May musings

So while most of May has been spent sick at home, I do have a couple of things to post for May. The biggest event being the end of the school year complete with music program and class parties. I can't say enough wonderful things about Nick's teachers and class this year. He loved every minute of it and learned and grew SOOO much! He made so many close friends and his teachers, Ms. Shefali and Ms. Jami are so special to him. I am so thankful for such a great year! Thankfully Nicholas was feeling well enough to head back to school on the day of the Music Program. He did so great up there singing 5 songs! He loves music and singing so much and he sings these songs all the time at home but it was wonderful to see him up there singing so loud with all the hand motions included. They sang "His Banner Over Me is Love", "My Father's House", "Happy, Happy Easter", "I am wonderfully made", and "The Goodbye Song". I have never been able to upload videos directly to this blog for some reason so I decided to post the videos to youtube so check out these two links to see Nicholas singing. The first is a short song that his class sang to the parents before his Easter Egg Hunt and the second is the music program. Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ip2GfvtQqHg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TogK3cfdA0
The next day we threw an end of the year field day party. It was lots of fun with all different games and outdoor stations. I manned the bubbles and then the face painting. It was super messy but tons of fun. The hardest part was managing Nolan during this entire time. He spent the entire time running from the field back to the school and it was a group effort with all the parents who helped me to chase after him and keep him corralled while I sat painting kids faces. After the games all of the families were invited for a picnic lunch. It was nice to spend some tine with all of the different families that I have gotten to know this year. Sadly, Nicholas missed his last day of school because he was sick but I'm glad he got to participate in the party and program.
I also wanted to post a picture of our house makeover and the sweet baby cardinal that was born right outside our back deck. Unfortunately it was a very bad nest location and Baxter spent his days tormenting the nest and Graham eventually had to move it but I got some good shots with my great zoom on my camera. And just a few minutes ago I discovered that they have laid a new nest full of 3 eggs in my hanging ferns out front so hopefully those babies will make it out all right.
Lastly, I have to share pictures of precious Mady at her 3 year old birthday party from last week. She was the perfect princess and we had so much fun at her music party! I can't believe she is already 3! How time flies!

April 2011

Let me catch you up on what I've missed blogging about these months... For Spring Break, Mom, Ashley, Carol, Kristin and myself met in NYC for an amazing girl's trip!! It was such an incredible trip, just nothing but fun--great food, shopping, seeing the sights, great Broadway shows, an amazing hotel room, and wonderful memories with my favorite girls! I was so thankful for the opportunity to go on the trip. Graham, Butch, and Kathy were so kind to have the boys while I was gone and I know they all had so much fun too! Nicholas started Weeball (Tball) and was a natural! He loved the game and was so good at it too! Even though he was one of the youngest on the team of 3, 4, and 5 year olds, he was probably one of the most focused and into it. We were so proud of him! We were excited to celebrate Grandad's birthday in April by meeting everyone in Athens for the G-Day Spring game! The day would have been great fun except poor Nolan got sick with a fever so I had to leave early and come back home with him (he turned out to have Roseola). But everyone else had a great time at the game (Nicholas' first time to Sanford Stadium!) then having a picnic on North campus and ringing the victory bell! Easter was a wonderfully blessed occasion again this year as we celebrated our Risen Lord. Nicholas had some fun Easter activities at school and we did an Easter Egg hunt with our Sunday School Class. Our church service and the time spent with family were very special as well. The best part of Easter this year was how much Nicholas understands and sharing the story of Christ's resurrection with him. His favorite song that he continues to sing everyday even now is "Happy Happy Easter, Jesus is Risen". We also made big changes to our house in April and had repairwork done and had the house painted! I love the changes and think it really gave the house a makeover! Graham has worked so hard on getting the yard to look beautiful and I've even gotten into planting flowers and a small vegetable garden. As for the boys, Nolan definitely entered into a challenging phase! I know I ate my words from my previous blog in March about how wonderful things were. He is in to absolutely everything and his most favorite thing in the world to do is to terrorize his brother! He beats up on Nicholas all day long and sweet Nicholas never lays a hand on him. Nolan pokes him in the eye, hits him, bites him, takes his cups, etc. He's also a climber and has learned how to climb on our bed and all the living room furniture. He learned how to open doors and he loves getting into all of the things in the bathroom and kitchen cabinets. He is the biggest ham too! He has the most adorable smile that he is always flashing at us and is always trying to get us to laugh. He loves finding any clothes around the house and putting them on his head and walking around laughing (this includes underwear and my bathing suit!!). He loves bags and baskets, anything with a handle that he can put on his arm and shoulder and he walks around the house saying "Byebye Mama" over and over--it's adorable! But even with all this craziness he remains to be my cuddlebug and is still always wanting me to hold him so he can lay his head on my shoulder. I spend every evening cooking one handed with my 28 pound cuddlebug in my arms! Nicholas is in an amazing phase these days. As he gets closer and closer to 4, it just gets better. He talks and talks nonstop about everything and just loves all that he has learned at school. It's been incredible watching him grow and learn along with him!

Where do I even begin...

Well it's been two months since I've posted anything on the blog and I've had good reason--it has been nuts around here!! After Spring Break and our fabulous trip to NYC, life went into hyperdrive with all of the end of the year activities for school. Being room mom to Nicholas' class I had a lot to do. Multiple parties and programs to plan, teacher gifts, and the most time demanding were photo albums that I had to make for all of the kids plus the 2 teachers--13 in all. Well I believe the stress of all of it caused us to get sick. We are now entering into the 4th week of the boys and I being sick and I'm about to go insane!! It started with Nicholas getting a cold that turned into an ear infection and pink eye for him. Nolan got his cold and then I did. My cold turned into the worst sinus infection I've ever had (and I've had a lot). The pain was so great throughout my sinuses and into my jaw and teeth! I had to go to the doctor 3 times and finally the second round of antibiotics and shot gave me some relief. (I'll still be on the antibiotics for a while and I'm not 100% but much better. I'm going to an ENT doctor as soon as possible to get my sinuses checked out.) During the midst of my pain and on Nick's last day of school, he woke up with what I thought was a 24 hour stomach bug. The next day, Nolan spiked a high fever that lasted for 2 days and was a pitiful sick little boy. Ever since then, Nicholas has continued to complain of head aches and stomach aches so I took him back to the doctor today to learn that what he is really suffering from is Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease!! Are you kidding me??!! So thus begins our fourth week of solitary confinement in hopes to get rid of these very contagious germs and not spread anymore to our friends. I am mortified that we went to Mady's 3rd birthday party on Saturday and church yesterday, unaware what we were carrying around with us! I pray that no one else will get sick.
I have to say that dealing with these illnesses like this is one of the hardest parts about being a mom to me. You just want to make your babies feel better immediately and so often there is so little you can do. It also always takes SO long for everyone to recover and when I'm so sick too on top of everything (which is always the case) it just makes it that much harder. But the one thing that being sick forces us to do is for us to hop off of the busy train of life and do nothing but stop and rest and take care of each other. There's nothing like the cuddles and hugs that you get and knowing that the most important things in my life are lying in my arms.