Grammy's Visit

My mom came down 2 weeks ago to play with Nolan and me. And play we did! It was just wonderful having her here. Nolan is super fun to take anywhere, even shopping, so we took advantage of that. Every day we had a different adventure. The weather was beautiful for the first 4 days, so we spent most of the time outside playing in the front yard, going for walks, or going to the park!

We went to the zoo:

The penguin house Riding the carousel
Hi Mommy!

Don't they belong inside the fence?
Nolan and Mommy

Watching giraffes

A nice picnic

Up close with a water buffalo

Ted's family came for dinner one night.

Jody, Nana, Wada, Janny, Grammy and Nolan

Grammy celebrated Nolan's birthday with us. He got some great presents.

Cheesey grin

Thomas pajamas!

A "Grammy Made" card

A fun puzzle

Shouldn't every kid have one of these?

Then Grammy took us to dinner at Red Robin where Nolan got to meet the real Red Robin. He also got an ice cream sundae and the Happy Birthday song sung to him! What a fun celebration!

For Grammy's last day, we went to the Whittle Train Store near our house. It is an old train depot filled with toy train tables for kids to play with. It is totally free and provides hours of fun!

Grammy and Nolan reading

Thank you so much for visiting us Grammy! We love you so much and are so sad you had to leave. Please come back soon!

Nolan's 2nd Birthday!

Our sweet boy is 2!

Yesterday was Nolan's birthday, but the celebrations weren't limited to only one day. While Grammy was here, we celebrated with her Tuesday night. Nolan got some great presents and then we went to Red Robin for dinner. Luckily, Red Robin himself appeared and walked around the restaurant greeting all the kids. Nolan was completely enthralled and almost didn't eat because of the excitement. After dinner, Red Robin brought Nolan an ice cream sundae complete with whipped cream and sprinkles, and all the servers and Red Robin sang "Happy Birthday" to him. Unfortunately I didn't have the camera, but it was wonderful. Thanks Grammy!

Saturday night Ted, Nolan and I had a movie picnic followed by popcorn and juice boxes. Nolan requested those after the ET party with his cousins in Minnesota. A new tradition! Sunday was fun-filled every minute.

Opening presents

A yummy breakfast of pancakes with blueberries, strawberries

and bubble cream (whipped cream)

Nolan handsome for church (Thanks Grammy for the outfit!)

At church, Nolan got to take sacrament and had Mommy and

Daddy teach his nursery class!

The Cars birthday cake

Opening presents at Nana and Wada's house

Look Mom!

Blowing out the candles

Happiness at the end of the day

Nolan had a great time celebrating his birthday. Thanks to the many family members and friends that called or celebrated with us. Happy birthday Nolan!

Halloween Fun

We had a fabulous Halloween week this year! I love celebrating, and it is so much more fun with a child that loves celebrating, too! Because of backwards pictures, we have our week in reverse!

Halloween night was spent at the end of our cul-de-sac with all the neighborhood kids. We had a pot luck dinner, games, treats, and a fire. We LOVE our neighborhood and all of the great people who live here.

Nolan and his glow sword

Nolan and the pinata

Buzz Lightyear and Addison the flower

Some of our neighborhood kids
Ready for Trick or Treating

Buzz Lightyear

Halloween morning we went to our local farmer's market to pick out the perfect pumpkin. It was the first sunny day in over a week!

Carving the pumpkin with Daddy

I want this one!

The family (I'm 6 months pregnant)

Kirkwood Farmer's Market

With the aforementioned horrible weather, Nolan and I got pretty bored being stuck in the house. We made Halloween crafts!

Coloring

Nolan's Jack-O-Lanterns

Playdough pumkins

Cute!

Earlier in the week, we went to my great friend Kresta's house for a Halloween party. Nolan did wear his costume, but it only lasted 5 minutes and I didn't get a picture in time. I was surprised that Halloween night he didn't want to take it off after over 2 hours!

The popular red car

Eating the pretzels we made

Scary story time

Doughnuts on a string

All the big kids

We had a wonderful Halloween!

Keepin' On

I have finally gotten some new batteries for my camera, so now I can be back in the blogging world. We have been busy, as always, with everyday life and living. For our first big news, Nolan will be having a new BABY BROTHER!!! It's another boy! We are so excited for the crazy wrestling, running, screaming, and all things boy to happen to our household. Ted always wanted a little brother, and being the oldest with 3 younger sisters, is very excited for Nolan. As for the pregnancy, I am almost 22 weeks along and still throwing up nearly every day. Let me just tell you-so not fun. But seeing that he is growing well and moving all over the place, it will be worth it someday. (Right??? I am pretty sure...)

In other news, Nolan is still growing like crazy and doing tons of fun new stuff. He sings the entire ABCs all day long, can count to 20. (Except 14 and 15. They must be really hard ones.) And is such a fun little guy to be around. Papa and Grammy in Minnesota found a beautiful wooden bunk bed at a garage sale in northern Minnesota. Papa took it home, sanded it down, and refinished it. We didn't have a bed for Nolan, so voila, we got Papa's bed! It is gorgeous.

Nolan all snuggled in

Nolan's "boy bed"
Fall happens to be a favorite around here. Yesterday we went to the apple orchard with some great friends and had a blast enjoying the beautiful fall day.

Eating in the orchard

Addie, Kresta, Jackson, Nolan, and me
Driving the tractor

Playing Golf

(Of course-such a sports boy)

Fort Eckert

I also realized I never put any pictures from Minnesota up here. The most important part of the trip was time spent with family. Nolan still talks about his cousins and can list all of them when we talk about who "lives" in Minnesota. (Sorry Howells, but it's too confusing to explain.)

All the cousins (except Emma) at the

movie/popcorn/juicebox party

watching ET

Ben, Nolan, Grace and Emma

Papa and Nolan feeding the birds

One last request-boy name suggestions! We are having a hard time thinking up boy names for our new little guy. Any thoughts????

Take a Guess

Is it another boy? Will we get a girl this time? What will Nolan's new sibling be? We are having our ultrasound on September 15, so you have until then to cast your vote. We can't wait to find out!

Updates

We have been having a fun, busy summer. The weather has really been quite wonderful. It hasn't even seemed like we are in St. Louis!

I went to Girl's Camp for church as a Stake Leader during the week before the 4th of July. It was an amazing experience, and Ted got to be a stay-at-home-Daddy to Nolan!

Other interesting things in the Jones family:

Cardinal's Game

All Dressed up and ready to play

A trip to the Sculpture Gardens

Watching the clouds

VERY beginning of potty training

There has actually been a couple of small successes!

Swimming!

Grant's Farm with some great friends.

Playing baseball from morning till night

Tomorrow Nolan and I are heading up north to Minnesota for a 3 week vacation to visit my family. We are so excited to see everyone. We will miss you Daddy!

Last, but definitely NOT least, I may have an excuse for not posting for awhile. WE'RE PREGNANT!!!! The baby is due February 12, 2010. I have felt pretty miserable for most of the pregnancy so far. Hopefully it will improve in the next couple of weeks. We are very excited and eager for Nolan to become a big brother!

18 Months Old

Did you hear the news???

"What?"

Nolan is 18 months old today!

"Who, me?"

Yep, you!

"Sweet!"

What a fun-filled 18 months we've had in this household! Nolan is getting very big, and we love all the new things he can do. It is great that he has really become Daddy's little buddy lately. The two are almost inseparable.

Nolan has been working on talking for a long time, and we recently have crossed that two-word bridge. Last night, unsolicited, he said, "Love you Mama." I will proudly admit that he brought me to tears. (Ok-that may not be too surprising.) He says bye-bye to everyone and thing. We are working on "Miss you" for Grandma and Papa in Minnesota. Aside from that, he has over 100 words. He is doing great and we love every word.

Physically, he has been improving his utensil usage. He has mastered eating Cheerios with milk for breakfast. And by mastering, I mean he still gets a nice pile on his tray, but most end up in his mouth. He loves to "run," throw and kick all balls, and try to catch about 3 seconds after the ball has been thrown. He drives his trucks all over the neighborhood, and tries to go downstairs to play with his trains first thing every morning.

The newest fun we have is swimming outside. We go to our buddies' "Memma" (Emma), "Yi-yee" (Lily), and "Beebee" (Phoebe) house to play in their little pool. Or we just fill up some bowls and splash around our front yard. As long as we are wet, we are cool!

We go to the doctor next week for his well-child visit, so we will update size then.

Here are a couple pictures from today.

Phoebe and Nolan

Hey bud, 18 months NOT 18 years!

Happy 18 months Nolan. Mom and Dad love you so much!