Sunday, June 22, 2008

7 Months Old

Nolan is 7 months old today! Wow is time slipping away.

Our little boy is no longer so little! We weighed him a couple of weeks ago at the doctor and he was already over 18 pounds. He measured 27 inches long, too. 50% for both measurements, and his head was 50% as well.
Nolan continues to be such a wondeful little boy. His favorite things to do are screech, scream, blow bubbles and raspberries, and babble up a storm. I think he may take after his mom! He can also sit up very well on his own, play with all sorts of toys, make an effort to step forward when being held up, roll all over the place, and play peek-a-boo. We sure are having a great time!

Our Crazy Weekend!

We had such a crazy weekend! First, we had ANOTHER big storm at our house. This one resulted in a new type of damage.

Notice the tree on top of our neighbor's house. Luckily no one was hurt, but there were many more braches and trees down all over. A house a few blocks away was crushed by a tree and the owner had to be removed with the jaws of life. Again, no serious injuries.
This weekend Ted has several family members in town. His cousin was ordained in the Episcopal church. We had the opportunity to spend time with everyone. Saturday night, we had our first non-family member babysit. Kasey is from our ward, and is wonderful.

Today Nolan got to meet some of Ted's cousin and see his great-uncle again.

Nolan with Ted's cousin Berkley

Nolan with Ted's cousin, Ted.

Nolan and his Great Uncle (Gruncle) Doug

Finally, we have decided to go green! Well, at least we are trying to reduce our gas bills. This is our "new" scooter! We got it for $650. It gets 80-90 mpg, so seeing that Ted drives all over for work, we plan on making up for this cost relatively soon. It is pretty fun! I actually drove it all over our neighborhood. If you can get over feeling dorky, it can be a great way to get around.

Well, we sure had a fun weekend. It is time for a good nap!

Friday, June 20, 2008

The Magic House

We went to the Magic House this morning! It was so much fun. There are a ton of great things for kids of all ages. Of course, Nolan enjoyed the 0-24 month area the most.

Did I ever mention how much of a water baby this boy is?

Holy Moly! 4 Nolans! He thought this was too funny.

Toot Toot for Captain Nolan!

Phoebe, Nolan and Cohen

I LOVE sand. Especially since it is my first time!

The Magic House Rocks!

We had a great time today. Thanks to Kate, Emma, Lily and Phoebe for sharing their guest pass with us!

Saturday, June 14, 2008

New Bedding

I have done it. I finally feel like a grown-up. I bought new bedding for our bed! Yipee!

I have had the same comforter thing since my first year teaching in Minnesota. I guess I never felt the need to get a new one. Last year Ted painted our room a beautiful "Mulling Spices" color while I was helping my sister with her new baby. It was a great color, but I was starting to get tired of it. Probably because I didn't do anything with the rest of the room. Well, I was shopping at Kohls and saw this beautful bedding! I just loved how the brown pillow tied everything together! You can't really tell, but there is some nice stitching work to add detail throughout the top of the comforter and the pillows. I even changed my bedside table to be more calming. No more books and stuff just laid out. Now they are hidden by a nice little cloth. I feel like my room is actually tranquil. I love it!

House Troubles

Our neighborhood has been having some severe water problems lately. This is what our backyard looked like following a recent rain storm. Our yard was not even the worst on the street.

The water creates rapids and leaves a pleasant swampy lake, large enough to grow algae. The rain has also caused some basement flooding. We spent all last weekend cleaning out wet stuff, scrubbing the floor, gathering garbage, and just trying to salvage what we can.

To help with this situation, Ted devised a plan. Enter: 2 dump trucks of top soil, a bob-cat, a jack hammer, land scaping stones, wheelbarrows and shovels, and a ton of sweat.

The plan was flawless. Well, except for the unexpected weather shift! Before clearing all the dirt from the driveway and settling it in its proper place, we experienced an unpredicted downfall. Luckily, the lake didn't return, but the evil river washed a portion of our dirt away. Oh yeah. Did you also know that top soil makes a great cement? It turns to thick, sticky mud, and then to a hard concrete.

Now our lake is gone, but "cement" slabs have taken its place. The rain pictures above were actually take post-dirt laying. We are not quite sure where to go from here, but the future looks brightly filled with sod, grass seed, and many phone calls to our metropolitan sewer district pleading for help. Wish us luck!

Summer Fun!

Sorry I haven't blogged in a while. Great things have been happening here! It is summer and I am done working! It feels strange to say I "retired" at the age of 29. After 7 years of teaching, It seems so strange to be done. It is wonderful, though!

We have been doing many things with a few of our great friends. First off, we had a barbeque for Memorial Day.

We have also had friends over for lunch. This is Tera (Nolan's WONDERFUL baby sitter) and her son, Nolan's good buddy David. He is just 4 months older than Nolan. The other picture is Tyler, Tera's 5 year old son. Kenley, the 3 year old daughter, also came for lunch. Tera sure had her hands full with Nolan added. She was very appreciated.

We have also been swimming at local community pools with Melika and Cohen. They all have "Tot time" from 10-11:30 in the morning. The pools have sprayers, slides, and are all super shallow so Nolan can sit in them. He LOVES swimming and never wants to get out.

Well, that is just a taste of what we have been up to. I am sure many more fun things are yet to come!