Nolan's 9th Birthday

I can't believe Nolan turned 9 this year (I'm going to say that every time my kids have a birthday). Time sure flies when you're raising three lil' wild ones. Well, let's start with the pictures above. These were taken the day of his birthday. He asked for a strawberry rhubarb pie...so that's what I made him. It was soooo yummy. It's his favorite. He didn't ask for anything specific for his birthday so we got him dirt bike riding gear. He LOVED it, if you can't already tell from the expression on his face! Cody and Dylan gave him Dr. Pepper and Oreos. And his friend B-Dog gave him some TechDeck's. He had a great day.

This year was also his friends party. I made him a dirt bike cake the best I could. It was slowly falling backwards but he still liked it. We had his friends bring their bikes and we had some races up in the dirt hills. Then we broke the pinata and then most of the kids went home. Only two stayed for cake and ice cream because it was getting late. Overall, it was a good time. Only nine more years and he'll be an adult.....scary!!!

March 2010

So here is what happened in March. Nathan had a birthday...he is now 33!! So the kids were not going to let him get away without birthday spanks. So here is the nice pic of him getting 33 from each of them. He said his butt hurt when they were done. It was quite comical.

Next, we headed down to Vegas with my dad and brother, Jason. We had a really great time. We did the usual. Walk the strip, play at the pool and relax. It was a little chilly but the hot tub was really nice. The kids had fun and I'm sure we'll be back down again next year.

Mini-Vaca to Lake Tahoe

We stayed up at Tahoe back in February. We love to sit in the hot tubs with the snow falling. It gets pretty hot in there so the boys thought it would be fun to go cool down in the snow.

There is some major steam in there but through it all there are three very handsome boys sitting with me.

Here is Cody being grumpy for some reason.

And obviously Cody was still grumpy and wouldn't get in this picture. We love having Tahoe so close. It is beautiful up there. Maybe one of these times Nate and I could go alone and do some snowboarding this winter. That would be a blast.

Jelly Belly

I'm not sure how many times we've been here but we did go there back in February. It's so close to my parents house we decided to take the kids there again. So here are a few pictures. It was a Sunday and the lines were not running and it was a bit boring. I think Dylan was sleeping so my parents just watched him for us. The best part was the free Jelly Bellies at the end.

Makeshift boarding

So this is where my boys would go play any chance they could, behind our house. Nolan took the wheels off of his skateboard so he could use it as a snow board....genius!! They loved it. So here is some video of these two sledding/boarding right before it got dark. Maybe next winter we'll take them up to a resort and teach them how to really snow board.

Let it snow!!

We received so much snow in the middle of December! I guess Fernley hadn't seen this much snow in 30 years. These pictures are from our first storm. I wish I had taken more each time it snowed. We definitely got a foot in all. They canceled school for 2 days!! The boys absolutely loved it. They froze their tails off but played hard all day long. They smashed their feet in to too small of boots and were frozen little icicles by the time they came in. Dylan wasn't too sure of the white bliss. I wasn't a big fan of the city not plowing the streets. UGH!! That drove me crazy, thank goodness for 4 wheel drive. They only plowed high traffic roads.
But all in all, I'll take it....I LOVE the snow.

Dear Santa, I've tried really hard to be good!

The boys were able to tell Santa what they wanted at our ward family home evening. Santa showed up first, next we had a yummy dinner, and finished off with a talent show.
Dylan didn't care if he had to sit on Santa's lap.
All he cared about was getting that sweet candy cane full of M&M's.

Nolan asked for a new bike.
Look how innocent he looks. Who does he think he's fooling?

Cody changed his mind every week on what he wanted. The last thing he asked for was the Hot Wheels that changes the cars a different color. He also tried to pull the innocent card......they must have learned this from their father....ha, ha!!

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

Cody's first day of Kindergarten. He was excited! I was a little teary eyed when he put the back pack on to head out the door. He is so ready to learn new things and meet new friends.

Nolan is headed to the 3rd grade and you would have thought it was Christmas at our house. He couldn't wait to go. He was so happy when we bought school supplies. And he got up way to early to be ready for school.

SPRING BREAK 2009

In Reno they have a warehouse full of jump toys. The place is called Jump Man Jump. The boys had a blast there. We met a few friends and played for a few hours. Good times!

Sophie and Nolan loved going down the free fall slide.

Cody cruising down.

Dylan was able to play in the ball pit.
He liked tossing the balls outside of the play area.

Nate and I took the boys out to dinner for Nolan's birthday. He chose Texas Roadhouse. They had him saddle up and everyone around gave Nolan a Yeeeeee-Haaaaw! He was so embarrassed. We threatened him that if he didn't get on it he couldn't ride his dirt bike that week.

Another day we went to the museum. They had a predator exhibit going on and Cody had no problem wrapping this live snake around him. Nolan wouldn't go near it.....and his Dad can't believe he did it!
The boys thought the wolf was pretty cool.

Our Little Easter

So I better post this soon before we leave the month of Easter. We had a quiet day. Chet and Stacy came over and had dinner with us. We had the nice dinner, but just like my sister-in-law, I miss the Munns Easter gatherings up on the hill. Maybe the four of us can carry that tradition on next year. So believe it or not, this was the first year my kids have dyed eggs. Boy, I am so boring. They had a good time and maybe we will do it again next year.

Their finished products!

The boys loved hunting the eggs outside. It was obviously warm enough from the looks of Cody! After we hid the eggs a dozen different times, they wanted to hide the eggs for us adults.
Boy, did we get some funny looks when cars drove by. It was a lot of fun.

Cute Baby!

Our little family of boys! As Nolan and Cody always tell me...Mom, you're boy trapped!

Chet, Stacy and their baby.......Gus! I am so happy they live out here!!!

Little Gustopher and Dylan. Gus sure liked the eggs!

Opening Ceremonies

Saturday was our Opening Ceremonies for our boys baseball season. This is Cody's first year, so he is playing T-Ball. He plays for the Dodgers and his Dad helps assist his team when he is not assisting with Nolan's team. Nate happily volunteered me as Cody's team mom. (Thanks babe!) Nolan is playing farm and he plays for the Phillies.

They love to play the game.

We couldn't leave this cute baby out of the picture.....one day you will play too!

Swing batter, batter, swing! Go Cody!

Nolan playing catcher.....tough kid! He also played 1st base and tagged a player out.

Beans.....Beans

Good behavior, earns rewards.

I am sure all of you moms have tried one thing or another to get your kids to behave as well as do their chores. So my sister-in-law, Amy, came up with this idea and it has worked great for us. And it probably has worked well because I have stuck to it. My kids have certain chores to be done and for each one they do they earn a bean or two. They also earn beans just by doing something nice, or doing something they have been asked to do the first time or showing me their good manners that they always seem to forget they have.

It's very simple......each bean is equivalent to 15 mins of electronic time. This is wonderful for Cody because I think he could watch tv, play the Wii, or be on Webkinz the ENTIRE day and never get a single breathe of fresh air. There are always strings attached to everything sssoooooo, if they leave things laying around the house such as shoes or toys they have to give me a bean for each item to get them back. They also have beans taken away if they show no respect or are doing things they shouldn't be doing. One other string that we added is: when your grounded you do not earn beans but you still have to do the chores.


Here is my Nolan earning 3 beans! And one less toilet for me to clean!