Christmas at the Nelsons

Highlights of Christmas: 

1.  Christmas Eve: we acted out the Nativity story about 6 times.  Then, Kiera insisted on wearing her Mary attire to the resturant where we went to celebrate Steve's birthday.  We got some chuckles.  She also took a nap with her Mary attire on. 

2.  Kiera and Lydia were SOOO excited for santa.....until bedtime on Christmas eve.  Then they were scared to death of the idea of a fat bearded man coming in our house during the night.

3. Lydia ran into a piano and hit her head really hard.  I was holding her immediately afterwards and she had what looked to me like a siezure that lasted for about 5-7 seconds.  But a good source informed me that she probably just passed out.  Either way it scared me to death.

Kiera's 4 year picture

Thanks Sears for the free photo. 

Melt my heart

There are only 2 nights a week that I'm home from work and get to participate in the little lady night time routine.  On those nights I have like to have prayers, "cuddle time" and sing to my girls.  Tonight I put Lydia to bed before Kiera. Kiera announced that SHE wanted to put Lydia to bed all by herself.  So, I left the room and Kiera climbed in bed to have cuddle time with Lydia (of course I'm listening at the door).  Kiera asked Lydia "did you  have I nice day?"  "what fun things did we do today?"  Then she sang Lydia a primary song, gave her a kiss, tucked her in, and told her "if you open the door I'm going to take you blanket away.  I love you.  Goodnight"  and she came out.  So sweet. 

Enjoy the snow, and then go home.

Until this year, Kiera has always been scared to death of the snow.  But this year we had a blast in it while in Utah.  What fun!  Sledding, snow angels, snowmen, and my favorite was Kiera and Lydia laying on their bellies eating the snow. 

Fun to play in it and then fun to go home to So Cal to 75 degree weather! 

Thanksgiving traditions

Turkey Piniata

Pumpkin Pie!!

Going to a movie. This was Kiera and Lydia's 2nd movie theater experience but on the first sucessful experience.

Fun with Grandma Bev

Turkey Bowl

kiera's birthday

Better late than never posts:  Kiera turned 4 November 22nd.   We had a little friend party for her combined with her little friend Baily who was turning 3.  She enjoyed it.  I love how magical birthdays are for 4 year olds.

Silver Lining on a grey cloud

Friday morning I had a mild cold and was informed by my employer that I wouldn't be able to work for the entire weekend.  This news was very discouraging for me since we need the work to keep up with our finances.  But within 2 minutes of getting that news, I got the news that my grandma who is in Utah was doing very poorly and would most likely die soon.  Split second decision:  I'm going to Utah today.  I couldn't have taken it off work, so having a cold was a huge blessing.
My grandma passed away 24 hours after I arrived in Utah.  I was able to see her, express my love and say goodbye.  Another huge tender mercy was the timing of her death.  Many of her grandchildren who lived far away and she hadn't seen in years were able to come and say goodbye because of the fact that they were already around for thanksgiving. 
My grandma was a wonderful person.  She was a model of service and love.  She taught 1st grade for over 20 years. We sat and counted the people who came to visit her the day I arrived: 44.   I loved her and will miss her. 
I'm so grateful for the chance I had to say goodbye and be with family during this time.  I know that she is in a better place with those who have died before her and I'm very grateful for that peace. 

Dancing in the street

Kiera is my child who refuses to go sing on the stand with the rest of the primary.  She is scared of everything, but for some reason dancing in front of hundreds of people who are waiting for the Disneyland Christmas Parade isn't intimidating at all.  They had quite an audience with people taking pictures and everything.

Halloween pictures

I missed out on the Saturday night Halloween activities since I was working.  But Steve took the girls to the ward truck-or-treat.  Kiera was a nice big sister and carefully taught Lydia how to do it.  Pictured above you can see what was supposed to be their Halloween costumes, but apparently the last minutes before they left for the party they decided to change outfits (a frequent occurrence in our household--we usually go through at least 4 outfits a day per girl).  Oh well.  They definitely looked like daddy dressed them at the party, but they had fun!!

Groneman Halloween Party

The Groneman Halloween Party was a hit.  Lots of fun food, games costumes.  I love Halloween.

Pumpkin Patch

This is the time of year I'm not so fond of living in southern California.  Autumn is my favorite season and we have no autumn here.  So, I very much enjoy going to a pumpkin patch to try to get that great autumn feeling.  Tons of fun!

Interesting smells

I have some pear smelling perfume that sometimes I let Kiera wear. Today she came in to find me and said "mommy- I smell like a pear!" I told her that she was not allowed to use mommy's perfume without asking.

Later she asked me "mommy can I smell like a pear?" I said yes and went to grab my perfume. she picked up our spray gel before I noticed what she was doing and drenched herself with spray-gel. Hey, at least it wasn't my perfume. Although it does make her rather sticky.

Oregon

Ok, so I realized we didn't take many pictures while we were up there. Particularly because we loaned our good camera away for a while. Too bad, it is a BEAUTIFUL place. Kiera said,"they have lots of Christmas trees here! They have lots of clouds here!" I guess we don't see many clouds where we live through the smog.

The purpose of our trip was so Steve could interview for Dental jobs. He had 2 interviews, which was exciting. It is nice to know that the end is near and the reward is coming. What a great place!

Romance for a 3 year old

Apparently, I'm a mother-in-law. Kiera informed me this week that she and Elmo got married. Elmo gave her a red plastic ring and they are married. She told me "so mom you have to be nice to my husband because I love him". Great.

Overheard today from the room where Kiera was playing: "You have to be patient. It's not your turn, I'll marry you in a minute. I have to marry all of these princesses first"

Kiera knows were married in the temple but I'm pretty sure getting for her just means you dress up and walk somewhere together (down the aisle, across the room, etc.) Anyway, she's got marriage on the mind right now so all you parents with 4 year old boys, watch out.

Dr.'s office woes

When I took Kiera and Lydia in for their well-child checks today they were both moderately sick already. They had temps of 99 and 100.

After waiting in the doctors office for 90 minutes I was going crazy. I'd pulled out every game/song and trick to entertain 2 sick girls. We were pretending the floor was a river with an alligator in it when the nurse finally came in to give the shots.

Woe is Kiera: Finger prick and 1 shot.
Woe is Lydia: Finger prick and 4 shots
Woe is Kiera: Vomiting in the garbage can while Lydia is getting her shots
Woe is me: Running back and forth between screaming Lydia and vomiting Kiera.

After it was done Kiera was very noticeably white as a ghost. We sat in the waiting room for 10 minutes trying to get some color back in her face before we walked out to the car.

Luckily I had asked for a bag just in case. Good thing too because Kiera vomited again on the car ride home (luckily she got it mostly in the bag). All the while Lydia is wailing "hurt! Owies! Leg! Hurt!"

Poor little ladies and poor me.

Lydia turns 2 and Utah trip

Although the goals of our Utah trip were not fulfilled, we had quite an enjoyable time in Utah. My girls always love to see "Jamps and Jadma" and "pway in the Pwayhouse" and "jump on the jumpoline". We missed Steve severely but it was fun to visit family.






Lydia turned 2 while we were in Utah. I paid for her ticket for the way back but I wish I wouldn't have since not even once out of our 4 flights did they ask to see her birth certificate. When I inquired they said "she looks like she isn't anywhere near 2". Her paid-for seat was left empty since she was asleep in my arms. GRRRRRR
I threw Lydia's birthday cake together in 5 minutes. We had trifle and put a portion of a cake on top with a princess toys and some frosting flowers made in 1989 and there you have it: birthday cake that pleases a princess and is yet tasty to eat.