Nolan in February

 

 

My lil Nolan-man is a big 4 year old.

 

He is my sweetie boy, my hugga-bug, my limit-tester, and my crazy ball of energy. 

 

We celebrated his birthday in Helena with grandparents this year. 

 

Here's some things about Nol at FOUR:

 

Nolan is a tenderhearted boy.  He gets sad and sometimes cries if anyone talks about death or dying or going to live with Heavenly Father.  His little heartstrings get pulled.  And so do mine.

 

He can write his name, although I am the only one who would probably recognize it.

 

Nolan always thinks that other kids are his friends.  Even if little kids are mean to him or don't want to play with him, he sorta just shrugs it off and talks about them like they're his besties.  It's really kinda funny, and I'm sure once he gets to kindergarten he'll realize, but for now I adore his innocence and genuine love for everybody.

 

He eats constantly. 

If he's not outside running and running and running, he's inside asking for snacks or a drink.

 

2 long years ago, when we were knee deep in the midst of potty training, he started drinking chocolate milk as a reward for going in the toilet. 

Since then, his love for chocolate milk has not faded one bit, and he asks for it daily (although mom doesn't always give in). 

 

Most of the time,  he is a really darling big brother.  Ez and Nol share a room and sometimes if Z baby has a hard time falling asleep and is crying (or screaming?) Nolan will sing (without any distinguishable tune- just random notes all over the place)  "Don't cwy, Ezwah! It's ok, Ezwah! You can just fall asleep and not cwy."

And the cutest part?  He calls it his "Ezwah song" 

 

 

Nolan's favorite food right now is candy.  The more, the better. 

He is also a fan of Mac n Cheese, and apples or oranges when mom wants him to have a healthy snack.

 

He was so cute on his birthday.  As he opened his presents he would say with each one "This is my FLAVE-IT!"  His excitement and enthusiasm for every aspect of life is so beautiful.  I wish I could be more like that sometimes.



This is one of the ugliest silliest cakes I've ever made, but it was made with love. 

This is my nephew, Kimball.  He came to the party. 
And we were so happy he was there to share his cuteness with us.

These two cute girls LOVE my cute dad (aka Papa Lay). 
And something tells me he's pretty fond of them too.

This is the face my daughter makes EVERY time I try to take her photo.

He had so much fun celebrating with cousins and family.

 

My sister is gorgeous.

Kimball's face SLAYS me!!  He's like "meh"

And here's some silly bath pics of the boys:

The Big Man

Mike's birthday was also in February, so here's his 3 month late update as well:

 

I made him Boston Cream Cupcakes this year. 
OHMYHOLYDELICIOUSNESS. 
They are just yellow cake cupcakes with vanilla pudding
 in the middle of them and chocolate ganache on top. 
Go make them. Right now.  You won't be sad.

 

 

-He totally loves me and thinks I'm awesome.  Which, let's face it, I am.  And humble.

 

-He is still working as a contract analyst/finance guy/accountant for the coal mine here in MT.  Ever the nomads, we are probably not going to be here forever, but it's good for now.

 

-He is studying like a crazy man for his CPA exams. (Interesting fact:  80% of people taking the Bar Exam pass their first time taking it.  Only 50% of 1st time takers pass the CPA.   This could be skewed because the CPA has 4 separate exams instead of just one.  But I thought it was a little crazy.   Here's hoping Mike is one of the 50%!)

 

-My kids use him as a jungle gym every day.  He always asks, "Why is it that ANY time I'm home, whether I'm sitting or standing, the kids just want to climb all over me?"  I think it's because Mom yells at them to get off?  Just a theory....

 

-We sure like him around these parts.  He's just a good man and a good father and a hard worker.  And really, can  you ask for more than that?  I lucked out.

 

 

My 3 Year Old

WHAT THE 3 YEAR OLD??  I seriously can't believe my lil man is 3 already.  Actually, he's 3 years and nearly 3 months old at this point, but that's only because I'm super slackoid mama lately and haven't blogged.  

 So, here's the latest on my little/big boy:

- He is extremely affectionate and LOVES hugs, kisses and backrubs.  All are a delightful pass time for me, his adoring mama.

- He loves babies and asks to give them kisses whenever he sees them.  There's a few new babies at church and Nolan makes all the mom's hearts melt because he's so loving toward them.  He was 1 month shy of being old enough to go to sunbeams this january (grrr), but he's the "big helper" in there, so I guess it's ok.  He gets the binkie's and blankets for the 18 month olds and tries to comfort them if they cry.  So sweet.

- High energy doesn't even begin to describe what this kid is.  He's SUPER-jump-up-and-down-martha-energy-man.  Seriously, sometimes I feel like I can't keep up. 

- He is very smart, and very articulate.  It's so interesting to see the differences between my two kiddos.  CJ is smart in such different areas and different ways than her younger bro.  He LOVES all things shapes and colors, but isn't as interested in letters and numbers as his older sis was at his age.  He can identify his name and all the letters in it, so that's a start, right? 

- He tries SO hard to be included with his big sis and her friends.  He tags along with the older kids and is happy as a clam even if they aren't doing much to include him. 

-He will be THE BEST big brother.  Kisses and zerbers on my tummy are a favorite of his, and he also loves giving my belly "yiddle squeezes!"  He has also started hoarding toys in the corner of his room for "baby bludder."

-His speech is great, but for some reason he switches the R sound for the L sound when it's the second sound in a word.  He says "Blowken" for Broken, and "Flidge" for Fridge.  What is funny to me is that he can say "Rocket" just fine, but if the r sound is second he mixes it up with L. 

- He LOVES to tease and joke with us, and his humor is predictable and 3 year old and darling.

-He's still measuring off the charts for height and around 60th % for weight.  Long and lean is how we grow 'em round here. 

-He gets in to the pantry and fridge constantly and tries to sneak food ALL. THE. TIME. 

- Favorite foods: pepperoni pizza, apples, oranges, and any candy he can get his paws on.

-Other favorite things:  Jammies.  His doggy pillow pet.  Time with daddy.  Morning backrubs from mom.

Here's his birthday party pics:

We did a family party this year.  I am a mom who likes to celebrate, but I'm not a crazy go-all-out-with-a-theme-and-invite-the-circus-as-well-as-everyone-you've-ever-met type of mom. Maybe I could be if we were closer to family, but this year it was just our little clan.   And we are great. 

Helping with dinner!  And singing. 

Under the birthday banner!  Happy #3!

Ripping presents open with his teeth.  He's very efficient :)

Avenger shoes!

It was so fun for me to see his excitement about
 a plastic pair of binoculars.  I love being his mom.

New "laptop" for Nolan. 

The cake!  Notice how he still has the binoculars around
his neck and he wouldn't let us put the laptop away.  Silly kid.
 

Funfetti cake! Delish. 

This 3 year old sure is a blessing.  He makes me happy when skies are grey.  And, while there are days when I swear he could drive a woman to drink, most of the time he is simply a joy and a bright spot in our lives. 

October

I'm almost there. I can see the finish line. I bet you're all grateful. Marathon posts about anything are just a tiny bit annoying, I know. But hopefully I'll be more motivated to blog from here on out! So here's our fabulous October!

 

 

The next set of pictures were taken by my lil chick.  No point whatsoever, except I think they're funny.  I love looking at life from her perspective and seeing all the things she's interested in. 

This is not even a quarter of the pictures she took. I have quite the collection on my phone.

 

The rest of the pics are just from our busy, random October. 

When he wears shades he always says "I a cool guy, mom."

So suave.

Nolan is obsessed with robots. 
This little one he refers to as his "blue sleeping robot"
 although he's never slept with it and it is clearly not blue....

Happy 30th to me!  Thirty, Flirty, and Fabulous, right?

This is CJ with the blueprints for her future business, "the daycare
of knowledge."  She spent about 20 minutes describing what each room
would be used for.  Everything from a baby room to a school room
 to a diaper room.  I am constantly  fascinated at all the things
 her brain comes up with.



Cecily had a wonderful birthday as well!  She wanted to have an ART party, so I ordered a bunch of junk from Oriental Trading and we partied it up!  There was lots of chaos, but it was fun.  Next year I think we'll limit the numbers a little :)  10 kids ranging in age from 7 to 2 is just.... well...... total and complete pandemonium.

MY GIRL IS FIVE!!! What the heck? 

 

 

 

Blowin out the birthday candle!

 

 

Our "Art Studio" living room

My girl, creating her masterpiece. 

Paint, paint, and more paint!

I ordered a Mona Lisa poster and we were going to play
 "pin the smile on the Mona Lisa.... but it came 2 days after the
 party, so we made do with "Pin the paint on the pallet!"

 

 

Here's my lil man with his blob..... I mean painting.

 

CARVING PUMPKINS!  There's a little pumpkin farm about 20 miles from town, so we went and got a few lil pumpkins to carve.  The kids had a BLAST! And Nolan loved the cows.

 

 

The field behind her was where the pumpkins grew up.

He kept reassuring us that he was "weely trong!"

Cows!!!!

punkin' guts!

We didn't get any pictures of the finished ones!  I know- I am
not thinking straight these days.

 

 

AAAANNNNND, Halloween!!!!

They got lots of loot this year, and were pretty excited about it.  At first, Nolan didn't understand trick or treating and wasn't interested, but after the 2nd or 3rd house he started picking up on the fact that people were just giving him candy and he didn't even have to pee in the potty for it.  After a while, they'd give him a candy and he'd smile up at them and say "One more?"  Some people gave in, but some were unmoved by his plea.

  Mike said he had to apologize for our greedy kid at nearly every residence. 

Oh, the joy.

 

Not to mention that for nearly the entire month of November, Nolan also asked every night as it got dark, "Mom, we go trick treating get candy tonight?" 

 

I kept telling him "Not tonight, but really soon."

 

 

 

Our Anniken Skywalker



Cutest witch ever!

He likes to shoot his gun at people.
 I know, I know, I'm a terrible mom :)