Nolan's 2nd Birthday and more...

I've been a while catching up (or at least it seems because I've got several things to share...)

We celebrated Nolan's 2nd Birthday on Friday.  Wow, our little bear is TWO!  He had a great party despite the snow storm that moved through that evening.  He really enjoyed his day thoroughly.  He woke up early and knew right away that "I two! Cake, cake!" Which was him telling me that he KNEW that it was his birthday.  So adorable.  He had a basketball theme for his party, which he picked out.  And mom took pictures for me on her camera, so I'll share those soon, when I get her memory card to upload them.

There were several funny things in relation to Nolan's party.  First, on Thursday I had to shop for his gifts.  And he was with me.  I thought I was pretty slick, entertaining him with toys that we weren't buying so that I could "sneak" the real gifts into the cart.  We got him some bath toys and a big coloring book with large crayons.  Well, I thought that I had done a good job, until.... I set out his presents before his party.  He ran over and started to rip one of them open.  I yelled for him to stop because it wasn't his party yet.  He looked straight at me and said "but I want to color!!!"  So, apparently he knew EXACTLY what I had been up to.  He was trying to open the box of crayons!  Little Stinker..

Another funny from our very smart 2 year old:  When he was picking out stuff for his birthday party, we tried to get him to pick football stuff so we could have a "super bowl" theme for his party.  But he INSISTED on basketball in the store.  I kept saying "are you SURE you don't want football?  We can have a football cake!"  He wasn't having anything to do with that.  Well, last night when the super bowl came on, he pointed to the screen and said "I want that now."  Of course, I was baffled.  "You want what now?," I asked.  He responded, "I want that, football, now.  Cake."  Oh my goodness, he doesn't forget anything.  He thought that maybe he could change his mind after the fact.  He is so much like his big brother Avery that it is almost scary!  We've had many of these moments with Avery.

So, on to the snowstorm that came in on Friday...  We picked up about 6 or more inches of snow.  And we are in for some more overnight tonight into tomorrow.  We had fun out playing in the snow over the weekend.  There were drifts that came up to the boys' chests.  They couldn't hardly walk out in some of it.  If the wind hadn't been so brutal, we probably would have played out a lot more!

Chaille experienced the snow for the first time this weekend too.  I bundled her in her snowsuit and took her out briefly.  She seemed to enjoy it, although her snowsuit didn't exactly allow her to touch the snow with her hands.  I have pictures of her on mom's camera that I will add when I can!  It is so much fun experiencing new things with my children, like the wonder of snow for the first time :0)

Yesterday we spent the day at home, enjoying our family and some fun time together.  We watched the super bowl (the kids until half time,) and I got a real glimpse of how much Avery is growing up.  He is starting to understand football.  And he asked first thing this morning who won.  He is so much maturing into a wonderful young man!  I saw glimpses of my future with my boys and their dad watching sports together. It makes me excited to get to experience it all with them!!!

The kids have all had the cough that Silas and Chaille started with.  Nolan's has been very minor with a runny nose too.  Avery has had to have cough medicine at bedtime, but has handled it very well.  Silas and Chaille still have residual coughs, but seem to be overall better.  And Steve and I are (knock on wood) healthy!

Well, I've got plenty to do this Monday morning.  I didn't touch a single load of laundry over the weekend, so I'm in for a busy day of doing laundry, straigtening messes, and a dentist visit and Bible Study.  I'm not exactly stoked about the dentist visit, but it is necessary.  And this is our final session in the Esther study.  I can't believe how fast it has gone, especially since we have only met every other Monday!  We are going to do another one sometime after spring break.  I'm looking forward to the next one.  Esther has been AWESOME!