Christmas

Christmas didn't go quite like we planned. All the kids were sick. Renée was the worst and ended up having pneumonia. Carter has a double ear infection. Gavin has a cold with a bad cough. Gavin woke us up a little after 7am and was so excited to see what Santa brought, but while Sam was getting up Carter and Renée and I was putting the mundushen in the oven, he threw up in the hallway. He got over that quick and still had a great time opening presents. I asked Gavin what his favorite new toy was and he said all of them. He is so fun and easy to please. Renée melted down halfway threw opening her presents and had to go back to bed. When she did wake back up she had fun. Her favorite gift was her Disney Princess Royal Horse. She got the pick and the blue, but doesn’t play with the princesses that go with them. Carter doesn’t seem to care too much about his new toys. He did like his baby toy from Grandma Lil though. Santa brought him a fire truck to ride, but between Gavin and Renée he doesn’t get too many turns on it. Because the kids are sick none of our visitor came, so it has been a lonely holiday. Alycia and her family will be here for new years, so we are hoping we will have a better time.

Christmas Eve

Our Christmas Eve was very nice. We had a great dinner of shrimp and chicken cordon bleu, which was one of my family’s traditions. The kids acted out Christ’s birth story, which was one of Sam’s family’s traditions. I can’t wait for the kids to open their gifts tomorrow. I love having small children during Christmas time, and most other times too:)

Gavin went to Bethlehem 12.23.07

At Church in Primary, the leaders took the kids around to different rooms in the church to see all the different aspects of Christ’s birth. One room had the Wise Men, and well, you get the picture. They got to dress up, which Gavin loved. I actually stayed home from Church because Renée has a cough. When Gavin came home he said, “I went to Bethlehem.”

Christmas in the Square 12.21.07

On Friday night we went to see the lights at Frisco Square. It was awesome! They had bounce houses for the kids and even a snow tubing ramp packed with fresh snow. Snow was blowing from the tops of the buildings. Gavin and Renée loved it since it doesn’t really snow too often here. The lights are synchronized to music which was beautiful to see. It was a great night out as a family.

Happy Birthday Sam! 12.20.07

Sam is getting old. This is his last year in his early thirties. Next year he will be in his mid thirties. It is great to be the younger spouse:) We celebrated with a family dinner at home, which included an Outback bloomin onion. Yum. Instead of a cake, Sam requested peach cobbler. It didn't hold the candles well, but it sure tasted good.

Fireplace Smores

We sometime wonder why so many houses in Texas have fireplaces. We never use it for heat and unless we have a party or something, it usually stays off. I worry that the kids will touch the hot glass. Tonight we found a great use for our fireplace. Equipped with fondue forks we toasted our marshmallows, warmed our gram cracker that was stacked with chocolate in the oven, and made a fabulous treat. The kids got a kick out of it and Carter got really messy. Everyone required a bath afterwards, but there were no flaming marshmallows.

Kwanzaa

Kwanzaa is a unique African American celebration with focus on the traditional African values of family, community responsibility, commerce, and self-improvement. Why did I chose to represent this holiday on about half of my Christmas cards? They were out of all the other stamps and I didn't want to haul all three kids into another post office.

Trey is Home

This was the email that Nick sent out this morning:

We were able to bring Trey home last night!!! While the doctor was very quick to say that he is not better and has a long road ahead of him, there was nothing more they could do at the hospital that we couldn’t do at home. The final diagnosis included the previous infections and the missing factor that they could not figure out has been determined to be Still’s disease. Still's disease is the systemic-onset of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. Basically that means if effects the whole body instead of just the joints. This link has additional information if you are interested http://www.medicinenet.com/stills_disease/article.htm. I don’t think any of us stopped smiling last night we were so happy to have him home, especially Trey. We are so grateful for the many blessings these past couple of weeks of which you all and many more have contributed. May God bless you and yours this Christmas season. With much love and gratitude, The Nelson Family

Gingerbread Challenge 12.13.07

Tera challenged us to make a gingerbread house this year. We decorated a gingerbread house but Tom Thumb (gocery store) made it for us. The kids loved decorating. Gavin said that is was funner than riding bikes. Sam got way into it making the fence and snowman. He aslo dusted our m&m grass with powdered sugar to represent our Texas snow that doesn't even cover our yard. Thanks for the challenge Tera, we had fun.

Dora 12.13.07

My kids just love to watch Dora. I don't think they will be able to speak spanish any time soon, but Dora gives me a little bit of peace and quiet each day. Although, they do occationally yell spanish words and "Swiper no swiping." Rene'e has also picked up the phrase, "Oh man!" Which can be pretty fun when used at the right moment. Thank goodness for our DVR and they can watch Dora on demand.

Heard Natural Science Museum 12.08.07

We took the kids to see the Heard Natural Science Museum's Dinosaur alive exhibit. The dinosaurs were life size, except the two bigest, moved, and made sounds. The kids really enjoyed it. Sam dressed the kids that day, so that explains Rene'e's hair and outfit.

Trey

Trey has been diagnosed with bacterial myositis (an inflammation of muscle tissues as the result of a bacterial infection) and a bacterial bronchitis. He has to stay in the hospital for the rest of the week to get his IV antibiotics and they he will be able to go home. There should not be any lasting effects of his illness. Thank you for all your prayers.

Cousin Sleepover & Trey 's in the Hospital

We have spent a lot of time at Alycia's this week. Gavin, Rene'e, Blake, and Sydney all sleep in the same room while we are here. They usually take about two hours to finally get to sleep. I couldn't resist taking this picture on Tuesday night. We slept here on Monday and Tuesday. Then I went home on Wednesday. On Wednesday evening, Trey went into the hospital with leg pain and a fever. I came back down here on Thursday and will go home tonight becasue Nick's mom is now here with Blake and Sydney. Trey is on IV antibiotics but hasn't gotten any better. They don't know how long he is going to be in the hopital and the doctors aren't sure what is wrong with him, so please keep him in your prayers.

Birthday Girl

Here is our three year old birthday girl. We celbrated at Alycia's house this year so Sam wouldn't have to commute so far and we could have more time together as a family. Plus, if you add three cousins and have two siblings, it is an instant party. Rene'e requested dinner at McDonalds and all the kids had fun playing there. She didn't seem to mind the big hole in her cake.

Let Them Eat Cake

I really enjoy making beautiful cakes for my children's birthdays. I spent a good amount of time decorating this cake on Sunday night, even though we had a showing at 9am the following morning. When I came into Alycia's kitchen and saw this huge chunck missing, I immediatly thought it was one of the kids, but with further inspection, I found frosting on the fur under Jinx's mouth. I could have killed him. We still ate the non slobbered on cake.

Birthday Pankcake

This is one of the birthday traditions from my family. Sam thought of adding food coloring to the number. Rene'e wouldn't let me cut up her three though. I had to cut around it.

Trying for a nice photo 10.2.07

I wanted to get a pretty picture of Rene'e in her Christmas dress. This is what I was able to get and Gavin wanted his picture taken too.