The Heart of a Servant

Last night, my sister Hannah spent the night at our house to cut down on the drive to San Diego where she would be joining a group to do medical missions in Tijuana for the weekend. This also gave Nicole plenty of time to play with her.

For part of the morning, Nicole carried Hannah's car keys and Diet Coke around everywhere:

 Even on the morning walk:

After Hannah left, Nicole was very sad. She played with her watertable (which soaked her outfit, so this was taken after I took of said outfit and before I put a new one on. If you look at this post, she is in 3 different outfits all in one day...) and then came in and waited for Hannah:

After her nap, we tried a few activities: bag fingerpainting was not a hit. Okay, she pretty much just wanted to play with the tape. I wasn't overly impressed, but I am thinking if I try this again I will use the thicker ziploc bags (the freezer ones) and see if this works better.

Stacking: This was a spur of the moment impulsive activity. While cleaning out my teaching supplies, I found a container of beans. I filled two baby food jars and one mason jar and she had a blast stacking and knocking them down and carrying them around the house. I will be on the lookout for more plastic jars with screw on lids. The glass makes me nervous. *I do not normally keep boxes of toilet paper in the living room, but that has become her new favorite place to color, so there it sits*

Fun, fun, fun

Today was a very busy day with several activites to do!

Last week I found a link to this website on Pinterest and after spending some time looking at it, I decided to create an account. After your account is created, they will send you one email a day (on the days that you choose) with an age ap...propriate developmental fun activity for you to do with your child. Best of all, it's FREE and uses every day objects!!! Today's activity was scooping. We were supposed to scoop cheerios from one bowl to the other, but I thought scooping ball pit balls with a bucket sounded way more fun!

The website is found here: Productive Parenting

 

Later that morning, we had a play date with some of Nicole's friends. She loved having other kids her age to talk to during lunch!

 What's better than some good conversation over chicken nuggets, mac 'n' cheese, goldfish, and graham crackers?!?

 They also had fun playing in the water.

Nicole is forever flirting with other babies (especially boys). Today she decided kissing and hugging this little guy sounded like fun. Thankfully his mom also found the humor in her actions!

At home, Nicole found my deoderant that hadn't been put away from camping. She was showing me how mom and dad put deoderant on.

 I guess she thought I smelled bad because she was lifting up my shirt to help me put some on.

After dinner, Nicole and I headed out to Tyler Mall to spend some time with Grandma Joan (who I think was going through some serious Nicole withdraws since it had been almost two weeks since she last saw Nicole) and Aunt Hannah (who flew down last minute to visit a sick friend **our friend could really use some extra prayers during this tough time as she battles cancer**). Grandma Joan and Nicole bought tickets to ride on the train. Nicole surprised me with how well she did considering it was after 8pm (she normally is in bed by 8).

She was a little surprised when the train started moving.

But after a minute or two she was so fascinated with everything around her, that she started to have fun. After a few times around the track, she started to laugh and wave every time she passed Hannah and me, but I didn't get any good pictures of that because I was busy laughing and waving back to her.

 

Well, this is a glance into the busy day that we had today. I am so blessed that I am able to enjoy the little moments with Nicole as she grows!

Fun with Hannah

Last week Hannah came down from Idaho to visit. Here are some videos and pictures that she took.

For as long as I can remember, my dad has kept a pen in his front pocket. Nicole has figured this out and has made it her mission to keep it out of his pocket!

This next one is pretty funny because my mom found a video that Nicole LOVES to watch! It is Kermit the frog singing the alphabet song. They watch it 2-3 times a day when my mom is watching Nicole.

Nicole really enjoys watching movies......or at least removing all the movies.

And what better way to end this blog than with a picture of Nicole with Aunt Hannah! Nicole's pjs say "my auntie is a fox".

I pray that you enjoy the time you spend with your family and the memories that are made in the little things!!

A Weekend To Celebrate!

This weekend gave us many reasons to celebrate with our family. First, it was Nick's grandpa's birthday party on Saturday (his birthday is tomorrow). We celebrated with his family with dinner and cake.

Then on Sunday we went to Doug and Karissa's wedding in Brea. The wedding was beautiful and so much fun! They had the park decorated beautifully and had fun things that made their wedding unique. By one of the trees, they had several frames (just the wood, no glass or backing) with handles screwed on the back. People could take pictures of themselves or as groups using the frames. I also must take a minute to brag about the cakes. They were AMAZING!!! I think they were the best cakes I have had at a wedding (oh wait, I might be a little biased......)! Here are some pictures from the wedding.

 Nicole had no intention of sitting quietly through the ceremony. She was sneezing, blowing bubbles, spitting on Hannah, pulling my mom's hair. It was really pretty funny.

 The boxes of cakes.

 Nicole with her great-grandma Linda

 Hannah, me, Nicole, Grandma Linda, my mom

 Nick taking the time to pose in a frame.

 He wanted to make sure he had all angles covered.

 A 3-D picture of Hannah and me!

 In case you didn't know that I am short.

My Aunt Alisha, her son Bryant, Nicole, and me

We are so very blessed to have family close by so that we can join in on special occasions and make memories together! What a blessing family is!

Look Who Came To Visit!

Today we visited with Nicole's Aunt Hannah (my sister) who came down from Idaho to see Nicole (ok, she really came down for my uncle's wedding.......but we can pretend). I was busy making cakes for the wedding, so Hannah and Grandma Joan kept Nicole entertained for the day. Here are some pictures of the time together.

 Guess who bought her this little shirt
(It says: "I'm as cute as my aunt").

The best part of being an aunt!