Catchin' Up

This post is a whole lotta random. Just have been too busy to keep up with blogging so I'm throwing it all in this one jumbo post! 

How cute is this little cowboy on his Wild West day at Preschool! Seriously. So stinkin' sweet. (Well, definitely not always, but for sure in this picture!) 

We started another season of soccer at Parker Rec. 

A good, active, indoor activity for these cold winter months! Nolan is on Team Lightening! 

And Heath is on the Cheetahs! 

They are both doing well and having fun each week! 

We've had the wackiest weather this winter. One day snowy...the next sunny and warm! One of the many reasons we live in Colorado...60 degree days in February! 

We've been able to get out and play! 

A little catch. 

And some batting practice. 

A bike ride/walk around the circle. 

Just a Saturday night at the mall...

with 5 boys! 

We watched Cohen & Arie one night and decided to keep the house clean and the boys entertained, so we braved Park Meadows with this cute bunch! 

Nolan's classroom hosted "Muffins with Mom" last month. It was THE SWEETEST THING. Us Mom's lined up in the hallway and then Mrs. Stackley announced us one by one and our children came and escorted us into the classroom. Nolan grabbed my arm and brought me to his table. He pulled out my chair and told me that I got to sit in the chair and he would stand beside me. What a gentleman! 

Then he read me a book he wrote about me! 

We were able to edit the book and fix up and fancy up the illustrations together! It was so fun and he is such a great little learner! 

After the book, my handsome date took me to get some breakfast. He told me I needed to choose my food first, and then he would. He is well trained. We had yummy muffins and then he had seconds! He sure can put it down! 

Then his teacher planned something so special. A Mommy pampering time. We were to bring our makeup, nail apolish, hair brush, lotion, etc. Then our kiddos went to town spoiling us for about 20 minutes. Nolan brushed my hair, put on my lip gloss, rubbed lotion into my hands, and...

gave me a head, neck, and back massage! He was so funny. He kept asking me what else he could do. And I smiled from ear to ear the entire time. Such great memories together. 

After the pampering, we wrapped up our time together playing a Math game. We rolled the dice and built this cute snowman based on what numbers we rolled. After the game, I kissed him goodbye and he went on his way learning for the rest of the day. Our hearts were so full and it was the perfect way to start the day! 

We spent much of January cheering on the Broncos in the play offs! The boys LOVED defeating team after team and rooting for our team all the way to the SUPER BOWL!!! 

We decided to just stay home and have Mark's parents and brother & family over to watch the big game. Mark wanted to be able to control his own remote control and not be distracted by too many people as he watched. We got a few yummy snacks and pizzas. And Mark set up another t.v. downstairs to play DVDs of past Bronco Super Bowls. We were all set! 

Brooks was ready for a Broncos victory too! But sadly with the first play of the game, we didn't see that happening! 

What a sad, sad game, but at least we were surrounded by such fun company! 

And at least the half time performance by Bruno Mars was pretty awesome! The boys love his music! 

We tried sitting in many different spots, switching hats, changing shirts, so many things to try to change the direction of the game! Daddy really believes in this stuff! Ha! He even thinks that the Broncos ended up losing because he dried himself off after his shower in a different way then he usually does on the day of this big game! Superstitious silly stuff! 

But boy was he heartbroken! It was super sad that the Broncos lost, but they had a great season and we will cheer them on to victory again next season! 

In other more exciting news...

Brooks is now paci free!!! 

He was chewing through all of his pacifiers so we knew it was time to say goodbye. We took pacis away from all of our boys at about this same time- just over 2. And it worked well for Nolan and Heath, so we decided to do the same with Brooks. We took him to Target to pick something out to buy in exchange for his paci. Nolan "bought" CARS and Heath got Criss Cross Crash. Brooks, picked out what we knew he would- a BALL! And he kicked it all around the store. 

We got to the cash register and he "paid" for his ball with his paci. The last one we had in the house so there was no turning back! 

He was so excited to be a big boy now! Next step coming this Wednesday- moving out of the crib and into a twin size bed. We bought Nolan a full size bed this weekend and he will be moving into his own bedroom, Heath will be moving up to the top bunk, and Brooks will be on the bottom bunk. It will be interesting...we'll keep you posted! But he's been sleeping great and doing just fine without his paci, so it's time! 

Another fun day in the life of a Kindergartener...the 100th day of school! 

Nolan made these fun glasses at KED. 

And he wrote numbers to 100! 

In his actual Kindergarten class, they postponed the celebration until Friday since the real 100th day of school fell in the middle of the week. They had to create a 100th day shirt at home and then wear it to school on the special day. 

I really wanted Nolan to create the shirt on his own and to have it represent him! So we came up with this idea together. He loves penguins, so when we spotted this penguin duct tape we knew it would work perfectly. We cut out 100 penguins from the duct tape and he stuck them down in 10 rows of 10! 

This perfectionistic mama had to let go and let Nolan do his thing. And it turned out great! He was SO proud! 

I got to come in and volunteer for his 100th Day! 

Here he is doing as many crunches as he could in 100 seconds! 

And here he is making a snack of 100 pieces! This was his favorite activity of the day. 

I ran this station and helped kids count 100 yummy bites. 

Nolan and his friend Madisyn. Her Mommy & I are friends too. 

And then just before the day ended, Nolan got such a surprise! 

He was SO proud to have been the only one in his class to attend each of the first 100 days of Kindergarten! 

And Mrs. Stackley was so sweet to have asked me what his favorite candy was ahead of time. She was so thoughtful and made this day extra special for Nolan! 

I planned a special day for my Kindergarteners as well! 

100 days of hard work, learning, risk taking, caring...it's a HUGE accomplishment for 5 and 6 year olds and they deserve to PARTY!!! 

At the beginning of February Nolan attended another after school, 3 day Art Enrichment class. This time the theme was Olaf from the movie "Frozen" and they focused on the skill of painting. 

Here is his cute Olaf tile. I love decorating my house with my children's art work! 

They even made this Olaf snack on the last day. Too cute! 

Mark surprised me at work one random day with Which Wich and flowers! That boy...he's good. 

A little Lego sorting. 

And finally a few pictures from our super fun President's Day weekend! We were so thankful to have a long weekend together as a fam. 

 Playing at the park before Keaston's 1st Birthday party! 

We took a walk to Sonic. 

Happy Hour! 

Nolan tried mozzarella cheese sticks for the first time and LOVED them! I mean really, what's not to love, right?! 

Slushies!!! 

Loungin' around in Christmas p.j.'s! 

Wow! That's a lot! We've been a busy little family and we are in a really good place right now- routine and thoughtfulness are key. Yes, we have tears, yes we yell, yes we have crumbs ALL OVER THE PLACE. Yes, we CAN NOT WAIT until bed time. Life is messy. But we are healthy and happy and blessed.