not a ::wee:: bit

Happy St. Patrick's Day Everyone!

We sure had fun celebrating today!

Even though we are not even a ::wee:: bit Irish!

(and have a depressing lack of green clothing in our wardrobe)

We started the morning with our usual day off routine of G-G-P! Gym, Groceries, Park! Then it was home for some festive holiday baking and activities!

First we made cupcakes...

Nolan loves helping out in the kitchen!

Especially if it involves licking the spoons!

Our finished Masterpieces!

And we also made these...

Shamrock jello jigglers...a way cool after nap snack!

Heath wasn't so sure at first!

But soon enough he was ready to dig in & completely devour his clover!

Then it was time for some little gifts! Who doesn't love an excuse to give and receive presents?! Certainly not me!

I found these adorable cushion envelopes on Good Gravy Designs Blog! All I had to do was print them out, cut, fold, tape, stuff, and add some ribbon! (You should check out her website and blog- she has some crazy cute stuff!)

Nolan was THRILLED to open up his gift!

(Yes, I know it looks like he is growling...but that, unfortunately, is his forced CHEESE face! Hopefully this is just a phase! Ha!)

So curious to see what was inside...

Gold Chocolate Coins! Lucky Boys!

And look what I was lucky enough to find when I turned my back on him for seriously 10 seconds! Chocolate coin, in his mouth, foil and all! It took everything within me to pry that sucker out of his mouth! He wanted it bad! Who could resist that messy face?!

Then we were off to deliver some of our treats! We swung by Cohen's, Daddy's baseball game, and Payton & Brady's house to hand off some yummy St. Patty's day cheer! Too bad Trey-Trey & Rowie don't live closer, we had to mail them theirs, but it would have been WAY more fun to drop them off in person!

What a great day we had! And despite our lack of Irishness, we LOVE a holiday that makes us stop to recognize just how {LUCKY} we are!

"Girlyfriend"

Nolan loves the movie CARS! And in the movie, the character Mater, calls Sally- the pretty blue sports car, Lightening McQueen's, "Girlyfriend"!

So now, every friend that Nolan meets that is a girl automatically becomes his "girlyfriend"! The 2 girls we met at the park the other day are now his "girlyfriends" and he is upset when they aren't always at the park whenever we go there.

So of course, when Ella Krauth came over last Saturday, she too, was his "girlyfriend"!

Here are some pictures from our afternoon date!

Trying to get them all to smile at the same time is next to impossible!

Nolan is sitting on his feet, and Ella is hunched over, but still, Nolan looks HUGE next to all 15 pounds of her cute self! Hey, Heath even looks gigantic next to petite little Ella Jean! But our boys looking big is really nothing new!

"Auntie" Abby even got to be in a rare picture! I love any "girly" time I can get when I am surrounded by dudes all day long!

Heath is VERY into hugging and kissing these days! He constantly tries to hug and kiss his little cousins Cohen and Landon and it was no different with Ella! He leans in his head for kisses and says "mmmm...muah!" It's the sweetest thing!

But I think we'll continue to chaperone their dates for a little while...maybe forever!

All About: Nolan

My last post was devoted solely to Heath...so it's about time Nolan got his own too!

A bunch of pictures from our day to day life...

Nolan has been collecting cars from the movie CARS for over a year now! He has A LOT of them! He has always enjoyed playing with them and vrooming them around, but now he sets up all of Radiator Springs and groups the cars together by the scene they were in from the movie!

Nolan has never really loved art. He will do projects with me or color for short spurts of time. But recently has shown more of an interest in it. Here he is using the window markers he got for his birthday from his friend Rylan!

This picture is hard to see, but he worked hard on creating a "motorcycle in the grass". He made wheels, the base, and handle bars too. He is no Monet, but getting there!

Nolan with a rare, quiet, focused, determined face! These moments are becoming more frequent which is so cute to see- a true sign he is growing up!

Nolan cuddling up and watching basketball with Daddy! He loves the Nuggets, and especially Carmelo! Too bad he got traded! Here they are watching Carmelo play for his new team- the Knicks! He has a hard time saying Carmelo's name, he calls him- "Vamelo" or "Carmilla"or something silly like that! It is so funny to listen to Nolan watch sports- he repeats everything he hears, but not always correctly! Sometimes they watch games in the basement and shoot hoops at the same time!

Daddy LOVES it!

Nolan LOVES his duplos! He plays with them all the time! Daddy is much better at playing duplos than I am, so he usually waits to play with them when Mark comes home from work! He creates the coolest cars, planes, buildings, and so much more! He is super creative and has learned so much about building fun structures from Mark! I love watching his imagination flow when he builds and makes up stories and action with all of his creations!

His latest fav- vanilla pudding! Not chocolate, vanilla only! He adores it and has it for a special dessert once in awhile!

Playing on his top bunk with 2 of his best pals- Fluffy and Pillow Pet!

Once in awhile he even lets his brother up for some fun! Being sweet...for the moment!

Nolan in the bath- he likes baths with his brother, however, he LOVES it when I take Heath out to get him dressed! Then he can sprawl out! If you notice from one post to the next- Nolan's hair is the exact opposite of curly! It is stick straight and flat!

Showing off his Monster Trucks! He is so excited about his latest and greatest- brown Monster Mutt! He earned it for good behavior!

Playing with his Joker house- another daily occurrence! He is so into all things Super Hero and crime fighter, even though besides watching a few minutes of the OLD Batman t.v. show with Uncle T, he really hasn't ever seen any super hero cartoons, movies, or shows! He just thinks they're cool!

This week we've been visiting preschools and trying to decide where Nolan will go to school next year...

How can it be that we are doing this already?! He is 3! And so smart and so sweet! And so ready for preschool!

He was thrilled this morning to go visit Denver Christian Preschool! When we dropped Heath off at Oma's house before heading over, he wouldn't even get out of the car to go say hi to Oma! He said, "No thanks, Heath goes to Oma's. I go to preschool!" While there he got to play in his cousin Brady's classroom, join them for music circle, and play freeze dance with them! The structure of a classroom setting will be good for him! We love watching him learn and grow!

And finally...I love this silly picture! It's of Nolan laughing! Have you heard Nolan laugh? If you haven't...you definitely need to! He simply has the best laugh! It is pure JOY!