Nolan's 1st Day of School

This was the day Nolan has been dreading for a while now...going back to school (aka Mother's Day Out Tuesdays and Thursdays). He is not fond of Mama leaving him at school, although he does really well after I leave. He put on a pretty brave face all morning and even took a few good pictures for me. After pictures is another story...

What a cute boy!! Still smiles at this point.

Very slowly and reluctantly walking up to the school.

Almost to reach the doors

Alli and Cole had the day off of school so Alli tried to get Nolan playing before we said our goodbyes.

After this picture was taken, he realized we were leaving. He clung to my leg crying and screaming. His teachers, who know him since Alli and Cole both went to this program, took him and showed him the babies to play with. He never does this at home, but for some reason, he loves to play with babydolls at school. After that, he settled down and had a good day.

He has gone to school for 2 weeks now and we have progressed to no tears, but to him just giving me the most pitiful, don't leave me look. That look still makes it hard to leave him, but he has a great time and even came home today talking about his friends at school!

Cole's 5th Birthday

Unlike Nolan, Cole had been excited for his birthday for a very, very long time. He has talked about turning 5 since before summer started. Well, it finally came and he couldn't have been happier.

The weekend before his birthday, we hosted a bar-b-que with family. We ate good food (thanks to Jeff) and had cake and ice cream. His "theme" was Super Mario Brothers. He started playing this game on the Wii about 8 months ago and has conquered it. He talks about it all the time and relates almost everything back to it. Anyway, he was excited about his Mario birthday and had a great time!

Blowing out 5 candles!

This is the silly smile he puts on every time the camera is aimed at him.

Here's a pretty good smile. He doesn't know the camera is there. :)

On his real birthday, he opened presents from Alli, Nolan and Mom and Dad. He got pretty excited about the Mario movies from Alli here...

...and the Ben 10 t-shirt from Nolan.

He didn't want another cake to celebrate his real birthday, he wanted chocolate chip cookies. So we made "monster" cookies, stacked them high, and put candles in them. He loved it!

Can't believe he is 5. What a joy it has been watching him grow! We thank the Lord everyday for this little boy that keeps our house jumping!!

He chose to go to our favorite mexican restaurant for dinner. If you tell them it is your birthday, you get to wear a sombrero and they sing Happy Birthday to you.

He couldn't wait to get to wear the hat, but when the time came we could not get him to smile for anything. That's our Cole!

Boys' "Bouncy" Birthday Party

To celebrate the boys' birthdays with their friends, we hosted a party at our local Bouncin' Craze. It is an indoor inflatable bouncing, sliding heaven for kids...and adults. :) They have all kinds of bounce houses, slides, obstacle courses and other games. So we had about 20 little friends come bounce with us and then have cookie cake in the party room. They all had a blast and no adult hurt themselves too bad!

The group.

Nolan really happy to be at the "bouncy place".

Cole and Nolan coming out of the obstacle course.

Alli at the top of the big slide.

Cole and his buddies.

Cole having a blast.

Nolan coming down the Batman slide.

Singing Happy Birthday. Nolan didn't want it to be his birthday again.

Cole opening his presents on the big inflatable throne.

Nolan opening his presents.

Nolan's 3rd Birthday

"It's not my birthday!" That's all Nolan had to say about his birthday. We don't know why he didn't want it to be his birthday, but he didn't! It was actually quite funny to watch him deny, reject, or whatever you want to call it every Happy Birthday thrown his way. I have never heard of a kid not wanting it to be his birthday. All well, we went on as usual at our house when we have a birthday. We baked cakes/cupcakes, went to McDonald's for supper (his choice), sang, blew out candles, ate ice cream and cake, and opened presents. All in all, I think he had a great day, he was just embarrassed with all the attention he was getting. We then celebrated the following Saturday with lots of family. He reacted the same way with them, but still enjoyed himself. Crazy boy!

Helping me bake his cake or lick out the bowl, which ever you want to call it.

Playing bashful while we sang to him on his real birthday.

We finally got half a smile from him with his Diego cake!

Bashful again during "Happy Birthday".

Enjoying his cake.

Opening presents.

More presents. I think he enjoyed this part of his birthday.

We have been blessed with 3 wonderful years with Nolan and pray for many, many more. This little boy has livened up our household and our lives!!

Anniversary Trip

Jeff and I took a long weekend trip to Napa/Sonoma Valley for our 12th anniversary. It was hard to leave the kids behind (this is officially the 1st trip we have taken without them), but we went with some great friends and had a great time! The weather and scenery were beautiful, the food was outstanding, and the wine was even better!!!

One of the pictures that shows how beautiful the area is.

One of the wineries we visited that is a cave built into a mountain. Very cool!

Jeff walking beside one of the biggest wine barrels we saw.

Barrels, barrels, and more barrels of soon-to-be great tasting wine!!

Castello di Amorosa - A very interesting castle and wine tour.

Jeff and I at Chateau Montelena. Bottle Shock (the movie) was filmed here.

We are very thankful for the opportunity to take this trip. Although we brought back a good portion of the valley with us (wine that is), we intend to go back again someday!

Swimming

Now that summer is officially over, I guess I will post some pictures of the kids swimming. This is our favorite summer activity. It is amazing how the kids turn into fish as soon as they hit the water!

Alli and Cole took swimming lessons at the beginning of the summer and learned quite a few strokes in a short amount of time. Alli's backstroke is pretty awesome and Cole can dolphin kick with the best of them. But, Nolan is the one that grew the most gills this summer. He started off loving the water, floating around with his floaties, but not real sure of puttting his face in. By the end of the summer, he was swimming without floaties (with someone close by of course) and diving his head down in the water and kicking his arms and legs. We all had a lot of fun at the pool this summer!

One of the few pictures we got of Alli. She was too fast for us and always running off to play with friends.

Colester thought he could hide from the camera by going under water, but I got him when he came back up!

Nolan thinking he is a big kid without his floaties.

Jeff launching Cole into the air. No matter how he landed, he always came back up with a smile on his face.

Cole and Nolan looking at each other underwater.

Nolan jumping into me. I stopped catching him towards the end of the summer. He would just jump in and swim to me. He is so little but refuses to let the other kids get too far ahead of him!