I have SO MANY posts that I have rattling around in my brain, but most have pictures that need uploading and/or editing or videos that need the same.  And I'm just not up to it tonight.  We've had a crazy week with a bake sale that I was in charge of for the Resident's Spouse's Association to benefit the Ronald McDonald House.  Because I was worried that we wouldn't have enough baked goods, I decided to do quite a bit of baking: two pans of chocolate frosted pb bars, chocolate espresso bars, white chocolate and crasin cookies, banana bread and no-bake cookies. All this cooking also entailed multiple trips to the grocery store and other errands around town.  Then Wednesday I was up early to get myself, the kiddos, bags and bags of baked goods and other supplies into the hospital, see Brian for about 3 minutes, set up the sale, work the sale for a while, run back home to get Sarah down for a nap, then back to the hospital see Brian again, sell for a little while then pack up and haul everything back across the hospital, plus a stop at the Ronald McDonald room to drop off the extra food, one last meet with Brian then back to the car, lost my parking ticket into the crevice between my seat and the middle console, back home to put Sarah down for her second nap, fed Nathan and put him down for a nap.  (All the seeing Brian was just fortunate timing!)  It was at this point I realized that the day had brought about an unfortunate tragedy: Ra-ra was left somewhere in the hospital!  ARRRGGGG!  I texted Brian and he went on a search throughout the hospital, but unfortunately this part of the story doesn't have a happy ending.  Ra-ra is really and truly gone.  Thankfully, Nathan doesn't seem to phased by the loss, I actually think Brian and I are more bummed then he is.

Whew, makes me tired again just typing all this.  But that's been my crazy week!  Now for some kiddo tidbits...


Mommy/Daddy: Nathan, what color is your hair?
Nathan: Gray.


Nathan runs up to me this afternoon to show me something on his arm.  It's a freckle!!  Then I saw one on his other arm too!  Brian and I both showed him our freckles and then he was kind of excited about it.


Mommy tries to sneak the last Reeses egg, but Nathan catches her.  He hasn't yet experienced the magic of Reeses.
Nathan: I maybe want one bite.  Nathan takes a bite.  I maybe want all!

Hmm, this kid is becoming a chocolate fiend just like his Mama!


Last, but definitely not least, Sarah rolled back to front for the first time today!  The kids and I were over visiting our neighbor Juanita and she just started rolling around on the floor.  Tummy to belly, then belly to back!  Then repeat, repeat, repeat!  Unfortunately she couldn't quite make it over that arm tonight when Daddy was watching.  But I predict that within the week she'll be rolling all over the house.  And did I mention she's on all fours rocking all the time as well?  Her favorite time to do this, though, is in her crib when she should be sleeping.  But at least she always gives me big grins when I go in to rescue her!

Last month during Brian's vacation, one thing on our "to do" list was Brian's idea to buy Nathan a t-ball set. We ended up running out of time during vacation (or maybe the end turned rainy?), but that only delayed the purchase about one week. And Nathan was super pumped to try out his new toy.  Daddy gave him a little guidance...

...and then turned Nathan loose.
Sometimes the tee got in Nathan's way...
...and some times Nathan hit a home run!
(hmmm, the movie from pictures did not turn out quite as impressive as I hoped. Maybe I need more pictures in the sequence next time?)

I erroneously thought that Nathan wasn't interested in art and craft time. I now think that its just crayons that Nathan thinks are lame! They're good for breaking and not much else (apparently his Daddy felt the same way when he was a little boy). But MARKERS... well, that's another story!



We spent over an hour today, this morning and also after dinner, working on two masterpieces and posing for pictures. I think I need to encourage craft time more often. Next up, paint! *gulp*

When we were at Granddaddy and Grandmother's house at the beginning of March, we had some beautiful weather days and some very severe thunderstorms.  The second night of our stay, a big storm was rolling through around 9:30.  Lots of lightning, booming thunder... I was worried how this would affect my sleeping kiddos.  Sure enough, I heard sounds from Nathan, so I went in to comfort him.  I told him that during a thunderstorm, God makes the thunder go "BOOM!" really loud and lights flash in the sky.  I told him that he didn't have to be scared because the thunder and lightning couldn't hurt him.  I told him how it was raining pretty hard and that it was very "wet wet" outside.  The fact that it was getting wet outside was the biggest concern for him - he looked at me and said "bummer!", then laid down to go back to sleep.  Glad the experience wasn't too traumatic for him!


In the past few weeks, Nathan has gotten better and better about saying  "please" and "thank you" without prompting.  But he figures if he's expected to say it, Mommy and Daddy need to be on the ball as well.  So if he says "thank you" for something and doesn't receive an immediate "you're welcome", he continues to repeat himself "Thank you.  Nathan say 'thank you'!  Thank you." until we respond appropriately.

We are also working on combating whiny-ness (what?! a whiny two year old!! no!).  He'll ask for something, lots of times its his milk, in a whiny tone.  I'll ask him to say "please", and he does it, but still being whiny.  Getting the idea from one of my friends, I started having Nathan ask me with a smile.  Its amazing how adding a smile to your face instantly changes the tone of voice!  And it also makes me smile to see his sweet grin, so both of us get an instant attitude adjustment!  He usually remembers to do this on his own now, grinning and pointing to his cheeks with his fingers to make sure I notice his smile.


 Nathan has been going through a growth spurt.  He has outgrown the length of his 18 month pants and is now into 2T size, but we definitely need adjustable waist pants for this boy because he is so slender!  He has also moved up to 3T shirts because of his long torso.  I weighed him at the pediatrician's office while we were there for Sarah's 4 month check-up.  He has gained weight since his two year checkup, about a pound and a half in the last 5ish months, which keeps him between 25% and 50% on the growth chart.    Unfortunately I didn't think about checking his height, so I pulled out the tape measure and eyeballed his current height at 34.75 inches (25%).  But the main indication of a taller and bigger boy is that now he can open the fridge by himself!  This makes for nice mornings, since he can now get his milk out of the fridge and climb into bed with me (sometimes joining Daddy and/or Sarah as well).  But we are also having to now train on making sure the fridge is closed!

Now that the weather's warming up, its time to put the lawn mowers to use again. Nathan was eager to help his daddy whip the yard into shape while following his good example by wearing hearing protection!

The weather has been so beautiful the past few weeks the kids and I have practically been living outside in the afternoons (mornings are usually reserved for running errands, house chores and playgroup).  And it seems whenever I grab my camera to take a few pictures, I get some great ones.   It must be something about the beautiful sunshine and the new spring growth!

Gran came to visit for two nights last week, and everyone had a great time. Sarah was cuddled and loved, Nathan got to "ride on Gran SHOUL-der" lots, and Brian and I got to see "The Hunger Games" one night and went out for ice cream the second night.

But yes, Gran's SHOUL-ders, were the hit of the visit for Nathan. He and Gran would take trips around the yard collecting leaves, then Gran would put him down and send him on an errand to find and pick a flower for her and then back up onto her shoulders he went. It will be a sad, sad day for him when he gets too heavy for Gran!

The day I took Sarah's 20 week pictures, I figured it was time to get a new shot of Nathan. But my subject was not feeling cooperative. No smiles, looking around at everything except the camera... but finally I got a decent one! (Come to think of it, I think we told him that he couldn't get back on Gran's SHOUL-der until he gave me a smile for the camera!)

Another day I decided we were long overdue for a good mother-daughter picture, and Brian got some good ones even though it was time for Sarah to go to bed!


Two nights ago I started putting together a new blog header and was short one great picture, so last night I decided to try my luck for a new sibling picture. Nathan told me "no!" he did not want to come over next to Sarah and take a picture (he and Daddy were working on his power wheels), but then to my surprise he ran over and posed for me!  My two sweet kiddos, I love them so much!