Peter Cottontail

Did Peter Cottontail visit your house?
He came to ours!
 This year he brought dainty birds nests filled with
delicious colorful eggs inside hidden Easter baskets.

Jane was so pleased and yelled out to me while in her pajamas:
 "Peter hid my basket where the birds take a bath!".

Last year when we lived in New Jersey, Peter (the Easter bunny)
had to hide our baskets inside the house (in the oven)
 because there were about 10 feet of snow outside.
Arizona brought bright, happy, lovely weather.
Perfect for basket-hunting.

The Nielson Family Seder

When Christian and I lived in New Jersey, we had the opportunity of attending 

a Jewish Seder with neighbor friends and church members. 

It was my first Seder. I don't think I knew what that was before New Jersey.

We decided this Easter holiday to celebrate Passover with the

extended Nielson family.

I prepared all the traditional Seder dishes and the 

 charoset (chopped walnuts, apples, cinnamon, honey) turned out delicious.

Raising the Matzah after singing a rousing rendition of

 "LET MY PEOPLE GO".

(Looks like Claire was really into it).

Fat lip and origami

The first thing Oliver did today was climb on a chair

then he fell off and now has an amazing fat lip.

Later the mailman came with a package for Claire and Jane.

It was from Frances in New Jersey

who sent us some of her homemade origami

The girls were SO EXCITED!

Its been awhile...

I've been sick, I've been tired, I've been pregnant

and so I haven't blogged much.

I'm back because I really think that you should see this photo:

I don't even know what that pink stuff on Jane's face is.

All I  know was it was the WORST to get off.

I also wanted to note the ginormous cold sore I have.

Thanks, a lot GENES!

 I basically hid from the world in my room for two weeks.

Have you ever had giant cold sores and have to throw up 6-7 times a day?

I hope you never have to because it's the worst.

I did however manage to get out to join the Nielson family

for dinner in the desert.

VEGGIE HOT DOGS for us Vegetarians.

The girls don't even know the difference.

I Moved

I live in Arizona now. 

 Does everyone know that?

I can't figure out how to hook up my camera to Russ and Mary's computer.

(My in-laws). So until then, I'll be posting lame pictures.

Love to one and all,

-Stephanie

A Letter to my sisters:

Dear Page,
I hope everything goes well with your home birth! I am so excited you are doing that!
Keep your placenta; you can plant a tree in Vivian's name using the placenta as fertilizer. 

I still have Oliver's placenta, I have yet to find a good spot for a tree in NJ, 

so I brought it with me to AZ (don't ask me how).

Dear Courtney,
Today Claire pretended she was you. She had an invisible Christopher and called him
"big guy." She said he was really tall. I hope you'll come to AZ for Spring break; that would be amazing. I need you to make me laugh and help me find some vegetarian beans.

Dear Lucy,
While I am happy, you are coming home from your mission in June,
I'm kind of sweating about it, too, because I have so many of your cute clothes,
(and I am not prepared to give them back to you).
I enjoyed your beautiful coral necklace, which cost more than my life, 

and the darling Anthropologie skirts. 
I hope you come home in a good mood and full of spirit, then you won't care, right?!


Love, Stephanie

Goodbye friends!

Leaving New Jersey is so bittersweet.

We've made so many wonderful friends that have been family to us!  

We will miss them terribly!

Last week we had ice cream with Christian's co-workers

 Courtney, Frances, and Jackie:

Then a few days ago, I had a farewell lunch with my church sisters.

They have been such wonderful friends to me

and I will miss them and our time together:

(I will miss you so much, Mary!)

Happy March!

Happy St. Patrick's Day m'darlings!

Arizona in February & BIG NEWS

I'm convinced that Arizona in February is heaven on earth!

We visited the Grand Canyon state and enjoyed :

Celebrating Jane's 3rd birthday!

Raiding GrandMary's dress-up room so the girls could play

pretend and whatever else for hours.

I loved when Mary would open her windows and doors to let the spring air in!

Christian and I spent a lovely ROMANTIC Valentine's Day weekend

at the Desert Ridge Resort in Phoenix.

And, as I already mentioned, we enjoyed the Arizona sun

and ate about 30 oranges every day.


Lastly, our  BIG NEWS:

We ARE MOVING TO ARIZONA next month.
 Christian has been offered a job.

New Jersey Missionaries

The missionaries came over last night for dinner.
For dessert, Claire served them chocolate chip cookies

 that we had made earlier that day together while Ollie was napping.
Before they left the house, they sang their mission theme song.

They are SUCH SWEETHEARTS!! 

 I love working with them!

Roses are red...

Roses are red, Violets are blue

Dear Miss Goosie,

I love you!

by, Claire Elizabeth Nielson

Bread making

Every other day I make bread.

 My mother-in-law Mary gifted me a wheat grinder when I got married 

and we use it all the time. 

I use only a few ingredients to make this bread,
 (flour, salt, yeast, powdered milk, honey, canola oil).

It's simple and tasty, and the kids love it.

I think we can all agree that if there's no bread in the house, 

there's no food in the house.

Jane approves!

 Hot bread + honey = happy children

Baby, it's cold outside.

Don't worry about my neighbor's goose, she is 

 quite warm with her 18th-century frock and velvet-lined bonnet.
 I am sure that her super cozy snow leopard lined muff 

is keeping her flippers warm.

Claire told me she wanted to be the goose wearing this particular

costume for Halloween next year

Who wouldn't?!

A Day In The Life Of A Princess In New Jersey

About three seconds after I clicked this picture,
 Jane ran into the table behind her.  

There was some minor blood.

New Year's Cheer.

Happy New Year!
The girls and I spent our New Years Eve day making party hats
with colorful ribbons and glitter.
  We made eleven hats, and each hat had a different style and color. 


 Another family that we met in church, Matt and Mary,
 came over to celebrate ringing in 2006 with us!

We devoured homemade ice cream sandwiches and
apple sparkling cider.
We really rocked the night,
I mean look at the EMPTY gallon of milk
WOW!
My New Years goal:
patience, patience, and more patience!

Oliver's New Year resolution:
no biting mommy.



After the party, I found glitter EVERYWHERE,
a great way to start off 2006!