Happy Hallowen Week!!!

This has been such a FUN week! For Family Home Evening, we carved our pumpkins. We are quite talented at this, I might add...okay, so we used store-bought patterns. Jeez. :) But they were fairly quick, easy, and turned out great. Abi's was the only one sans-pattern, because her pumpkin was too small for any of them. And here are some pictures:

Natalie's first experience with the orange goo... let's just say it was short-lived.

What do I do with this goop?!?!


Outside, putting candles in our pumpkins. Cory and Natalie are making "Ooooooo..." faces.

From left: Abi's pumpkin, Andrea's pumpkin, Cory's pumpkin, and Natalie's pumpkin...yes...Natalie picked her own pattern.

And what would Halloween be without as many sugar cookies as possible? Huge get-together at the Franson home with lots of friends, food, and of course, sugar cookies for kiddos to decorate.


Halloween = sugar overdose


On Friday, Heather Smith, and her two girls, Emmy and Carlyn, (Natalie and Abi-Kate's ages respectively) came to visit us while, Ryan interviewed in Lansing. Natalie LOVED this! She is still talking about Emmy, and we wish they lived closer. Thanks for taking the time to come visit!

FENTON WARD HALLOWEEN PARTY - 1 Day before Halloween

It was a good time! Cory and I made his Dad's baked beans, there was a great dinner and lots of dessert. After dinner, there were many activities to choose from: spook alley, cookie decorating, (we actually opted out of this, since I have done the Halloween sugar cookie thing 3 times already this season) games for the kids, best costume awards and trick-or-treating throughout the perimeter of the building since it was way too cold outside to do the trunk-or-treat thing. More pictures....BUT FIRST: We actually won the "best family costumes" award! Yay!

Do you want to know what we won?




I bet you do...



I bet you're super excited to know....




I bet you're so excited you're about to explode in anticipation...



Well, prepare yourself...




We won....

A genuine, 100% recycled paper certificate complete with black border and happy ghost embellishments. I mean, can you believe our luck??!? Nothing can ever top this! Nothing.

;-) We were flattered.


And here we are! From left: the Baby Bumble Bee, the Bee Keeper, the Queen Bee, and the Worker Bee. I found some awesome yellow duck tape at Walmart to write our names on and stick to our costumes so people would know exactly what bee (or keeper) we were.


Love these busy bees! (Just about to go into the horrifiying spook alley)


Another group shot. It was kinda funny, because a lot of people loved our theme. One lady took several pictures of us so that she could copy our idea for next year. A word about MY ensemble: used dryer sheets, and rubber gloves make for sweaty palms, and neck...just if you were wondering.


"I'm scooping up my baby bumble bee. Won't my mommy be so proud of me?"


I'm not real sure why I couldn't get her antennae to stand up right. Oh well. Cute as can be either way. Too bad it's a bit blurry. (I'm sorely lacking in the photography skills area.)



Natalie had lots of fun twirling around in her cute costume


Okay, last costume one. Just had to show off Abi's stellar profile. I mean just LOOK at those cheeks! Can you get any cuter? I think not.


HALLOWEEN DAY

I need to preface this by saying that I am a bad Momma. Being as the weather was nasty, windy, and just all out frigid, we decided to forgo the whole trick-or-treating affair tonight. Natalie's too young to recognize this severe injustice. Instead, we stayed home and enjoyed her treats from the night before. We lit our pumpkins again, had exactly 1 set of trick-or-treaters, and enjoyed a spooky cheesecake to celebrate Halloween.

Natalie's, "Ooooo scary spider!" face


The spooky cheesecake. I got the idea from My Kitchen Cafe. I made it last year as well, but didn't post a picture. It's pretty easy, and looks perfect for Halloween.

Well, that's it. Finally made it through everything. I hope everyone had as much fun this week as we did. Happy Halloween!

Love, the Nelsons

Pumpkin Time!!!

Last weekend, we took a our second annual trip to Fenton to pick our Halloween pumpkins. (We missed the Roman family this year!!!) Even though it was raining, and frigid outside, we had a good time.

There is a cute little specialty store in Fenton, about 10 minutes from where we live called Four Seasons Fresh Market. I have to put in a little plug. This little gem sells fresh produce grown locally, specialty cheeses, meats, and homemade food items. And, of course, they currently sell fall mums, pumpkins, and gourds. It's fantastic! *sigh* I love Fall!!!

"Ooooo...punkins!!!"

Love this girlie!

Family photo op

Abi-Kate, you are sooo great!

Natalie loved the little pumpkins! She brought me like 5, before we finally got her to pick a BIG pumpkin.

Cory lovin' on his baby. He is such a good father to our girls! I'm so blessed....on a side note, notice the icy-rain droplets on his coat? Yeah...it was COLD!

Fall outside our dining area window

Fall outside the kitchen sink window. So pretty! I love Michigan in the Fall!

Stay tuned for more Halloween pictures, including cute costumes, carved pumpkins, and more. Happy pre-Halloween! MwahahahaHAAA!!!!! (That was my evil laugh... if you were wondering)

My own personal towel girl and Cinderella

Abi was having great fun playing with one of my kitchen towels the other day... and I thought it was time to put her cuteness to the test. Surely no one could make an old kitchen towel look good. I was sorely mistaken. Abi's cuteness level far surpasses the realm of normal adorable-ness. I've come to the (somewhat obvious) conclusion that the girl will look cute no matter what she wears. Here's my "towel girl":

Love, love, love her big, round, beautiful, brown eyes! They match her big, round, beautiful cheeks perfectly! :)

Annual Family Home Evening Halloween cookie decorating... note: don't buy blackberry cobbler candy corns! Granted they are new and different-looking, but I have NEVER had a blackberry that tasted that horrible in my life. Blech!

The best part of decorating cookies is...

A Cinderella Story

This morning, Natalie, of her own free will, went to the broom closet, got out the broom, began "sweeping" the kitchen, and started singing her own little made up songs. I about died! It was so funny and so cute!

BUT it didn't end with sweeping the kitchen. The following pictures will illustrate her Cinderella cleaning spree:

It starts in the kitchen

and progresses to the hall bathroom

Through Mommy and Daddy's room

To THEIR bathroom

She even moved the garbage can out of the way unprompted, just so she could be sure not to miss the corner

Then she "swept" all the dirt into the dust pan and took it to the garbage (Okay, so the dustpan was empty, but still...)

My sweet Cinderella

And that was the end of that...BUT WAIT!!! "Momma, I like this mop!!!" And it starts again...

To the kitchen!

...and the hall bathroom

...and she finished up in Mommy and Daddy's bathroom... then put the mop away, and gave me a big hug! (AWW!! the girl surely can melt my heart)

And that was the end of that. BUT WAIT! "Momma, I like this washcloth!"... And it starts again...
She wanted to clean the tub, but I made her stop for a while so I could feed her lunch. All I can say is, I really hope this whole cleaning frenzy continues when she's older. I can dream, right?

And here's a couple cute pictures of Abi-Kate that I just couldn't leave out. My chunky monkey is such a happy easy-going thing. She surely is spoiling me for whenever number three shows up.

Again with the eyes...*sigh*. Our sweet angel!

Just for fun...

Abi-Kate's "mad face." Too bad it's not very effective. We think it's too funny.

Abi loves music. She loves to play the toy piano/xylophone, listen to, sing to, and dance to music.

Love my Abi girl.

OVERLOAD...a post only a Grandma or Poppa could love...

I say that simply because there are SO many pictures to get through. Having not posted any pictures or much by way of updates for the last month and a half, this was bound to happen. So, for those of you who check in on this neglected blog, this is your last warning: There are 27 photos, and one video ahead. Truly, this post is not for the faint of heart...or, I guess, those who don't have much extra time...

When Cory was gone a lot, we spent much of our afternoons at the parks here.

Abi Kate...yep...cheeks are still growing...


Natalie loves, loves, LOVES to slide

I love getting my two girls to interact with each other. They are so stinkin' cute! I'm one lucky Momma.

Sisters and friends

She learned that trick from her Daddy...surprised? Me neither.

We got to see Cory most Saturdays and Sundays of his out rotations, because he would drive home to be with us, sometimes from very far away, just because he loves us. Yes. Basically, he is amazing. And we love him! This is the one Monday we got to have him. The hospital he was rotating at let him have Labor Day off.

Labor Day/FHE picnic at the park

Can I just say, Abi was digging the whole 'picnic' concept

She loves her Daddy

...and her Daddy's hat

Peek-a-boo, you crazy girl!

Natalie attempting to "hold" Abi...this always proves to be a bit difficult since they're about the same size. :)

Just had to include this one, because 1.) They're playing nicely in their room 2.) Their room is CLEAN... of course it only stayed that way about 5 minutes.

We love friends! Thanks for hanging out with us, Benjamin!

On one of Cory's weekend's home, we went to Apple Fest in Fenton. We went to this last year, and had fun, but this year was better, because Natalie was big enough to enjoy some rides. We had fun walking through the entertainment areas, smelling the yummy carnival smells, and we even brought home a beautiful apple pie to top it all off.

Just about to stroll through the Fenton Apple Fest 2010 (Note Natalie's cute apple sweater...thanks Breezy!)

Ridin' the rides

Can you just see the joy radiating out of Natalie's face at having to get this picture taken?

Cory loves this baby girl, and she sure loves him back

And more rides at Apple Fest

The Big Slide

Of course, it was her favorite activity by far

...his too

Good times together

The cutest chunker ever

Got bed-head?

This picture is not so great...I made cupcakes one day, and held off on three of them, to make a small, thin cake for Natalie to practice decorating on. She loved this, and is now a huge fan of "white cake" (frosting) as a result.

The weekend before Cory went to Oklahoma, we decided to go to Spicer's Orchard for some fun. We had a great time going on the hay-ride through the orchards, walking through the little 'petting zoo, sans petting,' and letting Natalie play in the little park area. We topped it off by trying some free fresh-pressed cider, and treating ourselves to a home-made sugar-cinnamon cake donut, hot out of the oven.

On a hay-ride at Spicer's Orchard.

Now you know why I'm never in pictures... but I couldn't resist putting up another picture of those awesome bulldog cheeks of Abi's.

Spicer's also has a little barn with a variety of animals. Natalie's favorite was this cute bunny who would eat grass out of her hand. (Yes, that very grass shown in the picture... was this okay with the owners? We don't know... the bunny seemed to think it was just fine.)

Oh, how I LOVE it when Abi laughs at Natalie.

*PHEW* ....and we're caught up.

Bliss...

I... Love... My... Life... Cory has been gone every single day (with the exception of most Saturdays/Sundays) for the last 2 1/2 months. He was in Oklahoma for the last two weeks, and we didn't see him at all during that time. BUT... as of Saturday night, he is HOME!!!! And we get to be with him before he leaves for his rotation in the mornings, and when he gets home in the evenings. I'm SO STINKIN' HAPPY about this! We have truly missed the man, and it is an absolute joy to have him back. I'm compiling a shortened list of reasons it's wonderful to have Cory:

*I have my husband again! ( I am deeply in love with this guy)
*I get to watch him be sweet to our girls
*The girls adore being with him (so nice to not be the ONLY playmate)
*He tells Natalie and Abi the story of the three little pigs better than anyone could
*I actually get to cook real food again (Hard to do when it's me, a toddler, and a baby)
*This mean I also get to EAT real food
*I'm not alone at night
*I have someone to confide in, discuss things with, laugh with, and converse with
*I can actually leave the house after 6:00p.m., whereas before it was "feed the girls, clean up, bed by 7pm, and me totally home-bound."
*Tag-teaming the girls at bedtime is nice
*I feel so much more safe and secure with my big strong man around at night
*Life is ALWAYS sweeter with your sweetheart at your side

This morning, Cory left by 7:00, and (miracle of miracles) the girls didn't wake up till 7:15. Usually Natalie is up by 6:45, and Abi 7:00. Natalie was so concerned that Daddy wasn't home. It took some convincing, but I think she believes me now when I say he'll be here for dinner and Family Home Evening. She's pretty darn happy about this. So am I... So am I. :)

Bwahahahaha!

So, I posted this on my facebook as well, but since a lot of my family/friends aren't on facebook, this is for them. There is a pretty well-known website called yearbookyourself.com which allows you to upload a photo of yourself, crop it to fit their images, then puts your face in a typical yearbook photo starting in 1950 and running to 2000. Unfortunately, my picture wasn't dead centered so all the pictures that had glasses were way off on my face. They were so funny! I might have to dig for another picture, if I can find one of my face that is centered. In the mean time, enjoy!:

This one makes me think of Bill Cosby's wife on the Cosby show. :)


I laughed so hard when I saw this! Totally reminded me of Uncle Ricco getting his picture taken by Deb on Napoleon Dynamite.

1984...the year I was born...all I can say is, whoa. Good thing I didn't have hair yet.

1974, I think...Groovy.

Why, oh why, couldn't I have grown up in the "Bouffant" era? Wo to me...

WE ARE STILL ALIVE!!...just pictureless

So, I realized that I don't like updating my blog if I don't have pictures to go with the updates. I suppose that is why blogging hasn't worked out so well for me lately...Cory has been gone on out rotations for a while now, and he has the computer that has picture downloading-capabilities: his fancy-schmancy Macbook Pro.

I'm constantly hearing the praises of the Mac phenomenon being sung. However, I think I need to give a little credit to my computer. While old and not very functional, it does provide me with the most important thing: Internet...connection to family, friends, media, information, and shopping in the outside world.

This old ViewSonic used to live at Rick's college, and still has the "Property of Rick's College" stickers on it. That makes this machine at LEAST 9 years old. A friend bought it, and he later gave it to us. (He had about 5 other computers...right Frank?)

While, unfortunately, the sound doesn't work, it doesn't play video, the Microsoft Office doesn't work well, and it is VERY slow, I kind of think of this thing as an old friend. It's the first computer Cory and I had together, and we used it all through our last year of school at BYU-Idaho. Then, we moved on to Medical School, and Cory bought the ever-superior Mac, and I became the primary user of our college computer. I'll admit there have been times when I've been tempted to seek a replacement. But I just can't bring myself to do it. Yes, money is a part of that. There are really cheap options on Craigslist if I wanted to get a new computer. I just feel like this one gives me what I need without providing a lot of unneccesary distractions. It's familiar. It gets the job done. Plus, it's been with Cory and I from the beginning. It gets major sentimental value bonus points for that... I think it's going to be with us for a while yet. :)

Abi-the-growling-tiger, and Natalie-the-nap-enforcer

I love my kids!

Good times

This week has been so fun! (Except for today...today I am sick as can be. Yuck!) My Dad and brother, Robbie, stayed the night with us Wednesday night before continuing their drive home to Idaho Thursday morning. Even though the visit was short, it was awesome. It meant so much to me that they'd take the time to drive out of the way to come see me and the girls for just a few hours. (And I'm kicking myself for not taking pictures.) Thanks Dad and Rob! You are the best!

So, the daily routine in the Nelson household usually starts out something like this: Natalie and Abi wake up around 6 or 7 am, I change Abi's diaper, put Natalie's undies/clothes on, and then feed them breakfast. After breakfast, they both play in their room while I do dishes/start laundry/make my bed, etc. or whatever needs to be done.

On Wednesday, after I got my initial "chores" done, they were just so cute playing together on the bed that I had to take a couple pictures. I'll be excited for the day when Abi is old enough to interact more with Natalie. Love these 2 munchkins!

Natalie diapering a doll, and Abi taste-testing all of her shoes that Natalie got out of the closet for her.

Look at that round head! Abi still taste-testing shoes and....WHAT THE?!?!!....Where did that pen come from?!?

Natalie pretending she's me..."Nye-Night. Go to sleep. You can have more milk and more stories after your nap. Don't be sad...be HAPPY!"...Hmm. Maybe I need to re-evaluate my parenting skills...

YAY! Outings with Daddy are the best. Feeding the fish at the Genesys trails.

The rest of my face hasn't caught up with my cheeks yet... ;)

Is that a gray hair?!? Wow, Momma, you are starting to look OLD!

Beautiful Natalie Grace

Daddy + Daughter = Best Buddies