October is here !

We are enjoying the fall weather! The boys are having a blast playing outside. This weekend we picked out pumpkins at a local pumpkin patch. It was so much fun. The boys liked playing in the hay fort the best. Joshua pretended he was George Washington fighting the American Revolution. Asher was getting the bad guys in the Revolution. We also got together with the cousins. Always a hit at our house!

And the big news of the day...Elliana is sitting up on her own!!!! She decided to show off and perform this act in front of Aunt Leah and Uncle Eric. We need to see them more often :)

This week Joshua will continue learning about flowers, bees and seeds. We also start reading Homer Price tomorrow. The field trip for this week will be going to see the Nina which is docked in Peoria. Aaron is going to go with us so he can impart his wisdom on his sons. I am not a history person.

Hope you all have a great week!

Amy the cow

Yep Amy is a cow...a Jersey cow. My boys petted her nose today :) The boys enjoyed their field trip to the dairy farm. They were able to pet some adorable calves (including Amy, although we thought Abbey was cuter), They also fed them by a bottle. They then climbed in the hay, fed older cows and ended the trip by milking a cow. Yep, even Asher tried milking. It was adorable:) If only I had remembered to bring my camera...

Joshuas favorite part of the field trip was climbing in the hay. Asher enoyed giving the calves a bottle. Elliana slept through the whole thing :)

Oh My Elliana :)

Elliana is almost 6 months old. Aaron and I have been having the same thoughts lately (it's freaky how often that happens!).

We have been thinking about my pregnancy and how rough it was for me. All the morning sickness, pills, bed rest, early labor. And also how sick Elliana was when she was born. These are a couple pictures of her in the nursery. It was so hard for us to leave her there.

Those 7 days were very hard on us. Yet all we have to do is look at that beautiful face and it was all worth it. Every pill, every time I felt nauseous, all 7 days in the hospital praying for healing. They were all worth it. We would do it all again a million times over. She is such a blessing. We cannot thank God enough for our children. They are so amazing.

Our week Ahead...

The boys have a field trip this week to a cheese factory. They will have a lot of fun.

Joshua will be learning about flowers this week in science. He will also be working on a book about how houses are different in different parts of the world. Last week he learned about mud houses in Africa. The boys are continuing their Spanish studies. They know about 40 words now. We are currently working on colors and household items. Asher enjoys his school. His handwriting is awesome!

The boys started Awana last week. It was a great start to what looks like a very fun year. Aaron and I both work in Cubbies and Joshua is in Sparks. Elliana hangs out with me while I work. It is a fun family time.

Elliana is talking more and more each day. This morning she woke up saying "za" over and over. We are very proud of her :)

What a life!

Life is going forward full speed here at the Nelson house. The new furnace is installed (took 5 hours!) and as a result our air conditioning is working again :)

My biking excursions are done for the year. I finished the year with a 33 mile ride last weekend. It was awesome! I can't wait until next summer :)

School for the week is almost complete. Joshua just has science and a spelling test today (he is an excellent speller!). After the hard work is done we are heading to the park for a few hours. Should be a packed day of fun and relaxation :) This is a picture of Elliana swinging at the park.
My amazing husband told me not to make dinner tonight. He refuses to give details as to what he is up to...he should know how impatient his bride is :) So I am anxiously awaiting 4 o'clock to see what he has up his sleeve.

The weekend will be packed with family time. Aaron's great-grandmother has a birthday party on Sat. and we get to see my family that day as well :) The boys are looking forward to seeing Grandma Sandy, Grandpa Dan and their cousins from Cambridge (and of course Micah and Rachel!).

My boy!

This is our Asher being both Buzz Lightyear and Batman at the same time :)

It's HOT!!!

Our furnace decided to die on us. Not a big deal, we were planning on this happening sometime soon. What we were not planning on was it taking the ac with it. Somehow our air conditioning stopped working as a result of our furnace going out. (It will work again when we get our new furnace put in today.) So we sit in a hot house until the wonderful workers come and save us.

We actually had a great time suffering in the heat yesterday. Our night in shining armor (Aaron) came home from work and whisked us off for some window shopping and took us out to dinner. A perfect way to stay cool :)

Due to the impending arrival of our new furnace we are being forced to miss our field trip to learn about clams. :( However today will be fun for another reason..Awana starts tonight!! WooHooo! It is a family affair this year. Aaron is a Cubbie Leader and I am a Cubbie Secretary :) Elliana will be helping me with my secretarial duties :)

busy, busy, busy....

This is a busy week. This is what we have going on in school-

-Joshua is learning about water and its effects on our environment.
-We should finish Charlotte's Web this week (the boys love this book).
-Every week we learn about group or tribe of people that do not have the bible in their language. This is one of Joshua's favorite school books.
-We have a field trip at a nature center. The boys are going to learn about clams.
-I am going try and schedule a park day. This is a good time for us to chat about our studies and practice our Spanish.

We also start Awana this week. It should be a hectic and fun week. Of course we will take time to relax as well :)

Family Meals..

As you all know I am an avid biker. Meaning the idea of biking for 3 hours in the sun up hill just gets me all excited :) But you also know I LOVE to cook. These two interests have led to a big change in the Nelson household.

I am on a mission to rid my home of artificial colors, flavors, preservatives, nitrates and hydrogenated oils (they are so not healthy). Basically that means not buying anything pre-made (chicken nuggets, pancakes, frozen pizzas...) and also being picky about what ingredients I use when cooking.

Family meals have always been a must at our home but now they take on a different flare. Every meal is homemade. I cook from scratch every breakfast, lunch and dinner (did I mention I LOVE cooking). This way we can keep track of how much "junk" is getting into our food and our bodies.

This is important to us for health reasons but also because it slows down life. As a mom I think it is my job to slow down the pace of my families life. It is way to easy to get caught up in the "getting things done" attitude. My home is a place where my family stops and takes a rest from the hurried life outside our door.

So if I am not biking, cleaning, doing laundry or homeschooling...I am probably cooking :)

Our Family Vacation

We spent our vacation at home this year. Although we did not spend much time actually at home. We took three day long trips. First we went to the Quad Cities and visited the John Deere Pavillion (a favorite for the boys). We also ate at Happy Joys and Whitey's. It was a lot of fun.

We took a trip to Chicago to the Museum of Science and Industry. The boys loved seeing the U-505 (as did mom and dad). We went to dinner at the Rain Forest Cafe. Our family really enjoys eating there. The boys love all the animals. Here is a pictures from our Chicago trip. All the kids are sitting in front of the U-505 anchor.

Finally, we went to the Indianapolis Children's Museum. It was so fun. They have a great dinosaur exhibit. The kids had a blast playing and we had fun watching them. This is a picture of Joshua and I in the dinosaur exhibit. It is thundering and he is a little nervous (it was pretend thunder).

The fossils and casts of dino's were amazing. Here are the boys in front of a t-rex fossil.

They also had a place where the boys could dig for dinosaur bones. Joshua had so much fun digging. Asher had fun walking around exploring the museum with dad.

Besides the three day trips we took we also spent time playing at home. We went to Lake Bloomington to play and relax. Aaron and the boys skipped rocks and the kids had fun playing in the park. We ended our time with a picnic :) Below is a picture of the boys playing at Lake Bloomington.

This is a picture of Aaron and Elliana enjoying some time at the park.

It was a lot of fun running around on vacation but it was also pretty tiring. As you can see from

Ashers picture below...It was a great vacation. Aaron and I love spending time with our kiddos :) One of the things we really enjoyed was going out for ice cream. As you can see the boys loved it too....

I hope you enjoyed hearing about our vacation :)

The Week Ahead..

This week we start back at school. We took a week off for vacation. I will post pictures and details about our relaxing week at a later date (when I get the pictures :).

The boys have been doing great in school this year. Joshua is in first grade and Asher is in preschool. Both are using Sonlight curriculum. We added spanish this year which has been a lot of fun. Both boys know about 20 spanish words. We add 5 each week. It is really neat to hear them ask for their "las gafas de sol". For you non-spanish speakers that means sunglasses. Or when I say "hey guys I see a horse" and Asher (the 3 year old mind you) replies "caballo you mean".

We start school promptly at 8 am and finish about 1:30 pm (this includes recess and lunch). Joshua is learning about different countries (money, language, food..). He is also studying water in science. We took a field trip to the water works in town (VERY cool). In addition he does the normal 1 st grade stuff (math, handwriting, reading). Asher is enjoying some great literature in his preschool program. He also loves art, handwriting and spanish.

After school they have a great time playing. As you can see from the following picture..




We are also enjoying a lot of church this week. We have services four nights in a row! :)

It is done..

This is the last picture of me with long hair. That's right, I cut it all off. It is now chin length :)

(I donated my locks to locks of love).

Of course the best part of the picture is my beautiful daughter.

We have a family Blog!!

Yeah! I am venturing into this new arena to keep family and friends updated on our family. I am sure I will be changing things as I learn how this all works (my hubby will be teaching me along the way). I will post current pictures and details about my wonderful family soon. :)

Just to get started I will post a picture of my amazing daughter Elliana. She just turned 5 months old and she is awesome. She has a beautiful laugh and smile (as you can see).