Trick or Treat 2015

Mummy and Son Dance (with Gavin, Conner & Kaden)

Wild Thing Day at school

Nolan's party

Navy Seal & Bumblebee

Nolan - August 2015

Nolan,

I used to describe you as my sweet boy. Now you are my sweet, goofy boy. You have found your silly side and you love to pretend that you fall down, you have a crazy fake laugh and your newest favorite phrase is "nanny nanny boo boo". It's super cute because you don't quite do it to the same beat that it's typically done. But to be fair, you are still my sweet boy. You love to cuddle and I probably get an average of 3 hugs and 2 kisses per hour. You have finally broken your brother down and he will cuddle and hug on you some too. But no kisses. That's too much. You adore your big brother and copy his every move. Now that you are older you are growing on him two and I love watching you two play together. Your giggles and wrestling and chasing and hilarious conversations are one of the best parts of my day.

You are soooooo close to being ready for potty training. You do a great job at school but it's hard to get you to go at home. You also had a melt down the one time I tried to take your diaper off and you cried diaper for about 10 minutes straight. And, along with potty training comes with nudity. You love running around naked and if anyone, including you, has any article of clothing missing you say "YOU NAKED!!!!"

This summer you loved playing in the pool, having brother at daycare with you and being outside. But you LOVED the fireworks on 4th of July. This is the first year you really really noticed them and you were amazed. You just kept yelling "FIWERWORKS POW POW POW!"

You still have a great appetite and will eat pretty much anything. You also eat nonstop. Even at night. When we get up in the morning I can almost consistently find some wrapper or crumbs from something you got up and ate in the middle of the night. 

You know all of your colors, most of your shapes and are starting to be interested in counting. You typically start at 6 and it goes something like, "6, 7, 9, 3". You went from barely talking at all to knowing what seems like hundreds of words and talking nonstop. It's great that you can communicate now, but I think silence is a thing of the past.

One thing everyone notices about you is your laugh. You have the deepest, cutest belly laugh. You laugh with every bit of your body and you do it often. You also still have a sweet little bitty voice. Don't get me wrong, you can scream. But your natural voice is so soft and sweet.

Nolan, it's crazy to believe that you are almost three years old. You will always be my baby but there is very little baby left in you. I love you so much and cannot ever tell you that enough. You are sweet, funny and crazy and ornery. The perfect little bundle of joy.

Huston - August 2015

Huston,

We had a great summer with lots of fun in the sun. You spent the summer break with Nolan at Oak Tree and made lots of new friends. Nolan loved having you with him all day, he worships his big brother. I love watching you two play and giggle together and hope that you are always best friends. 

In the evenings when you get home you spend a few hours outside playing with the neighborhood kids. We took off your training wheels on your bike and the pride on your face made me realize why this is such a milestone for parents.

When you aren't outside you are building legos. You are really good at following the instructions and pay a lot of attention to the small details. But I also like to see the things that you build without instructions, you are really creative! You also like to play Minecraft and Legos on your Xbox but thankfully so far you are not obsessed with it.

Your vocabulary gets bigger every day, but you still have a few quirky little things that you say that I just love. In the morning when you get up you say "Mom, it's good morning, time to get up." You never just say "morning" you always add "good morning". You fit the word actually in as much as possible. Things are "desploding" instead of exploding. But I think the best one happened at school. I went to pick you up and three different teachers were waiting on me and I thought, oh man what did he do? They were all wanting to tell me the same story. Apparently another kid was poking you during circle time and instead of a simple, "Please stop." you raise your and and tell the teacher "He's limiting my learning can you ask him to stop?" What a ham. You have also already learned to start manipulating your brother. You'll ask him to throw away your trash and if I tell you to stop you'll say "Mom, I'm helping him learn." You also tell me you need "alone time" when you want your brother to leave you alone.

The one thing that really gets you upset lately, is that you have not lost a tooth. You are convinced you are the only kid left to lose one and we check all of the time to be sure that they aren't loose.

So, with summer ending....that means it was your BIRTHDAY! I can't get my head around that you are SIX years old. I know you'll be sixteen before I know it so I'm just trying to get as many cuddles as I can now before you won't let me anymore. You had a great birthday party with lots of friends and Nama came in just for your party. You also had a surprise guest...Captain America! You've been working out make believe and real and have lots of questions around it. You decided that wasn't the real Captain America, but he was hired by Captain America to be there.

You are about 3 days into the First Grade and have already determined that you like your teacher, you have about 2 friends in class but "know lots in other rooms" and come home singing silly songs and telling me random facts. You are also back at karate camp after school and ask me every day if it's your day for a lesson.

It hit me this year that I've been a mom for six years now! I always knew I wanted to be a mom more than anything in the world...and you will always be the one who made that come true for me. I love you so much baby boy and my heart flips a little at least once a day over how proud I am of you or how sweet you are. We do have our moments where you are learning and testing your boundaries, but for as many of those moments you have double or triple of sweet, giggling and cuddling.

Huston - May 2015

Huston,

You are growing up so fast. You read, you count, you use big words. I see you becoming a caring and smart little boy and get so proud of you that my eyes well up a little. The other day you got to be "leader" at school. This is something you look forward to so much. On the way to school a few days before you told me that next time you are leader are going to pick your friend Griffin to be your helper on something (I'm not really sure how all that works) because he was sad that one of his best friends moved away. For you to put that together all by yourself gave me a little glimpse of how sweet and mature you are becoming.

Although karate is your favorite, you gave basketball a shot too. Momma was very happy to have a sport she understands and I hope you love it as you get older.

You also take being a big brother very seriously. You love to "help" me with Nolan. This really translates to you bossing him around but you are pretty sly about it. "Mommy, I had Nolan take that to the trash because he needs to learn." Yea, I see right through that. He's your little slave. But you do help. It's so cute to see you try and use patience with him. You will start out in a loud, stern voice, "NOLAN, DON'T DO THAT!" I'll ask you not to talk mean and to try and help him learn. You will modify to "Nolan, will you please NOT DO THAT!" You are getting there.

It is killing you that you haven't lost a tooth yet. All the kids you know are losing them and you want one to be loose so bad. I might have told you that you need to brush more for them to start getting loose. Sometimes mommas are sly too.

There are a few words that you still get mixed up, but one of my favorites is when I tried to get you to start using the correct word for your "peepee". Somehow penis has turned to "harness". You came home and told me about a boy getting kicked in the "harness" and it took me a few minutes to decipher that story. It has stuck and that is what you refer to as yours now.  

Probably my favorite story about you lately is the infomercials on tv. You love to shop and as they show the latest and greatest "As Seen on TV" toy available, they end it with "Must be 18 to order." This makes you so mad. You will ask me all upset, "Why do you have to be 18? Those little kids aren't 18 and they are playing with it!!" 

I probably should mention how gross you are now too. All boy. You stink, you are dirty and the amount of black on the bottom of your feet each day is disgusting. You are constantly covered in scratches and bruises, which turn into dirty bandaids within minutes. I love you, but you and your laundry are getting gross...

You definitely have your own sense of style. You insisted on a buzz cut, which I do not like at all. I thought it would grow out fast and you'd be over it. Nope, you asked for another. You pretty much only wear athletic shorts now, which I can totally live with. Except you like to tuck your shirt in and wear knee socks with your sandals. I'm picking my battles but there are a few times I interfere, primarily just to keep you from getting beat up on the playground haha.

Your dad came for a visit this month and you talked him into buying you everything you saw and take you to all your favorite spots. The three of you had a great time together and you were a big help with your baby brother. When he left for the airport you told him to "take you in his heart". He does, buddy, every time. You are always there. 

This is your last week of school and then you will be a FIRST grader! I still can't believe it. Good thing your school doesn't do Kindergarten graduation or I'd be that embarrassing mom taking pictures and crying.  

You love your friends with all your heart and are going to be a social butterfly.

You are smart, funny, caring, sweet and crazy. I can't say it enough. Watching you grow into such an awesome young man makes me a proud momma and I hope you always know how much I love you and support you.   

Nolan - May 2015

Nolan,

It's official. There is no baby left in you. You are an independent little thing and some of the words and things you do by yourself make you seem so much older than you really are. You talk non-stop and keep me updated on everything you are doing and repeat everything you hear.  Your most common phrases are "Momma, I did it!", "High five!", "Be right back.", "Tickle, tickle.", "Need help, ma.", and you love to say "Thank you, ma." Over and over.  I'm glad you are so polite but sometimes you will say "Thank you, ma." and nothing just happened that requires a thank you.

Part of your new independence is getting in your carseat all by yourself. This takes a bit longer than when I help you, but it is very important to you. Now you just need to learn to buckle it yourself and I have a whole new freedom. You have also taken over feeding the fish. He's going to be very very fat soon, so we are working on portion control. I think (I hope) you are almost ready to potty train. I am excited about this but then anything baby left in you is really gone...

You are still my little cuddler and you do full on kisses with both hands on my cheeks like a movie star kiss. If you are sitting by me on the couch or in bed and we haven't talked in a few minutes, you will put your hand behind my back and say "Hi, ma." or "Love you, ma."

For the most part you sleep in the room with Huston in the bottom bunk, but will occasionally still crawl in bed with me in the wee hours of the morning. I don't get much sleep when that happens, but I sure do love the snuggles.

And sometimes you just pass out on your tracks.

You have discovered cartoons and love Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Bubble Guppies, Peppa Pig and TMNT. You have also started playing with cars with full on sound effects. You took over Huston's Handy Manny set of tools, which I just love watching because those were his favorite toys for so long.  

One thing that really amazes me is how aware you are of where we are in the car.  You will announce, "Home!", "School!" and "Donut Holes!" as we drive to your favorite places. You also have two running jokes. In the morning on the way to dropping you and Huston to school, I usually stop and get some Starbucks. As soon as you realize that we are pulling in you will start telling me, "Nolan want's a coffee." I'll say, "YOU don't get coffee, Momma gets coffee!" and you giggle hysterically.  This goes on and on.  The barista thinks it's so cute, sometimes she gives you a Nolan coffee (mini apple juice) in a little cup. Then you use the stirrer as a sword and your day is made. Your other funny joke is when I pick you up from school.  You first walk out and "hug" the front of the car, which I tell you is weird every time, but you do it.  Then you say, "Go home now?"  I tell you we need to get your brother and you say, "No, no get Huston, we go home now."  Then laugh and laugh.

And Huston. Boy, do you love your big brother. I love watching you two become close and play together. You copy everything he does, good and bad. He won't let you do it very often, but you like to cuddle on him too.

Since you were born you have been an animal lover. Your first word was even "Dog." Nothing has changed there and you will hunt and chase them down if one is anywhere near you. We went to Lost Creek Safari with your cousin, Gavin, and you got to hold a baby kangaroo, feed a camel and chase chickens. You were in heaven. 

You started a new school that is so amazing. I love the room, the teachers, the curriculum and I can even login in and see what you are doing throughout the day. You seem much happier there and they let you play outside for about 2 hours a day. One of your buddies goes there too, so you already had a good friend on the first day.

Your Dad came for a visit this month and spoiled you rotten. You played non-stop and talked him into buying you all sorts of things. You went to the mall, the trampoline place, Bricktown and of course you had to take him to Eskimo Joes. 

Nolan, I know I'm not as good at writing this monthly like I used to be, but there is no way to capture everything smart and funny and cute that you do. I try to get as much as I can in here but just know that it's only a fraction of the things you do that amaze me and make me proud every day. I love you so much and look forward to every day of new surprises from you.