Fun At the Park

Auntie Em brought her camera along for a little jaunt to the park on Saturday. . . since it was relatively warm (upper 40s) and we needed to get out of the house.

This was Nolan's first experience at a real playground, and I must say, I think he enjoyed it. I can't wait for him to be able to do it without being all bundled up!

heading to the playground with grandma

ooh! A puddle!

OK. . . I think I can do this. . .

Whee!!

These bead things are pretty sweet.

And on the way home, he learned a skill I've been trying to teach him for months. . . on his own. Putting up his hands to shield his eyes from the sun.
Happy day!!

Weekend

It is my dad's birthday tomorrow (Happy Birthday, Dad!!), so Nolan and I went up to Syracuse to celebrate with him this weekend while Ben was out of town. It was crazy and chaotic as usual, but we had a great time.

A few random photos from the weekend:
Nolan was not that interested in posing with mom. . .

enjoying his first pudding cup

hanging with grandpa! Apparently Nolan couldn't be bothered to pose with him either. . . but at least grandpa is happy!

Love you, dad!

Work

As a mother, one of the most frustrating things is the incessant cleaning of things that will just be messed up within minutes, or hours at the most (and I am just the mother of a toddler!)

It occurred to me today, though, that the person in this world who may be even MORE frustrated, is the mother who is also a cleaning lady at a corporate office building.

How much would that suck?

Today I am grateful for my job, even when it's overwhelming, it could be SO MUCH worse.

SNOW!

And, a few more cute ones. . .

Nolan was pretty excited that it was snowing outside. He climbed up on the love sac and opened the blinds to get a better look. He was also sweet enough to leave some great handprints on our already very dirty windows.

Ah, winter. . .

My Little Squirrel

There's an episode of Curious George where the squirrel, and subsequently, George, bury stuff out in the yard. I'm pretty convinced Nolan has taken this to heart.

This is how I often find the ficus in the corner:

He's pushed a hole in the dirt and dumped his things in. There are often 5 or 6 of his magnet animals in there. . .

Seasoning

In another installment of Nolan the Chef. . . Tuesday, he decided that spooning his Italian seasoning into the pan was as much fun as shaking it. . . This time, in pictures, rather than video. . .

Nolan the Chef

One of Nolan's favorite things has always been watching us cook. . . and helping us cook. It got to the point where he would throw huge fits if we didn't let him help stir the things that were cooking on the stove. . . and he's a heavy kid to hold up. . .

So Ben devised a plan. He gave him our small sauce pan, a spatula, and an ice cube, and let him "cook". I can't tell you how many hours of fun Nolan has gotten out of this game. And for him to focus on ANYTHING for more than 5 minutes of time is a miracle. . . so we're loving it. He's even gotten to the point where he "seasons" his meals.

You have to see for yourself. Sorry it's so long, but it's worth it. . .

First Crayons

In our various trips to restaurants lately, Nolan has taken a liking to the crayons they leave at the tables for kids. We decided it was time to let him try it out at home.

I have found a great love for Crayola's new twistables series, being the sucker for school supplies that I am. . . so I bought some for Nolan. I figured, this way, he couldn't immediately break the tips off, and I didn't have to worry about wrappers.

Initially, I just took a few out to let him try. And he liked it. . .

But not as much as he liked taking them out of the package himself.

He was fascinated!

He even drew a bit. . . although he tried to draw with the wrong end of the crayon more often than not. . .

baby steps, right?

Licking the Beaters

Sunday morning, Ben was kind enough to make the treat for Sunday School while I was busy getting the lesson ready.

He used the brownie mix from the AWESOME Lehi Roller Mills gift box that Hilary & Shayne's family sent for Christmas (which looked very much like this one)


As you didn't have to add any eggs to the mix, he let Nolan lick the beaters. . . and I think the verdict was, he loved it!

(Also, the brownies were officially TASTY)

3 Random Cell Phone Photos

[#1]
Emptying the diaper bag of ALL of the contents. . . and unrolling the roll of bags for containing the smell of dirty diapers. . . Entropy in action, I'm telling you.


[#2]
Enjoying (very MUCH enjoying) a chocolate chip cookie at Paradise Bakery
Photo by Melissa


[#3]
Did I tell you about the time Nolan locked himself in the car. . . with my keys?

No?

Yeah, I let him play with my keys, and he locked the doors, without my knowledge, and I threw them up in to the front seat while I buckled him in. . . and then shut his door before I tried to open mine.

Luckily, my phone was in my pocket, not in the car with him, so I made a call, and Ben was able to run home and rescue him inside of 15 minutes.

Also luckily, it was December, not July, so he wasn't over heating.

He just stared at me for 5 minutes or so, then cried for another 5, then laughed while I made stupid faces and danced outside the car for the next 5. Our neighbors were amused, I think. . .

But I was a little annoyed to get the "you're a bad mother" glare from the lady 2 doors down that lets her kids run around NAKED out doors in all weather. . .

I won't be letting that happen again.

Our Weekend

The weekend at the Hess house was filled with adventures of many kinds:

#1- Colds for all 3 of us. Hooray!

#2- a trip to Urgent Care for Nolan after he spiked a 104 degree fever that we couldn't get down on Saturday evening. He's fine. The fever finally broke at about 3:00 that morning and hasn't returned. Apparently it was just a virus that had to run it's course. But it scared us.

#3- Kitchen cleaning!! This was the one thing I wanted to get done with our weekend, and even with all of our general ickiness, we managed to make some progress! I didn't document the inside of the fridge, but WOW did we get that looking shiny as well!

The cupboard where most of our spices and baking stuff lived. . . only a few spices had made it to our magnet board, and this cupboard was overflowing.

The transition doesn't look super dramatic, but nothing falls on your head when you open the cupboard now, and that's saying something. Plus, everything is in its place.

The true transition happened here. . . A mess of epic proportions. . . we have always had storage issues in our kitchen, but lately it's just gotten out of control. . .

NOW, the spices are contained, labeled and alphabetized, and the clutter is GONE!! Let's hope we can keep it this way. It's so much easier on the eyes. . .

#4- We also managed to watch the Super Bowl. . . the one football game we watch all year. . . and let's be honest, mostly for the commercials. . . and the food. But I didn't feel like taking pictures by that point in the weekend, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

What did YOU do?