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Nolan the builder

I asked Nolan to help me put a few boxes of mac-n-cheese in our pantry and apparently he felt the need to take everything else off of the lower shelf in order to do so.  Then he immediately saw the building potential of the said other items and proceeded to build one of his now famous, “high, tall, towers.”  If this kid doesn’t end up being some sort of engineer, I don’t know what he’ll be.

Later in the evening, I was surprised by the boys’ imaginary pet guinea pigs.  Jake took these pictures of us “petting” them.  Too funny!

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Cones in the cold

I bought sugar cones last month with the intention of doing an edible craft with the boys, but we never got around to it.  Now that it’s almost February, we’ve been using the cones the way they were intended.  Lincoln enjoys eating the cones from tip to top, while Nolan insists on correcting his brother as he does so.  It’s usually a pretty comical exchange.  Lincoln just eggs on his older brother by munching on the “wrong” end with even more tenacity.  Tonight I set the camera timer and I snuck in the picture with my boys and our ice cream treats.

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Tough cookie

Lincoln took quite a few bumps today.  It began at the gym this morning when apparently he fell off one of the large motor “ramps” and bonked his head.  Then as I was getting lunch ready, he wiped out twice on the wood floor.  (One time nearly missing the baseboard.)  After dinner, we were playing “hide & seek” and while I was hiding, somehow Nolan slammed Lincoln’s fingers in the door.  (He now has a bruised pinky fingernail.)  And to end the day, he was running around after his bath and somehow managed to fall head first into his dresser.  Poor kid.  I’ll be watching for bruises to appear in the next couple of days.

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Elements 1-10

Jake has been teaching Nolan the elements of the periodic table.  The little man has the first ten memorized.  Why not take advantage of his amazing memory, right?!?

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Smells like orange

My mom likes to give the kids clementines as a treat.  (Lincoln LOVES them!)  When we left my parents’ house today she gave each boy a clementine to hold during the trip home.  As I was driving, I thought I could smell citrus.  It wasn’t until I was unloading groceries from the back of the suburban and Nolan said to me “Lincoln is eating his orange!” that I knew my suspicion was correct.  The kid took the peel off of the top 1/3 of the orange and dug in.  By the time I got to him, he was almost done with the entire thing.  He was so proud of himself.  I was pretty impressed, too.  Once we got inside, he felt the need to repeat his achievement with another clementine.  I really should buy stock in fruit.  My kids love to eat it!

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Cooks in the kitchen

Nolan & Lincoln have been on a cooking kick lately.  I pulled out the play food from the closet and they immediately dumped out the entire bin.  With aprons on, they began cooking up all sorts of tasty things for me to try.  It was pretty cute.  Nolan would bring me something and then Lincoln would do the same.  Lincoln couldn’t resist trying out the foam corn on the cob.

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More “organizing” and “go-karts”

My organizing son struck again.  This time his target was the basement family room.  He cleared out everything in the room (minus the couch) and created a “hockey rink.”  I don’t know what he meant by that.  Maybe it was just the first thing that came to mind when I asked him what he was doing.  I just smiled and thanked him for organizing the room for me.

Later in the day, Lincoln turned one of our wheeled containers into a “go-kart” and rode it down the hallway.  Nolan noticed it was so much fun, he joined in.

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Oreo faces & baby belly

Jake took the boys to the pool with Auntie Larissa and on the way home they stopped to pick up Oreo ice cream sandwiches.  I’m pretty sure the boys enjoyed them.

Earlier in the day, Lincoln stuffed a washcloth under his shirt and told me there was a baby in his tummy.  He he he.

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Snow play

Today we helped our friend, I, celebrate his 5th birthday by sledding down the gigantic hill in his backyard.  (Seriously, the hill is epic, complete with a jump midway down.)  The temps were fantastic and the kids all had a great time!  Nolan took a few trips down the hill with me and attempted one solo run – he tumbled out of the sled and did a log roll at the end.  I think that caused him to reconsider a second attempt alone, but I’m proud of him for giving it at least one try 🙂  Lincoln wanted to play on the swingset, which has a great enclosed fort.  He was happy just clomping around in his boots and running from one wall to the other.  One of the moms who caught a glimpse of his “clogging” said he did a great rendition of the Riverdance.  Poor kid really can’t play in the snow very well because his boots fall off when they get stuck in the deep stuff.  I suppose it would help if  his snow pants had elastic that kept the boots on and the boots themselves weren’t 2 sizes too big.  Oh well, in spite of those two challenges, he always still manages to have fun!

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Rest in peace

I’ve been contemplating whether or not to write about Saturday.  I know I use this blog primarily as a way to share the goings on of the kids and the craziness of our house, so let me preface this by saying today’s post will diverge from the norm.

Last week our family suffered the loss of one of Jake’s cousins.  Today we laid her to rest.  She was only 20 years old and was the mother to a beautiful 7 month old little boy.  Her death is one that I have taken harder than you would think, since I didn’t know her that well compared to others in the family.  I think the grief I feel stems from being both a daughter and a mother.  My heart aches for her mom.  And I hurt for her son.  As I continue to try to make sense of what transpired last week, I pray for peace in the hearts of all who had the opportunity to know and love this young mother, sister, daughter & friend.