October through December

It's been a busy, busy, busy time and I haven't had a chance to upload pictures until now! Here are various photographs...

Halloween was so much fun this year! All of the kids got really into it and helped make their costumes. Olivia was a character she made up called Ice Girl. Isaac was a character from his Lego Mars Mission set he got for his birthday. Ezren was Batman. His costume didn't turn out quite right, so we've lovingly dubbed him Bat-thug. Zelda went with us and caused quite a lot of heads to turn because she was wearing a sweatshirt!

One afternoon Ezren was sleepy. He doesn't usually take a nap, but I knew he needed one and wouldn't go down without some help. On went NPR and the soothing sounds of Talk Radio and the sewing machine knocked him right out (at the table!). Check out his lap -- Tabitha climbed up and took a nap with him!

Isaac was pretty sick on Thanksgiving this year. He layed down and watched the entire Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade without moving. Olivia was such a good big sister and layed down with him.



Decorating the Christmas tree this year was a blast! Each kid took a turn puttin the star on top and had a great time putting on the ornaments. In case you're wondering why I didn't post Ezren's star topping picture, it's because he was naked. The boy just doesn't like wearing clothes!

Each year Santa makes a special visit to our subdivision's clubhouse. Here are the kids telling Santa what they wanted. They also had some facepainting and craft making stations. And of course cookies!

Christmas Eve was fast approaching, and I was sick. Cookies still hadn't been made and so after my morning nap, I asked Chad to cut and bake the cookies. What a good man! He had two great helpers too! The cookies were delicious too!

Every Christmas Eve we decorate our cookies for Santa. We had a good time doing this although Chad hid them from the cats and dog by putting them in the oven and on Christmas morning he turned the oven on forgetting that they were in there and burned them. But they looked great!

On Christmas morning we had to wake the kids up to tell them Santa came! Crazy kids! But they were glad we did because Santa left us all some good things!

Olivia got a chalkboard . . .

Isaac checking out The Magic Treehouse book . . .

Isaac loves his Legos! He built this Star Wars Naboo Starfighter in about an hour (ages on the box: 7-12). He is a maniac! He got this from Santa and we had to keep telling him to come back because he still had other presents to open. Apparently he was perfectly content with just one box of Legos for Christmas!

Olivia playing with her two new Ello sets . . .

Even the animals got something! Zelda got an "Extra Long Lasting Chew Bone" that is supposed to replace rawhides. It lasted maybe 10 minutes. So much for Extra Long Lasting! Here is Zelda with her new squeaky toy . . .

The cats all got some delicious treats from Santa. And Tabitha enjoyed the trash . . .

The kids, Chad, and I are very grateful for the awesome year we've had and all of the love we have in our lives . . . we are truly blessed.

We Went to the Zoo!

I love the Sedgwick County Zoo! We've been to two other zoos (Tulsa and NC), and they just don't compare. On our last day in Wichita, we visited the zoo.

The kids loved it! The weather cooperated, and we had such a great time!

We started off in the petting zoo area. Anyone who's been to this zoo knows those goats and sheep can get a little crazy trying to snatch the food from your hands. So, it was quite surprising that they didn't really attack us at all! Nope. They lazily meandered over and ate some from our hands quite peacefully. Hmmm... perhaps all the visitors have just finally worn them out? Maybe they were sleepy? Who knows! We stopped in to the American Farm and Olivia took her turn "milking" the cow (it's pretend so no animals were harmed). As you can see, she's quite good!

We continued our walk around visiting the Reptiles and Amphibians and of course The Jungle. The kids loved the jungle! The animals were very active that day running about under our feet. The kids even got close enough to pet one of the crazy birds! The fruit bats were doing more than sleeping too. Then we saw the penguins who were happily swimming about their enclosure. This one really liked Isaac!

We ate a little lunch at the cafe and then noticed that the giraffe feeding area was open. In all the times we've been to the zoo, we've never been able to catch it open, so we were quite stoked! It was AMAZING! I should have been a zoologist because I could not get enough. We met and fed a 15 mo. old baby giraffe named Olivia (yes, it made my Olivia giggle with delight!). Then the big boy Emmett came over and snacked from us. In fact, when Olivia (the human) fed him, he put her arm (up to her elbow!) into his mouth! She grimaced all the while giggling when she pulled out her slime filled arm. Here is Emmett trying to lick Isaac!

The rest of the tour was awesome as well, although the animals were getting sleepy by then (so were the kids). Here the kids are with my mom at the end of our zoo day.

We left for NC the next morning at 5:am. It was an awesome trip visiting family and showing the kids around our hometown. Hopefully someday everyone will come visit us!

Back in Derby

After leaving Coffeyville we headed back to good ol' Derby. The first morning back, Isaac opened his birthday gifts from Oma. Legos (!) and a book. 30 minutes later, he had finished building his Lego Star Wars racer. It was just too chilly and windy to really do much outside, so we went to Exploration Place.

Olivia and Chad enjoyed building a dam and watching the water flow.

Of course no visit to Kansas would be complete without seeing a tornado! Ezren was very brave climbing up there to touch it.

Exploration Place also had a very cool exhibit called The Scoop on Poop. We often find ourselves discussing digestion and all things associated with it (at dinner, breakfast, snacktime, whenever), so this was really cool for us! There was even a game where you have to race dung beetles (not real ones). Let's just say, Chad is the champion dung roller! :)

After leaving Exploration Place, we went to a favorite place of Chad's when he was a child -- Sim Park. Still windy and cold, so we didn't stay long at the beach (I know, it's not the ocean, but it's as good as it gets in KS!).

We also stopped at Riverside Park to check out the rocket. Unfortunately they have sealed it and you can no longer climb inside. Big bummer. But they did have a giant spiderweb thing that scared the bujeezers out of me -- but Isaac loved it!

By this time the kids were cranky and tired, so we headed home from so good Fried Chicken von Mutti.

The next day was quite the bust. It was too cold and windy again, so we went swimming. Yes, really, we went swimming at the indoor pool at the DRC. Crazy, I know! It smells and sounds and feels and looks exactly the same as when I was in high school. I didn't bring any goggles or caps with me, but I did go and do a 100 (with flipturns and all!). And about passed out so I decided to just stick with the kids.

We went out to Towne East looking to play video games at Aladdin's Castle, but it's no longer there. :( So, we went to North Rock. Nothing great, but the kids had fun playing skee ball.

Olivia was very proud of all of the tickets she won. She even got to get some prizes!

On the way home, we stopped by Tanglewood (my old elementary school) to play on the playground. Goodness! I have never seen so many spiders hanging out there! Seriously, the place was covered in webs and those crazy, big jumping spiders. Isaac was pretty freaked out and didn't really want to do anything, but we eventually cleared out some things for him to do.

Here they are climbing the ultra old (really, it's been there since I was in Kindergarten), and really scary spiral slide.

And on the teeter totters...

We had an interesting and adventurous time exploring the sites of Wichita and Derby!

A Day in Coffeyville

We left Branson on a very traffic-y Sunday morning. Not being ones who enjoy traffic, we wound our way through residential areas until we surpassed the 5 MPH line of cars. Felt pretty proud of that too!

It was a gorgeous day to travel southern KS/MO! We were greeted by my entire family (almost) when we arrived!

Here are all of the kids enjoying a dog rub post-Hallowegg Hunt.

This was the first time, in a long time, that all seven of us Nellis grandkids had been in the same room. In fact, I don't know if we have any photos of all of us together... (except this one)

And there were fireworks! Now, Isaac is not a fan of fireworks at all. On the Fourth of July he hides inside -- and all we can legally do here are sparklers and fountains. But on this day in Coffeyville he was brave and stayed for not just smoke bombs and snappers but bottle rockets too! Here are the kids enjoying themselves.

It was such a fun day! We were sad to leave and wish we could have spent more time with everyone. Hopefully we'll be able to do this again!

Silver Dollar City

On our recent trip to KS, we took a couple of days and went to Silver Dollar City with my dad and Anne. It was such a blast! Branson is gorgeous this time of year and there is so much to do -- way more than when I was a kid! Luckily, the weather cooperated with plenty of sunshine and only a slight breeze.

Our drive from Wichita to Branson was a familiar one as we drove through Coffeyville. Here we are stopped at our favorite Kansas Historical Marker at the junction of Highways 166 and 15! Previous to stopping here, Chad thought it would be a great idea to stop and give the kids a lesson in KS geology. Unfortunately, it was quite windy that day and although Chad and I have lived through way worse winds than those, my kids have been spoiled in NC with very little wind. Poor Isaac kept complaining that his hood kept being blown off (he didn't know to turn his back to the wind!). The kids now have a great appreciation for what we call "Kansas Wind."

Here are the kids posing with Grandpa for a quick photo before we headed off to some rides at Silver Dollar City!

One of the first rides the kids went on was a little roller coaster, just the right size for them! As you can see Olivia was very into it, and Isaac and Ezren were very proud that they got to go on a roller coaster!

Now, I'm not big on fast spinning rides, but somehow I was talked into going on this ride with the kids. Chad and Ez took one boat, Olivia had her own, and Isaac and I went together. Before we got on, the guy in charge said, "Kids on the right, parents on the left, and DO NOT touch the bar." We sit down and sure enough, what's the first thing Isaac does? Touch the bar, of course! Lucky for us, Grandpa had the camera and caught him in the act! (I'm saying, "Don't touch the bar!")

Before we left for KS, Olivia and Chad had been talking about how they wanted to go on a big roller coaster (Chad's loves a good coaster!). So, toward the end of the day in Silver Dollar City, we found one that Olivia could ride. It's called The Powder Keg and goes from 0 to 60 in about 2 seconds! HOLY MOLY! They loved this ride! Olivia is very proud that she rode a big roller coaster, and Chad is now thinking twice about riding coasters! This is a photo of them as they blasted off (they are in the second row)!

That was the end of our day in Silver Dollar City. Good weather, good food, good fun, good family time! What more could you ask for?

Isaac Turns Five

On the 21st we celebrated Isaac having taken his first breath five years ago. He wanted a Speed Racer cake...and he got one! Three (from scratch) chocolate cakes later, Chad cut, assembled, and frosted the edible racetrack. Isaac loved it, and boy was it yummy!

He was so excited opening all of his gifts! He kept oooing and ahhhing and laughing with excitement.

Mario Galaxy Wii Game...

Erector Set...

Spiderman Backpack loaded with books...

Lego Mars Mission Set...

Carrots

Last year we tried to grow carrots in the garden, and they only got about as big as one of the kids fingers! So, we left them in longer this year and voila! We have lots of big carrots. This particular type of carrot isn't supposed to get huge (I think it was actually called a "dwarf carrot".). But as you can see, some of them are quite fat!

Ez thought it was so much fun pulling them out of the ground! He's quite the helper too. We brought them inside and put them in the sink to wash the dirt off. Here he is drying the biggest carrot.

Look, it's all dry now!

A mom doesn't say, "No," when her son asks for an organic homegrown carrot snack!

How does it taste? Yummmmmmmmy!

A Few Pics from Today

So today was Thursday which meant that it was just, "Me and you and Zelda-Roo and the Cats too!" at home today. I did my sewing in the morning, and after lunch Ez and I went upstairs to photo the new sewings to be put on my site. "Mommy, take my picture!" The kid loves to have his picture taken!

Here is he is giving a silly face.


I can just imagine when he is in middle school . . . our phone will be ringing off the hook with little, giggly girls calling! I mean, who can resist this boy?!

I love black and white pics and no one photos as well in b/w as Miss Zelda Roo! Sometimes when she lays just right, she looks like a Bat-dog. As you can see, she doesn't enjoy getting her picture taken as much as Ez does!