Snowpocalypse 2011!!

Things are starting to get back to normal around here after a very strange and wonderful week of snow and ice. The weatherman had given us all lots of warning that the snow was going to come and of course everyone swarmed to the grocery store to clear out all of the bread and milk. The Governor declared it a state of emergency and schools were cancelled--all before the first snow flake appeared!! But low and behold the weatherman actually got it right this time and it really did snow--a lot! It started late Sunday night and came very fast. In a mere 20 minutes, everything was covered and sticking. And it just kept snowing hard! Of course everyone was on the edge of their seats, watching the crazy news, watching the windows, and Facebook was lit up like crazy with activity and pictures of the snow. We went to bed that night after being glued to the news and woke Monday morning to 6 inches of snow! No one was going anywhere for a while. In fact for the whole week. The problem was that the snow kept freezing and turning into ice each night and temps never made it over freezing during the day. We actually still have a lot of snow and ice in our front yard and driveway, 8 days later!
So with no place to go, our family had a truly wonderful week of staying home and being together. It was so nice having Graham home with us all week! We had fun playing in the snow everyday. We even put the boys in our laundry baskets as makeshift sleds and slid them down the street! Nicholas loved it but Nolan actually had no reaction at all. No smiles but no tears either. I had fun doing lots of cooking (and we all did lots of eating). We watched movies and home videos and played with lots of toys. I also got so motivated to clean and organize the house! We ventured out once to the grocery store on Wednesday and then on Thursday we met some friends at Burger King to play. On Friday Mimi and PopPop ventured out and came over and we went out to dinner. Saturday we joined Mimi and PopPop again at Discover Mills and had fun shopping at Bass Pro Shop (Nicholas loves looking at the huge fish there and the waterfalls), having lunch, and shopping. Then the boys played glow in the dark PuttPutt golf while me and Mimi and Nolan shopped.
The ice and snow are almost gone but it sure was fun and I'm thankful for all the memories we made!

Nolan's First Haircut

This is definitely a time of transition in Nolan's little life (and therefore lots of transition for me too)! First we made the glorious switch from formula to milk--Halleluya! I am so grateful to not have to buy formula anymore!! Nolan has had a much harder time with the switch from the bottle to the cup. But on Sunday I decided that we just had to suck it up (ha, no pun intended) and he's going to have to just learn to drink from the cup. He's made some progress and is a little better than he was but he's still not drinking the amount of milk that he should. Of course he still loves to throw his cup too. I really hope he stops that soon. I'm still giving him a bottle at night for now, just to make sure that he gets a good amount.
The next change that we made was turning his carseat forward facing on Monday. I can't tell you how cute it is to look back in my rearview mirror and see those two adorable faces staring back at me. Nolan has done so well and just loves looking around at all the new sights. On Monday we spent an hour and a half in the car driving to and from a friend's house and I never heard a peep out of him!
The fourth transition is that of moving from 2 naps to one. He's been showing signs that he's ready for the change but getting him to stay awake all morning long until after carpool at 1 so that both boys nap in the afternoon, is going to be very challenging. I've only had two days so far of trying to keep him busy and engaged all morning and I'm exhausted and running out of ideas! Yesterday we went to the mall to play and meet up with Holly and Caroline for Holly's birthday. Today while Nicholas was in school we went to Target and slowly went down every single aisle. Unfortunately that only lasted me until 10:20! What in the world would I do with this cutie for the next 2 and half hours??
Well after he was mistaken for a girl twice yesterday at the mall, I decided it was time for his first haircut. I was amazed at how well he did, and how different my two children are! Nicholas screamed hysterically at his first haircut, and basically every haircut after that. Nolan on the otherhand, never cried once and would every so often look back at the man cutting his hair and smile and laugh. He was wonderful! So then I wasted all the time that I could there and finally had to put Nolan in the car and of course he fell asleep immediately--11:00! Any ideas of what I can do with him tomorrow??
One more adorable note on Nolan: I realized that he has another word that he is saying now--Baa for Baxter. He chases Baxter around through the house and screams BAAA! It is so hilarious. Of course Baxter isn't as excited about his little fan.
I can't let this blog end without a cute story on Nicholas. He's such a great helper anyways but the other night he wanted to help me do the dishes after dinner. Since that would mean Nolan also hanging on the dishwasher, I told him thank you but he and Nolan can go play and I'll do it. Nicholas responded "No Mommy, I'm a Superhero for God, I have to help you!" Well how do you say no to that!

P.S. We had a great time on Saturday visiting with Lauren and TJ and the kids and Grandad and Kaki and celebrating our late Christmas. It's so much fun getting all of the cousins together! I had to include this awesome picture of sweet Mady sharing all of her naked baby dolls with her Uncle Graham. This daddy of cars and transformers had no idea what to do with all the baby dolls!