Hug Machine

This morning, Nicholas and I were playing Tickle Monster on the bed. We were rolling around, laughing and such. Suddenly I grabbed him and gave him a big hug. I told him that I loved him so much that I just had to steal a hug. He laughed and said that I didn't steal all of his hugs because he has a Hug Machine in him that is always making more hugs. I tried to get the rest of the hugs from him but he said there were still more. Then he reached around to my back and made some silly noise then said, "I put a Hug Machine in you now so you will always have hugs too."

This Week at Preschool

Montessori works: Nicholas practiced grasping and pouring beans, tearing and gluing paper, and he began working with the Montessori pink tower and red rod extensions.

Language: Nicholas learned the following sight words: on, the, turtle. The class has also been working on musical phonics. Everyone enjoys singing while they learn.

Math: Nicholas sorted and counted gummy bears (his favorite!) and worked with sand paper numerals.

Good Shepherd Lesson: The Land of Israel

Sweet Kisses

Nicholas just amazes me at how thoughtful and sharing he is. Before leaving school today, he got some treats - a Tootsie Roll pop and 2 Hershey Kisses. When I picked him up, he asked if he could eat his Tootsie Roll pop and I said yes. Then he handed me his two Hershey kisses and said that they were for me. I thanked him but refused and said that they were for him. He said, "No, I want you and the baby to have them. They are for you!" Such a sweetie.

Funyuns Make Me Smile, Socks Make Me Cry

Even though they are a Frito-Lay/Pepsico product, I don't usually buy Funyuns.



They are quite yummy - deep fried cornmeal with the flavor of onion rings. They just aren't very healthy so we don't get them often. However, Nicholas was grocery shopping with me and he somehow convinced me to buy a big bag of them (I always end up buying more groceries when he's with me!). He just loves Funyuns! Here he is with his "Funyun Smile":



Although he doesn't usually nap anymore, there are times that he just seems exhausted by the afternoon and you can tell that he needs to nap. This was one of those times. He was trying to pull off his socks and when it didn't come off on the first try, he had a bit of a melt down. Poor little guy!

Jump for Joy

Nicholas really seems to love jumping on his bed. We don't want to encourage it but Stuart couldn't help but get the camera out for a mid-air shot.

Sir Nicholas Attends a Royal Ball

Nicholas was thrilled to get to go to his dear friend Emma Rae's birthday party today. What fun! There was a bounce house, face painting, balloon swords for everyone. They even got to throw water balloons at a big inflatable dragon.



The party theme was knights and fairy princesses. Nicholas marched over to the face/hand painting table and had a sword painted on his hand. This seems like a simple thing but for him it was a big deal because he has never ever let us even get close to a table of people getting their faces or hands painted. I never figured out why he was so afraid of it but at least for now he seems to be over it.



Then we all got a big surprise when a fire truck pulled up in the front yard just for the kids at the party. As many times as Nicholas has climbed on a fire truck, he never gets tired of it. He got to sit in one of the seats that the actual firemen sit in on their way to a fire. He also learned about the water intake where the firemen hook up the hose from the fire hydrant to the truck's pump and then the output value where the hose the shoots the water comes out. I guess I never really thought about it but I didn't realize that the water from a hydrant actually ran through the truck's water pump before getting shot onto the fire.





About the time we were all done playing on the fire truck, a police car showed up for the kids too. Next everyone lined up and Mrs. Deb knighted each of the boys and turned the girls each into princesses. Then each child got a custom gift bag with their name on it. The boys all got knight helmets and swords. What a hit!



Here are some pictures of the little knights and fairy princesses.

Photographer Nicholas

Stuart and I have been discussing new dishwashers. Not that we just want to spend the money or take on a new household project. No, as usual, something broke and now we have to replace it. So is the way of home ownership. Of course, as we are trying to compare the millions of different dishwashers out there, the subject of cost keeps coming up in the decision making process.

Nicholas decided that he would contribute and said, "Don't worry. I can help with this" and he disappeared for a while. When he came back, he had put some money from his piggy bank into an old treasure chest box and gave it to us to buy a new dishwasher.

Of course, being the shutterbug that I am, I had to take a picture of the treasure to capture the moment. Then Nicholas climbed up on the coffee table to take a picture of the box with his own camera.





He took several shots standing up then others as he squatted down closer to the box. He told Stuart that the pictures were too bright and he asked for us to close the curtains because he was getting too much light. So cute! The other day he also announced that he needed a tripod and a backdrop for taking pictures!

We've been cleaning out lots of old stuff around the house lately. It's sort of a pre-baby, last-time-I'll-have-time-for-this, late spring cleaning. We found an old camera that we bought in 2000 that had something wrong with it so we replaced it. Yet for some reason we never got rid of the broken camera. We have now finally gotten rid of the broken camera but we kept it's camera bag to give to Nicholas. Boy, was he proud to have a real "professional" camera bag similar to the one that Daddy has. He has carried it around with him all day long.