Birthday Fiesta

We celebrated my mom's birthday a couple of weeks ago at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants. Nolan gets so excited about birthday parties and we had our big snow storm on the my mom's actual birthday and had to reschedule it to the next day. I didn't even mention it to Nolan but when we were driving home during the snow storm he said, "It's not 'posed' to snow on birthday parties." It was so cute that he knew all that snow meant no partying. Can you see why? He knows party = cake. We had a lot of fun and all took turns wearing the sombrero. How can you not have fun with a sombrero? You know that your children have big heads when the adult size sombrero fits their head. It's all those brains up there I say.

My niece Madison and Nolan puckering up

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Baby Einstein

When you have two boys that are close in age and look so much alike it's so hard not to compare them to one another. I was afraid poor Campbell would get the short end of the stick when it came to the brain department, but he's holding his own. Nolan was really slow when it came to anything physcial like crawling and walking but verbally he was talking in complete sentences well before 2. So when Campbell turned 18 months and knew words but not a ton like his brother, I couldn't help but compare.

Well, his vocabulary has exploded in the past month. It's mindblowing how quickly he's learning more and more words each day. I guess it's the educator nerd inside of me that's so intrigued by it. He loves the book Brown Bear and can point out each animal and make the animal sound. It's so cute, when I ask him what the teacher says he'll say, "Shhh" and put his finger to his mouth. He already has us figured out. But what impressed me the most is that he knows numbers! Not so much the exact order that they go in, but for 19 months I consider him a smarty pants.

Nolan's new teacher has really been working with him and he read his first book! He was so proud of himself that he keeps bringing his book back and forth to school. It's crazy to think he doesn't start kindergarten for another year and a half.

I know I sound like one of those annoying parents that has a "my child is an honor student" bumper sticker. It's just so exciting to see their little brains working and being sponges. I'm really so proud of them.

Chuck E Cheese PLEASE!

Can you believe that I've somehow managed to not take my boys to Chuck E Cheese ever in their lives? I didn't do it on purpose but it's not exactly the first thing that pops in our minds when we want to eat out. I don't know how but when we drive by one, Nolan knows what it is and says, "There is Chuck E Cheese!" Like I said, we've never been to one nor really talked about one. Maybe it's innate and every child knows about this place?

Last weekend, my sister asked if we wanted to go with her and two of my nieces and I decided, "Sure, why not?" I know...I'm crazy. You see, I'm overly paranoid about letting my children out of my sight for fear of them being hurt. Maybe it comes from my paralyzing fear as a child of being kidnapped. (I still get a little freaked when I see white kidnapper vans without windows.) So swimming pools and parking lots can be pretty stressful at times. I know that they have the child "check out" system but even then, I'm a control freak.

But I must say we actually had fun! Bringing my nieces along was the smartest move because they helped chase the boys. Campbell had his favorite ride and threw the biggest tantrum when I took him out to go eat. I can only imagine when he gets older and we take him to Six Flags the meltdown we might have when it's time to go home. So now that the cats out of the bag when it comes to Chuck E Cheese, I wonder how long it will be before Nolan requests it daily.

Two clues your kid needs a haircut

#1 He looks like this when he wakes up
#2 Your 14-year-old niece tells you, "Hey nice mullet!" when she sees your son.

Ahhh...much better! Pardon the toilet shot. I chased him around the house just to get this one! Doesn't he look like a big boy?
It was hard to say goodbye to these sweet curls though...

Not so pearly whites...

About two weeks ago Nolan and another kid somehow ran into each other at school. His teacher said that he cried about how his teeth hurt off and on all day. I immediately start thinking that he's over-reacting because he can tend to do that but then I noticed that he hardly ate anything for dinner. The next couple of days he complained about his teeth hurting and finally after about three days, he said his teeth felt all better so I just blew it off.

Well, last Wednesday I noticed that his front tooth looked a little discolored so I made a dentist appt to make sure that it was ok. It just kept getting worse and worse so they squeezed us in yesterday. The good news is that his tooth isn't dead. The bad news is his tooth is bruised...I didn't even know that was possible. It's going to take one, two, maybe even six months before it goes back to normal. And even then, it may not go back to normal completely. Poor thing... everyone is going to think I'm letting him walk around with a cavity and that I give him buckets full of candy. And we have family pictures at the end of March. Thank goodness for Photoshop! It's so vain that I'm even talking about it.

Have you ever seen an x-ray for a kid with baby teeth? It's the craziest thing! It shows their permanent teeth (behind their nose) and how they will come in. His second teeth are turned 90 degrees. I asked him what that meant. He said we'll be visiting an orthodontist when he's about 7 for phase one of braces. AGH! I was surprised since Justin nor I had braces. The dentist said we could thank a grandparent! We've been really fortunate that both boys have had beautiful teeth but looks like our honeymoon might be over.

Sucker for love...

I got these heart lollipops for the boys for Valentine's day and I couldn't help but get Justin to take some photos of them going to town licking and getting sticky. They just looked so cute. I sure do have a lot of love to share between these boys.

Snow day: Inside and out

What a crazy 24 hours it's been. We've had about 10-11 inches of snow...yes in Texas! School was canceled on Friday and Justin stayed home to play in the winter wonderland with us. Last night our electricity went out from about 9 p.m. to 6 a.m this morning. I had Campbell in two sets of jammies and Nolan bundled up in covers.

About 5 a.m. it just got to be too cold and we brought both boys in bed with us to snuggle. I can't lie, I'm usually not a family bed type of person, but it was so much fun snuggling and sleeping all together with the beautiful snow outside. The boys went in the living room while we stayed in bed and watched the weather on tv.

Then I heard them say, "SNOW!" and they started giggling like crazy. I thought it was so cute that they were loving the snow outside so much. That quickly turned into anger when I discovered they got their hands on the Styrofoam packaging from the bookshelf we put together last night and left in the middle of the room because the lights went out. OH MY GOODNESS! They were having a real good time creating their own little snow storm right inside! This photo doesn't do justice to the insane amount of snow beads everywhere. We vacuumed multiple times today (because Campbell also got a hold of a candleholder and it broke into a million pieces) and it still keeps appearing! Gives a whole new meaning to "SNOW" day...

Invisible

WOW, my sweet friend Jenny read my last blog spot about my cupcakes. Who knew there could be such a good "sermon" on cupcakes? I've seen this before but I think after this week's cupcake debacle, this really hit home for me. What a moving message. It's like this lady read my mind. I don't do these things so Nolan will remember how much time I spent on these stupid cupcakes...and they really are stupid. I want him to remember that I did it all out of love. I just had to share...

A hard lesson learned

The past year I've really gotten into making cupcakes for Nolan's class. My spider cupcakes and Rudolph cupcakes were pretty darn cute if I do say so myself. So I decided to make Valentine cupcakes for his class party. It's been a really hectic week with both boys being sick and I don't know why I try and make things more difficult for myself, but I was determined to get them done. Like I said, it's one of those things I do out of guilt since I work.

So Nolan helped make the cupcakes and I cut out all the hearts on my scrapbooking Cricut, printed out little messages, and assembled these cupcakes. All-in-all I probably spent about an hour and a half on the whole thing. Totally ridiculous, I know for 4-year-olds who would be just as happy with a fun size bag of m&ms. Justin kindly reminds me that I could just give them each store bought cookies and they'd never know the difference. I know, I know! It's this illness that I suffer from.

So I go to pick up Nolan today and ask how the party went and if his friends liked his cupcakes. Then his teacher says, "Well one of the kids pulled the cupcakes off the counter and they fell on the ground." I mean I could see her lips moving but it was kind of like it was in slow motion because I was so trying hard to focus on breathing. I think I was waiting for an apology (even though it wasn't her fault...well except for putting it in his reach part) but it never came. I'm having a hard time letting this one go. But lesson learned...store bought sounds like a GREAT idea!

Under the weather

So I used to be bothered when people would tell me, "Your kids are always sick." Like I purposely do it and I don't wash/bathe them and let them touch dirty public toilets before eating. But then I made a realization...THEY ARE ALWAYS SICK! Nolan not so much since he turned 2. I mean we have our usual colds about once or twice but nothing like when he was a baby BT (before tubes). I swear I'm a germ-a-phob and it all began when I had children.

I took Campbell to Carenow last Sunday for our weekly appointment (or so it seems). I asked them if they have Carenow bucks. You know, like every 10th visit is free?!? Too bad they don't, or I'd be save some major $$$. They diagnosed him with croup and we've been doing breathing treatments, antibiotics, steroids, cough suppressants, and motrin for days. Finally on Thursday, I realized that after 5 days on antibiotics this poor boy should be better. I took him to our pediatrician and we're on our second round of antibiotics now and steroids. Have I mentioned that steroids make him the devil's spawn? No really, his teacher said that she had to put him in time out because he literally pulled every child's hair that day and made them all cry.

So Friday I woke up with a little tickle in my throat and by Friday evening I had a really horrible cough. Throughout the weekend it just got worse and I finally convinced myself to call in sick. As a teacher, it's more trouble calling in sick and preparing for a sub than it is just to go and suffer through it. That tells you how rotten I was feeling. I slept in until 11:15!!! I think it's been since college that I've slept in that late. It was so wonderful to catch up on all the sleep I lost last week with Campbell waking up so much throughout the night. Even with all that sleep, I just couldn't stop hacking. So back to Carenow today! They really should start Carenow bucks! Who am I kidding? They love families like mine...two kids in daycare and a teacher. They see me coming and laugh all the way to the bank! No strep for me, but a nasty upper respiratory infection. I'm on a Z-pack now and hopefully headed for a better me!

So I go to pick up the boys after the doctor and Nolan's teacher tells me that Nolan didn't take a good nap because he was coughing a lot. AHHH! Seriously, can I borrow a hospital bubble and put my family in it?!? So looks like we're keeping the pharmaceutical business up and running with our family alone. For now, here's what a typical evening looks like in the McDonald household.

So you think you can dance?

I love to dance. I mean I love love love it. My mom can attest to how I would dance down the aisles in the grocery store growing up. I would choreograph dances all the time and can still remember cheerleading dances from 9th grade. I love my hip hop class each week because I don't like working out and hip hop just makes me feel like I'm going to the gym to dance. AND...I'm SO excited about the Valentine's dance at school next week. See?!?

So what can I say, we dance a lot in our house...to anything and everything. Nolan and Campbell are in on it too. These are some of my favorites that we've gotten of the boys recently. Check out this elbow action.


Look at this talent...

And here's one of his smoothest moves...