Some Christmas Photos

Our Christmas season was low-key this year.  Still captured some sweet memories.  My two girls baking together on Christmas Eve.

 I love that Rebecca shares this activity that she enjoys with her little sister.

 This is Christmas morning.  The stockings are hidden under the quilts waiting to be uncovered.

 Ready to start the day.  Some of them have been ready longer than others of them, but I won't name names.  LOL  We read the Christmas story before heading downstairs.

 After seeing the movie, Joshua was really excited about getting one of the books about Tin Tin.

 This little girl still has to work to reach the bottom of her stocking.

 Holding a necklace that she had seen and liked.  :-)

 Just loved this sweet face!

 Star Wars gloves which have been a huge hit.

 And Legos.  Lots and lots of legos.  Of course, just getting one box usually means lots and lots of Legos!  LOL

 Our traditional breakfast with our "Christmas Casserole".  We made a smaller GF version for Eliana which she did not touch.

 Joshua made gifts for many of us from Legos.  He bought various specialty pieces, painted some and switched things to get just what he wanted.  He made a Nativity for Roger and I.  I love handmade gifts.

 He made an  NC State Lego piece for Christopher.

 Isaiah gave Christopher ping pong balls which he used to make ...

 a smoke bomb.

 Our lunch is mostly snack type foods.  We had a nicer meal for Christmas Eve.  Having these foods allows people to get something when they are hungry throughout the day.  It also keeps any of us from spending too much time in the kitchen cooking.

 An NC State hat from her cousins/aunt/uncle in NE which she LOVES!

 Christopher gave his two youngest brothers light sabers.  Really nice ones that are a lot of fun.

 Eliana playing on the elephant from Christopher and wearing her new Perry shirt from Rebecca.  She had to put on the shirt as soon as she opened the gift!

 More brotherly fun.

 Remembering whose birthday we are celebrating with a cake.

 Happy Birthday Jesus!

Thank you God for the gift of your son!  What an amazing gift!

Blessings
Leslie

Happy Birthday Eliana!

Just had to get this post in before I post about Christmas and New Years!  Behind on blogging, but making progress at my house.  I've been going through some rooms and decluttering and today I caught up a little bit on my scrapbooking.  (Trying to finish up my 2008 album.  And no, I'm not caught up until that year either.  LOL.  I have half finished years.  I'm thankful for the blog as it really helps with my journalling!)  

Earlier today Joshua asked me if I'd put anything new up on my blog.  I told him no.  He was surprised.  Nothing about Christmas?  Or visiting the Kenkels?  Or  New Year's Eve?  No.  I'm going to remedy that though.

Just a couple of weeks ago, our little princess had a birthday.  She is 5 years old!  I really can't believe she is 5!  I told a friend that for me one of the blessings of having a child with Down syndrome is that they seem to age a little slower.  Its a little more gentle on my mama's heart.  

 Our little girl is filled with spunk, laughter, joy and delight.  She makes us all giggle with her antics.  I love too how easily she breaks into squeals of laughter.  It always seems pretty close to the surface and doesn't take much for the laughter to break forth.  What a sweet quality!

 In this photo, I can see "age" in her.  Can you?  I can imagine how she will look some years down the road when I look at her face here.  I'm not sure why.

 For her birthday, we decided to have a "Phineas and Ferb" party.  Eliana *loves* Phineas and Ferb!  She watches some of this show every day!  Cracks me up when she starts singing the songs.  We found this cute idea for cupcakes on line.  This is Perry the platypus.

 We also found some cute printables of the characters from the show and hid them around the house.  She loved finding them.  I move them about at times and she still has fun when she finds a new one.

 What delight in her face!  Don't you just love it?!  When she opened the package, she exclaimed "Oh Phineas!".

 Another package was quickly handed to her and she questioned as she  opened it expectantly ... "Ferb?".

 Eliana also really likes Perry.  We have a little family game of "Where's Perry?" going on and I love hearing her jump in to play.  She also got an Agent P, Candace and Doofensmirtz.   (Lots of siblings with gifts!)

 From her grandparents she got her very own Bitty Baby.  She is a good little mama too!

 I love watching her pretend in her play.  Its really sweet.

 I didn't get a great "blowing out the candles" photo this year.  She does enjoy doing that!

We had a fun day celebrating our sweet girl.

Thank you sweet Eliana for teaching us so much. ...

to slow down.

to laugh.

to give more hugs.

to smile at strangers.

to dance more often.

to appreciate small milestones (especially when they can seem so big).

to recognize beauty in all that God has made.

to be thankful for good health.

And so much more.  We are blessed.  God has blessed our family abundantly with six wonderful children.  I am a very thankful Mama.

I love you Eliana!

Merry Christmas!

From our family to yours!

With love
Leslie for the Nelsen

Under One Roof

My Mama's heart is happy because all of my children are once again under one roof - our home.  Its so good to have everyone here.  And I love that I know it will be weeks and not just a couple of days (not that the couple of days aren't also wonderful!)  I just thrill with knowing that we have time.  Time to play.  Time to talk.  Time to hang out.  Just time.

As the days pass and years go by, things obviously change.  Change can be challenging.  Sometimes good and other times just hard.  Sometimes the changes that look the most difficult can be the ones that bring the biggest blessings.

With Christopher in college, we have all had a lot of changes.  One is rooting for a new school (well, some of us are and others aren't).  A friend gave Eliana this cute shirt. 

 And yes, she is trying to make a wolf with her cute little hands.  :-)

We packed up an exam survival box and headed up to see Christopher the Saturday before exams started.  We waited in the lobby of his building.  

And everyone just made themselves at home once we got up to his room.  LOL

They wanted to help unpack the box (and sample it too).

Eliana grabbed my camera and got some great photos of Joe.  Our boys love hanging out with him.  I wish we had gotten a good one of Christopher too!  Next time.

It is a fun place to hang out.

We headed outside to play a little bit - football and frisbee.

I just thought this was a neat photo.  I'm guessing this is one of Eliana's.

We tried to go out for ice cream, but sadly for us, the Creamery was closed.  We'll have to try that another time too.

For now, I'm enjoying my family and thankful we are all here.  We have a busy week ahead and I want to be sure to carve out lots of time to just hang out and have fun!  

Tonight as everyone was getting ready for bed, my thoughts were pensive.  Last time to help a sweet little 4yo get ready for bed, read her stories, rock her and kiss her good night.  Five years ago, I was hospitalized for extreme sickness and dehydration.  Little did I know how much my world was soon to change.  

More later.  Tomorrow we have a sweet little girl to celebrate.  Five!  Can she really be five?  It sure doesn't seem like it.  

Blessings

Leslie

Five in a Row Christmas Ornaments 2011

Our Five in a Row group has been making and swapping ornaments for a few years now - 5 or 6?  I'm not sure.  We've been doing it long enough that I'm hopeful that we will one day have them all.  I love these ornaments for a couple of reasons.  First is that it brings back so many sweet memories of the books we have rowed over the years.  For most of my children, we have been doing Five in a Row for as long as they can remember.  Its woven into the fabric of our family.  The second reason that I love these is that they are made by friends, people I love and have walked this homeschooling journey with - some for many years and some for just a few.

We met on Sunday to swap our ornaments.  It was a fun social time together with some yummy foods and excellent company.

Here are our ornaments for this year.  Just for fun, I'll post the book that goes with the ornament under the picture in case some of you want to try to figure it out before seeing the answer.  Now, I realize that on some of these that I have the name in the picture.  Sorry, take that as a freebie.  LOL

This one was mine and I wanted the 4 sides to be visible.  It was important to me to capture the 4 pieces of this story.

The Saturdays - Beyond FIAR

Isn't this next one cute?  Just a perfect likeness.

Corduroy - Before FIAR

The wool on this one is from a cotswold ewe and is so soft!  The shape of the ornament will give you a hint too!

Warm as Wool - A story set in Ohio in FIAR

This one is probably recognizable to everyone whether or not you use FIAR!   A much loved story.

Of course, its Peter Rabbit.  (A FIAR title)

This is one in which I photographed the card to go along with it.  Cover that up if you want to try to guess.  Its just perfect for the book!

 George Washington Carver - Beyond FIAR

The colors in this next one were just perfect to me.

Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening (FIAR)

You may have to think on this one.  And when you get it - you will see that it is just right for this story!

 Andy on the Lion from FIAR.

Can you read the mailbox?  If you can, then you will totally know what this one is.

Miss Rumphius from FIAR.

I'm not sure if you can tell, but this one is hand painted on the front and inside of the back to give it dimension!  Its beautiful!

 All Those Secrets of the World (FIAR title)

Reading the note will give you a big clue - and if you were here and could smell the lilacs that would help too.

 The Hickory Chair - FIAR.

This one is another with the picture card in it.  This is a Before FIAR title.

 My Blue Boat.

This is a picture from the book and the cover.  A very sweet book!

 Prayer for a Child - Before FIAR

Last one.  This one too is probably an easy one to recognize for lots of people as it is a classic book.

Madeline (FIAR)

So we have 13 more amazing ornaments to add to our FIAR tree.  I bought a new one this year (on sale for $20!) as I needed a bigger one to hold all of them.  Its a fun tradition and I'm thankful to have friends that want to do it year after year.

Traditions are a sweet way to tie together memories and hearts year after year.

Hoping that your Christmas season is full of sweet wonders and delightful friends.

Blessings
Leslie

Happy Birthday Sweet 16!

I can hardly believe that she is 16.  Am I going to feel this way about each birthday?  The days go slowly, but the years do fly.  I'm thankful for each day and year - they have been sweet.

All the stories about teenaged girls ... I just haven't seen it.  Not to say that she doesn't have her moments - but then so do I!  She has a sweet heart and it really does come through in what she does.  She often looks for ways to bless others and I love that!

Rebecca was born the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  I remember one of my good friends then had a birthday around Thanksgiving too.  She told me that as an adult that she loved having her birthday near Thanksgiving because she was always near family who celebrated with her.  I loved that - and it was so much nicer than hearing how difficult it is to have a birthday in the mix of the holidays.

So, most years, Rebecca does celebrate her birthday pretty close to Thanksgiving.  This year was no exception.  It was the day after Thanksgiving.  She picked what she wanted for breakfast - biscuits with sausage gravy AND orange juice!  We all enjoyed it.  (Well, not Eliana due to the gluten.)

 On their birthday, we ask our children what they would like to do to celebrate and do our best to accommodate it.  We also like to have them choose all of the food for the day.  Rebecca thought it would be fun to go shopping for her birthday.  We have typically not be close to many retail places when we were in the mountains, but this was just not the case at the beach.

Are you remembering back to when her birthday fell this year?  The day after Thanksgiving.  Yes, Black Friday.  She wanted to go shopping on Black Friday.  So we did.  We actually started the night before.  She knew of a particular item she wanted at the outlet mall and it opened at 10pm on Thur night.  So, Rebecca, Christopher and I headed out.  Did I mention that we had never been shopping before on Black Friday?  We arrived at the mall shortly after it was opened and the parking lot was PACKED!  Cars parked in every legal and illegal space imaginable.  After driving crawling slowly around the mall once, those two got out to shop while I drove around.  I did finally find a spot and went in to meet them. We bought a few things at the first store and then looked around a few more.  Did I mention that it was crazy in here?!

We decided to leave and go to Kohls which opened at midnight.  Um, yes, it was very crazy there too.  We shopped for awhile and then got in line.  It wrapped around the building twice.  After standing for awhile (20 min?), I went to ask if we could put things on hold.  Yes!  Just needed to be back before 1pm the following day in order to get the sale prices.

So the next day we headed back to Kohls.  This time Christopher stayed home and my niece Keri joined us.  The lines were MUCH shorter and easier to navigate.  We had lunch at Chick-Fil-A.

 We gathered together - all of us - for dinner. Pizza, salad and red pepper dip with chips.  This is the birthday girl with her siblings and cousins on my side of the family.

 Cupcake cake for our birthday girl.

Laughing as another sibling gives her a box of Skittles.

Rebecca always brings cheer and laughter to a group.  She quick to smile and always ready to have fun. She is a faithful friend and wonderful sister!

Her big surprise gift this year was a guitar!  She has been asking for one and it was fun to see how excited this gift made her.  Its also been fun to hear her working at learning how to play.

So many things I could say about Rebecca.  She is beautiful.  This is true on the outside, but even more so on the inside where it matters.  Rebecca has a tender heart and I love seeing the ways that she reaches out to comfort, encourage and help others.

Rebecca can be quiet in a group (or if you don't know her well), but she really blossoms when hanging out with young children.  She loves playing with them and delights in the conversations that she has with them.  She also blossoms on a stage!  Rebecca loves to act and perform.  She has an amazing capacity for memorizing and uses this well when she is in a play.  I love watching her act and share her talents in this way.

Rebecca is creative and imaginative in so many ways.  She loves to make things for others and brings great joy with her gifts.  Rebecca is an excellent cook and especially enjoys baking.  We all enjoy that too!

Rebecca loves to learn about God, but more importantly, she loves God!  I'm excited to see her growing in her walk with God and pray that she would continue to fall more deeply in love with Him.  One of her other birthday gifts was a new Bible.  I have read through the New Testament praying for her as I read it and making some notes to her in the Bible.  I hope to finish the Old Testament soon (but didn't want to wait any longer to give it to her).  

Rebecca, I love your heart to serve and bless others.  I love your sweet spirit and tender heart.  I love you more than words can ever say.  I'm so thankful you are my daughter.  You have been a blessing to me for 16+ years now.  

I love you!

Mom