Neslen Christmas Nativity 12/27/08

Neslen sledding day 12/27/08

Katybug(:
Sam and Erik ready to race Nick and Tyson!
Just mom and me!
"Who takes the child by the hand takes the mother by the heart" -Danish Proverb

Sledding with the Neslens

Meg getting ready to go down the hill at Churchill.
Grandpa Parputt, Joshie, Aunt Amy and Kate.

Kate getting ready to go down the hill all by herself!
Look what Sammy found hanging off of Grandma's house!

Christmas at the Johnsons

Grandma Patsy
Meg and Gracie
Sam and Sophie
Kate's new Curious George
Kate and Ruthie

Christmas

Daddy reading a Christmas story on Christmas Eve.
Who is having more fun with Sammy's new slot cars?Meg's fancy new soccer club shirt.  She spent the day taking videos & pictures with her new camera.

Kate's new baby.

After opening presents & enjoying ourselves we packed the car and drove out to Utah.  It took us 18 hours in a terrible snow storm.  After Beaver, Utah we were the first car making new tracks on the interstate!  We left around 11:30am & arrived at 5:30am.  It was miserable, but the kids were wonderful!

Nutcracker 2008

This year we went to the Nutcracker with Aunt Dyan in San Francisco.  This was Sammy's first time and he did great!  He has been wanting to go for years because Meg always gets to go without him.  They had changed the costumes a great deal from the last time we saw it in the city.  It seemed to have a more earthy/natural feel to it, whereas last time everything was candy and bright and bold.  I think I enjoyed the candy flavor more.  We had a great time!

Meeting Santa

Meeting Santa on a December Morning.  Kate didn't think much of him and refused to get her picture taken.

Decorating the Christmas tree 2008

Meg, Sam & Kate decorated the Christmas tree without much help from mom.

Sam on the playground

Sammy playing on the school playground, showing off his strong arms.

Life in the Bay Area without a computer

My computer died a few weeks ago and I am out of every loop in my neighborhood. They are attempting to retrieve our pictures from our dead hard drive at this time....no small amount of money I might add. I will update whenever I can steal Erik's computer from him.....which is almost never!

Catching up!

I've been too busy to write lately.  I've been trying to get my picture books in to be published for Christmas presents for the kids(:  They had a deal that ended yesterday so I'm back on line now!  What an exciting last 2 weeks with Halloween and the elections.  I'm glad the elections are over finally!  I really enjoyed Obama's acceptance speech and am hopeful for better leadership in the future.  We had a great Halloween as well.  We went with our new friends the Lesters who have 3 little boys ages 6 & 4 (twins Sam's age) and a little girl a year behind Meg in school who adores her!  John & Mark were in Sam's preschool class last year and he adores them!  They showed us the local trick-or-treating ropes around here.  There is a man named Bob who does a spook-alley and great garage display that the entire neighborhood visits every year.  It was a great evening.  Kate hung in there with a stroller ride all over the place.  Anything for candy!  Today Meg & Sam had soccer games and both played really great.  They are both defensively minded and boot the ball out of the area when they get the chance.

Halloween fun

Pirate Meg.

These are the pumpkins we carved with Lars and Dyan over the weekend!  It was a foggy morning so I thought it would look better than this picture turned out...but, not so creepy.  Oh yes, this is our new home for those of you who haven't seen it.  Do you like the hanging bats?
Meg with friends: Julianna, Isabella (mummy), Leana, and Maddie.  They won the race to mummify their friend the fastest!
Today was the parade.  We were late for school due to a silly homework assignment from Meg's 3rd grade teacher....the 13 days of Halloween!  But we made it, apparently we are not the only late comers on Halloween costume day!  The parade was exactly what they always are.  I spent the morning in Meg's class with Kate at their party.  Wow did Kate get some great attention.  She didn't want to leave and even had the boys holding her and carrying her around...which she wasn't too fond of....you know she is a little bit INDEPENDENT!  I checked Meg out of school for lunch since she would only be missing 20 mins of science before school let out.  Her teacher didn't think she would be missing anything.  The kids chose to eat at....McDonalds!!!  Oh what fun!  We later watched a movie and popped popcorn all together.  We have so much fun together!

Halloween parties

This is Sam with his teacher.  "I like Mrs Cronin because she teaches me good stuff, like reading and writing."


This was a fun day, I was able to work in Meg and Sam's classes today.  Sam had his Halloween party today without costumes.  I think his teacher has done this before.  I helped with the Monster Mash freeze dance.  Sam's favorite part of the party was the food.  It was so great to watch how skillful his teacher is with her class.  She is very impressive!  The kids are darling to watch.  It was fun to watch her read them a story at the end of class.  

Meg's teacher cracks me up.  I always laugh whenever I go in there.  I just couldn't imagine working with so many kids these ages and expecting them to sit still and listen.  It is all I can do to get my three to listen to me for 3 minutes or less!  I have fun watching how my kids are with their peers and teachers.  

Tomorrow is a big half day at school.  It begins with a school Halloween costume parade, then I'm going with Kate to Meg's class party and then we are all eating with Meg at the school for lunch.   After lunch we will go home.  Meg and Sam both have the day off of school on Friday so I think we will make Halloween cookies(:  Meg will get to see Kate's dance class too.  I think they will both enjoy that. 

Fall time.

I love this little girl!

I wanted to get a family pic of the kids up the canyon, but Kate fell asleep in the car so Sam and Meg are together on an old bridge over a dry creek.  This is the canyon road that I frequent when I go on my bike rides.  It is call Kilcare.  A scary thought: a pregnant woman in tight biking spandex...my girlfriend Judy promises me that you can't tell when I'm bent over.  I'm sure she is just being nice!  This is a beautiful place that reminds me of home.  Changing leaves and winding, narrow canyon roads.  It is also very close to  our home so fun to visit to "get away."

Ballet and Tap for Kate

Have you seen anything cuter than a group of 3 year old little girls all dressed in pink trying to tap dance? This was Kate's first day of class, I think she did great!

The Johnson's week in review.

At great encouragement from my dear friend Rachel I am starting this blog.  I guess living by Silicon Valley and away from dear family and friends are some pretty compelling reasons to try to keep in touch the e-way.

This week Erik took the kids shopping for mommy's birthday and Kate decided that she needed to hide under the pants.  Erik had the whole store looking for her.  One of the workers at Target finally found her.  She seemed to think that was an okay thing to do when I later asked her about it.

Sam has decided that he rides his bike about "20" and whenever I am driving he asks me to drive 20 so he can compare the speed to what he thinks he can ride.  He also tells me he can run "about 18."  He just told me that he has learned how to write "almost all of his letters" which is great since fine motor skills are not his favorite thing to do(:

Meg is in the school play about Paul Bunyon and Big Blue his ox.  She has endless homework and recently visited a space museum with huge telescopes.  Her teacher's mother used to work for NASA so I think she'll get a good background in science this year!

Kate's preschool pumpkin patch outing.

Kate was so mad at me after I took this picture that she threw down the pumpkin and screamed, "don't take my picture!!!"  The only reason that I have the picture of us together is because she would allow her teacher Miss Lauren to take her pictures.  (She fell asleep on the drive over to the pumpkin patch).

Kate and mommy at the preschool pumpkin patch visit.

Opening Soccer day in Pleasanton

Meg and Erik at the opening soccer parade that the city has for the first day of games.  Did I mention that they are slightly obsessed with soccer here?  Pleasanton shuts down their downtown to have a parade for  opening soccer day.  Each team dresses up like their mascot.  Meg was the pirates, Sam was the cougars.

Sam getting ready for his corner kick.  "I like coach Derryl because he teaches me good soccer."
Sam running for the ball, "about 18."

After game treats, Sam, Michael, Gavin, & Cole.
Did I mention we were involved with soccer?

Kate blowing out her candles!

Sam and Meg's first day of school at Walnut Grove.

Sam lining up outside his Kindergarten door the first day of school.  I cried when he left me):  Mrs. Cronin is his teacher(:
Meg sitting at her desk the first day of school.  Her teacher is Mrs. Martin.
Megs first day of School.  Dad came to see her off.  Sam didn't start school until the afternoon so we all went to see Meg's class as a family that first morning.

Last days of summer in Santa Cruz.

We spent the day in Santa Cruz with Aunt Dyan and cousin Nora. We went down the last week of summer before our time was consumed by classes and sports. It was a windy day and while I was putting sunscreen on Meg & Sam, Kate decided to go play in the waves.  When I looked over she was being tossed under water by a strong wave.  I ran to get her and grabbed her out of the water.  She had sand in her hair and ears etc.  Needless to say she didn't venture into the water much after that.  I think this was the closest she got to the water the rest of the day...thank goodness!  It scared us both!