3/9/17

Just a few to make you smile today :)

Russell looked out the window and saw it raining. He then asked what day is it? I replied Tuesday.... he said back with a little disgust, it can rain on Tuesday? 

Russell just said "you know in cars (the movie) they can't open their doors"  I asked him why. He said "if they open their doors their brains will fall out" 

Gordon was explaining how one of his friends had taken an item from his lunch and he needed to figure out which of the group of friends had it. He then explained to me how he figured out through different clues and asking questions that he was able to figure it out. He then said, "I love having the blood of a lawyer!" 

We were getting in the car and I handed Henry a car as well as a little stuffed mini mouse. He got excited and grabbed them both but then quickly through the mini mouse over the side of his car seat. He was very content with the car. He is a boy!

Totally out of the blue we were driving to pick up kids from school and Russell says from the backseat "you know mom I am really sad Grandpa Thompson had to die." I don't know if the kids have been talking about him lately but I thought it was really sweet.

1/27/17

Henry has started clicking his tongue. It is very slow and thoughtful when he does it, when you do it back to him, he lights up ;) 

Henry has also started to army crawl around. Not very quickly...but if he has the right motivation he does pick up the speed :) 

Evalyn is growing up, no more pacifier at night (she traded it in for a little beanie boo-stuffed animal, named Fantasia) And she is using the potty with no more accidents (knock on wood, right) ;) 

Evalyn choose a pink cake with pink frosting for her third birthday celebration. She was carrying the cake box and frosting tub around for days leading up to her birthday. Love that cute spunky girl! 

Gordon had some school wide testing this week and got the highest math score in all of the 5th grade ;) 

Ellanor the other day was chatting with me and at one point she looked at me and said, "You know, every boy has a little bit of crazy in them!" I laughed out loud. 

We have different Valentine decorations out and I have a framed picture of Taylor and I kissing in front of the Oakland Temple from our wedding day. Evalyn was carrying it around the house and kissing it. I asked her, "where are Mommy and Daddy in this picture?" She quickly replied, "DISNEYLAND". 

Russell has adopted the fad of saying "totes" in place of totally. All day long he will say, "that is totes awesome!, I totes want that, I totes can do that." -- I still have not totally...sorry, totes gotten use to it yet ;) 

Over Christmas Eden really enjoyed playing basketball with the boys. She loves sports and being active. She also lost another tooth the other day. She lost it at school...and was very excited to jump in the car to show me. She got a tooth necklace to hold the tooth in until she came home. Pretty exciting day! 

We love you all so very much! 

Well, I freely admit that I am just another boy with a little crazy in me.  Ellanor’s insight explains a lot of my strange behavior through the years. I wish I had been bright enough to make this observation to my mother.  It would have saved me from a few punishments!  It’s wonderful to hear that Gordon is so smart in math.  We are very proud of him, but that gene must have come from the Nielsens.  By the way, Russell’s totes awesome has a real ring to it. In German, if you add an “r” to totes and make it “trotes”, it means in spite of.  So, inspite of this very cute error, Russell is totally awesome!   We love these journal entries and the great stories about each of the children.  Be sure to let them know we love them.   Grandpa & Grandma Earl

Loved reading these.  Yep, boys have a little bit of crazy in them!  Disneyland and the Temple, both the happiest place on earth! Go Gordon, that definitely didn't come through my gene.  Does Eden have any teeth left to eat with? :) And that Russell is totes awesome! Love you all!!

Mom (Grandma Nielsen)

10/4/16

Gordon said, "You are not old until one of your kids births a baby" I starting laughing....then he responded, "What?!? It is a fact!"

Russell said, "If you run really fast you get a metal." I replied with a "yes that is true" (thinking he was referring to the Olympics). Then he said, "you know fast like me!" Looks like I need to find a metal ;)

We were driving home from school the other day and we were talking about how we spend a lot of time in the car. Then the idea of teleportation came up. I asked Gordon, "If you could teleport anywhere where would you go?" I quickly answered my own question while he was thinking..."I would go to Dad's office and give him a kiss on the face." Then Gordon said, "I would go to New Jersey so I can play with Evan". :)

We were playing 'would you rather' in the car. Russell said, "Would you rather have ice cream or go to jail?"- Nobody hesitated on that one :) 

On our way to run an errand the other day from the back seat Russell called up ,"Mom lets talk about something" I said, "Okay what do you want to talk about?" His reply, "Lets talk about the gospel!"

When I was at the gym the other day the kids care ladies came to get me to tell me I was needed for Evalyn. I assumed it was because I needed to change her diaper...nope, she had gone into the bathroom all by herself and took everything off and was using the toilet. Looks like I need to capitalize on this.

Gordon got braces a couple weeks ago and already is looking older! It is crazy what a little metal on your teeth can do. He has been a trooper, no complaints other than the first day. He needed a little wax on one of the back brackets that was cutting the side of his mouth. We found out that wax melts quickly in the car ;) And that you can not substitute tooth wax with candle wax.

The girls have been doing exceptional in ballet class, their teacher is so impressed with them. (they jumped a class and are in the top class...I was worried it would be too hard for them, but they are having no troubles at all!) :)

8/23/16

Gordon and Russell were playing with the pool noodle light sabers and Gordon said, "I am not a Pineada, don't you Pineada me!"

Gordon was sitting at the piano to practice and he figured out how to change the different sounds the piano makes (ie organ, flute, ect...) He got to the organ and played a low note and held down the pedal, for a REALLY long time. Then I looked over at him and saw him sitting there on the bench with both of his hands raised up in the air as if he were conducting and having this low loud note go on and on. I am sure his face was matching his intensity, but I couldn't see it from the angle I was at :)

I asked Gordon the other day, "Do you want to cut the lawn?" He looked at me super serious and said, "I... don't know what that means". Apparently I don't call it a lawn very often.

When we were at target the other day I let Russell and Evalyn look at the toys for a bit. There is a toy bird that when you pet it it will copy what you say. I was watching Russell play with this bird. He went up to it and started to pet it and say. "I love to see the temple". :) 

Evalyn fell on the stairs and got a blackeye. I was telling the kids about it. Ellanor quickly was concerned and said, "oh no is a blackeye contagious?" I figured out she was concerned if a blackeye was anything like pinkeye :) 

Henry can roll over both ways and is already wearing 12 month clothes... This guy growing up WAY too fast!!! 16 pounds at his last visit. 

Eden has been loosing teeth left and right!! Front two are now missing along with one on the bottom. 7 years on Thursday. Again... Growing up too quickly!! We had her under the sea party this past Saturday. She had a wonderful time!!! And she requested sushi for her birthday. 

6/7/16

I was sitting on the couch feeding Henry and Evalyn comes walking in with a maxi pad opened, wings out and trying to stick it on her clothes. I laughed out loud!

Taylor went in to turn off the boys light for them to go to bed, and Gordon was negotiating to get to keep the lights on longer so he could read. Taylor asked him, then who would turn off the lights (since Gordon was on the top bunk)....Russell? Gordon said, "but I would thank him so much"!

Ella "I dont have to cry to be in pain" ( I wrote this down quite awhile ago, I can't remember the story that went along with it unfortunately. I'm sure it was a good one)

We made our weekly trip to Costco and Russ of course had to wear his goggles. Very stylish. 

We went on a walk awhile back and Russell said, "mom did you hear that? There are Star Wars birds!" Sure enough they did make similar "Star Wars" sounds ;)

At the kids school emojis are very popular. McDonald's has been giving away plush emoji key chains. We do not frequent the Golden Arches and when we do we never get happy meals. The kids know this and none of them asked for one even though I know they wanted one. Then one day Gordon came home with one. His friend had given it to him. He was so happy to have one and the girls were so happy for him too. Then a few days later one of Ella's friends gave her one. She was over the moon!! But just ask quickly as she got it, she lost it. It had fallen off her backpack. In tears, she was inconsolable about it. Gordon saw how said she was and said, " Ella you can have my emoji". She didn't like that idea because his emoji had a different face than the one she had. Then Gordon whispered to me, "mom how about we look on the computer and see if we can buy her one, we can use my money to pay for it." He just melted my heart!!! 

Turned out a friend saw her drop her emoji and picked it up for her and gave it back the next day. Then both Gordon and Ella noticed Eden was feeling a little left out.... And we remembered that Eden had a gift card way back from her birthday from s friend to McDonald's. We went and she ordered a happy meal so she could get her own emoji. The sweet thing was when we got home she shared every piece of her happy meal with all of her brothers and sisters. Thoughtful, sweet kids ;)

We were driving to get kids from school the other Day and Russell was looking out the window. He said "look at the clouds there like from super Mario!" He continued, "no, really there's Donkey Kong," pointing out the window. I looked and sure enough I saw an awesome rendition of donkey Kong. Put s smile on my face!!

At Henry's 2 month check up today he was 12lbs 10oz and 24 1/2 inches long. Growing so fast!! He also hands out lots of smiles these days, every one is such a treat!! ;) 

Evalyn affectionately calls Henry...Henra. :)

Evalyn has been a trooper with her cast. She is being really good not to put any weight on it..she has figured out how to scoot around on her bum and drag her leg. Her cast is starting to show some wear on the side where is drags on the floor...it will be interesting to see how it looks in a couple weeks :)

The kids have really gotten into reading this summer. We started a 'bookworm' on the wall. For every book they finish they can add another piece to the bookworms body. We are trying to see how long we can make it by the end of summer.

Eden is such a sweetheart, with this bookworm we are building, she was very concerned that Russell would not get to put any pieces up because he can not read on his own yet. I told her if I read books to him that could count. Eden quickly ran upstairs to find a "short chapter book" and she began reading it to Russell so it would could for one of his books. Melt my heart!

2/19/16

We went to a gymnastics meet and while we were watching the girls at the uneven bars Russell looked over at me and said, "Mom, when they are done I will take off my shoes and go put my hands in the sugar and take my turn". 

Every night before the kids go to bed everyone gives each other a hug. And all the kids have started to include giving a hug to Henry (my belly) too. He is so loved already ;) 

This morning I was bathing a Evalyn and Russell. I looked over at them and Russell was singing a song and was pouring water on Evalyn's head. As you can imagine Evslyn was not a huge fan... I asked Russell not to do it because Evalyn did not like it. His response was, "Mom I am just helping her grow". I then realized he was singing a song about watering his flowers to help them grow. ;) 

The other night at dinner the kids were talking about how full they were getting and how big their bellies were. They were comparing belly sizes. Then Russell said, "Look at my belly!! I am growing a Henry inside!". 

We were doing scriptures last night and Taylor was talking to the kids about who helps us when we try our best but fall short. Then Eden said, "But there is do or do not, there is no try." Taylor then explained that is Yoda :) 

We were at the church and there is a tree out front that is raised up in a little half wall bed. Russell jumped up onto it and started spinning around the tree. I reminded him that we were trying to leave and he needed to get down. His response was, "I know mom, I am just loading." I don't think concept as a kid would have even entered my mind.... This screen time generation sees the world differently at times ;) 

Gordon is such a helper and my little pal. With the car being full he gets to ride shotgun on the way home from school. I love our daily chats in the front of the car! 

Eden had a field trip today to the zoo. Her group is the black bears. She wanted to wear a hat there to keep the sun off her face and wanted to have a bear hat.... And wouldn't you know I had one.... It was a black "Behr" hat ;) but it also had a picture of a bear on it so we were in business! ;) I love Behr paint, and even more now that is bailed me out this time :) 

We took Ella's baptism pictures and got so many good ones. Stay tuned for an invitation soon ;) can't believe she is eight already!

2/4/16

Evalyn finally has enough hair to do a little something with it. Each morning I do her hair up in my bathroom. She sits on the counter with her feet in my sink so she can watch me as I do her hair. And then when I am done, she stands up and squeals with excitement and then leans up to the mirror and kisses herself. It is adorable!  

I was giving Evalyn a hug. She had her arms wrapped around my neck really tight. Then I whispered I love you then she pulled back and gave me a big kiss. Melt my heart! 

I find it a little hilarious that both of the kids are so excited to go to the play place at the gym. (which makes me so happy to know they are happy while I am working out)....but then when it is time for me to pick them up Russell immediately starts to cry. He wants to stay there all day. Grateful it is not the other way around at least ;)

Eden is a sweetheart. She wrote me a letter the other day it said, "I love you Mom and I am so happy that we have a baby! I like having a baby because they look so cute! I want to know what he looks like when he is six. I love baby boys they are so awesome! Do you think baby boys are cute? I do. I can't wait until grandma and grandpa are here. Love, Eden" 

At least a few times a week when I go to get Evalyn out of her car seat when we get home... She will pretend to be asleep. The kids will even try to make her laugh and she keeps a straight face for a long time. I am so empressed :)

We were driving in the car to get the kids from school and a Pink song came on the radio. The lyric to the chorus of the song is "you got to get up and try". It repeats itself quite a few times.... Then from the back Russell yells a response "I am up!"