A little R&R

Since the last couple of months have completely revolved around church -- we decided that we needed to

spend some serious party time together as a family! So . . . we took one evening and stayed at a hotel with an indoor pool -- Joshua was pretty pumped when we told him! Kayla, as you can see, would have been completely satisfied to just hang out in the tub with her suit on!
I must be honest . . . the water was VERY, VERY chilly! Very disappointing. But . . .we made the best of it and tolerated it as long as we could! This was the first time Joshua just had his floaties on (with the life jacket swim outfit as well) and he thought he was pretty hot stuff!

Kayla and daddy!

Another highlight for Joshua . . . pushing the elevator buttons. You know, folks . . .it just doesn't take much sometimes! We had a great time just chillin' as a family -- in spite of the cold pool! We ended the trip with a McDonalds run so "you know who" was happy (Bryan!)!

Christmas in Houstonia

The gang from IN was there and it was so much fun to catch up with them! Claudia was showing Kayla the finer points of running the DVD player!

Opening gifts!

And then Santa made his appearance! I asked Joshua today who gave him the balloon rockets -- and I expected him to say "Santa" but he said, "Joshua" . . . so apparently Santa needs to work on being more convincing!


I didn't get a picture of Grandma and Grandpa together, so I'll just put separate pics up. It is so fun to see them open their gifts --

We just count our blessings every year that the family is able to get together and celebrate Christmas!

The Nelson Christmas

Well . . . let's just say that Christmas with a 3 yr old and a 1 yr old is quite interesting! We started by reading the Christmas story and having Joshua move the nativity figures. That went fine for a while . . .

. . . and then Kayla was DONE!

And would you guess that Joshua's favorite gift was a $2 foam rocket???? Go figure! It is quite amazing how high he can get it to fly!

Kayla got distracted easily so Joshua willingly helped her open her gifts!

Joshua opening the matchbox cars and play mat from G/G Nelson!

Confusing order

Alright -- I just realized that I had a whole stash of pictures that were "hiding" so . . . this is all going to be out of order. I know . . . for you Type A's out there (like I am) . . .it'll just kill ya!

Like father like son!

One of my favorite things to do with Joshua is hang out in the kitchen! He loves helping me! And, I've learned that when it comes to sugar cookies with 3 year-olds . . . it's better just to buy a mix and get to the fun part (choosing the shapes, sprinkles, etc.!)

It is a very long 8 minutes!

Hear ye . . .hear ye . . . this microphone stand was actually constructed by Mommy! Joshua has learned that I can only do the objects that have pictures on the outside of the TinkerToy container. Otherwise, he has to wait for Daddy to come home!

Merry Christmas!

Alright folks . . . an apology is definitely in order for the lack of blogging lately! We just finished our big Christmas outreach, so things are starting to simmer down! Steve and Freya are in KS so we've been having fun having out with them and their kiddos!


Hmmm . . . . the picture above shows four controllers, yet somehow there are only two players on the screen . . . hmmmm . . .!

This was the first time we saw baby Henry! He is just such an incredibly happy baby!

Kayla "rediscovered" the bouncy seat!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Joshua!

Our "baby" turned 3 this weekend! After Kayla's b-day several weeks ago, he was MORE than ready to have his own birthday! It still is so surreal to have family here for birthdays -- we just feel so incredibly blessed!

Opening gifts!

His gift from us was a guitar, or "guitar he-ho" (hero) as he calls it! Actually, it's just a pretend guitar but he's enjoying it . . .and so is Bryan!

He is very much into Thomas the Train-- this was as close to having a "train" birthday cake as I could get!

And not to be upstaged, Kayla decided to take her first steps the day of Joshua's party! She's pretty shaky, but is getting braver and better every day! It really is fun to see the two of them playing together now that she is vertical much more.

Random assortment

This was obviously taken when the weather was still beautiful a couple of weeks ago!
My babies are growing up . . . .

Rebecca got last minute tickets to a KU Basketball game and after several other attempts, she called to see if Joshua could go. For whatever reason (OK, it's just that mom factor) I got SUPER emotional about "what if this happens" or "what if that happens." Bryan convinced me that he should go so we got him dressed and sent him on his way -- with his car seat, sippy cup, and Thomas the Train back pack. He had a BLAST and just tonight was talking about how loud it was there. Thanks for being such a great auntie, Bem!

Joshua LOVES it when they are working the field next to the house. He is just mesmerized!

Delinquent Thanksgicing pics

I never dreamed that we would only travel 45 minutes for our Thanksgiving destination -- it was great! My dad's side of the family was at my parent's house, so there was a houseful! This is Kayla and Great Grandpa Varner -- quite suprising that she even tolerated this as I think she was in "new people shock!"

Kayla and Great Grandma

On Satuday, we went to my other set of grandparent's to celebrate with them. Bryan stayed in Topeka to keep the light-show set-up going. We had a great time together and Joshua always enjoys going upstairs to find some toys. The funny thing is that I remember as a kid how we were go to the HUGE upstairs and play with the toys!

Try to keep Kayla entertained!

I'll let you decide who served up Joshua's pumpkin pie and

whipped cream . . . mom or grandma????

Grandma and Grandpa Nelson's visit

Grandma and Grandpa Nelson came for a visit last week -- we had so much fun!
The weathe r was just beautiful so we spent quite a bit of time outside.

Even thought the train is done for the season, we went to Gage Park and played on the animals!

Kayla and Grandma

I was hoping that Kayla would take her "first steps" while they were here -- but it didn't happen! She she sure got a lot of practice with Grandma's help, though!

Happy 1st Birthday, Kayla!

We celebrated B-day #1 last night with BOTH sets of grandparents and Aunt Bem/Uncle Steve. Never in a million years did I dream that we would ever have both grandparents here for a birthday! As you can tell, Kayla was quite enamored with the balloon!

The hit of the evening was the car walker. She has become VERY possessive of it and doesn't think highly of Joshua when he wants to "borrow" it!

G/G Nelson contributed a YUMMY ice cream cake! Kayla had SOOO much ice cream!

And of course, Joshua had to have a "little something" since it was Kayla's b-day.

Kayla LOVES having the grandparents here! We were hoping to see a few "first steps" while they're here -- but don't know if it will happen or not!

Weekend Project II

I know all of you have been waiting with great anticipation on our next bonding project . . . ha, ha . . . and here it is. Bryan buried the gutter downspout things so that when he mows, he won't have to constantly be moving them.
(For the record, this was NOT a "honey-do" project . . . it was totally Bryan's idea!)

The kids thought it was great getting to watch him out the window!

Good thing Joshua was there to help! I think the mud factor was the most enticing element! There were three trenches to dig, and Bryan was really, really sore the next day!

Uh, yes . . .those would be the strawberries that Joshua was helping to "dig!"

Ladies and Gentlemen . . . the finished product. Impressive, eh?