First little snow of the season

On November 7th we got just enough to snow to play a little and make a snowman. So, while Holly napped, Ivy and got out our new winter clothes and hurried outside! Going outside to play was actually Ivy's idea. We threw the snow, made snow balls, looked at our tracks, walked around the yard and even made Ivy's first snow angel and first snowman. She loved it! For the snowman we used what was left over fom summer for his features. Green Tomatoes for his eyes, an old bottle of bubbles for his nose, a spraypaint can lid for his hat and the last of the grape tomates for his mouth. We had lots of fun. Now we are ready for a little more snow!

Ivy loves to read and likes me to help her write so I wrote the names she asked for in the snow.

Our Happy Halloween

My sweet little 'Dorothy'

Holly loves her Kitty, but the cat just didn't cooperate much.


My little Princesses

Fixn' shoes

The girls and I dressed up for Halloween. Ivy was Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, Holly was a princess ( I lost her Tiara , Darn it) , and I was a Witch (at the last minute). We had lots of fun, after Dad took these photos we went to Aunt Marne's House and Trick or Treated in her neighborhood. The girls really got the hang of this getting candy stuff. What FUN!

Holly's 1st Birthday Photos (June '08)

A friend of mine shot these photos for us. I thought they turned out so cute, I had to post them. Holly was an easy subject. We just put her in a Tu-Tu and let her have fun.

Pumpkin Patch!

Ivy's Pre-School class took a Field Trip to the Pumpkin Patch. Holly and I got to come too! We all got to take a tractor ride to a huge field of pumpkins. We had lots of fun wondering a the field, and even picked one to take home.

Duncan is running cross country

This is Duncan's first year running cross country. He is doing great. We are really proud of him and all his hard work. He is attending Salem Hills High School, which is a brand new school. We love to go to his meets and Dennis has caught some great action shots.

This is our Family

Mom (Heather), Dad (Dennis), Duncan (Dennis' son from first marriage), Ivy and Holly our two daughters. Dennis' grown children are Daphne, Dovey and Daniel. Dennis and I met in Jail in 2001. There were some sparks flying in Booking. Thank goodness we were both working! Me as a Jail Deputy and he as a Police Officer. We were married the following January 2002. It's been quite a trip over the last 6.5 years. But, I'd do it all over again! I love my Husband and my Family.

In 2005 we were blessed with little Ivy. She is an amazing, smart, affectionate, beautiful little girl. I feel so lucky to be her Mom. Last year, late 2007 she was Dx with high functioning autism. It was quite a shock at first. We had no idea there was any sort of problem, especially with her being so smart. She counted to ten at age 18 months. She knew all her ABC's by 22 months and started reading by 27 months. But when a dear friend pointed out a few little quirks and thought I should check into it. So, I immediately did. Our community resources were great. They came to our home to do an assessment, and discovered that Ivy did have a social developmental delay. She immediately started with Early Intervention. We had an amazing woman that worked with Ivy from the start (THANK Heaven for Melanie). It was not long before we started seeing changes for the better. Since finishing us with Early Intervention, Melanie continued working with us using the 'Floor Time' method. Ivy has done amazing! We are so proud of her!

Holly came to us just 26 months after Ivy, in 2007. She has been so much fun, and just a little ray of sunshine in our Home. She is funny! She is learning her Body parts, her favorites are nose and belly. She loves to play and say Ball, Bum, Ta-Da! She has also started learning sign language. It's only been a few weeks and she has started using signs. She just wants to keep up with her big sister. I keep telling her to slow down. She's growning up way to fast!

Duncan is a Jr. in High School. He is doing well in his classes and has joined the cross county team. He discoved he enjoyed running over the last year or so, and done amazingly well at the races. He just keeps getting faster and faster. We are really pround of him!

October 2008

The Nelson Family