Sand-tastic!!!

Matt built our new and definitely improved sandbox on Sunday. It's 10 x 8....almost the size of the bedroom I had growing up (10x10). The kids absolutely love it, and it's in a nicely shaded part of the backyard. It's a perfect spot for the kids to play in the morning and evening when the sun isn't beating on it.

Each one is doing his or her "own" thing....so peaceful during these rare moments!!!

Our Easter!

Easter was a blast this year. The kids were so excited to see what the Easter Bunny had brought them.


Nathan got a ball similar to the ones that Nolan and Natalie already have. But he was mostly excited about the candy.





























Natalie got a Dora doll.












Nolan got a "Moon in my Room". We have it mounted on the wall in his room now, but this was a pic of Nolan in the dark bathroom looking at his glowing moon.






Nicholas got a super soft puppy dog.























The weather wasn't extremely warm on Easter, but it was nice enough to get in the sandbox that Matt set up for them. They had a blast playing in it.



It's such a tight squeeze. Matt is considering building a sandbox instead....but this will do for now.

Nicholas is a bit too small to get in the sandbox, so he stayed inside and was perfectly content.

Nolan's Book

A couple of weeks ago, Nolan glued several pieces of construction paper together. He decided it should be a book. He wrote the title on the front by himself. It says "Mayan Emperor's Puzzles Book", by Nolan Cook. He asked that he be the author and I could be the illustrator. It's taken me a while to be able to sit down with him to help him write the story. But today, I finally was able to help him write it....though I've yet to do my illustrations. So I thought I would share the text of his book on this blog....in case I ever lose the hard copy (you I know I'm gonna keep his "first book"). Nolan told me the story, and I wrote it. I usually had to change a little phrasing, but some phrases are exactly how he said them. I think it's pretty good myself, though it has absolutely NOTHING to do with a Mayan Emperor or Puzzles in any way :) ( I do realize that Emporer is spelled incorrectly....and I take full responsibilty because I told him the letters to write...Oops!)

So here's the story:

Once upon a time, there was a king named Nolan. He was the king of Asia.

One day, King Nolan went outside and played with his ball. He threw the ball in the air very high. King Nolan couldn't catch the ball, and it rolled down a hill and landed in a cave.

King Nolan wasn't afraid to go into the cave. He thought the cave was empty. But it wasn't! There was a bear inside, and it put its teeth in the ball. The ball lost all its air.

The king took the ball back to his palace and fixed it. He used his air pump to put in new air, and he used tape to patch the holes from the bear's sharp teeth.

King Nolan went back to the cave where the bear was. He showed the bear that he had fixed the ball. The bear smiled at King Nolan. King Nolan smiled at the bear.

King Nolan invited the bear back to his palace. He told the bear, "Don't forget to wipe your feet on the rug before you come in."

King Nolan asked the bear to stay for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

The bear loved the king's palace and wanted to stay forever. But King Nolan explained to the bear that he could only stay for one night.

The bear was sad, but King Nolan promised to visit the bear's cave every day. And he did.

THE END

An Evening Out and Outdoor Fun!

Yesterday, Matt and I and our neighbors were supposed to drop all of our kids off at our neighbor's baby sitter's house so that we adults could have a trip to the bowling alley. The plans didn't work out, however. My neighbor called yesterday morning and said that her little girl was sick, so we had to take a rain check on bowling. It didn't bother me at all to reschedule, but when I told the kids that they weren't going to get to go the baby sitter's house and play, they were devastated. The kids had never even met the babysitter other than once last year when she was at our neighbor's house helping her with a yard sale. So after talking to Matt, I decided to call my neighbor and see if her babysitter would still watch our kids so Matt and I could have an evening out together. Sure enough, the babysitter (Marcia) was up for it.

We dropped the kids off around 6 o'clock. Nolan and Natalie were so excited when they saw all the toys she had. They had no problems at all with Matt and me leaving. Nathan was fine until later when he couldn't figure out why Mommy and Daddy were no longer there. Marcia said he had a little meltdown, but after she gave him some pretzels, he was fine. Nicholas, on the other hand, started crying immediately. Marcia was rocking him, and trying to get him to take his bottle, but he just wasn't having it. I had brought one of his toys from home, and that got him to calm down a little. When we left, he was still crying a bit. Marcia told us that he was very cranky and cried hysterically when he looked at her (poor Marcia). He finally took a 15 minute power nap, and then when he woke up, she said he was giggling and smiling and finally enjoying himself.

Matt and I didn't do much. We went to Olive Garden to eat and then to Target to shop a little. We were able to pick up the kids at about 8:30. I thought it worked out pretty well, and hopefully we'll be able to do this more often. Marcia even offered to watch the kids at our house sometime if we ever planned a late evening out. I think having an occasional baby sitter will really be a wonderful thing...especially since the kids had a blast and are already asking when they can go back to her house!

Here are some picks of the kids playing outside today.

The "big boy" bike.

They're looking for bees.

Posing for a pretty picture.

Ready for a wagon ride....a bit of a tight squeeze.

Still looking for bees.

Pictures!

The kids were sort of up to having me take their pictures this evening, so here they are :P

Lying on the floor.

Look at all these toes!!!!

As pretty as they come!

My sweet boy.

Well, he thinks his bear smells good (LOL)!

Nicholas has had enough....but Natalie says, "Bring it on!"