Easter Egg Roll 2012

Saturday we did our family tradition of rolling Easter Eggs. Of course this has evolved quite a bit. When I was a child we would go to Cashmen Field and ROLL our eggs down the hill and then we would roll down the hill. Now a days we might roll the eggs down once and then it turns into an Egg THROWING... The kids love it and so do the adults! I think if my Grandma Stewart was alive she might have a heart attack with us throwing the eggs... :)

All of the Blackburn Grand kids were there as well as Grandma Nelson, Aunt RaNae, UJ, Tayler and Carrie.

All of the kids lined up and the rolling/throwing began. It can be quite dangerous standing at the bottom of the hill... But we braved it out! After we have thrown all the eggs we can and our skin starts to get a bit hot we head over to Howard's house for food and egg hiding.


Here is just a sampling of our egg rolling.
Ethan always gets really into throwing the eggs and chasing people around. Katelee does a little of both and Ashlee had an absolute blast. She would suck on the eggs and then towards the end she actually figured out how to roll them. She sat there the whole time and watched and played. I love when they are this age and so much fun to watch as they take everything in. Especially when we do a family tradition that they will remember their whole life.

I love spending the Saturday before Easter with our families. I have very fond memories of egg rolling and hiding eggs with my family. I can still remember trying to hide eggs from my dad and him being able to find them every time. I hope that my kids have the same fond memories about the Easter season as I do.

Silly Morning...

These were the sounds of our Bedroom this morning while getting ready for work....
Chris telling and showing Katelee how to play with her silly sound silly putty, you all know the kind that sounds like a fart when you push on it… Katelee figured it out and was making fart sounds left and right. Then a real fart and real laughter and then more fart sounds, Mom and Dad laughing right along with her. Ethan then wakes up and joins in on the fun. Fart accusations going around and then more laughing. Even Ashlee joined in on the fun when the kids moved into her room to play with the fart sounds. I’m not sure if she was laughing at the sound or at the kids laughing at the sounds.
I know farts are supposed to be repulsive and we aren’t supposed to laugh at them, especially with the kids around, but it was fun. And farts are funny in our house and burping is allowed as long as we say excuse me. Every once in a while we like to be funny with the kids and have a good silly time. That is exactly what we did this morning and it helped set the tone for my day. Because today has been a great day! I love the sound of my kids’ laughter… I don’t think there is any sweeter sound to this mother’s heart, unless it’s their “we’re doing something evil” laughter! Mornings like today make me wish even more that I could stay at home with them all day and be silly!

Just a Silly Ashlee Video

Ashlee is pretty good at shaking her head.... It's so cute. Usually all you have to say it "I didn't do it!!" and Ashlee shakes her head. Silly girl!

Ashlee is ONE!!!

February 18, 20012

I cannot believe my baby girl is ONE! I can literally remember the day she was born like it was yesterday. The drive to the hospital, the labor, the stress of her being in distress, her laying on my chest all slimy and snuggling with her that night. Then I look at this picture and don't believe she was ever that small...Ashlee's actual birthday fell on a Saturday which was really nice. We had a small party of family and some friends with Pizza, salad and wings. All items Ashlee didn't really get to eat, but she is one and wont remember until she reads this....
Here is the little lady before she ate. (Looking at this picture I guess she is already looking a little sick...) She has chocolate milk in her cup and she LOVED it! Of course if I was going from formula to Chocolate milk I'd LOVE it too!

Ashlee did ok opening up presents... she would pull the tissue out and play with it. It drove the other kids crazy and she had a lot of help with her gifts!

Ashlee got a lot of clothes and a lot of toys too! She specially loved this little princess car thing. She has only fallen off once, but she sure can push that thing around.

I was at a loss for a cake design, so I just did some balloons. I also made Ashlee her very own little cake so she could have her own to dig into...

And she was not shy about it. She had a lot of encouragement, of course. Our other kids didn't destroy their cakes, but Ashlee showed them how to do it! I don't really know how much cake she actually ate, she mostly just destroyed it and played with it!

This is the face of a very happy girl!

That night as I rocked her in my arms I couldn't help but think of her being so tiny and not squirming around and pushing out of my arms. I had a small tear in the corner of my eye as I thought of how fast the past year had passed by. It seems almost unfair, I have enjoyed it so much... Ashlee has a personality on her that is completely unique. She started out as our timid little girl, such a calm and chill baby and has ended up as out little instigator. She laughs at ANYTHING and that makes more trouble in our house than we need. She is not a patient girl and screams when she wants attention. And to say she is loud would be an understatement. She goes to strangers and just stares, she laughs and loves to be laughed at. Ashlee is so ticklish we love to just tickle her legs, arms and back of her neck. She is by far our best cuddlier, which isn't saying much, but she will lay her head on our shoulder and pats our back when we hold her.

Ashlee has just started to wave, when she wants to. She can say Da, Da and Ma. Ashlee is a pretty aggressive little girl, sometimes she will grab and pull whatever is in her hands. Ashlee is a great crawler and has been pulling herself up on things for a while now. However she has not ventured into the walking arena yet. She can stand by herself when she feel like it, but most of the time she just relaxes her legs and falls to the ground. The girl doesn't do anything she doesn't want to do! JOY!!!

It has been a fantastic year with Ashlee in our lives. She brings a new dimension into the Nelson family that I never knew existed. How blessed we have all been to have this sweet spirit in our home. Ashlee you are such a joy and we love every minute with you in it!!!

Sick House

We have had a pretty fun week or two... The night of Ashlee's Birthday she woke up around three am with a burning hot fever. Even her poor little hands were steaming. This happened for another three nights. I finally decided it had been long enough, plus she was getting a little cough, so Chris took her to the Dr. He gave her a breathing treatment and said he thought it could be RSV. He took a culture or something and said we would get the results back in 4-5 days to find out for sure... Her fever lasted until around Wednesday or Thursday, almost six whole days later. She has been pretty pathetic, sleeping horribly and thinking we needed to be holding her all night long. It was hard to put her to bed when she would just lay there in your arms. She is finally on the mend. But we made a huge accomplishment in the Nelson household. This was Ashlee's first sick appointment EVER. That is amazing for our kids. Ethan had already been to three different specialist by the time he was seven months old... Way to go Ashlee!!!

It would not be a household if someone else didn't get sick and so Ethan decided to get sick too! He wasn't feeling well and whenever he gets a little sick his asthma flares up and he ends up getting really sick. Last night he was coughing so much that he threw up just a little bit.
So needless to say it's been fun in our house the last couple of weeks.

Sneak Peak Cake Eating

Ashlee turned one on Saturday. I will do an official post, but I thought I'd let ya'll see her cake eating part today. She was a Beast! I think she enjoyed herself!!!

The Newest Bike Rider is...

Chris has been home with the kids the last two weeks and this always means a lot of time outside. The kids love when Daddy is home because they get to play out back and ride bikes out front a whole bunch. Lately we have been talking about taking the training wheels off of Ethan's bike. He has had his bike for some time now and he LOVES to ride around and play. Friday I took the day off to spend with the family on Chris' last day off for 12 weeks. We had some fun hanging out and after naps we went out to ride bikes. Chris and I decided that today was the day to take off the training wheels. So while Chris was taking them off we had a short talk with Ethan. We told him that it was OK if he didn't make it today. It was tough to ride a bike by yourself and encouraged him that it was all about trying and trying again. (Looking back I guess it wasn't the best pep talk, I just didn't want him to feel like he failed if he didn't get it.) So Chris got him started and off he went. Chris had to keep running to catch up. Ethan was a PRO!! He never tilted and even stood up to pedal. At one point he looks over at his dad and pedals faster to get away from him. Can you say PROUD PARENT MOMENT? Chris ran by him for like two runs and then Ethan was on his own. He had no problems with the turns or anything. After a little bit he started riding with one hand off... Showing off for us. By the next day he was going off the curb like he use to always do with training wheels. He had plenty of encouragement from me. I say try it and if you don't make it, try again! I told him he could do anything he did before with training wheels. He tried to go through the rocks and fell over. He yelled at me, "see Mom, I told you I couldn't do it!" I laughed and said, "yeah well if you're gonna go that slow you are never gonna get through the rocks. You never went that slow through the rocks before!!" He got up and just kept riding. It's amazing how in a matter of seconds he took to it like a pro. I know he isn't the youngest rider in history, but he sure is awesome to me!

Ethan you totally rocked it on that bike. I hope you enjoyed doing it as much as I loved watching you!!!