Tuesday, August 4, 2015

July Happenings

We started the month out by watching lots and lots of KidSongs A Day with the Animals... to say this kid is obsessed with all the songs and movements is an understatement.  He is OB.SESS.ED.  Watching him giggle, dance and do the movements to the songs like "Do Your Ears Hang Low" and "Itsy Bitsy Spider" are so dang adorable and make for some really cute pictures!




Afterwards, he decided to be his crazy self and climb all over everything, read some books and throw a little tantrum in the kitchen.  Yep, this is our life.




We are still enjoying classes at the rec centers and attend at least 2-3 a week now.  We have been in Gymboree since Nolan was 10 months old, and he really loves going.  We are usually so busy running around that I forget to take pictures, but this week, I decided to bust out the camera phone for some action shots!




We spent a morning at Black Mountain's Activity Pool with our friends Kelly and Nolan, and Nolan enjoyed snacking more than playing in the water, apparently... 


We went out to eat at Pizza Rock with the Luks' and the kids loved playing with each other.  Scarlett and Hudson practiced some Ring-Around-the-Rosy with Nolan, and "The Dads" showed me how they felt about getting their picture taken.  Of course, after dinner, we had to head over to the splash pad and grab some yogurt for dessert!





We celebrated the 4th (and 5th!) of July, where Nolan hated the big fireworks but loved the poppers!

Nolan spent some AM time roaming the backyard, and decided to color on our screen door with chalk.  His shirt spoke for himself.  




Later, I got to record some of his favorite words that he's been saying lately:


At bedtime, we read one of Nolan's favorite books, "Smile, Pout Pout Fish!" and as we read the line- "How about a smooch?! Or a cheer up wish!?" Nolan will always turn to me and give me a big smooch!  It's his favorite part and definitely my favorite, too!  (And now that he can say "Pout Pout", I just about die every time I hear it from him being so cute!)


We spent the morning at the splash pad, and Nolan had a blast running from the water to the playground back to the water.   










Nolan was apparently so exhausted from his fun, he fell asleep while eating!  He has never done this before, so of course I had to get a video.  It was so sad, but so cute at the same time!



I quite possibly ran to McDonald's the second I heard about the cursing minion toy and bought Nolan a Happy Meal.... Mother of the Year, right here, people!  (Not ashamed).


Our friends Erik and Julia were in town to visit, so we invited them and the Luks' to come over for drinks and catching up.  The kids played like maniacs, watched Frozen and ate ice cream in the backyard, and stayed up super late.  That's what summer nights are all about!  




Nolan had his first slurpee on 7-11 Day, took a couple sips and said, "bite!" (which is his word for pain/ouch).  I think he had his first successful brain freeze!  



Before we got our slurpee, we dropped the Durango off to get some work done, and Nolan was super into watching all the cars come in and out of the dealership shop.




One of our friends gave us a hookup with a Zappos discount, so I went on a splurge for Saltwater Sandals, which I've been wanting for a while for both Nolan and myself.  I could have slapped myself when I realized how silly I was to wait for these things... they are THE BEST!  So comfy and definitely my favorite pair of shoes to date.  I'm restraining myself from ordering more in every color!  (Thanks Aaron and Althea!)


Nolan has gotten pretty good at smiling for the camera (when he wants to) an giving kisses to Harley (also when he wants to).


Harley thought about joining Nolan for a swim one evening after dinner... but really he just wanted to drink the water.  


We played Hide and Seek, and someone thought they were pretty good at hiding....  (Don't worry, I won't tell him). :)


Nolan spent some time in Time-Out and illustrated irony at it's finest with his "Sorry, Not Sorry" shirt, yet again.


We visited the library and I scored an awesome vintage find of all the Mr. Men books for $1.30!  I loved reading all of these when I was a kiddo, so I can't wait to pass these down to Nolan when he's old enough to enjoy them, too.  


We made a stop at Babies R Us, and I got suckered into this thing, just like every other time we come here.  With the right words and coaxing, I can get him off without tears, but sometimes, it's a little dramatic.



The weather cooled down a bit, so we spent some time outside in the kiddie pool and picking limes from our tree, one of Nolan's new favorite things to do outside.




I brought Nolan to the Clark County Heritage Museum and took his 18-month photos that turned out awesome!

Nolan experienced his very first movie in a theatre this month!  We went to see Penguins of Madagascar, and he did much better than I anticipated.  Green Valley Ranch has $1 movies for kids during the summer, so I figured this would be the best time to experiment how Nolan would do, because if he lost it, we would only be out a couple bucks.  He normally won't sit and watch movies at home, and really only enjoys using the iPad for YouTube Kids, where he has control of switching to new videos when he wants.  I thought because it would be a new setting, a huge screen, and other people around to observe, he may do better with a movie in a theatre than at home, so we tried it.  The movie was 90 minutes long, and he lasted about 50 minutes!  Once he started walking up and down the aisle and sticking his head between the seats in front of us, I knew that was our cue to head out.  We made the most of our time at the theatre, walked around and saw all the movie posters, and spent some time in the arcade.  We played some games, won some tickets and collected some cheap little prizes.  He thought it was the best and for a couple bucks, it was a great way to spend a hot morning inside!



Since the weather was a little cooler, we had taken a few walks around the neighborhood after dinner.  Nolan thinks it is the funniest thing to walk Harley, and of course, we only let him do this in the house.  He loves his doggie SO much and watching him giggle over this warms my heart!


We spent some time running around outside and checking the mail one afternoon, and little man looked pretty cute for some impromptu picture taking!



He gave all the attitude with his "I Run This" shirt and motorcycle shorties.  A bad boy, this one is....


Nolan likes to ride on my back like a horsey now, and I love how when he gets on, he makes me lay all the way down and he lays his whole body completely on top of mine.  SO cute!


He found the Geico Gecko in a magazine, and absolutely died with laughter over it.  


We've been having some amazing sunsets lately, and I snapped this one driving home one night after dinner out.


I tried to record Nolan meowing along to a cat clip on Sesame Street, and got just a little piece of his silliness:

Nolan decided he needed to wear Daddy's ankle socks, which actually fit him like knee-highs... and rocked them with his Syracuse baller outfit.  


We spent some time at the park one evening after dinner, and Nolan ruled the hill.  


We celebrated Jason's birthday during the day on Friday while he was off of work, relaxing and enjoying a breakfast out at Babystacks.  Later that day, Jason had a flight to catch to spend the weekend in Tahoe for our friend Dustin's bachelor party, while I got to have a night out for the other side- Desa's bachelorette party!  It was a fun time with a suite at Aria, dinner at Tom's Urban, and watching Zumanity at New York New York.  We grabbed some drinks after, and then this old-mama called it a night at 1AM!  I had so much fun with Desa and all of her girls, and cannot wait for the wedding coming up so soon!  You're gonna be a beautiful bride, girl!  :)





That's it for July!  ...Until next month!