Voting Fun

I always gain more pride for our town of Johnson when it is voting day. I love going to the little city hall and voting with all the locals. It makes me feel like I live in a small country town, even though it is essentially part of the Fayetteville/Springdale area.

The joys of small town voting is speed. I left my house (with 2 children), voted and got back home within 15 minutes. Record time for me going anywhere with my girls.

Within that brief time of voting, Emma made good enough friends with one of the old ladies working that she was able to enjoy a cookie from the workers stash. (and snag one for B as well) As we were walking out the door, I heard a few people say, "Bye Emma!"

As many of you know, she is not a shy girl and has never met a stranger. I love it! She is the total opposite of me at this age and the exact same as John. She IS a Nelson, but apparently looks a lot like me.

A Very Gender-Balanced Day

Today was very gender-balanced for me. Living a life with 4 girls (wife, 2 daughters, and female dog) makes like pretty...um...pink and frilly. The day started off on the manly foot: a trip to National Home Center & Lowe's. I spent the next 3 hours installing new doorknobs on all the doors in our house. Now, that may not sound manly to you, but in MY book, that counts. Big time. You see, I'm the least handy person, possibly ever. Todd and Josh can attest to this information. They're my go-to guys when I need info or help on doing anything remotely manly (except electronics, it's my only saving grace).


After replacing the doorknobs, I grabbed my camera gear (and my two beloved lenses) and went to grab some quick shots of the sunset. I found a nice spot that gave me some great sunset shots along with cow silhouettes, which is always a bonus! A couple of the shots turned out pretty cool. My favorite is this one to the left...cows are cool.


Now, the tipping point.


After dinner and putting Brooklyn to bed, Allison told Emma that we were ALL going to play one of her favorite games: Pretty Pretty Princess. If you're unfamiliar with the board game, it's essentially Trivial Pursuit. But where there aren't tough questions, and instead of winning little colored pie pieces, you win different pieces of jewelry. Travis is quite aware of this game. I am no longer a Pretty Pretty Princess virgin...I even won a game! Here's a pic of me and Emma after the first game (that Allison won). See how manly I look?


But the fun doesn't stop there, folks! After Emma went to bed, Allison told me she had DVR'd something fun. And by fun, she meant "it's girly". We spent the next 2 hours watching "Girls Just Want to Have Fun". The best thing about the movie was seeing Sarah Jessica Parker actually being cute. I mean, that girl's face has gone down hill since that movie. It's amazing what makeup can do...she sports a mole larger than De Niro!

So that was my day. Balanced nicely between manliness and girliness.

Snow Day

Emma and I went to play in the snow while B was taking her nap this morning. I realize that I am a bad Mom for not taking B to play too, but she really just doesn't have a good water proof jacket. That was the main reason we waited to go until nap time. The coat Emma wore is a 2T coat that I bought cheap one year before a big snow. It actually fit her pretty well besides the sleeves being to short. Here is our little snowman that we made and Belle enjoying her snow day too.

4 Years and 15 Months

I postponed Emma's 4 year check up a month, so that I could take her and Brooklyn at the same time. I knew going in that they were both going to have to get shots this time, so I told John to put it on his calendar. I needed back up! Of course, that was the day that John came down with the fever, so he was off the hook. I was not as worried about Brooklyn because she is not as aware about what is coming. Emma is a different story. I knew she wouldn't enjoy the shots, but I was just praying that she would not throw a drama queen fit for to long after the shots. I admit that I bribed her with a milkshake and a new game. (it was one that John and I got her for Christmas, but decided to save b/c she got to much on Christmas) She actually did really great! The nurses were awesome. We got there right before lunch so they were not very busy. One of the nurses actually came in to hold Brooklyn for me while I held Emma's hand. It was over quick and Emma was a champ. My tender hearted B took a little while to recover, but she did.

Both girls are completely healthy. Such a blessing and something I take for granted way to often. Thank you Jesus!
Here are their stats:
Emma: 41" tall and 36 pounds (can't remember the %)
Brooklyn: 29 1/2" tall and 21 pounds (somewhere b/t 25-50%)

Pitiful, but so cute!

Overdue Post

I should have written this on January 22nd, but I just haven't had the time to do it. My sweet husband deserves 10 gold stars for his role as "Daddy" and "Hubby" over the weekend of January 18th. I got whatever fever virus and then some that John had a few days before. My illness came in the middle of the night with fever, congestion, headache, aches, etc.......Like John said, fever stinks! I was completely laid up in bed on Saturday, was up a bit more on Sunday and a little better on Monday, but so thankful that John got MLK Day off. John was awesome and did so much! He took care of the girls every need and even mine. I have to say, I was pitiful. I would not have been able to function without his help. Thank you LOVE!
The saddest part of the weekend was that I was supposed to go to LR alone to see my sweet little niece that I haven't seen since the day she was born and I didn't get to go. Boo hoo! All of us are going next weekend and I can't wait!

Sharing Sucks

Brooklyn is old enough now (15 months) to want to do everything her big sister does. More specifically, she wants to touch anything Emma is touching. Which creates a sharing problem. Most of the time, it's actually pretty funny to watch them fight. They fight like girls.



Of course, we try to teach them how to share...if any parent says they've figured this out, they're lying. Sharing goes against the Total Depravity of mankind.

Sickness Seriously Sucks

It's been a fun week of sickness here at the Nelson house! I spent Tuesday through Thursday laid up in bed with a fever and the chills. I rarely get sick, and I have forgotten how dastardly a fever can be. It's amazing that one could feel so friggin' cold when you're body temp is 102. I literally slept in pants, socks, slippers, shirt, fleece pullover, and skull cap for 2 straight days. And if you have leg hair and sleep in socks, they're not good bedfellows...the hairs get bent a certain way if socks are worn too long, making the aftershock of sock removal quite painful. I did get to catch up on some movies I missed at the theater, though.

• Stardust: good flick. Willow meets The Princess Bride meets Big Fish.
• Die Hard 4: great flick. Bruce Willis is a stud.
• Pirates of the Caribbean 3: boring movie, but good ending.
• Shoot Em' Up: great flick. Lots of bullets and violence. I love Clive Owen.

Friday night, Allison came down with the fever, congestion, and lost her voice. She's slowly recovering, but is still without much energy. While she was laid up in bed catching up on her hundreds of DVR'd Oprah's, I hung out with the girls. We played around the house all day then went to McDonald's to burn some more energy and just get out of the house (the winter sucks). Brooklyn has some lovely green snot, so she's not allowed in the nursery at church...a much wanted and needed 2 hours that was unattainable. DRAT! More playing.

We were completely out of groceries, so I got the task of going to Wal-Mart and picking up some essentials to get us through. You'd think that working for 3 food companies in my career would make grocery shopping pretty easy, wouldn't you? It doesn't. I got groceries last night around 10:30 PM...thankfully it wasn't very crowded!

Today, I'm just surviving. Here's a video of what life is like at my house: pink and lots of dancing.
Emma will be our classically trained ballet dancer. Brooklyn will be our breakdancer. She tries to bust out a backspin and headspin.

Ballet Lessons

We signed Emma up for ballet lessons at church. It is a 10 week session of learning basic ballet moves and having some fun dancing. As you all know, Emma is not shy and loves to perform. The Mom's and girls sat in a circle the first night and were to go around introducing themselves and telling why they wanted to take dance. Most of the Moms introduced their girls, but mine wanted to do it herself.

Emma: "Hi, I am Emma Nelson. I have always been dancing!"

I had flashbacks to the movie, Girls Just Want to Have Fun, when Sarah Jessica Parker introduces herself to her class. It was great. Emma has loved it so far. She can do first, second and third position and has had fun dancing to silly songs with friends.

The First Week: A Review

Friday marked the end of my first week with Kellogg. I don't really find it fun to enter a completely new environment with all new people and so many unknowns. I like my comfort zones. However, after spending a week with my new co-workers, I don't think I have much to worry about...they're flat out wacky! And that's good for me.

I now have a Jeep Liberty, and that's pretty sweet! Though everyone tells me you should stop naming your cars in high school, I get very attached to my vehicles and have an inescapable need to name them (Harvey the Corsica, Geri the Uplander, Homer the Odyssey, etc). So, despite the retorts of friends and strangers, I am naming my Jeep, Jerry the Jeep. Not to be confused with Geri the Uplander (named as an abbreviation for geriatrics), Jerry is more for gramatical alliteration. Those are big words, I don't expect the haters to understand them.

I got the full tour of the office and got to meet most of the 60 employees in the office. Jumping from an office of 4 to 60 is quite difficult, especially with my penchant for forgetting people's names. Thankfully, every cube and office has a name plate...

I was also hazed and initiated at 4:30 PM on Monday. There is a small room with 2 foosball tables and a fan (it gets hot when the competition heats up!). They play with weird rules: no spinning and 4 balls at a time. First...I suck at foosball. Secondly, I suck worse when I can't spin. I lead me and my boss to a humiliating loss the first day. And in this room of competitive glory, the losers get a nice heaping of razzing. Usually, it takes the form of a skunk picture being placed on your door. I'm going to love this job!

So all in all, the first week was pretty great. I can't wait to dig in a start contributing more (both to work and to the foosball games).

A Trip to the Zoo

What to do on a warm January day? Pack up and head to the zoo! We loaded up the girls this morning and headed over to Tulsa to visit the zoo and enjoy the warm winter day. Though a bit windy, it was 70 degrees and sunny in Tulsa, and the animals were loving it!

I got a new lens for my camera this week, and got to put it to the test at the zoo. I'm pretty darned pleased with its performance thus far. However, the lens itself weighs 3 pounds, and got pretty heavy very quickly. Check out the pictures from our trip here.

Hope everyone got to get out and enjoy the great day!

Christmas 2007

I know I am late in posting this, but we have been traveling so much that I really haven't had time. We went to Mountain Home with John's family for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The Hannon's were there too and it is always fun to hang out with them for longer than just a dinner. The picture that I regret not taking was all 4 kids (We kept B in the pack n play!) sleeping in sleeping bags in Nana and GDad's room. It was pretty cute! We all got to much stuff! Emma's big gift from us was a Cinderella castle with all the princesses and princes included. We saw it while we were at Disney World and we ended up calling the store back to get it for her for Christmas. It has been a big hit. Santa brought Emma a new ballerina outfit for her dance lessons that she is starting on Monday at church. Brooklyn got some new books from Santa which she loves and we got her pull telephone that came back this year. John and I both had one when we were little. She also got some other little things. All the family was good to us. We always come home with too much stuff! John surprised me with a Kitchen Aid mixer! I was really surprised. I have wanted one since we got married, but just haven't wanted to fork over the money for it. It is pretty and silver! I bought John a back massager thing that sits in a chair. I know that sounds lame, but I promise he asked for it!

We came home for a few days and then traveled to Little Rock to do Christmas with my family. Again, we got a lot of fun things and to much of it! Emma's big gift was the Leap Frog Click Start Computer. She has really caught on to it and likes it a lot. She also got a fun Animal Hospital that both girls are enjoying. B got a little animal train that makes animal noises and moves. She LOVES it! While we were in LR, we got to get together with 4 other couples from our college days. We all hung out without kids and it was so fun. It had been way to long since we had all been together.

I came home briefly and then went back to LR with Emma for the birth of little Claire Bear. See the next post.

I couldn't decide on pictures, so I made a collage or our holiday. Happy New Year!

Claire Louise Gammill

My sister had her sweet little girl last night, January 2! It all worked out for Emma and I to drive to Little Rock to be there for Claire's birth. I was able to get last minute babysitters for Brooklyn during the day.

Cathy was a rock star. They started inducing her at noon and she was dilated to 1cm when she checked in. By 5:00 she was at 10cm. Very fast labor! My little Claire Bear is super cute. I can't wait to go down and stay longer.

She is a little thing: 5 lbs., 15oz and 17 inches long. I thought my 2 girls were small, but Claire beat them. She has a head full of dark hair. Here she is:

Mad Ballerina Skillz

The great thing about raising and living with all girls, is that you're surrounded by really funny stuff all the time. Because face it: girls are funny.

Emma is all about ballerina dancing. It involves lots of spinning, jumping, and random poses. Here is a video of her showing off her mad ballerina skillz.

And not to be left out of the picture, the soon-to-be-spotlight-sharer (aka Brooklyn), had to throw down and show off her mad dancing skillz. Hers involves mainly spinning moves, while trying to keep her hands above her head. She at least succeeds some of the time. Here is her video.

Enjoy.

Buggers

Yes, this is the Nelson's 3rd post for the day. Second for me. BUT, this was so worth blogging and it happened earlier tonight.
Emma has a little cold and has had to get "stuff" out of her nose quite a bit lately. She has actually been really good about going to get some toilet paper and not just picking the buggers. I guess she was to busy doing something else to take the time to go get a kleenex because I looked over at her and I see her picking her nose. I was talking to my Mom on the phone so I didn't say anything until I watched her purposefully go and wipe the bugger in Brooklyn's hair!!! What??? Yes, that is exactly what I said to her loudly-WHAT ARE YOU DOING?. My Mom was dying laughing and I was trying to hold the laughter in. I made her get it out of B's hair and take it to the bathroom. Gross!!!
John just told me that the post would be much better if I had taken a picture of the bugger in B's hair. Oh well. I will remember that for next time.

Happy Faces for Everyone!

It is currently 62 degrees in Springdale and beautiful!! We gave Emma a bike for her birthday (which was on the 5th) and she has not been able to ride it since then. It has just been to cold for all of us to get out and try it. Finally today, we tried it out and she did great! We were worried the wobbliness of the training wheels would bother her, but not a complaint was made by her.

We have all (including myself) been needing to get out of the house so it has been such a treat to get to play outside. Brooklyn screamed at the door when we came in to take naps. She screamed below the trampoline to get back up. She loves being outside. (don't look to closely at her mismatched snowman pj's and sweatshirt that she wore outside!)

Belle was so happy that we ventured outside with her. I had already walked her this morning in the freezing cold, but she is always up for some ball.
It has been a good day and a relief to do something different and be outside.

It's Grrrreeeaaat!!!

After a brief stint at TimeWarner working on the magazine category, I have been given a fantastic opportunity to move to Kellogg's. I begin on January 7th, and I'm pretty darn pumped about it. I'll be working under the title of Business Solutions Analyst on their Category team. Besides being a really great position, I'll be working for a guy I have a lot of respect for. Of course, I can't say I know him very well, but I expect my views of him will only increase.

I'm also excited about the Pop Tarts. Instead of free Martha Stewart Living magazines (aka Porn for Women), I'll hopefully be scoring some Frosted Flakes and Pop Tarts (aka, the Breakfast of Champions). Man, I love me some Pop Tarts!

Happy 4th Birthday Emma!!!

This is one of my favorite pictures from the past year. We are having a party this afternoon, so there will be more birthday blogging to come!
Happy Birthday Emma! We love you,
Daddy, Mommy, Brooklyn and Belle

Christmas Train

On Saturday, we took the girls on a train ride from Springdale to Rogers. Not just a train ride, but a train ride with Santa on board. Since both of our girls are three and under (Emma turns 4 tomorrow) we only had to pay for John and I. The money went towards the Children's Shelter and it was well worth it. We all had a great time. It was a fun Christmas treat.

P.S.
Sorry for the poor placement of pictures! I have 2 children at my feet and not enough time to mess with it!

Emma's Tree

We bought Emma a pink Christmas tree for her room this year. I would like for it eventually to just be a girly princess tree, but for now it is a Disney tree. I had a little tree in my room growing up that was decorated with Disney ornaments, so my Mom dug those out and let us use them for Emma. We had fun!
Take note of the Mickey Mouse Club ears at the top. Yes, I was a nerd and was an avid watcher of that show every day after school. (I watched in the days of Justin Timberlake, Brittney, Keri Russell) So much of a nerd, that I made the ears as my tree topper as a child.