Spring Break

I don't get a lovely spring break like my hubby. In fact, I just got Good Friday back as a holiday this year. I decided to take the Thursday prior to Good Friday off to extend the weekend. We originally planned to go to PA to visit family for the night, but we were unable to lock down dog sitters.

Wednesday evening Nolan had his very first trip to Chuck E Cheese. The kid loved it! We went with the Kennedy family to have a belated birthday celebration for Colby. Aside from actually seeing Chuck E Cheese walking around Nolan had a blast. We got what we thought was far too many tokens for the boys, but Nols was quick to burn through them playing games and riding the rides. He loved getting tickets and was very excited when we told him he can get prizes with his tickets. I can't believe I am saying this, but going on a weekday really isn't that bad and I can see us going back again soon.

Thursday was spent at Sky Zone jumping all over the place with Quinn, Harper and Lily. We followed up all the jumping with a lunch date with the Hastings. Next stop was Pop Pop's house to make Easter cakes and dye Easter eggs with Nolan's cousins. Nolan had so much fun dying and decorating eggs. He was really into it this year. 

...and then we bought a Bruno Mars hat.

We had to rest up after all of that because Friday morning we loaded up the car and myself, Ryan, Nolan, Aunt Lainy, Hayden and Lincoln all went to Hershey Park. On our way we discovered that our last trip to Hershey which I thought was about 4 years ago turned out to be 8 years ago. Holy crap...I wasn't close at all with my guess. Hershey has so many rides now! It was the perfect day. The kids were all angels and loved the rides. Poor Hayden was a bit too short to ride some of the roller coasters so we promised them another trip back once she goes 3 more inches. There was about an hour of rain in our day which resulted in arcade games and ice cream cones. Once the rain had finally stopped the park was empty! It was a blast! No lines makes for very happy kiddos. We were able to stay on rides and ride them multiple times. Never before have I been able to walk straight onto a ride car for the Hershey tour and we did just that. Seriously, it was so worth the hour of rain! We ended the day eating dinner at 9pm at the Red Robin directly across from the park. The tired, hungry kids were still angels and extra happy to get a balloon for the car ride home. They all fell asleep within the first 15 minutes of our drive home...so did I.

Nolan sound asleep on the way home with his new Hershey kiss he picked out and named "kiss myself so pretty" --courtesy of Bruno Mars ;) 

Saturday was Kids Fest and we had every intention of having Nolan participate in the egg hunt, but the little boy was exhausted. We stayed for a little bit and Nolan played a few games, but the child was more interested in eating lunch and going home to take a nap. On this day, we ALL ended up taking a family nap together. Perfect way to top off the past few insanely busy days.

Easter Sunday was spent at my dad's house. We had a small family Easter this year and although I was very bummed my brother, Tiana and the kids weren't there, I was very happy that my bestie, Aun and her family came to partake in the day with us. We did a massive scavenger hunt for the kids and they found every last egg. The weather was perfect and everyone just ran around and played outside all day long. I was also obsessed with how adorable the kids outfits were, seriously adorable.
Going back to work on Monday was very difficult because that was just the beginning of Ry's spring break. I really can't complain though because my time off of work was well spent, super busy and full of fun. In those 4 days I took so many pictures and it was one of those, I wish I could freeze time, moments.

Happy Easter, Nolan! 

Check out all the creativity! :)

The stand off followed by a "no, that's my daddy!" shout war!

~ Happy Easter 2015 ~

Dear Nolan ~ You're growing too fast!!

Dear Nolan,

I haven't written anything on here in far too long. Farrrr toooo loooonggg.

The things you say these days crack us up. I mean seriously, you are a funny kid. You know how to be cheeky and when you are doing something you shouldn't you know how to turn on the charm, give us a huge smile or ask "are you happy?" It is very safe to say that from the moment you came into our lives you have had us wrapped around your tiny little finger.

You are coming up on your last week of art class for the winter. We wanted to do something other than a sports class with you, and you really seem to like it. You are in the class with Lily and it is a lot of fun to watch the two of you work on your little projects and then hold them up for us after class together. You will be starting tee ball in April. I am pretty certain you will be the very youngest in the league, but I do not doubt that you will have fun. Daddy signed up to be your coach. I think it's pretty safe to say that he will continue to sign up to be your coach all along the way as you grow. Your girlfriend, Quinn signed up to play too! I am looking forward to seeing the two of you in your uniforms together. :)

You have a love for learning. You really enjoy when we read books, writing and your memory seriously amazes me. You memorize full books and recite them back to us and you will talk about stuff that happened months ago. Sometimes we don't even remember and you have to further explain things to us, and you do just that. You have been learning how to write letters. You can write your name in all capital letters.

You have quite an imagination. You are all about pretend play. You used to have to bring teddy and Elmo with you at all times, but since Valentine's Day you kicked them to the curb for puppy. Teddy and Elmo still sleep with you every night, but you don't play with them like you used to. Now it's all about puppy. You love to have conversations with him, feed him, play fetch and make him do tricks. He goes everywhere with you. At one point you named him "old McDonald had some pants, oye, oye, oye" (courtesy of Dora), but you really just call him "puppy" now.

Speaking of Dora, you love her. She does teach you Spanish, but we watch Dora every single morning. Every one of them.

You used to be a rockstar with bedtime, but every since before Christmas you insist on having me rock you to sleep. We thought it was because of your fear of Santa, but after Christmas it never stopped. Here we are at the end of March and you still aren't sleeping like the superstar that you used to be. You actually are like a little newborn some nights and will wake up 3x throughout the night. It's awful. Please stop. When we ask you why you are waking up you look at us with those big brown eyes and say "because I just miss you."

Your favorite foods are mac and cheese, French toast, bananas with peanut butter, chicken nuggets and anything with sprinkles on it. The only vegetable we can get in you is green beans. You still will not try different foods for us. There are so many foods you have never had because you have ridiculous tantrums at the thoughts of us even showing the food to you. God forbid, we ever put it on your plate. One day though...I will be patient.

Overall, you are a happy boy. You love to be outside and run around and play. Having a few days this week with 60 degree weather has really spoiled all of us. You love to play baseball in the backyard and get excited (as do we) when you hit the ball over the fence (off the pitching machine!).

You are the best thing that has ever happened to us and we love you to pieces little boy!!!!

Love,
Mommy

xoxo