Me.

2016.
 So often I think, man I should really blog about that! So here we are December 2016, setting my goal for 2017 to write a little smidgen of things that I love for the year! Back to home decorating, back to fun kid activities, back to my favorite foods and back to taking time for me. I do hope you'll join me! Welcome back life of blogging.

Mama needs a manicure!

Yup she does, and this is what I'm going to do! Found this on a cute beauty site made just recently by Lauren Conrad (The Hills). Maybe you mama's need some inspiration too!

Im ready for summer, and some good summer recipes!

Meanwhile I write this today as the forcast predicts 2-5 inches of snow! Its APRIL(yes APRIL) 19th and theres should be rain showers, not snow! So Ive just been pretending were already enjoying the summer heat and I've pulled out the grill and made my favorite summer recipes more than once this week! Most recently bruschetta. This recipe is so easy and quick, and I just cannot get enough! You'll need the following:
4-8(depending ont he size and the serving amount) Roma tomatos, diced
1 ball of fresh Mozzerella cheese, cut into small squares
2-4(more if you like!) fresh basil leaves
2-4 fresh garlic gloves
Balsamic Vinegar

Dice up the tomatos and cheese and toss into a bowl

Using kitchen sheers cut the fresh basil leaves into the bowl

Using a garlic press add fresh garlic to the mixture

Drizzle balsamic vinegar over the mixture(start with a little! you can always add more.)

Toss the mixture in the bowl and then serve
As far as bread goes you can use whatever you would like! I usually buy baguettes and slice them, drizzle a little olive oil and bake! My kids don't like tomatos, but for whatever reason they love this! It gets better when it sits a few hours or even overnight in the fridge! Add some grilled steak, red wine and viola-dinner is served :) Thats what I love about summer- fresh, simple, delicious food! I'll be back with some more of my summer ideas! Hope you enjoy!!

Bad Blogger.

O my goodness, I totally forgot all about this thing :) . I guess Im a bad blogger! Quick updates on what we have been up too. In February we visited my wonderful family and Texas for TWO weeks! We decided since we had so much time we would drive(besides plane tickets are getting a little ridiculous for all of us!) and it was quite the adventure. We thought we would take our time, stop and sight see and sleep a hotel the two days(or 22 hours) it takes to get there. When we started driving we decided quickly that was not going to work for the troups. So during the day we drove and stopped MANY times, and at night time Steve and I would drive for as long as we could till the kids woke up! We got there in a day but Steve and I were exhausted. We went there to celebrate the marriage of my twin sister, Ashley and her new husband Cody! Ashley was a stunning bride, serioulsy she looked AMAZING! Cody looked pretty good too all dressed up :) I was so nervous the entire night for my "speech" that I worked SO hard on puttin together and when it was finally time I totally fell apart. I knew it would be emotional for me, but I thought I would atleast be able to keep it together-HA! Was I wrong! Ashley's not only my twin sister, she really is my best friend and I knew that there was no way I could have summed up our life, and relationship into just a few minutes. It makes me feel better though that Cody is such a great guy for my sister, he really does treat her like shes a princess! I guess that all I could ask for,for my sister. An exciting few weeks, and I really enjoyed spending time with my family, my kids and especially my hubby-which seems rare these days! Heres some pictures from the wedding I wanted to share!

The wedding party and the beautiful location

all the "Leyva" siblings :)

My family

best friends!

the lucky man!

A cute cookie for a snowy day :)

Well, the weather man says another 4-6 inches of snow tommarow so I was looking for somthing cute to do and I stumbled upon this a mom site Im on! Melting snowman cookies, what a cute idea!! I think we will try this while were decorating the rest of our sugar cookies tommarow!


Heres the link to the tutorial http://www.trulycustomcakery.com/tutorials/25.html

Happy Birthday Jesus......

As it gets closer to Christmas I keep thinking of a good way to teach the girls the real meaning of Christmas-what better than a real birthday party for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ? On our to do list:
-Bake a birthday cake for Baby Jesus
-Read the story of Christmas from the Bible
-Wrap a present for Jesus-I asked the girls what they would like to give him and their responses made me smile. Emma said she would give him a hug, so he knows how much she loves him, and Natalie would like to give him a blanket, so that baby Jesus will stay warm. Otherwise she wants to give him a snowball, because snowballs are so fun! Love the responses you get from 5 and 6 year olds :)
-Decorate Cross cookies
-If its not too cold we'll go caroling, and share our cookies!
Stay tuned for pictures!
So what are your plans for christmas and how will you teach your kids the real meaning?
On a side note, if your looking for a church to go to for Christmas please visit ours! They always have a wonderful Christmas service and they have fabulous kid ministry. Heres the link:
http://www.crossroadschurch.cc/
I'll leave you with mama's not-so-good pictures from Emmas Christmas program at school! Enjoy!

My sweet little Angel :)

Meet the Nelson's

Since this is my 1st post, I have decided it would be fun to introduce my beautiful family! I was thinking of 5 of the best words to describe each one of these beauties :) Here they are.........



Natalie Faith: Sweet.Stuborn.Quiet.Independent. Smart.




Emma Rose: Loving.Caring.Funny.Curious.Sassy.



Avery Grace: Wild.Messy.Hilarious.Bossy.Social.



Everett August: Sweet.Smiley.Demanding.Busy.MamasBoy(ok thats two words)

So there you have it, meet the "crew". Me and Steve had fun trying to come up with just 5 words, its so fun to see how different each personality is :)
PS Thanks to my friend Toni for taking all these beautiful pictures