Our House

Since we've moved in, I've tried (quite unsuccessfully) to get some half decent pictures of the house to post for those who haven't seen it/can't get out here to see it. Between unpacking, new school/neighborhood, and kids, the house hasn't really looked up to par... that being said, I finally took some pictures of the rooms that I thought actually looked clean and mostly decorated.

This is Nolan's/the new baby's Room (isn't Nolan a riot sitting in his chair...he's watching Baby Beethoven):

This is our guest room (aka Tammy's Room):

This is our Breakfast Room:

This is my favorite room, the Kitchen:

This is our "Formal Living Room" though it is just another Family Room:

This is the Dining Room/Entry Way with doors that lead into my scrapbook room (more pictures of that to follow... I have to get Don to hang up some pictures):

Here is another view from the Living room into the kitchen/breakfast room:

And the view from the Breakfast room through the living room into the entryway:

I still need to get some pictures of the Master Bedroom, Family Room, and my Scrapbook Room, so they will (hopefully) follow shortly!

Brennan's Nature Program

Over the past couple of weeks, Brennan has been coming home from school singing these crazy songs about bug and butterflies. I knew that he had a program coming up, but some of the songs were just crazy! It's always interesting listening to children make up the words to songs when they don't actually know them...Anyway, his program was this past Thursday. Tammy was kind enough to stay at home with the babies and I took Kayden and Brennan to the school. I always find it interesting how different children are at home as compared to school. Brennan is so chatty at home and rarely listens the first time I say anything, but at school, he does what he is supposed to do when it's supposed to be done. It was kind of scary! I was also a little apprehensive about taking Kayden, but he was an absolute angel the entire time!

The 1st grade program was "A walk through Nature" and included songs about wind, leaves, rain, bugs, butterfly and glowworms. All of the children had on these crazy bug antennas (in case you were wondering what was on Brennan's head). Brennan was so cute- he jumped up and down and waved when he found where we were sitting. The songs and poems were adorable- overall, it was a very good program!

Scrapbook Pages

With Tammy coming to visit, she reinvigorated my desire to scrapbook-(Thank you Tammy!). The zoo page we did together after our wonderful day at the zoo. I was feeling lonely last night and instead of feeling bad for myself about being alone, I decided to scrapbook and talk to myself. Crazy, I know, but that's when I get the creative bug.... So what do you think?

Tammy's Visit

I am so happy that Tammy came to visit us in Nashville! We had lots of fun- watching the kids play together, going to Chuck-E-Cheese's, going to the Grand Ole Opry, going to the Zoo, at Brennan's school program, scrapbooking, and just hanging out.

It was amazing how well the kids really played together. Carlee and Nolan chased each other around the house and were constantly talking to each other in baby gibberish. In fact, when we got back from dropping them off at the airport this morning, Nolan ran around the house carrying a toy and looking for Carlee to play with. When he couldn't find her, he went into the guest room and cried- how sad for him!! They were constant companions and partners in crime- here's a picture of them sitting on the bottom shelf of my sofa table- right where they are not supposed to be!

They even played well in the tub- that is, until Carlee tried to drown him by dumping water all down his face. Even then, Nolan just laughed. I think he's got a crush on her!

Brennan and Kayden were just as buddy-buddy. Everyday Kayden would ask when Brennan was going to be home from school so they could play outside on the swing set together. Kayden wanted to do whatever Brennan was doing and Brennan wanted to eat whatever Kayden was eating. Kayden even wanted to go see Brennan perform in his class program- and he was so good during the entire thing! They were such characters this week.

Workin' at the Car Wash

This weekend, Don decided to wash our cars- I missed the washing of Don's car because I was taking a nap with Nolan, but we got in the action for my car. As soon as Nolan saw the water, he wanted to go outside (I swear this child is a fish or was a fish in his previous life). The only way I could keep him from running in the street was to strap him into his car stroller. He LOVED it! When the water was on him, he was laughing and giggling- so cute. When we used the water to wash/rinse the car, he would start screaming/crying until he was being sprayed with it again. Meanwhile, Brennan was riding his bike around the car and Nolan, trying to avoid getting soaked- such a fun game. All of this went on for about thirty minutes. By the time the car was clean, Nolan and Brennan were both soaked and shaking, but Nolan still cried when I brought him in. That is, until he saw that we were getting in the bath tub, then it was pure joy. Such a FISH!

Once Bitten, Twice Shy?

When Papa and Gigi were here this past weekend, we noticed a few bites on Nolan. One on his ear (which looked the worst) and one on his index finger. I thought they were mosquito bites- that is, until the one on his hand started turning purple/brown. It really freaked me out! In my fit of panic, I took him to the ER to get it looked at because earlier that day, the Orkin man found a couple of black widows while spraying. I thought my baby was going to lose his finger or hand!

Turns out, I freak out over everything. Nolan did have spider bites, but not the extremely poisonous ones (like brown recluse or black widows). The Doctor said that he was probably allergic to the bite and that was what was causing the discoloration and swelling. He prescribed an antibiotic in case it got infected and a topical steroid to help the cells regrow quickly/stop the itching. The antibiotic was where I thought I would get the most hassle from Nolan, but he loves the cherry flavor and always wants "Mo, Mo" after getting it. The cream is the issue. The first night I put it on, he tried to taste it, so I put a band-aid on. He pulled the band-aid right off. So I used medical tape- he was more angry about the stickiness than anything! The only thing that I found that he wouldn't yank off and couldn't suck his finger was an ACE wrap. So, while it may appear my son has a broken/sprained wrist, that is not at all the case. He is just fine- except when he sees me coming at him with the cream and wrap. Then he runs!!!

Where are my shoes?

I think that the #1 question asked in our house is "Where are my shoes? They are NOT where I left them." I know that Nolan has a slight liking of shoes- doesn't matter whose they are or how bad they smell, Nolan will play with them.

I was taking a shower and when I got out, the above pictures are what I found. Normally, our shoes are very organized so we can find them. When I walked into the closet, Nolan had taken all of mine and Don's shoes and piled them as high as they could go inside my shoe rack. He was so silly trying to stack the shoes up and he would get so mad when they wouldn't go very high!

The really crazy thing about this is that Nolan REFUSES to wear shoes! He only wants to play with them!