Snow Day

The kids' first day off of school for Winter Break was snowy, so they spent the morning outside taking advantage of it!


Don't be fooled by those innocent looking faces, they invented a snow game played with garden shovels called, "Find The Frozen Dog Poo".

HAPPY 40TH, BRADLEY KYLE!

Brad's 40th birthday was on the 17th so the kids and I put something special together for him.

Christmas Programs 2010

I think Brad and I set a personal record for 'Number Of School Christmas Programs Attended' this year. Amber and Haley each participated in their schools' Christmas band concerts (both fantastic, by the way) and this year the elementary school decided to divide their Christmas programs: one for kindergarten & 1st grade, one for 2nd & 3rd and one for 4th & 5th. Of course, the Nielsons have kids in each category, so we got to spend a day and a half at the elementary school watching Christmas programs!












Each of the 3 youngest kids had a special role in their program. Jacob got to be a jingle-bell-jingler during the Kindergarten's rendition of Jingle Bells and Danny got to play the drums with the 2nd grade. Alyssa was Mrs. Claus in her program and was also excited that she got the solo part she auditioned for in her school holiday choir. Here she is, in full Mrs. Claus costume, singing her solo.

Shining Star

Jacob got the Shining Star Award for Kindergarten in November! Brad and I got to attend a special assembly where the Shining Star recipients were honored. He was pretty pleased with himself...and we were very proud of him also!

Here he is about to receive his award from his teacher and the school principal.
And here he is proudly displaying his certificate and his Shining Star necklace (he'd want me to point out that it's a very masculine necklace).

GOOD JOB, JAKEY!

Thanksgiving 2010

This was our year to spend Thanksgiving in Canada, eating turkey with Nana Barb and Papa Brent, playing with cousins and watching Brad play in his highschool alumni basketball tournament.

We came upon quite the snow-blowing windstorm on our drive up and ended up having to stay the night in a hotel in Pincher Creek, Alberta (probably the hotel in Pincher Creek, Alberta!) Thankfully, the hotel was equipped with a waterslide, so the kids were all happy about our little detour.

Here's a little taste of the visibility (or lack thereof) we were dealing with.

Here are the kids checking out the pool! Notice the white-out in the window behind them.

And this would be the waterslide that made it all worth while.

There was plenty of cousin time, which is always a highlight of any trip! Here they all are watching Brad play ball...

And after sledding...

And watching a movie in G&G's basement...

And just generally up to no good!

We had a great trip and have much to be Thankful for this (and every) Thanksgiving!