More Wally...

Wally's first trip to the park... I just love the sun on his face. He is wearing a pumpkin hat that a friend of mine made for him. He is just under a week old in this picture.Snoozing... about 3 weeks old.
Really snoozing... with dad... also about three weeks old.
One month old and ready for winter... in NH!! I love this outfit, especially the hood!
Bye for now!!!

Our "Amazing" Family Home Evening

Every Monday night we have "Family Home Evening" or FHE. It is a night when we have treats, activities, a spiritual lesson, singing, and fun (hopefully). This last Monday we did FHE "amazing race" style. It was so much fun we wanted to share with you.

We started out in the car. The kids were given a clue about a song. I started driving... when they figured out the song we sang it, when we were finished I pulled over and gave them their next clue. They had to figure out that we were supposed to go to the park. I drove there and gave them their next clue. They had to preform a task at the park... go down the slide, run around the park, cross the monkey bars etc... Once they preformed the task and got back into their seatbelts they were given the next clue. We then drove to 7-Eleven (the destination from the last clue) and read a scripture in the car. Then we went in and got slurpees. Once everyone was back in the car we read the final clue. It sent us to the mall where we had a lesson in the car, then we all went in and picked up the pictures that we had taken a few weeks ago. We rode the escalator while we were there (a favorite with my kids!)

This was SO much fun. I would like to do it again when I put a little more thought into it. I planned all of this about an hour before we did it!

Sabbaday Falls, NH

Some how I forgot to post this earlier... so here it is!

On August 13 we went on a really fun hike with our old home school group. The location was just off of the Kangamaugus Hwy. It is called Sabbaay Falls. It was a very easy hike up a very large path to a beautiful waterfall. Because of all the rain the river was very high making the falls even more beautiful than ever. We planted a letter box while we were there. Letterboxing is very fun and if you haven't done it before you can click here to go to a website all about it .

This picture is of Carrie trying to help her friend Emmy put her shoe back on. Nelson and Mollie hanging out after being carried the entire way.

See what I mean... must be hard to ride up to the falls! This is me with my best friend Liz

The rest of our kids at the top of the falls.

This is the spot where we placed our letterbox... under the stump. It is listed on the official letterboxing website.

Emmy wanted to carry Nelson down the trail. He weighs more than she does!

Sam found the other letter box that is hidden there.

The Falls

The entire group that went (minus a few moms taking pictures).

Beauty Is...

The PTA at the girls school takes part in a competition every year called "reflections." Every year there is a different theme, this year the theme was "Beauty Is..." The children could enter in 7 different areas: dance, literature, film, visual arts, photography, and music. Jess, Sam, and Sarah all entered this year. Everyone who enters gets recognised at an awards ceremony and everyone receives a medal.

Sarah painted a picture of our family. It is beautiful. She said it was beauty to her because of how much love she feels for her family. Sarah got 2nd place in her age category (K-2nd). Here she is getting her award.


Samantha entered visual arts with a drawing of her and Jess playing handball in the front yard. She also entered photography with a picture of our cat Cali. She got an honorable mention for her photograph.


Here is Sam's picture of Cali.


Jessica also entered photography and visual arts. She placed 1st in both categories in her age group (3-5th). Her painting was of her new baby brother, and her photograph was a collage of different things in nature. Her entries will now move on to the district level.


Jess' collage.


Great job girls... we are so proud of you and all of your hard work!!

One Month Old!!

Wally is one month old today. He is such a sweet baby, we are so blessed to have him in our family. There are so many things I have to be thankful for... but family is at the top of my list. Here are a few random pictures of our new little man!!

New Pictures of the kids

Muria is Great about taking pictures every year.

Jessica 9



Samantha 7



Sarah 5



Carrie (Bob) 3



Nelson 22 months



Wally 6 days



Muria has always gone out when she finds out that she is pregnant and buys a stuffed animal for the new baby and this was what she got for Wally

Meme's Visit

This is a little old but I wanted to post some pictures of my mom's visit here.
This first one is of the kids at Chuck E Cheese.

Sarah giving Meme a flower.

We went to a sibling class at the hospital. Here are the kids at the class... you can see Deric and Me in the background.


Carving Pumpkins just before Halloween.

At the "Fun Run"

Playing handball! (Jessica's favorite thing to do!)

Mom took the little ones to the park while the others were at school.

Out at the beach... it was a beautiful day and we spent almost the entire time in the water!

Gotta love the static!!!

We had so much fun with my mom. It was really hard to see her leave... we hope she comes back to visit soon!!

First Bath

Wally had his first "real" bath last week (11/5)
I expected him to not like it... he really dislikes when I change his clothes. To my surprise he LOVED it!! I relaxed and enjoyed the water, and his sisters oooohhing and aaahhhing over him.
This is so nice!!


It's over already!!

OK put my clothes back on!!

I am Thankful for... Turkeys!!

We pulled the "I am thankful for Turkey's" coupon out today. It instructed us to make a turkey craft. This is what we decided to create after looking at many options online. It was a little different, but lots of fun!!

We are also thankful for extended family. Today we met for lunch at Deric's brother's house. We were able to see Deric's cousin and his wife who are here visiting their son who just moved out here. We actually went to their wedding in Boston about two years ago... it was really nice to see them again!

My TWO Sons!

Deric and I have had two boys names picked out since before I was pregnant with out first baby. He wanted to name our first son after my father James Nelson. I loved the idea but insisted that our second son would be named after him, Frederic Wallace! I honestly believed that we would never see the day that we'd have one son, and now we have two. I am so grateful for my boys... may they teach me to "roll with the punches" (probably literally)! Anyway, here they are looking so cute in the shirts that Meme bought for them.

How long do I have to wait until he can play?

Actually Nelson loves his little brother and points him out to everyone. He also asks to hold him often, and insists that you don't hover over him the entire time... but watch out when he says he is done he means it so you'd better be ready to get the baby immediately!!

Our Happy Halloween

We had lots of fun this year getting ready for Halloween. Jess and Sam did a play and used the costumes from the play as their Halloween costumes. Here we all are as we head out for trick-or-treating.

Jess and Wally were ghosts.

Close up of "scary" Wally.


Gorilla Sarah, and Marine Nelson




Our little witches Sam and Carrie.

Our friend Darby came with us also. Here she is as a bumble bee with her classroom (she works with kindergartners) mascot, kinder turtle.

The last house we visited was our own!! Meme, the pirate, met the kids at the door with goodie bags from both her and grampa. Thanks Meme!!!