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!

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!

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.

Dora

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!

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!

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.