Easter weekend

Easter seemed to arrive so quickly this year, I think largely in part to us being gone to the Dells the previous Sunday through Tuesday.  Add in the fact that I had to play for Holy Thursday and Good Friday services, and Easter was here! My parents traveled up to Rhinelander on Friday to celebrate the holiday with us.  Nolan was especially excited for them to arrive and spent HOURS up in his big boy room playing "Culver's" with them.

Saturday was full of preparations for the big day.  We started by baking our lamb cake.  My Great-Grandma Louisa always baked a lamb cake from her cast iron mold on Easter.  For the past several years Mom and I have carried on the tradition and made and decorated our lamb cake for dessert on Easter Sunday.  This year Nolan got to help! We tried out a new lemon poppy seed recipe and spread on some delicious lemon cream cheese frosting before coating it with coconut to look like the lamb's fleece.

Later that day, after being such a good boy for our errands, we let Nolan play at Pioneer Park for a bit. It was amazing to see the difference in confidence and coordination in him since last fall.  I think his Little Movers class has really helped him feel more brave.  He ran up and down the jungle gyms and raced down the slides.  He even did some climbing/hanging on some of the monkey bars.  But I think his favorite was still the big blue swing.  He was absolutely giddy, belly-laughing as Grandpa Jim gave him underdogs.  He has such a great, contagious laugh.

After we got home from the park, it was time to dye our Easter eggs.  Nolan was a good helper this year and enjoyed seeing the different colors and writing everyone's names on the different eggs.  The rest of the evening was spent finishing the preparations for Easter brunch so the next morning would run smoothly.  

This year was pretty exciting because all of Nolan's grandparents agreed to go in with us on a special Easter present for him - his very own, brand-new Lion Guard bike.  We were so excited to see his face!  After looking around for his basket and finding some great treats from the Easter bunny, we took him into the nursery where we had the bike hidden.  At first, he thought it was a bike for Livi, since it was in her nursery.  But once we explained that it was for him, he was eager to take a ride.  I can't wait until he can ride along with us when we walk down to Hodag Park this summer!  Warm weather hurry, please! 

After breakfast, we headed to church.  I played piano for Trinity that morning, and it's sure a workout on those big holidays.  So much music!  It was a very nice service and from what I could hear (over by the piano) the kids seemed to behave pretty well.  Olivia got to wear my green sweater and booties that were given to me from Grandma Edie when I was a baby.  

After church, we headed back to our house for one of my favorite meals of the year: Easter brunch.  We started things off with Mimosas and Bloody Caesars, followed by so much delicious food.  We had Mom's famous Caesar salad, roasted lamb with Eric's signature rosemary pesto, Patti's tasty cheesy hashbrowns, ham, fruit salad with orange-vanilla dressing, my favorite asparagus dish, and of course, eggs in a basket.  For some reason, the first year we hosted Easter, Eric declared that eggs in a basket are an essential Easter tradition.  All they are is an egg baked inside a hashbrown nest made in a muffin tin.  They are never that tasty, but still Eric insists that eggs in a basket are for Easter.  Not negotiable.  I even tried to lure him away with a peanut butter and chocolate nest for candy eggs, and he remained steadfast on his Easter tradition.  So, I guess eggs in a basket are going to be with us for a while longer...

Eric and I are so blessed that our parents get along and enjoy each other's company so much.  (They even vacation together!)  We had a nice time visiting and Grandma Ruby even stopped by to visit for a little bit.  I love the simplicity of this gathering and how relaxing it is.  It makes it easy to reflect on the unfailing love of our Risen Lord and our call to love one another as he loved us.  Christ the Lord is Risen. Alleluia.

Milestones!

Before my very eyes, Livi seems to have changed from a helpless little infant into a big girl with an adorable personality and places to go!  She has been rolling around as her primary mode of mobility for the past several weeks, but this past week has made the great leap into crawling!  She is able to get herself all over the place, and really seems to particularly enjoy heading to the shoe pile by the front door, and checking out all of the shoes.  Hoping this isn't an indicator already of a shoe fetish...! 

She has also started pulling up on the side of her crib.  She is so proud of herself and she's just so cute, especially big grin with her 3 new teeth on the top.

She also started saying some words this week!  She has said "dada" several times as captured on this video.  (Ignore my screaming at Nolan in the background...parenting is not always pretty!)  She's also said "mama" a couple of times, and just started waving at me, too!  

It's so bittersweet watching my children go through these milestones.  It is so exciting to see them grow, change, and achieve new things.  But when I look at Nolan now, so big and strong and smart and funny, I can hardly remember the little infant that he once was.  And with all of these changes with Livi, she's well on her way to the end of her infancy and into toddlerhood.  It happens so fast and is wonderful, but sad too.  It's like that 90s songs "Closing Time" - Every new beginning is some other beginning's end...(Yes, I know I'm nerdy.)  But here's to my children's constant new beginnings and the amazing privilege I get to be home with them, soaking all this in!  

Wisconsin Dells Trip - Take One!

Last night we got home from a fun mini vacation to the Wisconsin Dells.  Steve and Patti cashed in a time share week there and invited us to join them in a 2 bedroom condo at Christmas Mountain Village.  We left on Sunday right after church.  The kids were so good for the drive.  We finally showed Nolan that our new van had a DVD player and he was so excited to watch Looney Toons for the whole trip!  When we arrived, we quickly got settled in and got ready to go to the pool area.  Nolan got some new Mickey Mouse goggles and floaties for the occasion and I couldn't get enough of looking at him and giggling at how cute he is.

The pool area was absolutely perfect for kids his age.  He could touch the bottom in nearly all of it and it had two slides, a waterfall, and a teeter-totter.  Nolan's face was absolutely priceless when we walked in there the first time.  He was so excited.

Look at those muscles! 

Livi was a little unsure of all the noise and water, but didn't cry and went into the pool with Mommy and Grandma Patti.  She was so cute in her little Minnie Mouse swimming suit with her adorable chunker legs.  She even rode on the teeter-totter with Big Brother!

I was so proud of how brave Nolan was in the pool.  Last summer, he went through a phase where he absolutely refused to go in the water.  He had always enjoyed it up until that point, so it was really fun to see him have such a good time with it.  

After spending a few hours in the pool, we headed back to our condo to get ready to go out for dinner.  Eric really wanted to go to the Sprecher Pub, which served several of his favorite Sprecher beers on tap.  We had really yummy food and a magician stopped by our table and showed us some awesome slight-of-hand tricks.  We were seriously amazed.  None of us have even the faintest idea of how he did those card tricks.  When we got back to our condo later that night, Nolan found a deck of cards and started "performing" the trick, snapping his fingers and asking "Is this your card?"  

The next morning the guys headed back to the pool and Patti, Livi, and I went on to the Outlets at the Dells.  We found several great deals on some stuff for the kids including a new winter jacket for Nolan for next year for $12!  We also got Nolan some new Crocs for this summer and Livi got a few new outfits.  When we got back to Christmas Mountain Village, the boys were dried off and we headed downtown for some lunch.  We promised to take Nolan to a restaurant that served only Mac and Cheese, so we went there.  After lunch, we walked to a candy shop and took Nolan to the Disney Store back at the outlets.  I thought he would be asking us to buy him something, but he was SO polite and didn't ask for anything.  I was proud of his self control and good manners.  We also stopped at a Craft and Antique Mall for a few minutes.  This place was HUGE with thousands and thousands of items.  You could seriously spend weeks in there and not see everything.  That evening we ended up staying at the condo for dinner so we could play games.  We played some of Eric and my favorites - Bananagrams, Sushi Go, and Pandemic.  

Tuesday morning was our last day, so we wanted to make sure Nolan got a little more pool time.  Steve, Eric, Nolan, and I headed up there right away.  He enjoyed swimming and playing catch with his Daddy and Grandpa.  

Steve and Patti headed out late morning to get back to Rhinelander.  We stayed for a few extra hours to get some pictures in front of a few of the landmarks.  Our first stop was the awesome, HUGE wooden Trojan horse at Mount Olympus.  We marveled at it every time we drove by, so we decided to get out and take a picture in front of it.  As I was walking up to the thing, holding Nolan's hand, I nearly stepped on a disgusting, petrified, dead raccoon that was laying on the rocks, perfectly camoflauged.  I almost had a heart attack and let out a scream as I quickly pulled my baby out of the way so he wouldn't step on it.  The result was a terrified Nolan who has been OBSESSED about the "stinky raccoon" for the last two days.  It was seriously the first thing he said to me this morning when he woke me up this morning: "Mommy, the stinky raccoon was a bad surprise."  Yes, son.  Yes, it was.  Here's his rendition of the tale:

We also stopped to get a picture in front of Noah's Ark because Nolan really liked all the animals.  He particularly liked that this raccoon wasn't "stinky."

We stopped to see the river and the rushing, swirling water at the dam on our way out of town.  And of course, we had to end our trip with a stop at the ice cream candy shop for a little treat.  It was such a nice getaway and both kids were SO well behaved.  It makes it exciting to want to do trips with them!  We're heading back to the Dells in a few weeks with some friends.  I can hardly wait!

The Sieverts visit!

This weekend Bret, Stacy, and Camryn came up to visit.  We haven't seen them since Thanksgiving, so we were glad to have the opportunity to catch up!  It was especially fun this time, as Nolan is getting older and he and Cam are really enjoying playing together.  They spent a lot of their time together this weekend playing games together, or playing pretend, or on someones' phone...  It was really fun to watch them interact.

We went out to dinner at Holiday Acres on Friday night.  Nolan just LOVES to go there, so it was a real treat for him.  He loves to order corndogs and lemonade, and always has to eat some of Mommy's mac and cheese from the buffet.

On Saturday evening, the Ory crew came to our house for pizza.  Camryn really was enamored with Olivia and helped with her bath.  She got to hold her and liked to ask questions about her.  It was very sweet.

I stumbled upon this picture from last year in March when the came to visit.  It's amazing how much they grow and mature in a year!

Nolan and Camryn, March 2015

Nolan and Camryn, March 2016

Taste of Spring!

Today was such a beautiful day - 55 degrees and sunny - and the kids, Miles, and I went out for our first walk to Hodag Park.  This was the first time Nolan had to walk himself instead of being pushed in the stroller, and I was unsure of how I was going to do navigating him, Miles, and pushing Livi.  Miles was such a good boy - so patient and well mannered, staying right beside the stroller.  Nolan helped to push Livi and listened SO well about staying close and watching for cars.  I was proud of all of us!

Even though everyone was well behaved, it was still hard to get a picture of a squirmy dog, infant, and 3 year old old!

Livi was a good sport and remained smiley through the whole walk.  She's such a good girl.

I was really proud of Nolan because he made a new friend at the park and was really sweet and friendly.  I think he enjoyed the swings the most.  I was really happy about how well he listened when it was time to leave.  Transitions can be hard for him, and he obeyed right away without any fuss.  Yay, buddy!

When we got home, he thought he'd clean up the yard a little bit and put all the big sticks in a pile.  Such a good helper boy!

Catching up...!

I feel like I fell a little behind with my blog over the past few weeks.  Nolan and I both had colds and yet, the weeks just flew by.  Somehow, my little Olivia is already 7 months old, and all of sudden is starting to seem like a big girl.  She is finally eating more solids, and seems to like her veggies much more than she likes fruit.  She particularly likes carrots and squash.  She is rolling everywhere and can seriously cover some ground.  Baby-proofing things will be just around the corner!  She is still an adorable thumb sucker, still adores her big brother, and is still a mama's girl.  Last night, she slept in her own crib in the nursery for the first time and did a nice 5 hour stretch.  Her top two teeth have just poked through so she's finally sleeping better after a couple weeks of frequent waking.

Nolan is maturing in so many ways and I'm so proud of what a kind, sensitive, and funny boy he is.  He continues to be a very caring and loving big brother to Olivia and is enjoying the interaction he gets back from her now that she is older.  He's tried a lot of new things lately - Little Movers at the Y, and T-ball, and has been really brave with trying these new things.  We also started a sticker reward chart to work on some good behaviors - trying new foods, staying in his chair at mealtime, staying calm when frustrated, listening to mommy and daddy, and picking up his toys.  He filled up his sticker chart within a few days - his reward for that is a trip to the Dollar Store to pick out a balloon.  

Nolan has enjoyed building blanket forts lately, and insists that Olivia join him.  He'll bring all her toys in there too, so she has stuff to play with.  She certainly doesn't seem to mind... ;)

Livi is really getting a kick out of seeing herself in the mirror lately and is really entertained by making all sorts of silly faces.  She is definitely expressive, not unlike her brother.

And as for our spotted baby...he continues to be so gentle with both of the kids.  It's so nice to be able to trust him to be so careful.  It's like Livi is his own puppy.  He's been able to be outside more as we've had some nicer weather - can't believe it's been almost 2 years since we brought him home.  In some ways it has zipped by and in others it feels like he's been here much longer.

More to come in the next couple weeks - We have some fun things planned with the kids and spring is right around the corner!