Schools out for Summer!

Yay! Nolan's last day of PreSchool was this Thursday. He had a great year and learned so much! He really blossomed, made good friends, and enjoyed learning so many neat facts. (If you know Nolan, you know he loves his facts!) He had fun at his favorite center- the Messy Table, learned how to write his name, use scissors, and draw pictures. He loved sliding, playing with trucks, stomping, and chasing girls on the playground. They danced and sang and learned nursery rhymes. He knows all of his letters and sounds. Occasionally there would be tears as we said goodbye to him in the morning, but he overcame fears, took risks, and learned to be independent. When we picked him up from school each day he always had a great time and had lots of things to tell me throughout the afternoon- who his partner was, what his job was, what table top he was at, which center he chose, what he ate for snack, and so much more! But most importantly, throughout the year he learned how to share and care and be responsible and respectful! 

 We made these cute little treats for his friends on the last day! I printed out the tags and attached freeze pops with curling ribbon. 

 Then Nolan signed his name to each. He worked so hard, focused, and wrote his name 10 times straight one night! Then we finished the rest and cards for his teachers another day. 

 We bought this pretty plant for his teacher....and attached this sign...

 I thought the saying was so true of Nolan's experience this year!  And of course, every teacher loves a gift card! So in the card we got her a gift card to a nearby smoothie shop. I thought that was a good summery idea! 

When I picked up Nolan from school I snapped this picture of him with his teacher- Ms. Hauk! It was sad to say goodbye to his friends and teachers. And I was a little sad to say goodbye to all of the Mommy friends that I chat with every day too! We all enjoy our adult conversation when picking up our kids! But we got the phone number of Nolan's buddy, Quinn, and we are hoping to have some playmates with him this summer. And he'll be back with some of the same kids in his class next year, with Ms. Hauk as their teacher again. 

 When we got to the car Nolan found this on his carseat! Congratulations SMARTIE PANTS! (You did great this year!) Nolan thought it was soooooo funny! And of course, he LOVED the candy!

After school we took him out for a special lunch, just him, Daddy, and I! It was fun to have no pesky brothers around! We told him he could choose where we went, and of course, he chose McDonalds! He had fun eating, playing, and making friends in the tunnels! 

Oma was watching the younger two and when we went to pick them back up she had a special card, $5, and MatchBox Car for Nolan as a reward for his fantastic first year of school! The card had a puppy holding an American Flag on it...and it was PERFECT for Nolan! He loved the card more than the money inside of it! He was thrilled with it and so sweetly thanked his Oma for it. This silly boy loves his animals, but lately he has also been very into flags! He's patriotic like his Mommy! Thanks Oma for this little treat and for helping make his day even more special. 

It was a great day for our growing boy who we love so much! Now that school is over we are really looking forward to a FUN summer! 

We are Awana Cubbies!

Last Wednesday, Nolan had his end of the year Awana program. It was a celebration of the amazing work that these 3, 4, and 5 year olds have done this year! They have memorized over 30 Bible verses! It truly is awesome! If you give Nolan just the first word of one of the verses, he'll rattle off the rest of the verse like it's nothing! We are so proud of how easily he has memorized these verses and taken them and hidden them in his heart! We have loved his experience in Cubbies and will definitely continue going next year! He is learning so much about our God whose love for us is so deep and never ending! 

For his program, each Cubbie had to decorate a shoebox, attach a string to it, and put their favorite stuffed animal inside. They would then parade their animals around the audience to start the program. 

Nolan wanted his box to be red. Then he wrote his name on the side, added his favorite stickers, and pipe cleaner "antennas". He did a great job and did almost all of it himself! He chose "Snakey" to put inside and he snuggled him up in his favorite "little blankie". 

 Here he is at the start of the parade. 

 His wave here makes me laugh! Look at his fingers! Ha! 

Then is was time to start the show. Since I am a Cubbie Leader I helped corral the children and run the program. We started by saying the Pledge of Allegiance and the Awana Pledge. Then we sang the Cubbies song and a few others. Next there was a short and chaotic little play and it closed with awards. Mark didn't film it all, just bits and pieces that I included in a video clip below. But Nolan did a great job! He smiled, was serious, tripped over his rope, faced sideways, sang loudly, watched others, waved at his Daddy, looked around, spoke into the microphone, waited patiently, and as you can see in the photo below decided to stick his cute little bootie in the air at one point! So really, he acted just as any 4 year old would! Ha! 

 Nolan was thrilled to earn his Cubbie (the small stuffed animal pinned on his vest) for completion of year one and book one! He also earned two more patches- a giraffe and a zebra for attendance and doing all of his Under the Apple Tree activities. After the program we got to celebrate as a family with cookies and juice before we picked up his brothers from the nursery. It was such a fun night and we love these little moments to spend with just our big boy! If I feel this proud of him for just completing his first year of Awana, how will I feel as he's graduating from High School?! 

Mother's Day with my Guys!

I had an excellent Mother's Day and was completely spoiled by my guys! We woke up to sick boys, so we had to skip church and just stay home and relax. Luckily since it was Mother's Day, Mark volunteered to deal with the puke and poop and let me sleep in a bit! Then I was treated to a yummy caramel latte and a home made breakfast! 

 Nolan made me this sweet finger print picture at school. 

 And Mark bought me these yummy cake pops! I told him that I didn't need any gifts. But he thought I still needed some "flowers"!

 He also helped the boys trace their hands and make these precious "flowers" for me too!

At noon I met up with Barb, Cara, Jayne, and Gwen for a little Starbucks treat, mani/pedis, and a happy hour! It was just what this mama needed- no kids, adult conversations, and quiet!  

 When I got home these adorable boys were waiting for me! Love how they love me! 

 We hung out and got Pei Wei for dinner! 

It was the perfect day! (Minus a little puke and poop- but really, sadly, these days, we're kind of used to it!) I am so blessed to have a loving husband and 3 gorgeous sons! 

{five months}

5 months have passed with this sweet boy...

 and every month...

 we fall...

 more...

 and more...

 and more...

in love! 

Awana Grand Prix

Awana hosted a Family Derby Night at church last Friday evening. Nolan and his Daddy had so much fun designing and building his race car. We chose a pre-cut body style since we were newbies at this. So all we had to do was paint it, hammer the tires in, and add a few bee bees for weight. 

 Of course, Nolan wanted to paint his car green- his favorite color. 

 I love the look of concentration on his face. 

 A few days later he added some black racing stripes. Daddy added some red lightening bolts and Nolan's initials to the car's body. (When Nolan is really focused and working hard, this is what he does with his lips- so precious! I never want to forget this face...I hope he always does it!)

 On race day, they worked together to hammer in the wheels. 

 And then we were ready to go! Since this was our first time at the Awana Grand Prix, we were just hoping that the car would make it across the finish line! But Nolan was confident that it would be the winner! Ha! 

 We had a potluck dinner, checked out other people's cars, and chatted with old and new friends. 

 Check out some of these cars! Pretty incredible! 

 You can tell that some people have done this before. They made fancy cars and knew just how to cut, build, and weigh their cars to get them to race FAST! 

 There were 40 some cars in Nolan's division. But his car got to race 4 times! 

There his car is in the red lane!

Below is some QUICK video footage of his car racing...we definitely weren't the fastest, but we crossed the finish line! Woo hoo! I think we finished 3rd in two heats and 4th in two heats. Nolan quickly realized that he was not the winner. We still had fun watching his car race, but he really just wanted to play with the car and zoom it around on the ground.

We called Nolan's car, "Green Lantern".  And he thought it was pretty funny when his car flew off the track just past the finish line. 

It was a late and chaotic night with our 3 kids and 50 others. But it was a fun start to a future family tradition. We learned a few things from our rookie race that we look forward to putting into place next year! 

But the best part of all was the look on this kid's face when he earned his ribbon! A blue ribbon! He thought he was a winner for sure...and in our eyes, he ALWAYS is! 

rice cereal and some randoms

Last week we started rice cereal with Brooks.  

Our doctor suggested starting right away with 2 servings a day to try to put a little more meat on his bones! Once again, NEVER EVER thought I would be saying that about one of my boys! 

He did a pretty good job for his first time eating solids! It was a mess of course and he just kept trying to put his hands and bib in his mouth. 

But we just kept shoveling it in! 

After a few minutes, he had had ENOUGH! Poor guy! Packing on the pounds is hard work apparently! 

Here is a video, that probably only the Brooks enthusiasts will love, but worthy of documentation none the less...

And just because these 2 cuties deserve a little face time too...

The other day, Nolan shouted from the deck, "Mom, hurry, bring the camera!" 

When I came out with camera in hand, this is what they were doing! 

One minute they are the best of friends, the next they are smacking each other! That's brothers! Silly boys! But love them so much! 

Patty's in town...

Last week we had our good college friend, Patrick, and his wife Kristen, and their daughter Reilly come visit from Philadelphia. We had a very nice visit with them, catching up, getting to know each other, watching our kids play, laughing, and exploring this beautiful state we live in. 

It's sad that it always takes having guests to get us out of our normal routine and into the amazing creation so close to us! Friday, we drove just 15 minutes from our house over to Daniel's Park. It's one of our favorite places to do a little low key hiking and rock climbing. The view of the mountains is amazing! The boys had so much fun exploring and hiking around. We packed a picnic lunch and spent some time in the sun! 

 Nolan was proud of himself as he made it to the edge of "Pride Rock" as he called it! I love this picture because it shows how he pulls up his underwear and pants after going to the bathroom. They are ALWAYS bunched up. It drives Mark BONKERS! He always wants to fix them for Nolan. I always just let them be. I think it's funny and cute and shows his 4 year old independence! 

Parts of Daniel's Park were burnt in a fire. It's sad to see the devastation. That's Mark and Heath down there. 

The Sanctuary Golf Course is down below. Just a few minutes after I snapped this picture a huge wind storm came through and we hurried back to the car. When I took Brooks out of his carseat later he had sand and leaves in his hair! What a trooper he is! 

The next day, we drove down to Colorado Springs to explore Garden of the Gods. 

Patrick is an adventurer and loves being outside. He was great with the boys and had fun doing what Nolan does best- using his imagination and exploring. He was teaching Nolan how to hunt rabbits, you know for when you are lost in the forest and need to find your own food! Ha! 

I loved watching the boys run in-between these HUGE rock formations! 

Checking out the "caves"! 

Lots of kids were carried at different points throughout our trek. 

Nolan did a great job and hiked the whole way. Right about here we had a melt down due to a much needed lunch break. But as soon as we all ate, everyone was happy again! 

We had a picnic lunch and did some more exploring in the rocks and down in a dry river bed. 

That's Pat up on the rocks! 

Heathy looking down over a ledge. 

It was so fun to spend a week with the Crawfords, but that also meant that we got to hang with the Krauths all week too! Our boys had fun with their girly friends- Reilly and Ella. They all really play so well together. The boys are going to go through withdrawals over not having their girls around anymore. We should really think about arranged marriages some day! Ha! 

I am just so thankful that Brooks is so easy going. I carried him in the Snugli all day as we hiked around and he slept and looked around and barely made a peep! He was happy to get out and have some snuggles with Daddy though just before we left. 

After this week, we were just reminded once again how God has continued to bless us with amazing friendships throughout each stage of our lives together- college, newlyweds, and now married with children! We couldn't do this crazy life of ours without them all! We need to laugh, have adult conversation, cry, get advice and encouragement and so much more and our great friends provide that for us! 

Thank you Pat & Kristen for spending the week with us. It was so much fun and we love you tons! Looking forward to future East Coast Beach Vacations with you!!!