Documenting Per Nolan's Request...

His close personal friendship with a pumpkin named "Plump".

He just put him to bed... That kid's love of pumpkins is legendary.

UPDATE:
Plump was beginning to whither, so we asked Santa if he could bring Plump to the North Pole. Thankfully, Santa kindly obliged.
There were tears Christmas Eve, and Nolan had to have Plump sleep with him one last time...
but hooray! Plump will now live happily ever after. with Santa. at the North Pole.

Nolan's Theatrical Debut

The 2nd Graders at Nolan's school put on a play last month called the Unity Tree. Basic plot: the boys were dogs the - girls were cats. The cats and dogs did NOT like each other or go to each others' side of the tree, until Kitty and Puppy came along and were friends. They helped the others see that they could be friends too.

Cute! And Nolan (along with all the other kids) had 2 speaking parts.

"Just what do you think you're doing?"

&

"If you want to be Top Dog, you can't be soft on cats!"

He was, of course, amazing - never have I felt such feelings while watching a 2nd grade play.

Grandma Diane would be proud! ;)

Acting prowess aside, he did make an awfully cute dog.

Halloween 2011

Company

+ Pumpkins

+ Costumes

= FUN!!!

We Did! Did You?

Today was National Walk to School Day! Did you know?

This year our boys' awesome school co-ordinated meeting times and places and this was the result.
First pic - the group in front of us, second pic, the group behind .
Pretty good turn-out, huh?

And just in case you're wondering why I don't have a picture of Matt... He walked too - but he was with his much cooler 6th grade friends. It was a gorgeous morning and we had so much fun!

Have I mentioned how much I adore our boys' school?!?

My (not as) Shy (not so) Little Guy

Have I mentioned how fast my boys are growing up? It's just not fair! Anyhow, Matt is in 6th (eek!) grade and a member of his Elementary school choir (his choice, not mine - honestly, I'm a shocked as you probably are!). What shocked me even more... He came home a few weeks ago and told me he'd tried out for and got a SOLO! The choir had it's first performance last week at a local art and music festival. He did GREAT!

All I want to know is what happened to my shy little baby?

Book Club

I am proud to say I am a member of a fantastically, amazingly, wonderfully, fun book club. I LOVE IT! Last month it was my turn to host... I had a lot of fun doing so - for anyone that did NOT attend... Can you guess what book we read? Hint: it's a classic.

At Least...

I got him to stop climbing!

Look What I Made!

I've decided to focus my decorating energy on Matt's room for now. Mostly, 'cause I've got small and easily achievable ideas for his space... Anyhow, I've made some progress. Last weekend I made these (pillows for his bed).

Pretty AWESOME, huh?!? (sometimes it's so hard to be humble...) More "progress" coming soon!

Too Funny!

I've been thinking about continuing on the LOOONG trek to a decorated home... and had lots of ideas floating in my head, so while I was looking for one thing I came across this...

Would this not be a hilarious perfect finishing touch for a Mario Bros. Room? Not that I'm doing one, but seriously... how awesome would that be?!?

Cody is...

Cody's actual birthday (Thursday) started with doughnuts and getting big brothers off to school. Then, Mommy and Cody went to the zoo! We saw all his favorite animals - hippos, rhinos, elephants, girraffes, lions and crocodiles. We also rode the merry-go-round (or "round and around and around") 3 times, the train 3 times and the tram 2 times. It was HOT, but oh so fun!!! After a quick nap followed by big brother pick up - we went to the pool for one last summertime swim.

  That night, cupcakes & presents...

The next night (Friday) we had a party! Grandma Sheri, friends, pizza and cake - and although we had to wait almost 2 hours for the pizza (ordering mix-up... in the end we got the pizza for free...) - we still managed to have a rockin' good time.

This is the before picture.

Never let it be said that this 2 year old doesn't know how to party hardy!!!

I Want to Do This!

...actually, I think I would love to just copy her home room by room.

Oh, to have home decor mojo... but alas. Guess I better get to copying!

Matt's Great (Suprise) Adventure!

 I should preface this with the following information...

Matt is OBSESSED. With football. Especially professional football.

We do not know where this obsession came from. Phil and I enjoy a good football game as much as the next guy, but neither of us have a favorite team. We can live if we don't see a game every week, and we've even been know to change the channel to watch something more interesting if whatever game is on isn't a great one.

I always thought sports obsessed kids had sports obsessed parents, but I was wrong. This boy INHALES ANYTHING that has to do with the NFL. He is constantly spewing stats and stories about different players. Honestly I'm proud of myself if I know a third of the names he mentions... And he seeks it all out on his own. Checks out SI kids from the school library, pumps his friends for info, begs to watch the half-time chat shows (we would normally change it to AFV or something to kill the time...) and hangs on every word the game announcers say. Can I just say I am so glad we don't have ESPN?!?

Yesterday as I was driving and listening to the radio - the morning talk show hosts of the station I was listening to - mentioned briefly, that there would be an open practice for the Kansas City Chiefs that night. A free event where you could go and meet the players before their practice and then sit in whatever open seat you could find at Arrowhead and watch the practice.

Being the amazing mother that I am, I immediately called my equally amazing husband and gave him the run-down. We plotted a little and decided Phil would take Matt. So, once he got home from school I gently prodded Matt to get through his homework, and then told him Phil needed his help with something, so he should get his shoes on jump in the car when Phil pulled up. I handed off a small notebook, sharpee and the camera and away they went.

Matt didn't find out until they pulled up at Arrowhead what was really going on. And then he and his dad proceeded to have an amazing time.

Matt was able to meet and get autographs from 16 people (including the Head Coach - Todd Haley, and QB - Matt Cassel).

There were also fireworks, chili cheese fries and highlighs on the jumbotron. They didn't get home until 10:30ish. And Matt was SO HAPPY. Mission accomplished - MOTY signing off.

  

First Day of School 2011

Summer went way too fast - again.

The "big boys" started back to school last Wednesday - and Cody and I miss them terribly.

Seriously, he asks me at least 10 times a day "Where's Matt?" - "Where's Nolan?"

Can you believe 6th Grade for Matt? I am so sad for so many reasons, one of the biggest being,

this will be his last year at the best Elementary school EVER.

The biggest of course - that he is growing up much too fast.

Doesn't he look thrilled?

He did get the teacher he wanted. Cute side note... one of his friends that had Mrs. N a few years ago gave her this compliment...

"Mrs. N is just too good to be true."

I think that is probably the sweetest compliment I've ever heard payed to a teacher.

Nolan is in 2nd grade? Wait, what?!? When did that happen?

Nolan also got the teacher he/we wanted. She just happens to be the teacher Matt had in 4th grade, and we LOVE her! 

Funny side story for Nolan. Since last Monday, he's lost 2 more teeth. He has now lost 6 total, only 2 of which have been "replaced". Poor kid, can't eat raw veggies very well. But man that smile is cute!

I also have to say, I love these pictures, especially for Nolan, because he LOVES to climb this tree.

We're so excited for good things this year!

Family Pictures

We had the blessing of getting our family pictures done over the summer by an amazing photographer that we just happen to know personally. She is so, so talented and awe inspiring in so many ways. We are thrilled with the results! To see her blog post of the shoot go here.

Thanks again Meredith!

OH!!! And I almost forgot! I wanted to wait until the pics were done...

Remember this?

Oh, yeah. That's EXACTLY what I'm wearing in the pictures! Suffice it to say, MY DAD AND HIS ANNE ARE INCREDIBLE - and there are strangers in the world that will do the silliest of kind deeds. I feel so, so loved. Thanks again and love to Dad, Anne and the Ord Family!

4th of July

We had a great 4th this year. Second best holiday EVER! (Thanksgiving is the 1st...)

Phil was again the grand firework lighting poobah - with 3 apprentices.

FYI - Cody LOVES fireworks, probably because they're a lot like him, colorful, bright and loud!

This year he helped with the "poppers", expertly I might add...

Nolan got to light a few "real" fireworks this year.

And Matt helped with a little of everything.

What makes the 4th so fun? The people you spend it with!

BFF's (but more than that - our "Missouri Family")

Happy Belated Birthday USA!