Early Birthday Tribute

There's a Brown Haired Blue Eyed Something
by James

There's a brown haired
blue eyed something,
it is sitting in a chair.
It's been here since December
and it hasn't moved a hair.
One million times I've tried
to remove it from it's spot,
along with how it's acting
I guess it's here to rot.
Sometimes it hits or kicks,
it's given me a blister.
Turns out that brown haired
blue eyed something
is my seven year old sister.

Attraction

Amy is having so much fun in her weekly preschool class. At today's Christmas party she made a beaded bracelet & brought home a really cute goodie bag. One the way home she started singing the days-of-the-week song...which led to her telling me she's attracted to two things: 1, Singing and
2, Talking.

In other news, Scot has a surfing part in the upcoming school musical. James received 2 activity pins & a belt loop at the pack meeting. Maggie is so close to her birthday, she can taste it. Paul is learning what "I get what I get and I won't throw a fit" means (thank you Katelyn & Marissa).

Besides normal school & work activities, we are all getting very excited for Christmas. I conquered a mountain of laundry yesterday & created a mountain of caramel corn today. The countdown has begun!

Play Calling

So, this morning Paul dictated how he wanted his peanut butter sandwich-
Paul- (pointing to the top of the fridge) "Bread there dad-"
Paul- (making a book shape with his hands) "Fold like this dad-"

Never let it be said that he doesn't know what he wants.

Later, he was walking around with his hand in his pocket. Sara put her hand in her pocket. He objected and pulled her hand out. Of course, as a good dad, I immediately put my hand in my pocket. Paul responded with a very dejected look and came pouting over to me. I picked him up and we had the following conversation:

Me- "Listen little boy. After awhile, some things just become predictable. Like football teams shifting to a running offense because the weather has turned cold. You need to know that not only are you child #5, you come after 2 sisters, who were the queens of fake whining."

Paul- (immediately, and suddenly bright and happy) "Me ok now dad."

Ghostly Parties

We've been celebrating Halloween all week, here in Cincinnati. From church & school parties to friend and neighborhood gatherings, we had a fun holiday.

Our ward's trunk or treat party got rained in, and it became classroom door to door treats. Brian helped coordinate scone-making. All the games and treats were excellent.

Amy was Tinker Bell, and Maggie became a pioneer for the event.

Here is James getting ready for a game. He wowed a lot of people with his disappearing wand trick.

Thanks to some fore-thought by really cool aunts (years ago), Scot was transform into an English Bobby. He wasn't as nice as he looks. Neither was Paul when he got a hold of the club.

Carving pumpkins with friends. They looked great on the steps Halloween night.


The real deal. Amy and Scot's costumes changed. I guess Paul's changed too since he went to the ward party as a obstinate 2 year old. On Halloween he was an obstinate elephant.
Paul went up to every house and said, "candy-mine-pumpkin." Then he commenced to ask for M&Ms, if they hadn't given him any. Yes, he was a very rude double-dipping toddler. Unfortunately, no one seemed to care, especially when he smiled and said "thank you!"

Amy as a "beautiful ballerina."

Scot was an accident prone roller blader. Under the helmet he's sporting a nice array of bandages and a black eye. Can you hear James's taunting?: "Scot's got make-up on!" The boys went on their own this year with friends. Scot wanted to make this the best year ever since it's his last. He's already excited to hand out candy for next year.

Hope you all had a great Halloween! For the Nielson clan, I've posted on the recipe site. I missed getting my ingredient, but I did pass along a site with some fun holiday treats.

Zombies? No, just sick kids.

Our Primary Sacrament Meeting Presentation was today. I didn't count, but I would estimate that 1/3 were not there due to sickness. If they had all been there I don't know where everyone would have sat--we would have been piled on the piano and down the aisles. Unbelievably, the Nielson kids were all there. Scot missed school all last week, and Maggie missed Friday. I'm looking forward to a busy non-kid-sick week. There is too much going on, including finishing up some Halloween costumes and (of course) partying with the ward, school, and neighbors. I'll try to have some good costume photos in the next couple days.

I was going to give you a clue of what everyone was going to be, but when I just asked them they've all changed...again. So, they may be a mass of mystical, hand-cart pulling ladybugs or tinkering elephants wearing top hats. Your guess is as good as mine.

P.S. The Primary Program was great!

Tour of Kirtland, Ohio

Grandma Charlotte visited us a couple of weeks ago. What a fun time we all had, especially visiting early church history sites in Kirtland, Ohio, and the surrounding area.

We started with Lake Eerie.
The rain had stopped just that day, so we didn't stay very long due to the windy chill. It is strange seeing such a large body of water that is not an ocean. Maggie wanted to know where the sea shells were hiding. If it comes from a lake, is it still a sea shell?

Here are all the kids at the visitor's center in Kirtland. Love the beautiful mums! At first we had a little difficulty getting a spot for a tour. They didn't tell us then, but it turns out that President Monson was there the same day, and they were trying to arrange things around his visit. How cool is that? Perhaps not as cool as actually seeing him, but we'll take what we can get.

The Kirtland Temple. Unfortunately, our group was too big to go up the the 3rd floor, but we still enjoyed walking up the steps to the 2nd story.

Perhaps our favorite place was the John Johnson farm. It was just our family on this tour (and Paul was behaving--first time all day). This is all of us on the front steps where Joseph Smith preached the night after being tarred and feathered.

I'm grateful to have visited these places, especially with my family. I learned a lot, and being there sure makes church history come alive. Next summer we look forward to going to more sites--hopefully Palymra and Niagara Falls. We'd love for someone to come go with us!

Annoying? Too bad.

A few phrases have surfaced this week that I thought you all might enjoy. Most of them are Paul's, but I couldn't resist adding something from Maggie.

Paul is improving his social skills. Now instead of just saying "no," he answers with a polite "no, thank you." Does this mean he gets out of putting his coat on, washing his hands, or going to bed? "No way" --which unfortunately has also become a possible response.

One morning I was brushing Maggie's hair for school. This is never a pleasant experience for her. Snarls are just not fun. She and Amy had been playing and talking on their way up to my room where all the hair stuff is kept. Maggie settled on the chair and I started brushing her hair. Immediately Maggie's mood changed and she turned to Amy: "You just keep talking and talking and talking!! It's really annoying me!!" If only I could use this phrase as well.

With all the older kids in school, Amy and Paul have been having fun hanging out together. On the way to swim lessons at the YMCA they were telling each other knock-knock jokes. Paul liked to summarize the whole joke by saying "knock, knock...banana who! hahahaha!" At least Amy waited for a "who's there?"

A final phrase from Paul. I really hope I didn't inadvertently teach it to him, because it drives me crazy!! I thought "no way" was bad, but this taunting, teasing phrase is way worse. Ask Paul to clear his plate or put his blanket away, he might respond with a smirk and a "too bad!"

In Paul's words, I'll "be right back" with some new posts this week about my mom's visit and our trip to Kirtland. "See you later."