Watching A Movie

Nolan did not see the need for a Sunday Afternoon Nap today, so he and I played upstairs while Rylee and Daddy enjoyed a good nap together on the couch. I thought maybe he would watch a movie if I turned it on for him, at least for a few minutes to keep him quiet, and when I turned it on he went and climbed right into one of our kid chairs. He sat in the chair and stared at the movie for a good 5 minutes, and then when I got the camera out to take a picture he smiled and came to attack me.

** Side Note: He is into everything these days and climbing is one of his new favorite things to do. It is not uncommon to hear him trying to climb onto Rylee's bed or trying to get from the bathroom stool onto the toilet!! I keep having a fear of him climbing his crib, which is why we have started to look for his big boy bed furniture.

Nolan's First Haircut

Nolan's hair has been a little bit out of control for the last few weeks, so we decided that it was time to get his hair cut. He did such a great job, I was so proud of him. He was a little wiggly, but he never cried or made it too difficult for the stylist. On the back she was able to take off over an inch all the way around, and off the top over an inch and a half. At first I was a little worried about cutting off his curls, but in the end it actually made his hair curlier to trim off the length. The cutest part is the hair that I got to save from the stylist is perfect ringlets, such a cute boy with curls like his Daddy.

A Good Laugh

On Friday when we were going upstairs for naps, I carried Nolan up and when I turned to see where Rylee was, I found her dressed like this. She was wearing my vest and Nolan's hat, which were at the bottom of the stairs, and I could not help but laugh at the sight. She was so proud of herself for bringing the stuff up, but looked so silly and cute I could not help but have a good laugh with her!

Playing Together

Now that Nolan is walking and acting more like a toddler than a baby, Rylee enjoys playing with him even more. They build blocks together, play tools, play refrigerator magnets, but they love to play on the car together. Rylee loves to sit on the car and have Nolan push her, but she tells us she cannot push Nolan because he is too heavy. Last night they were playing with the refrigerator magnets, and then Rylee brought the car over so they took the magnets with them on their walk. I love these kiddos!

Gymnastics Open House

A little over a week ago a local gymnastics studio had an open house, so Rylee, Nolan and I and our neighbors went over to play for a bit. Rylee and Myriah had a great time together playing in the foam pit and walking on the balance beam together, helping each other. Nolan was into exploring everything and seeing what he could climb on.

Rylee's Soccer Gear

The past few weeks Rylee has loved going to soccer practice with me. She asks me every day if we are going to soccer and if she gets to play! She loves running with the girls, dribbling and scoring in the goal. Just the other day on our drive home she sweetly said to me, "Mommy, may I please have some soccer shoes?" I told her I would have to see if they made some small enough for her foot. After a few days searching the internet I realized they do not make cleats her size, but they did have a pair of Adidas Samba Indoors for her. So, this afternoon we went to the store and she is completely ready for soccer now with shoes, socks, shin guards and pre-wrap for her hair. She was so excited to get home and play soccer with Daddy in the entry way!

New Soccer Shoes

Daddy helping her get ready

Shin Gaurds

Nolan Walking

We finally got Nolan walking on video. He is walking more than crawling around the house these days and you can tell he feels all grown up doing so. He must be doing what his sister is doing, so tonight while she was playing soccer in the entry way with Daddy he joined in too.

Tay-Tay's Hair

This morning while the kids were in a bath I was informed that Rylee wanted "Tay-Tay hair" today. I asked her what she meant and she told me "you know like Tay-Tay does her hair Mommy." Taylor wears her hair in a high-side pony-tail when she plays soccer, so I asked Rylee if that is what she meant and sure enough it was. So, after a lot of hair spray, because Rye's hair is too short, this is what we have. She loves it!! She told me she wants to wear it to school like this next week.

Loving her cute hair

Not the best picture, but a better shot of how her hair is done.

Sleeping Great

Thank you everyone for your thoughts and concerns for Nolan's hand, but he is really doing great. We took him in to the doctor and he told us Nolan was the luckiest kid he had ever seen who had touched a fireplace. He said that had his hand been on their a "millisecond longer" (his words, not mine) he would have had severe third degree burns and needed skin grafts and many other surgeries. We are so blessed that he is going to be just fine.
Yesterday I went to wake him up to take him in to the doctor and this is how I found him sleeping. Many of you are making sure he is resting comfortably, so I figured this was a great way to show you how well he is still sleeping, and seems to be doing just fine.

Nolan's Hand

My blog is also our family journal, and sometimes I blog things just simply so I can remember they happened in twenty years from now, and that is what this is. Last night I had soccer practice and the kids stayed at a neighbors. While the girls were playing there was a mess made and our neighbor was cleaning it up and asked her husband to grab a garbage bag. Well, while he was grabbing the garbage back, probably twenty seconds, Nolan decided to see how hot the fireplace was with his hand. We got really really lucky that he only touched with one hand, he did not fall on the fireplace, he just reached out to investigate and burnt his finger tips. When Matt picked the kids up last night he said Nolan was still very upset, but after Matt wrapped up his hand and treated it with Aloe he seemed to calm down. After a good night sleep he seems to be pretty happy and hopefully his hand will heal up just fine.

Still our Happy Boy . . .

Despite the blisters on each finger!

Happy 4th Birthday Megan

Megan turns four today and what is so crazy is that means Rylee is on her way to being four as well. These two girls are so different, but are such good friends. I had so much fun listening to their phone conversation these evening, I even learned that Megan will be "four for a week and then she will be five!" Megan and Rylee's brains together scare us as parents for what they are going to come up with when they are 14, but we are lucky they are so close. Megan, we hope you have a great day and get lots of fun Dinosaur stuff!!!

Uncle Jeff with Megan (6 1/2 months) and Rylee (7 weeks)

Megan at Christmas, so cute!!!

Nolan's Walking Everywhere

Nolan has been taking steps for a few weeks, but the last few days he has been doing a great job walking. He is not exclusively walking or anything, but he has taken 10 steps and he is even stopping in the middle for balance and then starting again. He has even discovered that he fits behind the chair where we keep his toys, so quite often I find him exploring with this innocent smile on his face.

Visit From Our Friends Down South

It is hard to have your best friends live in another country, but it is always great when they get to come visit us. Dan and Lauren were in town very quickly and very unexpectedly, but we are grateful they made time to stop by and see us. Nolan and James are only two months apart and it was fun to see them building things and banging these together with each other. Rylee had a great time coloring with Lauren, building blocks with James, and playing tools with Uncle Dan. We miss them already, but found out we get to see them again in April for Dan's brother's wedding!!

Nolan and James playing tools

Uncle Dan, Rylee and Nolan building something

Rylee and James building a tower

** Side note: The cute new block box is part of Rylee's new Sleeping Beauty Blocks Set that Caity got her for Christmas, a perfect gift for our girl.

Happy 7th Birthday Alyssa

Wow, I cannot believe Alyssa is 7 today. She was the first Grand kid in the family and it starts making me feel a bit old when I hear about her in school, and how she is reading and writing so well. I still think of Alyssa as this little 2 year old asking Matt for more peanut butter, while she was sitting on Grandma's kitchen counter. Instead of asking for more, she would say, "I want two!" But anyways, HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALYSSA!!! We wish we could be there today!!!

Alyssa holding Rylee (Rye was 6 weeks old)

Alyssa at Disney World in October

Connor and Nolan

I stole these cute pictures from Erica's blog, well because I don't have any pictures of the two of these boys together, so thank you Erica. The boys are so close together that they are always going to be able to be best friends, same with Megan and Rylee! We have already started thinking of all the fun things we can do as families, but it would be even more fun if somehow we could arrange to live by each other!! Until that happens, we will be able to survive seeing each other once a year, hopefully twice, and enjoying every minute we have together.

Throwing Rocks with Papa

While we were taking family pictures, Rylee and Papa found a great little puddle to throw rocks in and really had a fun time together. I just love these candid shots that Erica took.

A Few More From Family Pictures

Here are a few more of the great shots that Erica captured on our picture day, if you
cannot tell by the kids cheeks it was a bit cold.

Nolan's 1 Year Check Up

Nolan had his one year check up this afternoon and he is doing terrific. It is funny to go to the check up for me because I have no questions now, but when it was Rylee I had a sheet of them. I am a bit more experienced now then I was then, but also Nolan is just such a happy, healthy baby. He weighed in at 24.5 pounds today (70th percentile) and he was 30 inches (60th percentile). Looking back at Rylee's one year statistics, she was 19 pounds (18th percentile) and 28 inches (17th percentile), so it is easy to say he is on track to be a bigger kid than our cute little Rye Rye!
Doctor Mumford was excited to see Nolan's ear infections had cleared up and that he was back to his happy self. He said while examing Nolan, "Well Nolan you sure are big through the mid section," and I just had to laugh at the size of Nolan's belly all afternoon! He said Nolan is meeting all developmental milestones and had him practice taking steps, and Nolan took about 4 for him. His guess was Nolan would be totting around much more by the end of the month!
We are so lucky to have such a happy, strong, and healthy little boy.

Grandpa Rick Campout

One night Grandpa invited the four older grandkids, three 3 year olds and a 2 year old, over to have a campout in his front room. They had an absolute blast. This campout was the real deal, it had tin foil dinners, a fire, scary stories, a tent, sleeping bags, and treats. Rylee told me she had "lots of fun" at the campout and wanted to do it again, hopefully next time they can do it again!

Uncle Gary

We were lucky to get to stay with Matt's Aunt and Uncle while we were in Texas, and the kids had a blast. I am not sure who had more fun, but Rylee and Uncle Gary had a blast together. She clung to him instantly and was his little shadow for the three nights we spent out there. Every time he left the room she would want to follow him or she would ask me where he went. They played blocks together, went on walks, and cooked breakfast. One morning I looked over and Gary was holding Nolan, had Rylee on the counter, and was making French Toast!
While I did not get a picture of Aunt Kari with the kiddo's, she was great with Nolan and would help feed, change, and play with him.
We are lucky to have pretty much another set of amazing Grandparents for our kids to grow up with.

Rylee and Uncle Gary

Rylee and Uncle Gary playing blocks

Everyone helping cook French Toast

Rylee requested a Mickey Mouse French Toast, so

Uncle Gary did his best to make her happy!

Paleontologists

On Monday afternoon the kids all went outside to play with Grandpa. They were digging in the dirt and when Grandpa asked what they were doing, Cousin Megan informed him they were playing Paleontologist. The kids were all wearing their superman/supergirl capes that Grandma had made them and were digging in the dirt together. Rylee played in the sand box for close to an hour without ever leaving it, she had an absolute blast. I guess I need to let her play in the dirt a little bit more!

Grandma and Grandpa's Present

Months ago we decided to get some paintings done for Grandma and Grandpa of all their kids when they were little, and they loved them. The paintings turned out great, and I thought this picture was so cute of all the kids holding their paintings.

Texas Christmas

We opened presents on the 26th with the entire family, and it was so fun. The kids had a blast opening all their presents from everyone. Everyone put so much thought into all of the presents, it was really a fun day. Rylee and the other cousins opened presents first and she really got a lot of really fun and sweet presents. Nolan went down for a nap right as we started opening, so it was nice because she got to open and then we got to open presents with Nolan while she was napping. Daddy and I got some really nice gifts too, but of course we only have pictures of the kiddo's, isn't that how it always seems to workout. Sadly though we only ended up with one shot of Nolan opening presents, but he got lots of fun things too. He got some pajamas, a few books, a tool set, a fridge magnet set, a cute sweater, a train, and a few others things I am sure I am forgetting right now.

Our Little Cowgirl

Grandma and Grandpa got Rylee all ready for her long stay in Texas with her very own Cowgirl hat and boots for Christmas. They are pink, which is perfect for a little cowgirl. She loved them and tried them on the minute she opened them. She sported them around town a few times while we were in Texas and got several compliments on them. When Daddy was little he had a pair that he wore every where and Grandma still has them, and you can tell by looking at the boots that he loved them.

Family Pictures

The first thing we did when we arrived in Texas was take family pictures. Our family photographer, Aunt Erica, did a terrific job. This is just one of the many shots she took, but check out how great she did. She got all 17 1/2 (Jeff and Lisa are expecting) of us looking at the camera and even looking presentable! When I get a CD of all the pics I will show you some more of her work!

Special Time With Granna and Double G

Rylee and Nolan got to spend a lot of special time with Granna and Double G this trip, and they had to much fun with them. Granna and Double G have a cute little puppy, Liesl, and Nolan enjoyed getting to know her and even Rylee loves to pet and play with Liesl. We are so lucky to have had so much fun time with them to create great memories for our kids!