Halloween and Other Fun Stuff!

Hey, anyone still out there!!!

I know it's been quite awhile, but thought it was time to start blogging again. I'm not making any promises on how often I'll update, but figured I needed to start again somewhere. So, enjoy some highlights from October. . .

A quick picture before we went 'trunk-r-treating'.

Can you tell that dressing up is not Taft's idea of a good time, but I told him it was necessary to get candy Ü Brigham loved being a pumpkin, Elaine was excited to be princess Leigha, Dallin the Grim Reaper, and of course as all my babies have been for their first Halloween, Calvin was a bunny.

Funny side story: On Halloween day we were going to visit my mom in the nursing home and I thought it would be fun for the kids to wear their costumes. As we are getting ready to go I ask Dallin where his costume is and he replies, "Mom, we're going to an old folks home. Did you forget I'm the Grim Reaper? I'd give them all a heartattack or something!" Kirt and I found that quite funny and surprising Dallin would think of that. Ü

Pumpkin carving was quite the event. They all thought it was gross, but enjoyed eating the tasty seeds I later roasted with butter and salt.

Pumpkin???

Friend . . . or Foe?

Definitely the enemy!!!

Calvin enjoyed playing with his little

stash of goodies.

Dallin also enjoyed his large
stash of goodies!!!

Brigham loved his pumpkin costume. He

embellished a bit the next day and added

a sword and hat.

Student of the Month

Elaine was chosen for Student of the Month in her 3rd grade class. The trait for the month was Perserverance and she definitely fits that category. As this was her first year at Ben Franklin she had a bit of catching up to do as they are an advanced school, but she got in there and picked up handwriting, english and math after a month or so. And is a straght A student.

Way to go Elaine!

Catching Up

Yes it has been awhile since I last blogged. So, here's a brief look at the last month or so at the Nelson house. . .

Calvin our Cutie He makes the funniest faces! I love seeing the little lines on his forehead as he's thinking hard Ü

And this is what he does pretty much all day long. So relaxed!

And another shot of him sleeping because I think he's so sweet looking. He really is a sweet baby, only cries to eat and then is just pretty content looking around and being cuddled.

Pinewood Derby--Winner!

Dallin took first place in his den and overall at the cubscout Pinewood Derby this year. I think Kirt had as much fun as Dallin racing and working on the 'batmobile' together. Yeah!

Happy 3rd Birthday Brigham!

Full of personality and endless energy our little Briggy turned 3 in January!

Grandpa Dye came to to town to celebrate, play with the kids and meet his newest grandson. It was fun having him visit.

And of course, Mom enjoyed sharing this special day with her Briggy.

Brigham's absolute favorite gift was from Grandpa--his very own scooter. Him and Taft ride them around the house all day. Good thing we have lots of tile Ü

Calvin Charles Nelson

Our newest little one was born last friday, December 18th at 8:00am. He weighed 8lbs. 5 oz and 20 3/4 inches long. I waited to blog until we had named him, which took some time. In fact, we gave him one name and realized we were still referring to him as 'the baby', so spent a couple more days deciding. We had Calvin here at home and he was born underwater in a special birthing tub. It was a neat experience. For me much better than the hospital to be in the comforting environment of my own room with wonderful midwives assisting. Active labor started about 4:00 am and then 4 hours later he was born.

I was very happy to be finally holding my sweet little guy after going past my due date. It was all worth it to have him in my arms. Ü

And Kirt was a great labor coach. But, it took its toll on him as hours after the birth here he is taken a little rest time with his new son.

Taft and Brigham were the first of the siblings to meet their new brother. Taft said: "He's as cute as a puppy, but with not fur". Briggy just 'lubs him' and asks to pet him on the head all the time.

Elaine is a great big sister and can't hold her little brother enough. She was at school when he was born, but came right in to see him when she got home.

Dallin also was at school, but when he got home he peeked in the room to make sure it was a boy and not a girl and then took off to a friends house. (I guess, just making sure his life was unchanged) Later, though he was eager to hold him and get aquainted.

This was taken later, but Brigham is so sweet and loves to give Calvin kisses.

Right now, Mom is just enjoying spending time with little Calvin and getting used to a newborn around and recovering from delivery. Also, I am very thankful Kirt's parents are in town helping entertain the other kids and help around the house. I don't know how I'll do it all when they leave. But, it is a great blessing to have this new little one finally in our family. Ü

Happy Halloween

We had a fun Halloween this year. Even Kirt enjoyed dressing up with the kids to go trick-or-treating. They definitely raked in the loot as they went out twice. Our ward had a trunk-or-treat on thursday where they filled thier buckets. And then we gathered with some friends and neighbors to have chili and watch a movie on the garage while the Mom's chatted and passed out candy and the Dads took the kids around the neighborhood. As you can see or maybe not quite tell, Taft was a ghost,--he is not a fan of dressing up, but was told if he didn't pick something he was not collecting candy; obviously the sweet tooth won over his stubborness. Dallin was Capt. Jack Sparrow, Elaine was Alice in Wonderland, and Brigham was superman. Birggy's costume was just his p.j.'s, but they have a cool cape and then afterwards we put him right to bed :)

p.s. I am not pictured here as I think a photo of me 8 months pregnant is scarier than any costume I saw this Halloween Ü

Back to School

A couple of weeks ago the Dallin and Elaine headed off back to school. Dallin is in 4th grade this year and Elaine is in 2nd. They were both excited for the 1st day back as I think they were getting a bit bored with summer (too hot!). Dallin is going to a charter school which he is enjoying. A bit more challenging curriculum, which Mom and Dad like. Elaine is still on the waiting list to get in so is going to the local elementary, but has a great teacher and many friends in her class this year.

After walking Elaine to school Brigham and Taft and I headed over to the park so they could have a special 1st day, too. Taft is in preschool this year, which he attends twice a week. 6 of us Moms take turns teaching and hosting. Taft just loves it! He (and I) needed something to keep his active mind and body busy Ü

San Clemente Vacation

Beach Fun We spent last week soaking up some sun on the beach in San Clemente, CA. This was our second year going with friends from Arizona(pictured below) and it was such a blast! We spent hours on the beach. The kids had a great time with friends and various activities as you'll see . . .

Taft absolutely loved jumping the waves. I wish I could post all the pics I took with his varying faces as it was fun to watch him so enjoying himself. Playing with the seaweed and . . .

. . .digging were other favorite pastimes. Elaine and Taft spent hours digging up sand crabs and just filling buckets with water and sand. I think at one count Elaine had 24 sand crabs and her friend Eleanor an additional 25.

Elaine is buried up to her neck here in the sand with some other of our friends' kids. It was a funny site to see these heads lined up along the beach. Dave was quite speedy at it and I think only took about 2 minutes to bury a child. It took quite a bit longer to wash all the sand off Ü

Briggy wasn't the biggest fan of the sand and surf. This was the only time he actually ventured off the mats to get his toes wet. He spent a lot of time just napping under the umbrella. Maybe next year we'll get him on the boogie board.

And Boogie Boarding was Dallin's new favorite experience this year. He did quite well and enjoyed it until he started swallowing too much water.

Elaine and Dallin had fun in the surf with Daddy. Kirt spent quite a bit of time playing on the boogie board. I even ventured out a couple of times with my bulging belly--a little trickier, but not impossible and such fun!

It wouldn't be a day at the beach without a sandcastle. The kids didn't do this alone. Aaron Kahle was the main architect, but they all enjoyed 'helping' in some small way. We really had a fun group of kids and adults to play with on this trip.

Camping

And here they all are. We had six families, Us, Watts, Fishbecks, Petersens, Guffeys, and Wilkes(Lori-sister) with 24 kids total. We camped and played together for a week and all got a long with little drama. (We even had some other families from our ward who we hung out with on the beach, but camped at a neighboring campsite.) It was nice to have such neat friends to hang out with--thanks for planning it all Lori!

Here is a shot of our tent trailer, Brigham is at the door. It was definitely a nice upgrade from a tent. And another shot of our mini-tent city we created with all the families. We could see the ocean from our campground (and I even saw a skunk one night--eew). It was great getting the kids to bed and then chatting with the adults around the campfire. Not to mention some yummy dutch oven cobblers and s'mores enjoyed around that campfire, too.

Whale Watching Trip

We took a day with just our family to see some sites other than the beach. We went Whale/Dolphin watching on a boat out to sea for a few hours. It was an exciting little adventure.

We got very close with the dolphins. 'Schools' of them would just swim and splash around the boat, if the railing wasn't so high we could've petted them.

Here's some shots of the multitude of them just swimming around. It was neat to see the baby dolphins swim next to their moms underwater. Unfortunately, we didn't see any whales this trip.

At times the boat got going pretty fast making things quite choppy. All the boys ended up inside with a bit of seasickness. Elaine seemed unaffected and just loved watching the dolphins play.

Going Home

All good things must come to an end. Here we are all packed up and ready to head home. The drive was a bit longer towing a trailer and then made even longer as 50 miles from home we got stuck in a dust storm for over an hour. There was zero visibility at times. I had to wash off everything on the trailer when we returned. But, yes it was worth it for all the good times we had, not to mention cooler temps Ü Looking forward to going again next year!