That Abby

Abby for some reason is our child that no matter what she's doing wrong, and how aggravating it is...it is hard to punish her with a straight face. Tonight she got hauled off to her room by Daddy for purposely following Caitlin around on her heels making annoying noises in Caitlin's ear. (After she had been asked to stop several times.) After a few minutes Nate went in there to talk to her about why she got in trouble. Hard for him to keep a straight face when he opened the door to find this:

Oh, it just makes me laugh all over again. Abby is such a hoot! One more funny thing I had to write (type) before I forgot.

This week when we went to Wal*Mart I told Abby to not forget to remind mommy we need a filter for our furnace vent. (It is on the ceiling in our hallway.) Before we left I had to open the vent and measure it to make sure I got the right one. I didn't really think much else of it (or that it possibly terrified her that I was going to open it up again later.)

On the way home the filter was tucked on the side by her seat in the van and she said,
"Don't worry mom. When we get home and you put this in...I'll stand right next to you in case you get sucked up in there."
I about bust a gut. I mean the vent hole IS pretty big...she must think because you can hear the air going in...it's got a LOT of suction. Kids are so funny.

Thanksgiving '08 & Christmas Prep!

I'm sure you all have realized by now that I'd much rather recap anything with pictures than actually type everything out. Yes, lazy.

Nate's Mom, Dad, and brothers Josh and Joseph came out to warm AZ to spend Thanksgiving with us. I don't think I've seen anyone laugh as hard as we all did for a long time! It was a blast...thanks for coming to visit us guys!!! We miss you already!

(Random Pic) This is how Abby waits for her friend Allie to come to our house.

Abs and Ems with Grandpa

Abs and Cait wondering WHAT on EARTH Grandma is doing to poor Harriet the Hen. (Yes, I named our hen turkey Harriet..so don't knock it!)

Got this idea from Trista's blog...the girls were helping make Oreo turkeys!

The men hard at work in the kitchen making Thanksgiving dinner...???

The chef-ettes?? Yes, that's a 'machete' I'm brandishing in my hand...(and mom's weapon is a syringe? Weak sauce...)

Let's just say don't mess with the turkey carver.

Ready for some grub!

This one is for the NIELSON FAMILY...this is in the middle of Nate re-hashing the 'poop finger' story...if you can tell by his hands...and that's mom about to wet her pants laughing so hard.

YUM!

YUM AGAIN!

Abs in her galoshes. (Explanation: So we hadn't gotten rain *or clouds practically* in over 2 months in AZ. So of COURSE it decides to POUR for 2 days when Nate's family came. So Abby busted out the galoshes and tried to splash in all that was left of the small rain we got. In a little rock. Fun?)

The Thanksgiving Cleanup Crew

The guys played racquetball at the clubhouse several times they were here. If you notice in this pic Nate is celebrating a victory with his 'guitar'.

Feebarbies workin' the ball over

Ah...me and the girls in front of the clubhouse. Have I ever mentioned I love AZ?!

Uno was the game of the weekend. And this was the 'face' of the weekend that Joseph is pulling. You'll see another one like it in a minute here....

Caitlin jumping in. This is my big plug for mom's camera...it rocks!!!! Caitlin isn't even the slightest bit blurry!!!

Abs and Daddy swimmin

Ahhhh...warmin up after swimming. (Hey...it is early December after all!!)

Ems and mommy NOT swimming. (I've climatized, ok? MUCH too cold for swimming ;o)

Sunbathin beauties

Face #2 for Fee (aka Joseph). I don't think these 4 could take a serious picture if their lives depended on it.

THIS IS FOR YOU PEGGY JO NIELSON!!! I wanted to show you this picture of the 3 camels at the Mesa temple! The guys said you didn't see them...and I didn't want you to miss it....

Daddy-daughter time

Assembling the tree. And yes, Nate's grumbling the whole time that it's a fake tree. (I act like I want to save a forest in *Roseburg*, but really I just think it's more convenient to have a fake pre-lit tree. Lazy again, I know.)

Emma helping to put up Christmas decorations. Or Emma just being cute. And good. Love this baby.

Cute.

This is how Cait and Abs decorated the tree. Notice the 6 bulbs in a row on the tree? Nice.

Abs on the stillshot camera, Cait on the video camera. The fun is endless...

Abs took this shot of Cait dancing to Christmas music. Cool shot of her hair though.

This is what happens when I'm cleaning the kitchen and I leave Emma outback on a blanket on the grass. Caitlin thought she should be part of the fun. She loved it. She loves her big sisters so much!

Ready for church! Such cute girls.

Well, if you made it this far....GOOD JOB! Sorry for boring you, but there's more fun! Here's a few videos for your viewing pleasure....

One of the times they guys were laughing their heads off. Notice Josh laughing so hard food is drooling out of his mouth. (Those of you NOT related to the Nielsons...sorry, probably not so funny.)

Yet more uncontrollable laughing/crying...

FYI: When we moved here 4.5 months ago...Abby wouldn't even put her face (let alone her head) in the water. She's now a little fish!

Caitlin the swimming daredevil.

Trimming the tree!!!

'Tis the Season!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Cheating Fall?

As we go for walks, go swimming, and go to the park STILL...I always feel like I am cheating the 'weather system'! When my mind is expecting it to be fall/winter weather, it makes it even better that we are still enjoying warm weather. It's still in the mid-high 80's here! Which I am SO grateful for...but it makes it hard when I want to stick a Christmas CD in. I guess I just can't listen to Christmas music when it seems like summer weather. We are, however, enjoying EVERY minute of the wonderful weather!

A few random pictures:

You never know what you're going to end up with when Nate gives the kids a bath. (We needed some extra bunny ears for our T.V. anyways.)

Fun at the park.

Caitlin is such a little mom to Emma! She thought she was 'cold' the other day, so Emma got the royal treatment for a while.

Now I just FINALLY pulled all the pictures off my phone and put them on my computer. So here are a bunch of totally out-of-order random pictures:

Abby got croup and was SO SICK for a while!

Ok..so here goes the explanation on this bebe. I have been wanting a jogger/bike trailer for a while. They are expensive, and we can't spend the $$ on something like that right now...so it's just been on my 'someday' wish list. Long story short: I found this Trek one at a garage sale for $25 and it was FILTHY but had only been used twice, and just sat in a garage/outside for a year or two. The girls and I scrubbed and hosed and scrubbed more and got it looking SO NICE!!!! TWENTY-FIVE DOLLARS!!!! These sell for $475! I was so excited, and we use it several times a day! Ok..enough of the bargain-shopping-stories....

Yesterday at the park...love the weather!

Had to put a picture of my favorite tree on this planet. I LOVE PALM TREES!
My cute girls wakin' up. (Minus Caitlin who was at school doing calculus or whatever they learn in kindergarten these days.)
Say huh?
THIS ONE'S FOR YOU SHERSTIN!!!
It's all about the cheeks...gotta love the side profile! They are actually thinking about making her cheeks have their own zip code.
HELLO the bed head!
Self explanatory. Cute.
Ems and grandpa sweltering at the state fair! Love it baby!
Emma's 1st time in the 'big girl cart'. (and heck YES that's at Dollar Tree!)
Ok...so I found this tootsie roll in the girls halloween bowl one morning. Apparently it is easier to just sneak a bite with the wrapper on before mom catches them. Nice.