Christmas

There is no better way to get into the Christmas spirit than decorating the house for the season.  Usually, on Thanksgiving weekend all the decorations come out and we transform our house.  This year I was a little late getting the decorating going.  However, once I pulled out the decorations and spread them all over the living room floor I told Curtis and Sadie to put the decorations wherever they wanted them to go.  We had to add a few rules:  You can't move decorations that the other person already placed.  If a certain decoration belongs to a certain person then said person gets to place that decoration. Etc...  Anyways, the kids found homes for all of the Christmas decorations and ornaments and this year I left everything just where they put it.  It's nice that they are old enough to decorate without having to re-arrange everything they have done.

One day I came home from school to find that Erik and the kids had found a tree, put it in the stand and strung the lights.  Holding the tree while Erik tightens the tree stand is one of my least favorite chores.  I was thrilled to find the tree in its stand.  And, now that I know Curtis can help Erik with this job I just might never hold the tree again!  Well, at least until the kids go off to college :).

Here’s the annual Christmas pose.  They weren’t too happy about taking a picture this year.  But I have to have a picture for the scrapbook.  J

Our first Christmas celebration takes place on December 23^rd with my side of the family.  We bake cookies, play games, eat enchiladas for dinner, eat cookies that we’ve been baking all day, open presents and stockings.  There are fourteen people at this gathering and we each take turns opening presents.  After someone opens a present they get to choose a present for the next person to open.  It might take a long time to get through all the gifts but it’s a lot of fun seeing what each person gets.  Sometimes, instead of opening an actual gift, my family likes to make people guess what their gift will be.  My siblings and I got our parents a tent for Christmas.  Unfortunately, the tent was not going to arrive before Christmas so we created a guessing game for them.  Charlie gave them a bent piece of metal with a picture of an ear taped to it… “sounds like bent”.  Beth drew a picture of a tent with her eyes closed.  Erin took extreme close-up pictures of camping equipment.  And, I took extreme close-up pictures of a tent and then cropped the pictures very small.  Eventually, our parents guessed that they were getting a tent for Christmas.

Curtis, Sadie and Elan goofing off and waiting for presents.

Curtis and Laura

Curtis and Aunt Sarah

Allen and Erin hugging Elan for the quilt that she and Grandma B. made for them.  Elan kept this quilt a secret from them for a whole year!

Erik and his new camo clothes

By the next time Curtis sees Aunt Krista he will most likely be taller than her!

If the wrapping paper looks like candy canes, does it smell like candy canes too?

On Christmas Eve we had dinner and watched “A Christmas Story” with some friends of ours.  At home the kids got ready to go to bed in the living room.  When they were little they slept on the floor right next to the tree.  As they have gotten older they’ve traded in the floor for the couches.  They wanted to listen to Christmas music so I turned the TV on to the channel that has music playing and shows a fireplace.  Sadie was pretending to warm her hands by the fire.  Curtis and Sadie did not go to sleep until about 12:30!  Even though they don’t believe in Santa anymore, I still like to wait until they are asleep to put presents under the tree.  They made me wait a very long time this year.

Christmas morning we all woke up bright and early.  Unfortunately Erik woke up that morning feeling very sick.  So, he sat way across the living room from the rest of us so that he wouldn’t share his germs.  Sadie read the Christmas story to us before we opened gifts.  We all had fun opening presents and seeing the looks on the kids faces finding things that they had requested.  When it was my turn to open a gift from Erik I was handed an empty gift bag and told that I did have a present but I would have to look for it.  So, I headed straight for the Christmas tree and with clues as to whether I was “hot” or “cold” I found a beautiful new ring hanging on the wrist of our tree topper angel.  A while ago the diamond on my wedding ring had fallen out and was lost.  I was so surprised that Erik replaced the ring with a new anniversary band.  I think this was the first year I cried receiving a present.  But they were happy tears.

After opening presents the kids and I showered and got dressed so that we could head up to Gresham to spend Christmas with the Neilson side of the family.  Sadly, we left Erik behind so that he could rest and hopefully feel better soon.

Up at Erik’s parent’s house we ate cinnamon rolls for breakfast, opened stockings and presents.  Then we spent the day playing games, hanging out and relaxing.  For dinner we ate prime rib, sweet potato casserole, stuffing, mashed potatoes and rolls.  After dinner the kids and I headed home to spend the rest of Christmas with Erik.  Christmas felt very odd this year without Erik.  We all had a good time celebrating but there was a big hole without him.

Apparently, celebrating Christmas really wore Sadie out.

Well, that's all for our Christmas.  Hopefully, soon I will post the rest of the pictures for December.  I pray that you all had a wonderful Christmas as well.

 

November News

OK, well, it's not November anymore... In fact, it's just about the middle of December.  I'm a little late blogging about November.  However, I am quite proud of myself for staying on top of the blogs since August.  I'll try to keep up.

Just a side note here... Curtis thinks our blog should be called "Neilsonmania" or "Curtis Neilson Rocks".  Funny kid.

HUNTING

Erik has been hunting the past few years but had only been able to go out for a few hours at a time and only near McMinnville.  This year Erik, Doug and Mike set out to go camping/hunting for a week at a place called "Desolation Unit".  I don't exactly know where this place is but it's about as far away from here as you can get and still be in Oregon.  And from what I hear, it's pretty desolate.  Doug and Mike headed out on a Friday to set up camp and the plan was for Erik to join them after he preached on Sunday.  Because I needed my car for the week and we didn't know if Erik's truck would make it so far Erik borrowed Doug's truck.  Erik headed out right after church and made it all the way to I-84 in Troutdale.  The truck engine started revving and speeding up all on its own.  If Erik put on the brake the engine would continue to rev.  He pulled over and called me.  After I dispensed all of my truck knowledge on Erik (so about 2 seconds later) he started making some other calls for help.  Then he took a minute to pray about getting the truck fixed.  Seconds later a friendly passerby stopped and offered to take a look at the truck.  Amazingly, it was simply a hose that had wiggled loose.  A very easy and free thing to fix.  Erik was soon on his way again.  He arrived at the hunting grounds later that evening and was greeted with a layer of snow on the ground.  Fortunately the guys that Erik went have all the equipment for staying warm that anyone could ever possibly need.  They even had a wood stove inside their tent.  The hunting trip was a successful one and all the guys got a deer.  This was Erik's first deer ever.  Unfortunately, Erik spent several of the days hiking through the woods fairly sick.  He came home with a bad cold, cough and fever.  He also came home with a deer cut in two halves which got to hang in our garage over night.  (I avoided the garage until it was gone).  And now the deer resides in nice white packages in my freezer.  We've been enjoying deer burgers, stew, steak and ground beef.  I wasn't sure I would like the  meat but have been pleasantly surprised.

Erik and his buck

Doug

Mike

TURKEY BOWL '09Each year on Thanksgiving morning the men of Adventure Christian Church gather together for the annual "Turkey Bowl" football game.  This game has been going for about 5 years.  Two years ago Erik and his buddy Doug became team captains of opposing teams.  Erik's team is the "Gravy Train" and Doug's team is the "Giblet Blitzers".  There is even a "game ball" that they play with and then the winning team's captain gets to keep the football at their home until the next year.  Unfortunately for Erik the football has never made its way to our home.  This year the "Gravy Train" tied up the game and then lost in over-time.  It's really amazing how many people make it out on Thanksgiving morning for this game.  Of course the guys who want to play football show up.  Then the sidelines are filled with guys who just came to watch, children of the players, wives of the players and various other bystanders.  Usually it is raining, or at least very chilly.  Most of the spectators are usually holding umbrellas and starbucks.  ACC's "Turkey Bowl" has definitely become a Thanksgiving tradition.Erik and Doug fighting over the game ball

The Football Players

THANKSGIVING DINNER

After the football game we headed home to get Thanksgiving dinner ready.  When I say “we” got dinner ready, I really mean “Erik” got dinner ready.  Typically, I get the house ready for company and Erik gets the food ready.  He made turkey, cranberry sauce, garlic mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, sausage stuffing, pumpkin pie, and probably some other dishes I’m forgetting.  I made the rolls.

Usually, instead of driving up to Gresham for Thanksgiving we look for people at church who don’t have family around to be with on Thanksgiving.  We have several regulars that usually join us each year.  However, this year several families had decided to stay home and invite people to their house.  So, just two people from church joined us this year.  In addition to people from church my parents joined us as well for Thanksgiving dinner.  My Dad had recently had knee surgery so they had planned to just stay home so that my Dad could lay low.  The day before Thanksgiving I happened to be talking to my Dad on the phone and mentioned that they were welcome to come to our house for dinner.  My parents decided to join us.  We were all thrilled that they could join us.

As is tradition, after we joined hands and prayed and served up our food we went around the table saying what we were thankful for.  This year I am thankful for my husband who made most of the Thanksgiving dinner, who has supported me in my college endeavor, and who loves me through everything.  I'm thankful for my beautiful children who are growing up too quickly.  I'm thankful for my parents, siblings, parent-in-laws and siblings-in-law.  We are truly blessed to have such a great family. I'm thankful for friends who have been there forever, ones that are newly acquired and for old friends that I have been newly reconnected with this year.  There are so many more things in my life to be thankful for.  One of our guests said he was thankful for friends who have become family.  That really touched us this year.  And we too are grateful for friends who have become family.

October

The month of October has come and almost gone.  Thankfully, this month was a bit slower than the last few months.  But not to worry, the Holiday season is coming and we'll be busier than ever.  Two days into October we celebrated Curtis' 13th birthday.  A few days later, Erik went on a hunting trip.  Of course there's all the U of O games.  We also had a big birthday party for both kids with all the family.  I started going to a 5th grade classroom as part of my student teaching. And, then to finish October off, we get to celebrate Halloween and gorge ourselves on Candy.

CURTIS' BIRTHDAY
Wow!  I can't even believe that my sweet little baby boy is 13!  It's amazing how quickly the years go by. This milestone has really messed with me.  Curtis will graduate from high school in 6 years!  If the last 13 have gone by this quickly then the next 6 are going to disappear in a flash.
Anyways, enough sentimentality.  Curtis' birthday was on a Friday this year.  He took cookies to school to celebrate with his language arts class.  Later that night, we ate pizza from Pizza Hut... with cheese in the crust.  Instead of a birthday cake he had requested a birthday cookie/pizza.  We made a giant sugar cookie, coated it with frosting and then put chopped up candies on top.  That was pretty yummy.  Then the family watched Monsters vs. Aliens together.  Happy Birthday Buddy!

The Yummy Cookie Pizza

It never changes... kids love to play with the box that the toy came in.  This is the styrafoam that came in the box with the fish tank.

 Gotta love Stuffed Crust pizza!

Sporting the new Duck Jersey.

















HUNTING TRIP
Erik has been hunting the last couple years just in the area of where we live.  He hadn't been able to dedicate a lot of time because of a busy schedule.  This year, Erik and two of his friends went out to Eastern Oregon to camp and hunt for a few days.  Erik's friends headed out on a Thursday to set up camp and Erik joined them after he preached Sunday morning.  After a little bit of truck trouble (he was driving a friends truck) and a very nice passerby who fixed the truck (for free!), Erik was able to join his hunting buddies.  All three guys ended up with a deer.  And now the freezer is full of venison.  Erik was pretty excited to get his first deer ever!

MORE BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS
Half way through October we finally found a weekend that wasn't filled with hunting or Duck Games so we had all the family come over for Curtis' and Sadie's family birthday party.  Everyone who didn't live too far away or wasn't too sick came over.

The Birthday kids

German Chocolate cake for Curtis
Chocolate cupcakes for Sadie. With 11 candles in one cupcake as she requested!

All of Curtis and Sadie's cousins.
Lilli, Natalie, Elan, Curtis, Emmalie, Sadie









STUDENT TEACHING
This term I started the Education Program at WOU.  I get to spend about 6 hours a week in a 5th grade classroom in Sheridan.  I really like the teacher who will be my Mentor Teacher for this year.  As it turns out, she is a Christian and has a child.  I'm looking forward to learning how she manages work and family.  The group of fifth graders I'll be working with seem like a good group of kids.  It should be fun spending this year with them and teaching them.  I can't wait to see what they will teach me!

HALLOWEEN

The night before Halloween we went to a party.  Usually, our costumes are pretty boring.  Sometimes I'm a "Mom" or a "Duck Fan".  Once I wore Curtis' football pads and shirt and was a football player.  It'd been a while since we actually put some effort into a costume.  So, it was a lot of fun to go to the party dressed like Popeye and Olive Oyl with Erik.  The hostess of the party had lots of fun games planned for the kids which included a scavenger hunt around the neighborhood.  Sadie tied for Cutest Costume with another little girl.
On Halloween night we decorate our car at the church for "Trunk Or Treating".  Kids around the church neighborhood pass by the church and "Trick or Treat" at each of the trunks of our cars.  We'll be doing that tonight and I'm hoping for no rain!

Curtis as a rapper.  CT Hammer perhaps?

Sadie as a cowgirl

Curtis carved a Darth Vader pumpkin














 Sadie carved a puppy dog into her pumpkin.
Well, that's pretty much October.  It's hard to believe that next month is Novemeber and that Christmas is less than two months away.

September Summary

Gotta love September.  The leaves are starting to change colors.  The weather is changing and even on hot days the air feels crisp.  Summer was really busy so it was very nice to find September without so much to do.  However, we still found things to keep us busy.  Here's a glimpse of September.

BACK TO SCHOOL

School started late this year on September 9th.  Sadie started 5th grade and is in Mr. Widmer's class.  Sadly, this will be the last year that we have a child in elementary school.  Next year both Curtis and Sadie will be in middle school.  Where does the time go?

Curtis is now in 7th grade and fortunately for him, no longer the low man on the totem pole in middle school.  He's trying out the advanced Language Arts class this year.  His teacher for that class is Mrs. Buhler and Curtis really clicks with her learning style.  He loves that.  Also, he has discovered that Mrs. Buhler is a Christian, which I am very excited about since he will have her for two periods a day both this year and next year.













CALIFORNIA ROAD TRIP
After the kids got back into the swing of things for school, my Mom and I drove to California to see friends of ours that live in or near Roseville.  We left Thursday morning and came back Sunday night.  All in all we spent about 19 hours in the car.  An added bonus of the trip to CA was that I got to spend a lot of uninterrupted  time with my Mom on the drive which is something we don't get a lot of.
I stayed with my friend Jeni and her family.  I've mentioned Jeni before in an earlier blog. She and I were friends when we were very young and we just reconnected last fall on Facebook. I did get to see her for a few hours earlier in the summer.  But, it was so nice to stay with her for a few days and get to know her again.  We hung out, went to soccer games, made jewelry, ate lots of yummy food, and went shopping.  Apparently, we have the same taste in clothes because we both bought the same skirt, shirt and sweater.  Good thing we live in different states and don't have to worry about showing up somewhere wearing the same clothes.

BIRTHDAY PARTY!

The best part of September is Sadie's birthday!  My baby girl turned 11 this year.  To start her birthday off on the right foot we had pancakes for breakfast.  She took chocolate chip cookies to school to share with her friends.  For dinner Sadie requested a "cheesy dinner".  So, we settled on a homemade six cheese pizza.  It was pretty yummy.  Dessert was a pumpkin roll cake with cream cheese frosting.  Sadly, I did not realize I only had two candles left until it was time to sing Happy Birthday.  Instead of blowing 11 candles out, Sadie tried to gently blow the one candle 11 times before she blew it out.  Silly Girl!  After dinner and cake Sadie requested that we play family games.  Lucky for her, she received the game, "Taboo" for her birthday.

Presents!                                                                      

Sadie loves to play games.

Sadie was very surprised to find these earrings wrapped up.  She showed them to me on a shopping trip in August.  I bought them while she was in the store with me without her knowledge.  Tricky Mom!

Pumpkin Roll Cake with one lonely candle.

A few days after Sadie's birthday she invited three friends over for a slumber party to continue celebrating her birthday.  The girls ate pasta for dinner, followed by cupcakes.  Then the giggling ensued and Curtis and Erik retreated to our bedroom to hide out.  The girls played some games.  Giggled some more.  Tried to hide around the hallway corners and scare each other.  Did a little more giggling.  Watched a movie and finally drifted off to sleep on various couches and air mattresses in the living room.  Surprisingly, the four girls were all sleeping by 11:30.  Maybe all that giggling wore them out.

Hannah, Sadie, Makayla, & Ellen