Easter

JJ only had bishopric meeting Easter morning which was nice.  I wish they would have kept it earlier so he could have come home and gone to church with us.  Driving to and from church as a family is something I really miss.  He enjoyed not getting up so early and being able to eat breakfast with us.  I got the kids ready for church and we meet him there.   

 

 After church I came home and got working making food to take over to my parents house for Easter dinner.  When JJ came home we did an egg hunt for the kids in the backyard.  They were so excited to hunt for eggs.  Nolan especially was excited and we were happy to see that even Lucy was still excited to do the egg hunt. 

 

 

 

 

We headed over to my parents house for Easter dinner and to spend time with everyone.  We had a nice ham dinner and all the food was so good.  We all joked that we are all becoming such good cooks.  The weather was so beautiful the kids spent the whole day playing outside together.  The cousins are always excited to see each other.  We did an egg hunt with all the cousins.  We had Grandma and Grandpa show them an Easter video from LDS.org while a bunch of us helped hide the eggs.  They were cute sitting on the driveway together going through all their eggs eating candy. 

 

 My parents yard is so pretty with lots of trees blooming.  While my Dad was taking Jayne on a dirt bike ride Jayne commented how pretty everything was.  My Dad took us on a walk around the yard and pointed out all the pretty trees.  We called it a nature walk with Dad.

 I am so glad my sister Natalie and her family came in town for the weekend.  We had a fun time hanging out together and Lucy always loves to see all the girl cousins. 

 

 

 

 When it got dark we all came inside to dye Easter eggs.  The Wrights have a tradition to do an egg roll contest.  We all dyed eggs and Jenny came in and voted on her favorite dyed egg.  We then took turns rolling our eggs into each other.  If your egg cracks you loose and the winner goes on.  We had never played before but it was fun! Natalie's egg was the winner!  It was a really nice laid back day and we enjoyed the beautiful weather.  We were thankful Monday was a late start day at school so the kids could sleep in.   

Six Flags

Friday my sister Natalie called me and asked me about our weekend plans.  I listed basketball games, birthday parties, JJ working and mentioned we wanted to go to six flags.  We got season passes for Christmas and have been wanting to go while the weather is so nice.  She then said they were thinking about coming down for Easter and would love to go to Six Flags.  It has been a long time since she had been and her kids have never been.  They decided to make a last minute trip down to St. Louis.  JJ worked Saturday morning and I took Nolan to a birthday party.  We skipped basketball games since they ended up being far away.  As soon as we got home from the party we loaded up and headed to six flags.  We were meeting them there.  They decided to get season passes as well since they were the same price as a one day ticket.  They will be back in town this summer for Jordan and Jenny's baby blessing.  We were surprised to see my parents with them when we meet up.  They too decided to get passes and join the fun.  It was such a beautiful day!  It was perfect weather to be at six flags.  We rode as many rides as we could.  We started with American Thunder and the moon cars for those that weren't tall enough.  We then rode the train, Grandpas favorite.  The big kids were ready to hit all the big rides but we knew we needed to fit in things everyone wanted to do.  We had a talk with our kids in the car about making sure everyone got to ride things they wanted to ride.  We can always come back another time and ride things.  We all rode the train half way and then we split up and some got off to ride the mine train.  Nolan was so excited to ride the mine train, he talked about it all day long.  Nolan was so excited to see all the things he could do now that he was five.  He knew he was taller and could ride a few more rides.  We all rode the mine train, I got to ride with Natalie.  We split up so the big kids could ride some big rides.  We took turns with the smaller kids in the kids area.  The kids rode the rides over and over again having a blast.  It worked good to have a big group so we could rotate riding rides and helping with kids.  Since I don't ride many rides I stayed with the little kids for a lot of the time.  I didn't mind to much since I wasn't by  myself.  My parents were with me and we took turns chasing kids and riding rides with them.  I don't spend a lot of time with Natalie's kids so it was nice for me to be with Edward, Alice and Emma riding the smaller rides.  They are so fun and such sweet kids.  I am thankful for the time I got to spend with them.  We stayed until the park closed, we rode as much as we could and I think everyone got to ride what they wanted to.  Nolan rode the screaming eagle for the first time and said that was his favorite.  Lucy and Garrett both love the batman!  We all went to Culvers for a late dinner after leaving Six Flags.  We wanted to spend time riding the rides and the food is really expensive in the park.  Thankfully Natalie smuggled in some food in her stroller to hold us over.  It was such a fun day and one we will always remember.  It was especially fun to have family join us.  We were all exhausted and ready for bed!     

 

 

 

 

 

Easter Egg Hunt

We really live in a great neighborhood full of lots of young families and other kids.  We have a great social committee that helps put on fun activities.  They put on an Easter egg hunt for the kids.  They had to reschedule it a few times due to weather.  They were finally able to have it Tuesday evening.  It ended up being a beautiful day and the kids were excited to walk down.  We stopped and saw the Easter bunny in the clubhouse and then got ready for the hunts.  They did them in age group, Nolan and Garrett both did a hunt but were in different age groups.  They saw friends they knew from school and we learned Nolan has a friend from preschool that lives in our neighborhood.  They got some good candy in the eggs.  It was a fun activity and I am glad we were able to go down and participate.  Nolan also had an egg hunt at preschool.  I went up to watch him, it was at the very end of the day.  We each had to bring 6 big eggs filled with something.  They got to hunt 6 eggs so the hunt didn't take long but he sure enjoyed it.      

Well Child Visit

I took Nolan into the Dr. for his well child visit.  The night before while I was putting him to bed we read the Golden book "Tommy visits the Dr. ".  It is a book that talks about a boy who visits the Dr. to see how healthy he is and how much he has grown.  Nolan liked the book and helped him understand and remember what would happen at the Dr. when we went.  He was so cute and was excited to see how tall he was.  Its interesting to me to see my children interreact with the Dr. and see them in that situation.  He talked well with the Dr. and counted for her and drew a picture of himself for her.  He is growing right on track and ready to start kindergarten in the fall.  

Height 43 1/4

weight: 48 lbs 

After the Dr. visit we went to the library to return some books.  We then played at the playground there for a little bit.  You were determined to do the monkey bars there.  You tried over and over again until your arms were tiered.  You would then go down the slide a few times to rest your arms and then go back and try again.  You almost got all the way across, you did so good.  You really are growing up so fast and becoming such a big boy.  I bet next time we go there to play you will get all the way across. 

Happy Birthday Nolan!!

Nolan was so excited to turn five.  Right after my birthday he started counting down to his.  I would often pull the calendar down nd show him how many days until his birthday.  He wanted everyone to come over and have cake with him.  We did a small get together the day before his birthday with cake and ice cream.  He picked out his cake, rainbow chip and then asked me to frost it with all the colors.  He kept changing his mind and so I sent him to bed and told him I would surprise him with his cake in the morning.  When he woke up Sunday he wanted to see his cake right away.  I went down and showed it to him, he loved it and said it looked so cool.  It was a party cake for sure with all the colors, candy on top and sprinkles.  We had a nice low key get together with Jordan, Jenny and Grandma and Grandpa.  He got some new clothes and a tackle box from Grandma and Grandpa.  Jordan and Jenny gave him a new fishing pole.  Grandma and Grandpa Smith sent a Lego set and money for his college savings account.   

 Monday was Nolan's birthday!  He got donuts for breakfast and then we went to McDonalds for lunch.  There is one not to far from JJ's office with an indoor play place.  We meet him there for lunch.  Nolan quickly ate his meal so he could go play.  He had a blast.  We stayed and played for almost two hours.  We headed home to relax and watch a show until the kids got home from school.  JJ and I decided to get the boys a combined gift for their birthdays.  We got them a big soccer net for the backyard.  They both love soccer and I knew if they had a bigger net they would go out back and play more.  They both agreed to splitting it and so we ordered one. It came on Nolan's birthday so when the kids got home we all worked together to put it together.  Nolan requested chicken strips, mac and cheese and fruit for his dinner.  We also had some cake leftover.  Mondays are busy but we still had fun celebrating and spending time together.  JJ was able to get off a little early so they played together at the playground while Garrett had soccer practice.  We watched a little bit of the video of when Nolan was a baby.  I can't believe my little guy is already 5!