

Connor's finished house

This Cutie

Is just getting too big. We are pretty much potty trained. We can go all day without any accidents..just not at night yet. (But I don't expect too much from the nighttime wetting yet, as my girls were very late in being nighttime trained.) I still put a pullup on him when we are out and about, as I'm not a big fan of frantically trying to find a bathroom while in the freezer section of the grocery store. Not worth the stress in my book, but when we are home and feeling good, we go pullup free. He loves wearing just his big boy unders:-)

Around the House

I'm not such a good decorator. I like how other people decorate, but for some reason, I just don't have the gene in me. Oh well.

This is my favorite new purchase of the season. I've always wanted an Advent calendar, but never really knew what to fill the boxes with, especially with 3 kids who all want to do it themselves. This is the perfect solution. The boxes all have a little ornament in them to hang on the tree..we rotate the days so that they all get a turn. I love it.


Our mantle area...please ignore the plastic over the fireplace opening..the previous owners didn't put a door on, so it is super drafty....I eventually want to change the fireplace out with a new face, so we don't want to buy doors for it yet, as they are way expensive. (Not sure how Santa is going to manage to get past the plastic, but for now, at least the kids haven't asked that question:-)


My favorite holiday decorations are ones that are handmade by the kids. A picture of Alivia from a few years ago...so cute.

The hallway table.


Avery as an angel....I remember when she was very angelic....not so much anymore:-)





Our tree in the dining room.

Another cute one of Avery from many years ago.

Our family room tree

My holiday snowman card holder

The entertainment center in the family room.

Our Elf, Buddy



And that's about it. Nothing fancy, but the kids like it. Helps get me in the holiday spirit..can't believe Christmas is next weekend already. Where did the month of December go?

Decorating the Tree

It took quite a few days to get the tree decorated. Many hours to put the lights on and ribbon on. We broke many ornaments this year. Mostly the ones that Connor was trying to put on the tree. He hasn't grasped the concept of having the "hook" the ornament on a branch. Oh well. They sure had fun.

Visit with Santa

Santa visited Alivia's preschool. Connor thinks he's in preschool. He pushed himself right up to the front of the group, held Santa's hand and listened so nicely to Santa's stories.

After he got his candy cane, he was so sad, b/c he wasn't able to tell Santa that he wants a helicopter for xmas, so we had to go back so he could tell him. It was cute.

Hunting for our Christmas Tree

This is the first year that we have a live Christmas Tree. I put a artificial tree in our dining room, but we wanted a nice big live tree for the family room area. So, on Sunday, we set out in search of the Nielsen Family Christmas Tree.

The weather was decent. It had rained for a few days prior, so the ground was very muddy....I'm so glad I insisted on snow boots for the kids.

We hunted quite a long time, and if it were any colder, I think it may not have been as much fun. We found our tree, but wanted to keep looking..thankfully, we were able to re-find it later. Next year, we'll have to mark potential trees, so they are easier to find when we come back.

The search begins


Connor was lobbying for trees that were his size:-)


Our tree. Connor was mad because I said we could go have some hot chocolate after we cut the tree down...he wanted orange pop.





David was so quick cutting the tree down, that I didn't even get an action shot. We weren't too far from the cars, so he just carried the tree over. Otherwise, they have a tractor that will pick you and your tree up.


Our tree in the shaker.


Getting bundled


Loaded on the family truckster



I'll post pictures of the finished product, as soon as we finish it. It took me 3 hours to put lights on it, and then another hour or so, to decide how I wanted to do the ribbon. While I loved doing this, a pre-lit, artificial tree is definitely less work. Stay tuned.

Thanksgiving

Our Thanksgiving had MANY bumps in the road this year. (Last year, I got the flu and gave it to Avery and Alivia...this year is of equal proportions)

We left for Iowa on Wednesday morning. By the time lunch rolled around, everyone was hungry, but could not agree on what to have. The littles wanted McDonalds and Avery wanted Subway. So, we went through a McDonald's drive through and Avery starts complaining that the smell of the grease was making her sick. She makes this weird gagging sound and David and I tell her to relax.....and then she vomits....all over the back seat. She's not kidding when she says she doesn't like McDonalds:-) So, we have to get her cleaned up, clean up the car and then figure out the rest of lunch. (I'm thinking she's starting to get a bit car sick, so Dramamine to the rescue.)

we get to David's parents house and have a decent evening. That night, Connor and Alivia are up all night coughing. Missed a breathing treatment. I woke up Thanksgiving morning and am hardly able to move. Did something to my neck throughout the night and am in terrible pain all day.

Connor, while playing at my Grandma's hurts his neck and is screaming in pain every time he has to move his head. He isn't visibly better for 24 hours.

Avery, having indulged a bit too much in Thanksgiving food, throws up again Thanksgiving night.

I do get up and go shopping on Black Friday, but am back home by 10:00am, b/c David thought we might need to take Connor to the ER. Instead, it's decided that we'll wait until after he naps and see how he's doing. So, instead of me getting my 1 day a year out shopping and not worrying about the kids, I am home with them all day, while someone else meets friends for lunch and goes off for another couple of hours looking at pool table stuff and then out again that night with friends....I'm over it, really:-)

On Saturday, I woke up with pink eye....awesome. Then we traveled to David's Grandma's on Saturday in Gowrie, Ia...which is over by Fort Dodge. That was a good day, the kids did great. We drove from there back to our house that night, so it was a long day, but it was nice to be home on Sunday.

I've been terrible with getting my camera out, so I only have pictures of our gathering with David's family.

The great-grandkids and Grandma Delsie



Nancy (and Connor) with her sisters, Sue and Charlotte and her mom, Delsie.


Delsie's cousin, Zo, and the kids


All the guys with Zo and Delsie


The sisters again