Gracie

My sweet girl.  What can I say she just loves her friends.

 her cousin sawyer made her a necklace

Graice even made a picture of a friends she has seen in a while let see what she has to say!

Chuck e Cheese

warning pictures are blurry!

Ok so we had a chuck e cheese birthday party.  My kids were unafraid of the giant mouse.  In fact Nolan even asked the mouse to come play with him.  They had way too good of a time.

 Nolan's two favorite rides

The horse!

 that galloped and jumped

 and the jeep

 he took gracie for a ride she was not very thrilled about how high nolan took it

 not worried at all he loved this thing

 pic of troy and gracie

nolan and chuck e on a ride with dad in the back ground

Nolan

My Nolan what can I say he can be crazy so I try and capture a little bit of it when I can.  See below.

 yes he poured his water into his cup holder which he then wanted to play in

 tongues after suckers

and nolan LOVES going to target to see all the trucks

Hugs

I have been wanting to capture this hug for a while.  Every night before bed or when apologies are being made Nolan and Gracie will hug and Nolan rapes his legs around Gracie.  It is pretty cute.  Troy worried this hugging would happen upon other people but so far we have been good until Papi. When Nolan saw Papi for the first time he hugged his legs and did the same thing.  Just wanted to keep this one for memory sake.

1st Dance Class

If you know or have followed this blog at all you know that my Gracie girl loves dancing.  I asked a few friends and then made some calls.  When the calls were been made Gracie was so excited.  I told her I was just calling around to get information nothing more.  I didn't want her over excited when I had no idea when she could even take a class.  We were invited to join in on a class so Gracie could figure out what kind of dancing she wants to do.  Of course ballet, she loves the costumes, the shoes, and she has seen it the most.  I wondered if it would be too slow but we got her all dressed up.

I asked her to stand up so I could get a picture...

this is how she posed

she was ready to go

of course a little nolan in the picture

I know this is way too bright but I still love this picture and he adores his sissy

Nolan wanted to show off his outfit as well

Once we got there the teach let the kids in but no parents.  We were sad not to get to watch but the teacher said she did really good.  When we got in the car Gracie told us about all she did.  She also asked if she could try Jazz.  Jazz does not start until 1st grade and she is not interested in tap.  She said she wanted to try something faster.  We will go back a few more times this spring and see how she does!

Things to Know About

Nolan

• I think he has the cutest little head.
• When we wake him for potty time before we head off to bed his sleeping on the toilet is so funny to me and I always find myself laughing.
• He loves slow dancing with Gracie, one hand on her waist and the other in her hand.  Yes, she taught him this and although it is slow his legs are always moving and hopping like crazy.
• His obsession changes frequent enough I don't want to pull my hair out.  Obessions in order:

1. Little Einsteins
2. Incredibles
3. Toy Story
4. Monster's Inc
5. Prep & Landing (aka ho, ho)
6. Frozen

• He loves Almond milk
• He has a crush on Elenor and loves saying the name Asher.  When I say crush I mean if I tell him she will be at an event he is ready to go with no fight.  He wants me to pick him up to see her in Sunday School class and he will follow her anywhere.
• Would sit and read books all day if he could well with some running and jump in between pages.
• A friend pointed out once how he is just all boy and it is so true.  He is active from morning to night wearing his cowboy boots with pj's and super hero costumes.  I am not sure he will ever be one to just sit and color.
• He walks up to toys like ninja turtles, batman, or spiderman and will make gun noises.  He somehow knows they are toys meant for boys and he has NEVER seen any of those shows.
• He loves to snuggle and watch a show.
• He is all boy.  He wants to jump off everything, turn anything into a sword or gun, likes machines that make big noises and if he hears a train or plane he will stop and find it.
• Nolan's love language is(from what we can tell): touch, quality time, words of affirmation

Gracie

• Makes video's for her daddy where she sings about how much she misses him.
• Just like a Schenk she thinks her toot's are hilarious.
• She loves mommying Nolan.  This means she wants to read books to him, she encourages him to go potty, lay down for nap, and even wants to tuck him in at night and sing to him.  Sometimes I have to tell her she is not the mom when she tries to discipline him.
• She loves everything art and she is really good at it.
• She truly thinks I can make anything.
• She likes to hear how daddy and I met.  Not from me but from daddy.  She asks questions about where we went and what we talked about on our dates.
• She likes to use words that don't actually go with a situation although she is much better at it now. i.e. as nolan is driving her crazy she will say he is so embarrassing to me.  As we help with the words she has gotten better but very funny.
• She has the biggest softest heart.  I want to protect it so bad.  She just loves helping people, being friends with everyone, and is learning sometimes kids can be mean.
• She can be so sassy.
• She thinks she is a ninja and likes practicing her moves.
• She things the train takes people to work or bible study.
• She loves to dance.
• She can make friends with anyone anywhere, seriously!
• She recently asked me "what happens if we get lost in Paris" and I replied it would be awesome it's one of the most beautiful cities in the world maybe one day we can go together.  "And will we see fashions?" Yes, I reply.  "Can we take Nolan if he gets bigger and daddy? We need to get them boy fashions?"
• Gracie likes to ask everyone in the car to be quiet so she can day dream.
• Gracie asks often to wear lip gloss and I have to remind her how that won't happen until she is older and then this leads into the conversation about her heart and thats what makes her beautiful.  She then replies, "but mommy my heart has lip gloss on and a beautiful necklace".
• Gracie's love language is: words of affirmation, quality time, gifts

round here{old}

These were taken sometime in February and just making into the mix.  Enjoy the randomness of the pictures being shared below.

Gracie made an adorable mask

keeping warm and cozy in the morning

Found him at nap one day with his John Deere book propped up.

Who does love a good JD story before nap?

trying on dad's shorts

Gracie was given new outfits from Nina.  Gracie decided to

modeled them for me so I should take pictures to send to her
Nina.  I wanted to share her posing skills, I did not teach her this.

of course my very silly nolan

Someone is Reading

This is actually old news but I don't think I have mentioned it on here so there are some great aunts that have not heard yet so I thought I would share.  It all started a while back she was on Starfall with Troy one day and it just clicked.  She was sounding out her words.  A friend recommended a series of books that her kids use and I found them at the library and we are off to reading and books level by level.  She has been doing great!

Dates

This past summer while in Cincinnati I was at a chick-fil-a and they had a daddy-daughter date set-up complete with a carriage ride.  When our local Chick-fil-a announced the daddy-daughter date I signed us up.  Gracie was so excited she loves her dates with daddy and she loves chick-fil-a.  I did have to meet-up with Troy.  When I arrived the manager grabbed Nolan and I a table so we could have our own date.  Nolan was over excited about his opportunity to see the cow.

nolan LOVES cows!