Summer Days

My sister is visiting for a few weeks and I have been in heaven- my own personal slave that my girls absolutely follow everywhere and adore... what am I going to do when she has to leave?!?
The weather has been beautiful and we are all a couple of shades darker from so much time outside. The beach is fantastic and the water is warming up. I'm just posting a bunch of pictures of my beautiful family. Enjoy!

Yep, another one.

It is official. We are having another beautiful baby GIRL! Mommy wanted another girl because we have all girl clothes and Daddy wanted another girl because he loves his little girls:)
We are about 27 weeks along now and life is good. I am taking a splendid little pill that is normally given to patients going through chemotherapy to prevent me from dropping down to that fun 98 lb point that I did with Evalyn.
Olivia was a little disappointed at first (she was hoping for a baby boy) but is now excited to be a "double-big-sister". She has cast her vote and is determined that we should name the new sister, "Tinkerbell". Evalyn is oblivious to anything besides she needs to be soft with mommy's belly. But judging by the way she handles her baby doll, this is really going to be interesting. Good thing babies are so durable!
We were able to get some cute/creepy ultrasound pictures and everything looks really healthy and well (of course this is just going off what the tech was saying because I couldn't tell one end from the other). However, we all know how illiterate I am when it comes to all things technical, so there will be no pictures yet and you will all have to trust that I am telling the truth:)

Summer is here...hopefully...

The blog-bug has not bitten me for a while. However, at the friendly insistence of relatives that we "get some more pictures up", we are posting new pictures of random good times.

Despite the insane and fun thunderstorms and hail storms the past week has brought, we are really convinced summer is here. The garden is finally in, and the girls have exchanged sweat pants for shorts (I, on the other hand, am perfectly content to wear my sweats all year long).

My brother and his wife, Jonathan and Lisa, along with their twin boys and Lisa's sister with her husband and two children (don't worry about that sentence making sense, just keep reading) all spent the weekend with us. We were a little disapointed that the weather did not cooperate, but it was still great to get together. Olivia loved her new friend, Riley (4 yrs old), and they both are bossy and that worked out great, surprisingly. After going through two bottles of nail polish, 1/2 a bottle of room spray, a tube of baby lotion, and all the dresses in the closet...there was a rule the door had to always be open.

As much as I moan and weep, this town is actually pretty nice in the summer. We are within walking distance from a very fun and warm beach and we have a spare bedroom and a backyard. That said, if anyone is looking for a cheap and relaxed family getaway come-on-down. One rule is that you have to call first because the spare bedroom is also where I stash all the clean clothes that come out of the dryer... and pretty soon it makes more sense to just rummage through the pile than actually take time to fold and put away... get the picture? Seriously. Call first. And call.

Evalyn was trying to use her green marker the same way she saw mommy use an eye liner pencil. She actually did pretty good, considering.



Trying out the new pool. Yes, Olivia is pretty much naked. We have established that now the underwear has to stay on at all times while outside. I would like to thank whatever brother of mine taught her to pee outside though... she has pulled that a few times. You know who you are.



Check out those muscles on daddy!

This is just adorable. Jacob is starting early to try and convert them from soccer to baseball.

No need for words. I just love, 'em.

Olivia is 3!!!

Happy Birthday to Olivia Chaya Nilsen. She is 3 today. Initially, since her daddy would be gone, we were just going to pretend her birthday is next week. However, a relative unintentionally brought the whole birthday thing up to her... so we had a little celebration. It was fun and she loved it. I am lousy (seriously lousy) at surprises, so Olivia helped me with all the planning and executing of this momentous event. Yes, we are celebrating again next week when daddy is here.

This is the wonderful "ladybug" creation. We used everything from gum and rolo's, to chives for the decoration. The inside was a beautiful, brilliant blue. Delicious!

Evalyn getting in on the cake eating with Aunti Lilly. She handled the fork very well.



Grandma O. had a great time with Olivia. They both were divvying up the cake before the candles were even blown.



Her birthday tutu that mommy and Aunti Lilly made.



This was great! Have you ever heard of "spaghetti dogs"? So much fun. I got the idea from a great blog called plumpudding (check out a link here on our site) and they are hilarious. Evalyn and Olivia went to town stuffing the spaghetti through the hot dogs. My family thinks we're crazy but they were such good sports about Olivia's birthday dinner.

My mom made Olivia this beautiful blue dress and this cute little church bag. My mom and dad stuffed the church bag with books, chapstick, snacks, doodlepads, colored pencils, and other quiet activities just for church. It was a great reminder to me about how special home-created gifts are. Olivia loved the gifts. They were made with love, took thought and time, and just reminded me that you don't have to rush to the store and try to find the best and brightest toy to make a great gift. I just need to get creative...

Happy Mother's Day

We are in Idaho for two weeks while Jacob is working in California. The whole single-parent thing wears off really, really fast. The hardest is when Olivia curls up in my lap and just says quietly, "I really miss my daddy." However, we are onto the final week. My family has been great in putting up with us and the chaos we bring. The past few days have been really beautiful. We came home from church today and discovered that my Grandmother's lawn was flooded (the head-gate was left open). The fam made the most of it and brought the ducks and the girls over to play. It was followed up with a barbecue and falling asleep on the lawn. Life is good.


My mother and Grandmother enjoying the barbecue in honor of them!

I love the dirty bottom here. She sat in the water to be able to play with the ducks better.

Olivia had a fantastic time in the water. Personally, I thought it was freezing, but she loved it!

Yes. We are alive.

Bwah..haa..ha...
We are alive. Actually, it is just barely because chaos attacked me from all sides:
1. My cell phone decided to stop working. This is one of my life-lines to the outside world.
2. Our computer died. This is one of my other life-lines.
3. Both (yes, we can only get 2) of the radio stations could not be picked up on the radio.
4. It started to snow all over the beautiful green grass and forced us to seek shelter inside...forever.

So, you may all be thoroughly impressed that there are still 4 residents of the Nilsen Household.

Today, (joy of joys!) our new computer arrived and I am so very ridiculously grateful to my brilliant father who got it all set up and and takes so good care of us. Even though I should be sleeping right now, I am posting some random fun pictures and loving the feel of my fingers on the keyboard. Enjoy! I will be back tomorrow during my daughters' naptime so that I can neglect all the cleaning and cooking in order to be able to get up to date on my friends and family.



ok... not posting any random pictures because I cannot figure out what is wrong with my camera. Who is to complain- I have a computer and two radio stations. I know humanity is still out there....

Evalyn Scout is 1!

Evalyn Scout is 1 year old. Now, this was a little bit confusing for her because she wasn't aware of proper birthday etiquette and traditions. However, I will translate her thoughts in alignment with each picture so that we all can see what is going on in her head.

Not really sure what it means, but I love "birthdays"!

I never get to lick icing off the beaters, I hope it is my birthday tomorrow too.

Bwaaah!! Where is my beater full of icing?! I hate birthdays!

Oh. Bless my heart, I do believe that this is edible. And, it has icing on it!

"Happy Birthday" to me...