Another Picnic Please!

Today we picked up my Grandma Phyliss, grabbed some Chik-fil-A and stopped at a playground the boys had never been to.  We called Jason and he met up with us for a while over his lunch break.  You can't tell from the pictures, but as we pulled up, we quickly realized an entire Catholic school was having their end of the year Field Day at the same park.  It was crazy but we stayed anyway.

Nash, Great Gradma Phyliss, and Nolan

Nolan

Nash, Jason, and Nolan

Nash

Spring has sprung...again.

Career Exploration

What should we be when we grow up?

 Nolan loves to brush his teeth.  I hesitate to even give him a toothbrush because it's such a struggle to get it back.

I bought Nash three new pair of boxer briefs when I was at Jordan Creek.  One pair had lobsters on them, another pair had sharks, and the last pair had guitars on them.  Nash said to me, "Mom, lobsters and sharks are dangerous, but guitars are just right."  When he tried them on, of course Nolan wanted to try a pair on too!

Career Exploration to be continued..

How could I forget?

I forgot to mention one other very important thing about my Women of Faith Weekend.  I chose to sponsor a child through World Vision.  His name is Eliezer and he is from Burundi.  I had to google it to find out that Burundi is a very small country in Africa, near Tanzania. Eliezer has a brother and likes to play with toy cars.  I thought he was perfect for us.  He was born in January of 2008.  We should be getting another picture of him in the mail soon as well as his address so we can start corresponding with his family.  The boys are excited about getting to know Eliezer.

Smiles

We love you Great Grandma Phyliss!

Women of Faith

Last weekend I went to Women of Faith with my mom and two of her good friends.  There were several ladies from our church who also got tickets.  Jason took the day off of work on Friday to stay home with the boys.  We took off around 9:30 and arrived in Des Moines just in time for lunch.  We ate at the Cheesecake Factory and squeezed in some shopping at Jordan Creek Mall.  The first session of our conference started at 7pm.  We heard some amazing speakers and the music was fabulous!  You know you are listening to a great speaker when you are laughing your head off one minute and crying your makeup off the next.  That's pretty much what we did all day on Saturday as well, from 9am to 5pm.  It was so amazing to listen to all of the stories and heartache these women have been through, yet they still have the deepest faith in God, knowing greater things are yet to come.  The speaker that I connected with the most was Angie Smith.  It was only her second time speaking at WOF.  Her husband Todd is in the musical group Selah, who also performed for us.  She spoke about their three little girls and the loss of their fourth daughter who lived only two and a half hours after she was born.  She talks a lot about their grief and a lot about how their little Audrey has changed so many lives despite her short time on earth.  Needless to say, I didn't have a speck of makeup on when she was finished speaking.  I also just finished reading her book, "I Will Carry You."  I read it at night because, again, I cried through about 95 percent of it.  She has a blog if you are interested in checking it out.  It is:  audreycaroline.blogspot.com.  It was an awesome, inspiring, uplifting way to spend the weekend and I have next year blocked off on my calendar already (August 25th and 26th).  It's tough to put into words everything I took away from WOF.  Here is a nugget:  God does not do things to hurt us.  We are his children.  When you go through something tough, know that He is right beside you even when you feel the most abandoned.  He is right beside you helping to guide you to the other side.  When you hurt, he is hurting with you.  When you cry, he is crying with you.  All you have to do is believe in Him and you have all the protection you will need.  I feel so blessed in my life.  I can't imagine going through some of hurtful, horrible things some of these women talked about.  But it's awesome to know that they each made it through their storms to a more peaceful place because of Him.  It's so comforting to think that no matter what, I have someone to lean on at any moment, forever.  So cool!

Psalm 91:4  He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.

Water World

I knew that last Tuesday (a week and a half ago) was going to be our hottest day of the spring so far, and a little steamy.  I also knew right away where we were going.  That morning I packed a bag including swim trunks, a swim diaper, towels, sun screen, and water shoes.  We made our way over to Schwiebert Park.  You might remembering me raving about this park last year.  I was so excited because now both boys could run around in the water fountains.  I was not disappointed!  And more importantly, neither were the boys.

Nolan

Nash

Nash

Nolan

Nolan and Nash

We got home just in time for lunch and naps.  When the boys woke up it was still really nice and warm outside so we broke in the new sprinkler I had picked up a few months before.  I was surprised how much fun they had in it.  Nash kept wanting me to run through it with them but I have to admit, the water from the hose is REALLY cold!  They didn't seem to mind it though.

Nolan loving the new octopus sprinkler

Nash and Nolan cracking each other up

Huh?

You would think by this point the boys would be water logged.  Nope.  We ended our water filled day in the front of the house playing with the water table.

I love this picture of Nash hitching a ride with his little bro.

Shortly after this we had a chance of frost and we turned our heat back on again.  Clearly Spring was not ready to stick around for good.  We really took advantage of our glimpse of warm weather and can't wait for many more of these days!

Happy Mother's Day!

We started the day at church then went to Will and Daniele's for lunch with family.  Another gorgeous day to play at their neighborhood playground and sit outside on their deck.  We left for home as nap time approached and when we got home we ALL took a nap.  It's a Mother's Day Miracle!  I had an awesome day with my family and I am feeling very blessed.

Bring on the SUNSHINE!

This week we were FINALLY able to enjoy a few days outside in some beautiful weather.  Thursday we went to Rocket Park for a picnic and some play time.  The boys have so much fun there.  This was the first time I have taken them both to that park since Nolan has been able to get around on his own.  It is challenging to keep an eye on two kids on a large playground with two bus loads of school kids also running around.  I got a little workout trying to keep them both in my sight.  

Thursday evening I got to go out with my Mom and two of our friends to the Kenny Chesney concert = FUN!

Friday the boys and I went to see Jason at his office.  He had been talking about a new, big, blue tractor they had on the lot and he really wanted the boys to see it.  The boys were super excited when we got to take it for a spin.

The boys

Nolan Jace- 17 months

Nolan turned 17 months old on Cinco de Mayo.  Every once in a while I catch Nash and Nolan actually playing TOGETHER.  It's the sweetest site!  Nolan is saying more words now...shoes, nana (bananas), Papa, bye bye, down, hot, hi...

The other day I got home from work and Nana was excited to show me Nolan's latest trick.  She said, "One."  And Nolan said, "oooh...vweeee!"  My boy is learning to count.

We are still battling coughs and snotty noses around here...GRRRRR!