Day 5

All is well, Sarah's home.  They sure work the craft lady ragged up there, that and no sleep, poor Sarah looked tired.  We sure did miss her.  I interviewed the kids today at lunch to see what they missed most about mom.  There was a "She's so fun", but mostly they all said, "She's just soooo beautiful".  Looking at dad all week must have been wearing on them.

We did a little cleaning this morning to impress Sarah and get ready for her trip to Colorado next week.  When we were cleaning the van Lu-lu decided to turn on the headlights, I didn't catch it.  Later when we were going to hunt for the DI-pods we were dead as a door nail.  After a jump from the neighbors we searched in vain for the DI-pods.  Does anyone know where they went?

Made some more progress on the tree house today...We have three walls now and not enough wood for the fourth and the roof unless I figure out some fancy tricks.  I'll be making another scrap wood run I have a feeling.

Larkin fresh out of the bath has been coloring on herself with marker...got to go.

Day 4

6:00 AM: The kids are not up yet...

6:30 AM: Still no kids...

7:00 AM: Larkin wins but soon falls back asleep in my bed...

Joshua was up next but put himself to bed right after our doughnut breakfast.  He fell asleep again this evening in the hammock  The doughnuts were an celebration for Joshua not using a pull-up at night again.  No need to mention the only reason he didn't have a pull-up on the last two nights was because I forgot to put one on him.  Tonight we did it on purpose, gotta go for the turkey right?

We worked on the tree house all day, we didn't even go swimming to Arwen's dismay.  The kids helped now and again trying to finish pounding nails and what not but lost interest pretty quick.  At one point I told Noah the story of the Little Red Hen, which he lost interest in when he started to understand what I was getting at.  Larkin was about the best helper fetching me nails when I needed them.  She calls them her babies and when I nail them into the wood she'll cry out "you killed my baby!".  The little cutie will also push imaginary babies on the swing and sing to them.   I did a little math on the wood I have left vs the wood I need to build the walls and roof and came short unless I build really big windows...on all four sides.  So I went wood scavenging today and got a pretty good haul.  Though I think I may be short still.  

The kids ate peas and strawberries all day from the garden, which kinds looks like it's been trampled by horses.  I did notice the broccoli is starting to flower.

Noah, Arwen and Joshua went through the secret passage today (a hole in our back fence).  Noah came back breathing heavy and talking fast about a glove he'd found under a bridge...which he explained meant there was a man back their that was trying to get them.  The poor little guy's imagination got the best of him and he's scared to go back there again until I go with him.  

Arwen cleaned the whole house today for when Sarah comes home tomorrow.  It looked really nice for a few minutes.  The plan is to bath the kids in the morning then clean up all over again before Sarah get's home.  

Day 2 & 3

Went jogging in the morning with Peter.  We'd planned on seeing what our 10K time was on flat ground so I mapped it out on the relatively flat farmington road.  I missed our turnaround point and we just kept on running until things didn't feel right and then kept going for some reason.  We turned around at River road.  I'm sure we were tired from the run the day before but that run killed us, joints, feet, and connecty thingys were complaining.  

I got back from my jog and Noah was making himself breakfast, caramel sauce, chocolate syrup, and strawberry jam toast.  He made similar delicacies for the kids while I took a shower.  I dropped the kids off at the Dickinsons and went to work.  They were showing the US vs Algeria game in the cafe with free berakfast so I worked from down there while watching the game.  We won 1:0 scoring at 90min.  It was an awesome game.  Watched Germany win over lunch time and snuck home early to get the kids.  We had dinner then went swimming then back to Peters to help build the club-house.  We got one more wall built then it was 9:00.  The kids had a blast just running around and from what I could tell they were pretty good.

Jogged an easy paced 5K this morning in crocks, and I think they are better running shoes than my running shoes.  We worked on the tree house all day, with a lawn mowing, campfire and swimming to break things up a bit.  After dinner we went over to Peters to work on his guest-house and got the walls raised.  We pounded the last nail of the day at 10:00.  Poor kids haven't gotten to bed on time in a few days, I don't think they've minded though.

Arwen replied to some question of one of the kids with "This is bacon, it's the best kind of meat in the whole world", then she looked at me and added, "except for fish, of course".  I'm pretty sure she was referring to shrimp.

We roasted some huge marshmallows after eating lunch.  Larkin won for being the cleanest (she ate hers un-roasted).  Joshua won for being the dirtiest.

Day 1

Sarah shot me an FYI email as she was walking out the door for girls camp: 

"Freezer is not cold..."

So I came home as soon as I could escape from work to save the years supply of delicious strawberry freezer jam Sarah had just made. 

Arwen and Noah helped me mop up the water and clean up after defrosting the freezer.  

Larkin was getting a little fussy so I suggested she go take a nap.  I sent Arwen and Noah down to the pool while Joshua and I finished cleaning up.  After an hour or so we woke Larkin up and joined Arwen and Noah at the pool.

 Yesterday at the pool Larkin was so excited to get in the pool she ran over to the side and was about to jump in before I could get her floaties on.  She was pretty independent...even abandoning the watter noodle after a while.

 Doesn't that look Olympic?  We'll other than the beach ball :)

Couldn't resist another shot of Lu-Lu

That poor shark Noah has by the tail mysteriously popped.

Joshua was sure glad Larkin preferred the floaties over his ring-o-ma-bob thingy.

If only the day ended there...I was on the phone trying to help with some stuff and shushed Arwen when she tried to talk to me.  Apparently Larkin had pooped her pull-up.  I think Arwen attempted to change her but there had been some malfunction of both bowels and pull-up.  I'll skip forward to allow any of you that have just eaten dinner (or have ever eaten anything) to keep it in your stomaches.  Suffice it to say the rug and Larkin got a nice hose down, the rug out back, Larkin in the bath.

And then it was bed time.

Happy Father's Day to all the wonderful Dad's out there...especially to my own Dad and to Aaron's Dad.  The kids and I made little scrapbooks that we filled with pictures of each kid and then I interviewed them and asked them questions about Aaron.  some of the responses were pretty cute!  Here they are if you are interested :)  Love you Aaron!  You're the best!

Larkin's Thoughts For Dad

 Larkin, age 2

1.  What's your name?  "Yu Yu."
2.  How old are you?  "5."
3.  What's your favorite color?  "Pink."
4.  What's your favorite treat?  "Gum."
5.  What's your favorite food?  "Ham."
6.  What do you love about Daddy?  "Plays."
7.  What color are your eyes?  "Pink."
8.  What's your favorite song?  "Popcorn."

Joshua's Thoughts About Dad

Joshua, age 4

   1. What's Dad's name? “Aaron.”
   2. What's Dad's job? “He cleans garbage.”
   3. Why is Dad special? “Because of Mom.”
   4. How do you know Dad loves you? “ Because he loves me.”
   5. When you grow up, do you want to be like Dad? “Yes, because I like him.”
   6. Why do you love Dad? “Because I love him all day.”
   7. What do you do to have fun together? “Play with my trains.”
   8. What does Dad do for fun? “Give Mom flowers.”
   9. How old is Dad? “5.”
  10. How old was Dad when he got married? “6.”
  11. How do you know Dad loves Mom? “Because he gives her flowers.”
  12. Why did Heavenly Father give you Dad? “So we can play with him.”
  13. What kind of little boy was Dad? “Like me.”
  14. What did Dad need to know about Mom before he married her? “I don't know.”
  15. Why did Dad marry Mom? “Because he loved her.”
  16. What would it take to make Dad perfect? “Comb his hair.”
  17. If you could change one thing about Dad, what would it be? “I would take all his treasures.”
  18. What is Dad's favorite color? “Brown.”

Noah's Thoughts About Dad

Noah, age 5

   1. What's Dad's name? “Aaron William Martin Troublemaker Nielsen.”
   2. What's Dad's job? “Ummm...to make candy.”
   3. Why is Dad special? “He lets us watch funny movies and Daddy's really funny.”
   4. How do you know Dad loves you? “Because he does fun stuff with us and he's silly.”
   5. When you grow up, do you want to be like Dad? “Uh huh. Because he's really funny.”
   6. Why do you love Dad?” Because he's a real bunny.”
   7. What do you do to have fun together? “Jump on the trampoline, but then it broke.”
   8. What does Dad do for fun? “Watch movies with us and we go to Grandpa's house.”
   9. How old is Dad? “100.”
  10. How old was Dad when he got married? “60.”
  11. How do you know Dad loves Mom? “They both do fun things together.”
  12. Why did Heavenly Father give you Dad? “Because he didn't want us to be orphans.”
  13. What kind of little boy was Dad? “Like me...goofy.”
  14. What did Dad need to know about Mom before he married her? “That she was good.”
  15. Why did Dad marry Mom? “Because he loved her.”
  16. What would it take to make Dad perfect? “ To not be naughty.”
  17. If you could change one thing about Dad, what would it be? “That he was a rabbit.”
  18. What is Dad's favorite color? “Rainbow.”

Arwen's thoughts about Dad

Arwen, age 7

1. What's Dad's name? “Aaron.”
2. What's Dad's job? “He works at Intel. He writes on the computer.”
3. Why is Dad special? “He loves us a lot and he's nice. He loves making robots and stuff with us.”
4. How do you know Dad loves you? “Sometimes he brings home treasures for us and sometimes he plays the things we want to play.”
5. When you grow up, do you want to be like Dad? “Umm...No. I want to be a painter.”
6. Why do you love Dad? “Because he's really nice and funny.”
7. What do you do to have fun together? “I love when he swings me on the sing and we make projects together.”
8. What does Dad do for fun? “ He makes us treats sometimes and sometimes he plays with us.”
9. How old is Dad? “29.”
10. How old was Dad when he got married? “21.”
11. How do you know Dad loves Mom? “Because he hugs her and because Mom says that Dad loves her more than anyone.”
12. Why did Heavenly Father give you Dad? “Because if we didn't have a Dad, who would help you get birthed?”
13. What kind of little boy was Dad? “A blondie. I heard it in his pictures.”
14. What did Dad need to know about Mom before he married her? “That mom liked the church and stuff.”
15. Why did Dad marry Mom? “Because she was pretty and went to church.”
16. What would it take to make Dad perfect? “He would have to be like Jesus.”
17. If you could change one thing about Dad, what would it be? “ Hmmm...I don't really know. I would change that he didn't have to go to work but that we could still have money.”
18.What is Dad's favorite color? “It changes every year, so I don't know.”

I know you probably wonder what goes on in the Nielsen house at 6 am most mornings...wild dance parties while drinking hot chocolate and eating pop tarts!  Seriously though, this little 2 year old has some sweet moves. She gets shy when the camera is on her...but we caught he shaking her wild hips a few times!  Anytime she hears music her hips take over and she just feels it.  Love her!!

Long hair + Static = Fun on the Slide

I love this kid.  We celebrated Josh's 4th birthday last Saturday.  He's my Memorial Day baby.  He really is the sweetest kid I've ever met in my whole life.  He likes everyone to be happy...even if that includes sharing all his chocolate...which he did.  I bought him a Wonka Scrumdidliumptious bar for one of his gifts and he was eating it next to me late one night...we let him stay up late on his big day.  He counted out all the people in our family and then proceeded to break off 6 pieces of chocolate so that everyone could enjoy a piece when they woke up the next day.  He's content to just sit and play with whatever toy catches his fancy at the moment for hours.  He loves to hear stories about himself from when he was a baby.  He sings these made up songs and says things like, "I love my mom.  She's gorgeous.  I like her even when she yells."  So cute!  Joshua, we sure do love you and are so glad that you are ours! 

Grubbiest, cutest kids ever.  Who let Larkin out of the house without her hair combed??