Time flies when you're having fun!

Wow, I can't believe it's been so long since I last posted.  Sorry about that.  Life happened!  :0)  I don't even know where to start.  I need to look at my pictures to even remember what we have been up to the last few weeks.
My Aunt Cynthia and my mom wanted to go to the craft barns one morning.  I took the boys out to my parents' house and Cynthia brought her grandson Brennan.  The three boys and I hung out while the Nana's went shopping.  We had so much fun.

(everyone keeps asking me if I take Nolan to the tanning bed, now I see why!)

(Nash and Brennan)

(Brennan and Nash looking for acorns)

Just this past weekend Jason and I got the chance to go to another Iowa Football game together.  Of course Jason has gone to every home game this year but my parents agreed to watch the boys while we both enjoyed some time away.  We took Nash and Nolan up to Nana and Papa's house on Friday evening.  We had some chili and corn bread muffins before returning home.  It's pretty strange to be at home without our boys!  Saturday morning we were up VERY early because the Hawkeye bus left our house at 6am!  

After making two stops along the way to pick up more tailgaters, we had a full bus of about 24 people.  It was a little chilly to start out and sprinkled on and off a few times but for the most part, we were really lucky with the weather.  Whitney, Evan, Will, Daniele, and my cousin Jenny were all in on the fun.

Unfortunately, the Hawks couldn't come up with the victory this time.  We lost to the Wisconsin Badgers by ONE POINT!   GRRRRRR!  Better luck next weekend against Michigan State I hope.  Jason is going to the game again but I will be watching from home with the boys.

(Nolan)

(Nash)

We got home late from the Hawkeye game Saturday night so the boys spent the night at Nana and Papa's a second night.  On Sunday we decided it was time to finally get some pumpkins and start carving...it's a tradition.  Usually we go to a pumpkin patch just across the river but they did not have a good crop this year.  Instead, Jason and I got up and went to Wal-Mart (after a quick detour to Starbucks).   We got some groceries and 10 pumpkins.  When we got home Jason spread them out around our front yard and we had our own little pumpkin patch.

(Fox Hollow Pumpkin Patch)

(Megan, Nolan, Jason, and Nash)

 (Nolan, Nana, Papa, and Nash)

 (Nolan, Great Grandma Phyliss, and Nash)

 (pumpkin carving)

Nana came over after church.  Great Grandma Phyliss and Papa brought the boys down after breakfast.  Whit, Evan, Will and Daniele joined us too.  We had some lunch and started carving.  Nana was in charge of baking the seeds for us which turned out really good.  Who wins the prize for the best pumpkin this year???

Will's pirate..Megan's ghosts..Daniele's sign..Whitney's spider..Papa's portrait of Nolan..N for Nash and Nolan..and Jason's I for Iowa..(Evan took his home before I could snap a picture of his traditional jack-o-lantern face)

Baby steps

Nash started walking around 15 months old.  Nolan is showing signs that he is not going to wait that long.  If I hold his hands, he will take steps now.  He just started doing that this week.
Yesterday he picked the baby monitor up off of the floor and put it up to his ear.  He started to make a noise like he was answering the phone.  So cute!
He is starting to point to people when we ask him where they are.

Quotes from a 2 1/2 Year Old

Today we were driving to the park.  I had one hand on the steering wheel and had a can of pop in the other.  Nash says to me, "Mom, put down your coke.  You will use two hands, one on the top and one on the bottom."

The other day he said to me, "Stop Mom.  You are crazy!"

"I threw the mulch at the boy, then the boy threw the mulch at me."

Almost everything he says this week ends with "maybe."  "I want to put my new shoes on maybe."  "Dad is fixing the mower maybe."  I'm not really sure why he started doing that but it makes me laugh anyway.

Nolan's tooth count and a new trick

Nolan's tooth count has increased to 3 today!  Another tooth popped through this morning on the bottom left side.  You can't really see it yet but I can feel it.
It seems like every day Nolan is showing us a new trick.  When Nana asked him where his ear was this morning, he grabbed his ear.

Nolan Jace-10 months old

Nolan is 10 months old today although if you ask him, he holds up one finger.  At least he's prepared when December 5th rolls around.

He is crawling like a pro and pulls himself up onto his knees whenever he can get a hold of something.  We are trying to transition to a sippy cup but he still gets a little frustrated and eventually we resort back to the bottle.  He naps twice a day and loves to watch his brother.  He likes to watch Wheel of Fortune.  He's a "wheel watcher" like his mama.  Whenever we say "yay" he immediately claps his hands.

  He puts everything in his mouth.  Today this included a leaf, a stick, some dirt, and chalk.  Wow, it sounds like I wasn't keeping a good eye on him but honestly, he's a quick one!  For the record, none of that was swallowed!  :0)

He still does not like having his diaper changed and he LOVES to splash in the tub.  Right now Nana is working with him on pointing to different parts of his face and different animal sounds.  If we ask him where his nose is, he likes to point to our noses rather than his own.  I think the only animal noise he does semi consistently so far is doggy...even though it sounds more like "uh, uh" than "arf, arf."  I know this is barking though because he does it when he sees Daizy and Memphis.

He's been a little fussy again lately.  It looks like tooth number 3 is going to pop through any day.  He looks like a bruiser but is so sensitive.  If he falls over or gets bumped he cries and cries.  I could listen to his laugh all day long.  I never knew 10 months could fly by SO quickly.  We love you, Noley!

Gone Fishin'

This past weekend I got to share one of my favorite past times with Nash...FISHING!  I love to fish!  Jason on the other hand is not as passionate about fishing.  I think it has to do with patience, right Babe?!  Anyway, Nana and Papa organized a fishing trip after church on Sunday afternoon at a friend's pond. This was the same pond we went to last year in September when I was pregnant with Nolan.  This time Nolan stayed home and hung out with Daddy for the day.

The day started out pretty cool but by the time we were ready to fish, it was perfect fishing weather.  Nash did great.  He loves to reel the fishing pole in but once he is told there is a fish on the line, he quickly scurries to a different person to help them reel their line in.  We did get him to touch a fish but otherwise he was not very interested in getting close to the fish.

We estimated that we caught about 25 fish total including a crappy, a few bass, and several blue gill.  We went all the way around that pond trying to find those catfish but had no luck.  I can't wait to take both boys next year!  Thank you Nana and Papa for an awesome Sunday afternoon!

Back to the Zoo

At the end of Sept I was home with the boys for a week while Nana and Papa took a road trip to Niagara Falls.  They got back a little early so Mom and I took advantage of having the day off together and took the boys to Niabi Zoo.  The weather was perfect and there was hardly anyone there.

Nash loves to feed the fish...

Nash riding Snowflake while Nana looks on...

 Nolan watching the animals...

 Nash giving the animals a lift around the zoo...

 Nash and I monkeying around...

 We can never leave the zoo without riding the train...

Halloween Dress Rehearsal

Grandma Alonna offered to make costumes for Nash and Nolan this year.  She requested ideas however this was about the time Jason had back surgery so I gave her their sizes and asked her to surprise us.  We got them in the mail this week and had no idea what they looked like until we opened the box.  Take a look at our little purple dinosaur and our stinky little skunk. She did an amazing job.  Thank you Grandma Alonna!

Quotes from a 2 1/2 Year Old

Me:  "Nash, what do you want to be for Halloween?"
Nash:  "Nini."