Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

My Two Buddies

I can't believe how fast this school year is going...already 1/3 the way over!!! This week is parent teacher conferences so Nolan had no school Monday and half days the rest of this week, next week Nolan has the whole week off school, then he's got a couple weeks off in December! Can't wait to celebrate the Holidays this year!
Today was Nolan's parent teacher conference. It's fun to see and hear how much Nolan has learned and progressed in just a few months. His teacher was so amazed at how smart he is especially for being almost the youngest. I really do love his teacher this year! I like how she focuses on all the positive things he's able to do, rather than the 1 or 2 things that he struggles with, like holding his pencil the correct way. :P
Nolan is also doing very well in gymnastics. I've really enjoyed watching him progress over the last year and a half or so. His upper body has really become stronger. Today Nolan was on the bars and rings doing all sorts of tricks. He's able to pull himself up forward and hang above the bar and do a flip and and he can flip himself up backward to where he's hanging upside down and holding it for a while before doing a backward flip to get down, not sure if I worded that correctly, but you get the idea. Pretty cool! If you come to my house and notice the slip covers of the couches all hiked up, it's because Nolan's been practicing his gymnastics... :P
On Sunday when Nolan got sung to for his birthday in Primary, they were describing the kind of kid he was. Some of the older boys said that Nolan would make a great prophet someday! Hmmm, it kind of made me think. I guess you never know. I wonder if the moms of the prophets these days would have done anything different if they knew their son was going to be a prophet someday. I have no doubt, Nolan could grow up to be someone just as amazing!
Annika is getting to be such a big girl! When Nolan's home, she wants to be doing whatever he's doing. If Nolan's doing homework, Annika wants to do her "homework." If Nolan is playing outside, Annika is outside doing whatever he's doing. At night time, Annika likes to snuggle with Nolan in his bed before he falls asleep. She is getting good at saying her own bedtime prayers, even though the last few nights she ends her prayers by saying, "Boo!" I think because she is lifting her head up and catches me peeking at her. I'm also noticing a similar sense of humor in her that Nolan had at this age...hmmm. Annika is ALWAYS getting hurt! On Sunday once again, she fell and hit her mouth on something hard, causing her to split her lip open. Then, during Sacrament meeting, she hit it again and split a different part of her lip open. She had a fat lip for a few days. :P Annika is always wearing Nolan's shoes. I think she prefers them over hers now...they're only a few sizes bigger. :P
I'm so thankful for these two wonderful kids! They bring me so much joy!

Friday, November 11, 2011

Nolan's 11-11-11 Birthday!

I can't believe it's been 6 years! Actually, it feels like Nolan's been around forever! I just can't remember what my life was like without him. Pretty boring, really. Everyone needs to know a Nolan to brighten up their life!

Our day started around 3:00 this morning. Nolan came in our room...I can't remember what he came in for in the first place. One of the times when I was a little more awake he said his room "looked a little unusual." I thought, huh? So, I got out of bed and walked him to his room. He seemed a little scared. His night light hadn't been on. I turned on his light. There were streamers I had hung from his door upon his request. :) I think he thought they were spiders or something. Once he saw what they really were, he went back to bed. I think he woke me up a couple more times, but I don't really remember.

So, he must have finally fell back asleep cuz he didn't actually wake back up until after 8:00 or so. :P

Nolan was excited to have a birthday party with family and friends today! Every year previous we have had a party with family, but this is pretty much the first year we've invited friends. Nolan has lots of fun kids in primary with him. Up until a couple of hours before the party, I thought only 3 or 4 kids would be able to come. Which would have been fine. Then, I got a couple of last minute calls saying, they had just checked the mail and found the invitation, etc etc. :) Then, we thought, hmmm, well maybe these people didn't check their mail either. So, we called them. They hadn't. So, it went from being a small party to quite a large party. At one point I counted at least 12 kids. The more the merrier, right? Lots of siblings and parents came to stay as well.

Nolan wanted a banana for breakfast. And that was it. I think he was a little excited. What do you think?





It's not a party without playing, "Doggy, doggy, who has the bone."



Annika was very attached to Grandma today. I think she's finally figured out who she is! :)



We had the party at the catering so we could have the kids make their own personal pizzas. It was nice to have lots of oven space.



Recognize this pinata? We finally got to use it! Someone gave it to Nolan at that Penn Valley craft fair thing a few months ago. The kids went on a treasure hunt and the pinata was the treasure. Rather than having candy fly all over the place, I put the same amount in each little bag before sticking it in the pinata.



I missed the actual shot where Nolan blew out his candle since I couldn't find the camera. But, he was happy to pretend to do it again! Nolan decorated his cake with oreo bits.



Nolan received many nice presents.











The kids had fun with these sticky hand things.



This picture below makes me laugh. You can see the green sticky hand flingin around Nolan. :)



Happy Birthday Nolan! We love you!

Friday, November 4, 2011

My First Grader

I'm sorry, I couldn't resist buying Nolan's first grade picture this year. I knew I'd be kicking myself later if I didn't. Sorry, this isn't scanned, just a picture of a picture.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Field Trip, Kids Dream, and Halloween Festivities!

I'm a little behind on this, but a few weeks ago, Nolan's class went on a field trip to Bishop's Pumpkin Patch in Wheatland. We decided to come along, following behind the school bus. It looked a little overcast when we started the trip...by the time we got there it was pouring down rain. :P The teachers debated whether to even let the kids off the bus. They had scheduled lots of fun activities, like a chicken show, tractor hay ride, etc. Well, they finally decided to let them get off the bus, pick out a pumpkin and get back on and head home. Of course, that took forever and by the time the kids were back on the bus, they were all sopping wet. Oh well. If I recall correctly, every day the rest of that week was perfectly nice and sunny. :P








Last weekend, Nolan and I had a booth at Machados Apple Orchard's Festival. We had so much fun. Nolan had 5 different kinds of cookies to sell, which were Chocolate Chip, White Chocolate Macadamia, Peanut Butter, Pumpkin, and Oatmeal. He also sold pink and regular lemonade. It was a long day, but Nolan lasted about 10 hours out there with me! He was a big help setting up and taking down our booth. People loved his cookies! I had lots of crocheted hats to sell. I was happy with how it all went.



Like our sign?



He even took a break to get his face painted!



Yesterday, we went to Nolan's school carnival. It was fun. There was even a magic show. Nolan sure enjoys watching those!







We headed down the hill to Sacramento that evening for a fun night trunk or treating with Aunt Jeanna and Uncle Krys.

I'm not sure exactly what Annika was. Nolan said, "She's the toothfairy!" Sounds good to me! :)









This is how I saw Annika most of the night...the backside of her as she took off running all over the place! She loved it! I finally had to scoop her up and hold her cuz I was so tired from chasing her. I don't think her batteries ever die! Lately, her sleeping pattern has changed. She used to go to bed soon after Nolan, which ended up being, 7:00 or 7:30 at the latest. For the past week or so, she's up after 9:00 most of the time. I'm not sure what's happening. She's also refusing to take naps...ALREADY??? I used to have her take a nap while Nolan was at school. She'll stay in her crib and I finally give up after an hour or so and let her out. Then she'll fall asleep on the way to pick him up. :P





Nolan was Spiderman. I'm pretty sure this costume will fit him for another 5 years!







When I brushed Nolan's teeth last night, the loose one was pretty much on it's last hinge. Nolan climbed into bed with me this morning and asked if his tooth had come out. I couldn't see since it was still dark, so I asked him if it felt like it was out. He said yes, so I turned on the light and sure enough it was missing. At first I thought maybe he had swallowed it, but he said he remembered it falling out. Hmmm. So, I told him to go check on his pillow to see if he could find it. He came back holding a tiny little white thing. "Could this be it," he asked? :) It was! I think the toothfairy will finally be paying him a visit!



We figured we better hurry and carve our pumpkins before the season has passed! Nolan really got into it this year! He pretty much carved the big one all on his own, except the smile...





Don't worry, that's not mold on the pumpkin's face.



Nolan's pumpkin makes me smile every time I see it. I love the lopsided eyes. :)



Last week we invited the missionaries over for dinner as well as a nonmember friend. She was very interested in what they had to say. She asked if they would teach her some more. We had her and the missionaries over again today this evening. She is ready to change her life around. She is going to read the Book Of Mormon. She is going to come to church with us next Sunday. It is neat to see her soak everything in that is being taught to her. I'm sure she will be baptized in the near future!

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Craft Fairs

This is pretty much last minute, but if anyone has any crocheted/knitted items you are interested in selling AND can get them to me by Saturday, I'd be happy to include them in my booth. I can only sell my crocheted things at this one, a couple of other people beat me to the bows etc., but that's ok. For a booth from 9 a.m.- 6 p.m. it will only cost me $25. So, as long as I at least sell a couple of hats, I won't lose anything. For the past couple of weeks I've been whippin out a bunch of hats. Last time I counted I had around 30...I'll post pictures on my other blog soon. Plus, I have a few afghans and some little crocheted flower clippies.

If you don't have time to get me anything for Saturday, I have another event on November 5th. I plan on selling everything at that one as well as another big event on December 3rd. Should be fun! I'm excited!

Monday, October 17, 2011

Make 'em Laugh

What do you do when you need a good laugh? I like to play this for Nolan and the next thing I know he's on the floor from laughing so hard.

Fun in the Yard

Annika is enjoying her new front yard A LOT! So is her mommy! One day the mommy sent her out to play and forgot to check to see if the fences were both shut. After a few minutes the mommy got a feeling to go check on her, since she couldn't hear her. She was nowhere in sight. She saw the side fence open. Oops! Luckily, the carseats were out of the car waiting to be transferred back in the car along the side of the house. Annika was having fun sitting on the seats. The mommy was glad they were there to distract her so she hadn't walked off any further. :P













Saturday, October 8, 2011

Scripture Study

Nolan loves to be read to! He reads very well, but still prefers me reading to him. I don't want to push him into being the one to read because I'm afraid it'll take away from the fun of it. Sometimes we'll play little games like I read a page then he reads a page, or even every other word. BUT, the one thing I don't have to push Nolan into reading are his scripture stories. He takes this very seriously. He knows his scripture stories very well and studies them most every morning before school and after school/before bedtime too. He likes the ones with the follow along pictures to them. He needs very little help reading them now, he read me several pages today and then a few verses of the actual Book Of Mormon. When it's quiet for more than a few minutes, which is very rare in our house, I think, hmmm, where's Nolan. Then I'll see him on the couch reading his scripture stories. I've mainly noticed him doing this more ever since we've started Kids Dream. He's already earning money to be prepared for his mission and wants to be spiritually prepared too. I am proud of him!

P.S. Today a police officer stopped and paid $12 for one chocolate chip cookie to Kids Dream! A couple of weeks ago, Nolan had a returning customer who bought 5 cookies cuz she loved them so much the time before. :) We also decided to put a small percentage of what is earned into a Disneyland fund! Maybe in a few years we will have saved enough to make it there. :)

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Our Palace-Pics Will Come Soon!

Things have been pretty crazy the last couple of weeks, but I am so incredibly happy! I am loving our new home. I feel like I can finally breathe again. It's amazing what a difference it makes to be able to spread out a little more and have more space. The kids are loving it too! I will take pictures soon, I almost have things put together. Boy, moving is sure a lot of work! But, we feel so blessed to have this as our new home. Annika has adjusted great, loves having her own room. It's amazing the things you take for granted. I love being able to go into my bedroom and turn on a light and put away my laundry after Annika's fallen asleep instead of once she's asleep (in our bedroom) having to try and tiptoe around in the dark with a creaky floor and door. :P Yes, it is AMAZING! Nolan loves the house, especially cuz it has a "secret hideout" all for him under the stairs. There are many good hiding spots in this house, actually. No, it's not a fancy or huge house, but compared to what we had, we feel like we are living like kings and queens!

Monday, September 26, 2011

1st loose tooth!

The other day a dentist came to Nolan's school to check some kids teeth. Nolan told me tonight that she had said one of his teeth was getting loose. I had him open his mouth and started wiggling some of his teeth. Sure enough, on the bottom I felt one of his teeth wiggle. AHHHH, my boy couldn't possibly be old enough to be losing his baby teeth! :( He is so excited! Soon, not only will he have had a visit from a nail fairy, but a tooth fairy as well.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Fingers CROSSED...

We've been living in this house for a year. It's worked great for us! I honestly didn't even think we'd last this long. It is sooooo small. But, we've made it work and have been able to save a lot of money by being a little squished. It's starting to get hard though. I really don't want to spend another winter here. Last one was pretty bad. There's no insolation in this house and I'm always cold even with the heater running nonstop it feels like. :P Not to mention now that Annika is getting older, it would be nice to get her in her own room. Every time I have to open our bedroom door, it makes a loud cracking noise and the floor right outside the door creaks really bad. So, when I go to bed, I quite often wake her up just by opening the door. :P We could get a bunk bed and put her in with Nolan, but I worry about her waking Nolan up at night and that just would not be good. Also, it's hard to want to ever invite anyone over cuz...ya trust me, it just is. But, with everyone wanting to rent now days, it's hard to find a 3+ bedroom for under $1600 a month. AHHHH! Way over our budget. I haven't put a whole lot of effort into looking because it's a little discouraging. And, we love our neighborhood and our ward and Nolan's school. So, I've just kind of been praying for something to pop up in front of us basically that would work with what I mentioned above. I found an add on craigslist last night. A 3 bedroom 2 bath plus a basement with another room. It's over 1800 sq. feet. That's like over double what we have now!!!!! AND it's just up the street from us. AND it's only $1200 a month. Yes, pretty sad, but that's a GREAT deal for around here! We went to look at it today. It's so hard to not get your hopes up until you know if you get it. I love the new updated kitchen. It even has a dishwasher, YAY! It has dual pane windows and a fireplace, so that should help keep utilities lower. It's all fenced in. Has a nice size front yard and big back yard. Lots of privacy. Ok, I really can't get excited yet, but I'm still praying that we get it, cuz I want it soooo bad!!! :) So, maybe it'll help if there's a few more people praying too! ;) Thanks!

Saturday, September 10, 2011

This week...

It's amazing how two kids from the same family can be so different. As Annika has been walking the last couple of months, I find myself literally having to keep an eye on her. Not because she's destructive, but because she'll take off walkin and not even look behind her to see if I'm following. I never had to worry about this with Nolan. If he was outside playing and I had to go inside for half a minute, all I would need to tell him would be to stay right by the house, or whatever, and I'll be back in a minute. I just didn't have to worry about it, really. Just this week, I can think of 3 times where I've done the same with Annika, I come out, and she's VANISHED! The first place I look is over where the car is parked, since that's usually where she goes before she makes her way out to all the landlords property. So far, that's where I find her and only one time she's gotten passed the car area. :P She's getting faster! I guess I can't leave her outside alone anymore even if it's for 30 seconds.

Annika loves shoes!!! She HAS to always be wearing them. From the second she wakes up, she goes straight to her shoe pile and gets her shoes to put on. If I try and take them off at any time, she throws a fit! I'm not sure exactly why she has to have shoes on all the time...but it sure reminds me of someone... :P

Today, Nolan got down some of my Precious Moments baby dolls and gave them to Annika to play with. She's been loving them all day. Carrying them around with her wherever she goes. She'll give them little snuggles and kisses. They are so real to her.

The past couple of weeks on Saturdays, Nolan's been working more on Kids Dream. We'll sit and sell during Annika's nap. It's perfect. People are so sweet and supportive around here. Nolan got several tips today for being a good salesmen. :) I think he earned almost $19 just today in a short time. He loves doing this, so I am supporting him. It keeps him busy for a couple of hours.

Tomorrow it's our ward's Primary Program. They had a practice yesterday. There's a lot more kids in this ward than our other ward and they all sounded great. I can't wait for tomorrow!

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Going Through The Sprinkler

This is another one of my favorite farms. Usually, we wait till the end to go to this one and let the kids get all wet and cooled off before we drive home. I love these little sprinkler guys.

Feeding The Goats

Pony Ride

Apple Hill

Yesterday, I took the kids to Apple Hill. I love this place so much and look forward to going there every year. We try and go at least a couple of times every year. I love the area in Placerville so much, wouldn't mind living there someday...









The farm that has all these animals is the kids favorite. They enjoyed feeding the goats. I have a video of it that I'll post too.























Gathering up goose feathers...







Nolan on "The Tractor." We take a picture of him on it every year. I'll have to make a post of all the years with him on "The Tractor." If I can figure out how to find the pictures...



Nolan likes to go on a pony ride every year. The pony rides that we normally like to do are only open on weekends. Oh well. He still had fun riding "Cowboy."