monkeys

My crazy monkeys showered me with lots of loves, kisses, and cards this mothers day.

What a lucky mama I am.

Now to wrap my brain around the fact that there will be +1 in just a few months...

crazy.

confessions

First a few confessions:

1. I do not like school breaks.  I dread them.  I find myself counting down the days until they are over before they even start.  Call me a bad mom but it gets a little overwhelming trying to entertain 2 very energetic boys with no school distractions.

2. I love, love, love waking up in Las Vegas in the spring.  Windows open, breeze blowing, birds chirping.  It is the perfect way to start the day.

3.  If I could wake up and snuggle with my husband and babies in the morning, every morning, I would be one very happy mom.  It just brings joy to my heart.

So this morning I wake up to a little person saying "mom.... mom.... moooooom."  I groggily come out from under my blankets expecting to settle yet another spring break disagreement.  But to my surprise I see a beaming Beckam holding a plate overflowing with eggs and toast and hear an excited Cade on the other side of the bed doing the same for Jared. 

Those little men woke up, cracked, scrambled and plated 18 {yes 18} eggs for us and made multiple pieces of toast.  Cade was proud that he had made all the eggs and Beckam was proud that he had handed Cade all of the eggs.  Love it.

When I asked them why they decided to make us breakfast Cade replied, "just because of all the nice things you do for us."  ::sigh:: melt my heart.

After we had choked down eaten all of our eggs {while the boys jumped back and forth over the bed and Capri squawked until she had just as many bites as I did.}  I headed down to view the damage.  Not bad considering a 6-year-old and a 3-year-old had made breakfast but it did take a good amount of time to scrub yolk off of... everything.

So back to my confessions.  

1. Those little turkeys proved me wrong.  School breaks are not half bad... except for the cleaning up part.

2.  Windows open, breeze blowing and birds chirping is even better when accompanied by kids.

3.  Snuggling with the family is even better when accompanied with eggs.

Still smiling.

sugar rush.

We ate a lot of candy yesterday.

Like a lot.

But that is totally legal one day a year... right?

Now we are on sugar detox around here....

not helpful that we still have doughnuts, cupcakes, sees chocolates, and cookies still hanging around.

Maybe we will start tomorrow.

Happy late Valentines day to you all.

Hope your holiday was as fantastic as ours was.

Dance Party

 Last week I decided that our family was in some desperate need of some good 'ole fashioned f.u.n.

I had no idea what to do and not many resources to pull from so I decided that a dance party was in order.

The boys were not to thrilled to hear that we were going to be dancing but once the word party was introduced they were totally on board.

Beckam insisted that we had cupcakes for the party so we spent the afternoon working on some rather unsuccessful cupcakes that needed to be eaten with a spoon... but he was happy.

Cade is now convinced that he is the best dancer in the family {and reminds us of it every day} and Becks is convinced that he is the best DJ ever... and he kinda is.

We had a blast with the music up loud, kids dancing crazy and laughing our guts out.

Gotta love Monday night dance parties.

Christmas 2010

 Santa made it to our house and it was truly a success.  I gave myself a gift this year.  I decided to allow myself to enjoy the moment rather than spend all of my time trying to document every second of what happened.  It is always such a struggle to know when to just stop, put down the camera, and enjoy my children being children and this year I decided that the first few moments would be documented in print and the rest as memories I will carry with me forever.

 We had the pleasure of having my cute sister and her adorable family with us for Christmas.  Alli and I couldn't help but laugh when we realized that we had unknowingly put all the boys in the same jammies. What are the odds that we would not only have bought the same ones but also put them on them the same night... we must be sisters or something :).

We also were able to have some good friends come over to join in the Chaos of Christmas morning with us and we also had my mom and dad with us via skype.  So it was a houseful.  So fun!

Cade loved everything he opened and wasn't afraid to share his excitement with all of us.  He is truly one of the most fun kids on Christmas morning.  So far the most played with gifts have been their Harry Potter wands and their remote control cars.

 

Beckam on the other hand had to be Convinced to open A.L.L. of his gifts.  He was so focused on all the candy that surrounded him that he had a hard time paying attention to anything else.  He was so worried that Cade would take his candy {and rightfully so} that he wanted to put it in his pockets to protect it.  Only problem, jammies don't have pockets.  That didn't stop Beck.  He shoved all his candy in his "pockets" anyway and carried it around in his pant leg all morning.  It was quite the sight to see him try and get it out.

Maddux was such a sweetie.  He wanted to just hang back and take it all in.  I can't blame the poor kid.... the Nielson boys can be rather overwhelming on a normal day let alone Christmas morning.

He was such a trooper.

And Miss Capri was an angel as always.  She slept most of the time and the boys took turns opening her gifts for her and then attempting to show her what she got.

Although I put down my camera and lived in the moment there was one that I just couldn't miss.  Jared and I have been so excited about having a backyard so we could get the boys a trampoline and it has been one of the best things we have ever bought.  The boys L.O.V.E. it.  They jump at all times of the day and night.

I love that I can look right through my kitchen window and watch them play, jump, and do whatever they can to get my attention.

It was truly a wonderful Christmas.  It was so nice to be surrounded by our family and to join in the excitement of childhood with them.  We feel so blessed.

Update

It has been a crazy couple of days months around here. I feel like I have spent a ridiculous amount of time on the computer and yet have done nothing with my blog. You can check out my photography blog to catch a glimpse of what I have been able to work with... I know. don't be too jealous.

So here is a quick recap of what is happening over here in our neck of the woods.

Cade

Cade has been doing well and keeping busy. He has already spent many hours in the pool and is really excited to start swim lessons on Monday. He is convinced that he will be teaching the class but none the less is excited to spend more time in the pool. He has recently decided that he is a "model." Every time my camera comes out, which is rare these days for my own family, he will bust out his GQ face and give me all sorts of poses. It is hilarious. So needless to say, the only way I can get a real smile out of him is to mention something about boogers... gotta love little boys! So predictable.

Cade also just graduated from preschool. I cannot believe that he is growing up so fast. He was not a fan of letters but LOVES numbers. He is now starting to realize that letters actually make words and so is warming up to the idea of actually learning and remembering all his letters. It makes me laugh to hear the things that he comes up with for me to tell him how to spell.

September '09 May '10

Beckam

Beckam is doing wonderful and still as sweet as ever. He truly makes my heart happy. He will always hold my hand and loves to give hugs and kisses to everyone. One of his true loves is food. He loves to have snacks and take them around in a plastic bag along with his sippy cup. He is quickly nearing his 2nd birthday and I cannot believe that he is not a baby any more. He still doesn't use many words but is oddly one the best communicators and listeners I have ever met.

He has recently discovered how to pack things around. His 2 favorite ways to haul his "trinkets" are either his dump truck that he will push all over the place or his pockets. He gets so disappointed in the morning time when he has jammies on because there are no pockets for his toys.

The other day when I did all of our laundry I came up with 3 cars, 2 army guys, 1 bakugan, a mini water gun and a binki out of his pockets. He loves his pockets and it always makes me smile.

Baby #3

Baby #3 is on its way and making me bigger than ever.... the things we do for these little ones! I am currently 16 weeks and the baby is the size of an avocado. So far this pregnancy has been the easiest of all... don't know if that is good or if it means that I am in for a child to make up for the ease but either way I feel blessed to feel good. We find out on the 27th of June what this little "avocado" is. Jared and I are both betting boy but I thought the other 2 would be girls... so much for my "mothers intuition."

Jared

(yes the picture is blurry... another one of cades discovered "talents" is a photographer. He is a little shaky but I love the picture and he is a crack up to listen to "direct" photos.)

This handsome young man turned 31 in May.... wow! We had a small birthday celebration for him and the boys truly enjoyed shouting "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!" to him every chance they got. We also celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary in May. Jared surprised me by taking me to the JW Marriot for the night and treating me to a night out on the town. He is such a good husband. He has been busier than ever and we couldn't be any more proud of him. We are all looking forward to the evenings we will get to spend with him at the pool now that it is light and hot when he gets home from work.

Lacey

(Once again, Cades photo. He directed me to be a ninja... here are my punches. He was happy and it made me laugh.)

I am doing well. I have spent a great deal of time with my camera and some amazing families, lots of fun. I have also spent a lot of my mental energy on trying to figure out, "what's next." We have sold our condo and have been trying to find a house to rent for a while. I thought that it would be so easy to just pick something... I was wrong. I know we will find something but in the mean time I feel like I am touring all the homes and neighborhoods of Henderson.

I have also been stressing over what to do with Cade next year. Although I am SO ready for him to start kindergarten we both know that he isn't quite ready yet. So that leads me to solving another dilemma... where to take him to preschool. Still don't know. Oh the decisions of a mother.

Now that summer, and 110 degrees, are upon us I have been trying to be creative and take the boys on adventures. We have recently gotten snow cones, (lots of them),

visited the pet store (Cade leaving in tears because a dog didnt leave with us)

and spent a great deal of time at the pool (hello sunscreen and chlorine).

We are all REALLY looking forward to our summer vacations and being able to spend time with our family!!

Happy Summer to everyone!

Guess who is 50 today...

Yep, can you believe it... this handsome guy is 50-years-old today.

Lucky ME... I get to call him MY Dad!!

Don't get too jealous... but seriously, you kind of should. He is AMAZING!

And are him and my mom not the CUTEST couple you have ever seen!?

There are definitely more of these pictures that I am dying to share but for now lets celebrate 50 years of life!!

Love you dad!

Side note: Jared's dad would have celebrated his 65th birthday today. What are the odds that both of our dads were born on the same day!?