Keep the Change

For Valentine's Day, Andrew gave me a gift certificate for an Italian cooking class.  Amy was so sweet to come along with me.  It was awesome!  I learned how to make a few dishes I can't pronounce.  My favorite was the Gnocchi.  After making the meal, everyone in the class sat and enjoyed the meal together.  I can't wait to make some of this stuff at home.  I'm thinking this is why Andrew signed me up for the class in the first place...

 Titina, our teacher.

Two of her lovely assistants.

Recently I had some pictures of Nathan done (I will post them as soon as I get them).   There's a field of yellow flowers close to our house, so I had the photographer (my good friend Jenn) take some pictures of Nathan walking around in the flowers.  Andrew was not too pleased when he heard this.  According to Andrew, little boys should be photographed in front of a more manly backdrop.  I took this picture to satisfy him.

So many things are changing around here in Raleigh.  Our friends are having babies, moving, and getting new jobs.  Andrew himself has started a new job at Cisco with the IPCC group, and our house is under contract set to close on June 10th.  Everyone keep your fingers crossed that the contract works out with our house. We've found a new place in Morrisville (about 20 minutes outside of Raleigh) and we're excited to make the move.

To celebrate all these changes, we had one last shindig at our house with our close pals.  A couple of the kids sneaked off at one point and this is what we found. 

Now these kids know how to throw a party! Here's to change!

First Easter Egg Hunt

A good friend in the ward was so kind to invite Nathan and another little boy, Michael Swift, over to her house for an Easter Egg hunt.  Nathan, being terrified of grass, wasn't too keen on picking up any eggs that were in close proximity to the lawn.  So, we put the eggs on the sidewalk.  He was very successful there.

 Going for his first egg.

Yes, it is a pink egg.  No, Daddy was not happy about this.

What's with the pink eggs, Nathan?

After grabbing a couple eggs, Nathan tried to make a run for it.

Nathan's friend Michael resting from all the excitement.

Nathan and Michael seeing who got the most eggs.

We had a great time.  Thank you Markhams! 

Brooklyn's 3rd Birthday

Two and a half weeks ago, Nathan and I ventured down to Charleston to celebrate Brooklyn's 3rd birthday with Brooklyn and her posse.  It was a blast!  We went to the local Rolly Polly gym and got to play for an hour.  Nathan just ran around the gym, not knowing what to do first.   

He tried a little bit of rock climbing.  He's a natural.

He ran around on the trampoline, giggling when other kids would bounce around him.

He had quite the collision on the trampoline, but got right back up and kept jumping. Could a mom be more proud?

 He played with some toys he discovered in the lobby.

It was a great time.  Needless to say, Nathan took a good nap when we got home.  

In the morning, Nathan and Joshie played in Joshie's room. Nathan was a little concerned for his crazy cousin.

  

Playing fetch with Brooklyn.  Should I be concerned that Brooklyn thinks Nathan is a dog?

On the Monday following the birthday bash, the three kids and Vanessa and I went to a park.  This was Nathan's first time in a big swing.  He loved it!  He would even lean forward and back in rhythm with the swing to keep himself going.  It was adorable.

 

Nathan loves being outside.  It doesn't matter what he does outside, as long as he's outside.  Often if someone goes out the door, he follows them and cries if he doesn't make it outside before they shut the door.  I used to think this was him missing the person that just left, but no, he just wanted to go outside.

He doesn't need toys when he's outside, he'll just find things along the way to play with.

Yes, that is a rice krispies treat wrapper

After being married to Andrew for what will be 8 years in August and now that I have a son, I've learned one thing about boys:  boys are easily entertained.  Nathan will find a good rock on a walk and be entertained with that rock the whole time. Give Andrew a computer and I might as well not be in the room.  Are girls this easy?