Awesome Day

It was an awesome day and it's still not over. This morning I decided to take Nicholas to his favorite place...the zoo. He was soooooo excited. This trip he mostly wanted to see the monkeys and the polar bears. But we ALWAYS have to see the Ella's (elephants), baa baa's (sheep) bras (zebras) and raffs (giraffes). Lucky for me he wanted to get his photo taken a lot. Here are some of the day.

Not sure what happened in the end. Every place there was sun, the photo looks pink. Kind of cool in the way. Here's one zonked out kid!

As you can see, my plan worked out perfectly. My plan was to wear him out by 3 so I could get him home and in bed so I could watch the OSU vs. Iowa game. Well...it's 3:03, Nicholas is sound asleep in his bed and once I'm done posting this I'll head downstairs to root on my BUCKEYES.

Last night was a good time too. We went over for a pizza playdate to Kim/Joey's and Keegan and Kyleigh. The boys had a blast. It took a few minutes for them to warm up, but then it was play, play play for the whole night.

Nicholas and Keegan enjoying fudge pops.

Have fun wrestling with Joey.

Not sure what tonight holds. But tomorrow is supposed to be another great day so I think I'll take Nicholas to the Land of Make Believe. It's an awesome playground that Nicholas loves. Stay tuned for more weekend photos.
Julie

Weekend Fun

With the weather in the 70's and sunny this past weekend, we found plenty of time to enjoy the outdoors. On Saturday Nicholas and I decided to head over to the Ault Park. Here are a few candids from our trip.

A boy and his stick.

Now this is what I call a stick!!!

Oops. She caught me.

What? I can't hear you!

Oh, hi Mommy!

For some reason, this kid is now obsessed with plastic gloves. These I brought back from a recent visit to my doctor. Until we left for the park, Nicholas had these on the whole day! Is my kid weird or what???????????

Yesterday it was time for our first round of raking leaves. Although Nicholas did try to help, playing in them was much more fun for him. Does it look like this kid is enjoying himself??????

Wow! Two posts in two days. I'm on a roll. Guess I need to keep up the momentum. Only problem is we don't have anything else planned for the rest of the week. And it's too dark when we get home to go out and play. We'll see what I can come up with.

Have a good week.
Julie

Nicholas' 3rd b-day

So I totally forgot to post photos from Nicholas' b-day. On his actual birthday - October 29, Nana, Nicholas and I celebrated with dinner at Max and Erma's followed by presents. I forgot the camera for the restaurant, but here are a few of Nicholas opening up some presents.

I love my race cars Gigi! Thanks so much.

Opening the playdoh from Nana.

Not sure what this is exactly??????? But it's a present for me so it has to be good.

Sunday, Nov. 1 we had his party with a few friends. His theme was the jungle. Here's his cake.

This is the pinata that matched his invites.

Blowing out his cake. Mommy, can the cake be any farther from me?????? Luckily Samantha was there to help blow out the candle.

Pin the nose on the lion was a big hit with the kids. Gracie is helping to make sure Nicholas can't see.

Hmmmmmm. Where should I put this???????

Now pinata time. This one had strings that the kids could pull. Only one string opens it up. Of course, Nicholas pulled that one on the first try, but it was a little stuck, so I let the other kids take a try at opening it.

Grabbing the candy.

Present time.

Needless to say, Nicholas had a great time...but who wouldn't when celebrating a birthday, then Halloween, then another birthday party. Guess that just goes with the territory when your b-day is 2 days before Halloween.

This weekend was beautiful...70 and sunny. On Saturday we went to the park and today we raked some leaves. I have some great photos, but will save those for posting in a day or two. Stop back to see how our weekend went.

Julie

Happy Halloween

Trick or treating was awesome tonight. We headed over to Jen and Jeff's for their annual Halloween party. Once the clock struck 6, it was time to head out for some treats. Jen's neighborhood has some great stash! And he stayed out for an hour...walking all the way until it was time to go home, then it was wagon time.

Nicholas was so cute when he went up to a house. Instead of saying "trick or treat" when I asked him "what do you say?" he said "Please." How cute is that?????? And of course he said thank you without being prompted. That is one thing I can't stand when I'm passing out candy. Come on, how hard is it to say thank you when someone gives you a treat????? Regardless, my child is growing up with good manners.


So here are some great photos from the party and trick or treating.


Front shot of my little lion.

Back shot.

Nicholas and Mommy.


Angel Gracie and Nicholas.


What is this crazy lady doing??? Jen dressed up as?????? Well, you decide. You can't see her missing tooth. And she's missing her cigarette, rolling pin and drink.

Cheeeeese.


Nicholas and Samantha taking a break from walking. Gotta love the Bud Light in the photo.

I loooooove Halloween. When can we do this again??????

I can't wait for next year either!

So tomorrow is Nicholas' b-day party. Nothing big, just a few friends over for some cake and ice cream. The theme is jungle and his cake is going to be a lion. I pick it up tomorrow, I hope it looks OK.

After the party, I'll post photos so stay tuned.
Julie

Pumpkin Carving

Let's get to pumpkin carving first and then Nicholas' 3rd b-day. Being the "girly" boy that he is, Nicholas wanted nothing to do with getting his hands in the guts of the pumpkin. Instead, he wanted to use spoons. So, here's my little helping to carve his first pumpkin...

Who has a bigger mouth? Me or the pumpkin????? I know, the pumpkin...that's one HUGE mouth mommy carved!!!!

"I sit with my pumpkin mommy!" This is what I hear every night when it gets dark and I light the candle.

Tonight we're heading over to Jen/Jeff and the kids for their annual Halloween party. Nana is joining us too. After the party, we'll go trick or treating in their neighborhood with the kids. Nicholas is going to be a lion...let's hope he wants to wear his costume. Who knows from hour to hour what this kid is going to do :)

Now that the leaves are falling, I'm hoping to get some great photos of Nicholas playing in them. This was taken the other night on our new driveway.

As for Nicholas' 3rd b-day. It was Thursday and the bad mommy that I was, didn't bring a photo to the restaurant. We went to the same place as last year - Max & Ermas - because Nicholas loves the sundae bar. This is from last year... just pretend Nicholas is a year older and has a long-sleeve red and blue shirt on.

As for present opening, I caught a lot on video so only got a couple of pictures. Sunday a few friends are coming over for a small get together, so I'll get more photos then and post them all.

Keep your fingers crossed that tonight goes well and I'm able to get some great pictures!
Julie

Hocking Hills '09

Last weekend was our annual trip to Hocking Hills (5 years and counting). As expected, we had a great time. The weather wasn't the greatest, but it was as rainy during the days as forecasted. Thursday and most of Friday, it was me and Nicholas, Chris/Elisa and the boys and Chuck and Chris. Of course the boys had a blast playing. We stayed in the cabin from 2 years ago and loved it just as much.

On Friday it was overcast, but we were able to get 2 hikes in...one to Ash Cave and one to Cedar Falls. It was the first year that Nicholas was able to actually hike and as you will see he looooooooved it. So, since I have tons of photos, let's get to them....

The whole gang...


Our Hiking Trips... (Jeff and Casey didn't make it on these hikes.)


Ben, Nicholas and Max taking a rest.


Looking for a better stick.

Got one!


Aunt Elisa and Nicholas stoping for a quick cheeeeeese.


Max and Nicholas.


The 3 boys posing with their sticks.


Chuck and Nicholas.


Time inside the cabin...

Lots of story times...

Uncle Chris readig Scooby Doo to Nicholas and Ben.

Uncle Jeff reading Captain Underpants to all the boys.

Mommy (aka Aunt Julie) reading more of Scooby Doo.

Craft Time...Elisa brought crafts for the kids. Snakes to paint and skull and bones candy necklaces to make. Big Hit!!!!!

Watching a little Scooby Doo (thans to Nana for buying it for Nicholas.)

Anyone up for Fooseball??????? (Our cabin had a fooseball table and a pool table.)

We want to be babies!!!!!!!!!!!

Home sweet home...and exhausted!

I thing the photos speak for themselves...we had a wonderful time...especially Nicholas. I can't wait for next year!

Hopefully tomorrow we'll be going to the pumpkin patch and will have more photos to post.
Julie

It's Official!

Tuesday we went to court for Nicholas' re-adoption and it became official. His legal name is now Nicholas Edin W*******! (Edin being his birthname.)

Nana came with for our day in court. Nicholas was a little rambunctious, but in the end he was great. He went behind the the Magistrate's bench and saw she had sanitizer. They are constantly telling the kids to wash their hands at daycare, so Nicholas was so excited when he saw the sanitizer. He immediately wanted to show the Magistrate that he could wash his hands all by himself. She was quite impressed. Then she asked him who his mommy was and he pointed to me. Then she asked about Nana and he pointed to her. When she asked him who was Nicholas, I wasn't sure what he was going to do. But he popped right up and said "It's me" and pointed to himself. It was so cute. She asked him what he likes at the park and he chimed in "slides." He also told her about Crackers, Muffin (Nana's dog), Gigi, Uncle Day and Coco (Gigi and Uncle Day's dog).

Here's a picture of us with the Magistrate once it was official.


After court, the plan was to go to the park and spend the rest of the afternoon just as a family. But Nicholas decided to take a nap....and a long one at that. He slept until 5:30. Once he woke up, we headed to Red Lobster for his first dinner as legally - Nicholas Edin.

Oh I loooooove fries and dip!

Good thing I brought my glove....never know when you'll need it!

Soon Nicholas will have an Ohio birth certificate (showing Guatemala as his place of birth). The next steps will be to change his name on his Social Security card and fill out the paperwork for his Certificate of Citizenship so he can become a US Citizen. I think I'll start looking into those forms this weekend.

The past week or so has been pretty exciting. Besides finalizing Nicholas' re-adoption, he also had his first visit to the dentist. Ms. Gail was so good with Nicholas. She was able to count and polish all of his teeth. She tried to floss, but no such luck. Nicholas wanted to play with the glove that Ms. Gail gave him.

Not sure what he's doing here.

No, mommy. No more pictures!!!

Another big event for us was our annual trip to Hocking Hills. I have lots of photos, but will save those for another post this weekend. If the weather holds out, I'd like to go to a pumpkin patch on Sat or Sunday since we weren't able to go a few weekends ago. If we're able to make it, there will be even more photos.

Stay tuned!
Julie