Happy Father's Day

Well, Stuart got to spend much of Father's Day working on the nursery. Poor Daddy! I couldn't even get to his Father's Day present until later in the day because I had stashed it in the closet in the nursery and we had taped the door up to work on the walls. Poor poor Daddy! Once his work in the room was done and he was absolutly exhausted, I was finally able to get to his present. We gave him his crown to be "King for the Day" and his gift of his favorite shave cream and cologne from L'Occitane. Not the most exciting gift but he said it was just what he was hoping for. We love you, Daddy!



We spent the rest of the day playing in the pool. Nicholas is doing a great job of swimming across the pool by himself even though he hasn't had a lesson since last summer. Nicholas hasn't napped in several days and we've kept him up later at night than usual. And with all of the playing in the pool, the little guy was pretty tired. We all got cleaned up and ordered pizza for dinner (Daddy's favorite!). Shortly after we had finished eating, we found Nicholas asleep on the couch. He was pooped out!

Come Take A Picture of my Beautiful Bed!

Nicholas does not always nap in the afternoon anymore. Usually I can at least get him to have some quiet down time in his room though even if it doesn't actually sleep. Today I thought for sure he would nap because he hasn't had as much sleep as usual these last few days. But instead, I heard him calling me from his room. He said, "Mommy! Please come take a picture of my beautiful bed that I've made!" I was a little afraid of what he might have done to his bed but I tried to ignore him thinking he would forget about me and just go to sleep. Nope, he just got louder, "MOMMY! PLEASE COME TAKE A PICTURE OF MY BEAUTIFUL BED!" So curiosity got the best of me and I finally went in his room. He hadn't done much except put some Tinker Toys along the back of his bed. He was very proud of how he had decorated his bed and asked again for me to take a picture of it. So of course I did.

Nicholas and his Beautiful Bed...



P.S. - Uncle SMO, Nicholas still loves those Tinker Toys that you gave him two Christmas' ago. He makes something with them every single day! Usually it is either a rocket ship or a sword but there is really no telling what he will come up with. And of course, I find single pieces of Tinker Toys all over the house. I think they are multiplying on their own!

Peter Cottontail Bunny

When Nicholas was born it was close to Easter and the Harrell family gave him a little blue bunny that sings "Here Comes Peter Cottontail" and a cute little outfit. Nicholas has loved on the little bunny for four years now. As a baby, he would giggle like crazy any time the bunny sang to him. Even at four years old, he still likes to have the bunny sing but now he sings along with him.

Recently, Nicholas played the bunny's song and it sounds slow and sad. He got a panic in his voice and said, "What's wrong with my bunny?" I told him that like so many of his other toys, the bunny's batteries were dying. Unfortunately, his batteries are not replaceable. Nicholas got so upset when I told him that the bunny probably wasn't going to be able to sing much longer. He hugged the bunny and said, "It's ok bunny. I still love you!" He asked if he might get a new bunny for Easter next year. I told him that I would make sure the Easter Bunny took care of that for him.

Helping Mommy Wash the Car

Today Nicholas and I washed my car. He never hesitated when I asked if he wanted to help although he didn't quite know what to do. I showed him how to rinse off the car and get it all wet. Then we made up our bucket of soap and we each got a sponge. Well, then it was time to have fun!





Nicholas had a lot of fun doing this and he even made up a cute little song on his own. Check it out!



After we had cleaned the car, Nicholas decided to experiment with other ways to have fun with a wet, soapy sponge!

Always Fun at the Duck Pond

During the summer, our PTA group has Picnic and Playdate in which each week a different mom gets to pick where we all meet to play and have snacks. This week was our first Picnic and Playdate and we met at Rheudasil park (aka The Duck Pond).

Nicholas enjoyed feeding the ducks for a while but once he got bored with that he tried to aim the little pieces of bread so they would land on at the ducks' head and back.

Of course, as our kids watch other older kids play on the playground, they learn new ways to enjoy the equipment. Nicholas now likes to climb on top of the slide tunnel, just because he can!

"Hey, Mom! Look what I can do!"



Here he is playing imaginary light sabers with some other little boys from our group.

Paper Pulp Dinosaur's Demise

I forgot to mention that last night when we went to the game, Mrs. Deb brought Nicholas' paper pulp dinosaur to him. The dinosaur really turned out well and had finally dried enough to remove him from the mold. Nicholas was so excited to show Daddy after the game but something sticky had gotten on the dinosaur (hard to imagine with all the food that boy had handled through the night). I guess he wanted to clean Mr. Dino before showing him to Stuart because the next thing I heard was Nicholas saying "OH NO!" from the bathroom. He had washed his paper pulp dinosaur in the sink and needless to say the poor guy got soft and squishy and eventually lost his head. Poor little dinosaur! He didn't even live long enough to meet Daddy and to think that he was going to get a cute coat of paint today.

Let's Go, Rangers!

Last night, Nicholas and I had the coolest time going to a Texas Rangers baseball game with our friends Mrs. Deb and Emma Rae. The Rangers played the Cleveland Indians. Nicholas had never been to a baseball game and he just loves spending time with Emma Rae so this was a real treat for him.

Mrs. Deb picked us up and Nicholas enjoyed munching on Cheez It crackers in the back seat with Emma Rae.



We got a great parking spot and walked to our seats which were just behind home plate. How awesome!



Nicholas and Emma Rae did a great job singing The Star Spangled Banner together.



I think Nicholas' favorite part of the game was all of the great food! He had a hot dog, kettle corn, cotton candy, and a lemon chill. He especially enjoyed listening to the guys walk up and down the stadium aisles and how they sort of chanted out what they were saying. He kept imitating them..."Keeetttlle cooorrrrnnn!"



Here is Nicholas enjoying his cotton candy. He also enjoyed that fireworks were shot every time the Rangers hit a home run!



There is a chant that the crowd says, "Let's Go, Rangers!" followed by a rhythm of claps. Emma Rae has been to many Rangers games so she is already quite familiar with it but to help Nicholas get the rhythm right I counted out the beat for him. Next thing I knew, the two of them had added my rhythm counting to the chant. It was working so who was I to stop them.



At some point in the game we all took a break to sing, "Deep In The Heart of Texas". Nicholas knows this well from school and you can see that he really got into it!



Thanks, Mrs. Deb and Emma Rae for inviting us to this awesome game! By the way, the Rangers lost 12-9 but it was still an awesome game :)