Our busy fall!

The blog has gotten forgotten again!  This is what happens!

So just a little diddy on what happened around here this Fall!

Big thing....Nolan broke his arm.  Boo!

Nolan fell pretty far off some playground equipment.  He landed right on this arm.  Here he was at the ER getting it checked.  A couple of x-rays later and we have a splint and a sling to wear.

Nolan knew the Dr. at the ER.  The Dr. didn't tell him to ice his arm, so he wasn't going to do it.  The nurse did tell Mommy to ice it, but he wasn't convinced.

Finally bribery with the iPad was enough.  He was totally willing to watch a show and ice his arm then.  :-)  He really did a good job sitting to ice it.  He really didn't complain much of the pain either.  I think the split really helped with the pain.

Mammy and Papa came the next day to visit Nolan.  He even put on his costume for them.  It worked great being Olaf with a broken arm!  Whew!

Mammy and Papa brought him a "Inja Turtle" (as Nolan says it) balloon.

We clipped it on his splint here! 

He LOVED it!!

The next day he tried to play like normal, but he was worn out.  He fell asleep here playing with cars.  He still has one car in his right hand!

I put him in the car to get his sister at school and he didn't even wake up!!!

All-in-all he adjusted well.  Here he was a few days later doing great.  The doctor didn't even have him wear the sling.  He moves around way too much for it to do any good.

He even was able to do his chores.  He empties the silverware from the dishwasher and does a great job at it!

Here is was just being silly Nolan.  He climbed under this step stool and then told me to take a picture to send to Dad.  Crazy boy!

He just was a little more worn out.  He hasn't napped much lately, but he clearly needed some extra rest!  Mammy and I found him one day downstairs sleeping on this couch and the couch was inside the Dora tent.  Funny boy!

More sleepy Nolan!

I brought him in the house and he napped on me for a little while.  I just couldn't wake him up!

Look at that face!

Then there is that face!  Crazy boy!!!

We went out to ride with Dad a couple of times in the fall.  

Here was one day we rode in the tractor and grain cart.

Daddy unloading on the semi.

Lulu was monitoring the back up camera.  It gets a bit crowded in the tractor with five of us!!

Nolan was watching intently.

Nolan decided to drive too!  Here he is smiling with his pirate face!!

Finally in November Nolan got this sweet splint.  It is made of some material that they warm and it hardened on his arm.

We could snap the button on top to loosen the splint and take it off for baths and bedtime. 

We could also wash it which was so great!  The first splint had gotten so stinky!!

What a amazing technology!  He really seemed to recover quickly!

The girls and I went to a Cookies and Canvas event at the What Cheer fairground with some friends.

Lulu was in heaven.  She loves to paint.  I am telling you that girl could paint all the time!

Addie and our friend E. were getting everything set up!

Here they are working on it.  

Addie painting.

Lulu was being silly here.  She added her own embellishments.  

For example, she decided the snowman needed eyelashes so she added them.  :-)

Here is Addie with her painting!

Here we are at the end with our friends.  The kids had a great time!!!

Nolan stayed at our house with E.  The boys had fun playing while we were painting.  He had a great time!!!

We kicked off the winter and holiday season with our annual trip to Disney on Ice.  This year the production was practically on ice.  It had snowed and the roads were not good on the way.  My car slid through an intersection in Pleasant Hill, but we were ok.  The streets were icy and slippery, but we made it.  They did a Cars bit at the beginning and we missed it.  We got there for one that was the Fairies.  The girls loved it!

More of the fairies.

Here was Goofy which is one of Nolan's favorites!

And a huge Toy Story 3 show!  Here is Rex!

The end of the show where the claw comes to save them!

Here is Andy putting them all into a box to give away.

Nolan was enthralled with the entire show!

Curtain call!!!  It was a fun show!  The weather got a little better afterwards.  The kids and I headed West to Mammy and Papa's and the roads that way were much better!  That was the day before Thanksgiving.

The other big thing the kids look forward to at the end of Fall/Beginning of holiday season is our elf Buddy showing up.  

Here he was on our kitchen table.  He had written his name with cereal for the kids!!

Overall it was a busy, but good fall.  The kids were busy with piano, dance, gymnastics and school.  The weather was pretty nice for most of fall.   November proved to be a bit cold, but we survived it!!

In Summer!!!!!!!!!!!

After a really long and cold winter, we were so glad when spring arrived.  Now we have finally made it to summer.  As Olaf sings, "IN SUMMER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  We are finally in summer!!!

Here are few things that have gone on since summer began.  It is has been busy.  A lot busier than any of us would really like.  Thus is life!

 

The kids were out riding bikes and one lonely cell of rain popped up on us!!

We were waiting it out in the garage!  We waited just a little bit and then more sunshine as you can see below!

Adam arrived home a little after it stopped to do some dirt work.  Nolan needed to help unload the skid loader.

Here he is helping dad unload.  Needless to say they got it unloaded, but it was a bit of a mess.  A few more dirt loads had to be brought in to help fill in the hole where the tree fell in April.

Adam was trying to get it all leveled up for the new shed.

Kids have spent many hours this summer on the slip n slide.  Here they were also apparently trying to wash the house! :-)

 

The only activity we have been doing all summer is gymnastics.  We got a new bar on the swing set and Addie has spent a lot of time on it.  I looked outside one afternoon and she was standing on it already!

The girls were doing swimming lessons for the first two weeks of June.  Every day they would get dressed afterwards in the locker room.  Nolan would hide in the lockers.  Scared his Mommy a bit when I couldn't find him the first time.  He keeps me on my toes!

One morning the kids actually slept in!!  They all congregated on my bed to watch TV.  It was fun and nice to just move slowly in the morning because we could.

One of the kids' babysitters got married in June and so the girls and I went with other friends.  It was a beautiful wedding and reception.  Here are my girls blowing bubbles at the table during the dance.

The sisters got these small nerf guns for Christmas.  No one has really taken any interest in them until now.  Nolan got a hold of them and watch out!  He knows he isn't allowed to shoot at people, but he loves to shoot the ceiling!

This must have been the same day.  He wanted to wear a headband like his sisters so he put one in!!  Then he had to come find me to show me his hair!!

He loves Bob the Builder and got a tool bench for Christmas.  He loves to wear his shorts with the pockets because they are like Daddy's.  Then he likes to fill all his pockets like Daddy with his tools!

This summer is the first summer we let Nolan try out gymnastics.  Oh man does he love it!  Here he is on the floor while they warm up.  He is the one on the right in the navy shirt.  He does everything and doesn't want to miss a thing!  I was really surprised at how well he follows most directions and stays in line.  Well most of the time anyway!

This is Lauren's second year of swimming lessons and she loves them!  So much that each morning she would be up before everyone else and have her swim suit on and her bag (or lunchbox) packed with her dry clothes to change into afterwards.  I just loved the ensemble and had to get a picture!! 

This getting up early for swimming also has become a problem.  This morning I think she got up super early with Adam to eat breakfast and then must have laid down in the hallway when she was coming back to bed!!!

Each of the kids get one week in the summer with Mammy and Papa.  While Nolan was gone the girls wanted to sleep in his room.  Addison took his bed the first night and Lauren slept on the floor.  I think this is about the last time Addie can sleep in this bed!!   She fits all the way across head to toe!  Hard to believe she started in this bed when she was a tiny thing!  I will have to try to find a picture!

Here is Nolan before he left.  He was packed and SO ready for Mammy and Papa to get there and take him home with them!!!

Finally our new shed arrived.  The guy hauled it up on a trailer and just slid it right out onto our street!  Scared me a little bit!

Then he got a little forklift on wheels and picked it up and set it down right where we wanted it!

Yeah!!  Finally!!

We went out to supper one Friday night for Aunt A's birthday and then to the Frosty Udder for ice cream.  Lauren and little cousin S were sitting at their own table.  They were giggling and laughing and who knows what they were talking about!!  They sure love each other!

 

We had a friend that was having a sale and she had a used DS.  I decided that would be a great surprise for Lauren.  Plus she and Addie could share the DS games that Addie already has.  She was thrilled!!!

We sent a picture to Nolan of us while he was at Mammy's.  Here we were first thing in the morning.  Addie looks a little scary!!!

We made a picture for Dad and Grandpas for Fathers Day.  It was a last minute project, but I think it came out pretty cute!   This is a picture of a picture so not the best quality, but you get the idea.

We spent one beautiful morning in June at Lake Red Rock with friends.  It was overcast that morning and so we were the only ones at the beach for most of the morning.  It was SO nice and relaxing! 

It wore Nolan out!!  I stripped him down to his diaper for the ride home and he zonked out!!

Lulu must have changed into her jammies and then crawled into a chair later the afternoon and I found her like this!!  Out!

Nolan LOVES this show called Paw Patrol.  He gets up and it is the first thing he wants in the mornings.  He gets to zoned into it that you can't distract him at all!!  :-)

While Addison was at Mammy and Papa's, Nolan took a turn sleeping in bed with Lulu. We just moved his bed rail in their room and it worked great!  They loved it!!!

One morning he evening slept until 8:30!!!  I think maybe this is a good arrangement!!

I think after he slept in then we ate breakfast together.  I love to eat breakfast late.   No matter when I get up.  So he joined me!!

The city is offering free lunch to all kids 0-18 years old in our town three days a week.  Then after the lunch they provide an educational activity of some sort.  This day after lunch we put Mentos in different types of pop to see which one made the biggest fizzy mess!!  Here is a Lauren with our friend E watching their pop explode!

Our kitchen floor.   I love it.  I love its color.  I love how it hides dust and crumbs.  I do NOT love how much space it is and how much work it is to clean it!!!  Here it is finally clean!!!

Nolan has been staying up really late and night and so we decided to try quiet time during the day and drop his nap.  Here he is in his bed for quiet time on the first day.  So adorable!  It makes him look like such a big boy.  Man, he is growing fast!

He did pretty well for about 15 minutes and then I kept seeing him pop his little head around the corner and down the hallway.  I had to keep reminding him to go back to his room.  He has been going pretty consistently without a nap for a couple weeks now and it is going pretty well!  These second and third kids just seem to fit right into the sleep patterns of the family pretty quickly!

Papa and Mammy brought Addison back home and brought a few little gifts for everyone.  Nolan got a Grandpa and me book.  Papa read it to Nolan and he was mesmerized.  He LOVES to read.  He will convince anyone to sit and read him a book! 

Sunday afternoon we were playing outside and all of the sudden we found Nolan on the ground with the little four wheeler flipped over on him.  He was upset and finally we got him to tell us what was wrong.  He was trying to ride his four wheeler up the tree (which is 15-20 feet tall probably) and he flipped it over.  He was upset a little that he was hurt but mostly that he couldn't ride up the side of the tree to the branches!!  Love his imagination, but man I gotta keep an eye on him!!!

 

Keep a look out for more summer pictures soon!!!!