Our computer was on the blink this past week, and it's finally working properly again thanks to a friend of Matt. At least Nolan was gone this week...he would have been so upset if he couldn't play on the computer. Nolan has been gone since Sunday. He spent Sunday through Tuesday with Granny & Poppy, and spent Wednesday through today with Mom-o and Pops. They brought him back home to us today, and boy did we miss him like crazy, though I talked to him on the phone each day. We really appreciate the time that eveyone took to keep Nolan. Maybe next time will be Natalie's turn...she would definitely love to soak up some grandparent attention all to herself!
It was nice to have some one on one time with Natalie. She actually got to play with whatever toys she wanted without Nolan trying to swipe them from her. I tried to work with her on her speaking skills, but we didn't make too much progress. She is so different than how Nolan was...She will play by herself for a good bit, and isn't too fond of getting a whole lot of affection. She likes affection, but only when she wants it. When she was sitting on my lap the other evening, I rested my hand on her leg. Well, she wasn't too keen on that and pushed my hand away. She also got upset with Matt and was trying to smack him...she kept missing, and wouldn't give up the thought of hitting him....when she finally whacked him, she just sat right down beside of him like everything was okay then.
Nathan has really discovered his voice. He razzes, and changes the pitch of his voice. He is such a wonderful little baby. He rarely cries unless he really needs something...and to me, it's normally very easy to figure out what he needs. I can lay him down awake, and he falls asleep on his own. He normally doesn't wake up crying which gives me time to make him a bottle without being in a rush. He's just so very pleasant.
This week, my grandparents and Matt's parents pulled their campers up to Cooper's Rock to camp for a few days. Nolan spent Sunday through Tuesday night camping with them and had lots of fun. Matt, Natalie, Nathan, and I went to the camp in the evenings to visit and to eat some good food!
This week started out with a bang...or should I say "crash". Sunday evening, Matt, Nolan, and I were outside watering the flowers (Nat and Nate were both asleep). We were chatting with our neighbor when we heard tires screeching from the main road. The screeches stopped then started again, and before we knew it, we heard a loud crash and saw dust consume the end of the street. Of course we all took off to the scene to see what had happened (Nolan and I kept our distance in case someone was hurt). A boy had flipped his SUV about 15 feet from the last townhouse on our street and came extremely close to taking out a power pole. It landed on the driver's side, but luckily the boy was okay. After about 30 or more people had gathered to see the wreck, Nolan and I walked back to the house. Then about 5 minutes later, the emergency vehicles began arriving, and Nolan told Matt, "Let's go take a closer look." So the boys walked back to the accident so Nolan could check out the tow truck, fire truck, police car and ambulance. (The picture is very blurry...it was after 9 o'clock at night).
We went to the park yesterday evening and then stayed outside for a bit so the kids could play with our neighbor's kids. Nolan decided he was going to bring all the kids some water in his new Spongebob Dixie Cups. He brought the boys their cups first and then brought out a cup for himself and Natalie. Well, one of the neighbor boys had finished his water, and as Nolan was bringing out the cups for he and Natalie, the boy asked Nolan for some more water. He poured water from his cup into the boy's cup. Then he noticed that the cups for he and Natalie were uneven, so 
he poured the water from the full cup into the nearly empty cup....I'm surprised he didn't just give Natalie the cup with little water....but this just proves what a good big brother he is (though once Natalie got her cup, she just dumped all the water on the ground.) Nolan and the neighbor boy rode their tricycles in the driveway, and this was great because Nolan has never really attempted to ride his before, and he did a pretty good job!
We got our pool!!! We all loaded up and went to Wal-Mart after we had been driving around the town for a while...so needless to say, the kids were a little restless from being in the van for a while. We probably spent only 15 minutes in the store, and I grabbed the first pool I came across...and luckily, it was a nice sized pool and cheap!
It's been so warm here lately, and we haven't bought the kids a pool yet. Yesterday evening we decided to take the kids outside and let them play with the water hose. Nolan liked getting sprayed, but Natalie did not. We filled up the empty sandbox with water, and let them get in. I know this is very "redneck", but who cares...they had fun. Our neighbor Matt was outside as well and he too got in on the action. He had his water hose out and there were times when Nolan was getting a double dose of water hose spray! Natalie is really coming around to men. Not only did she like JJ, she also kept running of to Matt (the neighbor). She was jabbering to him and every time we picked her up and took her back to our house, she would immediately scurry back over to Matt. I think today, we may try to go to Wal-Mart or somewhere to actually buy a little kiddie pool. This may be a good way to keep the kids entertained while we are outside.
