What a fun start to the month for Nathan...he spent Friday night, February 3rd, over G-Ma and Pa Pa's house! Here he is helping Pa Pa make his traditional Saturday morning pancake breakfast...
Enjoying his very special "N" chocolate chip pancake...
We had a fun visit with Uncle Jason, Aunt Sherri, Elizabeth and Jonathan when they stopped here for a few days on their move from Maryland to California. We had fun going to The City Museum, eating donuts from The Donut Palace and dining at Pappy's (however, Aunt Sherri was very sick so you won't see her in any pictures because she was in bed during most of their visit). Nathan had an absolute ball hanging out with his cousins...
The Little Men enjoying some grub at our Super Bowl party...
Lovin' on Norah...
They brought with them this VERY SPECIAL gift from Great Lee to Nathan! This is my rocking chair that my mom (MaMoo) got from an antique shop when I was a little girl. Great Lee re-covered it with this beautiful needlework she made of Noah's ark with Nathan's name on the bow of the ark...
Nathan has really enjoyed having a rocking chair that is just his size! He sits in it a lot and especially likes pulling it right next to the big rocking chair in his room while we read him stories...
Nathan made this little addition to his tool bench; it's a huge box Kevan got from Sam's Club during one of his shopping trips; he had it by the garage door to take out to recycling but Nathan decided to recycle it in his own way...
A fun weekend night at Aunt Carrie and Uncle Ross' house! We went over for a delicious celebratory dinner they made us in honor of Kevan's new job and our house purchase (why yes, in case you weren't aware, Kevan got a new job which he started on the 15th and we bought a new house on the 5th). After the kids finished dinner they got to enjoy a Bible Story DVD snuggled under the blanket that MaMoo made for Sarah (or was it Madi?)...
Here's Nathan modeling some of his favorite jammies. He likes to say 'I'm a super hero!'...
We enjoyed our gingerbread house party back in December so much that we decided to do a valentine's party, headed up by Aunt Carrie...
The kiddos had so much fun decorating their Valentine's bags, making valentines and putting valentine cards and candy in each other's bags (unfortunately, Miss Angie and her kiddos had to cancel last minute due to illness, but Aunt Carrie made them some party bags)......
Enjoying some candy...
Although Norah was a bit too little to take part in the fun she was all decked out in some Valentine's attire...
And enjoyed modeling with her party bag that Aunt Carrie made for her...
We also managed to fit in a few games of bowling...
When they were getting ready to leave, Aunt Carrie told Sarah and Madi to go get their boots on but Madi was too slow and Nathan decided to try her boots on for size...
A Chorus Line...
We finally got a fairly decent snow storm which Daddy, Nathan and Baxter enjoyed (Mommy and Norah stayed in the nice, warm house)...
We had our house inspection on Valentine's Day so we left the kids with G-Ma and Pa Pa (since our new house is only 1.5 miles from them) and met back over there for a tasty dinner. But first, Nathan enjoyed a Valentine's Day treat from G-Ma...
We also had fun making chocolate covered strawberries with Pa Pa...
One of the biggest events of February was G-Ma and Pa Pa's 40th wedding anniversary on February 25th! To celebrate the occasion, Uncle Jon and cousin Ashleigh came in town from Ohio. It was their first time meeting Norah...
We celebrated G-Ma and Pa Pa by taking them out to a surprise dinner (Uncle Jeff, Aunt Jenny and cousin Lauren were also in town but Aunt Jenny opted to stay home with the kids and to make Lauren's 1st birthday cake for her party the next day)...
Here's Lauren's 1st birthday party celebration dinner...
And the big moment...
She really enjoyed digging into her cake but was sweet enough to share with her Daddy...
Nathan enjoyed Aunt Jenny's tasty snickerdoodle cupcakes with cinnamon icing...
Aunt Hanna gave Norah a little taste, which she seemed to enjoy...
The Krestel musical prodigies...
Enjoying playing with cousin Lauren's toy...
Cousins...
The day after Lauren's party we went back over to G-Ma and Pa Pa's to visit and play with Lauren some more. Nathan enjoyed having Lauren push him around in his "car beep beep"...
G-Ma with her three youngest grandbabies...
How funny is this picture with Lauren and Norah both posing with their right finger in their right ear...
Mommy snuggling with her littlest love...
One of the cutest Nathan stories from this month was when he belted out ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” at Aldi (one of our local grocery stores) while I was bagging and after he was done, the cashier, other baggers and folks in line were clapping and cheering. He was ALL SMILES and very proud of his well received performance!
One of the most heartwarming Nathan stories from this month is related to Bible Study Fellowship (BSF). I finally made the switch from the evening class to the morning class so I can take the kids with me. Nathan absolutely loves BSF and on our way home from his first BSF class he said, 'Mommy, I like BSF! Mommy, I like God!' The next week he kept asking when we were going back to BSF and when Wednesday came and we were getting ready for BSF he said, 'Mommy, I'm excited for BSF!' On the way home he belted out the first part of the hymn "Holy! Holy! Holy!" which just melted my heart. He really loves to sing and I know it's music to God's ears!
The most terrifying Nathan story is from the very beginning of the month when he came flying into the laundry room, ran into me as I was walking out of the room and he went flying to the ground. I thought he just fell on the ground but when I picked him up to cuddle him and love on him, I felt something wet in his hair...I pulled my hand off his head and it was covered in blood. Long story short, he hit a hose pipe on his way to the ground and sliced his head open a bit - not enough to need stitches but boy was there A LOT of blood! I wish I could say that I handled it a bit calmer but it was the first time I saw my baby in this condition. Thank God it was nothing more serious!
One of the sweetest Nathan stories from this month was after Daddy told him that I wasn't feeling well with a stomach bug; he ran and jumped in bed with me and asked, 'Mommy, you don't feel well? Mommy's tummy hurt? ' and he lifted my shirt, rubbed my belly and asked 'Mommy all better?' The next day I still wasn't feeling well so he stepped things up a notch. He asked, 'Mommy's tummy still not feel well? Mommy need a band aid?' Without waiting for an answer he jumped off the bed, ran and grabbed his box of Sesame Street band aids and proceed to put a Big Bird band aid and a Cookie Monster band aid on my tummy! This sweet gesture in itself made me feel a little better!
In addition to singing, Nathan is very into playing baseball, jumping and asking questions (incessantly)! One of his favorite questions is 'What do you say?' which is his response after we tell him to do something that he doesn't want to do (he says it with the funniest inflection and although we know he understands us and is just trying to put off doing what we asked, it cracks us up...only on the inside of course). And whenever he misbehaves and we ask him about it he always responds, 'Well...' but never has an answer. Again, it's so funny but we don't let him see us chuckle! Speaking of us, he likes to refer to us jointly as 'guys'...he'll say, 'Hey guys...' which we find so funny! Oh, and he's also started coming out of his room on his own and jumping into bed with us in the mornings (which we love) or finding me wherever I may be after his nap (he usually comes running up to me with bed head, waving his hand and saying 'Hi Mommy!' - it's so sweet). Speaking of naps, one day I put him down to sleep and he followed me out of his room announcing, 'all done!' I put him back in his room but found myself in there shortly thereafter because I heard a noise coming from his room similar to what I heard last month...you guessed it, he got himself stuck again, but this time he was wedged between his bookcase and his bedside table. I have no idea how he gets himself in these predicaments (and yes, we've also had another incident of him getting stuck between the wall and his bed just like last month).
In other steps of independence, he goes to the bathroom all on his own...usually without even telling us. He'll just run to the bathroom, unbutton and unzip his pants, pull them and his underwear down and do his business! One day he put almost an entire roll of toilet paper in the toilet but thankfully we caught him before he flushed it. After that incident, and some stern instruction, he likes to announce 'look Mommy, just one square!' He tried taking this whole bathroom situation a step further and closed the door for privacy, but we put the kibosh on that! And yet in another step towards independence, he's started telling me 'I don't like that shirt!' when I pick out his clothes in the morning. I'm sure this is the first of many clothing disputes we'll have!
