It's Monday!!!!!

What a GREAT day!!! It has been so productive :) I am going to steal the Marine saying and declare that "homeschooling moms get more done before 8 am than most people get done all day!"

But before I ramble about our amazing morning I must discuss this awesome weekend. My baby boy turned 4 years old on Saturday!! We celebrated by making a cake of his choosing (chocolate with chocolate frosting and m-n-m's on top--can you tell he likes chocolate?). We also went to Pizza Hut for dinner. He had a great time!!

Here is a picture of my big boy :)

Now back to today :) It has been a great morning!!! I love starting the day thinking and meditating on God. This sentence really inspired me this morning- "Never will He hold your hand more tightly than when He is leading you through the dark." How true!!! God is great!

I also love starting the day with my sweetheart. As you all know Aaron is awesome! I just love that man :)

After that, the morning just kept getting better :) We finished a bunch of school before we even had breakfast. The boys spent part of the morning watching a documentary on raptors. After which they had an assignment to make a raptor out of craft materials. Joshua did a great job!! Here is a picture of his creation! The raptor is on top of the couch. It is going to eat the rabbit (notice the big green ears and the white tail). The box is a bird blind.

Here is a picture of his raptor. It is SO COOL!

Later today we are goig to read Miss. Piggle-Wiggle, Charlotte's Web and work on Spanish. Joshua is also going to write a dialogue between two characters from books he has been reading (he gets to choose what book and which characters).

He just finished his dialogue and I had to share it with you. He chose the character's Wilbur (from Charlotte's Web) and Frog (from Frog and Toad).--"hello" said Frog. "hello" said Wilbur. "You look tasty" said Wilbur. "yum yum yum yum" (Wilbur is eating Frog) Frog said "throw up Wilbur so I can get out." "No" said Wilbur. That’s the end of Frog.--

I am off to spend time with my little princess :) I hope you have a great day!!

Yeah!! WoooHooo!!!!! (and a bunch of other loud happy noises)

I took Elliana in to have her oxygen checked this morning....(drumroll please)....it was 96!!! She should be as good as new in a few days :) (I am doing the happy mama dance right now!)

Say a prayer for Elliana

Our little princess is not feeling well. The flu has been attacking every member of our household for the past week. Elliana seems to be struggling to fight it off. This morning she started really coughing and struggling to get her air. At 7 am she coughed so much that she vomited :( So we had her at the doctor this morning. They are excellent and did a great job taking care of our baby.

They listened to her lungs and heard a lot of noise. They checked her oxygen level and it was 93 (should be 100). They did a breathing treatment and took a chest x-ray (to check for pneumonia). They checked her oxygen again and it had dropped to 90. They then waited a bit and took it again and it was 93. So the breathing treatment did nothing to help her. The chest x-ray came back ok (some junk but not pneumonia).

At this point we are at home treating her with a nebulizer (may or may not do anything). If she gets worse or has more coughing episodes they are going to admit her to the hospital.

So please say a prayer for our little princess. She is so sweet and beautiful even when she is sick.

I miss Lance Armstrong!! I miss France!!

For those of you not married to a Nascar fan you may not know that today is a national holiday. At 1 pm a bunch of cars will drive around in a circle, really fast, in Daytona.

I must admit that I am not a huge fan (can you tell??). To me it is a tad boring. I would rather be out cycling or doing something that requires expending energy. But I have two boys and an amazing husband who sit and watch the Tour de France with me (which is SOOO awesome). So I watch cars go in circles for them. Plus the wrecks are kind of cool!

In my attempt to get into what my family enjoys I did the girl thing and made special food for the occasion :) Here are the car subs we had for lunch...

We also celebrated the first race of the season with cupcakes, little smokies, chocolate chip cookie bars, cherry coke and Joshua HAD to have a Pepsi to drink during the race (he is a Jeff Gordon fan).

So as I sit here listening to the sounds of cars going in circles, I will smile and dream of the Tour de France :) Did I mention my road bike has recieved it's tune-up and is ready for spring :) WooHoo! It is in the garage taunting me...

Update: Joshua is standing up right now with his hat off and head bowed during the prayer that starts the race :) Aaron took a picture, I will post it later...

My little girl took her first two steps to me last week!! She likes to walk while holding my hand :) I just adore her. Here is a close up of her new walking shoes...Yeah I know, they are adorable!

Happy Valentines Day from the Nelson's!!!

At about 7 am we opened up our family "love bag". We sat in a circle on the living room floor and opened up our treasure. We read our letters first. It was enough to bring a tear to this mama's eyes. Joshua had made valentines for everyone in the house and included hand drawn pictures on each one :) The boys liked their valentine letters and of course thier heart shaped box of chocolates. It was a wonderful way to start the morning :)

Valentines Day is a great time to remember the love we have for one another. But it is also an important time to remember the love that He has for us.

Enjoy your Valentines Day!!!
Amy

And Another One Bites The Dust :)

Joshua has lost his second tooth!! WoooHoo!! I can remember when he didn't have any teeth :)

It is bitterly cold outside and the snow is falling. But in my house it is warm and roasty toasty. It helps to have kids to snuggle (they are really good heaters!).


Joshua has been learning some new material in school this week. He is working on common nouns, proper nouns and adverbs. I am sure I did not learn this stuff in first grade. Times have definately changed. I think the big difference is that now we know that kids can learn material that in the past was seen as too difficult.


But there is always time for fun. Here is a picture of the Nelson Rock and Roll Band :)
A cool thought for your Tuesday...I think heaven will be heaven because He will be there, but He thinks it will be heaven because you will be there. No matter what time of night you roll over in bed, you will catch God in the middle of a thought about you.- Beth Moore (she rocks!)

Happy Valentines Day!!

Joshua has already filled up the love bag with notes for all of us. He informed us that now we have to write him love notes :)

This week will be a normal school week. Although we will be adding a cooking lesson to our daily work onThursday. We will be making and frosting cupcakes for Valentines Day. It is going to be a wondeful day! I get to spend it with everyone I love :)

Joshua has started reading Charlotte's Web to me everyday. He is a GREAT reader.

Here is a picture of Asher and Elliana watching a thunderstorm during school...

This is a picture of Joshua taking a math test...

Pictures!!! and an update on us :)

It has been a hectic year so far. So many exciting things have been happening in a short period of time. It is always hopping in our house :)

First of all Joshua lost his first tooth!! He is very excited and couldn't wait for the tooth fairy to come for a visit. Aaron and I have been enjoying Joshua's thoughts on the world around him. He is always thinking of some great adventure.

Asher is his same old silly self. We just adore that boy. During swimming lessons he kept asking Aaron "does my hair look ok?". He must be the only 3 year old that is concerned about his hair. :) Although you couldn't tell that from the picture below...

Elliana is just beautiful. Her smile just takes my breath away. She is crawling everywhere, pulling up on everything and even walking with her walker. Her first steps going solo will be happening soon :) She stills says "Hi" and "Hello". She also says "Uh-Oh" when she drops things. She is a beauty!

Aaron is working hard as usual. He is doing great at State Farm. I don't know what they would do without him. :) I am having a blast trying to keep up with my busy family. Below is a picture taken of me by my adorable husband. He thinks he is so funny :) I need to sneak up on him sometime and get a picture for the blog (check back soon!).

Valentines day is fast approaching :) We have created our annual "Love Bag". For those of you in the dark on this tradition let me explain. We celebrate Valentines day by writing letters to one another and placing them in the "Love Bag". Mom and dad also add some little gifts for each of the kids. Then on Valentines day we open the bag and read our cards and celebrate our families love for one another. It is a great time to think about how thankful we are to God for the family He has given us. Here is a picture of our "Love Bag"...

It is Wednesday so Aaron and I will be sporting our Cubbie shirts and heading to Awana. It is a great family activity. Hope you all enjoyed the pictures!!