Nicholas' 4th Birthday Party

I took Nicholas to choose his invitations about a week or so ahead of time thinking he might pick something other than Thomas the Train, but guess what, he went straight to Thomas. That's okay though since I had some stuff left over from last year that I was able to use again. He was so excited about all the other things he saw that he could have for his party, but I told him we would wait to get those until we knew how many kids were going to come. He was okay with that. The one thing, however, he was very adament about having were party hats. I didn't think he would actually wear them so when I went back to get all the party supplies I chose to skip the hats. Burt ended up having to get some the day of his party because he would not give up asking about them. And he actually wore his hat most of the party and his friends did too. So, in the end they weren't a bad purchase. Guess that will teach me to not listen to him, well, on certain things at least.

Nicholas couldn't wait to have cake, although we did make him hold off a little bit. And notice the party hat. He requested to wear it right away and it lasted almost the whole hour and a half. Impressive. I made the cake from scratch and put the icing on, while Burt did the masterful artwork. I think it turned out pretty cute myself.

We had his party the Saturday before his birthday (April 10th) at the park. We had around eight kids and a couple of siblings attend, along with a parent of course too. Pretty low key. Snacks, drinks, presents, cake, playing on the playground, swinging and a pull string pinata. Nicholas was most excited about the presents and cake. He couldn't wait to have either so we did that first. It was nice to just be able to hang out with everyone and not stress over anything big at our house. The weather was perfect and all the kids seemed to have fun.

Parents and children enjoying the swings before festivities.

Chase brought a couple of his trains with him so Nicholas and Cade thought it more fun to play with them than be on the playground.

DoYeon and her sister watching intently.

Cake time. And notice most of the kids did wear the hats and used the noise makers too. So fun.
Blowing out the candles. Joshua had to get in to help.

Diving into the presents. I was trying to read who they were from first, but that didn't really work. He got some cool gifts from all his friends. Very generous.


Kids enjoying cake and juice.
Chase, Cade, Joshua, Barrett, Belle and Brooklyn in the background

Michael T, Nicholas, DoYeon's sister, DoYeon



Playground time.

Matt generously "volunteered" to hold the pull-string pinata for us. Much better than using a bat that's for sure.
Kids diving in for the candy.

Joshua hiding his stash.
Retreating to a safe zone to eat candy in secret. So funny.

Everyone had a great time and the weather held up nicely for us. It was also fun to see Nicholas and DoYeon interact together outside of school. She is usually so quiet when I see her at school. His teachers always tell me how they play together and Nicholas helps her with her English probably since he talks so much, imagine that. They say he is so patient with her when he doesn't understand what she is saying. The other day they drew pictures of cookies for each other. Of course he never really talks about her to us, but her mom said that DoYeon always says how much she likes Nicholas. They chased each other around the playground with Nicholas saying, "I'm going to get you." It was so funny to watch. He now asks about kids speaking different languages and things like that. I am glad his classroom is diverse enough for him to have these questions and that all his friends are so wonderful. They all had a great time playing with each other and the adults were able to converse too which was nice. Overall, another birthday success. Happy 4th Birthday Nicholas!

Brotherly love

Isn't it wonderful when siblings start to really enjoy each other?!?! I certainly think it is. We moved the boys into the same room almost three months ago now. It is going fairly well except for the fact that Joshua loves his new freedom of the toddler bed and doesn't go to sleep as easily, but once he is asleep he usually stays that way. It seems as though since the boys have joined rooms they have become closer. They spend time in their room playing, jumping on the beds of course and Nicholas is being sweeter to Joshua by asking him to play with him, helping him with puzzles, etc. It is so nice to see this side of them. Don't get me wrong, they still fight of course, but seeing the brotherly love emerge warms my heart. I just love it. I pray their bond grows closer and stronger everyday. I don't have any good pictures of their room yet since we still haven't finished it and am not sure when it ever will be, but here are a few cute pictures of them and a glimpse of the new set-up.

I am not sure what Joshua is thinking of his new bed.

This is how I found Joshua one evening. Nicholas had already fallen asleep, but Joshua was fighting bedtime and staying in the room. So, I closed the door and he cried for awhile. When I finally went in to check on him he was sleeping next to Nicholas. At least I know Nicholas won't wake up when someone is crying in his ear. I moved him to his own bed afraid Nicholas might kick him off, but it was a cute sight.

Nicholas was so nice to Joshua at Pump It Up. He helped him up the stairs, held his hand and always wanted to know where he was.

Can you tell Joshua loves be like his big brother???

Monkey see monkey do. They don't look graceful at all, but eventually this turns into a flip.

Random pictures I know, but this was the best I could find on them playing together. Gotta get better at snapping those photos.

Out of the mouth of babes

Last night after church the boys were wanting a snack. I told them they could have half of a granola bar when we got home. They seemed okay with that. Nicholas tried to bargain for a chocolate granola bar to which I kindly said no. His response was, but mommy, I will split it in half and share with Joshua just like Jesus took a loaf of bread and halved it and fed all the people. I just had to laugh which made him question why I was laughing. I told him I wasn't laughing at him, just impressed he made such a good analogy to try to get a chocolate granola bar. He didn't even learn about this story last night which makes it even more fun. I just love that he is learning about Jesus and sees connections in real life that his four year old mind can equate things to.

Happy Birthday Nicholas!

Yes, it is true, Nicholas is now 4. I can't believe it actually. The time is flying by as usual. He is becoming such a big boy. His vocabulary is growing everyday, sometimes I am not even sure where he comes up with the words; he is growing into his big brother role very nicely and is excited about having a new little brother, whom he calls Sawyer; he loves school; loves to swing, slide, climb the fence, ride his bike, etc; would eat grilled cheese every meal I think if I let him; sings and talks to his hearts content; and is addicted to Thomas the Train. There are so many other things I could say, but the most important is that Jesus loves him and his mommy and daddy love him very much and I pray he feels this everyday. I can't imagine our lives without him. He brings so much joy and laughter to our family and I can't wait to see what the next year will bring. Happy Birthday Nicholas! For Nicholas' birthday Burt thought it would be fun to take the boys bowling. They both loved it. It was fun watching them try to roll or throw the ball down the lane. Nicholas actually got a couple of spares I think which he was very excited about. He did a little dance for them. They loved watching the ball come back to them through the machine and ran around the bowling alley chasing each other. Thankfully there were not a lot of people there. We ate dinner and had a mini cupcake to celebrate his special day. Joshua even sang a mini version of Happy Birthday to him. So sweet. What a nice way to end the evening.

Doing his happy dance.

Not sure what he is doing, but gotta love the bowling shoes.

With help from Mommy and Daddy at times, the boys did pretty well I would have to say.

Easter Weekend

What a wonderful weekend we had. So much fun and a great blessing to enjoy the resurrection of Jesus. This holiday season we made sure to emphasize the meaning with the boys, especially everytime they mentioned going on an Easter egg hunt. Nicholas was also learning this in school and at church so I kept asking him about it all the time. It was so neat to hear Nicholas explain the sad and happy news of the weekend.

On Friday we went to a friends house for a playgroup. We decorated cupcakes, made chicks out of handprints, enjoyed a picnic of yummy food with friends and of course had an Easter egg hunt. The boys had a great time and ate lots of sweets.

Yummy cupcake creations. They kept wanting to add more frosting once they licked the top layer off.

Our little picnic lunch.

Joshua found a tree limb to swing from.

Sunday morning the boys were so excited about going to church that they were pretty cooperative in the getting ready department. We took some pictures beforehand and then headed off. The boys were able to go up on stage and listen to an Easter story and sing a few songs. The boys of course didn't sing and they were the ones causing commotion during the reading, but hey, they were cute. And wouldn't you know that Nicholas sang the song from church all afternoon at home. He is weird about public appearances I guess. Joshua wasn't very quiet in service so I ended up taking him in the hallway until it was time for their class, but it actually was better as it was so hot in the sanctuary that I thought I might pass out. We had a wonderful service full of praise and worship and filled with all of our church family.

Nicholas was being such the big helper in trying to get Joshua to smile. Aren't they just the cutest little boys ever?!?!

Our best attempt at a family photo.

Right after the service the kids went on their Easter egg hunt. I barely made it out there to see Nicholas pick up any eggs. His basket was already full. Such the speady hunter. I did see Joshua though and it was fun to see the difference a year makes. They then went to eating candy which basically was their lunch although Nicholas did eat a sandwich and Joshua ate an orange so I guess that is good considering. I was exhausted after lunch so once Joshua went down for a nap so did I. Burt and Nicholas washed cars and did yard work. How nice.

Gotta go before my brother gets all the eggs!

Enjoying their treasures.

I hid the Easter Baskets Grammie left for the boys while we waited for dinner to keep them occupied. They enjoyed sorting through their goodies and putting money in their piggie banks. For dinner Burt made a pork tenderloin and mashed potatoes. It was so nice actually lounging around for the day and remembering the sacrifices made for us to have an abundant life. What a special day it was with our little family.

The basket is almost as big as he is.

Joshua

Nicholas

And last, but not least, since Easter represented my 30th week mark, I decided I would post some pictures of me and my belly and my fancy Easter dress. Enjoy.