What We've Been Up To

So.... it's been awhile. I'm going to briefly catch you up on our lives via pictures.

In September, Nathan started preschool. Here he is on the first day of school.

It is a co-op that I am doing with a few of my friends. All the kids are almost three or barely three, so we are just introducing them to the alphabet. Each week a different mom teaches a letter and we meet twice a week for an hour and a half. I taught the letter C. We made crowns and ate carrots and cheese on one day.

We also read The Cat in the Hat and The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Nathan likes to practice with his scissors.

We had a beautiful, warm fall, the kids were still in shorts and t-shirts well into October.

Finally it got warm and it was time to break out the Fall clothes. I love dressing my kids in cute clothes! Nathan is always happy to pose. Here he is in new pajamas.

Hannah has been opposed to having any pictures taken of her lately...

unless I am holding her.

Jared inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Jared and I spent several days in New York City, NY while my mom and my sister Holly stayed with the kids. We had a great time and the kids did really well without us! My only regret - not taking enough pictures! We only took two pictures, both when we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Me on the museum steps

Once again, Hannah was not happy to be included in the picture

Jared's sister McKenna and her husband McKay visited us Halloween weekend.

We had such a fun time with them. Nathan calls them Mac and BaKenna.

His favorite game was "falling on Mac."











We were sad to see them leave, but last weekend Jared's brother Daniel and his wife Katie visited us. We had such a great time walking around downtown Denver and making an AMAZING pork tenderloin for dinner on Saturday. Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures.

It finally got cold earlier this week and Nathan insisted I take a picture of him in his winter coat.

He's also been helping me with my latest project: a cooking blog! You can check it out at www.themenumama.blogspot.com. It's been a lot of fun so far!

Well, that's what we have been up to! We are looking forward to Nathan's 3rd birthday and the holiday season!

Nathan in the tree

Pikes Peak

A couple of weekends ago we took a spur-of-the moment weekend trip to Pikes Peak.  The summit is an elevation of 14,110 feet, and you can drive all the way up, it is a 36 mile round trip. 

We stopped at a lake about 6 miles up, it was so beautiful!

We brought Jack along, as always he was a great traveler!

The kids were asleep at the top of the mountain, so we hopped out of the car and quickly took some pictures of the two of us.

Then we drove back down just past the treeline and had a picnic.  It was a little windy and cool, but still fun!

As we were leaving the picnic area, a fox walked by our car!  It was the first time we had seen a fox in real life (besides perhaps at the zoo) so I had to take a picture.

Hannah's 1 year check-up

Hannah went to the doctor today for her 1 year check-up.  She is in the 3rd percentile for weight, 10-25th range for height, and right about 50th for head circumference!  She was a little nervous at first (probably rightfully so, as she had to get shots at the end!) but Nathan reassured her, "It's okay, Baby."  She cried at the nurse taking the measurements, but by the time the doctor came in she was more relaxed.  She even said "Tickle tickle!" as the doctor checked her belly.  It was so cute.

The shots didn't seem to phase her this time, she cried when she got them but I didn't notice any crankiness or tenderness later.  The DTaP is the one that really seems to cause discomfort, and she didn't get it this time, thankfully.  I got the adult equivalent (Tdap) a couple of days after Hannah was born because pertussis was going around and they didn't want me to give it to her.  That shot knocked me out for a full day, not fun!  I have nothing but the deepest empathy for my children when they receive their vaccines since that experience.

Nathan-isms

My mom says I need to write down all the cute things that Nathan has been saying lately, presumably in his baby book.  Well, since I gave up on his baby book when he was a few months old (and things were hit and miss up until that point anyway), I thought I would blog about them.  Let's see, funny Nathan stories...

Today we went to the splash park  We had only been there for about a half hour when in rolled a thunderstorm.  Knowing that Nathan would not be too thrilled to head home so soon, I told him, "Nathan!  Let's go home so you can take a warm bath!"  I always try to emphasize the good (warm bath) as opposed to the bad (go home).  I'm not sure what parenting experts would say about that, but distraction works quite well with a two year old.  Alas, we got home to find that our hot water heater was on the fritz and the kids had to endure what was at best a lukewarm bath.  They played in the tub for awhile anyways, but Nathan said (slowly, as if trying to figure things out), "We came home for a warm bath...  This is a cold bath."

Nathan was playing and talking to himself today, and this is how the conversation went:
"What's Mama's name?  Heather.  What's Dada's name?  Jared.  What's Nathan's name?  Nafey.  What's Hannah's name?"  long pause  "Baby!!!"

A couple of weeks ago, Nathan shut Hannah in her room in the middle of the afternoon saying, "Good night, sleepy girl!"

When Nathan had an allergic reaction to mosquitoes and I had to take him to the doctor, he thanked me as we were leaving the office.  "Thank you for taking me to the doctor, Mama!"

He routinely tells me I did a good job after I finish my morning workout.

Yesterday morning we walked to the park to meet some friends, and the moon was visible in the pale blue sky.  Nathan found this very exciting, so we talked about the moon.
Nathan: "I want to touch the moon."
Me: "That would be fun, but it is too far away to touch.  Do you know how to get to the moon?"
Nathan: "In a rocket ship, like Dora."

Nathan on his Aunt McKenna "BaKenna loves me.  Her took me to the park."

There are so many more, but my mom is right - I need to write them down or I'll forget them!!!

Happy Birthday, Hannah!

Our baby girl turned one yesterday.  Poor girl, she has a tooth that is taking awhile to poke through, so she had kind of a rough birthday.  It was a little strange celebrating her birthday just the four of us, as Nathan's birthday is near Thanksgiving and usually ends up being celebrated in Billings with lots of family, but we made the best of it.  Our generous families sent lots of gifts and birthday wishes, so here are some pictures and a video so they can see the fun we had.

Hannah's presents, much more exciting to Nathan than Hannah, of course.

 The birthday cupcakes, complete with the "1" candle.  Nathan was so excited by the sprinkles that he opened the container and spilled half of them before we even got out of the grocery store...









Here is a video of us singing happy birthday to Hannah.  Since it was just Jared and me singing (with a little yelling from Nathan for good measure), I'm not sure why she started crying.  I didn't think we sounded that bad!

Hmmm, maybe life isn't so terrible....

The very first thing she did was pull the top off the cupcake.  It's the best part, right?

I love how Jack is in the background, scouting for toxic chocolate cake crumbs.

At this point she was starting to enjoy herself, see how she is smiling behind the fistful of cake?

The happiness was short-lived, I'm afraid.  Off to the bathtub!

Nathan was more than willing to let us take pictures of him enjoying his cupcake.  I will spare you the pictures where he showed us his chocolate covered tongue.

She was much happier after her bath.

Opening presents:

She loves this purple puppy toy.  It talks and sings and says her name.

Poor Jared, he really was there, just behind the camera the whole time.  Here he is holding Jack, who is getting big, by the way!

At Nathan's first birthday, we announced that Hannah was on the way.  I have no news of that kind this time, which is fine because this "fur-baby" gets into enough trouble to keep me on my toes!

newborn

3 months

6 months

9 months

We love our daughter Hannah, and couldn't imagine our lives without her!  This next year should be exciting as she learns to walk and talk.  We are so blessed!

1 year