Happy New Year!

Some of my favorite moments from 2010 (click for larger view)

Happy Birthday Mommy!

My birthday was yesterday (the 28th) and I came home from work to a birthday cake crafted by my two favorite boys! 

My Mom and Bruce took Evan and I out to dinner for my big day (Jeremy had to work.)

And my favorite part: a special birthday song from my little man!

Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas -we visited lots of family and ate lots of great food.  We are lucky to have a large extended family full of amazing and fun people.  We thank the heavens above that each of you are in our lives!  Merry Christmas - and here's to a great 2011!

On Christmas Eve Evan was so excited that he couldn't get to sleep.  At 11:30 he was still tossing and turning, so I whispered to him "Do you hear that?  I think I just heard sleigh bells!  I think Santa may be on Dar's (our neighbor) roof!  We better hurry up and go to sleep or Santa will miss our house!"  BAM - he was out like a light and didn't move again until morning.  Ahhh, Christmas magic.

Christmas Morning Video:

A new bike from Mom and Dad, The Polar Express book (which we didn't have yet - thanks Great-Grandma and -Grandpa!) and lots of other fun toys from Uncle Kelby, Grandpa and Adriana, and Santa!

My boys on Christmas Eve while watching the cats play with a giant ball of compressed catnip.  It was hilarious!

My favorite Evan-ism from Christmas Eve:

Evan: "When I was a baby, I got presents from Santa!  And when Santa's reindeer were babies, they got presents from Santa.  And when Santa was a baby, he got presents from...me!"

Our sad little gingerbread house

"Hey, Mom! Take a picture of me and my friend Rico!"

Painting the morning away...

Tonight we watched the Polar Express (again) and made a sad little gingerbread house.  It looks okay from far away, but close up...

...not so much.  Poor little gingerbread house!

Puppets and Dinosaurs

Evan really wanted to go outside and play in the snow when I got home from work today - but it was zero degrees outside (-10 with the wind chill) and so I convinced him to stay in and make hand puppets with me instead.  We found an old pair of socks and broke out the art supplies. 



While we were playing with them, Evan's hand puppet ("Konk") decided to describe to my hand puppet ("Hot Chocolate") what kind of dinosaurs he liked.  It was so cute! He was naming off all of these amazing dinosaur names - and most of them I had actually heard of (thanks to my having a little brother who also loved dinosaurs).  Velociraptor, Stegosaurus, Brontosaurus, Pteranodon, you name it!  I was pretty impressed so I asked him to explain it to me again for the camera.  Of course, it wasn't as succinct the second time, but still cute!

Storm of the Century

Red Wing officially received 20" of snow this weekend.  Grandpa Rex was nice enough to lend us his snow blower (thank you Grandpa Rex!) and when we returned it on Sunday we brought our sleds with for some winter fun.  Evan and I had attempted to go sledding the day before, but the snow was so deep and fluffy that he sunk and the sled wouldn't go down the hill!  It worked much better on Sunday - each of us went down the hill once with Evan...and hauled him (45 lbs) back up the hill.  So, Rex got out the four-wheeler so we could ride back up instead.  It was so much fun!

Big hill!

And, while we were snowed in on Saturday, Evan found a stray yellow marker and decided the footstool needed to be decorated.  Below is his drawing of a tiger, complete with stripes and sharp teeth!  Luckily, it was Crayola and washed right off.

Holiday Train

We braved the impending snow storm tonight and headed to Lake City to view the Canadian Pacific Holiday Train with DJ and Beth.  First we made a stop at the library to watch the Polar Express movie, make a train ornament, and view some neat model trains. 

Here the boys are watching the Polar Express.  (We actually just watched this movie last night at home and Evan really loved it.)

Later on we went down to the tracks to view the Holiday Train.

The lights were actually pretty impressive, and there was a live band playing Christmas songs in one of the cars (below.)

Evan and DJ had a 45-minute snowball fight...

and made snow angels...

 AND, got to meet Santa!



It was a really fun time, despite the cold.  We times our departure perfectly and were able to view the train on its ride to Red Wing.  We raced it to the levee and caught it just in time to watch it roll to a stop for the night before we headed home.  What a fun time!  Definitely something we will plan to do again next year.

Evan the Ice Skater

I used a little too much water when I mopped the kitchen floor yesterday - Evan said it looked like a skating rink and put on his ice skates (slippers) so that he could "show me some tricks."  Here he is performing his routing on the freshly scrubbe floor.  p.s. Notice his multi-colored slippers?  He told me wearing one blue one and one red one would make him go faster.

A Snowy Saturday

 Nothing stops this kid from riding his bike -
not even 6 inches of snow!

First snow angel of the season

Video of the big snow race: "Four Wheels" VS. "Four Legs"

Happy Belated Birthday Emma!  The Nelsons and Neumanns got together for a triple-date night (Jeremy/Emily, Derek/Annie, and Evan/Emma) at the bowling alley and Bierstube.  Although Evan and Emma went "dutch" he did end up sealing their night with a stolen kiss.  Emma was not thrilled. 

 

Jumping for joy as his ball knocked over some pins

Goodbye Thanksgiving and Hello Christmas!

I know, I know...it's been a while. This time my excuse is that I broke my camera. I dropped it in the grass and the lens got stuck, so, in true "Emily" fashion, I banged it on my palm a few times to get it unstuck...which resulted in my knocking it out of my palm and it landing on the cement. Well, long story short, last night Jeremy "fixed" my old camera by - you guessed it - banging on it. And viola! It works! I'm back in business!

Each year Evan makes his grand- and great-grandparents a Christmas ornament. Last year he made clay snowmen. This year he chose stars. While he was mixing the colors together he made mauve. He asked me what color it was, and I told him it was "mauve."

Me: "Mauve is like a mixture between pink and purple."
Evan: "Pink and purple? You're right! It is Marvin! I like Marvin - it's a pretty color."

This is what I refer to as an Evan-ism. I have an entire collection in a jar on top of the fridge. I also frequently post them to my facebook profile, but I thought I would re-post them all here as well, since I am hoping to get this blog eventually printed as a second baby book for Evan.

"Evan-isms"

Evan having a conversation with a cute old lady at the grocery store tonight:

Lady: "My, what nice hair you have! I want those curls!"

Evan: (completely serious) "Well, you can't have them. They're mine."

November 30

Evan's sneezing etiquette: "A-choo! Whew...bless myself!"

November 30

Evan waking up from a dream this morning:
"Mom! I just found three monies (coins)! Them fell down from the sky - I think its raining monies!"
November 28

"Mommy, go get me some fruit snacks, please. Now. You've been told."
November 27

Evan: "Mom, I don't want you to vacuum all that stuff up (on our living room rug), I like messes."
November 22

Me: "Are you hungry? Do you want a snack when we get home?"
Evan "Like what? I like apples, and oranges, and boogers."
Me: "Boogers? Yuck Evan - boogers are made out of germs, that's gross. Please don't eat your boogers."
Evan: "But elephants eat their boogers.”
November 18

We have another Evan-ism tonight - as I was watching the news, which I never do with Evan in the room, they showed a clip of a hockey game.
Evan: "Momma, I don't think you watch hockey. Hockey is a Daddy Show. You only watch Momma Shows."
Me: "I do? What's a Momma Show?"
Evan: "Like singin' and stuff, I don't know."
November 16

Evan (all sad and sniffly): "Mommy, I don't like myself."

Me (shocked and concerned): "What?? I love you and like you lots! Why don't you like yourself?"
Evan (completely serious): "I need a little sister. Then I'll like myself."
November 16

Evan: "Mom! I went to the tooth doctor today! And I got a new teethbrush! And my very own floss!"
Me: "Wow, Evan, that sounds exciting!"
Evan: "Yeah, it happened four minutes ago, when I was older."
November 15

Evan's favorite new saying when I tell him 'no.' - "Its okay, my OTHER mom said I could do it."

November 4

Evan: "Hey, Mom - you know how to spell 'Evan?' EEE-OOO-Three. Evan. That's my name!"
Me: "Close! Try E-V-A-N. Evan."
Evan: "No, Mom. That's not right. I already TOLD you how to spell it - 'EEE-OOO-Three.' Evan."
November 3

Our evening conversation in the car on the way home from the Y:

Me: "Evan, would you like to make some new friends?"
Evan: "No. I already have friends - Emma, and DJ, and Kathy (Evan's swim teacher), and Dave."
Me: "Dave? Who's Dave?"
Evan: "I met him at High School."
October 27

Evan is insisting his name is "Shaggy," Jonas is "Scooby" and the cats are Velma, Daphne, and Fred. "Shaggy" keeps wandering around calling "C'mon Scooby! Let's go solve a mystery!" So, I turned out the lights and gave him a flashlight.
October 22

Evan: "Mom, Rico (our cat) smells."
Me: "He does? What does he smell like?"
Evan: (sniffing the cat) "Hmmm...he smells like...a sandwich."
October 13

Me: "Evan, why are your cheeks so red?"
Evan: "From the wires on Daddy's face when he kisses me." (Jeremy's beard!)
October 13

When Evan asked me why he needed to brush his teeth today, I told him that the icky germs would make his teeth yucky and if he didn't brush them his teeth would fall out. He gave me a big, proud smile and said: "Then I'll be just like grandpa!"

October 11

Jeremy: We have to go get Momma a bottle of wine.

Evan: Why?
Jeremy: Because it's our anniversary today.
Evan: Yuck.
Jeremy: Why "yuck?"
Evan: Because you kiss her!
September 9

Eavesdropping on Evan playing with his matchbox cars: "I can disappear cuz' I'm a big boy. Big boys can do magic. Uh-oh, now I'm stuck. I'm stuck disappeared!"

September 7

Evan: "Momma it’s not rainin' out anymore so let's go the park, let's go, let's go, let's go! Go get my clothes, let's go Momma. Please. Let's go!"

Me: "Okay, take off your Buzz Lightyear pajamas."
Evan: "And my underwear. I need new underwear on."
Me: "Why do you need new underwear?"
Evan: "Because new underwear is ...fun."
September 2

Evan played over in our neighbor's yard tonight with his friend, Hunter.

Me: "Evan, it's time to come back over to our house and come inside."
Evan: "No. We're playing pirates and pirates don't live in houses."
July 25

Evan: "Mmmm, Mom! You smell like strawberries!... Jonas smells like a barn animal."

July 16

Me to Evan: "Try it again, Honey." Evan: "I'm not a Honey. Daddy is a Honey."

June 24

Me this morning to Evan: "Here's your juice, love." Evan: "There's love in my juice?"

May 6

Going to bed: "Mommy, I need you ALL DAYS! I wanna' go ni-night witt you. Let's go watch a movie and 'nuggle." (Evan)

March 15

I picked out a mismatched outfit for Evan this morning, so he turns to me and says: “(sigh)You're always causing trouble, Momma." I said "What?? Did you just tell me that I am always causing trouble?" And he says "I'm just joking, Mamma. It's a JOKE."

February 18

Evan is learning to tell time! We're headed to Colvill at his request...
Evan: "Let's go - we really need to go to the park. Please?"
Me: "Why?"
Evan: "Because it's two-eight o'clock and the eight is up. Let's go."
February 2010

First Snowfall of the Season

We had the first real snowfall of the season this morning. I woke Evan up to go play in it. Here he is putting the finishing touches on our snowman - a mohawk and a hat. Evan's new "pose" for taking pictures is to put his arm around someone and say "cheese!" Man, I love this kid. He is such a funny guy!Ta-Da! All finished. We gave him the shovel in the hopes that he would finish shoveling the driveway for us. Speaking of the driveway - the entire surface was covered in snow spots this morning! I had to take some quick pictures before it melted too much. Below is a close-up. Thousands of fist-sized air bubbles trapped under the wet snow...it was beautiful!

Happy Halloween!

Our cute little Dinosaur (or Dragon/Aligator/Crocodile depending on who asked him.)Testing to see if his "growler" works.

Trick-or-Treating with Dad.

DJ abd Evan with full buckets!

A Blustery Day

'Twas a bit windy out this evening...our neighbors lost a branch. A big branch. There's no trick photography here, folks. The limb they lost was as tall as their house. Unfortunately for us, it fell on our power line and ripped it off the side of our house.Since the power lines were laying in the middle of the street, the power company elected to cut the juice to our neighborhood. (Good move.) After a call to the power company, the non-emergency police number, a local electrician, and our homeowners insurance, it was all put back together and the power turned back on. Thank goodness no one was hurt!

Art Festival, Fire Department Open House, Driveway Races, and the Zoo!

The downtown Arts Festival is the second week in October every year. This year we walked down. It seemed like a good idea at the time: get some exercise, see some art, eat some ice cream...until the temper tantrum. This picture was about 10 minutes before Evan had a major meltdown and had to be carried home (after 6 blocks of a squirming, screaming, 45-lb. kid, Jeremy went home to get the Jeep while Evan and I sat in a time out.) It was a great day, but not such a great ending.Making a T-shirt (before the ice cream cone.)

The next day we stopped down at the Fire Department for their open house. Evan was a bit apprehensive at first, but once we got him in the truck it was hard to get him out!Thumbs up Uncle Justin! We are so proud to have a firefighter in the "family!"Jeremy and Evan drew a chalk race track in our driveway, complete with safety cones. Evan Jeremy tested it out! Side note: the tractor doesn't steer as well with a full-grown man riding it.

It rode much better for Evan - he even attached his red wagon to the back and pulled it around.

Our monthly trip to the zoo. New family favorite: Colobus Monkeys!

October fun

A few weeks ago it rained hard for two days straight. It was enough to make the river overflow and cause a bit of damage south of here. It was beautiful out yesterday and we headed to Colvill Park. In the photo below you can still see the levee wall (about mid-photo with a group of seagulls perched on it.) I am always looking for fun indoor things for Evan to do throughout the fall/winter. I enrolled him in swim lessons at the Y and he absolutely loves it! I love it, too, because the swim instructors stay in the water with him and I get to watch from the hot tub!Nice form! Maybe Evan will be on dive team when he goes to school.

And this is how I spend my time...a "normal" afternoon in the Nelson household: Evan, wearing NO pants, MY shoes, and a canvas bag over his head calling "MOM....MOM....LOOKATMEE!!! I'M A FUNNY GUY!" You sure are, Evan. You sure are!