Craftin' - Easter Style

With each holiday, Nicholas' crafting skills are expanding - which is so exciting for crafty Mommy. He did a great job making tissue paper eggs and insisted Poppy needed one too. As expected, the gluing was his favorite part.

Things got a little sticky around here!

Such concentration!

Easter Card Surprises

Nicholas loves to get mail...and as you can see, he thoroughly inspects things (before demanding "Mommy, read it to me!")

He he, "that's funny!"

A couple days later, he got a card from Godmother Rosanne. Nicholas insisted he needed his other cards from the fridge and pointed out who each was from.

As you can see, he's just like his Great Papa - a boy who loves his mail!

Daddy's in the kitchen!

Daddy's been cookin' up some yumminess lately.

It's much appreciated, honey...from me and Baby B.

Playdough!

Playdough is always a hit in this house!

"A cookie for you, Mommy! Eat it!"

Morning with the Ryan Girls

This week was our turn to have the Ryan girls over. Nicholas and Kalie are expanding their interactions every week - its just so cute to watch. They carry on conversations with each other, request one another to"come play here...." and imitate each others' antics. Kalie loves to goof around on the couch and got a good game of bounce and chase going.

They just love each other!

it's pretty exhausting work!

Nicholas has been a lot more interested in baby Erica lately (promising, hun?). He brought her the remote to his RC car and told her to press the button. Look at her check it out!

waiting....

but here was her approach!

Once Erica was out, look who jumped in the Bumbo!
Let's say it was a tight squeeze!

All good things must come to an end

Mommy used to love baking from scratch, but seriously, those days are long gone. Unfortunately, Nicholas knows baking as using a box. On a positive note, he love to look at the pictures of the instructions and ingredients.

Anything made in a loaf pan is considered "corn bread" to him, even this cinnamon bread. He took on the responsibility of sprinkling the crumb topping...

with a little taste testing for inspiration.

After a little too much tasting, I gave him some in a bowl. Let's just say he lost it completely....

Dinner with Shades

It's kind of sad when your son requests his sunglasses to eat dinner.

We desperately need some window treatments, would you say!

Quack Quack!

We've had a cute mallard duck couple hanging out in our backyard. Nicholas gets so excited to see them while Zoey begs to dash outside!

And yes, it was still nearly dark that morning. This toddler bed transition is not doing me any favors!

Happy Birthday Bryant!

This weekend, we got a glimpse to our future of boy's birthday celebrations when we witnessed the madness of Bryant's 8th birthday. It was really rather hysterical to watch the interactions of a dozen giddy tweens. Nicholas got into every bit of it. He just loves being with the big kids!

The party was at Fun Junction. Emelie and Nicholas played-off at the bowling lanes...

and went for a spin on the motorcycle. Nicholas waved goodbye to everyone.

Daddy even gave Nicholas a lesson on race car driving - looks serious!

The highlight was definitely Nicholas' experience in the laser room. Him and Daddy ran around as the rest of the party was playing laser tag. He just loved it and is still talking about it. He says, "it was crazy!"

Blackout at Weggie's!

Just as we were passing the deli at Wegman's, the power went out. Left in pitch blackness, a couple seconds later we heard a horrified little voice say, "turn those lights back on!" A minute later, the generators fired up some lighting, but Nicholas was still really shaken. We heard about it all afternoon long.... "The power went out at Wegman's. It was scary......"

Something tells me I will hear about this experience with every future trip to Wegmans!

"I want that coffee..."

Daddy gave in to Nicholas' repeated requests to try his coffee. His reaction was priceless (would have done anything to capture that with the camera), but needless to say, he wanted nothing to do with it once I had the camera ready!

Stop and Smell the Flowers

We are still enjoying these beautiful flowers Aunt Elaine and Uncle sent. Nicholas loves to point out all the colors....

and smell them!

It often ends with a sneeze because he gets so close.

Thanks guys - it was so thoughtful of you!

Fun at Kalie-Sue's!

On Tuesday, Nicholas spent the morning at "Kalie-Sue's" (as he refers to his friend Kalie and her mom Sue). As Mommy was at the doctor and squeezed in a pedicure, she was worried he would be too much boy in the house of 4 girls, but as it turned out, they seemed to have a lot of fun. Nicholas vacuumed up the place, which prompted Kalie to pull out the real sweeper vac.

Apparently, he thought it was hysterical to watch Kalie vacuum - too funny!

According to Sue, they played nicely together (as they typically do)....and even had some quiet play time.
Thanks so much Sue! I truly appreciate your help (and hope you're being honest in your Nicholas report)!

Boys Baking

Before bed (obvious a stall tactic), Nicholas pulled out one of his favorite toys of lately - his cookie set. Daddy came up with a great spot to be the pretend oven.

~ turning the oven on with the press of a pretend button ~

Oh thank you buddy for the yummy cookie - Mommy's favorite treat!

Daddy's Helper

Tonight Daddy hung the curtain rod and airplane pictures in Nicholas' new room. He had a helpful little assistant to hand him tools.

Of course, he was super excited to get to use the tools in his own way.

As always, Nicholas was most ecstatic to spend time in his new room. He gave me a big cheese...

But honey, your eyes are closed. Let's try that again....

now that's better!

Mommy is still undecided on which curtains to go with, so Nicholas put in his vote...

"I like the red one please!"

The room is coming together (slowly) - but it all makes our little man's day!

Finally, Outside Playtime!

What a gorgeous day we had today! Nicholas was super excited to play outside after naptime - and made his usual dash to the sandbox.

He discovered worms for the first time. Of course, he's well aware of the fun he can have the worms after seeing a Curious George episode with worm races. I'm guessing I'll be checking pockets this summer to make sure he doesn't bring in any of his garden friends.

Poppy and Grammy brought grilling food over for dinner. Nicholas was excited to show Poppy his new room...

and got Poppy to dance with him.

Nicholas just loves his new room and gets all giddy and silly when he's in there (perhaps that contributes to our problems with settling for bed and naptime....hmmmm).

I love my big boy room (just not for sleeping!)

It's A Date!

Last night, Nicholas had a hot date with Olivia for cheesy quesadillas, red juice and a huge mess with ice cubes....yummy!