Snow Days!

Nolan

Nash

Nash, Jason and Nolan

Nolan and Nash

Nolan, Jason and Nash...apparently frozen

Zoinks! Nash is 5!

We had kindergarten roundup on February 22 and my sweet Nash turned 5 on February 23.  It is surreal that he will be in big boy school this fall.  He loved kindergarten roundup though and was a bit disappointed he had to go back to preschool.  His biggest concern about roundup was that he doesn't know how to tie his shoes yet.  But we are working on it!
Nash chose a Scooby Doo themed party this year although all of his gifts revolved around Ninja Turtles.  Thank goodness he chose Scoobs though because these decorations were hard enough to find and I didn't see anything out there for turtles.  Phew!  I decorated the kitchen the night before his birthday after the kids went to bed.  His reaction the next morning was priceless...hand over his mouth and big, excited eyes.

Claire (1 year) and Nyle (6.5 months)

Nolan, Great Grandma Phyliss, Nyle, and Nash

Claire and Will

Nini, Nyle, Eggroll, and Sasha

It was a great time and I'm thankful that Nash still enjoys family parties.  I know those chaotic sleepovers are just around the corner!  The day after Nash's party I told him I had a great time and thanked him for inviting me.  He said, "You're welcome.  But actually Mom, I never invited you.  You just showed up!"  :0)

Nash Charles,

The last five years have gone by so quickly and I am so proud of the boy you have become.  You love projects, watching movies, playing outside, being with friends, reading books, and playing games on the computer or iphone.  You love superheroes, ninja turtles, and ninjagos.  You love fruit and will almost always pass on the veggies..except maybe broccoli.  You are very skilled at negotiating how many more bites of your dinner you have to take.  Your memory and your vocabulary amaze me each day.  You are one smart little guy!  I love your laugh and I love to hear the stories behind your artwork.  It melts my heart when you randomly tell me that you love me.  I want you to know what a special son you are and that I love you completely and unconditionally with all of my heart...always.   

I am thankful every day that God gave us you.

Love,

Mom

Nyle's 6 Month Checkup

Our "little" man is doing great.  He weighed in at 22 pounds which is at the 98th percentile.  No wonder my biceps are burning!  He is 27" long (64th percentile) and head circumference is 45.3 cm, which is at the 92nd percentile.  We are thinking Hawkeye linebacker at this rate.  :0)  The doctor recommended his first flu shot so he had 4 injections and one oral vaccination.  He was such a tough guy!  We decided to try a vegetable for dinner tonight.  Carrots!  He was a bit indifferent.

Before

After

For the record...
Nash at 6 1/2 months: 17 pounds 6 oz (50th %), 26 inches long (40th %)

Nash at 6 months  

Nolan at 6 months: 21 pounds 7 oz (97th %), 26 inches long (30th %)

Nolan at 6 months  

Blessed to have 3 healthy, happy boys!

The Eagle Has Landed!

In more ways than one!  Grandma Jo retired in December and wasted no time in making some MAJOR changes in her life.  She packed her belongings into a POD, sold her house in 4 hours, and purchased a new condo here in Iowa without even seeing it!  We looked at a few places we thought she might like and had her on FaceTime to get an idea of what we were looking at.  She stayed with Aunt Janice and Uncle Benji in Fresno last weekend and took off on Sunday morning for her journey half way across the US.  I can't remember the exact number of miles but I will find out because she worked hard for every one of them.  She traveled through snow and ice in Nebraska and Iowa and still arrived at our home around 7pm on Wednesday night.  She will be putting up with us until her condo is finished in April.  It is all very exciting.  We went to the flooring store on Friday and she picked out her cupboard and trim color, her linoleum, her carpeting, and her countertop.  It is going to look so awesome!  We are very excited to have her close by.  I'm not so sure she was very excited that the temperature dropped to -22 degrees with the wind chill the week that she arrived but then again...neither was I!   BRRRRRR!
(Insert picture of Julie standing by new condo and freezing her buns off but I can't get it to post.)

Yesterday we all went to the river the check out the bald eagles.  We saw a few flying around and a bunch of them in a tree but they were pretty far away.  Most of the other people down there had camera lenses the size of a small child so hopefully they were able to get some good pics.

Nyle Steven is 6 months old!!

Our little mister celebrated his half birthday on Friday, February 1st.  Unbelievable!  He is becoming more and more fun each day and brings such joy to our crazy household.  He is giggles during patty cake and when he is bounced up and down.  He will bounce forever in his bouncy gym as long as he can watch his brothers play and play.

He figured out how to roll front to back on January 23rd.  He gets up once in the early morning hours for a bottle but will hopefully be kicking that habit sometime soon.  This morning it was 5am instead of 3am.  He is eating rice cereal every once in a while and really getting the hang of it.  He goes to the doctor for his 6 month checkup on Tuesday so after that we will probably be starting some veggies.  Unfortunately his brothers shared their colds with him and he is still getting over that.  It makes sleeping through the night difficult because he has a hard time breathing so he has been spending time in the boppy and in his swing at night.  Not ideal but we all need some sleep.  He is starting to sit up for a few seconds before tipping over.  I know there are some abdominal muscles in there somewhere!  He is our roley poley little prince. We love you so much Nyle Steven!!