Merry Christmas

"For there is born to you this day...a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." Luke 2:11.

Because of this simple truth we have reason to CELEBRATE Christmas! We are so thankful for Jesus who saves us from our sin and gives us abundant life now, and eternal life to come!

This season has snuck up on me quickly, and we were not able to pull off a Christmas picture in time to send one out in the mail so HERE IT IS: our family picture and a blog post about each of us. If you're interested in what we've been up this year, please enjoy browsing through our blog.

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Love, Sheldon, Jamie, Braden, Ashlyn & Elise

Braden Vaughan

Braden just turned 7 this month and is in first grade.

As I think back over the past year I realize that Braden has grown up so much. He mastered how to ride a bike, lost 4 teeth, learned to swim without a lifejacket, and advanced leaps and bounds academically. His favorite activity is creating lego candy machines! Everyday there is a newly designed machine for us to see. And of course, the salesman side of him is always trying to market the use of his machines as they require coins to work (check out the machine blog post).

Besides building machines, some of his favorite things to do are imagine and play with Ashlyn, entertain Elise, create new recipes and try them out, and hang out with people. He's still Mr. Social, energetic, often quite silly, and just as enthusiastic about life as ever!

Some activities he enjoys are Sunday School, Awana (where he's memorized several Bible verses), swimming lessons, and his Friday School classes that he is a part of through our homeschool Co-op.

Decked out in his Awana Vest.

He's such a joy to be around, and a very thoughtful, loving boy. I thank God for the blessing of Braden.

Ashlyn Kate

Ashlyn is full of energy, determination, personality, and LIFE! She's fun to be around and her 4 year old perspectives and comments about life make me smile. She's very independent and can play alone for hours, but also loves playing with Braden, entertaining Elise, and having one and one time with mommy or daddy.

Full of Life!

She turned 4 in October! I honestly cannot believe it! She is very capable of helping with so many things around the house and it brings her great delight to do so. I'm thankful for that!

Ashlyn helped make this pizza snake for her Birthday dinner.

Some of Ashlyn's favorites: puzzles, games, playdough, crafts, duplo legos, her stuffed snakes, thumb and blanket, swimming, catching bugs, snuggles, daddy tickles, and helping/caring for others.

Loves her blanket and thumb.

Coming down in the morning with her blanket & stuffed snakes!

Snuggling Great Grandma Nalos.

Swimming lessons

Flower girl for the 4th time in her lifetime!

I'm so thankful for my fun, sweet daughter. I know God's going to use her in amazing ways!

Elise Ann

Elise Ann is now 7 1/2 months old. She's growing like a weed and quite the observer! Her big blue eyes are always WIDE open soaking in the world around her. She often has a very intent look on her face, which I think is an indication that her brain is processing more than we may give credit for! She's very smiley to those she knows and loves, but an unfamiliar face is sure to get the "stare down" (or maybe even a frown). She definitely has a serious side.


Elise is also officially crawling! She is very proud of herself and excited about all that there is to explore! The downside of this is she tends to get herself into all sorts of predicaments! We've decided that she is adventurous, but yet "freaks" out quite easily with a shrill scream when she's frightened or stuck! Hmm...a brave chicken??

Overall, she's quite the happy baby and loves all the attention of the family, and often wants to be part of the action. Within the last month she's been introduced to baby food. So far she seems privileged about taking this step towards "getting bigger!" She also just cut her first 2 teeth.

So much is happening in her little world right now that I've had to update this post 3 times since I started it a month ago.

Elise's very first taste of baby food

First visit to the pumpkin patch! Happy to be part of the action!

Our sweet little pumpkin!

Basketful of cuteness.

I'm so thankful for Elise. Her bright eyes and baby smiles continually bless my heart!

Meet the Parents

Well I guess I better post a little about us too so you know what we're up to!

Sheldon:
Sheldon continues to work as a commercial claims manager for Nationwide Insurance Company. In May, his office building closed down to cut down on cost, and everyone was sent to work from home. His new office space is upstairs! We are thankful he was able to keep his job and all of us agree that working from home is a very nice situation for our family! One of the best parts is the new commute: a jaunt upstairs rather than a 50 mile roundtrip!

Sheldon has also taken on a new interest this year: Crossfit. In case you're wondering, Crossfit is "a strength and conditioning system built on constantly varied...functional movements executed at high intensity. It combines weightlifting, sprinting, and gymnastics. " Each night he checks the crossfit.com website to see the next day's workout. This allows much anticipation for the agony to come; these workouts are intense! The good news about all this: he's getting so strong and looking very FIT...and I'm likin' it!

Photography is still Sheldon's main hobby. Most of his photography efforts this year have been put toward learning how to creatively light his photos with all different kinds of lighting gear. Lighting makes a big difference in the final look of a photo. When we decorate Easter eggs, play at the park, or make a cake, there may just be a giant sized 9 foot tall studio flash set up to capture the moment with the best possible light! I cannot complain, though because it's so beneficial to have such great photos of our kids....both studio style and also candid shots outside or around the house.

Check out some of his work at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sheldonnalos

In addition to photography, Sheldon continues to play acoustic guitar on our church worship team.

Best of all is watching Sheldon lead our family with Godly wisdom. He's such an excellent husband and fun daddy to our children, and I am blessed to be his wife!

Jamie:
I am probably the busiest I've been in my whole life, in a simple sort of way. Most of my busyness happens within the 4 walls of our house. My days start with the early rising of the kids who are raring and ready to EAT! With caring for a baby and homeschooling, along with the regular grind of household chores/meals there's not much time for anything else. However, it really is a laid back lifestyle as there's not a sense of rushing off to somewhere all the time. I'm really enjoying this simple season of life at home.

New for me this year is learning some Crossfit from my personal trainer, Sheldon! I've been able to scale the Crossfit workouts so that they suit me and can be done at home. My goal is to get stronger, and am able to work this in about 2-3 times a week. I can tell a difference, that baby and car seat don't seem quite so heavy anymore! I also enjoy vegetable gardening, reading (when I have time), finding healthy new recipes to cook for the family, and planning lessons for the kids' school.

As a couple, we've enjoyed hosting and leading a Bible study in our home with some other families in our church. What a blessing a church family is!

We are also excited to celebrate our 8th wedding anniversary at the end of this month. We both agree that we love our life together!

Leavenworth

We were able to enjoy a family trip to Leavenworth, WA the first weekend in December this year. Since the website for Leavenworth says it better than myself here's the description:

"Leavenworth, Washington - Your Bavarian Getaway transforms itself into a virtual snow globe of Christmas Magic. Crowned 'the Ultimate Holiday Town USA' from the A&E Network and featured in 06 & 07 by Good Morning America, Leavenworth welcomes you with Roasting Chestnuts, Holiday Characters, Old Fashion Caroling and pure simple Christmas Magic."


That description was pretty much our experience, other than a few adventures that naturally comes with taking 3 kids out of normal routine and on a 6 hour drive.

For us the highlights were eating lunch at a chili feed put on at the senior center (those people loved seeing our kids), the lighting ceremony with THOUSANDS of people singing carols as the town lit up, the snow (which we don't have very often at home), and the beautiful drive through the Gorge and Cascade mountains!

Here are some of our favorite pictures from Leavenworth:

Lighting Ceremony:

Video clip of lighting ceremony countdown:

What a beautiful state Washington is, and how different it looks depending on which part of the state you are in. We've got it all: beaches, mountains, volcanoes, forests, high desert, snow, rain, and sunshine! Those from far away should come visit us and experience WA firsthand!

Braden: The Machine Maker

For at least a year now, if not longer, Braden has been into building machines! In the past he has built machines out of boxes....lots and lots of boxes all glued together. After a couple days he decides he needs a different kind of machine and tears it all apart and makes a new one. Often it's a similar machine with a better design.

For a long time claw machines were his favorite thing to make. He'd even make the prizes for them (his very own stuffed animals). And of course, all of his machines require money to "make them work" (he's also a salesman)! We eventually had to ban him from charging family members and neighbor kids to play his prize machines because we were feeling badly about the how much money he was making from the same crowd.

Showing Great Grandpa Hansen one of his prize machines.
He whipped this one up in Iowa during our summer visit.

Just in the last month, Braden has been learning how to build machines with legos. He watched a few video clips for ideas on You Tube, and since then has taken off building his very own lego machines. He's especially interested in making candy machines that take coins. I'm not kidding when I say that he will spend most of his day building a machine. It's also been fun for him and Sheldon to build together. The fun never ends because after a couple days he takes it all apart and builds a new and better one!
Here are just a FEW samples of what this boy's been up to. I had to do LOTS of cutting because I had video clips of so many different machines:

I must say, I'm quite impressed with what he's able to build!

Sibling Love

We are so blessed and thankful for our 3 children. One of the neatest things to watch as a parent is the moments of love shared between siblings. Those moments carry us through those less than greater ones!

Here are some of our favorite portraits of the 3 of them together:

Matching cuties

Our little pumpkins

Mr. Incredible, little pumpkin, and fire girl all ready for trick or treating.

Playing together.

Everyone wants to help feed Elise. Lucky her!

Video clip of Ashlyn making Elise laugh.

We are thankful for the laughs and smiles of those little ones!

Our New Clubhouse

The Clubhouse is finished!!

Sheldon's Dad (Papa) began building a clubhouse in our backyard for the kids in the spring, and he finished it today! Sheldon helped think of the design and Papa did the building. It has been fun to watch it come together week by week. We especially enjoyed extra visits from papa each week!

It has turned out so cute, and I'm convinced that our kids have the neatest club around!

To see just what I mean, check out the pictures and video clips below:

First Papa had to cut out old tree roots so we have a level place for the club.

Help from the kids, cousins, and Uncle Michael

Hard at work!

It's Finished!

Peeking through the inside window.

Up in the loft.


Painted Trim and New Cedar Chips on the Ground


The Finished Product

This week we've been enjoying reading together out in the club. Thanks so much Papa for all your hard work; we really like our new clubhouse!

Lovin' Summer

I've been so busy with 3 kiddos around that blogging hasn't been happening. Since we have a new baby we didn't plan as much as usual this summer as far as activities go, but instead have enjoyed the "busyness" within our own household. It's been a great adjustment having Sheldon working from home as well.

Summer is quickly coming to a close, so I thought I would post a few photos with narratives of what we've been up to the past couple months.

ELISE
Elise is the big "deal" of our summer. We're all just lovin' having a baby around, and she's such a joy to each family member. She's now 4 months old and rolling over, "chatting" with us, playing with rattles, and lovin' all the attention that she gets (you might even say she's getting a bit spoiled)!
COUSINS AND NEIGHBORS
It's been really fun having Sheldon's sister's family (Aylward Family) living across the street from us the past 10 months. The cousins played together almost everyday, and especially liked riding bikes. It was fun for Chandelle and I to have a little "chat time" too while we watched the kiddos. Over these months we've watched the older kids learn to ride bikes without training wheels, the younger ones graduate from trikes to bikes, little June go from crawling to running, and both Chandelle and I having a baby in the spring. It's been a pretty eventful few months. They have now settled into their new home in Portland....we miss them so much!

The Aylward Family: Chandelle, Michael, Lily, Hazel, June, & Melea

Braden's favorite thing to do: ride his bike FAST!

Ashlyn proud she learned to ride too!

Melea and Braden

CLUBHOUSE
Papa Richard is building a clubhouse for the kids in the backyard! A lot of progress has been made since this photo....it's almost done now! What a fun place for the kids to play.

PAPA AND NANA JJ
We love our visits to JJ and Papa's home. There's always great food and conversation, and lots of fun things to do "in the woods," especially swimming. The kids are even brave enough to get into the cold river. I, on the other hand prefer the hot tub or pool (on a hot day)!

Here's Papa giving his grandkids a ride with the mower.

CAMPING
Braden and Sheldon enjoyed "guy time" on their father/son camping trip at Sunset Falls Campground. I'm sure Braden would tell you that his highlight was the campfire.