Nolan's birthday weekend!

I can absolutely NOT believe Nolan is already 3! It seems totally ridiculous.  Isn't he still a baby? I'm not even completely used to the fact that he can walk and talk and feed himself.  He had lots of events this weekend for his birthday, a party at school on Thursday, a visit from Gaga, Ms Linda and Mr Garrett, a very fun joint birthday party with Gracie and a small home party today to celebrate his actual birthday. He is exhausted, but currently watching Nemo as a birthday treat while Daddy puts together his new toy train from Gaga.  A few pictures from the weekend . . .

Gracie and Nolan at Nolan's school party!

Linda with Parker and Toby J.

Nolan got Garrett to read him a book.

The birthday kids!

Playing before their party.

Parker playing. You would never know that he is getting a new tooth!

Nolan showing off his new sandbox to Gracie, Parker and Jake!

Mickey cupcakes!

Erin lighting the candles.

Getting ready to blow out the candles!

Gigi (Erin's mom) with a napping Ellie.  It was a long day of playing.

This is what the men did all day . . .

Then Brent and Ryan moved over to the candy.

Nolan and his new "shobel"(said like shovel with a 'b')

New aprons from Gaga!

This picture cracks me up!

Nolan was very unhappy that his Mickey head balloon ended up at the top of our ceiling . . .

so he and Gaga laid on the floor and stared at it.  It seemed to help.

The party was a lot of fun.  The kids had fun, the adults had fun, and neither Erin nor I collapsed.  I may post some more pics at some point, but I think I have said that before . . . and I'm not sure it has happened. Stay tuned . . .

This kid is CRAZY . . .

We think we may be in for some t-r-o-u-b-l-e with Parker.  He is only 9 months old, not walking yet, but still into EVERYTHING. He no longer wants to be held (what??????) and just wants to "crawl" around and see what trouble he can cause.

He LOVES these plastic bowling pins Nolan has, but you can see here he has left one in the dust.

Under the table.

He actually has the remote in his hand and turned on the TV!

He's trying to get Ellie into trouble too!

Trying to climb in.  He didn't make it, so . . .

he hightailed it down the hall, laughing all the way.

Drawer is closed . . .

and now its open.  (Lets all pretend there isn't a piece of trash on the floor next to him.)

This time he made it in, then climbed out.  It looks here like he hit his head, but he didn't.

Feeling proud!

M-I-C . . . K-E-Y . . . M-O-U-S-E

Ok, that title is supposed to go like the old song . . .  not sure if that works or not.

Next week Nolan and Gracie are having a joint birthday party for their 3rd (!) birthday. They both love Mickey so the theme is (you guessed it) Mickey Mouse.

How cute is this shirt? My friend, Erin (Gracie's mom) made them each a shirt like this to wear for their party.  I can't wait to see them dressed in their matching Mickey shirts.  The downside is that they will be playing in the sandbox and we will be eating pulled pork and baked beans . . . I'm pretty sure those nice, clean, white shirts will never recover.  At least I have photographic evidence of their pre-party glory.

Ryan

So if you know us well, you are probably familiar with the fact that Ryan loves to tell people that he is the neat one and I am a mess.  It's true to some extent . . .  I can be a huge mess.  I have trouble with it.  I let things sit out instead of putting them away, it takes me forever to get to simple tasks and I can be a bit of a hoarder . . .  I don't deny any of this.  My problem is that Ryan loves to tell people about how neat and organized he is.

When we moved into our house my mother helped me organize the cabinets so everything had a place.  We have lots of cabinet space now, but I also have lots of stuff (hoarder) but, I have tried to be very good about keeping the cabinets orderly.  This sometimes means when I use something it will sit out on the counter (clean) for a bit longer than it should if I think I'm going to need to reorganize to put it away.  Ryan can't stand for things to sit out on the counter.  He would rather put them away no matter what.

So this is what happens . . .  but I'm the messy one . . .  I love my husband but I am pretty sure he is trying to drive me slowly insane.

Shannon's wedding weekend

This past weekend my cousin, Shannon, got married in Lido Key, Florida.  It was a beautiful setting for the wedding and the whole weekend was filled with sun, fun and one VERY grumpy little boy.  Nolan basically refused to do anything but growl at family members that he rarely gets to see.  It was quite embarrassing.  He's lucky he is so cute.

Trying to pet the stingray . . .  We had to go back several times but Nolan just couldn't reach

Sharks! This was also very exciting.  My cousin's son, Camden, LOVED looking at the sharks from above.

My cousin Erin with her son Camden, and cousin Shannon (the bride-to-be) with her daughter, Eden

Pouting at Gaga's feet

Sunset cruise

Eden, daughter of the bride, on the cruise

Gaga and Parker

Erin and baby Kendall.  Kendall is SUCH a good sleeper, she slept at the aquarium, on the cruise, during the wedding, and even through some very loud music at the reception.

The sunset was amazing.

Pete monitoring the face-tickling between Nolan and Camden

Parker with Uncle Ray and Gaga

Camden trying to tickle Parker

Building tunnels with Dada

Parker dipping his toes in the water for the first time

Ryan and I before the wedding

Erin walking down "the aisle" with Eden, flower girl and Camden, ring bearer

Shannon walking with Aunt Denise and Uncle Chris

I Do

First dance Shannon and Marc

And then my camera stopped working.  

Even though I had put new batteries in just a few hours before. 

No, no, thats fine I didn't want to take any more pictures anyway.  

Even though shortly after this Nolan and Camden danced their little hearts out and it was ADORABLE.

Sigh . . .  Even though Nolan was a grump and growled at everyone and my camera died in the middle of my cousin's wedding, it was a GREAT weekend.  Shannon and Marc are a great couple and I wish them all the happiness in the world!