When a two-year-old dresses himself...

This is how it turns out...

Close buddy, real close!!

Wishing for Sunny Days...

During one of our trips to the "Five Below" store, Nolan surprised us with this new look...

I think after this crazy winter, we are all looking forward to getting some more sun!

The Big 34!

I turned 34 years old on Saturday, January 18th and my family did a great job of making it a special day. Jason created an "Amazing Race" type adventure that we all enjoyed doing which included stops at the mall to purchase new workout clothes, lunch at Cafe Rio, opening up presents and cards at home, dinner at Cafe Del Sol and ice cream at Coldstone. I felt very loved and am excited to see what 34 holds for me. My 30s have been great so far!

(Abby made this awesome birthday crown for me to wear while I opened gifts and cards and even decorated the house with posters and signs wishing me a very happy birthday. She also made everyone a yummy breakfast to start off our day. She is such a thoughtful little girl!)

Legos at the Library!

We just discovered that on every third Friday of the month, our local library has a LEGO build competition. Each month is a different theme and January's theme was race cars. They had a track (a lot like the one used for the pinewood Derby cars) and each child was given the task to build the fastest LEGO car possible. All three kids enjoyed giving it a whirl!!

Nolan and I built a pretty basic car and he spent the rest of the time racing it against everyone else. He LOVED it!

An action shot of Landon in the midst of jumping up and down with excitement before the start of one his races!

Our main library has been completely rebuilt and although it took three years to complete, we have been enjoying our nice, new building and all the fun activities that go on there.

What we do when school is cancelled...

After a fun New Year's Eve spent with our Brazilian neighbors across the street, the holidays came to an end on January 2nd when the kids headed back to school. However, the return was short-lived as it snowed a bunch that afternoon and they ended up having the next day off as a "snow day." Our new Christmas sleds came in very handy for this fun activity (We love our sloped yard in the winter, not so much in the summer when we have to mow it!)

We then had a fun weekend before going back to school on Monday and then having school cancelled again on Tuesday (my kids were loving this pattern though...go one day, have one day off, etc.)

The roads were fine that day and the snow was mostly melted, but it was brutally cold (about -10 degrees with the wind chill.) Needless to say, we didn't even venture outside that day but still came up with some fun indoor activities to do.

Nolan thought he was pretty hot stuff for being on the loft! He sure does miss his big sister and brother when they are off at school, so it was fun to have a little extra time together!!

Cannings Come to Visit!

We were very excited to have the Canning family come to visit us during winter break. (The Cannings are Jason's sister Shalene and her three children...Alaina (9), Jonny (7) and Cody (5).)  They arrived in Baltimore on the day after Christmas and we immediately headed over to one of our favorite places, "Port Discovery."

The kids had a great time exploring the children's museum together and it was a fun way to get reacquainted since we hadn't seem them since our Texas trip in June.

Nolan especially loved the sand table since the cold weather has put a damper on his sand-playing fun lately...

All the kids enjoyed playing in the diner together and making us lots of delicious "food."

Port Discovery did a wonderful job of wearing everyone out. This was our view in the "boy's van" while the girls happily chatted away in the other car!

We spent the day Friday playing (the kids), shopping (the moms), and reading (Jason) which made it a successful day for us all!

On Saturday, we decided to head down to Washington, D.C. to explore some of the Smithsonian Museums. It was a gorgeous, warm winter day and unfortunately everyone else in Maryland/Virginia decided to do the same thing. I have never seem so many people on the National Mall or in the Museum of Natural Science (our favorite Smithsonian) than I saw on that day. This made trying to navigate the museum with six small children a bit of a challenge. We only saw a few things before we decided it was best to escape the insanity...

We walked over to the White House...

(I love living so close to these historical sites!)

And then got a close-up view of the National Tree...

Nolan did his best to break through security, but was unsuccessful in his attempts!

There were also trees from all 50 states and U.S. territories surrounding the National Tree. Here is the "Colorado" tree...

And our little "Maryland" tree...

At this point we decided it was time to head over to the temple to tour the Visitor's Center and see the Christmas lights still on display. Trying to navigate D.C. on any day is challenging, but add in lots of crowds, two vehicles trying to follow each other, and a wonky GPS and it was pretty disastrous. Our GPS kept giving us wrong directions and "recalculating" eventually became a curse word in our van that day. (I think Jason would have thrown it out the window if it wasn't a part of our dashboard!) After driving around D.C. forever and getting nowhere, we decided to scrap the Temple idea and just head on home. We did hit up "Chick-Fil-A" on the drive back though, so the kids thought it was a great adventure!

We spent Sunday going to church and playing lots of games, a perfect way to spend the Sabbath with cousins!

On Monday, we decided to brave the cold and headed to City Park to feed the ducks. We were the only crazy ones there that day, which made the ducks love us even more!

After seeing these pictures, I realize that Nolan probably ended up with more duck food in the hood of his coat than he actually gave the ducks to eat!

Cody even got a goose to eat the food right from his hand!

After the duck food was gone, we played at the playground for about 10 seconds before rushing back to the warm car (although it was a very FUN 10 seconds from the looks on these little faces!)

We ended the evening with a bonfire for FHE and roasting marshmallows. The Cannings left for home the next day and it was sad to see them leave. It sure was fun to create some happy memories together though! And as I have to remind my little Abby frequently (she gets so sad when its time to say goodbye)..."Don't be sad its over, just be glad it happened!"

Our Nolan Man!

Nolan is at such a cute age right now. He is definitely our least verbal child, but he is slowly learning new words and we get a kick out of his little language skills.

He got a set of soft rubber balls for Christmas and he loves tossing them around the house. Finally Landon has a little playmate when it comes to sports!

He is such a happy little man too, and provides us with endless laughter in our home.

Don't get me wrong, he can be quite the little stinker at times too. He has earned the nickname "Swiper" in our family because he is constantly getting into things and "swiping" things that don't belong to him. He especially loves to raid the pantry and no child lock has been able to keep him out. We may have to resort to a chain lock before he eats us out of house and home!!

We sure do love our Nolan though!!