Jeebs' Christmas present

I got Jeebs a super duper fossil baby carrier for Christmas. But, looking at our Christmas pics from last year and this year I'm thinking we need to get new sweatshirts. We don't have a huge need for warm clothes here, but this fall it has been consistently cool for a while and we love it. I just think it's funny that last year and this year we had on the same sweatshirts. I guess we really do bleed blue.

As I was cleaning up the kitchen this morning I remembered something about my D&C class at BYU. I had a pretty hard professor for that class and I never asked questions or made comments (not that that was too different from any of my other classes). In his class you could sign up to do oral reports on different topics for extra credit. One day in class a really cute guy got up to give his report and as usual after he finished our professor asked for questions. I had a pretty outspoken southern friend in there with me egging me on- so I shot up my hand. My teacher got excited that this otherwise mute student was daring to speak in class. He called on me and I immediately blurted out "Are you married?". The guy blushed and the whole class, including our teacher laughed. Only at BYU could you get away with that. Good times.

We love snow!!!!!!

Snow in the south is so much better because everything shuts down. Jeebs got out of his talk today and was completely disappointed...ummm yeah.

Out of the 4 years we've lived here church has been canceled 3 times and we've gotten out of speaking assignments 3 times. What are the odds? We're just awesome that way- not really we're huge dorks.

Happy Snowy Anniversary Day

Here's to 9 years and counting.

Jeebs has to give a talk tomorrow...

and I do not. Isn't that awesome? But- I made him these for breakfast...cinnamon rolls and kolaches. Kolaches are a sweet yeast dough wrapped around sausage and cheese- and even though some people would call them pigs in a blanket- they are not. These will make you slap yo' momma sideways. They turned out so good and we were so strutted from breakfast
we didn't even make Christmas dinner. That was postponed until tomorrow and hopefully we'll be eating it in the snow.






Last night we stayed up way too late watching Inception. I had bad dreams and woke up thinking I missed the kick and I was stuck in limbo forever. (If you've seen the movie you know what that means, if not forget it- it's freaky) Anyway- I woke up looking like this.... At least the kids were cute in their bedheads and footy pajamas- not to mention excited that Santa actually came. (there have been a lot of threats this year to make them think otherwise)

Ezra tried to jack my sugar free candy from Santa. And then he tried to jack Taylor's scooter. Open mouths means happy peeps.

A pregnant chubby girl playing DDR

I know I am so behind the times, but Jeebs got me Dance Dance Revolution for Christmas. It is so dang fun. I played for 2 hours this morning and got sweaty and gross. Cagey was begging to play his new racing game, but this game is addicting. I took a shower, got dressed tried to take a nap and then got up and played again. I asked Jeebs to take my picture so people could laugh at me. Sooooo- have fun laughing!! I got a few pics of Tates for her girl band album cover some day and I was only able to snap one quick pic of Jeebs before he finished. I love how he plays with his hands in his pockets.

Jeebs is my hero because...

1. Last night as we were heading to Target I realized buggy was poopy and had to take him back in the house to change him- Jeebs offered, but I was already headed back into the house- instead of him sitting in the driver's seat waiting for me to get Ezra loaded and in the car he was waiting by Ezra's seat, ready to load him up for me.

2. We had to go straight from my hair appointment to a baptism and Jeebs remembered my hair stuff so I could fix my hair. This is big- because apparently it is beyond all hair stylists- except one- to be able to get body into my hair and fix it. I didn't have to go into the baptism looking like a drowned rat :) He also brought Taylor a dress to change into- he remembered all of it.

3. He has listened to Christmas music on Pandora since before Thanksgiving and he knows the words to most Christmas songs.

4. He never minds rubbing away my aches and pains even though I'm pretty sure I've ruined his hand forever.

5. He takes my panic attacks seriously.

6. He found and downloaded an app for his phone so we could tune the flute in our Christmas musical number last Sunday. It is a pretty dang cool app.

7. Most of all he gave me these 3 crazy, cute kooks...
and a #4 that will get here some time in May or June.

The Amazing Brother Brown

The AMAZING Brother Brown playing an original composition- he blew us all away at the ward Christmas party and we asked him to play again today so we could get it on tape. He got the biggest applause after he played at the party. The sound isn't great, but you get the idea.

I can still stand on one leg...

and that is a Christmas miracle for me.

I'm also positive we're going to have a cold Christmas. We've had 4 Christmases and they've all been gross weather. This year will be different- I know it. Lastly, all I want for Christmas is to sell my dang house.

ps another Cageyism:
Apparently we watch way too much Sandra Lee. Cagey knew what a tablescape was when he was 4. A couple of days ago Sandra made a chocolate non-alcoholic cocktail for her cocktail time. Cagey perked up when he saw the chocolate syrup and asked me, "Mommy, do you like that cotton tail?"

Cagey has gotten in the habit of needing to wash his hands a few minutes after he gets in bed. Jeebs had just tucked him in and 2 minutes later we hear, "I need to wash my hands." Jeebs told him to get up and quit scratching his bum. Taylor pipes up and says, "I need to go to the bathroom." So as they were both in there Cagey says he was just scratching his ear and Taylor innocently asked, "You're scratching your bum to get to your ear?" Apparently when Cagey scratches any part of his body he feels the need to wash his hands. Oh well- at least he'll have clean hands which is way better than the alternative.

A Question for my fellow homeschoolers...

I homeschooled Tater's up until this school year. We live in a terrible school district and I had always wanted to homeschool. After getting so tired of the constant battle of doing school I gave up. I was able to get her in another school that was half a step up from the district we actually live in so I didn't feel too bad about sending her. I am now homeschooling my Cagey and he will pretty much do anything as long as he knows he's earning time towards playing the PS3. But, Ezra just doesn't cooperate for anything. This was the problem when I was doing Taylor's school. The boys were constantly interrupting or distracting Taylor from getting her work done. Now, Ezra will not be entertained on his own. He either wants me to take him outside or he wants to play on Jeebs' lap with Jeebs' keyboard. So, my question is- how do you do it? How do you deal with your younger children? I know they need attention too, I just don't know how to divide my time and get it all done. It is driving me batty!! I love having my kids at home and the longer I can keep them out of the hands of indoctrinating public school officials- the better. But, I do not like doing school. I didn't like school when I was in it and I guess I just have a bad attitude. I was always a self motivated student- my mom never had to push me. I hate having to push Taylor to do her work. It is so wearing. Maybe this just takes far more patience than I have. Any thoughts at all would be appreciated- even if I don't know you :)

A ghetto How To: from me to you

Merry Christmas (don't say I never gave you anything)!

I saw a cool little swag online somewhere which I could never find again so I just winged it. I wanted to make a door hanging, but I didn't want to spend too much money on it. So- in my backyard are these lovely pine trees that I didn't think would work, but I decided to give it a try. You can decide for yourself whether or not it worked.

Step 1: Go cut off some branches of pine trees- don't worry you tree huggers they're evergreens that means they're always happy. (as if tree huggers read this blog)

Step 2:
Start wiring your branches onto a wire hanger
I got one side done and one to go- start at the bottom of your hanger and work your way up to the center.

Step 3:
Get a cute little model to hold it up for you after you wired all the branches on.
don't judge the state of my house- I can either clean or I can make junk- both I cannot do. I'm cool like that.

Step 4: Go around town looking for just the right color ribbon or fabric for a flower and settle for something that is not what you wanted, but maybe it'll do and you're sick of this project, you just want it on the door and off the counter- make it into a ghetto looking bow and hot glue it in the middle.
Step 5:

Add a glittered initial- that you just knocked off onto the floor and knocked half the glitter off. Add random little rhinestones for a little extra sparkle.

Step 6:Hang it on your door and hope nobody thinks it looks like a lopsided mustache for your front door.

Do you lie?

I really try to not to lie. I remember the first time I told a lie- I had taken a donut without asking and I felt so bad about it. I think I later confessed or maybe I dreamed the whole thing, I donno. Anyway, last night we went to Paula's Pizza- it's a little pizza/pasta joint in New Bern. The first time we went it took an hour and a half to get our food. We tried again and last night our food came out in a reasonable amount of time, but it was so blagh. Then the question comes- "how is your dinner?" Truthfully the answer would've been "blagh- it's gross you need to introduce your chef to garlic and where is the parmesan cheese? does anything in this joint have flavor?" But, as always we replied with the usual, "it's really good." So, am I lying? Am I just being polite or really does the waitress really care how your food tastes? She probably just wants to make sure you don't have bugs crawling in your food or something- and ya know- maybe bugs would've given the food more flavor. Do you lie like this?

IT'S SNOWING!

Keepin' it together...

I have learned that I am pretty dang good at keeping the appearance of keeping it together. When I was about 20 I started having panic attacks, cue hands curling in (shut up Glen). I ruined one of my brother's dates with one of my first episodes, but I did it without making a scene and she was a skag.

Today I had to lead the music in sacrament meeting. I've done this many times and never had a problem- except when the organist messes up and I lose it and start giggling in front of the whole congregation- whatever. USually I keep it together. Today I was leading the sacrament hymn and I was suddenly panic stricken. I knew in my heart it was a panic attack, but what if this one time it was real and I was about to fall down dead of a heart attack. I was standing there waving my arm and mouthing the words- trying to decide if it would be more embarrassing to run off the stage, give Jeebs the high sign to go up there and finish leading or faint dead away in front of everybody. I kept going- as I told myself, it's in my head, it's in my head- please Heavenly Father let it be in my head and help me get through this. I started thinking who could help me if something did happen- Bishop Frogley could probably crack my brain stem to help relieve something and Bishop Whaley is a doctor- either one- I'm in good hands if I pass out. How embarrassing to pass out!! Don't pass out. The pain in my arm is muscle pain. It's in your head. blah blah blah

And then it was over- the longest 4 verses in existence. I sat down, ripped off my scarf and unbuttoned my jacket which was concealing my fat stomach and fanned myself. I don't think anybody noticed I was in complete meltdown mode. Did you?

The irony of the situation- someone did faint in the hallway at church today and it wasn't me.

Excellence in Cooking

Even though I only took 2 pictures we had a glorious Thanksgiving feast. I think that's why I only took 2 pictures because I was too busy cooking and eating. We had turkey, dressing (the best I've ever made with fresh sage, sausage and cranberries), mashed taters, green bean casserole (to.die.for.), cake mix dinner rolls, and of course pumpkin pie to wash it all down. Gosh. We even trekked around outside gathering acorns and gumballs for my centerpiece. No pictures of that either.
I made Tates a paper bonnet, but she wanted to make a man pilgrim hat which ended up big enough for Jeebs.
Ezra was hungry way before everything was finished so he got a head start.

FHE before Thanksgiving we went to Sonic to get the kids slushes. I don't know when we'll learn to get Ezra his own slush because he was very unhappy when he had to give Tates back her slush. She put it up on the kitchen counter so he got very resourceful. He got quiet for a bit and this is how I caught him in the kitchen.

Dear Neighbor,

Thanks so much for adding such interest to our Thanksgiving. We loved when your little guest came running into our yard and without asking jumped on our trampoline. It was even better when the little guy's dad got on with his big chunky boots. Dang us- we should have remembered to put up the no shoes sign because we're weird like that and don't want grown people jumping with boots on. Remember when your little boy came over and jacked our baseball? Then he played with it and apparently you thought he just "found" it in our yard because you put it in your house and we had to ask to get it back. That was swell. The bestest part was when y'all were all exercising your lungs after dinner by screaming and hollering. My dog loved it too- did you hear him barking? Yeah, we were all trying to rest, but that's ok we know you needed to yell outside. Thanks again for everything and Happy Thanksgiving- we can't wait for Christmas!!

Love,
the Nicolaysens

Ridiculous

We went to Jacksonville on Saturday and the one thing that bothers me most about that drive is all the advertisements for WIC. Why in the world are we advertising for WIC? Is it not enough that taxpayers have to pay for the program, we have to pay for advertisements too? It's like the government is trying to sell you on it. Why? The government wants more people on those programs? So they have more control and taxpayers have less money? I don't understand. Someone please enlighten me.

A guest post from my brother on running

You try to be a runner. You run. You think, "I'm getting good at this!" Next thing you know you've eaten nachos for lunch with tons of jalapenos. You decide to go for a nice evening run before dinner. Things are going well. Thoughts of, "I'm really going to go 3 miles today instead of 2!" run through your head. Next thing you know you are way off in the woods, shorts down, hanging onto a couple of trees, while jalapeno-infused lava dook is spraying the forest floor. You sob softly as you think to yourself, "Running sucks! It SUCKS!"

Post Edit: This was Glen and I was there and it was gross. It was pitch black outside- he stepped off into the woods and I didn't want to be left in the pitch blackness so I followed. I was a few steps away and I heard everything. Thankfully- I couldn't see anything and he threw away those shorts and underwear when we got home.

Today I ran

Someday I will be a runner. Every time I see someone running I think to myself, "I wish I could run like that." And then I think, "why couldn't I run like that?" So- why not me? Yeah I was NOT a runner in high school and yes, I do not have a runner's physique, but who cares? I want to run someday. Just a few months ago I was able to run 2 miles and it was easy. I ran a mile in under 10 min. So why not? why NOT? I ran today- just a little because that's all I can do right now. And to me, that's enough for right now. But - someday it will be a lot.

ps Ezra is so funny looking. I can't figure out who he looks like. He makes the craziest faces that are completely and totally all Ezra originals.

Dear shoe fairy

I really need these shoes.


Really, I do. I wish there was a shoe fairy because I'd put my old shoes that I don' t wear anymore under my pillow and maybe I'd get a new fabulous pair of shoes in their place. I really need to stop looking at things online because really I don't NEED a thing. All I need is right outside playing in the front yard- in the dark- waiting for the mail that hasn't come yet and it's 6:30 pm. Gotta love New Bern!

Eight is Great!

Taylor was baptized last Sunday! She was so pretty in her white dress made by her grandma Wagley and she looked so happy all day. Jeebs was emotional through the whole thing- it was his first baptism to perform. I love my Tates and I am so proud of her decision to be baptized. I love the priesthood and it blesses my life and my home daily. Time is going by too fast- 4 more years and she'll be in young women.

Hazards of your husband working from home

Jeebs' desk is 3 feet from our bed, maybe 2- I don't know. It's close enough that he has gotten black stuff on our white comforter from his computer chair- argh. Anyway- it's close. He sits at that desk all day long with his computers and his junk piles. Some days I'll go in in my skivvies or sit on his lap and kiss all over his face and then he'll jokingly say, "I'm talking to someone on the webcam." The first hundred times for a split second I would think, "oh my gosh!", but then after that it just became a funny joke. Today- he was talking with his earphones on sitting at his desk, as always and I casually walked in- went into the bathroom, plopped down and did my business. No, I don't close the door because I have 3 small children. You close the door and the world could come crashing down in mere half seconds. So- as usual I didn't close the door. I think we all know where this is going. I sat there minding my own business and I hear Jeebs say,"sorry, hang on a second." I see him push the computer screen down a bit and turn around with a huge grin on his face, "Nessa, this time I really am on the webcam." I was horrified and hysterical- "DID THEY SEE ME???" Still with a big grin on his face Jeebs tells me, "I was trying to block you with my ginormous head." I got done ran out and called my brother while we laughed hysterically- tears running down my cheeks. Jeebs then yells to me, "he says don't worry about it, his wife does it all the time." I still don't know what that means- she uses the bathroom while he's talking on the webcam? she doesn't close the bathroom door? like either one of those make it any better.(Me at the polls, not on the pot, photo courtesy of Tates)

wow 3 pics

3 pictures is all we got -3!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and here they are in all their glory. I sat on the front porch and scared small children while Jeebs took the kids out to get a little loot. I held the walkie talkie and cued Jeebs when children were approaching so he could chime in with some spooky laugh or phrase. It. Was. Awesome.

Jeebs' Birthday and some costumes

Happy Birthday Jeebs- sorry something is always going wrong. Ezra is so stinkin' sick. Someone is always sick or something bad is always happening on Jeebs' birthday. It's the nature of Jeebs' birthday- we should just learn to expect it. Oh well. I made him a chocolate, caramel, chocolate crunch cake that would put you in a coma and make you slap your momma erry day and twice on Sunday. It was a 100 grand cake. Thank you Martha- you never let me down. 100 grand is his favorite candy bar and they just so happen to have a cake based on 100 grand in the October issue. What are the odds? Homemade chocolate cake, homemade caramel sauce, homemade chocolate crispies, and homemade chocolate frosting- yeah. I love you Jeebs.

Now, onto the boys' costumes: Ezra was sick so this was taken a while back, but you get the idea. He was the cutest dragon and losing his voice so his roar came out like a pitiful little squeak.
Cagey was Sonic- see previous post. His costume and face paint turned out way better than expected.
Tates stripped off her costume before we got a pic, but we're doing a repeat performance tomorrow night and hopefully we'll get pics. Jeebs and I have a problem to communicate. We assume when the other one says they know where something is they're going to get it or if it's part of their costume they'll get it. But that's what we get for assuming- forgotten camera and parts of costumes- not to mention swim bags.

Curse you Sonic and your little spikes too

I have been making Cagey's Sonic the hedgehog costume for most of the day. I got a royal blue hoodie and I've been attaching royal blue felt spikes on the hood. I finally have it done! Yay! I thought it would be much easier than it was. And now onto the red sonic shoes.

The awesomeness of the day- when Tates tooted on the way to school it sounded like a grenade had gone off in the front seat. She had been complaining of a tummy ache all morning and after that I think she was better. I hate gas.

a gross story about the circle of life

Last night we were spending the evening outside playing, jumping, whining etc. As we were mid-game I noticed several leaves twirling down to the ground from the trees. I thought to myself, "how pretty," then I realized they weren't leaves, they were feathers. I looked up and saw a hawk ferociously plucking each little feather out of another little bird. I immediately screamed for everyone to take cover because there were lice covered, disease infested gross bird feathers raining down on all of us. No one moved except me. I grabbed the camera to get a better look and I saw the little lifeless bird feet dangling from that upper branch. The hawk plucked, and plucked and plucked then devoured the little nasty thing.
You can see a few feathers flying behind him in this picture. He made short work of his meal and was on his way. Our yard was covered with little feathers- I don't like birds.

trampoline hair

I love when the humidity goes down.

I'm on a boat

I wake up every morning hoping that this dizziness will be gone and yet every morning I wake up and still feel like I'm on a boat all day. I am so tired of it because all I want to do is sit so I can feel still. I hate to sit. I am so behind on everything. I didn't get invitations out for Taylor's birthday- I just had to send messages and phone calls to parents- which to me is pretty lame. Halloween is right around the corner and I haven't finished (or even started) Cagey's sonic the hedgehog costume. Taylor still needs a robe for her costume and I was really determined to have a costume this year, but it's not looking very promising. I would just really like to know what's wrong so I could fix it. I have another doctor's appointment on Monday that will probably be just as useless as the first one. Oh well- after all the things that have happened to me in New Bern I have found that this too shall pass. (hopefully).

I am now also fighting a miserable cold and on Wednesday had some kind of stomach funk. It was so painful I made myself throw up thinking it would make me feel better- it didn't. Btw making yourself throw up is disgusting. My stomach cramped so hard I thought my stomach muscles would be in knots forever. Okay- I'm done complaining.

A baseball birthday for Tates

Tates loves baseball/softball so it was only fitting that she have a baseball party. After decorating their "crazy 8's" t-shirts they got their pics taken at "yankee stadium".
When throwing a party, Jeebs is the man to have around. He built this dang cool game for practicing your pitching. I would have just cut some holes in a piece of cardboard and called it good, but not Jeebs. He went to Lowe's got a cheap piece of wood, cut 3 holes, attached it to a base he made from leftover wood and Tadaaa we had a pitching game.

We also had a sunflower seed spitting contest- which we didn't get any pics of because I was busy handing out seeds and getting spat on and Jeebs was busy measuring. I think Jeebs won over all- not surprising since he spits sunflower seeds all day long!!!

Of course we had a baseball cake and Tates got lots of presents. Thanks to all who came and celebrated with us.

Oh and Jeebs built me this little concession stand in about 5 seconds. I told him what I wanted and he dug around in the garage and made this:
I can't believe my Tates is eight and she will be baptized in 3 weeks. wow.She's still rocking the Vans.