Videos from Trip to a Local Playground

We are so blessed to have so many great parks in our town. Several are within walking distance. On this day, I walked while Nicholas rode his bicycle. He loves riding his bike and singing as you can see. (Sorry but the video on this camera has trouble focusing at times)



As soon as we arrived at the park, Nicholas noticed a hole at the base of a tree that he had never noticed before. He was quick to pull off his pads and helmet and he said that he had to go investigate it! He figured it is for some kind of animal that lives in trees and he wanted to look for the animal.



After checking out the hole, Nicholas determined that there were ants living there and therefore it must also be the home of a baby anteater!



Once we got on the playground, Nicholas pretended to fly a space ship to Mars. I love catching him at play like this and hearing his cute answers to questions. Again, the video goes out of focus at times but it is still cute!





As you can see, we got pretty hot out there. It was at the end of the day and Daddy called my cell phone to say that he was on his way home. We let him come pick us up at the park. We could have ridden in the cab but what fun it was to ride in the bed of his pick up truck since we just had to travel a few streets through the neighborhood! I told Nicholas that we would have to duck down if we saw a police officer because we were supposed to be wearing our seat belts. He thought that was a neat idea and created a game in which he would shout that he saw a police officer and we had to duck down and hide!

Mr. Smarty Pants!

This morning I said "ouch" and Nicholas asked what was wrong and I told him I had a boo boo on my finger and it hurt when I bent it. He said, "Oh, then just don't bend it." Well, ok then Mr. Smarty Pants!

We had fun at a water park today. I can't believe summer is almost over! We've had fun but with my pregnancy I haven't felt up to going out and about as much as usual so I'm sad for all the plans I had that didn't happen.

The Treasure Within Us

Nicholas sometimes says the most amazing things! Yesterday we were pretending to be pirates seeking treasure. Nicholas went to show Daddy the treasure he had found. Daddy played along but then asked Nicholas if he knew where Daddy's treasure was. Nicholas said, "No". Daddy pointed to Nicholas and said, "It's you!"

Nicholas caught on and said that Mommy and Daddy were his treasure too but so was the bag of gold that he had. I was curious if he was really catching on to how we were using treasure for gold and for people so I asked him if he could explain what the word treasure meant. I quickly wrote down his response word for word so I wouldn't forget it.

He said, "Some treasure that pirates dig up is underground but treasure in the world that is within us is Jesus." I think Stuart and I both dropped our jaws at this one and looked at each other bug-eyed. This little guy can be so insightful and spiritual for a 4 year old.

An Impromptu Adventure

We ventured out to one of our local parks so Stuart could practice taking some portrait pictures of me with my big pregnant belly.



We hadn't really planned on doing any exploring on this visit but Nicholas was itching to go down in the creek bed. Stuart went down with him and got some great pictures of the adventure.





Nicholas found a giant rock and of course he had to throw it in the creek for the big splash effect.



Then he took a closer look at the water and watched some tadpoles swimming by.



He always has lots of fun climbing and jumping on the rocks here.



Nicholas spent a lot of time using a stick to scoop out some slimy moss out of the creek and toss it on the bank. He has no problem touching the dirty slimy stuff. Ick!



Check out this cool picture of a spider web they found!

Three Hot Weekends

Our church is currently in a series called "Three Hot Weekends". For our church services, Stuart and I are in the main sanctuary while Nicholas is in the children's church where he hears about the Word of God in age appropriate ways like Bible stories, crafts, and a weekly puppet show. However, this weekend I wish he could have been in our main sanctuary at least for a little while before the service started. Since they are playing on the idea of summer, they were giving away cups of ice cold lemonade and about 10 minutes before the service started, these giant inflatable balls appeared and we got to play with them as people continued to find their seats. I love being at a church that isn't too stuffy to just have fun sometimes. Check out the quick video and you'll even catch a glimpse of Stuart getting ready to work the video camera.

Bedtime Silliness

I love reading bedtime stories to Nicholas. Because my pregnant belly has gotten too big to let him cuddle in my lap in the glider rocker while we read, now I just lie next to him in his bed as we read. I was glad when Stuart got out the camera and got a few pictures of us together.



Soon, Nicholas turned silly and decided that he wanted to be the star of the show so he covered my face with the book. What a silly little ham!





I pretended to have hurt feelings - which, of course, he just loved! But he soon decided to make up with me by giving me eskimo kisses. Oh, how I love this sweet little boy.

First Pictures of His Baby Sister

Today I had one of these cool new 3D/4D sonograms of the baby. The quality of the images are just amazing! The closest thing to getting a real picture inside my belly. The technician estimates that she weighs about 3 pounds, 1 ounce now.

Of course, Nicholas was excited to see his little sister for the first time. I'm sure the picture looked a little odd to him even though we explained her position and that her arm is crossing in front of her face.



Here is a picture of her left side as she is lying on her back. You can see her two legs sticking up in the air and her left arm. As we tried to explain the picture to Nicholas, he decided to show us what she was doing so he got down on the floor in the fetal position. I guess he understands it more than I thought!



Here's another picture from the side showing her left leg, left arm, and head all curled up in a ball. Isn't modern technology amazing!