Ringmaster Nolan!

Yesterday we had Nolan's 1st Birthday Party! It was a Carnival theme with Games , Rides, Popcorn, Face Painting and all the junk food goodies. All of our good friends and family came . It was a perfect day.
We started out by playing some carnival games like Can Toss, Bottle Ring Toss, Bean Bag Toss, Duck Fishing, Bowling, and a water Balloon toss. The "Carnival" was originally set to be outside but the Houston weather had other plans. A cold front came through so we had to move all the games into the garage. I was worried it wouldn't be as fun but I don't think the kids even noticed. After playing games and riding the pony and car rides we feasted on hot dogs and nachos. This was not a party for the dieting type. ha h aha ha. Next it was CAKE TIME!!!!
Everyone sang Happy Birthday and we blew out the candles. Nolan was very iffy about his cake. He got a little icing on his fingers and tasted it. I guess he liked it because he kept going back for a little more. We got him a spoon and then he went for it. He had more fun watching all the kids eating and making jokes at the table. They were all so cute talking and joking with each other around the table like a bunch of adults.
After more sweets and goodies the kids got to load up their "prize" bags at the carnival. There were goodies galore that included fish in soap( an alternative to real goldfish) , cotton candy, lollipops, snakes, princess wands, sheriff badges, sunglasses, gummi hotdogs and more. Next our friend Kelley put on a show for the kids by making balloon animals! ha h ah a. If you know Kelley it is funny but totally believable that she knows how to do this! She had originally made balloon hats for all the kids but decided to make some other things when the kids asked. In one of the pictures Bella and Allison are watching her in pure amazement! Hilarious.
We had such a great day and are so grateful for our wonderful friends and family! The always make these special times even more special.

Doctor and a Dinner Celebration

Today was Nolan's first birthday! We started the day off with a happy birthday song preformed by Nathan. It was one of the best I have heard. he he he. Next we had to get loaded up and headed to the doctor :( Yesterday Nolan had some green gunk coming out of his eye. I didn't really know what it could be but lucky for us our friend Amy knew as soon as she saw him. We called the doc and they said to come in . Nolan has been cutting pretty much all of his teeth besides the front ones he already had. His nose has been running and he has been fussy. I just thought it was his teeth. The Doc checked his ears and sure enough my little guy had two ear infections. One was pretty "juicy" the doc said. Since we were there they said lets go ahead and do his one year check up! I quickly agreed and then realized my poor guy was going to get 4 shots and blood work on his big birthday. I am sorry Nolan. I hope you won't remember what a horrible morning it was. :(
The day quickly turned around. Lucky for us our friends Brady and Cash were both sick and at the same doctor this morning! We got out around the same time so went and ate some lunch and headed to Target to get every ones prescriptions. By the time we got home everyone was ready for a nap , including me!
We had planned to go to dinner with everyone and I was hoping my poor guy would be up to it. When he got up from his nap he was in a great mood so I figured why miss out on the celebration.
We loaded up and headed over to Alicia's the yummiest Mexican restaurant on this side of town. We meet Mimi, Papa, Kathy and Richard there. At the end of dinner they came over and sang to Nolan and gave him his first Birthday soapapia's ! He loved the whip cream. He was going at it and pretty much licked the plate clean!
By the time we got home he was exhausted. I can't believe that one has come and gone.
I hope he gets all better in time for his Carnival birthday party we have planned on Saturday!!!!!

Happy Birthday Baby Nolan

Today is Nolan's first birthday. I cannot believe how quickly this last year has gone by. I am so sad to think about everything that is behind us but cannot wait to see my little guy grow into who he will be! Here are some pictures of Nolan's first year. We love you so much Baby Nolan and can't imagine our lives without you.

P.S. He is still "Baby Nolan" to us. Nathan has called him this from the day he was born and I love it. I think it is adorable and can totally imagine a 40 Nolan being called "Baby Nolan " by his big brother Nate! I love it!!!!!!

Safari School

Today Nathan and I went to the zoo for a special Safari School they have . Mimi came over to watch Nolan since he isn't old enough for the class just yet.
When we got there it was just us and 3 other kids. We were so excited to learn about todays animal the Grizzly Bear!!!!!
The teacher showed us real bear fur, a real claw, bear scat (poop) not real, and a bear skull. We then learned about hibernation and how big cubs are when they are born compared to their size when they leave the den. It was very cool and I actually learned a lot. The kids got to pretend to be grizzly bears and search for food through all of the seasons. For Spring they walked across a "stream" and picked out frogs to eat. Next we went to summer where they got to scoop out fish from a lake. Fall was a box filled with "leaves" where we searched for nuts and berries! When we got to winter they crawled through a dark tunnel to pretend they were hibernating.
After that fun game we made toys for the bears! They took pine cones and could either dip them in peanut butter and raisins or rolled them in a bowl of tuna juice! Nathan of course picked to roll his in tuna juice. All the other kids picked the peanut butter and raisins. When we were done making them we headed over to the Grizzly Bears to give them their toys. The Bear Keeper met the kids out front and took the pine cones . We watched him climb up the rocks and throw Boomer the grizzly bear his new toys. Boomer was sleeping but once he got a whiff of those delicious treats he woke right up . Guess what pine cone he went for first?
Nathan's! Boomer loved the fish pine cone and I feel like he was a bit sad to find out it wasn't really a fish.
This class was so much fun and we learned lots about bears! I can't wait till the one about Tigers next month.

Fun Day

We had such a fun day today. There is a new play place I found online that was a bit of a drive but sounded really fun. We meet up with our friends and had a delicious lunch then we were off to play!
This play place was so cool! It had a kid powered train, a really neat jumping thing that came out of the floor, the biggest play place we have seen so far, a HUGE slide and a really fun area for Nolan.
As soon as we got in the boys ran straight for the train. It was really cool and I secretly wish we had one to ride around the house. :)
Nolan had a great time in the cool ball pit. It looked a little like the bottom of a rocket but filled with tons of balls. He was having such a blast watching all the kids and playing with all of the toys.
The older boys were running up and down the play place then bouncing their way back over the trampoline!
Later Brady and Nathan decided to build some stuff with the BIG foam blocks they had. I am not sure what they were building but they were very serious and seemed to have a plan! Maybe we have some future architects here.
I wish I had a tiny bit of their energy. I can't even imagine the things I could get done!

Ice Skating

The weather has been so cold and winter like that Daddy decided we should go ice skating. On Saturday we headed to the Memorial City Mall where they have an ice skating rink . Bad news...... a hockey game was going on. OH NO! Luckily they had a train ride set up to cruise around the mall. YAY!! The day had been saved. All the boys hoped on and went for a ride. Nolan got so excited to ride along with the guys. Kyle said he waved to everyone they passed.
Sunday we got up and made our second and successful attempt at ice skating! WE headed to Discovery Green downtown. They have a really cool rink set up outdoors. Nathan and Daddy headed to get their skates while Nolan and I settled in to take some pictures. I was so excited for Nathan.He has done a lot to prepare for this. We have been watching videos online for some skating tutorials! He would even practice on the carpet pretending he was pushing with his feet( a move he learned from the video " Ice Skating Basics").
Finally we saw them skating! He was coming our way!!!! He was doing a great job . I couldn't imagine he would do so well. They made it out to the middle where there was no traffic. Then Nathan decided he was done. ha ha aha ha. In the middle of all of these people skating in a circle he decided he was DONE. Kyle picked him up and made his way back through the crowd. Nothing we said could get him back out there. I even tried ICE CREAM, his answer was still no.
We took off our skates and headed to the playground. It turned out to be such a beautiful day. We set up some blankets and snacks and let the boys play and play.
When it was time to load up we headed back through the little farmers market they had set up . The last stand was selling fresh homemade doughnuts! YEs. What a perfect ending to a perfect day! :)

It's a bird, It's a plane, no it's.................

Super Nathan!!!!