Dinnertime with the Harms Family

This video is not for those with weak stomaches. It might make you slightly dizzy! The family has gotten so large that the grandkids have overtaken the dining table.

What to do with a house full of boys (and one girl)

GO BOWLING - Christmas weekend in Fremont with all the cousins was a ball (no pun intended.) We spent Saturday evening bowling. The kids had a great time, and Carter insisted on using the finger holes and rolling the ball like you're "supposed" to instead of using the ramp or pushing it between his legs. Ian an Owen were hamming it up for a camera shot. What a pair!

GO SWIMMING - Rich and Michele and family stayed in a hotel with a swimming pool, so Sunday evening was spent taking a dip. Corey was the lone adult to hop in the pool, and the kids all had fun playing with him. I think Carter and Owen spent the whole time in the not-so-hot- hot tub.

GO SLEDDING - Corey and I took 5 of the kids to "the hill" to sled. As you can see, part of the hill was just frozen dirt, but the rest of it was a snow/ice mix and made for some fast sledding. After his first ride down the hill Owen said, "Wow. That was su-weet!" I took a trip down with Ian, and at the bottom he said, "See, I told you it's like a speeding bullet." It was a good time.

Lewis got to know his cousin Shaan. Shaan just turned two a couple weeks ago, and in all his two-year-old wisdom, he decided Lewis needed all the legos. Lewis just sat there contentedly in his car seat while the Lego pile got higher and higher.

Baby's 1st Christmas

What a cute Santa Claus!! Lewis spent much of his time at Grandma and Grandpa Harms' house bouncing around in this doorway jumper. He had a great view of the action in the living room and the kitchen. And boy was there a lot of action!!
As you can see, Lewis thoroughly enjoyed his time with Grandpa!

Owen's Thoughts

Owen: "You know those guys what (he always says what instead of that) gave Jesus gifts?"
Me: "Yeah."
Owen: "One of them gave him gold."
Me: "I know. That's a pretty nice gift."
Owen: "What else did he get?"
Me: "Frankinscense and Myrr" (sp?)
Owen: "Yeah, Myrr that's the black stuff what makes trains go."
Me: "Well, not quite."

That Comet sure is a handsome reindeer

Owen had his preschool program this morning. He was an excellent "Comet". Miss Wendy does a great job of keeping Jesus in Christmas. The jist of the program is that everyone is busy getting ready for Christmas and Santa has all of his elves and reindeer sit down while he tells them about the very first Christmas. They did the same program last year and Carter was a wise man. They had to make a little cast change this year since there are only 4 boys in the class. There were angels at the manger instead of wise men.

They are saying. "Here is the chimney. Here is the top. Open it up and Santa will pop."

Baby Love

It is so difficult to get a good picture of all three boys together, but I finally did it. Lewis isn't smiling, but he's not crying or squirming either. And both big boys have real smiles, not the "say cheese" kind.

What's Christmas all about?

I try to ask my kids what Christmas is all about every day. They very first time I asked this year, they struggled a bit before the right answer came out, but now it's immediate. "Jesus." It's all about Jesus. I know they don't fully understand the the awesomeness of God coming to earth, but they do know that it is Jesus' birthday. They are all wrapped up in the presents, and Santa Claus and decorations and Christmas sweets, but they know that Jesus came down as a baby, that he had to sleep in the barn with the animals, and that he is so cool that he lets them get presents on his birthday. I'm excited to see them learn and grow and understand a little bit more each year. (These pictures are from their Christmas program at church last night.)

It's a Toss Up

The baby on the top is much cuter, but the real question is "Whose cheeks hang lower?"

A Great Surprise

Grandma Nelson came and stayed for the weekend so Corey could surprise me with an awesome date! I thought we were just going to a work Christmas party, but after the party we went to the Cornerstone Church Christmas production (which was awesome), stayed in a hotel and shopped on Saturday. Yey! And I was really clueless too. He likes to remind me that I always ruin surprises, but he did a great job of keeping this one from me.

The Perfect Snowday

5 reasons why I like snow days

1. Sleeping in!!! (none of the boys woke up until 7:45. That is a rarity! Lewis made up for it by waking up at 5:45 this morning however.)

2. Christmas cookies. (Thank you Betty Crocker for prepackaged dough mix, and Pillsbury for the frosting.) The big boys had tons of fun, and as you can see from the picture, I let Lewis try the frosting. This turned out to be a bad move. He liked it a lot, and now he wants some whenever anyone eats a cookie. I don't know if there's room in this house for another sweet tooth or sweet gums as the case may be.

3. Sledding. I did not take part this time around, but had a nice breather while the boys went outside.

4. Watching movies! We all covered up under some blankets and watched Home Alone.

5. No loading Lewis up in the van to take a big brother to or from preschool or school.

Tis the season...

...for sick little boys and babies. At a trip to the doctor this morning it was determined that Owen has strep and Lewis has an ear infection. A round of antibiotics for all! Owen has been battling flu-like symptons for 1 1 /2 weeks. A day of throwing up, followed by a couple days of feeling good, followed by a day of throwing up... it hasn't been fun for him or us. Lewis is still relatively happy, but cries when on his back and won't sleep lying down. He will only sleep well in his carseat. Hopefully, after a couple days on meds the boys will return to normal. You can tell from the above picture that Lewis has been able to retain his cute little plump cheeks through his sickness. He weighs a whopping 20 lbs at 7 months. That is almost what Carter weighed at 1 year. Unlike his brothers, he is not going to have trouble keeping his pants up!

A Balmy 13 Degree Sledding Day

Super Cold temps did not stop our die-hard sledders. Corey and I even took a couple trips down the hill. We bought these new sleds today and had to test them out. It sure is handy having an empty lot on the cul-de-sac. It makes for a great sledding hill!!

Crazy Teeth

Looks to me like all three of these guys could use a trip to the dentist!

He Loves Me, He Really Loves Me

Owen discovered this out on our back lawn this morning. If you can't tell from the picture, it says Corey and Kim with a heart around it. Some people write love notes on sandy beaches, in Iowa it's on snow. What a guy!

Let it Snow Again

The second snow. Not quite as awe inspiring as the first, but still fun. Especially when it gets you out of school early. The boys have been busy shoveling and sledding. I had to put the kabosh on Owen's mid-driveway snow hill (Corey will appreciate moving that extra snow when he gets home tonight!)

Random Lewis Photos

I confess that I am a picture fanatic. I take pictures all the time!! I will not be one of those mothers who has a million pictures of baby #1 and 5 pictures of baby number 3. I have taken at least as many photos of Lewis as I have of the other boys. He is so darn cute. It is easy to get a good picture of him. "Hey, those sweet potatoes were okay, but this sock is delicious!"

FLASHBACK

Here's Carter and Owen hanging out about 4 1/2 years ago. I'm glad they still like to play together!

I don't envy Mary...

Excerpt from Max Lucado's God Came Near

God. O infant-God. Heaven's fairest child. Conceived by the union of divine grace with our disgrace. Sleep Well...

Rest well, tiny hands. For though you belong to a king, you will touch no satin, own no gold. You will grasp no pen, guide no brush. No, your tiny hands are reserved for works more precious:
to touch a leper's open wound,
to wipe a widow's weary tear,
to claw the ground of Gethsemane.

Your hands, so tiny, so tender, so white-clutched tonight in an infant's fist. They aren't destined to hold a scepter nor wave from a palace balcony. They are reserved instead for a Roman spike that will staple them to a Roman cross.

Sleep deeply, tiny eyes. Sleep while you can. For soon the blurriness will clear and you will see the mess we have made of your world...

Rosebud lips - upon which ride a starborn kiss of forgiveness to those who believe you, and of death to those who deny you - lay still.

And tiny feet cupped in the palm of my hand, rest. For many difficult steps lie ahead for you...

I read this the other night and it really struck me, likely because every description of an infant is very real to me right now. I couldn't keep from wondering what it would be like to be holding a new baby, knowing that I was going to have to see him be ridiculed and torchured and killed. That is a weight that seems almost impossible to bear.

Strike a Pose

Is this a good enough smile?

Get me outta here!

ENOUGH ALREADY!!!

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (also the first)

This video is for the grandmas and the grandpas. I don't expect that a lot of people are interested in seeing Carter sing Jingle Bells with a bunch of unknown children, but he did a great job. (Thankfully, he has not yet gotten the flu-bug Owen had.) The gym was hot and packed, but the program was 1/2 hour from start to finish, so it was okay.

The Mind of a Child

Here's a bit of a conversation I overheard yesterday.

Carter: "There were dinosaurs when Jesus was born."
Owen: "Yeah, there were pirates too.
Carter: "Uh-huh." Pause... "Mom, are pirates for real?"

I'm Leaving On a Jet Plane....

Okay, so it's more of a spaceship than a jet plane, but the boys have had hours of fun with it. Owen, Lewis and I visited Birthright the other day, and they had just received a bunch of toys from a second-hand store. The boys were the proud recipients of this plastic spaceship. Even Lewis hung out in the spaceship fort.

Who is That Masked Baby?

What to do on a cold icy day? Make masks of course! Lewis is modeling a black foam mask complete with sequins.

We haven't been able to see out of our east windows all day because they have been coated with a very pretty layer of ice. It was a good day to be stuck inside though. Owen was up a good chunk of the night throwing up. I slept in Carter's bed and Carter slept with Corey. I guess I didn't get much sleep, but Carter slept much better than he would have in his own room. Owen has been sleeping much of the day, and Carter was happy to lay in front of the space heater and watch cartoons all morning. I'm praying that the rest of us don't get sick, but it usually seems to go that way. Who will be puking next? Stay tuned to find out!!

Three Handsome Fellas

I got all three boys to sit in front of the tree for a picture. Lewis was easy. It was getting the other two to stop moving for 2 seconds that was challenging. We put up the tree the day after Thanksgiving and Corey put some lights up outside on the gables last night. Carter has a Christmas program next week already, and both boys frequently ask me how many days it is until Christmas. They are also missing the snow. It only lasted a few days. This morning Owen said to me, "The day after this day it's going to snow, right?"

The Spitter

We've been getting a kick out of Lewis' new talent!

A Visit with Great-Grandma Nelson

We got to see Great-Grandma and some of the other Nelson relatives over Thanksgiving. Here is Lewis and my cousin Brandie's daughter, Katelyn (that may be a total mispelling of her name). Lewis is currently the youngest great-grandchild, and there are one or two between him and Katelyn in age. I have a hard time remembering. With 18 Nelson grandkids, many of whom are having their own kids, it is so hard to keep track.

Visions of Sugar Plums

In the Lane, Snow is Glistening...

The first snow. My boys were so excited they could hardly contain themselves. I love the first snow too. It's the freezing cold, super-snowy month of February that I don't like so much. Here's Carter shoveling the street of all things.
All the neighbor kids were out for a couple hours after school, sledding, throwing snowballs and shoveling. The boy in the foreground moved here from Baton Rouge this summer. When he got off the school bus he yelled, "Oh my gosh! It's a winter wonderland!"
Nothing like jumping on a snow covered trampoline with your goggles on. It was probably their last jump until spring since it's coming down this weekend.

9 Fabulous Years

Hard to believe it's been nine years since we exchanged vows. On our November 21 wedding day it was a whopping 60 degrees, not 28 and snowy like it is today! I showed our wedding picture to one of the youth group girls a year or two ago and she said, "That looks just like you, only a lot lot younger." (Thanks for that!)

Weighing In

Mr. Lewis weighed in at 18 lbs. 8 oz. at his 6 month check-up and measured 27 inches long. He is a full pound + heavier than the other boys were at his age. There is a reason one of his nicknames is chunky monkey.

One Twisty-tie, Two boys and Some Soap

After listening to my boys giggling hysterically in their bathroom for several minutes, I decided I'd better go assess the damage. What I found was both of them up on their countertop blowing bubbles through a plastic twisty-tie with a soap and water mixture they made themselves. I was so impressed by their creativity, that I didn't make them get down and clean up. But, everyone knows all good things must come to an end, and the following two pictures show just how this play time came to a halt. Soap and water all over the tile. Oh well, the floor needed a good cleaning anyway.

C is for Cookie

Here's a boy after his dad's own heart!!

Weekend in Fremont

We spent the weekend in Fremont at Grandma and Grandpa Harms' house. The big boys got to spend Saturday with playing with cousin Amina. The weather was so gorgeous Grandpa took them all to the park for a couple hours. Lewis had fun jumping in the doorway jumper and watching all the action around him. We had a nice time just relaxing. It was a good weekend for Corey to relax after spraining his ankle playing basketball on Friday!

You Make Me Wanna JUMP

Lewis has figured out the doorway jumper and is having a good time with it!

My New Toy

We (I should say I, because Corey won't use it) got Photoshop Elements this weekend, so I have been playing around with it. I can be really creative or just use the layouts they have in the progam. My boys would say its su-weet! I can do such fun stuff with my photos. Mom, you are going to get a much cooler calendar this year!!

Check out those muscles!

The boys had a ball trick-or-treating. We walked around with some friends from down the street and ended up with candy galore! Carter and his friend, Lucas (the Human Torch), were literally running from house to house. Owen tried to keep up and poor little Logan (Wolverine) was left in the dust, but they all had fun. I wish I would have thought to get a picture of all four of them together.
Here's the boys wrestling before hitting the streets. Unfortunately, Lewis missed out on all the fun. After a long crazy day of being hauled here and there and having two babysitters, he decided trick-or-treat time would be a good time to snooze! My converation with Owen this morning. "Would you like some waffles for breakfast?" (He has waffles almost every day.) "No, I'll just eat this." Candy before 8 a.m. is okay the day after trick-or-treating, right?

Kindergarten Halloween Party

I helped out at Carter's Halloween party at school yesterday. The whole school gets to dress up in their costumes and parade through Slater's main street trick-or-treating at the businesses. It was quite the experience. The picture below is Carter's kindergarten class.