Easter 2009

Easter weekend was chilly, but sunny. The Coopersville Easter Egg Hunt was at 10 a.m. on Saturday, and the wind was really cold. TJ's age group was further back in the park this year, so Bill took our camera and went with him. He said TJ did well. I had Sam and Nolan and my mom's camera. Nolan was content to sit on the ground, studying one egg (I put a couple in his bag for him). Sam proudly picked up one egg, and then walked around watching everyone else fill their bags. I had to keep encouraging him and helping him get more eggs. Either there were more kids, or fewer eggs, because none of the boys had a full bag. TJ got the closest.
We met up with Suzy and Maggie at the egg hunt.
For Easter dinner, we went to my parent's house for dinner. All of my siblings, their spouses & kids, and my grandparents were there. The only exception was Nate (Brianna's fiancee), had to work. I think there were 19 of us around the table. It was loud, but fun. My sister Amanda made a very tasty dessert...some called it a truffle, others called it a trivet, and she claimed it was a trifle. Whatever you call it, it was heavenly!

Bill thought we should be facing the sun for our annual family Easter photo. I had him take a picture of Nolan & I when we got home--one where we weren't squinting!

Please take note of TJ's shirt. It was his last 'new' shirt from ones I had purchased at the really awesome consignment shop in Macon, Georgia. Normally, TJ pays no attention to what he's wearing, but he was really excited about this shirt. When I was taking their pictures, I told the boys they all looked very nice. TJ responded with, "Yes, but I look the nicest". Ah, my modest boy.

Catching up with some pictures

I've been meaning to post these for awhile.

In March we celebrated Audrey's first birthday. She can speed-crawl and is taking some hesitant steps, but she's also very good about being still and playing with Nolan. I'm hoping she'll motivate him to get crawling soon (he's getting closer!).

A week later, we celebrated Suzy's second birthday. She's quite the little mommy these days, so she received new baby dolls and a doll high chair for her birthday.
And on March 31, the day before his birthday, Nolan got his first hair cut. He did very well and held still for Grandma as long as I kept feeding him Cheerios. His hair turned out very nicely, and he's still a very handsome boy, but he lost some of his baby look. I'm always a little sad about that first hair cut.
Afterward, I gave him a bath, which makes his hair curly, so I took another post-hair cut picture later that night.

Week in Review

This week has been TJ's Spring Break. Unfortunately for him, Bill and I worked our normal work week. It wasn't all bad--I took the boys and my mom to Woodland Mall on Monday. The boys played on the giant breakfast food while I took Nolan to get his pictures taken at JC Penney's. Then Grandma treated us to pretzels (it's a tradition she started and the boys won't let her forget!). She made the mistake of ordering cinnamon sugar pretzels for herself and the boys (I only want plain with mustard, thank you!) and she discovered why she's never ordered those before. All 3 of them were absolutely covered with cinnamon and sugar! We had to go to the bathroom to clean up the mess before we headed for home. I am thinking she'll stick with plain pretzels from now on. Nolan shared my pretzel and absolutely loved it. I did not, however, share my mustard with him.

TJ also had the opportunity to go to the public museum with Grandma Cindy. They saw the special dinosaurs exhibit, which TJ seemed to enjoy. They also rode the carousel. Cindy rode with TJ, and they shared a bench (TJ called it a 'sled'). TJ told us later that Grandma Cindy said it went too fast and made her dizzy. Poor Grandma Cindy!

On Wednesday, TJ shared some words of wisdom with my mom. He informed her that when you have too much ear wax, it backs up into your nose and comes out as boogers. I had not heard that one before!

TJ was talking about ear wax, because Nolan has an ear infection. He's been on his antibiotic for two days, and has returned to sleeping through the night, but he cut a tooth today and was pretty unhappy about it. I hope he sleeps all right tonight!

Sam has his own adventure this week, back on Monday night. I don't always check on the older boys when I've been up with Nolan, but Sam has had a nasty cold this week. So, around 3 a.m., after giving Nolan a drink, I decided to make sure Sam was under the blankets and breathing okay. I walked into his room, peeked in his bunk, and...no Sam. I didn't panic. His two special blankets and his Buddy were still in the bed, so I figured he couldn't be too far away. I walked around the bunk, and sure enough, there was Sam, lying in a ball on the floor. It looked to me like he fell out of bed head-first (there's a soft giraffe pillow on the floor, just for a circumstance like this), but never woke up. He had curled up to try and stay warm. Having only one good arm, I couldn't really lift him, so I stood him on his feet, and shoved him back on the bed. I covered him up, and left the room. He never woke up (although he now claims to remember the entire incident).

Sam has only fallen out of bed a couple times. I could only fit a rail on one side of his bunk...there isn't enough room for two. So, I roll his comforter around some pillows and create a barricade on the far side of the bed. He managed to get around the top of my barricade that night. I'm just glad he wasn't hurt or upset.

And an update on my arm...I had it x-rayed again on Wednesday, and then went to the doctor today to see what the x-rays said. It's not good news. The x-rays did not show really any healing to speak of. In fact, the bone was not displaced originally, but now it is marginally displaced (meaning the bones have shifted slightly along the fracture). She said it isn't serious enough for surgery, but it means at least another month in the sling. Ugh. I am so tired of the sling, and I'm also frustrated that I'm not healing more quickly/efficiently. I need a bone regenerative pill or something!

Nolan's Party!

Nolan's party went well. I find it stressful having people over (I am always afraid they are going to think my house is messy), but it does motivate me to get things done. I finally finished painting the door to the deck. Well, the inside is painted. It's too cold to paint the outside yet.

Anyway, the party was fun. Nolan quickly grew bored opening gifts (he wanted to play with the bows, but not actually help me unwrap), so I let TJ and my nephew Owen unwrap things in order to speed up the process. TJ and Sam both really liked Nolan's new frog humidifier (it is pretty cute) and his new alarm clock/CD player. Sam likes anything that plugs in. He's constantly rearranging small appliances for me.

I took Nolan to Penney's today to get his 1-year photos done. He did well, but of course, saved his best smiles for after the photo shoot. Figures.

Here are some party pics!

I ordered a monkey cake, and told the bakery any sort of monkey would be fine. TJ and Sam were excited to see Curious George on the cake.

Nolan was very excited to eat the cake!

Bill finished the deck right before the party started. I'm so happy to have it done. It looks great!

Nolan's Slide Show

ER

I just watched the last episode of ER. With the exception of one or two episodes last season, I saw every single one. When ER began, I was barely 18, and I was a freshman in college. At that point, I had every intention of becoming a physician assistant.

A lot has changed in 15 years, but I still faithfully watched the show. Thursday nights are going to be so strange to not have ER come on at 10 p.m.

I told Bill he might have to start buying me the ER seasons on DVD, just so I can get my ER fix when I need it!

Happy Birthday, Precious Boy!

This year flew by! I can't believe Nolan is already a year old! We didn't have a party yesterday--just some mini cupcakes in between me working all day, and needing to get Sam and Nolan to Cuddle-Up Time at church. The big party is Saturday--I'll get more pictures up then. I'm also working on a slide show of Nolan's first year, since the one Mandy did for Audrey turned out so cute.

Here he is, the night before his birthday (yes, he got a haircut. I'll blog about that eventually!):
We had ordered flowers for him for the front of church on Sunday morning. They are beautiful, but they stink (I do NOT like lilies. Sorry).

Here's the birthday cupcake. It looks like he was a little afraid of it, but he kept trying to grab the candle. I'd pull it away, and he'd pull away. Then once I gave it to him, he was confused by the frosting on his hands. I broke the cupcake into pieces and he eventually ate every bite, and licked off his hands. Happy Birthday, Sweetie!