Christmas Eve at Nana and PapPap's

We started the evening by eating crab legs and scallops wrapped in bacon... sorry, no pictures- I was too busy eating! Yummy!!

After dinner, we listened to Austin play some Christmas songs on his guitar.



Then, we opened presents... Two of Nicholas' favorites:

His very own pair of binoculars

His own gun (to shoot 'big bucks' and 'bears')

We had a great evening with Nana, PapPap, Uncle Rob, Aunt Andrea, Austin, NanNan, and Grandma! What a fun Christmas with family.

Buddies

I just got the ultimate compliment from Nicholas... He asked me if I would be his buddy! (That's pretty important stuff to a three year old)

How sweet.....

Let it Snow... Let it Snow... Let it Snow!

After twenty minutes of getting dressed, it's finally time...

to play in the snow!

Nicholas wasn't too sure about it at first. Believe it or not, this is the first 'real' snow that he's played in. We really haven't had a decent amount of snow in the past three years. (I kind of like it that way!)

Nicholas even used his digger to help clean the driveway

One sad thing... We were supposed to meet the family for Christmas today, but we're stuck at home (with over a foot of snow). We miss you Nana, PapPap, Uncle Rob, Aunt Andrea, Austin, NanNan, Aunt Kathy, Angie, Kevin, Kelly, Jason, Ella, Jen, Marc, and Jay David. See you soon - Merry Christmas!

Nicholas' 3rd Birthday Party

Well, we did it! We survived Nicholas' 3rd Birthday Party! I took Nicholas to Party City so that he good decide on his birthday theme. They had Thomas, Mickey Mouse, The Backyardigans, Dora, and Diego. Guess what he chose???

Mickey Mouse!

So, I was in charge of opening presents and Mike was in charge of taking pictures. Go figure - there aren't very many pictures! The pictures he did take are blurry. So, sorry... this is as good as it gets!

I think Mike is secretly scheming.... He knows that he'll never be assigned to camera duty again!

Happy 3rd Birthday

December 8, 2006... Nicholas was born. Now he's 3 years old!

I told him today that I can remember when he was a tiny baby. But, actually, it was all pretty much a blur!

His birthday party is not until Sunday. However, last night Grammy and Pappy brought a cupcake to our house with three candles on it. He also opened his presents from us.

New Trains - Rosie, Lady, Oliver, Sir Handel, Rusty, and a passenger car. (All from Mike's latest trip to China)

Then, Nicholas was dancing around the family room in anticipation...
waiting for Daddy to put together the new train table!
More pictures to come after the birthday party in a couple of days.

Big Brother

It just so happens that the Dora the Explorer show that is On Demand is 'Dora Big Sister'. In the show, Dora's mommy is having a baby... perfect timing! Last night, Nicholas and I were watching it (for about the thirty second time)... I told Nicholas that I think he is going to be a great big brother. When she's ready, he can give his new baby sister hugs and kisses. He can help take care of her by giving her bottles and changing her diapers. We were having a very sweet discussion until... he told me he was going to put his baby sister in the garage so that Riggins could eat her!

Sleepless Nights

For several weeks, Nicholas has been waking up once or twice a night crying. He runs over to my bedroom and stands beside the bed until I say something to him. One night, I pretended that I was sleeping and ignored him, hoping he would go back to bed. Instead, he laid down on the floor beside my bed and fell asleep.
So, now I get out of bed, walk him back to his room, and he falls back to sleep in his bed.

Now the funny (and bizarre) part... This morning, I asked Nicholas why he was crying last night. He told me that Elmo had a machine gun and scared him! I'm not sure if he actually had a dream about Elmo, or he creatively made up this story on the spot this morning! A couple of months ago, he told me he was crying in the middle of the night because Bob the Builder bit his cheek!

Aaahhhh... Imaginations! I wonder where he gets this stuff?!?

Tattoo

Thanks to Mr. Craig, Nicholas has his first tattoo. He is so proud of his new body art!

I hope he sticks with the temporary kind... it would make me very sad if he ever got a real bug tattoo on his arm!

Mr. Independent

Mr. Independent picked out his own outfit today.

Nice shirt with Redskins wind pants - hmmm....
Well, they both have stripes... that means they match, right?

Sleepy....

This is what happens when two-year olds don't get their afternoon nap.

It is now 7:00pm and Nicholas is sound asleep on the couch. So, the big debate... do I wake him up or let him sleep?

Go Fish

Very interesting evening.... Nicholas demonstrated that he is a big boy twice!

First - He got a pack of Dora Go Fish cards in his trick-or-treat bag. We played Go Fish tonight. He actually understood. It was the first time we sat a played a game together... fun!

Second - I was upstairs folding clothes and Mike was out in the garage. Nicholas came upstairs with a cup of yogurt and a spoon. By himself, he got the yogurt out of the fridge, took the top off of it, and got a spoon out of the kitchen drawer... I'm still deciding whether this is a good thing or not!

Aahhh - mixed emotions... my little boy is growing up!

Aaarrrr Mateys

TRICK OR TREAT! This is the first year that Nicholas actually understood the concept of going through the neighborhood and getting candy! After each house, he would say, "We need to find another house with a light on!"

It was a fun and beautiful night... (and we got enough chocolate to satisfy my cravings for weeks)

New Owners

It's official... We are now owners of a house on 110 acres in the middle of nowhere.
For several months, Mike and his dad have been looking for a weekend, getaway cabin. This place seems to be perfect. It is about an hour away from our 'real home' and has everything that we wanted. We can even get cable and high-speed internet (a must for me).
Of course, there's plenty of work to do around the place. My imagination is already running wild... thinking about walls we can rip down and carpet we can tear up.

I pray that we have lots of fun times with family and friends over the years!

He's Back

After being in China for 2 weeks, finally....

Daddy's home!

We missed him!

Soak up the Sun

Crazy, crazy weather - You have to love 80 degree weather in mid-October! Can you believe that less than a week ago it was 40 degrees and rainy?
I decided that we should soak up some of the sun. So, we went through the Arby's drive-thru and took dinner to the park.

Those of you that know me well, know that the thought of germs totally freaks me out! So, you can imagine how I felt when Nicholas kept running back and forth between the 'germy' playground equipment and his popcorn chicken. I never said anything about it though... I don't want to be 'that insane mother' that everyone whispers about.

It was a great evening. The weather was beautiful and Nicholas had lots of fun. (I just hope that none of the other kids at the playground are carrying the flu bug - ugh!)

Down the hills and 'round the bends...

Thomas and his friends!

Actually, we saw the 'real' Thomas over a month ago (weeks before I started the blog). However, it left such a big impression on Nicholas that he talks about it almost every day. So, I thought I would share some pictures from our mini-vacation.

Here he comes!

We went on a 20 minute ride with Thomas - definitely the highlight of the day!

Family pic with Thomas

Stayed tuned for more pictures next year... I have a feeling that we'll be going back again!

Pumpkin Carving

Tonight we carved a pumpkin. I thought I would have some help, but it was too 'yucky and messy' and Nicholas wouldn't touch it. So, it was all me... you can see that I'm not very creative - The pumpkin is pretty generic.

It turned out OK though. It has a new home on our sidewalk.... ready for trick-or-treaters!