Brown Paper Packages...Tied Up with String

These are a few of MY FAVORITE THINGS!!!  That's right, the other night I had a "Favorite Things" party!!  What's that you ask?  The coolest idea EVER.  You don't have to be Oprah to celebrate all of your fun favorite things that's for sure.  I'll try and give you the cliff notes version of how this evening works, but no matter how hard I try it gets wordy.  Sorry, deal with it…you'll love it in the end.  

Here are some details of how it looked….

And here is how it works...First you set a dollar threshold, we went with $15 per item.  Then each person that is coming to the party  decides on one of their favorite things that costs $15…they go out and buy three of this item and bring it to the party.

Each person then gets up and gives a little spiel about their favorite thing and why it is so awesome and they can't live without it.  Here we all are with our favorite things:  there was soap, eyeshadow, eyeshadow base, DEVA CURL, candles, hairspray, mascara, perfume, tshirts….you get the picture!

People can even test the products if they so desire…

Then the fun begins.  We drew numbers 1-10, number 1 gets to go to the table first and pick one present to go home with (Of course Kim picked number one because she just might be the luckiest person I know and I had Julia pick a number for Lori who couldn't make it and she picked 10…coincidence? I think not).  Then you proceed down the line until everyone has picked a present and then you go backwards down the line etc etc until all presents have been accounted for.

Kim snatching the first present….

Ladies enjoying their night out...

That is until Amanda snagged the last hair spray/volumizer combo pack (the DEAL of the night!).  Check out the not so pleasant look Julia is throwing Amanda's way!  I never said it was all peachy keen, all is fair in Love and Favorite Things Picking!

Then Julia decided she needed to test out one of her new products…Deva Curl.  I mean what party is complete without someone's head in the sink?  This little product is supposed to make even the straightest of hair...curly.  Results later, keep scrolling.  Don't fret, she did not lose sight of her glass of wine for this little experiment!  

Here we are with all of our loot…check out Julia's curly hair ;) 

Oh, and did I mention everyone brought their favorite appetizer to share too?  I mean seriously does it get any better than this?  Fun Girls, Good Drinks, Awesome Food and you leave with presents!  This will not be the last Favorite Things Party for this crowd I'll guarantee that! 

I Heart Crayons

Valentine's Day is quickly approaching, and this is the first time Nolan will be in school for a holiday. You know what that means?  He gets a party at school!  And you know what that means? I definitely volunteered to make the favor bags.  These can't be any ordinary favor bags, he's the new kid in class…these bags have to be awesome!  So I decided to throw in a little extra homemade love.  We were having a play date anyway so I decided to kill two birds with one stone…entertain the boys with a project and use the results of said project for the favor bags.  Win/Win!!

We decided to make some heart shaped crayons.  Pretty simple: take old crayons, unwrap them, throw in two feisty boys to break them all up, put the pieces in heart shaped pan, watch them melt in the oven and WAHLAH…adorable heart shaped crayons!    Next stop…#1 Room Mom!

Out Smarted

Oh three year olds.  Dear dear three year olds.  They certainly know how to push your buttons, I'll give them that.  Whoever coined the phrase "terrible twos" must have given their child away when it turned three because let me tell you threes are WAY worse than twos.  When kids are two their smart aleck replies are funny I would even venture to say cute.  When they are three their smart aleck replies are just infuriating! Which leads me to my next story about Mr. Nolan.  I can't lie, Nolan has pretty much been an angel all of his life.  I've been spoiled and I know it.  But don't fret all you haters out there…he's making up for lost time.  Nolan is going through the "i'm not listening to you" stage.  It's awesome, totally awesome.  I feel as though I should just bring a tape recorder with me wherever we go and say what I want once into the recorder and then just press repeat over and over and over again.  So last night Chad had a little heart to heart with him before bedtime.  He was very nice and sweet, just told Nolan that he needs to listen to his Mom and Dad and he can't tell us No anymore.  Pretty simple right? So here's what transpired when I came in the room to say goodnight…

Me:  Time to get in bed

Nolan:  shakes his head

Chad:  Nolan I just told you you can't tell us No anymore

Nolan: I didn't

Chad:  Yes you did Nolan

Nolan:  No I didn't, I just did this (and shook his head again)

Touche.  Outsmarted by a three year old…again!  He's right, he did not in fact verbalize the word No.  Which leads me to the question…why do kids take everything so literal?  Is it because they truly don't understand what we really meant OR is it to help them get back at us in a semi-cute fashion that we really can't argue with?  I guess I can only blame myself for making him so smart right?  

Stone Soup

The other day Nolan's preschool class was in charge of the school's chapel.  So being the nosey, I mean supportive, Mom that I am I went to take in this little event.  It was short and sweet, the teacher read a story called "Stone Soup" and the kids each acted (and I use the word acted very loosely here) out a little part.  I was ill prepared with my camera and lens selection so please excuse the horrible pictures. They shoved the parents WAY in the back corner and on this particular day I decided to spare Nolan the embarrassment of me crawling around in the front to get my shot.  Next time, I may not be so cordial.

Here is Nolan getting a pep talk from his teacher.  Or she might be fixing that delightful little chef hat of his (be sure to adore the hat now, you may or may not be seeing it in the actual play).

Then the little skit started.  Notice how Nolan is more interested with something on his apron than the actual story being told.  Also notice he is already sans hat (except for that little remnant that is stuck in his hair)!

Then came his BIG moment!  He had to put in some spices and stir the pot.  I have to say, after the teacher summoned him twice to get him up there he did an A+ job stirring that pot!

Big FINISH…everyone stirring together!

Then they sang a little ditty.  And in true preschool fashion no one knew what the heck was going on except for one spunky little girl who stole the show!  Nolan stood there with style though;)

I spy with my little eye...

TuTus and Bows!!!  That's right, as it turns out, baby girls do exist.  Finally I have another friend that had a girl!  She will have quite the selection of gentleman callers for her prom that's for sure!

Meet Ms. Piper….

And if I were going to do a birth announcement I think it would look a little like this….

Q&A

Question:  What is sweeter than a peacefully sleeping baby?  

Answer:  A peacefully sleeping baby that sleeps until 9:30am!

Don't be too jealous, I have another child that has decided he needs to rise at 7:00am 

every morning, and let's be honest he takes a lot more effort to entertain!

Question:  What is even better than the peacefully sleeping baby that sleeps until 9:30am?

Answer:  The fact that, no matter what, you get a smile when he first wakes up.  

(Even if his slumber was rudely interrupted by his 3 year old brother and his mom's flash!)

Amazing

I know everyone thinks their kids are amazingly talented, but I have the pictures to prove it.  Warning: the next series of pictures could be considered rather disturbing or just down right gross.  But lets remember that Bennett is not walking or coming in contact with anything with his feet really…besides socks (and a little lint never hurt anyone).  

Watch out Cirque du Soleil….Bennett is one flexible dude!  

I'm pretty sure in this first picture he is mentally saying to me "what are YOU looking at?"

Then of course because I was making a fuss about how "cool" it was that Bennett could eat his toes, Nolan also wanted to do something "amazing".  So he gave the huge teddy bear a ride on his shoulders "just like Andy does with Woody" (Toy Story reference for those who haven't seen it one million times).  Is there anything this boy can't do?

The "Amazing Brothers"

Someday they will move mountains but today they will eat their toes and 

give shoulder rides to giant teddy bears.

Makes you wanna JUMP JUMP

Last night Nolan had his first Tumblin Two's class.  You read that right, I have officially held back my son!  Don't worry it was for a good reason, his little friend Jack wanted to take the tumblin class too and they wouldn't let him go up a grade but they would let Nolan come down a grade.  He was the biggest "two" year old I've ever seen.  When one parent walked in I saw him look at Nolan and then say "what age was this class"…real smooth guy with poopy diaper kid believe me you have bigger things to worry about.  Yes my child is the size of an average 4.5 year old according to the doctor but no need to discriminate he's got the coordination of a two year old I guarantee you.  It's hard to be that long and lengthy you know.  Anyway, the begininning of the class was a little rocky.  There were a lot of tears and screaming for moms going on (not by Nolan, again he could have cared less if I were there or not).  But eventually they got the kids to do some stuff.

I'll apologize now for the lack of pictures.  They make the parents sit in the hall as to not distract the kids and I had to shoot through a window on the door.  Every once in a while I'd fling the door open stick my camera in and cross my fingers I got something! When the class was over I went in to take real pictures and I had a camera with a dead battery.  Awesome.  There's always next week I guess!

Here are a few pictures of Nolan and Jack participating and doing as they are told….

Here are a few pictures of Nolan and Jack having their own trampoline party.  Was the class over you ask?  No, no it wasn't.  The rest of the class was up front throwing ribbons and hankies in the air.  Apparently these boys were above that little activity and decided to do their own thing.  

That's right boys, be leaders not followers!

Better Late Than Never

Chad always nags encourages me to do my blog posts in chronological order, but you know what it just doesn't always happen.  Sometimes I just straight out forget about pictures that I have taken because lets be honest I take more pictures than the average bear.  So I somehow forgot about this little gem, which is almost two months old at this point!  I am attempting to do some "milestone" pictures of Bennett every 3 months.  Just something to share what he is doing at the current time in an attempt to jog my memory down the road.  People always talk about the second kid not having near as many pictures as the first…I don't agree.  I think I'm trying to make up for all of the picture opportunities that I never took with Nolan.  So fortunately (or unfortunately) for Bennett he will have PLENTY of pictures to play in the slideshow at his wedding!

Here was my attempt at his 3 month milestone picture…

And a few outtakes…

Why is it that Nolan always wants to participate in the pictures when he has horrible bed head and that darn tie dyed shirt on again?  I can't help but love his desire to share the spotlight with his brother, I just pray that one day he will have the same spirit when he is not in his pajamas!

And the many faces of Bennett…

For all of those inquiring minds out there that would like to know what his first milestone picture looked like…

It's a….

No no no, I'm not having another baby.  But my BROTHER is!!  Okay, maybe not exactly my brother himself but my lovely sister in law will be birthing Nolan and Bennett's first cousin on my side of the family!  Woohoo for adding some craziness that doesn't directly belong to me!  So apparently there were some creative genes that trickled down the family tree because the announcement, via Facebook of course, was SOOOO CUTE!  So cute I just had to share.

In the morning we were greeted with this message, just so that everyone out there in the Facebook Land would be on pins and needles for HOURS before we got to find out…

And then just a few short hours later we got this message (but I also got a personal call because let's face it…I'm cool like that).  

And theeeeeeeeeeeeen we got yet another message with the name revealed!  I mean are they on top of things or what?  

So that's the exciting news around here, Baby Cy will be joining the family in Mid May and we are PUMPED!!!  Nolan and Bennett can't wait to have a cousin younger than them to beat up on play with.

It Is January Right?

I really just don't get it.  This weather is absolutely nuts.  I am CERTAINLY not complaining because quite frankly unless I'm on a ski trip I could do without cold weather and snow all together.  And seeing as though I'm not jetting down the double black diamonds at the current moment this 60 degree plus weather suits me just fine.  So this past weekend the Jeep got some more road time (Nolan is improving a bit) and the park also got to see our lovely faces for an unexpected winter visit.  On this particular day I did not tote the camera around with me, but my dear friend Michelle did and she happened to snap a couple of me and Mr. B hanging out watching Nolan play.  Oh how I love him, but man he is growing out of every hat I've bought…and I think this one is on it's last leg too.  Big Noggin = Big Brain right?

I know we don't look glamorous in these pictures.  I mean I didn't shower on this particular day and Bennett is FAR from matching but sometimes it's nice to just have a picture to remember that on this beautiful day I had one little boy wrapped in my arms and one little boy running wild on the playground...and all was right with the world.
 

Oh, the Places You'll Go!

Nolan started a new adventure last week, he ventured out into the world all by himself and walked into the doors of preschool!

For some reason this steers me back to good old Dr. Seuss, a wise wise man who once wrote…

You have brains in your head.

You have feet in your shoes.

You can steer yourself any direction you choose.

You're on your own.

And you know what you know.

And YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go.

Too deep for a preschooler?  Maybe, but could it be more spot on?  I mean the minute he walked in that door he had to start making decisions on his own.  There isn't going to be someone telling him to eat his cookie first because he's a slow eater and won't get to it in time if he doesn't (definitely came home with his cookie the first day still in his lunchbox), there isn't going to be someone to pick him up and give him a hug when Michael S. says he doesn't want to play with him that day (name changed to protect the innocent) and there isn't going to be someone that reminds him to bring his stocking cap in from the playground (we already need a trip to the lost and found).  These are all decisions that he will have to make on his own.  Hard lessons to learn for a 3 year old...and for his Mom.  But I have confidence that he will do great and I have confidence that in a week or two I will be okay too.

Here's to you Nolan, go out and show that world who's boss (or who will be their boss in approximately 20-25 years).

Here is the big bad 3 year old on his first day of school.  He was SOOOO excited.  Popped right out of bed, did everything we asked in record time and even "smiled" for my camera!

He looked at me for this one and said "I'm going to make a face like this"…excellent it's way better than your usual fake smile that doesn't resemble a smile at all really!

And the book bag that is as big as he is!!  He'll grow into it right?  That's assuming he doesn't lose this as well.  At least it has his name on it, maybe we have a little better chance of hanging on to it assuming there aren't a plethora of Nolans hanging around his school.

Yep, I'm that Mom.  I definitely brought my camera in to the school.  Don't worry I didn't embarrass him too much, I literally only took these two pictures.  Pretty impressive for me.  Doesn't he look so sweet and innocent?

Poor Nolan couldn't even make it home without falling asleep.  This may not seem like a big deal to all of you but if you know Nolan you'd know that he NEVER falls asleep in the car anymore.  Poor kid was exhausted.  

So that's it for his first day.  He survived...I survived…and he's even gone back for more.  Success.