Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween! We had a great day here, it was full of dressing up, Trick-or-treating, and just general silliness.

Our Halloween Festivities actually started yesterday, when we went to Brookings after work for a Halloween Celebration at the United Retirement Center. John's Grandpa, Percy, lives there, and they had trick or treating, inflatables, mazes, and laser tag for the kids. They also served a light meal of hotdogs, chips, pop, and cheese.

It was a nice little trip to Brookings. The weather didn't cooperate very well, it was rainy and chilly, so the inflatables were pretty much a no-go, which was a bummer for Emma since she loves those things. Emma was Doc McStuffins again, and was super adorable. She had fun with the mazes and getting all sorts of candy of course.

Elliott was a Vikings football player, and he handled all the noise and chaos very well. It was also nice to visit with Percy, and for the kids to hang out with their Great-Grandpa for a little while.

Today was pretty busy, but a fun day. We started off by doing some grocery shopping in the morning. Emma had to wear her witch costume right away, and she had fun showing off her costume to everyone in the store. After groceries, Emma and I went to Michael's where they were doing some crafts with the kids, and also some face painting. Emma had a really good time.

After lunch, and some naps, we got the kids ready for some trick or treating. Jim and Barb came by to eat supper with us, and hand out candy to kids while we took the kids trick or treating. We got lucky and got a pretty nice evening for trick or treating. It was about 50 degrees, and a little breezy. We pulled Elliott around in the wagon, and Emma got to go trick or treating with a neighbor girl, and that just made her day.

Emma ended up with an entire pail full of candy. We limited her to about 3 pieces of candy. She was getting pretty tired by the end of the trick or treating.

After some sugar highs, and some periods of hyperactivity, we finally got both kids to sleep. It is daylight savings time tonight, so we do gain an hour of sleep, but we are all pretty shot from all the fun. Tomorrow is supposed to be 70 degrees (on Nov 1st!), which is awesome. We are planning some yard cleaning, leaf jumping, and maybe even some fun in the park. I'm excited.

Hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween!!

Our cute little witch and her pumpkins 

Mashed potato fun

Elliott and Great-Grandpa Percy

Halloween fun

Emma the witch

Getting a Hello Kitty face painting 

Emma can write her own name 

Getting ready for Trick or Treating 

Posing with Mickey and Minnie

Trick or Treating Fun

Elliott's very enthusiastic about Trick or Treating 

Minnesota Trick or Treating

Another week has flown by, and I'm not sure where it went. Last Saturday, I hosted a baby shower for my co-worker, Sarah. It ended up being a pretty nice party. We had about 8 people show up, and some little kids for Emma and Elliott to play with. It was very nice to see Sarah and her cute little boy, Ethan, and to just visit with everyone. I also got crafty and made a diaper wreath for Ethan, and it turned out pretty well. Everyone stayed and visited until like 8:30 pm, which was fun, but I had some tired kiddos by then. All in all, it was a fun day.

Sunday was a catch up day for everyone. We all took naps, cleaned the house, made some chili, and watched football. It was a great day to just stay home and catch up before starting another crazy week.

The beginning of the week was pretty typical. It involved a lot of working, picking up kids, playing and bathing kids, putting them to bed, and starting all over again. I had Wednesday off this week, and the kids and I had a good day at home. We played in the house for the morning, and then after lunch I took the kids to get their flu shots. They did awesome! Emma didn't cry at all, and she was very proud of her owl bandaid that she got. Elliott cried for about 30 seconds, and then he was over it, and never really fussed or crabbed for the rest of the day.

After shots, we headed out to Grandma Barb's and Grandpa Jim's to play away the afternoon. Emma has been begging all day to go out to their farm, so I decided to go out and let her enjoy the nice day and burn off some energy. Emma had a blast, riding her trike, picking apples, feeding the ducks and chickens, petting kittens, and just running around and being a kid. Elliott had an ok time, he spent most of his time riding in the wagon, or being carried around. He also got to pet some kitties and had a fun afternoon. Emma was very sad to leave and go back home, but I promised we would be back again another day.

Friday was a crazy day. After work, we all headed out to go to my parent's house for the weekend. It ended up being one of the worst trips we have ever taken to Minnesota. It rained the entire way, and by rained I mean it was downpouring so hard, we could hardly see and we had to drive 45 miles per hour for a lot of the trip. On top of that, Elliott cried for at least half the trip, and Emma was having occasional freak outs. It was a long ride and I thought it was never going to end. And then, once we got to my parent's house, I slipped and fell down the four wooden stairs in our font entry way, landing on my elbow and my back. It hurt like a sonofabitch. And was the perfect ending to a shitty day.

On Saturday, John shot engagement pictures for Holly and Jayme Bode, I went wedding dress shopping with Samantha and the rest of the bridesmaids, and Mom and Dad watched the kiddos. After a long afternoon of wedding dress shopping, we took the kids trick or treating around the neighborhood. We stopped at a few placed, and ended up at Tim and Janel's where we ate pizza, and visited with everyone. It was a great evening to see everyone, and the kids really had a good time. Emma dressed up as Doc McStuffins, and Elliott dressed up as a Vikings football player. It was pretty cute!

Today was pretty much a traveling day. We went to church in the morning, then to potluck afterwards. After that, we just chilled in the living room with the Vikings game on in the background. We headed out at about 2:30pm and both kids slept most of the way back home, which was awesome. Now, after some unpacking, cleaning, and putting kids to bed, it's time to relax. Maybe even with a glass of wine. Sounds wonderful :)

Diaper Wreath 

Emma and Ethan being adorable 

The wedding shower guests 

Emma's Pumpkin

Our cute little witch

Our Pumpkin Family

Fall 

Enjoying some nice fall weather 

Sandbox Fun

Picking Apples

Doc McStuffins Trick or Treating

Our Cute Little Vikings Player

Fall Happenings

I'm not exactly sure how it happened, but it's been a couple weeks since I blogged. Basically, Elliott was pretty miserable for about a week with a cough, and Emma kept complaining of her ear hurting, so between the two of them we had a pretty hectic week. I also had a week last week where I picked up some extra shifts, and worked a 50 hour work week. So, that maybe explains why I have been MIA for a couple weeks.

So, let's catch up on what has been happening around the Nelson Household. Besides all the sickness, we have been enjoying a beautiful fall season. We have had trips to the park, been riding bike, playing catch, wagon rides, and just trying to be outside as much as possible before the weather changes.

We made a Target run last weekend and found some Halloween costumes for the kids. Emma is going to be a witch (which is adorable) and Elliott's costumes were pretty picked over, so we decided on a Vikings Football Player, which is also going to be adorable. Emma is getting pretty excited to wear her costume and go Trick-or-Treating, she doesn't really understand why we can't just go Trick-or-Treat right now. It's pretty cute. That girl loves her candy.

Speaking of candy, Emma had her first dentist appointment on Thursday. She was very brave, and did a great job. She let the hygienist count her teeth, and even polish 4 of them. I was very proud of her. Her teeth look good, except for one dark spot on a back tooth, so we just have to be sure to brush well and maybe avoid or limit those darn fruit snacks. Poor Emma. She was very excited to tell everyone about her Dentist appointment, and she even got to pick out a toothbrush and a prize for being so good. It was a good day all around.

Today, I got the day off from work, which was amazing. I brought the kids to daycare, and enjoyed a quiet morning, before running errands and cleaning the house. I am hosting a co-worker's baby shower tomorrow, so I had groceries to get, and a house to tidy and clean. After picking up the kids, we decided to carve and paint pumpkins once Elliott was asleep.

Emma had a great time painting her pumpkin and riding her bike around the garage while John and I carved pumpkins. It's a fun tradition and I look forward to doing it every year with the kids.

I absolutely love this time of the year. Tomorrow we are going to try to take some pictures of the kids at a park, before John's session with another family. And then I have prep work and tidying up to do for the baby shower. I swear our days never slow down, but I enjoy every minute of it.

Wagon Ride on a chilly fall day

10 months old 

Elsa Emma

Emma's witch costume 

My and  my little cutie pie

Goofy girls 

Beautiful fall day at the park

Going down the slide together 

Elliott and his puppy pal

Emma's First Trip to the Dentist 

Brave Girl

Painting Pumpkins!!

October Zoo Trip

Happy Saturday! Once again, in a blink of an eye, one month has vanished, and another has taken it's place. It's October already!!

I had yesterday off from work, and of course had the kids home with me, and we turned it into a pretty fun day. We started off by just playing at home while Elliott took his morning nap. Then, we went to the Library to pick out some new books for the week. Emma has been really into going to the Library and returning the books we borrowed, and then picking out new books. In the meantime, Elliott is trying to eat every book in the library and shrieking and yelling until every single person in the library gives us a dirty look.

After some afternoon naps, we headed to the zoo for the afternoon. We walked around and looked at all the animals, and surprisingly enough, Elliott rode like a champ in the stroller and Emma behaved very well. After seeing the animals, Emma wanted to play with the toys inside the museum for a while. I kinda had to tear her out of there once it was closing time.

I also took a chance, and brought both kids to Wal-Mart by myself. It actually went very well and I remembered everything on my shopping list, so that was a big win.

Today has been a little crazy. We had big plans to go to the apple orchard, and maybe even the Festival of Bands, but we just couldn't get our crap together and even make it out of the house. Elliott has a nasty cold right now, so he was crabby and slept most of the morning. While he was napping, Emma and I did some Halloween painting projects, which were pretty fun to work on (pictures to come when they are finished).

This afternoon we were still trying to get out of the house to do something, but now both kids are napping. We just can't get things to work out for us today. But that's ok, we will just enjoy a Saturday inside with the kiddos.

I am super excited for Halloween later this month. We haven't completely decided on Halloween Costumes for the kids yet, but I have some fun ideas and plan to do some shopping soon.

While we were at the zoo, I tried to get some cute pictures of the kids, and failed miserably. So, I will leave you with those :)

P.S. Elliott is finally starting to crawl around. It's pretty adorable. He only takes a couple crawls, and then stops and sits on his butt. But it's cute. And soon, he is going to be cruising around like crazy.

Happy Fall Y'all!!!!!