We celebrated Alaina's second birthday at the Purpur arena in the play area with friends and family. The kids ran wild and they all recieved medals for completing the obstacle course that Nolan and I came up with. Alaina of course loved opening her gifts but didn't care too much for them after that;)
Our summer was great! We started out with a trip to Portland, OR for Danny's Uncle Rod's wedding. Alaina stayed home with Grandma B, but Nolan came along and had a lot of "firsts" on this trip. He got to ride on an airplane for the first time and he did great. He even got to sit in the cockpit with the pilots. He panicked a bit before sitting up there but I am glad I made him do it. He felt pretty cool. Then it was his first time in the mountains, first time seeing the ocean, first time on a chair lift, first time on an alpine slide, first time driving a go-cart on his own...needless to say he experienced a lot and we all had a blast!
Another big thing for Nolan this past summer was that he WENT OFF THE DIVING BOARD!!! Once he overcame his fear of that we could not get him off of it. He even got brave enough to start doing "tricks" that about gave me a heart attack, but hey, I just have to let him be a boy! Seriously that kid just fills me up with pride. I am so proud of him and to see him over come his fears makes me so happy. He went through an anxiety phase, but you would never know it today, so it makes me extra happy for that!
Nolan continues to be a great helper and especially loves being his dad's little side kick. Nolan also started his first year of Sunday school. Danny and I are teachers every other week. Nolan has really enjoyed it. Alaina is not old enough for Sunday school yet, but when Danny and I teach she is our little "helper" - but somehow it ends up being more work for us when she comes. LOL.
Ok - I will finish up on all things Nolan and then more about Alaina....Nolan went with Daddy to softball every Thursday night, he is still a huge Daddy's boy, he loved hitting baseballs in the backyard with Daddy, we celebrated his 4th birthday at Riverside pool with friends and family - it was a perfect day for swimming. For his actual birthday I took him and Alaina swimming again and then we went to the Red Pepper for his birthday dinner (his choice of course!) A few days after his birthday my poor guy had surgery to remove his tonsils and adenoids - hardest but best decision for him - he has been great ever since (knock on wood) - he did so great with his recovery as well...about 2 hours after we got home he was eating a sloppy joe! We could not keep him still...he just wanted to play football, hockey and wrestle! Nolan did a 4 week soccer class in the fall, then we signed him up for skating lessons for the winter. He is doing great. He can write his name on his own, he loves Teenage Mutant Ninja turtles, he is as sweet as ever, I think his age was the most fun for Christmas this year...everything he opened he said "this is awesome!!!". I can't say enough good about that boy. He also got to be a Central Bench Buddy for the Central hockey team. Such a fun thing for him. They announced his name for the starting line up and he stood with the team for the National Anthem. He got to sit on the bench for warm ups and then helped pick up pucks. Again, I am so proud of him for doing this since he was nervous to go out there. I think it was his biggest highlight of the year!!!
My little miss Alaina is still our little "winkster". She keeps us on our toes that is for sure. She still loves her books and is lovig her babies. She is such a good little "mommy". She is always asking for some sort of treat...this girl is the definition of "sweet tooth" - she starts asking as soon as we wake up in the morning. Over the summer Alaina started going pee-pee in the potty, but that stubborn little lady was hard to crack...she ended up being completely potty trained over Christmas break - we put undies on her and didn't look back and she did soooo good. Only one accident and is even dry at night. So proud of her. Alaina really has an eye for parks. I swear she sees every single one we drive by. This past summer we tried to hit up as many parks as we could because every time we drove around Alaina would see a park and say "I want to go there!" Our favorite though is Sertoma. She is so funny - she has come up with nick names for Dan and I - mine is "Mama Bama" and she calls Danny "Daddy Purpur" - seriously how does she know that is funny?! She is too smart for her own good. Alaina got to go skating this fall/winter too. She went to her first hockey game at the Ralph to watch my cousin Casey play for Northern Michigan against the Sioux - she was mainly interested in the concession stands. Alaina just started her first dance class at Dance Etc. It is a "dance with me" class so I dance with her. I sure can't wait to be in the dance recital with her....hahaha! I really wish my grandma was still here because I know she would get the biggest kick out of our Alaina. Everytime Alaina tests my patience I just know my grandma is laughing at me and loving every minute of it.
Over the summer both kids' highlights were probably all of our trips to the park and to the pool. They still talk about the movie in the park as well. We saw Mary Poppins at Riverside park and it was a hit for both kid. My cousin Jenna watched both kids this past summer again. We also took kids to the Warren fair again...they are actually old enough to enjoy some of the kiddy rides. We all loved it. I just won't put them back on the kiddy roller coaster again...they both came off crying from being jostled around...ugh I felt so bad! For halloween Nolan was a Ninja Turtle and Alaina was an owl. Luckily it was nice enough to trick-or-treat outside. We were out for quite a while and the kids just loved it. They were troopers! They still talk about it!
Both kids also got to be in Jake and Krissy's wedding. They did so good. Not sure how we got them to do it, but they both walked down the isle without a fuss. Oh I was so proud of them and just so happy they didn't make a scene at the wedding too of course! They had a blast at the dance too and danced the night away. Nolan did not leave the dance floor once! We finally peeled him off the dance floor around 10pm. He is quite the dance machine!
The Fall was a bit crazy for us. We put our house up for sale the end of September and were out of it by the end of November. We lived at my mom's house for the month of December. We finally moved in to our new house in the beginning of January. Nolan has adjusted great. My little Alaina is having a harder time. I have had to fall asleep with her pretty much every night since we moved out of our house. It was kind of hard to leave the house that we brought all of our babies home to, but we are looking forward to all of our new memories in our new home!
Oh my goodness I think I have said enough...I will let the pictures do the rest of the talking!
Alaina is 2!
Alaina is a busy mom! It's a good thing she has her goofy brother to help her out :)
Nolan's first time on an airplane!
Driving the go-cart all on his own!
First time on an alpine slide. So much fun!
Fun painting our birdie houses!
How sweet is my little ring bearer and flower girl
Dance machines
Fun at the Warren Fair
We have a 4 year old!
Nolan's first day of Sunday School
Alaina's first day of being a "helper" at Sunday School
Walking so nice to Sunday school together. Melt my heart!
Fun at Riverside Pool on Nolan's birthday
Alaina finally gets to go out on the ice!
My ninja and owl
They did great at the Church Christmas Program
Saying goodbye to our old house! Very bitter-sweet.
Looking forward to new memories in our new house.
Alaina's first time at a movie in theaters. We saw Dispicable Me 2.
The outdoor movie was a huge hit!
Alaina's first day of dance class at Dance Etc.
Our little Bench Buddy
Kids loving the hills at Lincoln Park
Alaina's first time at a hockey game at the Ralph. They loved watching uncle Casey warm up. Go Wildcats!
My sweet guy just after getting his tonsils and adenoids out. He was such a trooper
So cool that he got to stand with the team during the National Anthem! Huge Highlight of the Year!
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