These are a Few of my Favorite Things

1. Carlee and Dani
2. My husband
3. Autumn time
4. Blossoming trees and springtime flowers
5. Sitting around a campfire
6. Sunsets
7. Birds singing in the morning




Hope you all are enjoying some of your favorite things!

Happy Easter!

Carlee and Danilyn were visited by the Easter Bunny today. They had a great time!

Snot Nosed Kids

I have some videos I would love to share with you guys but they just won't upload...too long maybe? Bummer. One is of Dani in the Jumping Jack (it is so cool to see her jump in that thing), and the other is one of Carlee blowing on Dani's fat belly making very loud sounds that just make you giggle. Sorry we can't share but here is a picture of Dani in the Jumping Jack with green goo hanging from both nostrils: Yum. Here is Carlee at the same age with the same green goo coming from one nostril. Man, it must stink not being able to blow your own nose and having to rely on mom or dad to wipe it when instead, they take pictures of it! Carlee playing with the sticky Easter decorations in the window: These are the only two pictures that we took on our family trip to the circus and Gettysburg... Nice one eh?

Half a Year, 65 Degrees, and Claiming What is Yours to Claim

Danilyn had her 6 month check up. She weighed in at 18 lbs putting her in the 75th to 95th percentile, same as her head circumference. However, her length is 25 inches which puts her at the 25th to 50th percentile. Short and stout, that's how we make em'...except Carlee wasn't really stout at 6 months. She was 25 inches long too but under 15 lbs, but she seems to be running a little short and stout at 24 months:) As soon as Matt gets the picture and video onto the computer that I want to post I will. In the mean time, something funny happened at the park today. It was 65 degrees, that is not the funny part (that is the fabulous part). Carlee and I were digging in some dirt with sticks at the base of a tree while Dani was swinging near by. A little boy decided to push Dani in the swing. When Carlee looked up and saw this she abruptly yelled, yes yelled, "MY SISSY!" very sternly and with her best grumpy look ever. It took some coaxing to convince her that it was alright if he pushed Dani too. I told her they could take turns pushing her. She gradually decided that was OK. It hit me then how important Dani is to Carlee and what a big part of her life she is. I hope she stays this protective of her all her life:o) Watch out boys, Dani has her own personal body guard!

Family Time

Dani, Carlee and I had out first experience at the Ringling Bros and Barnum and Baily Circus in Baltimore on Thursday. Matt was their too but he has already seen the circus a few times. It is too bad that a show primarily for children is so late, starting at 7 and ending several hours later. Carlee was already tired going into the circus. There was so much going on between seeing her second cousins, eating junk food, tons of people, sweating from the hot arena, so many lights and so much noise...she had a total melt down about half time. Dani did great. It is interesting to note that when I was younger and people would ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would say that I wanted to be an acrobat in the circus even though I had never actually seen them perform! It did look fun and very challenging indeed. It was an interesting experience. Driving through parts of Baltimore made us feel grateful to live where we do! We were so preoccupied that we didn't take a single picture! Hopefully we will get some from my cousin Jess and Brian who invited us and let us stay at their place after words. Thanks again Jess and Brian!!!

We made a weekend of it. Friday we headed from Port Deposit, Maryland to Gettysburg. It was a rainy day. We checked out the newly opened visitors center which was actually a museum really. There was so much to see, read, watch, and learn. We spent a long time in there. I was engrossed. Luckily our girls let us enjoy our time there. We listened to "The Killer Angels" by Michael Shaara on the drive. It is a 1975 Pulitzer Prize winner that tells the story of the horrible 4-day battle at Gettysburg. Between that and the visitor's center, I really learned a lot. We ate at the Lincoln Diner and then got to stay in a hotel! It had a king sized bed, a bath tub and a pool, yeehaa! It was fun. We checked out the actual battle field the next afternoon and it was crazy to actually be walking around the place where so many people suffered and died. Anyway, we then ate at a really yummy pub and I walked into this antique store called 17 on the Square while Matt was playing with Carlee outside. I thought I would just quickly check it out but as it turns out, I could have spent hours looking at stuff in there! There was live music, jewelry, specialty candies, antiques, toys, you name it and for cheap! (Matt finally came looking for me and said he couldn't wait any longer but I had enough time to buy a Gettysburg Glow candle that smells soooo good, an adorable dress for Dani for $4.95, a very cute old school little "Myself the Elf" doll for Carlee for $6 and a picture book for Easter, ya baby!)



So, the little Nielsen family get-away ended up being a very well rounded one indeed: some entrainment, some learning, some relaxing, some swimming, some laughing, some good (and bad) food and some shopping too! It was good quality family time and we needed it! We didn't take a single picture of any of this. Matt had his hands full and there really wasn't much to take pictures of anyway...we just have one picture that we stopped and took on the way there, stay tuned:)

Me n' My Girls

Family Picture

Monsters

Carlee and I have been reading this book below that we checked out from the Hoboken library. It is about this sock monster that steals socks (it is an explanation for why so many socks lose their mate). It is a cute book. Carlee loves the picture of the little girl, Maja, putting on her sock and then pulling it off and having Flusi, the monster, biting her toe. We desperately needed to get out of the house so I decided we would go to Michael's Craft and buy some stuff to make our own sock monsters. We had fun at Michael's. Carlee was too little just yet to be able to help with the cutting or hot gluing but she was still excited to be making sock monsters to put in Daddy's slippers. She couldn't stop talking gibberish about it and carrying his slippers around. Our sock monsters were made out of warm fuzzies (pom poms), felt, and googly eyes. Ours are not the bite-your-toe kind of monsters, but rather the tickle-your-toe kind! When daddy finally arrived home we ask him to hurry and put his slippers on before he even took off his coat. He played the part well and really made Carlee giggle. It was super fun. So if you come to our house, watch out, you might end up with a sock monster...(in your shoe)! Heehee.