Easter

Easter was a blast this year! As always! This year we headed to Morgan for the annual Easter Egg Hunt with Casey and Emily, Livie, Jet and baby Becca. There are hundreds of children lined up and all racing for the same egg. If you get an egg with a number on it you win a basket full of candy. All the kids got an Easter egg basket, even Becca and Bode. It is such a fun little tradition and our kids love it!
Getting ready for the egg hunt!

Easter is one of my favorite holidays! Maybe because I had a Mother and Grandmother who made it so special. The Easter Bunny would hide eggs all around our house in the morning when we woke up and leave a basket full for Easter goodies on the kitchen table. And we all got a new spring dress. (One year I had one with a hat and I thought I was so stylin').

We would then head to Grandma Tanner's for another Easter egg hunt and whoever collected the most eggs won the giant chocolate Easter bunny. After we would roll our eggs down Grandma and Grandpa's hill. So much fun!

This year the Easter Bunny hid eggs all around the house and front yard and left the baskets by the fireplace. The girls got matching pink dresses and boys matching vests and ties. While the majority of us were upstairs getting ready for church a little girl snuck downstairs and got into all, yes ALL, the chocolate eggs. Needless to say we were a little late for church that morning. :)

We also got to have Grandma and Grandpa Tollestrup come visit for the week. It is always so fun when they come! My kids were so sad to see them go and by the end of their trip Charlotte would hold out her arms to my mom and with a big smile say "Gamma!"

Baby Bode

We are all so in love with this little guy! I could hold and rock him forever, even in the early, early hours of the morning (just don't mention that to my husband :)).

Isn't he a little doll? Charlotte thinks so! Whenever he whimpers, she immediately drops whatever she is doing and runs to his 'rescue' with kisses after kisses, 'soft' pats after pats and one big under duck in the swing! And, he bares her steam rollers with minimal or no cries! I think they will be great friends just like big bro and big sis. "BFF's" as Bella Reese calls them!
We love you so much Baby Bode!

Rise n' Shine

In the morning I usually wake up to this handsome face!

But today was different, I got this little sleeper!

This "little" guy is growning up way too fast, he is already 12 1/2lbs at 5 weeks!

Lunch Time

Today Charlotte tried her first gogurt, a Nelson staple in our household. Tristan and Bella had fun watching her eat it and try to get it into her mouth. :)

Baby Bode slept through it all!

Just like Charlotte

I haven't ventured out for five weeks with all the children by myself yet. But, today I felt lucky and thought I would chance a visit to my children's pediatrician's for baby Bode. Everyone did very well and I could not have been able to do so without my two oldest, they are troopers. When I finally pulled into the driveway, however, this is how I felt.

Just like Charlotte...exhausted!

My Baby is 1

Charlotte turned 1 in January and I thought I better get some more pictures done of her since she has changed so much! My friend Crystal took the pictures and she does a great job! She is so creative and did I mention Patient! We had fun, however Charlotte didn't know if she should smile or cry so she thought she would compromise and do something in the middle:)

Bode Blake Nelson

It has been ten days since this little guy came into our lives and it has been Heaven ever since! There is something special about babies when they are first born, but even more so with this one. Bode Blake was born February 1st at 12:22pm in the afternoon, weighing in at 9lbs 2oz and 22 inches long. This little (or should I say BIG)baby was a surprise from the beginning until the very end! I went to the doctors the end of August thinking I was 6 weeks along only to be surprised by really being 17 plus weeks along. Also, we thought we would leave finding out if this little baby was a girl or a boy until the end, (well I guess only I, out of the "we", was on board). Blake called my doctors office and asked to know the sex of the baby and someone told him it was a girl. So to his very big surprise it was a boy instead of a girl. It was the best surprise ever! and I loved not knowing.

The most fun about our trip to the hospital is that my sister-in-law Emily delivered her baby the day before. A beautiful baby girl named Rebecca Nola Nelson. Here they are a day apart.

Does any mother get that intuition with what they are having while expecting? I have with all my children and this one especially. While packing my bag to go to the hospital, it was hard to put any pink in.

Anyway, I am so grateful for this little guy, he brings the spirit into our crazy, loud house and I can barely put him down! And grandma too!