Intel had a free night at OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, I think). I had book club, but Aaron took Arwen and Noah. They have a cool Star Wars exhibit there right now. Aaron and the kids made it in before it closed. They have a "if you leave, you can't re-enter" policy. The minute they got it, Arwen was doing her pee pee dance so they had to leave. Then the kids humored Aaron and sat through a boring 15 minute long movie. He tried to get them to see another one, but they said No Way!! They loved the kid area the best of course!!

Arwen's new nickname for Joshua is "Pumpkin." She told me, "I love to call Josha Pumpkin...except when people are around. I don't call him Pumpkin then because the people will think we are different." This is our "Pumpkin" with his little buddy Tanner. Noah doesn't say Tanner so well and it always sounds like Tator. So we like to call him Tator Tot...except when people are around...

Check out our little Elf! One of our babysitters made these cute headpieces for Arwen and Noah out of the branches off our willow tree. Aaron made us all one last night. We'll take pictures of them eventually!

We had a terrific Thanksgiving! We went over to our friends' house for dinner. It was so yummy. They have a smoker and smoked the turkey. It was so juicy and moist! Everything else was delicious. We made and brought the rolls, stuffing, and the pies. We were busy all morning making 2 pumpkin, an apple, and a pecan pie. Aaron makes the best pie crust of anyone I know! We stayed up late and played games and had pies. It was a great day. Friday, we got a couple of babysitters. First we went to lunch at a Vietnamese place that Aaron has been wanting me to try. He's been talking about "Pho" forever and so I finally got to try some. It's a soup and is really good! Then we went and bought a tripod for our camera. Later that night, at our church building, they were having the first of a series of classes to teach us old folks to dance. We did line dancing first. It was really fun! Aaron's a really cute dancer--you should see him move those hips!! Saturday, we headed to the coast. It was a beautiful day! We went to our best agate hunting beach, but the tide was super high! I got lucky and found a nice big one while I was traversing the big rocks, trying not to kill myself or Joshua! We didn't last too long there because Ar was hungry, Noah was being a beast, and Joshua was screaming because I had him facing me in the carrier and he wanted to face outward! So we headed to the cheese factory for cheese and ice cream. It was a really fun night!!

What's up Dogga?

Noah has developed this unbelievable imagination just recently! Yesterday he was playing with a Max doll and the wild thing monsters from the book "Where the Wild Things Are." He threw Max and a monster in the corner and yelled, "A time out!!" I asked him what happened. He said, "Max bited Noah." Then he ran over to Max and punched and squeezed him. He came back to me and looked at me with his huge blue eyes and said, " I killed him. I killed Max." Nice...what a psychopath! It was hysterical though. Then later on he kept having us call him Alex. He kept saying, "I Alex...or Buzz Lightyear." He is sure a comedian!! Here's a picture of Noah with his best buddy Evan. Don't you love Noah's "Camera Smile!"

Aaron went to Washington this past weekend with his Scout Troop to the Ape Caves. It a big lava tube that was formed when St. Helens erupted about 1900 years ago. Me and the kids have been there once before with Matthew and Bethany a while ago. Anyways, he had a fun day goofing off with all the boys exploring this really great cave. Don't worry Bethany...he didn't get lost for too long in the T-cut!! Luckily some kind souls saved him! (Do you remember that?) We were pretty jealous, but are looking forward to going on adventure with him this weekend.

Arwen says the most thoughtful things every once in a while. I overheard her talking to a friend the other day. Her friend was upset because he thought that Santa was not going to go to his house--only to Arwen's. Arwen said, "You just need to pray to Heavenly Father and ask for Santa to come to your house too." Her friend said it wouldn't work and Arwen told him that you can pray for anything and that it would work. Then another day Arwen told her friend that she just really wanted to go to Heaven and see it. She asked him if that's what he wanted too. He said, "No. I just want a talking toy for Christmas." Then Arwen said, "Yeah, me too. Mom can I have a talking toy?"

Both my boys are such big boys!! Joshua cut his first tooth yesterday. It was such hard work that he needed a nap afterwards! Noah kept asking to go potty today. He finally got tired of waiting for me and took his diaper off. I got his potty chair out and 5 minutes later he came and got me from the computer and told me. Yea!!! Then he kicked the chair over. Oh well!

Bouncing Baby Boy!Josha loves bouncing! We put him in his bouncer last night and he sure did put on a show for us! It was great! He's really funny lately. We haven't seen his bottom lip in over a week now unless he's smiling. I think he' working on some teeth! He's pretty silly looking! Arwenisms: "You know what kind of house I'd live in if I could? A Pancake house. That way I could eat pancakes all day. And the leaves and the trees and the windows would be pancakes."

Here Jen--upon your request. We have to put a band aid on her everyday and she still manages to pick the gross sore on her mouth!

We actually had a day without rain, so I was able to take some pictures of the kids outside amongst the leaves! Arwen is a giant scab in all of hers and I don't have the skills to fix them in Photoshop (I tried...it was just too much to fix!!) and I haven't asked Aaron to do it, so you'll have to wait on hers!!
Today was the Primary Program. Arwen got to stand in the front row, right in front of where we sit. She did pretty good the first 5 minutes. They sang the song, "Scripture Power." Come on...you all know it and LOVE IT. Anyways, the kids were supposed to hold up their scriptures when they sang. Arwen brought her little New Testament and tried to hold it up even after the song. Her teacher kept telling her to put it down and she got mad and moped the rest of the time. Way to go Ar! She did really good on her part though. She had to say, "Say my prayers." She also gave a talk in opening exercises. She did super!! You should hear Noah say his prayers. He does it all by himself. He always says, "Heavenly Father...hit Sissy...fight...broke it..." and then we step in and help him. We're not quite sure if he's repenting for those things , or saying, Listen...this is what I do...Get used to it. It's pretty cute though! Josh is still just a little slug. He hasn't rolled over since Noah's birthday. No hurry though. Noah's enough to deal with right now!

We finally got our new camera! We ended up getting the Canon Rebel XTi. When Aaron got home from work, he put the lens on it and got it ready and such and then had to run off to Young Mens. I gave the kids a bath and then put them in bed. So imagine our surprise when we go and take a few pictures we had taken off and found this picture. Aaron asked if I took it. I told him no and said it must have been him. He said he didn't. Then we both freaked out because we figured out that NOAH took it of himself. All this right after we talked about making sure to put the camera up after every use so Noah could not break it! After a while though, I realized that we had taken the memory card out of our old camera that Noah sometimes plays with. He must have snatched the camera one day and did a photo shoot of himself. He got a couple of great shots!

We had a really fun weekend...but we didn't have any charged batteries so no pictures! It was a rainy day but it has been our only Saturday in ages that Aaron has been home. We went out to the outlet shops and got Aaron some new church shirts and a pair of slacks. He sure was the cutest thing at church on Sunday!! We also found Ar a cute little pair of pink Adidas. We had some health food at McDonald's. There was a huge man in there with his kids and Arwen pointed to him and said, "Look at that big Daddy." Then we continued on up to the Gorge. The drive was beautiful. All of the leaves were changing and we got ourselves lost for a couple of hours due to road work. We eventually made our way to Multnomah Falls. I wish like crazy that we had a camera. The kids were all wearing their cute winter hats and looked adorable. I had Josh in his sling facing me so that I could try and keep the rain off his face. He kept stretching his face out though so that he could let the rain land on his face. He looked like a little bird with his mouth wide open trying to catch the rain. It was so sweet! We came home and made hot cocoa and set up the sleeping bags and watched Willy Wonka. It was a really great day! Here's a picture of Josh and I. I couldn't get the other two kids presentable enough to make a photo appearance. Arwen has a giant scab on her mouth that she won't stop picking and Noah would not keep any pants on today! Oh well. It's just us two dark Nielsens!


Arwenisms: The other day Noah gave Arwen a big hug for no reason and Arwen got real excited and said, "Noe is nice now. I can marry him too." She always tells me that she will marry Joshua and Daddy when she gets big. Apparently Noe gets to join them now too!
Arwen gets to be in her first Primary program on Sunday! We can't wait.
Yesterday, Arwen was the mom and Noah was the dad. I had to be the kid taking a nap. I asked Arwen who Josh was and she said, "Josha--he's the Dogga. Look at him chew on his toys. Good Josha Dogga."


Noahisms: Sometimes Joshua bites and sometimes he'll accidentally whack Noah and Noah will say, "No Josha...a time out!!" Poor Josh gets put in time outs all the time.
Today he was getting in trouble and he had till the count of three to apologize. I got to one and he looked over at Arwen and said, "3, 4...YOUR ROOM!!" He tries to put Arwen in her room and give her time outs too. I wish you could hear his little voice when he talks. It's so sweet.

We had lots of fun Halloween night. We got all the kids ready in their costumes and then went over to our Relief Society Presidents house. She throws a big bash every year and has dinner for everyone and lots of treats for the kids. I stayed there and Aaron took Arwen and Noah around her neighborhood to go trick or treating. We have a couple in the ward who owns a Halloween business and they really go to town on their decorating. Noah was scared to death, of course! Then we came home and Aaron took Arwen around our neighborhood while Noah and I handed out candy. It was a super night! Now comes my least favorite part--the whining ALL DAY for candy. I lasted a few days last year before I threw it all in the garbage right in front of Arwen so she would stop begging. Noah came in our room at 6:30 this morning asking for treats and candies!!