Cute Video

I was looking through a few things the other day and came across this video, and it was too stinking cute not to post.

Sled Ride

This morning after we got home from My-Gym and Mommy's gym, Rylee and I shoveled the drive way together. Yes we do have a snowblower, but Rylee is terrified and was dying to play in the snow with her new hat and gloves that Daddy got her. While we were out shoveling our friend from across the street came over and asked if Rylee wanted to go for a ride. I looked up and saw that my friend had attached a sled to her mountain bike, pretty smart. Rylee was really excited to hop on and go for a ride, and she did not want to get off. We may have to get our Daddy's mountain bike out and take her for another ride.

Rylee and Myriah all ready to go

Off They Go!

Loving it!

Her Cute New Hat!

Two Teeth

I know you cannot see them very well in this picture, but Nolan's two bottom teeth have been in for about two weeks. They are a bit crooked, but maybe they will straighten out when the others come in around.

Festival of Trees

Festival of Trees has become one of our holiday traditions, and on Friday night we went up and looked at all the trees. This year was packed, more crowded than we have ever seen, but we were still able to see some really beautiful trees. The trees are usually themed and decorated in remembrance of someone and then sold during the week at the Festival, and then all the profits go to the Primary Children's Hospital. This year we went with Rylee's best friend, Maddi, and her Mom and cousin. The girls were so cute walking and holding hands up and down the rows. Maddi and her cousin, Olivia, left a little sooner than we did, and then we watched some of the performances that were going on. There are two stages in the convention hall, and both had dancers performing. Rylee was absolutely fascinated by the performances and sat on Matt's shoulders and watched for a half-hour. Nolan was so good and just chilled in the stroller, probably mesmerized at how many people there were all around him! Next year we are already planning on going earlier in the day so it will be less crowded, but it benefits such a great cause and we still had a great time this year.

Olivia, Rylee and Maddi

The girls in front of the "care bear" tree

In front of the "ice cream" tree

Nolan being so good

Rylee's Favorite Tree, the "Disney" tree

Walking the Rows

Opening Cabinets

Up until about two days ago Nolan was content crawling and playing with whatever was in sight, but now he has decided he must open the cabinets and investigate. Luckily I still have them pretty child proof from Rylee, so I am not scared of him hurting himself or any thing. He loves to bang and make lots of noise so my pots and pans are a big hit with him and so is dragging the tupperware across the floor. He found a ladle and measuring cup today and decided to bang them on the tile for awhile, but hey if he is happy I am happy!

Nolan's First Thanksgiving

Nolan's first Thanksgiving was a non-traditional one, to say the least. When we first planned our trip to San Diego for my girls' soccer tournament we were planning on bringing Nolan with us, but a few weeks ago Caity and I were talking and we decided she and her family would keep Nolan here at our house. It was harder than I expected to leave him--actually, much harder than it was for Disney World--but the car ride was much easier, and so was the soccer tournament with the little boy playing comfortably at home.
Nolan was an excellent boy over the weekend. Caity said that her mom, Libby, enjoyed playing Grandma and snuggling Nolan. And that Beau, her brother, was a fantastic Uncle to Nolan--as always. A big thank you to them for taking such great care of our boy while we were gone!!

Daddy's Treat

Our hotel was in a great location for our family, two miles from LegoLand and about ten minutes from Torrey Pines. On Friday Rylee and Daddy took advantage of LegoLand, then on Saturday Daddy got to play Torrey Pines. The U.S. Open was played there in 2008 (the one where Tiger had a broken leg and beat Rocco in a playoff) and the Buick Open (soon to have a new name) is played there every year, but it is a public golf course so anyone can play. The course charges a crazy fee to reserve a tee time, so most people get in line early in the morning to play. First come first serve tee times are given out from sunrise until the first reservation at 7:30. Our family was quite tired on Friday night, so we were all sound asleep by 8:00 pm, which helped Daddy because he was awake and felt rested by about 1:30. Since he was going to get up around 3:00 am anyways to go get in line, he just headed over at 2:00 and was the first in line. (But only by about 20 minutes!) He got to be the first group off the tee Saturday morning, and he had a great time. He came home with a few souveniers, but the best one was a pink Torrey Pines hat and a t-shirt, size 3T! Rylee insisted on wearing her hat and shirt immediately and she is wearing her shirt again tonight under her pajamas.

LegoLand

On Friday, Rylee and Daddy spent the entire day at LegoLand together with our friends the Campbells. There were a lot of fun things to do and see, and I think they tackled most of the park since they were there from open to close. Rylee and Jensen spent about an hour at the first place they went to. The two of them were up on top of the catwalk, about two stories above the ground, and they were shooting balls down to where the other kids were running and gathering them up. The two of them had a blast from the report I got!
There were not a lot of rides that Rylee could go on, but her favorite was driving the car. It was only for 3 - 5 year olds and they got to push the gas pedal and steer the car. When Rylee finished she told Daddy she crashed 4 times, and she was right. Daddy said she did crash 4 times, but there were quite a few times she was straightened out. We are hoping her driving abilities improve over the next 13 years!
Daddy said one of the best parts about LegoLand was they had their lines designed so the parents waited in line while the kids played in a Lego building area. I think Disney could learn from this!
Most everything in the park is made out of Legos (obvisiously not the rides!) but any statue or display was Legos. While walking through the park once Rylee stopped right in front of an Einstein statue (made of Legos), and said "Daddy, take my picture," so he did.
The most amazing part of the entire park is called Mini-Land, and Daddy said it alone was worth his admission. Mini-Land takes up about half of the park and is re-creations of U.S. cities. I only saw the pictures of them, but I am amazed.
When the day was over Rylee was up on Daddy's shoulders walking out of the park and said, "Daddy, that was FUUUUUN," which made the entire day even more special for Daddy.

St. Augustine with The Murphys

I was looking through our pictures and I realized I had not blogged about our trip to see the Murphys. Matt's cousin Johnny and his family drove down from Atlanta and met us in St. Augustine to play for a few days. We stayed at a great condo right on the beach and the kids played and played. Matt and Johnny got to play golf together, Angel and I got to catch up and hang out, and the kids got to know each other. Rylee and Jax are a month apart and had so much fun together. The entire trip Rylee called Jax "buddy" and Jax called Rylee "cousin!" All the time we would hear, "Cousin, come here," followed by "Okay, Buddy!" The older girls were sweet and took good care of Rylee and even let her play with their toys.
Sunday afternoon we went down to the Castille de San Marcos, a really old fort, and the kids had a great time exploring. I had a fun time reading all the historical facts, but it was hard as Rylee was trying to shoot me with a canon or lean too far over the edge.
We were sad that our trip together was only a few days, but it was a great time.

Rylee and Mommy

Rylee shooting Mommy

Rylee and Jax looking over the edge

Rylee posing on the cannon

Eva and Rylee

Rylee and Jax

Rylee and Maya

The Entire Group

Jazz Game

Last year we took Rylee to her first Jazz game and she really liked it, so when we had the opportunity to go tonight we were excited to take her. The only difference this year was that we got to bring Nolan too. The kids were really good, but it was definitely a good decision by us to only stay until half time. Nolan was completely fascinated by the lights, the noises and all the people around us. He got a little squirmy on our laps, but other than that he was great. Rylee was the best cheerer in the crowd. She made sure every time a basket was made that Nolan, Daddy and I clapped with her. She was still scared of the mascot, and anytime he would come out of the tunnel on the side of the court she would look at me and say, "tell him to go back in the tunnel!" She had a great time watching the dancers and liked their pom-poms. My favorite part of the night was how good she was during the National Anthem. I told her to put her hand on her heart like she does for the Pledge of Allegiance and to look at the flag, and she did. She had her little hand across her heart the entire song and looked straight up at the flag, only turning twice to clap for the singer.

My Sweet Boy

Nolan is definitely all boy, no doubt about. Yes I know that was determined along time ago, but it is very obvious by his personality lately too. He is a very loud little boy, he loves making noise by smacking and pounding things together, and he already likes to pester his sister! He is much more into cabinets/pressing buttons than Rylee ever was and he does everything with such a sweet sneaky look on his face it is hard to really get mad at that little face. Yesterday we had family pictures and he was still in his clothes while we were playing tools last night, and I caught this cute picture of my boy.

Chilling with Grandma

Nolan and Grandma had a fun time hanging out and reconnecting this trip. Grandma and Grandpa were really missing his cute little face since he did not come to DisneyWorld with us.

Best Friends

Rylee and Bryson have always been really close, but the trip to Disney World made them even closer friends. Everyday around our house Matt or I hear some reference to Bryson. When I told Rylee we were going to Grandma and Grandpa's house last weekend, her response was, "and I see Bryson too?" On Sunday afternoon Bryson got to come over and play all afternoon and then the rest of the cousins came over and joined the two of them, it was chaotic but fun!!

Playing Trains with Grandma

Grandma builds the best train tracks for the kids, but the problem was that Nolan kept destroying the track, so Grandma built him his own. He had his track to pull apart, chew on, throw, and do anything else with, and then Rylee had her track to push her trains around on, it was perfect.