Time Flys When You're Having Fun

The most treasured thing in the Neilson house...sleep.

If you look closely you can see BYU written on her forehead...

Carrying her toothbrush and her dog Hugo, a typical occurrence.

Got into my old Prom dresses and dance outfits...this girl man.

Camp out in her room with dinner and a movie...Cinderella of course. We set up this tent in her room in May and it just came down last week. Its run its course.

Short story: My brother's family had a BBQ on Memorial Day. My brother's family has a trampoline. My brother's trampoline has a cinder block wall around it. The cinder block wall is too big for the trampoline creating a hole just big enough for one Etta. My sweet Etta had a run in with said hole and wall...Wall 1 - Etta 0.

Did we have to go to the hospital? No as luck would have it we just needed an on site doctor-check. A towel for loads of blood-check. Hugs, kisses, rocking, and songs-check. Six Otter Pops for swelling and pain-check. Then believe it or not this girl was up and playing on that very same trampoline. This picture of her face was the day after and half as swollen. The next day her face was yellow...the next black and blue. Woo...I'd be lying if I said I didn't cry, but just for a second.

Then on June 5th we celebrated Julia's 18th birthday with dinner...

Sisters...

And cake...

And cousins...

Mason was particularly fond of Liam's fists.

The Birthday girl.

Wide eyed goober face Mason and Grandma.

We had a crazy first few weeks of summer that's for sure...but its been so fun to spend with with friends and family. Next we took a trip to Cali, but that needs a whole post of its own. Coming soon...

Sunday.

Laid in bed while Etta watched Cinderella for the 100th glorious time and poked me in the eyes.

Ate Oreos for breakfast...yeah, you heard me.

Traded Rob places at church so as not to infect everyone with our diseased child.

Came home to a wonderfully clean and quiet house...husbands are the best.

World cup...woot.

Made a new station on Pandora. How rad is Pandora?

Salsa and reheated au gratin for lunch.

Seriously thought about doing laundry.

Played some soccer. I outta fly down there and teach those guys how it's done.

Speaking of flying, gave the kids some wicked airplane rides.

Actually did some laundry.

Vacuumed over the same spot 20 times instead of bending over to pick up that darned kernel.

Soaked up the sweet moments with my family before goodbyes and goodnights.

Made a To Do list including aforementioned laundry which I then proceeded to cross off. It makes the list seem more approachable if somethings already done doesn't it?

Dinner: Popcorn and I may have had a few more Oreos. Jealous?

Read about crazy LSI sales people who by popular opinion should apparently burn. Harsh. I don't know about you but I thought those movies were pretty boss when I was eight...ok 18.

Watched Next Food Network Star which I convince myself I'd win...I'm the best at everything from my safe little couch at home.

Baby Blessing

Our sweet Liam was blessed on May 16, 2010. We felt so lucky to have family and friends join us for this special day. He was blessed William Keith Neilson by his dad with a special prayer.

This is a rough time of day for Etta if you can't tell...

Liam is a very special little boy. You don't think you'll be able to love so much time and time again but you can. He is very tender, snuggly, and always happy. I have a feeling he's going to be one of those people you just want to be around...who always has a huge smile, a warm hug, and a way of putting people at ease. A humble peace maker just like his daddy. What a sweet spirit we've been given.

Fabulous Flank Steak

I've been requested to post numerous recipes to here's the first of a few. The most simple crowd pleasing flank steak ever.

Flank Steak: (Difficulty-Easy)

Ingredients:

Flank steak

Unseasoned Meat Tenderizer

Teriyaki sauce

Dark Brown Sugar

McCormicks 25% Less Sodium Montreal Steak Seasoning

Place the flank steak in a shallow dish. Sprinkle lightly with meat tenderizer like you would use salt. Cover with teriyaki sauce and let marinade up to 24 hrs. Sprinkle lightly with McCormicks Montreal Steak Seasoning just prior to grilling. Grill for approximately 2 minutes per side over high heat. Move over to medium heat on another side of the grill and go another 3-5 min per side to medium rare. Sprinkle liberally with dark brown sugar.

Let it rest for 5 minutes covered with foil then slice thinly against the grain.

Mmmmmmmm...

Daddy's Little Girl

Rob got Etta this little outriggers shirt in Hawaii and she loves it. Or maybe we just love it. Either way it is super cute.



Now, Etta is a very cautious little girl so I would've thought skateboarding and scooter rides would scare her to death but we've come to find out that she has some adventure in her after all. She is a little speed demon!

The whole time you could hear her around the block...weeeeeeeee, fast, fast, weeeeeeeee! Again, again!

What it comes down to is that anything with Dad is her favorite no matter how terrifying...she's a daddy's girl!

Branch Parties

We had a couple fun branch parties for Easter and Cinco de Mayo. We absolutely love our branch and feel so blessed to be surrounded by such fun, loving people. Everyone's at the same stage in life and we all live so close that we've really made some great friends.

Towards the end of the candy hunt Etta started to understand the whole putting things in the basket and you'll get it later thing...but you can still see a little tear in her eye. :)

The whole fam.

Little Shay shay

My little Elizabeth in a nutshell.

Oh, and were they ever lovin the cotton candy.

We had delicious tamales and tres leches. Mmmm...thanks!

Easter

We had and interesting couple weeks in April. First Etta was sick, then Liam, then Rob, and then Etta again. Easter Sunday was Rob's turns. He woke up feeling awful so we had to do Easter baskets and hunts without him. I thought I hid her basket really well but she found it immediately, little stinker. Etta loved her Easter basket and headed straight for the candy then to the crayons.

My sweet little flower girl in the new dress Grandma got her for Easter.

Etta bug and Mylie moo.

All the kiddies getting ready for our neighborhood hunt.

Etta had a hard time grasping the concept. Everytime I tried to get her to put an egg in her basket she started crying and asking me to open it.

She got better as the hunt went on. It snowed so we had to put some winter boots on!

How most our pictures end up these days.

We were trying to get the kids in a cute grouping all morning without success then when we weren't looking the kids sat on this step all by themselves to eat their candy, perfectly prime for a picture.

Abby and Hannah in their Easter fancies.

Oh, Nate...what a cutie you are.

The Dellenbachs after nana's great hunt.

Me and my sweetheart.

We had such a fun easter, we're only sad daddy couldn't be there to share it with us. It was such a wonderful weekend spent listening to our wise and loving church leaders and enjoying our family. Happy Easter!

Two Months

Liam is just over two months now.

He is really really smiley and loves to be held. He's stopped pooping 10 times a day and is almost over his goobery eye. (Big milestones, I know).

He's sleeping pretty well, waking once a night to eat and we're going to start sleep training with him now that he's two months.

He loves being mauled by his loving sister.

He must be warm at all times and loves the bath.

As far as being swaddled in the miracle blanket, he hates it....but he loves it.

Here's what the doctor had to say:

Weight: 11 lb 12 oz

Height: 23 in

Head: 16 in

Pretty much 50th percentile on all accounts.

This is how I found him the other day. Oh, Etta.

She loves to play on the jungle mat with him and by play I mean sit on him!

You might be wondering what this is a picture of...it's his mad skills. Rob was trying to throw this fruit snack like 20 ft across the room into my mouth aaaaannnddd...

Liam caught it!

You think I'm making it up? That's why we took this picture...Red Sox 2030 here we come.

We love you Liam.

Do As I'm Doing

Etta loves to do anything and everything that I am doing. She loves to talk on her cell phone.

She loves to wear shoes and clothes like mine. If I'm wearing a dress she wants to wear her "rina, too!" She also loves to wear my jewelry and carry a backpack or purse.

When I'm reading she goes and gets one of her books and must be reading too.

Everytime we get in the car she says Etta drive, Etta drive. So when we get home I let her sit in the front seat where she can honk the horn, push the hazard button, and pull down the visor to check herself out in the mirror wearing her cool glasses.

When I'm paying bills she says Etta color too, Etta draw!

This girl absolutely loves 16 grain pancakes. Every morning she says pancakes, downstairs, eat! Then she goes downstairs and pulls a chair over to the stove because we cannot cook any more without her wanting to help...so now this is the routine.

She loves pushing strollers and grocery carts, just like mom.

We painted her toenails for the first time the other day and she was lovin it going around showing everyone her "beautiful toes."

She has to help me sweep and vacuum or she loses her mind and she loves helping me wipe up. Every time she's done eating now she asks for a wipe to get all clean and wipe the table.

And let's not forget about Liam...she is definitely Liam's second mommy. If she sees a binky she gets it and puts it in his mouth. She takes his blanket and then "helps" cover him as she smothers his face...Liam warm, Liam warm. She loves to burp him. She tries to help change his diaper...Liam diaper, yucky poos, all clean. She tries to brush his hair...Liam hair, Liam pretty. If Liam cries, she cries, then says hokay Liam, hokay Liam, don't cry as she hits him on the head.

It seriously kills me how cute this girl is and how much she talks.

We love this baby!

Mommy Maven: Books to live By

Maven: a trusted expert in a particular field, who seeks to pass knowledge on to others. The word maven comes from the Hebrew, via Yiddish, and means one who understands, based on an accumulation of knowledge.

Ok, so I'm definitely, definitely not an expert on being a mom but I do feel like I've gained better understanding by accumulating knowledge through different books, parents, and experience. If you know me, you know I love nothing more than passing on that knowledge. So I say I almost fit the bill.

I'd love to start posting information that I've learned and felt has been vital to my parenting skills and most certainly my sanity. For my first post I'd like to give a list of books that have been most helpful to my learning and that I'm sure I unknowingly quote in most conversations(after a while I can't remember if I read something somewhere or if it was my own genius...;)

So here's a short list of books to get me started in my Mommy Maven posts.

Twelve Hours Sleep by Twelve Weeks Old - Suzy Giordano (An absolute must for us on sleep, scheduling, and good habits).

Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child - Marc Weissbluth (A good companion to the first for further info, ideas, and problem solving).
- A partner to this book is Your Fussy Baby which we used more as a reference for problems.

Children's First Steps - A. Lynn Scoresby (Child development, awesome.)
- Bringing Up Moral Children
- The Real Power of Parenthood: How to find and use it successfully
- In the Heart of a Child (I love anything and everything by this man on parenting and marriage alike, he also has a great website/blog with discussions, further material etc).

Positive Discipline: The First Three Years - Jane Nelsen (Most books don't address discipline for babies so I love this one, it helps you gain better understanding from a child's perspective).

Raising Self-Reliant Children in a Self-Indulgent World - H. Stephen Glenn (Title says it all, this book is great).

Slow and Steady Get Me Ready - June R. Oberlander (Gives developmentally appropriate activities for each week of life from birth until age 5...sort of an at home preschool).
- Things to Do with Toddlers and Twos - Karen Miller (Similar to above, just more at home "trash to treasures" sort of crafts.)

Books are masters who instruct us without rods or ferules,

without words or anger, without bread or money.

If you approach them, they are not asleep;

if you seek them,they do not hide;

if you blunder, they do not scold;

if you are ignorant, they do not laugh at you.

~ Richard De Bury ~

Please post any advice, words of wisdom, books, or whatever you've found helpful so we can all share and grow together as amazing women and mothers!