The Best Boxing Day Ever!

What do you do when your garage looks like this?  The Nelsons can tell you with quite a bit of authority to CALL A PROFESSIONAL!  

This is what you look like if you try to fix it yourself.  Mike got his hand trapped in the coils of the garage door opener and literally thought he might lose his fingers.  I was out running errands with Haley.  Caleb was sleeping, and thankfully, Maya had just come out to the garage to "help".  Mike yelled out to Maya, "Go get a neighbor!"  And can you believe it, one was walking by right at that moment.  They heard Mike yelling in the garage, saw that it was not looking right, and came closer and yelled, "Do you need help?"  Maya let them in through the front door and the neighbor helped Mike free his hand by cutting cables and coils while his wife called 911.  The fire department and ambulance arrived and then called me.  I about died.  Mike said he could hear me yell through the phone, "Are you serious?"  I got home and it is not fun to see emergency vehicles in front of your house.  They took Mike to the ER, and he did not brake any bones, but cut, bruised, and smashed himself up pretty good.

The miracles in this story:  

The neighbor couple that happened to be walking by at that exact moment and heard Mike yell and actually did something about it.

Maya was in the garage when it happened and was able to open and unlock doors to let neighbors in.  To my knowledge, I have never seen her have the strength to open or unlock the doors before.

Mike received only minor injuries.  

We are so grateful for the angels that watch over us!

All dressed up and no place to go...

...except to bed!  Thanks mom for the cute pjs, robes and slippers!  

Christmas Morning

Twas the night before Christmas

Every year on Christmas Eve, we dress up as Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, the wise men, etc... and act out the Nativity story.  Here is our sweet Mary, holding baby Jesus.  

Here is Mary a few minutes later trying to defend baby Jesus from Caleb.

Caleb was a sheep and hated every second of it.  

Here is our angel, Haley.

The whole family.  Mike was Joseph and I was a shepherd.  The wise men weren't represented this year.  You need a pretty big family to put on the whole show!

Santa

We took the kids to see Santa today.  There were no lines!  We went to the same place last year, also no waiting.  It must not be well known that he is there.  I think we will keep the location our little secret, so the crowds won't rush there next year!  He was a very sweet Santa with a real beard. Unfortunately, Caleb didn't quite warm up to him.

A bit of perspective

You may call this a used box with styrofoam peanuts.  Two cute little girls call it a bubble bath.

These are a few of my favorite things!

Well, actually only one of my favorite things.  We have been having a lot of this lately (which isn't one of my favorite things):

Snow!  It has been a very snowy December.  It has snowed several times a week and the past few days have been frigid.  We haven't really made it past 0 degrees since Sunday.  Man, that is one of the reasons we left Minnesota!  I'm just glad our pipes aren't freezing.  Thank heavens for insulation and a modern furnace, 2 things we did not have in Minnesota.  Thank heavens also for my new favorite thing:
New tires!  Please excuse the FILTHY car.  If it keeps snowing as often as it has, I won't even bother washing it until May.  About 3 weeks ago, when the snowing started, it was a Sunday.  Mike was already at church for meetings and I was on my way with the kids.  It was snowing and we were sliding all over the place.  At one point we lost traction, slid into the curb, bounce off it, and were then facing side ways in the road.  Luckily there was no one else on the road.  The kids and I were pretty shook up.  We got to church and I told Mike I was taking his car home and he was taking the van in to get new tires, regardless of the fact that it was Sunday.  He was not very happy, because, yes, he had been telling me to get new tires for a while.  But, Mike if you are reading this, I love you, and thanks for the new tires.  We now have the safest car on the road.  Yesterday I witnessed 2 accidents on the way to the post office and we didn't slide once.  

Gingerbread House

Every year since Haley was 2 or 3 I have been making a Christmas Countdown Chain.  There is a link for every day from December 1st to the 24th.  On each link is a Christmas activity for the kids to do.  Sunday's activity was to make a gingerbread house.  It was fun as always.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

On Saturday, Mike and I put up the lights on the outside of our house.  It didn't take too long, because we really don't put too much up.  Unfortunately, the lights on the top of the tree aren't working, we'll have to figure that out.  Also, that ridiculous bush in front blocks half the lights on the porch.  Despite all that, I really do think it makes our house look festive.  Funny side note:  While we were putting up the lights on Saturday, the girls were playing in the back yard.  I heard dog barking and children screaming but I didn't go running because it really didn't sound like them.  Then I thought, maybe I should go check.  Well, our neighbor's dog had jumped the fence!  The girls were playing t-ball and the dog thought it looked like great fun.  The girls were TERRIFIED.  That is the downside of not having pets, the girls are just not comfortable with animals.  (Neither am I really, not growing up with pets either.  I do try to fake it around the girls though.)  The dogs owner was up on his roof putting lights on as well!  He couldn't do much more than yell at the dog.  The girls spent the rest of the afternoon inside.  Today, our neighbor came over and apologized and offered to have the girls meet the dog and spend some time with him, to hopefully overcome their fear.  How nice!

Here is our tree inside.  The girls helped quite a bit decorating it.  

Here is our mantle.  Look, the prophet is on TV!  

The banisters.  I sure love decorating for Christmas.  It is sure sad when it all comes down and your house looks empty.

A Thanksgiving to Remember

Why don't I have pictures of this year's Thanksgiving?  Let me tell you.  FOOD POISONING!  Not from the Thanksgiving turkey thank goodness.  But from ham.  Deli ham.  My family got here on Monday.  On Tuesday I served ham, along with turkey and chicken for lunch.  Late afternoon my brother Steven says he doesn't feel well and starts throwing up.  My dad follows soon after.  I go to my young women's activity and can feel it coming on.  I get home and I begin a lovely evening of sickness.  Mike gets it in the morning.  My brother Joe gets it Wednesday afternoon.  My mom and sister in law don't get it - they didn't have the ham.  Thank goodness because they took care of the rest of us.  Haley didn't have ham, we are not sure about Maya, but she did get slightly sick, so she may have had a little.  Now Caleb is a different story.  He was sick all week, but not from the ham.  He threw up and had diarrhea because of some virus.  He was sleeping on the pack and play in our closet so guests could sleep in his room.  Do you know what happens when your child throws up while sleeping in the pack and play?  It all soaks into the "mattress".  Delightful.  I was so excited about hosting this Thanksgiving and having my family come.  Too bad they will never come back to this sick house.

Note:  This will be the last post about throw-up, poop, diarrhea, etc...  I have looked back at recent posts and that is all I have to talk about apparently!  I have got to come up with something else to write about. 

Problems with Poop

Someday Maya will not be happy about this post.  But I have to record it so we can all remember and laugh!  So, I have two stories about Maya.  No pictures, thank goodness.  In the late summer when we took a trip to Colorado Springs, we stopped at the Air Force Academy.  We went to the visitor's center and then walked around on campus and looked at the cathedral.  On the way back to the car, which was about a 10 minute walk from the campus Maya says she needs to poop.  We are no where near a bathroom.  We get to the car and she starts crying, "It's coming out!"  Well what do you do?  Let her mess her pants?  We chose to have her drop her pants in the grass in front of our car and leave her mess there.  Of course the parking lot was deserted right until Maya started doing her business and then a car drove up.  Mike tried to block her with his body and I could not stop laughing.  

Yesterday we were invited over for a playdate at a friends house from preschool.  After lunch Maya said she had to go to the bathroom and so did her little friend.  They went into the bathroom together.  Her friend came out a few minutes later with a piece of toilet paper saying that she needed help picking something up.  Her mom went to the bathroom to see what was wrong and right about then we both realized that Maya had pooped on the ground.  I go in there and Maya is sitting on the toilet but the poop is on the bathroom rug.  What?  I ask her what happened and she says that she was sitting on the toilet but her poop shot out and landed on the ground.  How do they make this stuff up?  I asked her several times if she pooped before she made it to the toilet, but she stuck with her original story.  I was more than embarrassed at the time, but now I can't stop laughing about it.  

We may never be invited back to the Air Force Academy or the friend's house again.

The First Snow

This is what we saw when we woke up this morning.  The girls were thrilled to say the least.  I just thought, crap, didn't get the snow tires on early enough.  My tires are in bad shape.  I slide all over the place in the snow.
Later on Maya came out to stomp in the snow.  After she finished in the front, I sent her in the back to go on a "treasure hunt" for the lids to our sand and water table that had blown off and then got covered in snow.  She thought it was great fun, and I didn't have to go out in the cold.  Win Win!
 

We have a fish

We received this fish as a gift.  We have actually had it for going on 5 months now.  I am so not a pet person, and have grudgingly fed and cleaned up after this fish.  Well, Mike mostly feeds and I mostly clean, but I definitely have the harder job.  I have to admit I will not be sad when this fish dies.  It should happen soon, right?  It's been 5 months!  I know, I'm awful.

Anyway, this fish was originally named Goldie.  Then a few days later Maya changed its name to Cinnamon.  It went as Cinnamon for quite a while until one day Maya told me, "Mom, Cinnamon has a last name.  It's Life."  So now, it goes by its full name, Cinnamon Life.

A first time for everything

Yesterday Maya complained to me that her stomach hurt.  I wasn't really concerned because she usually tells me that 10 times a day.  Later it moved on to, "I'm going to throw up."  We spent some time at the toilet and got out the throw up bowl, but no success.  (As an aside - the throw up bowl when I was growing up was an old cool whip tub.  It always grossed me out to read food words on the label when I was sick.  Why, mom?  Why a cool whip tub?)  So, we get in the car to take Haley to gymnastics class.  I DIDN'T BRING THE BOWL.  Do you know where this is going?  Maya falls asleep on the way, we drop Haley off, and then head to a store.  On the way to the store, Maya wakes up and says the dreaded words, "I need to throw up."  I don't have anything to catch it and I am driving.  I grab a baby wipe and tell her to try to throw up in that.  Ha!  So, she covers herself and her seat and the floor mat in front of her.  We drive home where I have 30 minutes to clean the car and Maya before we have to go back and get Haley.  I put Caleb in his crib with toys and took Maya's clothes off her and sat her in an empty tub.  (After I cleaned the car, I came back and bathed her).  I put Maya's clothes and the car seat cover in the washing machine and then went out to the car.  I threw away the floor mat, scrubbed her seat, car seat, and the carpet.  I thought I did a good job until we picked up Haley and she said, "What stinks?"

BOO!

Jazzing Up Pumpkins

This year we had a lot of fun with pumpkins.   And by "a lot of fun" I mean Mike and I did all the work and the kids had all the fun.  Haley painted this pumpkin at her art class.  It is a skeleton.  Looks like it has a couple of blacked-out teeth.

This is Mike's creation.  We watched a show on the food network about carving pumpkins and he saw people carving the flesh without cutting holes in the pumpkin.  So, that is what he decided to do.  I think it turned out pretty cool.

Here is Haley's.  And by Haley's I mean that she picked out the design and Mike did all the carving.  

And here is mine, oh, I mean Maya's.  Pay no attention to the disfigurement of that poor spider.  She lost part of a leg.

New Look!

I love the new look of my blog.  I wish I could print it out and make curtains or pillows out of it!

Decastified

My cute Maya got her casts off on Monday.  Right after they took them off, the physical therapist lowered Maya onto the ground from the exam table and Maya almost fell down!  She was pretty wobbly.  She even said, "I think I need to put my casts back on."  It has been 3 days now and she is doing great.  Her walking motion isn't very fluid yet.  She still clomps around, or even shuffles a bit, like she is wearing casts.  But, she isn't walking up on her toes.  She had gymnastics on Tuesday, the day after she got the casts off, and I saw her go up on her toes once.  She was walking up an inclined mat.  Now I know I often go up on my toes when I walk up things, especially the stairs, so I hope that was a normal and okay thing.  I haven't seen her do it since.

Her calfs are about half the size they used to be.  Sometimes she complains that her ankles or heels hurt.  I think it will take a while to get her strength and fluid motion back.
She said after her casts were off, "My feet are free!"  However, she doesn't pronounce the "f" sound well so it sounded like, "My peet are pree!"

A fun trip to a Pumpkin Patch

On Saturday we took a trip to a pumpkin patch.  It was sunny and warm!  We went with fun friends Wes, Cath, and baby Jake (I think my girls will always call him baby Jake even when he's five).  They had some carnival type rides the girls loved.

Look at all the fun things you can still do with casts on!

You have to take these pictures or you are a bad parent.

Look!  Real pumpkins!  Maya had dirt between her toes after tramping through this pumpkin patch with her casts on.

I got to carry Caleb in the backpack since Mike's back hurt.  Now my back hurts too.  That kid weighs 25 pounds.  That is as much as a 2 year old.  Learn to walk boy!

The Worst Pumpkin Patch Trip Ever

On the Wednesday following our fun family trip on Saturday, Maya's preschool class took a field trip to a pumpkin patch.  We had just been, but I thought, you can't get enough of the pumpkin patch, right?  This isn't a load the yellow school bus kind of field trip.   Parents are the transportation.  So, Haley was off-track and I loaded up all 3 kids and we drove 1 hour north to this farm/pumpkin patch.  I knew it was going to be cold before we went, but it was also going to be sunny, and that helps a lot.  I had to go to Target the night before to get Caleb a hat and gloves.  So we get there and it isn't just cold (about 35 degrees) it is WINDY.  Like blow your 3 year old over windy.  Plus, we were told to be there at 9:30 AM.  I was there right on time, only to discover that we were told to be there at 9:30 to give time for all the late folks to get there by 10:00.  So we stood outside waiting for 30 minutes before we got started.  Why do I have to suffer for being responsible?  Then we piled into some sort of tractor garage and an employee told us about the things they grow on the farm.  Then we jumped on a wagon/tractor ride to the pumpkin patch.  Now, I don't think there were actually any pumpkins in the patch.  Just small gourds.  So we all picked out a greenish, bumpy gourd and then got back on the wagon.  Mind you all this time the wind is blowing us over and blowing dirt in our eyes.  And Caleb literally cried from the minute we exited the car.  He was miserable.  We were then on our way to the farm/play area.  They had some animals to see and kid activities.  We scarfed down some animal crackers that actually quieted Caleb down, but then Haley started crying about being cold.  We glanced at the animals on our way out.  I load the kids in the car and realize I have forgotten our wagon back at where we got on the big wagon/tractor.  So, a friend watches the kids while I run back and find that the wagon is gone.  I find an employee and she tells me they moved it over to the farm/play area so we would have it when we got off the wagon/tractor!  Thanks for telling me!  Now I have to go back there, grab the wagon and then go all the way back to the car.  Despite the frigid weather, I was sweating when I got back.  I brought the camera but never had a second to take a picture.  All my time was spent holding a bawling 1 year old and wiping his nose with my gloves because my kleenex blew away. 

Butterflies!

We have a giant, wild, and unruly bush in front of our house.  We also have one in the back, but it is a little more tame.  I don't even know what kind of bush it is.  It is very common here with the desert landscaping theme that most people have.  Anyway, I really don't like this bush, but it blossoms in the early fall and attracts butterflies like crazy.  This bush literally had 50 butterflies on it.  We went outside to hang bird feeders that Haley and Maya had made at Haley's fall party at school and the butterflies swarmed us.  It was pretty cool.  And slightly scary.  I should have put in my previous post that I do have a totally ridiculous fear of butterflies.

6 random things about me - I've been tagged!

My friend Rachel tagged me.  How exciting.  The first time I have been tagged.  So, here we go.

1.  I have a really bad memory.  I love to read but forget the plots and details about books very soon after I read them.  I often don't even remember if I've read the book period.  Reading is like an escape for me.  I do it to get away from my real life of diaper, dishes, and dirty clothes.  I'm not reading to write a book report or discuss it.  

2.  I had 4 different jobs while I was at BYU.  My first job was at the Cannon Center, the cafeteria for Helaman Halls.  I served food and then cleaned up.  My least glamorous job ever.  Then I worked as a janitor at the HFAC (Harris Fine Arts Center).  Vacuumed,  emptied trash cans, cleaned chalk boards, dusted.  At least I didn't have to do bathrooms.  This job also began at 4:30 AM and went until 7:30 AM.  Second least glamorous job ever.  Then I got a job as a teacher's aide in an elementary school in Provo (can't for the life of me remember the name of the school, darn memory).  I worked in the special ed room and had kids of my own that I taught.  I even had my name on a plaque outside the door.  Pretty cool for a kid still in college.  A lot of the kids there spoke Spanish as their first language.  My most memorable moment was when one little boy told me "Miss Harvey, you drive a cool car, man."  Imagine that said with a spanish accent.  My maiden name was Hardy and I drove a Saturn.  My last job was for the telefund.  I got to call alumni and ask them for money.  It was actually a really fun job and we had the best boss who would take us to Wendy's for Frostys if we met our goal that night.  I even got promoted to assistant supervisor!  Which meant I got to listen into other people's calls and tell them what they were doing right and wrong.  So, now when I get those calls as a BYU alumni, I always pledge.

3.  I don't have a lot of simple addition and subtraction math facts memorized.  Like 6 + 8, hmm, I'd have to think about it.  In elementary school I was taught to imagine dots on the numbers and then count them to add or subtract.  We were never required to memorize.  So, I am a 29 year old who doesn't know what 6 + 8 is without imagining it in my head with dots on it and counting them up.

4.  I bought a car before my sophomore year at BYU with the help of my parents.  It was that cool Saturn I talked about before.  The funny thing is that it was a manual transmission, and I had no idea how to drive a stick.  Isn't that a great idea, to buy a car you don't know how to drive?  I think my parents have some great video of me learning.

5.  I got married when I was ....... 19!  

6.  For the past year, I have been craving anything with pumpkin in it.  It all started when Caleb was born.  My friend Rachel brought me some pumpkin bread with chocolate chips.  I ate 3/4 of the loaf.  My mom, while she was staying with us when Caleb was born, made pumpkin cheesecake.  Since then, about once a month I've got to make something with pumpkin, whether its bread, cookies, or bars.  Man, I love it.  

Okay, now is the part where I'm supposed to tag other people.  Seeing that I've been blogging for like 1 month, and I think 3 people read my blog, this might be interesting.  Here it goes, Libby, Amy Simiskey, Amy Fish, Janna, Tracy, and Kara.

We'll see how that goes.

The Birthday Celebration

I made this "cake" for Caleb's birthday.  As you can see it is just cupcakes in the shape of a number 1.  You can barely tell that I put his name on the bottom row of cupcakes.  I was pretty happy with how it turned out and it couldn't have been easier.  When Haley turned 1 I felt the need to make the cake and frosting from scratch.  Let me tell you, it was not as good as a boxed cake mix and frosting out of a tub.  I won't ever make that mistake again.
Caleb enjoyed his cupcake.  He is not much of a mess in this picture, but he did end of breaking the cupcake into lots of little pieces and swiping them off his tray.  He loved the frosting the best.
Here is the whole family.  We couldn't get Caleb to smile for any picture!  He got lots of fun presents.  Clothes, toys, books.  He got a little basketball hoop which the girls loved.  It is set up in our empty dining room.  Maya kept doing slam dunks and yelling "touchdown"!  

Evolution of a Baby

Today is Caleb's first birthday.  Look at how big that boy is.  I caught him practicing his new trick, climbing the stairs.  I try to let him when I have a second to follow him up.  He has been slow with his gross motor skills, so I need to let him practice.  But he has made giant strides in the last few weeks.  He has started crawling on his knees (he was still just army crawling before), pulling up to furniture, and now climbing stairs.  He likes to try to walk between Mike and I, and has taken a few steps on his own.  We are so proud of him.

I keep thinking to myself "last year at this time I was..."  I was admitted to the hospital the night before he was born.  I was strep B positive, and they wanted to make sure I got antibiotics before he was born.  My labor with Maya was only 4 hours, so they were concerned I wouldn't have enough time for antibiotics.  So, we got to the hospital at about 8 pm and they gave me an iv of fluids and antibiotics.  Mike went right to sleep but I was up all night peeing.  They really gave me a lot of fluids!  Literally every 20 to 30 minutes I had to go.  At about 3 or 4ish I started having contractions.  Now, they were supposed to induce me in the morning, so this was pretty funny.  After a few, I woke Mike up and we called a nurse.  If I remember right they checked me and I was a 6, so they thought things might go fast.  My doctor couldn't come in because she was at home with her kids while her husband was at the hospital giving me my epidural!  It was a good one too.  I took a drink while I was lying flat and coughed and that broke my water!  So, then they really thought it was going to go fast and they brought in all the birthing stuff.  But then it kinda slowed down.  My doctor came in around 9ish and then I finally had Caleb at 9:57.  He was 8lb 11oz and 21 1/2 inches long.  Giant baby!

Look at how he has grown!  Sure love this guy.  He brings a lot of joy into our home.  I can't believe he is one year old now!  We are actually going to celebrate tomorrow since I have a young women's activity tonight and Mike can't get home early enough to party it up before I have to leave.  The girls are a little concerned about this, but I don't think Caleb will mind.

Chuck E. Cheese

Every month, Maya's preschool class takes a field trip.  In September, the field trip was to Chuck E. Cheese.  I wasn't really excited about going.  Usually it is a packed mad house.  And usually you see some poor child getting smacked around or yelled at by a parent.  At least that is my usual experience.  But Maya really wanted to go.  So, we went and it was actually great.  It was mostly empty except for her class.  We did some fun rides and Maya and Caleb had a blast.

I don't know how I got lucky enough to get Caleb's face in this picture.  Hilarious.

New Casts

This cute little girl got new casts this week.  These are the last casts (hopefully) and after she gets them off in 2 weeks, we will be back to normal!  I am praying she doesn't go right back to tippy toe walking.  
Life hasn't been too tough in casts.  Baths are a little more difficult.  But, the one great thing is no shoes!  She has little strap on sandal type shoes she wears with her casts.  We are usually a no shoes in the house family, but she slides all over on the hard wood floors without them on.  So, she always has her shoes on (except in the pictures!) and we don't have to look for and then put on shoes every time we leave the house.  It is great.