Months Gone By

Eh, I think the last few months have been some of the most eventful of our life! To quickly summarize lest we forget, these are just a few things we have been up to.

:: Moved from our apartment because we

:: Bought our first house the beginning of April

:: Unpacked our junk

:: Celebrated Alyssa's 4th birthday

:: Hosted Grandma and Grandpa for a week o' fun

:: Turned a work conference in DC into a family vacation visiting Taylor, Krystalee, and Fife as well as good ol' Delaware and other sites along the way

:: Hosted Nana, Papa, Maria, and Aunt Martha for a weekend which led us to

:: Try the safari zoo park in Delhi

:: Planned, prepped, and executed girls camp

:: Made a couple of trips to Dallas in there

:: Painted our kitchen cabinets white

:: Welcomed Ben to Vicksburg for work and fun

and

:: Basked in the delightful spring Vicksburg blessed us with this year.

I'm sure we did some other things but that's a brief run down of what went on. We are loving our new house and new space. Erik is trying to conquer the poison ivy and keep me happy - who knew honey do lists could grow so fast? I'm pretty happy to have counter space in my kitchen. Alyssa loves the yard and the neighbor kids and it is so quiet all the time!

Just so you know we're still alive, here is Alyssa in all her fashion/play glory. She comes up with these things on her own, I promise.

Alyssa's 2014 Birthday

Just for the record, Alyssa turned 3 last year...in April. After posting about our birthdays I feel it is sill not to mention hers...even if I am 9 months late! I never posted anything about it because I think that was about the time we were having camera/computer crises. But...just so we always remember, here is her Olaf cake.

Some friends came over and enjoyed the cake with us and Alyssa still will tell you that Ian ate the pretzel arms off of Olaf.

She received bounteous gifts and the day was beautiful! We played outside and had a good ol' time. I think she would tell you that she has liked being three. She has had a lot of good adventures and mastered many things! We are happy Alyssa is in our family.

Size Crisis

I made Alyssa this adorable dress for Easter, which was also around her first birthday. She wore it for a few months and I eventually stowed it away because I thought it no longer fit.

Well, Alyssa and her mighty will proved me wrong last week. We were going through baby clothes to donate a few and she found her beloved dress and begged me to put it on her...so I did. 

It turns out it doubles as a shirt!

Unfortunately no matter how hard she begged I could not get her ruby red slippers on her. Some moments aren't meant to be relived, I suppose.

Love rises above frustration

We went to Durango, and now we are back. Pulling away from the mountains and my family of crazy Nelsens broke my heart. We had too much fun for words. More on that later (when I feel like I can actually put the picture up and tell a cohesive story about the best nature on this planet with the best people I know).

In the meantime, since being back we have been a little over the top busy. I did this mostly intentionally so that I wouldn't have time to sit around and pout about living in he...the steamer of the south. Now Alyssa is at swimming lessons with Erik and, after a long afternoon with that munchkin, I am taking time to reflect about how much I do love her, including her strong will and persistently demanding though lovely and adorable personality.

:: I love the way her small hand fits into mine when we are walking places together. She holds on to me and I show her the way.

:: The same 25 primary songs have not worn her out yet and she sings them with such vigor!

:: Swimming without a floatie is daring and wonderful for her even though she is three and can barely keep her head above water. I love to see her work so diligently to do something difficult for her.

:: She lets me do her hair and her nails.

Now they are home, so I must go. It's good to remember the good! The frustrations were only a part of today. There was much good to cover up the bad.

I need to read this

Alyssa went over to a shelf and pulled out National Geographic's Our Fifty States and said, "I need to read this."

Mmm hmmm.

She proceeded to look through through the book page by page, asking questions and saying things like, "O! Look at that! Whoa!"

For the patriotics in our family, be proud.

Wrongs or Arms?

Alyssa has been listening to a primary CD on repeat in the car. Tonight we were listening to "When I Am Baptized" (the rainbow baptism primary song). After listening to the second verse Alyssa said to me, "Mom, she said when she is baptized her arms are washed away!"

Well, that would be interesting! I think I am glad that our wrongs are washed away and we are actually allowed to keep our arms! I'm pretty sure no one would join the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints if we were all armless!