It Makes Me So Happy

"It Makes Me So Happy!"

That's what Nolan has been saying alot of lately, and I happen to agree!  

The other night was the official all-Christmas-decorations-are-up-new-Christmas-pjs-movie-new ornament-night!

We ordered pizza for our traditional Christmas decorations are up family night.   

I pulled a new one out on the kids and made it a "picnic" in the family room floor.

They thought that was cool....score one for Mom!  

 So we ate our picnic...

 Then we gave the kids this year's ornaments...

Hallie Kate's is Hello Kitty that says HK across the chest!  

Nolan's was a dinosaur...very fitting for the all things dinosaur boy!

Liam's was a train.  He wasn't quite sure what was going on, but was happy to be a part of it!

What you don't know is that he has a small piece of chocolate in his mouth here.

Yes Mommy broke out a Hershey bar too!

And here is the face Nana has taught him to make while eating.

She scrunches her face up at him and he does it back.

Apparently he will also do it for other people too!

The night's feature presentation was The Little Drummer Boy...the new Veggietales Christmas movie.

Liam watched for about 5 minutes.

Then he crawled everywhere on everything into everything for the rest of the movie.

Following the movie we all played toss with Liam's foam football until something got knocked over.  Then mean Mommy had to come out and call it quits and time for bed.

We will fully celebrate Thanksgiving and have been for awhile, but the Christmas spirit is officially going strong in our house!

How Many Puppies?

How many puppies does Nolan need or want?

For the longest time I was afraid for Nolan to see more than one puppy at a time thinking that it might cause some kind of damage to the security that puppy brings.  What was I worried about?  In Nolan's mind, the more puppies the better!  He now gets in bed and grabs Puppy and then looks around until he finds Puppy#2. He sometimes asks for more, but I have to tell him they are being washed...that usually does the trick.   Puppy has been banished to the bed and is allowed out for overnight trips or a day trip where we might miss nap time.  Puppy attachment is still going strong!  BUT I don't mind...it's a good thing!  

White Christmas

Can you guess what my children are doing?

 If you happen to be a White Christmas fanatic as myself, you may have noticed the movie playing on the tv.  It's the war scene at the beginning of the movie.

(HK was drawing and watching...she is VERY much into drawing lately)

HK and I started watching this together 2 years ago!

I figured it was time for Nolan to be exposed!

He made me proud...this was over an hour into the movie....

He only moved to go from the floor to the recliner. 

Liam....well, he was just hit and miss as was to be expected.

So far I am 2/2 for early creation of White Christmas fans!

I think the key is starting early!

So one time down, a few more to go this Christmas season!

Must Remember!

So I have a couple of things that I don't want to forget and I must record them before they become blurred....

Wednesday Nate took Nolan and HK down to the old city hall building to bring home dinner.  The Main Street organization has fundraiser dinners every so often.  We LOVE when they have them!  It means a fantastic dinner with no cooking and super easy clean up!

When the trio returned Nate tells me this...
On their way out Mr Tom Barry (CEO of the hospital) comes in.  As the trio was leaving HK taps him on the back and says, "You let my Daddy go free.  I don't want him to work on Fridays or Sundays."
I am cracking up again as I type this.  I think Nate was a little embarrassed because he was afraid Mr Barry would think he put her up to that.  She said it all on her own...which is what makes it so hysterical.
Well today is Friday and they had bets whether or not Nate would come to work today!  LOL!!!
Of course he went...that was a no brainer.

Nolan...
We have pulled out Christmas decorations the past two days and have been seeing them everywhere for a few weeks.  When Nolan sees Christmas decorations, especially trees, he says..."Christmas makes me SO happy."  He smiles so big and usually says it a few times.  It is so darn cute if I do say so myself.  He must have inherited the gene for love of Christmas decorations!  I hear that little phrase multiple times a day and I love it each time!

He also has become very concerned for my level of cautiousness while driving.  When we drive now here is what I hear (over and over and over)...
Mommy be careful.
Don't go down there (could be a ditch or water)
Mommy be careful.
Don't hit that car.
Don't bonk it.
It's fragile.
Mommy be careful.
Don't go so fast.
Wow....now that he is learning to talk I have a full fledged back seat driver!
I guess I love that he is so concerned about me/us.
These conversations are usually humorous and entertaining and I do want to remember these sweet little things he use to tell me when we would drive before he turned three.

Oh and Hallie Kate I am pretty sure you will never be allowed to forget what you told Mr Barry!
Still laughing...

Some Great Girls!

Gotta love these girls!

 It is so wonderful when your daughter has older, positive Christian role models in her life.  I hope that these girls will rub off on my daughter!  They are some kind-of-wonderful!   HK is always wanting a sister...so I also tell her this may be as close as she gets.  

It is also refreshing to find a positive, Christian role model in the music industry.

Let me introduce you to Jamie Grace if you have not heard of her.

Nineteen years old...great music...refreshing female role model for young girls!

So when I found out Jamie Grace was going to be in concert with Toby Mac in Evansville I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

So Nate and I took our girls out on a date.  

We went out to eat at Olive Garden, a smidge of shopping, and the concert...

Miss Jamie Grace

The next night HK was drawing pictures of Jamie Grace and the concert.

Can I just say I will probably put this picture in her wedding video one day...

She wanted her Daddy to hold her hand!!!!

(She did eventually hold mine at the same time.)

Moment to hold on to!

The concert was truly fantastic!

Toby Mac is also my new inspiration.  I am still trying to wrap my head around that he is 47 years old.  He looks and acts younger than me (and he and his wife have 5 children).

Despite the wonderful and loud music, HK did fall asleep!  She is use to being asleep by 7:30 on a school night...so 9:30 was killing her.  She finally gave it up in the chair!

Loved the night

Loved the music

Loved the message of the night

Love the girls

Love the man that took us

Love the One that created me and placed me with the man and the girls!

Guess we will be going back in March...

Veggietales Live!

Nate's B'day

We celebrated Nate's b'day a couple of weeks ago...

The kids giving him their gifts that they picked out...yes, all by themselves.

HK picked out a purple dress shirt and tie...might I say a good eye for fashion that little one.

Nolan picked out a self-locking tape measure at Lowe's.

It was truly a gift because he wanted it for himself...lol!

Then that night for supper we met Grandma Cathe, Papa, Uncle Nick, Aunt Terrah, and Elle at Morellos for dinner.  We also celebrated Aunt Terrah and Grandma Cathe's birthdays.

Following dinner we all went bowling!

I love bowling with little kids because I get to use the bumpers!!!  

 The kids had a blast and I cannot wait for us all to go again!  It was a lot of fun!

Nolan started the evening using the ramp.

He loved watching for the ball!!!

And Miss Thing waiting to see how her ball does!

This outing she did not need the ramp.

She walked up with much confidence and slung her ball down the lane.

She would dance with anticipation...

Gotta love the beat of bowling alley music!

Nolan would wait very patiently for his ball to come back.

It was sweet to watch him.  

He and his sister are SO opposite.  It was fun to watch them both play the same game with such different personality!

Nolan eventually decided he did not need the ramp either.  

I am pretty sure he would qualify for World's Slowest Trip Down the Bowling Lane!!!!

But he would stand and watch it so patiently!

HK also enjoyed making Liam and especially Elle laugh!  Of course she was dancing while she did it.

Nolan also liked to hang on the ramp while waiting for his ball to slowly travel down the lane.

Uncle Nick trying to keep Liam happy.  It was past his bedtime, but he was a trooper.

 

(all bowling pictues were taken with my phone)

I am definitely looking forward to the next Oldham Family bowling night. 

This was not something we pointed out that night for avoidance of drama, but this is something to record so one day we can laugh.  The final score....Nolan, with his super slow balls, beat HK!  

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!  

We look forward to many more happy memories shared with you.

Thank you for being an amazing Daddy and Husband!

We love you to the moon and back!

Princess Day Out

My little Princess...

HK & I had a Mommy/Daughter day last Friday.  We did some Christmas shopping.  Then we met Brooke and Kellen for lunch at Chili's which was a wonderful treat!  HK & Kellen were so funny.  Kellen had made HK some really sweet pictures.  She was pretty shy when he gave them to her, but she quickly warmed up and gave him the gumballs we had just bought for him.

Then our final destination...Disney Princess Live!!!  It was HK's first time to see the princesses in person.  She was pretty excited.  She told Nolan we were going to Disney World!  Well, it's the closest she will get for awhile.  However, Nolan didn't care because he had his work boots on and was going to help "Bappy" a.k.a. -Grampy work.

Waiting for the show to start (eating the candy we brought in Mommy's purse).

She was so cute when the show started.  I love the look on her face as the characters started coming onto the stage...

Minnie, Mickey, Donald, and Goofy came out at random times.  They were sort of like the hosts to the three stories of....

Snow White

Cinderella

and Beauty and the Beast

It was a fun day with my little girl that is getting so big!

Of course at the show they had overpriced souvenirs!  Ugh!  So we looked at them once and then talked about them.  I told HK we could get one thing, but she had to help pay for it and it needed to be something she would play with (not something with lights made for the show and then that would be it).  Having to use her own money always causes her to think.  So she decided on the Snow White figure and I "approved" the choice.  She has carried it everywhere for the past 3 days.  She has also made Woody her dancing partner.  I will see Snow White and Woody randomly around the house like this... 

I think they make a pretty cute couple.  Not sure I would want to mess with the Beast, so Woody better watch out.

Love that crazy girl!