Big Giant Baby Game

Here is a little game we played today when Nolan crawled over to Peyton's blocks and started taking them apart.  Peyton didn't miss a beat and rather than getting upset played right along.  I grabbed the camera :)

Once upon a time Big Giant Baby walked into our town like a tornado and started ripping apart the family windmill farm of Peyton Yates.

Oh No It's BIG GIANT Baby!  RUN!

Someone,  Call 911! We need help!


"911, What's your emergency?"

911 Dispatcher Mallory

(Sirens Wailing)- The cop car arrives and OH NO, we are no match for Big Giant Baby.  Better send an airplane in to catch him in a net and fly him away.

 

Big Giant Baby has his hands on both the cop car and the airplane.  Will we be able to stop him?!?!

Yes- Looks like that did the trick!  Time to go to Big Baby Jail.  But were will we find ever a jail big enough to hold big baby?  Sheriff Yates, start building one!.


Hmm- not going to hold him in, I think there is a giant jail just over the mountain and good timing, cause Big Giant Baby needs his morning nap.

There we go, the sheriff has put Big Giant Baby in Jail and all is well in the world again.

See Peyton, it can be SO MUCH fun when your baby sister and baby brother destroy your block buildings.  Lets turn lemons into lemonade.  See you the next time BIG GIANT BABY wanders over! Now where in the world is our 911 dispatcher?

Nolan Price

Peyton has a new name for Nolan, and as usual I find it highly entertaining.  He now refers to his brother as "Nolan Price" which stems from one of his favorite shows, a Welsh animated tv show called "Fireman Sam."  On this show,(which has VERY strong accents) there is a rather annoying little boy named "Norman (you guessed it) Price". Norman is not very well behaved and drives the fire brigade crazy with all of his practical joking.  You often hear the fireman yelling "NOOORRMAN PRIIICE".  Well, Peyton has now taken to calling Nolan "NOOLAN PRRICE" in a similar tone. I expect a Welsh accent to come out of him at any moment too.


Norman Price:

Nolan Price:

And just to give you an idea of how annoying this Norman Price really is and why sweet, mellow, adorable Nolan's association to him is so funny to me, I dare you to watch just 1 minute of this. Moms of little boys- I bet your little ones will love this show too. (available on netflix)




Our Nolan Price had his 9 month appointment and weighs about 24 pounds (85th percentile) and is over 31 inches long (greater than 95th percentile).  He is doing wonderfully and is just almost walking on his own.  In the pictures below you will see that his face is a little banged up. He took a bad fall on the patio this weekend but is okay now.  The doctor checked him out and said he is good to go, but it was still scary.

Peyton and his buddy, Nolan Price

Matching Pajamas from Gigi and Dandy

Best Buds

"NOLLLAN PRIIICE!"

And not to be forgotten, Little Mal-Mal had her picture taken today too.  Here she is on her way to school after doing her own hair styling.  She insisted that she wear all of the bows and headbands together and even put some of them on herself. Her preschool teacher gets such a kick out of her fashion arrival each morning.

Now off to take care of little Nolan Price while the other two are at school. :)

Peyton and Pirates

The conversation this morning on the way to school made me appreciate my life and my job as a Stay at home mom.  I wanted to record it for memory sake.  Peyton has had lots of questions lately, about everything.  He is just trying to figure out the world.  This is just a sampling of what we talk about.

 From Last Night:

"Mom, are pirates real?

"Well, (I struggled with this one, because technically there are pirates out there but you don't want your 4-year-old to know that. Lots of questions lately about the authenticity of Batman, Superman, etc.- I figured I'd be honest.)  "Yes, actually there are some pirates."

"REALLY?" . (Very Wide Eyed.)  

"But you don't have to worry about pirates because they live far, far away in oceans that Mommy would never take you too."

"What do they do?"

"Well, they live on boats and steal things that they don't belong to them. But you don't ever have to worry about seeing one."

"Oh, Okay."

This Morning on the way to school:

"Mommy, Why did God make pirates bad?"

"Well, God didn't make them bad.  God makes all of us good, and allows us to make our own choices. And pirates made a bad choice to be a bad person."

"But Why did they do that?"

"You know how sometimes you make a choice when you are playing with your sister?  Like sometimes you choose to be nice to her but sometimes you choose to be mean to her?  We try to make the best choices we can and sometimes that can be really hard, especially when we are angry, but we have to make choices with Jesus in our heart, the way that he would choose- Pirates have a hard time doing that."  

"So God does not want us to be bad pirates." "Do Pirates not go to heaven?"

"Well, Jesus wants them to go to heaven but he also wants them to make good choices because they have Jesus in their heart.  You don't need to worry about that because you keep Jesus in your heart.  Does that make sense?" 

"Wellllllll MOM!?!

 Yes!?! (I couldn't wait to hear his conclusion to this conversation and the important impact I was obviously having on him)- 

"THERE GOES A RITZ CRACKER TRUCK!!!!

End Scene.

Peyton this week, 4 years old and so proud of his puzzle work.

Girl's Getaway- Inn Above Onion Creek

2012 Girl's Trip with Leigh (dog from the Inn)

Girl's Weekend 2012. Hopefully there will be a post like this every year!  I just went to a wonderful B&B with 6 of my best friends.  2 of them are currently pregnant so we needed to keep it close to home and decided to try the out "The Inn Above Onion Creek" since it is located just outside of Austin near Wimberley, Texas. It was fantastic.

http://www.innaboveonioncreek.com/

We spent the weekend eating, eating, drinking some wine, eating some more, and just catching up and spending time together.  The chefs at the inn are amazing and the hospitality/setting is so relaxing and nice.  We were able to reserve a cottage together and had our meals in the main inn. I highly recommend this place if you are looking for a simple weekend get away.

On Friday we all met in Wimberley and had an amazing lunch at The Leaning Pear.  We did some shopping at the small town stores and then headed back to the Inn for our first amazing meal.  That night we had our Christmas gift exchange (we've been doing versions of this gift exchange since college) and played board games and celebrated Kristen's birthday a little early.  I'm pretty sure we were all in bed around 9:30 PM!  Ahh, that is living!  On Saturday we had a delicious breakfast, followed by some spa appointments, and then surprised Leslie with a "Thing 1 Thing 2" twin baby sprinkle.  Then it was time  by the pool (you wouldn't have believed the weather even though it was January), another delicious dinner, and games and conversation.  Then breakfast and time to head home.  I feel recharged, refreshed, and reconnected to the girls that have been my friends for life, some of them even since elementary school.

This was such a simple, easy weekend. Nothing fancy, no flights, really close to home for most (well Kristen came in from El Salvador!) but I wouldn't change anything about it. The destination is just not as important as the time spent together- especially with a beautiful setting and yummy food.  I love you girls and our times together.  Can't wait for next year!

This dog loved our group. She poses for the camera!

Our cottage "Thelma"

Surprise Sprinkle Leslie!

Surprise!!! While you were at the spa we set up a baby shower!

Lots of butterflies at the Inn, I caught this little friend on my arm

Spending time in the "Library"

And here is our weekend's menu you need more reasons to try this place out! They use fresh, local, ingredients. We even saw all of the oranges they used for each morning's fresh squeezed orange juice in their compost pile :) I love food so everything below was such a treat.

Friday Night Dinner:

Roasted Tomato Soup with Cheese Crouton

Blackened Salmon with Chive Butter & Lemon

Creamed Orzo with Leeks

Sauteed Haricot Vert with Pinenuts & Shallots

Coconut Cream Pie

(pretty much the best pie I've ever had in my life)


Saturday Breakfast:

Open-Faced Croissant Breakfast Sandwich with Smoked Ham, Over Easy Eggs & Cheddar Cheese Sauce

Sliced Tomatoes

Fresh Squeezed OJ

Assorted Breakfast Breads

Homemade Granola & Seasonal Fresh Cut Fruit

Saturday Special Lunch (we arranged for shower)
Chicken Club Sandwich on Ciabatta
Salad with honey dijon mustard dressing
Homemade Brownies (to die for)


Saturday Dinner:

Farmers Market Salad with Pure Luck Chevre, Candied Pecans & Pears

Prime Rib with Au Jus & Horseradish Sour Cream

Roasted Vegetable Puree

Collard Green-Cornbread Gratin

Chocolate Cake

Sunday Breakfast:

Challah French Toast with Warm Cinnamon Peaches

Sausage

Scrambled Eggs

Fresh Squeezed OJ

Assorted Breakfast Breads

Homemade Granola & Seasonal Fresh Cut Fruit

Grapefruit with glazed Sugar
Fruit


I told you it was good!  :)


See you next year Paige, Kelley, Aimee, Kristen, Megan, and Leslie.  By then we will have added THREE more babies to the mix with hopes of more to come!  Thank you to Marshall and my parents for taking care of my sweet babies so that I could have some "me" time.

Nolan at Nine Months

Nolan turned 9 months old December 28th.  During his 8th month he learned to stand alone, somewhat walk behind a walker or a table, cruise around, and eat lots and lots of solid food.  I also just recently weaned him and that has been pretty sad for me but he hasn't seemed to mind at all.  There is something so special about nursing and I am so blessed that I was able to nurse all 3 of my children.  It is just another parenting milestone that pulls at your heartstrings, it makes me sad that he is no longer my little tiny baby.

Nolan is still very big and we will have his 9 month stats after his appointment next week.  He is very verbal and chatty and says many consonants like mama, dada, papa, nana, etc.  He strongly dislikes having his diaper changed or being spoon fed and is very strong so he often wins those battles.  He also dislikes his car seat and we wrestle with him and have to physically bend him in half to get him to sit :).  He loves to eat, play in the bath tub, be outside, play with his sibling's toys, bang at the window at the dogs, and be held.  He recently spent an entire weekend by himself with his Gigi and his Dandy and loved all of the attention and loving care he received.

I tried to take his picture by himself but these pictures are MUCH more indicative of his 9th month.  His siblings just want to be everywhere that he is and he is rarely lonely.  Peyton and Mallory both dressed themselves today, and yes-that is her Foofa costume and Peyton's shirt is on backwards.  Happy 9 months Nolie Noo! You are a happy, happy big boy and becoming more independent every day. We love you.

Christmas 2011

Christmas 2011 in pictures!  We really had a great December.  Christmas School Activities, Christmas decorating, Receiving Christmas cards,  Present Shopping, Elf On the Shelf, Cousin Activities and birthday party for Jesus, Time with family, and so many new fun treats.  Some of my favorite memories include our Elf on the Shelf- Mallory got the biggest kick out of seeing him throughout the day and would yell "ELLLLFFF!!!!".  Peyton loved watching old Christmas classics and talking about Jesus, Christmas, and Santa.  I loved continuing our tradition of opening new matching pajamas on Christmas Eve (Footie pajamas for all 3, just warms my heart:) ).  I planned to do lots of activities with them but with a 4 year old, 2 year old, and 8 month old things weren't always done the way I planned them.  A good example of this is my family's tradition of reading "A Night Before Christmas" together on the couch before bed.  I read the story as planned and Peyton listened, but Nolan slept through it, and Mallory ran around taking bites out of the carrots we left out for the reindeer- refusing to take part in the story.  :) We had a great time together this month and that is all that matters.  I really tried to enjoy the moment of Christmas morning and not be too caught up in taking too many pictures, so this is a sample of what we captured, starting with Christmas Eve.

Christmas Eve Mass. Such high expectations of everyone participating this year but he fell asleep the moment he sat down and slept through the entire mass.  Thank Goodness Gigi and Dandy were there to serve as his makeshift bed!

Adorable Nolan, He reminds me so much of Buddy the Elf from the movie Elf. He is just SO Big. He is 8 months old in this picture. Nolan's FIRST Christmas!

Precious Little Children in their Christmas Clothes

Best part of this picture- my 8 month old looks bigger than the other 2 combined!

Best 3 Christmas Presents

Matching Footed Pajamas for all

Leaving carrots for reindeer, Twix Bars for Santa, and Water- per their request

Santa came!

Waiting to see what Santa brought

A Fleet of Trucks!

A Costume Tree and Baby Gear!

Best picture I could get of the 3 of them. Too much running around looking at all the presents to sit still!

Playing the piano that Gigi gave them

Peyton is already talking about next Christmas. It still is my most favorite time of year and this year was made even better with the addition of Nolan. He had a great first Christmas and seemed most excited about the wrapping paper, the trampoline,  his walker, and his new rock n roll Elmo.   You might have also noticed multiple costume changes on Mallory in these pictures.  She tried on many of her gifts throughout the day and ended up in her Yo Gabba Gabba nightgown with bumblebee wings on. Love that girl's style! Happy New Year to all!