Good Ol Rasco

I took this video last week. I love how Annika is constantly watching the things her big brother does. For some reason I'm having trouble uploading and processing videos on here, so maybe this won't work.

What We Do Outside

I decided i needed to take some pictures of the kids outside yesterday before the rain came again. We love having our own yard again.

Doesn't it look like this rock could have been one of the ones the Brother of Jared used to light his boats? That's what Nolan decided when he found this cool rock. It looks like it to me too. :)

This is our new friend Rasco. He's not our dog, he's the neighbors, but he comes around to play all the time and the kids love him. I don't know if it's a coincidence but everytime Annika see's him she gets so excited and says "gog." His name was originally Rascal, but the little boy couldn't pronounce his "ls" so it sounded like Rasco. Even I have come to greatly appreciate this dog. We were eating outside one evening. Nolan got sick and threw up his dinner. :P I started to wonder what I was going to do to clean it up when along came Rasco and licked it all up. Kind of gross, but I didn't stop him. He comes in handy sometimes. :)

Kindergarten Halloween Party

This year for Halloween Nolan decided he would be Tigger again. He kept jumping back and forth between a few different things until we started to run out of time. So, we pulled out the costume from last year and it still fit him good enough. :) As you can see from the pictures it's a little high waters this year. Oh well. Tigger fits Nolan's personality very well too.
Nolan was so exited to see his Aunt Jeanna show up for the party!

All the kids in the school lined up for the parade. There were so many cute and creative costumes.

Annika dressed up too. The sleeping bumblebee. :)

After the parade, Nolan's class went back to the classroom for their Halloween Party. There were a few different stations, like carving pumpkins...

Pin the nose on the Jack O Lantern...

Annika woke up in time to join in on the party too!

Cookie decorating...

Nolan had his first catered party! :) He got the kids all excited about his daddy who is a chef who would be bringing the food! One of the kid's mom told us that her daughter told her that morning that she didn't need to bring lunch because Nolan's daddy was bringing them food. :) Nolan was so proud to announce to the class everything that his daddy would be making, with Nolan's #1 choice: nachos! The nachos were the biggest hit. We also did miniature pigs in a blanket, miniature pumpkin cheescakes, spider crackers, and the sugar cookies that were used to decorate with.

Who's Who?

A New Hat

There we go! Here's the edited version. Thanks Bon for fixing these pics. So, this is the hat I crocheted last night. Annika wore it to church today. It turned out pretty cute!

First Day of Kindergarten

I guess I better put up the "first day of Kindergarten" pictures even though I'm two months late. :P So, here's Nolan on the first day of Kindergarten, before I dropped him off and after I picked him up. He was so happy to be starting school this year. I was a little nervous sticking him in this year since not only is he one of the youngest ones, but also the shortest. :) The other day he was standing in line and I noticed the boy in front of him was a whole head taller than him. However, his Preschool teacher assured me that he was ready. Nolan is a very social little boy and LOVES to be around people. I can't immagine having been able to keep him "cooped up inside" (as Nolan puts it) for another whole year. Nolan has many friends. His favorite part of school is recess. He likes to play tag, hide and seek, and chase the girls. He starts school at 8:00 a.m. and gets out at 1:00 p.m. It's a long day, but doesn't seem to be a problem for Nolan. It'll sure make the adjustment to first grade easier, that's for sure. Nolan's teacher's name is Mrs. Pitzer. I get to help out in his classroom every other Wednesday and see all the fun things that he's learning. Nolan looks forward to Friday's. If their froggy doesn't "get put down" they get an award and a few m&ms. So far, Nolan hasn't got his froggy "put down" but he informs me at the end of each day, how many froggy's got "put down." Nolan is a good memorizer. He memorizes lots of books I read him, he's memorized all of his Articles of Faith before he turned 4, and his teacher said he's the only Kindergartener she's had in the 20+ years she's been teaching to know all the versus to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. :) I don't even think I know all the versus. Nolan loves to make up stories and tell them to the other kids. One day Adam was picking up Nolan from school, he was running a little late, but when he got there Mrs. Pitzer said he was entertaining the class with his stories. Hmmm. I sure miss having Nolan around all day with me, but it's amazing how the morning flies by. When I pick Nolan up he says goodbye over and over to all his friends, gives a few of them hugs, and blows goodbye kisses to the girls. Hopefully he doesn't get too much friendlier than that. On the drive home, Nolan tells me about his day and plays with Annika and gets her giggling with the silly things he does. There, I think we're pretty caught up with the start of school.



Before:

After:

Field Trip to Bishop's Pumpkin Patch

Yesterday, Nolan went with his kindergarten class to Bishop's Pumpkin Patch in Wheatland. He was so excited he got to ride a school bus there. He got to ride a train ride and also a hay ride to pick out his pumpkin. There were all kinds of farm animals for them to see. It was a fun day. Nolan can't wait to turn his pumpkin into a jack-o-lantern!

Time to get caught up on some pictures. We'll start with the most recent. Annika is 8 1/2 months already! I can't believe it! She is such a happy girl and is getting so big. I was getting a little nervous seeing this coolor weather coming because I didn't have many warm outfits for Annika and all her 6 month clothes were getting too small. She's a tall girl so her pants were turning into capris and her shirts were having a hard time getting over her head. Well, we don't have much extra money to be buying clothes right now so I wasn't sure what I was going to do. Adam mentioned something to his sister, Jeanna, who picked up several cute, warm outfits for her (the one in the pictures is one of them). She also spread the word and several more cute outfits were given to us, many that will get us thru next summer as well . Another family picked up a bag from a yard sale of lots of cute outfits. So many kind, generous people have helped our baby be able to stay warm this winter. Thank you everyone! Also, a friend mentioned to me about a "Peace Love Swap" that happens every two months. This particular one is held in Grass Valley, so I went to go check it out. It's such a wonderful idea. You bring baby or childrens items that you no longer need and swap out for some that you need. I went with two bags of baby clothes I didn't need anymore and walked out with two bags full of several cute outfits for Annika, including several cute church dresses. I also found several shirts for Nolan, who's been growing. I was so happy! I am no longer nervous. :)