The Mind of a 3-year-old

Unfortunately, Nate worked both days this weekend. So needless to say, it's been a looong week. This morning Nolan was taking his nap while HK and I were getting ready for church. I had a Mandissa cd playing on the stereo in the bedroom. I walked out of the bathroom to find HK very seriously looking at the speakers, moving them around, and eventually trying to pry the fronts off. Not long before that we had looked at the Mandissa cd case. In answering her questions, I explained who she was and that was her singing. HK managed to partially pry the front of one of the speakers off, and I asked her what she was doing. She looked up at me stonefaced and said, "There are no people in there."
Moments later I saw her with her face down next to the speaker saying..."Hello....Hello".
I had to explain to her the situation, after she let me know her displeasure with my laughter.

Before going to church this morning HK told me..."Mommy, that is a cute outfit." She told her Grandma Cathe the same thing tonight..."That is a cute outfit." She is very complementary lately.

Also while we were getting ready this morning, I put on my lipstick and HK told me..."Now you are my Mommy." Yes, even if I manage to not do much of anything else...the lipstick is never far away!

At the dinner table last night I said something to HK. She said, "Mommy don't talk with food in your mouth. That's a bad choice!"

I was also told yesterday "I am a princess and Daddy is a prince. You are not a princess you are JUST married to Daddy." I wanted to explain that if she was the princess that must make me the Queen and Daddy the King...but I saved my breath!

This evening after reading her bedtime story and her Bible, the three of us were chatting for a couple of minutes. HK started rubbing and pulling on my hair and said..."Your hair is so beautiful." Then she began telling me that God was in her heart, He was in my heart, and Daddy's heart too. She then broke out in some random (I'm pretty sure made up...or possibly a mixture of something she learned at church and her ability to remember it) song about God and Jesus and her heart. She was full of so many other things this evening I couldn't even begin to remember them. I had to finally excuse myself from the room before I bit my tongue off and left her to snuggle with her Daddy for a couple of minutes.

I have decided three year olds are hilarious! However, HK does not like it if you laugh because she is funny. For some reason she thinks you are making fun of her even if you are just laughing because she is soooo funny. She tells me to stop it...and it's a bad choice. I try to explain to her that it's okay to be funny. I guess I am going to have to learn to bite my tongue and save the laughter for later!

Friday Fun

As a young teen, one of my favorite songs was "Big House" by Audio Adrenaline...maybe you know it..."Come and go with me to my Father's house. Come and go with me to my Father's House. It's a big, big house...with lots and lots of rooms...." And on goes the song. I first heard the song at one of my very first summer church camps. Back in the day, I played it over and over until I could sing every word! The radio station I usually have playing in the house is KLOVE...it plays Christian music. They play "Big House" quite often. HK LOVES this song! Everytime it comes on the radio we have to crank it up. This morning "Big House" came on the radio as HK was coming out of the bathroom from going potty. She is becoming quite independent in her pottying...she likes to do it all by herself most of the time. So as she came out I cranked it, but today she needed help getting her shorts back on...either that or she didn't bother with them when she heard the song?!?!
She went straight to her room to grab her guitar and then out to sing along with the radio! She was quite into the song. Yet, the funniest part was that she only has her shirt on. I apologize to any of you that think it might be inappropriate to capture the above image on my camera. You may have heard on the news recently of the couple that lost custody temporarily of their kids because a Wal-mart photo center employee turned them in after the couple developed bath time pictures. I COULD NOT believe the story. Seriously...who does not have "bath time" pictures of their children. So note to you all...don't get your bath time pictures developed where an employee can see them!

Anyway...back to the song and dance at hand!

"It's my Father's house..."

Oh yeah...she had to go and get the microphone too!


Today was a song and dance day altogether. I wake HK up from her nap by 4:00 everyday because if she is not awake by then she will not go to bed/asleep very easily. Unfortunately, most days she does not want to wake up at 4 and is rather cranky for awhile. So today I was starting supper and turned on the ABBA cd...once again I cranked it up and opened her door. Dancing Queen and Mama Mia are some of our favorites!
So as she came out of her room slowly with a smile on her face to see what her crazy mother was doing (dancing around the kitchen with two spoons in her hand), I handed her the wooden spoon and I kept the black plastic one. They were our microphones. Oh how we danced and sang all over the family room/kitchen. I have a secret confession...I am not sure who enjoys it more...HK or Mommy!!! It's really good exercise too! I got Nolan up before I cranked the music. He enjoyed the show quite thoroughly!!!
HK got her ballet bar out (a.k.a....the two small wooden chairs) to use in our song and dance time. The spoon is her mic. Notice Nolan in the background trying to take advantage of the situation! He thinks I am so busy acting like a fool I won't notice the fireplace doors slamming!


HK busting a serious move here!

Oh yes...she is contemplating leaping from her ballet bar position!


Tonight was an all veggie-meal...corn casserole, green beans, smashed potatoes, and cooked cinnamon apples. I figured I would give Nolan a sample of them all! So he had his first all table food meal.
He seems to enjoy it here!

Green beans...not so bad...
Cooked apples...not so sure about those!!

Green beans and mashed potatoes together...don't mix 'em Mommy!
He did pretty well! He did have two small gagging episodes with some coming back up. I think he just needs very small bites! Hopefully his gag reflex will strengthen as we go along!

We have two new games HK and I like to play with Nolan...usually in the van and at the table.
Peek-a-boo
HK likes to just cover one eye because that's all Nolan can quite manage right now.

"SO BIG"..."Who's so big?"...
What a great teacher he has! Sometimes I have to explain to her not to help or he won't learn how to do it himself. For example...she likes to pick him up and stand him up on things. This afternoon she even stood him up and held his hands so he could dance with her!


After dinner we had a Friday night movie...The Tale of Despereaux.
When HK and I snuggled up on the couch, Nolan was not happy that he was left out. So I put him up there with us. He played up there for quite awhile, just chillin' with us. Then he wanted to dive down.

Daddy had to sit in the floor to keep from getting up every 20 seconds to move him away from the fireplace doors. Unfortunately Bubby didn't get to stay up for the whole movie. That's ok...he paid absolutely no attention to the TV. One has addict potential and the other could care less!

What a fun Friday! I can't wait to see what fun things the rest of the weekend will bring!

Busy Boy!

Nolan has been extremely busy lately!
HK keeps all the doors to other rooms shut when he is awake! It makes keeping an eye on him much easier.

Why do we need toys when a basket will do just fine? At least this keeps him from crawling through the bottom of the exersaucer to the fireplace doors. He thinks they are cymbals or something!


Sitting up or laying down...either way is fun!

Peek-a-boo Mommy!



When the dishwasher door is down, Nolan heads straight for it. It's one of his new best friends (another is the fireplace doors).
Hey Mommy...can I help too!

Go buddy go!!! I just hope the bottom tray doesn't decide to roll back in and you go crashing down!!!

Uh...Mommy, I'm up...now what do I do? (he looks like a hunch back)

So I am up here...how do I get back down without a boo-boo?

Hmmmm....I'll take that plate right there...or that knife?

This week he has started pulling himself on shorter things...like the dishwasher and HK's playdome. He wants to pull up on the couch so bad...but it's a little too tall still!

Nolan's New Ride

So my friend Meleah has been sewing like crazy, creating lots of new and cool things. I will have to admit that it has inspired me to learn how to sew one day. I say maybe when we move...that's a good goal!

This past week she sewed a carseat cover for Madison. It is super cute. Then I thought...that's what I need for Nolan, to help with barf boy! He has done much better since we have turned his carseat around to the front. He has only vomited in the van once since then (last Friday). I am so tired of cleaning his carseat. If it has a cover that I can take off much easier than the one built in the car seat...that would be great!

So we went to pick fabric and set a date to create the cover.
I should have known when we drove down Meleah's rode and Nolan barfed, then barfed again as we pulled in the driveway it was going to be a crazy day! The morning started off with me carrying barf boy into Meleah's house and taking him straight to the bathtub. We took apart the carseat and put all the pieces in her washing machine (I couldn't get it back together later...not my strong suit)! Then Meleah's sewing machine ended up breaking with just seconds left to go before finishing the cover. It was one crazy thing after another, but I absolutely LOVE the result!
Here is Nolan's new carseat cover. It is not completely finished...even though you can't really tell from the picture. She has to get her sewing machine fixed! I felt horrible that her machine broke. I told her that I bring bad luck to her sewing projects and that I probably shouldn't be present in the futre. Plus I am sure my talking was a distraction! She is going to fix covers for the armrest pads and we talked about creating some kind of piece that will velcro in to the part of the seat under Nolan's butt...that's where the vomit tends to go and pool.

Thanks Meleah...for helping with the clean up and the new creation!!!! We LOVE it!

T&C Days with Grampy & Nana

While Nate & I were off running around on our own, HK & Nolan go to go back to T&C Days with Grampy & Nana!

The parade was that afternoon at 1. Nana had the kids all ready to go and in the double stroller when Nolan vomited! Oops...sorry Nana. Although I am glad I wasn't there. SO Nana had to go back in and change Nolan. When they finally got downtown she realized Nolan had lost a shoe. So she retraced her steps which led her all the way back to her front door. Oops...sorry Nana. Nolan ready for the parade to begin.


HK & Kristin

Greatie, HK, and Nolan waiting patiently for the festivity to start!

"Hmmm this is all I get...a flag...seriously! With all of the stuff they are throwing out...this is what you give me?"

"No thanks! It doesn't really interest me! Now if you have a bottle of sodie over there I'd be glad to take that!"

HK got her face painted...a butterfly. Nolan wasn't about to be left out...waving to Nana!

"So...I don't get my face painted? I'm not sure what all the hype about T&C Days is...I get nothin'!"

Then off to make a necklace!




Can't tell if she likes the corn dog or not?

"Seriously....what's next? She get's her face painted, makes a necklace, and a corndog. This is so unfair!"

HK got to do her obstacle course again.

"Okay Nana...where's my sodie!"

Then the slide again...this time with Grampy!

And the motorcyle...

...and finally the little Ferris Wheel. I think she was a bit apprehensive at first, but ended up liking it.

Thanks for a great weekend...And Grampy & Nana even let HK bring home a new weapon to use against Nolan!

Newlywed Weekend!

Saturday & Sunday we felt like newlyweds all over again! So this is what we did before we had kids???...ate out alot, ran around alot, had lazy afternoons, stayed up late....
We took off from Mom & Dad's house Saturday morning. We headed towards St Louis for the Cards vs Cubs that afternoon. Prior to the game we made a couple of shop stops and ate lunch at Olive Garden!

Then the game!
Unfortunately, the Cubs did not win. This was actually Nate's stance for most of the game until the small bit of excitement towards the end.
Frustration...guess it's just part of being a true Cub's fan! Sorry honey!

I'm pretty sure this look was meant for John!

It was a beautiful day for a game and we had nice seats behind homeplate.

We enjoyed ourselves and I managed to get some smiles from Nate despite the loss!

Noah and Heather actually took us to the game and picked us up. Their new place is just about a mile from the stadium. After the game we enjoyed a nice dinner with them before heading back to Evansville!

How sad that we both struggled desperately to stay awake on the way home and we got home at 11:30...staying up late just isn't our game anymore!

Sunday was a great day as well. We went to church at 9 am (we usually do 11 am service with all 4 of us here). Then ate breakfast at The Great American Bagel, followed by a quick stop to Kohls. We then made it to an 11:15 showing of "The Proposal". The movie was absolutely hilarious! Movies before noon are only 6 bucks! A rainy afternoon of football and napping before our small group met from 4-6. Then we stopped off at Panera before heading home.

WOW...was that what we use to do before we had kids or were we just seeing how much we could cram into the 48 hours we did not have our kids? Either way, we had a great time together! It was much needed after all of the extra hours Nate has been working lately!