September Recap

Life is flying by these days it feels like and when people ask me, what have you been up to all I can say is I don't know I just know I have been crazy busy.

 

 Most of what keeps me so busy are these two girlies.  I am loving my role as a mother these days.  It took a while (a few years for me to completely give in and let my whole self become that role.  I am just a naturally selfish person and it was hard for me to let go of all my other "wants" or what I thought were my "needs".) Now I just love being a mother and being at home with these two while Carter is away at school.

 

On this particular Saturday, Matt was away doing church stuff and this picture cracked me up! It was as if Hayden was saying, "What kind of mischief can I get into while my Dad is away?"

Sure enough, just minutes later, Hayden poured a bucket of water over Abbie. The good thing is Abigail didn't mind too much as you can see.

This picture is of my Dad's family.  Labor Day is a big weekend for my family because we have a lot of connections to the Midway area and Labor Day weekend is Swiss Days - a big boutique fair in Midway and it is usually Grandma Ione's birthday.  This is the whole family except for my family and two babies of my cousins who are probably napping.  I don't get to see these cousins much anymore since I have lived out of state (over 9 years now) and it's crazy to see them with spouses and kids.  I love my family and seeing pictures of them, especially my siblings and their kids.  I love how beautiful they all are and how much they are growing up (the kids anyway)!

This has been a favorite game of Hayden's.  She loves to put her babies and stuffed animals to bed.  You will find them in any given bed or couch through out the house all day long.  When it is bed/ nap time for the girls I sing them songs, turn on the fan and close the door.  So that is what Hayden does all day long with her "babies," too.

This is my awesome Missionary Brother Big Timmay serving in N Atlanta, GA.  He has used his musical talents all mission long to help him get in to share the gospel. He calls it "jammin for Jesus!"

Hayden's bed is one of Abigails favorite places to play. She loves to climb up and down from it and play with any of the toys that might be on it, too.

Carter decided that it was about time that Abbie started hauling her own stuff around, so he hooked her water to her pants.

One weekend in September I and two of my close girl friends Heidi and Rosalyn and Rosalyn's sister went to Time Out for Women in St. Louis.  LOVED IT!! It was much needed. 

I think my favorite part of my girls weekend was the 4 hour drive to and from talking to these amazing women.  It was emotional detox time for me!!!! No Joke!!!

Look at this cutie hobo bearded girl.  This girl loves to eat and has really started to chunk up.

Abbie loves to "walk" underneath the table because there are so many things to hold onto to help her get around.  I think she feels somewhat adventurous as well.

When I was in Abigail's room organizing her closet, Hayden came charging in her room with her hands on her hips like so and in an authoritative voice yelled out, "Amber Nielsen." Whoa, I must have been in big trouble.

Once school started and Carter was gone for most of the day, things seemed to really calm down here at the house.  Carter is such a great kid, and I love him of course, but he is a handful and without him even realizing it (or sometimes he TOTALLY realizes it) he just demands all that everyone can give and the girls have to just take what's left. I didn't realize this was happening until I started noticing how much less whiny and difficult Hayden was during the day and then as soon as Carter gets off the bus, she turned back into the Hayden I was used to.  But I digress, now that it's just the 2 girls and I at home Hayden has become my little buddy. She is anxious to help and create and just have fun.  I have loved getting to know her better on more of a one on one basis.

We even got in some last little bit of water fun.

This girl just loves being out on the water doing crazy things like wake boarding, skiing and tubing. She cracks me up!

Hayden is now puss in boots. She LOVES to try on my shoes so now that it's boot season and I pulled out these new bad boys of course it wasn't any different. She was determined to get those boots on even if they went all the way up her legs.

I am all about girls striving to be whatever they want to be, so Hayden if you want to be a baseball playing, Snow White Princess Ballerina you go for it girl!!

Here is Hayden wakeboarding. This girl LOVES being out there with her Daddy!

Here is a cute video of Abbie ending up in the rain and me trying to figure out how she got out there:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKNyOASG-uk